Yearbook Program: How Kentucky is onboarding a flipped roster

There is a lot of new with the Kentucky football program in 2025. Mark Stoops and his coaching staff are currently onboarding 11 early enrollee freshmen and 20 transfers. That’s 31 new players for this program with some more freshmen and some additional transfers expected to arrive on campus in the summer.

That means a lot of new and some new organizational practices for the program.

“We have 31 new players out there. We’ve worked really hard as an organization, as a team to really bond. To get closer. To be very intentional,” Stoops told the media at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility on Monday. “To really know each other.’

Through the spring semester at the University of Kentucky, the football program has made some tweaks to the offseason training. Part of those changes have included coaches and players taking a more proactive route in building personal relationships.

“It’s been hugely important. Its been a major point of emphasis for us since these players arrived on campus” Stoops explained when asked about team-building. “We have a program in place called “Yearbook” where just getting to know everybody’s name.”

“Every player on our team is studying everybody on the field and just getting to know everybody. We’ll break into other things. We’ll sit there and eat dinner with each other but our coaches are going to players’ houses. We’re doing home visits on campus. I mean we have to do a lot of things to be very intentional to get to know these guys and to get them to play together.”

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The football work on the field will take over the next month. Offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan and quarterback Zach Calzada will start building a rapport. The new pieces on the offensive line will start working together with pads on. Competition battles at guard, cornerback, and off-ball linebacker will all begin. Football is coming but off the field work will still be a priority for the Wildcats.

Relationship-building will remain a point of emphasis until fall camp begins in August. Kentucky has some important work to get done on the field but building a team is a clear focus area for Mark Stoops.

“We’re a work in progress. We have a lot of work to do,” said Stoops.