By Keith Taylor
Kentucky Today
Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops walked away pleased with his team’s performance in the final scrimmage of camp on Saturday as the Wildcats begin shifiting from prep to game mode.
“Overall, we were clean, we’re getting better,” Stoops said. “We have two weeks to continue to work really hard and push and try to get things detailed. I’m happy with where we’re at.”
The Kentucky coach is also glad his squad hasn’t suffered any significant injuries with two weeks remaining until the season opener against Toledo set for Aug. 30 at Kroger Field.
“At this point of camp, you’re glad to walk off that practice field with getting a bunch of work done and keeping people healthy, and we did that,” Stoops said. “I don’t think there was any major injury out there. We got quite a few situations done again today.”
Unlike the first scrimmage of the fall, last Saturday, Stoops was pleased with the defense, which he said made strides against the offense.
“Defensively, I thought some guys really stepped up and made some plays, stalled a few drives when we had some promising things going,” Stoops said. “Defense really stepped up. … It wasn’t anything like an interception or anything like that, but the group stepped up and shut it down.”
The difference was tackling, which was Stoops said was “better” than a week ago and defensive lineman David Gusta agreed with his coach.
“(It was) 100 percent (better),” Gusta said. “Our first scrimmage, there was quite a few missed and this one, I could probably count on one hand. It’s definitely better than the last time.”
He added that communication also was an improvement on Saturday.
“I feel like everything was just there.” Gusta said.
Offensively, Stoops said quarterbacks Zach Calzada and Cutter Boley were impressive on the offenssive side of the ball.
“I felt like they played good,” he said. “I thought Cutter was very efficient early in particular. He had some really nice drives and put some things together. Got the ball in the endzone (and) that was really good to see.”
McGowan down
Transfer running back Seth McGowan didn’t participate in the scrimmage Saturday, but Stoops sadi McGowan is expected to return sooner rather than later.
“Hopefully, he’ll be back Monday, Tuesday, sometime this week but he’s out right now,” Stoops said. “I don’t anticipate anything long-term there.”
Dante Dowdell, also a transfer, didn’t compete in the final scrimmage of the preseason.