Kentucky must get newcomers up to speed with program's established game week routine

The transfer portal era has had a big impact on college football’s roster-building process. Programs now see a lot of two-way player movement and that leads to a lot of new. Heading into Week 1, Kentucky must get all of those new guys up to speed.

Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops is coaching his 12th team in Lexington but is having to teach some basics this week in the first game week of the season. The Wildcats must get the new guys up to speed with how the program operates in game prep.

“We have quite a few newcomers in our program that need to find that routine and that rhythm that I have and try to have throughout the year,” Stoops said. “So the players can anticipate and they know what to expect on Monday through Friday.”

There is not a ton of new on defense. Jamon Dumas-Johnson is the only starter who was not on Kentucky’s roster last season and there is a ton of staff continuity on that side of the ball. The same is not true on offense where Kentucky will have multiple starters from outside the building a long with three new full-time position coaches.

“That’s where there’s a lot of change. Maybe 5-6 six guys that are in very important roles that haven’t gone through this routine,” said Stoops. “Defensively, not as many.”

“We’ve got to make sure everybody’s comfortable including our offensive coordinator. Again just going through our process and what we do throughout the week and really the routine and the rhythm I try to have throughout the week with them.”

There could be some growing pains in Week 1 for Kentucky. The offense is still getting a feel for each other as the Wildcats break in a lot of new under play-caller Bush Hamdan, offensive line coach Eric Wolford, and wide receivers coach Daikiel Shorts. The standard is the standard and Mark Stoops is making sure the new guys know what that standard is this week.

Kentucky will spend this week making sure that expected offensive starters Brock Vandagriff, Ja’Mori Maclin, Jalen Farmer, and Gerald Mincey are all ready to roll throughout the week.

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