Mark Stoops raves about Kentucky running back Kavosiey Smoke

Kentucky football is still riding high after Saturday’s win over Florida. Now 5-0 and firmly inside the top 25, head coach Mark Stoops joined ESPN’s SportsCenter on Thursday to discuss the hype building around his team and running back Kavosiey Smoke.

One key subject of Mark Stoops’ praise was running back Kavosiey Smoke, who provides a dynamic threat in the Wildcats backfield. The junior back offers a one-two punch next to Chris Rodriguez Jr.

“He’s a great personality, really starting to play some really good football for us,” Stoops told ESPN’s Matt Barrie on SportsCenter. “You’ve always seen the talent, but he’s been so much more consistent and really coming into his own. We’re very pleased with Kavosiey and he certainly has one of those big-time college football names, that’s for sure.”

Kavosiey Smoke has run for 159 yards and a touchdown over the first five games of the season. He also has two kick returns for 31 yards.

Kentucky embraces Waka Flocka Flame

Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops wouldn’t have necessarily labeled himself a huge Waka Flocka Flame fan prior to Saturday, even though the Billboard Hot 100 rapper wrote “Grove St. Party,” the unofficial anthem of the Kentucky Wildcats. And he’ll be the first to admit that.

But after meeting Waka Flocka Flame before the Wildcats took on a top-10 Florida Gators team, then pulling off a program-defining upset at home, the Wildcats coach — who saw Waka Flocka Flame storm the field with Kentucky students, then celebrate the victory in the locker room with players — has become a big fan. And Stoops was proud to admit that Thursday afternoon.

“Now ‘It’s a party’ is [playing] all the time,” Stoops said Thursday afternoon on SportsCenter with Matt Berrie, breaking down Kentucky’s win. “I tell you, I’m going to be putting [Waka Flocka] on there from now on though, after spending some time with him — and not just in the celebration afterwards. But meeting him pregame and just having him take in the whole atmosphere, he was an absolutely great dude. It was good spending time with him, really likable man and great music. So, I’m a big fan now.”

True to the lyrics of Waka Flocka’s “Grove St. Party,” it was a party in Lexington last Saturday. Stoops and the Wildcats advanced to 5-0 with a 20-13 victory over the then-No. 9 Florida Gators, moving Kentucky up to No. 16 on the latest AP poll.