DeAndre Square 'highly questionable' against Vanderbilt

Kentucky could be without the services of DeAndre Square against Vanderbilt this week, according to head coach Mark Stoops on Thursday. The defensive anchor has been deemed “highly questionable” by the Wildcats headman after attempting to practice throughout the week.

Square was injured against Tennessee two weeks ago and after missing Week 10’s victory over Missouri, Stoops added the veteran linebacker back to the depth chart on Monday.

“He has a chance (to play),” Stoops said Monday. “We’ll know more today, but he’s definitely better and he’s going to go out there and do some things later this afternoon and test it out.”

It seems as though Square isn’t improving at the pace Stoops originally expected, and Kentucky will likely be without its main signal caller on defense for a second straight week.

Even though he missed last week’s game, Square is still the team’s leading tackler with 55 total on the season. Add in a sack, an interception and three passes defended, Square has been a menace for opposing offenses all season long and is sorely missed in the center of the UK defense.

Mark Stoops discusses roster turnover, how NIL and transfer portal impact the team

Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops took the podium on Monday expecting to answer a number of questions about his players, the upcoming opponent and perhaps the SEC East standings. Instead, he received a question on recruiting and re-recruiting potential 2023 additions and subtractions through the transfer portal.

As he got into the topic, Mark Stoops made it clear that Kentucky places just as high a priority on retaining talent as it does adding talent.

“You have to,” said Stoops. “The culture of your team helps and matters – and that’s each other and that’s the players in the locker room, and how they treated each other. In this day and age, it is inevitable that we’re going to have turnover and that you’re going to have guys that enter the transfer portal. And there’s going to be guys that we hopefully add.

“It just happens. It’s part of this new world. Sometimes it’s for the better and sometimes it’s not. As coaches, you always – the thing where people – sometimes we open ourselves up where you just say we’re against it. We just want to continue to help people grow. But sometimes it’s absolutely essential, it’s the right thing for both places. It’s the right thing for a player, it’s the right thing for the program. And other times, there’s young men that you say ‘let me help continue to develop you mentally, physically,’ and give them the tough love that sometimes we all need.”