By Keith Taylor
Special to NKyTribune
After completing the final scrimmage of fall workouts, the Kentucky coaching staff has a general idea of what to expect in the season opener in two weeks.
A big concern for the Wildcats is developing depth beyond the first team. The backups lack game experience, especially on defense and Kentucky coach Mark Stoops wants the backups to play with more energy in the next two weeks.
“The biggest issue is, again, depth,” Stoops said Saturday. “I’m concerned about and getting guys that are twos and threes to play at a higher level.”
Like Stoops, Kentucky defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot said developing depth will be a priority leading up to the team’s season opener against Southern Mississippi on Sept. 3.
“We still need to get better (and) we still need to develop depth,” he said. “I think our depth is still lacking and those second- and third-team (players) have got to improve fundamentally and assignment-wise too. There’s plenty we can get better at. We’ve got to develop those younger players, technique and fundamentally. Depth is the biggest concern right now … the second biggest concern would be tackling and the live tackling.”
Sept. 3, 7:30 p.m.
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Eliot added that he doesn’t want to give the younger players too much to digest in such a short period of time, but also wants them to get develop at a steady pace.
“You’ve got to force feed them, but you got to be careful not to put them in the tank, too,” he said. “When you’re trying to make them a player in a short amount of time and they’re not having any success, so all they hear is negative (talk), so you’ve got to manage that. You definitely have to push them, but you also have to find something they’re doing good, too and encourage them.”
Stoops, a former defensive coordinator at Florida State, said the biggest worry lies on the defensive line and at linebacker. Stoops said the front line of defense fared better in the second scrimmage than the first one last week.
“We certainly improved from a week ago,” Stoops said.
As expected, Kentucky’s secondary is on track and poised for a good season. In Saturday’s scrimmage, defensive back Derrick Baity intercepted a Drew Barker pass, earning praise from Stoops.
“Derrick Baity made a nice play on the ball,” Stoops said.
Aside from the interception, Stoops said Barker turned in a solid performance Saturday. Barker won the starting job in the spring and hasn’t let up during the first two weeks of practice.
“He made some good decisions,” Stoops said. “He’s doing very well — very poised and making good decisions.”
Kentucky offensive coordinator Eddie Gran said the offense wasn’t as impressive as the first scrimmage last week.
“With the ones, it had to do with finishing,” Gran said. “We converted on third down last week and converted almost every time in the red zone. We didn’t get that done this week. That will be the emphasis this week.”
Starting running back Stanley “Boom” Williams “went a couple of series and went live.” Williams was held out of the first scrimmage a week ago for precautionary reasons.
“(He) got some tackles (and) had some blitz pickups,” Stoops said. “(We) put him in some stressful situations. He didn’t get a ton of reps, but he probably got 10 live reps or so. … It was good to see him go to the ground and take good, physical tackles.”
Despite the inconsistencies, Stoops and Gran want the Wildcats to remain in the moment and focus on getting better on a daily basis.
“I like where we’re at,” Gran said. “I always tell them, ‘of you think you’ve arrived, we’re in trouble.’ We are so far away, but you know what? Our expectations are very high for this offense. They can achieve everything (but) we have a long way to go.”
Keith Taylor is a senior sports writer for KyForward, where he primarily covers University of Kentucky sports. Reach him at keith.taylor@kyforward.com or @keithtaylor21 on Twitter