Mark Stoops previews SEC Media Days talking points with Greg McElroy and Cole Cubelic

This afternoon at 3:25 p.m. ET, Mark Stoops will take the podium at SEC Media Days. Before that, he, Octavious Oxendine, JJ Weaver, and Eli Cox will meet with the local media before making the rounds at the Grand Hyatt. We got a preview of Stoops’ talking points during an appearance on “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning.”

Stoops called into Greg McElroy and Cole Cubelic’s radio show before making the trip to Nashville to talk about his squad. We’re going to have a ton of Stoops content on the site today, so to whet your appetite, here’s a quick rundown of his comments.

Bringing back Liam Coen was a “no brainer”

Liam Coen’s return to Kentucky will be one of the storylines around the program today in Nashville. When asked, Stoops said bringing Coen back as the offensive coordinator was a “no-brainer,” especially considering he recruited what could be the best wide receiver room in Kentucky Football history.

He likes that Devin Leary is flying under the radar

Will Levis was the face of the program a year ago, attending SEC Media Days with Stoops to preview his final season in Lexington. This year, it’s NC State transfer Devin Leary. Leary hasn’t garnered quite the buzz that Levis did (although Cubelic is a huge fan, saying earlier this week, “the kid can f—ing play”), which Stoops said could be a good thing because it won’t bring on the expectations that Levis faced last year.

“[Levis] just had so much on him. So many people talked about him and he maybe felt a little pressure to live up to all those expectations and you know, in my opinion, Will did. He’s a fantastic player, but, you know, we failed a little bit around him that’s on me, that’s on the staff to protect him, to put him in a position to be successful and all those things.

“But going back to Devin, what I love about him is he’s just one of those guys. I mean, he’s from New Jersey, just kind of puts his head down. He just goes to work. He has the leadership qualities that you’re looking for, but it’s really not forced. He just goes out there every day and really works extremely hard and needs. He’s a ballplayer and all of our guys have really responded well to him.”

“My phone doesn’t stop ringing about [Brad White] in the offseason”

Brad White has turned Kentucky’s defense into one of the best in the SEC, which is no easy feat. So far, Mark Stoops has been able to keep him on staff but admitted that hasn’t come without its own effort.

“I know this, the coaching profession knows what he’s doing. My phone doesn’t stop ringing about him in the offseason. And to Brad’s credit, he’s always just been extremely loyal. I think he really likes the situation he’s in in Lexington and has worked extremely hard and just does a remarkable job year in and year out. And so I’m very grateful. I think he really likes the situation. I love having him.”

Stoops also singled out his new running backs and special teams coordinator Jay Boulware.

“Offensively, I gotta get back on track and I also needed to make a big push in the special teams area and that’s where hiring Jay Boulware comes in. Jay was as important to me. I knew Jay from his time working in Oklahoma. He worked at Texas. He’s been around and I knew him personally, and it was very important for me to get Jay back and to improve on the special team side.”

Lots of praise for incoming transfers

Cole earned even more brownie points with KSR when he brought up Kentucky’s incoming transfers after “having a conversation with some of those guys at KSR.” Stoops praised Marques Cox (Northern Illinois), Ray Davis (Vanderbilt), Keeshawn Silver (UNC), Daveren Rayner (Northern Illinois).

“It just worked out that way. Once they hit the portal, we absolutely knew the guys that played very well against us and a guy like Ray Davis, he’s a no-brainer. Same with Daveren. At linebacker, we needed an inside linebacker. We felt really good about some of the guys we have there but we needed some depth and he’s really really stepped in and we’re excited about him.”

Getting back to the Big Blue Wall

Kentucky’s offensive line will undoubtedly be one of Stoops’ talking points today, so much so that he brought it up before Cubelic.

“We absolutely needed to improve. It just was not — I didn’t feel good about it, you know? I just didn’t feel good about the way we performed a year ago. We’ve always been a tough physical football team and in being able to run the ball and play action and protect the quarterback and we didn’t do that a year ago.

“So we went out and I had to make some changes and find some players in the offensive line room. Really with the additional five offensive linemen that were not on our roster a year ago, we need to improve in that area. So it’s a challenge to all of them to step up and be the physical team that we want to be. I feel like we got the quarterback in place. We had to address the offensive line.”

Got thoughts? Subscribe to KSR+ to continue the conversation on KSBoard, the KSR+ Message Board.

Cubelic makes the case for Kentucky as the No. 5 team in the SEC

Earlier this week, Cole Cubelic raised some eyebrows when he put Kentucky fifth in his SEC Power Rankings behind Georgia, LSU, Alabama, and Texas A&M. After talking to Stoops, he once again made his case for the Cats being a top-five team in the SEC.

“As we’ve talked about this with Tennessee, Mississippi State, Auburn, Arkansas, Ole Miss, they all have question marks. They all have multiple question marks, big question marks. They also all have a lot of good things that we like about them.

“I felt like Kentucky had fewer questions. It was one big question: it was offensive line. And they addressed it through the portal. They went and found guys, they got a quarterback. It’s going to be a perfect fit in that offense. They have the best receiver room they’ve ever had.”

Exciting stuff. To hear it all, check out the “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning podcast.”