3 Optimistic Kentucky Football Updates from Mark Stoops

Before Mark Stoops called practice into session at the Nutter FieldHouse on a soggy Thursday morning, he hopped on the phone to talk about his Kentucky football team with McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning. Two of the top prognosticators in the SEC picked Stoops’ brain to learn more about the Wildcats. I think you’re going to like these Kentucky football updates from the head coach.

Rotating Big Blue Wall

Kentucky’s offensive line is shuffling throughout preseason practice. On Tuesday we learned that Darian Kinnard and Dare Rosenthal flipped offensive tackle positions. They are just two of the versatile bricks on the Big Blue Wall that can give defenses different looks this fall.

“We’re going to be rotating guys in there and make sure we have options,” Stoops said.

“We do have the ability to play Darian at left or right. You have Dare coming in from LSU that gives you an unbelievably athletic guy at left tackle and that let’s you rotate Jeremy Flax, who’s a big, strong guy, possibly even play him a little at guard and now we can get really big and continue to stay physical. We’ll look at all options and before it’s all said and done we’ll have a good rotation going.”

Center is not a position that typically rotates a ton, but Stoops said the Wildcats can also use Quintin Wilson or Eli Cox to spell Luke Fortner. He has not yet played a game at the position, yet Fortner is filling in Drake Jackson’s shoes nicely.

“He’s such a bright young man, another one of those super seniors. This guy has more degrees — I don’t even know how many degrees he’s got. He’s so smart, an unbelievable person. When you lose Drake, there’s a guy that made a lot of calls for us, had great great control of the offense, great command of the O-line and made quite a few calls. We lost quite a bit in that. Moving Luke over there was a good move for us. Luke is just so steady, works so hard, has been around here for a long time, extremely bright.”

Wide Receiver Improvement

Can you provide Kentucky football updates without sharing something from the wide receivers? I don’t think so. Mark Stoops can see in a difference in the unit ahead of the 2021 season.

“Its definitely improving and we need it to. We got to continue to grow there. Obviously the addition of Wan’Dale (Robinson), coming in at slot, a proven player, he is definitely a difference maker. And it was really big for Josh (Ali) to come back for his super senior class. That gives us some experience and he’s really been consistent. I love the opportunity to get him the football this year,” Stoops said.

“Moving Izayah Cummings from wide receiver to tight end makes us different. That gives us a very athletic (tight end). He’s been a very pleasant surprise. He’s really showed up there a lot. Some of the freshmen are really doing a good job too. We’re getting better there and we need to continue to grow.”

Rising Stars

All eyes are on the wide receivers and Liam Coen’s new look offense. Behind the curtain there are a couple of newcomers we probably aren’t talking about enough.

“The young freshmen; I feel like we have some freshmen linebackers that are impressive players in Trevin Wallace and Martez Thrower,” said Mark Stoops. “I think those guys are really good for true freshmen.”

With Jacquez Jones sidelined by a minor injury throughout preseason practice, the young linebackers have received more reps than expected. Wallace is green, only with one year of experience at linebacker, but if he continues to improve throughout the month of August, he could receive significant snaps Sept. 4.

For more, listen to Stoops’ entire conversation with Cubelic and McElroy.