Everything Mark Stoops Said Monday Afternoon

Mark Stoops held his usual Monday press conference earlier today to reflect on Kentucky Football’s victory down at Vanderbilt and what he saw on the film. He also looked forward to Kentucky’s upcoming Senior Day celebration and its Saturday opponent, New Mexico State.

If you’re not driving, read everything Stoops said during his 30-minute conversation with the media. If you are driving, put your phone down right now and pay attention to the road.

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Opening statement

“Very good win on Saturday. I’m very proud of our team. It gets hard late in the year.  The mental and physical drain that that it takes on our players, I don’t think people appreciate that quite enough when you go through this schedule. It’s easy to say and people want to pick apart, ‘well this team’s not that this year, and all that’. Part of it is because we play in this league, and we devour each other as the season goes on, and people get beat up. Unless, you’re absolutely elite, with elite depth, it takes its toll on just about everybody. Just look around the league at the records. When it’s all said and done, I’m proud of the team, the fact that our team will have a winning SEC record. At the end of the day that there’s going to be four or five teams in our league, maybe six, but highly unlikely, probably four or five, that will have a winning record in the SEC. It’s hard.

“I’m so proud of our team. It was a good victory after a tough stretch to bounce back and to come out so strong and play so good early — kind of take the pressure completely off us and put it squarely on Vanderbilt and play such a good first half. Second half, it felt worse than it was. Offensively I felt we were in complete control. We get the ball and drive it right down the field and get a penalty or two, so that stopped that drive. Then, later we got a good drive … It may have been two when they’re moving the ball and we get the ball backed up and have a seven-minute drive, it ends up with three (points) but puts us back ahead in the comfort zone again, which was a good drive, would like to capitalize and finish off with a touchdown there. Then in the next drive, we get it backed up on the 15 (yard line), get a couple first downs and get it out of there, just, winning the football game relatively comfortable. Rather like to see us make some stops as I mentioned. Defensively we had a couple opportunities there to get some stops, but overall good victory.

“Looking forward to getting back at practice this week, getting ready for New Mexico State and trying to get our eighth victory of the year. I encourage and ask our fans to continue to come out and support. It’s been an amazing year as far as their presence in packing the stadium, we greatly appreciate it. This will be the last time quite a few players are playing in this stadium and we ask for your support to come finish this thing off with our last home game this weekend for Senior Day.  I greatly appreciate our seniors, they’ve meant so much to our program. You look at some of the guys that have been here six years and you know, arguably, one of the greatest six years in the history of this school. So, really appreciate those guys, and what they’ve done, and the impact that they’ve had on our program.”

On Luke Fortner, his position change from last year and how it impacted the team this season…

“I think it’s just been a great move all the way around. It’s been really good for our team. To replace somebody like Drake (Jackson), that’s so intelligent and can direct so much, he’s done that. But, then you bring in Luke and it’s really helped him and shown his versatility. You know, more size than Drake and I think it’ll help him move forward and give him give him an opportunity to play at the next level. He’s got like five degrees (laughter) so if he didn’t make it I think he’ll be alright. But I think he’ll make it in the NFL.”

On the three players being listed as seniors who are not on the Senior Day list…

“Don’t read too much into that. We had guys walk last year (on Senior Day) that are playing and that aren’t walking again because they’re like, ‘Dude, I walked last year’. We’re all like, well, you played another year at least get the shirt, you know what I mean (laughter), so we’ll get ‘em a shirt. So, don’t read too much into that. We tried to be very thorough with the COVID year. It makes things a little bit complex. Some guys may walk and come back. So, don’t read too much into that. It’s kind of what they want to do.”

On appreciating conference play being over…

“Yeah, I can appreciate it; it’s been, it’s tough. We went through a tough little stretch and wish, like always you look at any year, you wish you had a couple plays, that couple series (to do over). A lot of ‘what ifs,’ but overall very proud of our group and they did a lot of good things. Certainly, finished a lot higher than most people predicted in the East, I can probably promise you that. I don’t really look into it. I wish I’d have saved some of that, but I guarantee you most people (predicted) not as high as we did.”

On seniors making their decisions of whether or not to stay, based on extra COVID year…

“We’ve had a lot of conversations. With COVID, and with Senior Day, I want to make sure I do these young men and their families properly. There’s a lot of conversations that needed to take place. Like, ‘what’s your plan?’ ‘do you want to walk?’ That’s why I said, don’t read too much into it. Like I said, some guys walked last year. Then there’s guys like Luke, who decide they don’t need to walk again. You know what I mean? Then some guys will walk and then make their decision later, after the season, they’ll make a decision whether they decide to come back or not.”

On if any players have definitely decided if they’re coming back…

“I’m not prepared to talk about that right now.”

On Stoops getting knocked for how Kentucky beat Vanderbilt, even though Kentucky used to get beat by Vanderbilt…

“You tell me. Did you like it the year before I got here (2012), playing them? I would imagine not.”

On how close cornerback Andru Phillips is to helping the team…

“He’s close, and he missed a lot of time unfortunately. He missed all of that time in the spring and he got quite a bit of time taken away from him but we will continue to bring him along and try to get him some reps and hopefully down the stretch get him some playing time, he is getting closer.”

On senior Josh Paschal…

“You cannot say enough good things about Josh. I’ve bragged on him and he deserves it. He truly is one of the most special players I have ever been around and spent some time talking to his parents a couple weeks ago after one of the games. I have coached a long time and some really good football players and some amazing individuals. He is, if not number one, it is hard to beat him, as far as a person. The way he empties his tank, the way he goes about his business, the way he impacts players, he leads, he is so selfless, he has overcome so much. Plays and empties his tank every day, one of the most special players if not the most, I’ve ever coached.”

On Josh Paschal’s evolving leadership throughout the years…

“If you remember back in the day, even when we recruited him, it was very matter-of-fact. There’s no bells and whistles with him, he’s not worried about anything, he just simply (said), ‘Yeah, that’s it, I’m coming.’ Like, really? ‘No, coming.’  ‘Okay.’ Everything he says he means, he does, there is no BS. When he says, ‘That’s it, Coach, I’ve decided I’m coming to Kentucky,’ that’s it. And he has been here and he’s been all-in every day since. That is how he lives his life. He is remarkable, he is very mature, he is very strong and he has a great impact on people. One of the most sturdy, I guess you could say sturdier, or strong young men I have ever been around. Strong in his faith, strong in his work ethic, strong in everything that he does.” 

On what it says about Josh Paschal and Marquan McCall on the sideline getting excited for the other players…

“I think that shows them, that is where they need to continue to lead in these last three games they are going to be a part of. The young people in our program, the leadership program that we have, all starts with leading oneself, then impacting your group then leading the team and so on. Some young guys right now, they mean well, guys press and they want to do well for their teammates because this team cares about each other, but how they respond to adversity, they can still teach young people. Because they have had their fair share of adversity, and the no-flinch if you will. There’s going to be ups and downs and just respond. Right now, some of our young guys need to understand how to respond better, because there is going to be adversity in your life, adversity in football. There’s going to be highs and lows and we need to continue to bring those young men along and realize how to respond to that.”

On Vito Tisdale playing with an edge and keeping him on the right side of the line…

“He will stay on the right side of that just by coaching and bringing him along and developing him and more and more experience. He missed a boatload of time and that didn’t help his progress. But we have to do a good job of coaching him, showing him and bringing him along. He gives us some juice that we need, he gives us some quickness, some suddenness, some coverability. There’s certainly times, even in this last game, where he was erratic. And he needs to settle down, hone in and really focus on the little things to become a great player.”

On Justin Rogers and his performance…

“Justin is a great example of coming in as such a highly recruited young man. Went through a pretty serious hip injury, probably slowed him down a bit when he got here. He has been forced into action this year with Marquan (McCall) going down. This Saturday was definitely the best game he has played, and that was really good to see. He had a little nagging injury prior to this game and he overcame that. He kind of pushed through the type of, not injury, but he pushed through the type of pain you can play through and really sacrificed and played well, and we needed him to. So, he has done a lot and hopefully that will give him a lot to build on, because it was definitely one of his better games, one of the better games of all of our defenders this past week, so hopefully he will continue to build on that.”

On Josh Paschal’s NFL prognosis …

“He’ll play in the NFL, there is no doubt. He is definitely a tweener, and that could be a good thing, but he is versatile. He’ll get a lot of looks and I think a lot of people will really study him to see where he’ll fit in their system. If you’re a 3-4 team like we are, he could still go outside because he’s so sturdy, stout, and on first and second down could be ‘Sam’ or ‘Jack’ (linebacker) in that league and he’s hard to move, but he’s also versatile enough to go inside in predictable pass (situations). 4-3 teams (are a) little different because of the size but he could go in there. A guy I coached by the name of Earl Mitchell at Arizona that was a fullback for us and we moved him to a three-technique (defensive tackle) in the 4-3 and he played forever. He might still be playing. Earl played forever and was an impact three technique. He was a little shorter, but played forever and was a great player in the NFL, so that’s what I remind teams of. He’s every bit the player Earl was and Earl was very successful, played a long time, so he’s versatile enough and getting a lot of good looks, so a player like that, no matter what you are, you want him on your football team.”

On what Yusuf Corker has meant to the secondary…

“He’s just been sturdy. He’s been an anchor for us the past several years—2-3 years—and he’s one of those guys that’s there every day. (He’s) Just physical as heck, very reliable, always working hard and trying to influence and impact others and take charge. So, I have great respect for Yusuf.”

On how to make sure the team is “locked in” during the Senior Day distractions…

“They’ve been through more than this. I don’t consider that a distraction. Different? Yes. But by the time they come through and are here as many years as they are, they’ll be able to handle that. I think (they’ll be) excited, family is here. They’ll take the 10 minutes it takes to go through Senior Day, come back in and regroup, and want to go out there and play well. So, I think that’s a part of the experience to be able to handle things of that nature with no issue.”

On how Marquan McCall played last Saturday…

“He did good, I was glad. It was good to see him go back to being disruptive. There’s not a ton on the production sheet as far as that goes, but he still has an impact on the game. And that’s kind of who he is. Hopefully that gives him the confidence to build on.”

On how much of a boost Marquan McCall brings, having him back on the field…

“Without a doubt. He’s one of those guys that brings the energy, brings the juice. Players like seeing him, they’re more confident with him on the field. So, he means a lot to our group, and it was great having him out there.”

On how Liam Coen has handled being a first-year coordinator…

“I think he’s handled it exceptionally well because, as you know, in experience through the years, it can really beat you up; it’s hard. It’s extremely hard to be a play caller on either side because we see such a variety on both sides of the ball. Especially since you see a variety of things, you have to be so well prepared for so many different things and he’s handled it extremely well. Our players are extremely confident and that comes from him and the leadership that he’s shown, being adaptable and learning because it is different, it’s different than the NFL. We have a little bit more flexibility with certain things and trying to take advantage of that. In a critical third down Saturday, new formation you can’t run in the NFL, when we ran Q-power out of an unbalanced set, you can’t do that in the NFL. So that’s the type of adaptability that you’ve seen with him.”

On his relationship with New Mexico State Coach Doug Martin and if it means anything that he’s a former UK player…

“No, I just know that he’ll probably be motivated coming back here, you know, because he certainly was the last time—they played very good (in 2016, a 62-42 game). So, we just have to worry about ourselves. He’s obviously a very good coach, gave us all we could handle the last time he was here. So, we’ve got to be worried about ourselves and prepared for us and go play a good football game. He’s done a really nice job. Like I said, the last time — that was the only last time, right? — they really had an opportunity to beat us. So, we better be locked in.”

On if he considers the upcoming game a “dress rehearsal” …

“I would never use that word, so don’t put those words in my mouth. But any opportunity we try to get better, yes. In different styles and different things, yes. As far as trying to play well to a team that will spread it out and distribute the ball, and free release the back, and put stress on you in good ways, yes, we try to get better. But I would never use that—don’t put that in my mouth.”

On what he remembers from the last time UK faced New Mexico State as the game that quarterback Stephen Johnson and running back Benny Snell Jr. emerged …

“I don’t (remember) if I’m being totally honest. There’s stuff from last Saturday that I’m trying to still process, you know what I mean (laughter)?”

On if he’s concerned about players’ focus during the upcoming game…

“I hope our team learned throughout the course of this year and has matured. That’s what I will challenge them with. We always talk about ourselves, no matter who we’re playing. We could be playing the number one team in the country or somebody that’s struggling, it doesn’t matter. It’s truly about us and what we do throughout the week. You guys probably hear that so much you think, “Oh that’s coach speak,” but that’s the honest truth. So, our guys need to fundamentally get better in some areas where we’re not playing good still. I don’t care what game it is. We need to worry about ourselves and play the game. I’ve always talked about respecting the game. The game just absolutely commands you to respect it and do things right, or you will not last. And so, that will be a part of the message.”

On Davonte Robinson persevering through injuries and how that can be used as an example to some of the younger guys…

“I think, just like you said, the perseverance of it, the attitude, and the toughness that Davonte has demonstrated. And I think Davonte being the first one to tell you that he has grown. He has really grown up and grown through the ups and downs. And anybody that has done that, you have to have great respect for. It’ll be a great legacy for him no matter what he’s done here—the highs, the lows, I just appreciate Davonte. He has really been through a lot and stuck through it all and is still there every day. I really respect him and appreciate him.”

On the luxury of having a walk-on punter (Colin Goodfellow) coming in and leading the SEC...

“Yeah, he’s hitting some punts. He is booming some and we have seen that in practice the past couple of years, so it’s really nice to see that. It shows some good depth, and it gave us a different style to become more pocket (protection). So, it’s been good.”

On watching tape yesterday after having some long Sundays recently…

“It was still long (laughter). It is hard playing those road games at night. We have had a long stretch of them it seems like, too, and being tired is just part of it. That’s why you see that (laughter as he holds up coffee cup), you just fight through it.”

On the immediate take-aways from watching the film…

“Again, I think proud to see some really good things that, as a team, we played complementary football early. That is part of it in a game like that if you feel like your favored. You need to start fast, and really set the tone. That was their Senior Night and they had like 30 guys walk and you know those are very good men, to come through that program and have 30 guys walking. They have a lot of pride. Their coach has done a really good job with them and so you know they were going to come out strong. That game meant something to them, and we had to match that intensity. Again, worry about ourselves and playing well and playing clean. I thought we did play relatively clean early. And then late again, the second half, I think offensively we still were in really good shape. That was the only time, the first drive we were rolling and had a penalty called. I don’t know who the penalty’s called on. They said 79 but it couldn’t possibly (have) been him. So, I don’t know. I don’t want to send plays in but I have no idea who that was called on. That stops that drive and then they moved it a little bit. So that’s when we had to kick back into a little bit of grind it out for me a minute here. Let us regroup defensively and we did. It ended in three (points) but it was a 7-minute drive that gave us the opportunity to regroup defensively and then they only had two more drives. The third drive, I want to say they (UK offense) were backed up, got the ball, which we made a mistake not fair catching that. You have to at least start on the 25 and we started on the 15 and then the fourth drive I believe we, not saying we could’ve scored, but we were in good shape. 1^st and 10 moving the ball pretty clean, had the opportunity to score but decided to run out the clock.”

On Will Levis hitting explosive throws through the air…

“Yeah, and I think you’ve seen that a lot more this year. We’ve also missed a few but we have been a lot better at that. Even the inside fades when you’re getting man (coverage) and beating them. Beating guys when you’re getting pressure is an area where we definitely have improved and need to continue to do that so other teams can’t smother you. There were times when we failed also and probably lost the game. So that’s hard on a lot of people, not just us. But you have to continue to recruit guys that will make you pay. If you’re a good balanced team and they are putting everybody up in your face, winning some outside one-on-ones. We have done that at times, and we need to continue to get better.”

On Darian Kinnard’s performance…

“That’s a good point because Darian really was dominant this past Saturday. You have a tendency, I don’t want to say take him for granted because we don’t, but people don’t talk about him enough because he is a dominant player. He played exceptionally well this past week and that’s really good to see a guy that you know is going to have a bright NFL future, really finishing the way he is. That says a lot about him and that will help him and that will help us.”

On how Darian helped his NFL prospects by coming back for this season…

“I don’t think there’s any doubt. You saw the versatility because when you’re built like him as well, you could just about play any position. Maybe not center because he hasn’t done that, but he is so big that he could be a dominant guard, but he is a tackle. He moves so athletically, and his feet are so good he could play tackle. He’s just played so much right (tackle), he’s comfortable there, and then we have Dare (Rosenthal), he’s a left (tackle), he’s built like a left. It fit us, and he was being very unselfish. He could play right or left.”

On Dare Rosenthal not wearing knee braces…

“Yeah, we generally wear the knee braces. He’s had a couple of other things bothering him that was not his knees. So, whatever makes him comfortable at that point, I guess, because he has had a little heel injury, to be honest, or foot, something bothering him.”

On Coach Stoops’ coffee drink…

“What’s my coffee? I could tell you but then you guys are going to make fun of me (laughter).”

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