Modified Kentucky spring game will be great opportunity for fans

On Saturday at Kroger Field, Mark Stoops’ 10th team at Kentucky will take the field in nasty weather conditions for the first spring game since 2019. Only this time, the format will be much different but that is not a bad thing.

On Friday, Stoops spoke with Kentucky Sports Radio and confirmed that this year’s version of the spring game will look somewhat different as the Wildcats are currently having some depth issues due to multiple factors. Instead of splitting up the teams and keeping score, Kentucky will hold a traditional practice with a good, old-fashioned 11-on-11 scrimmage.

“Bottom line is we came down to — and it’s going to probably be the best for the fans, even though you can’t keep score. We’re just going to go out there and practice, we’re going to scrimmage,” said Stoops. “You’re gonna see the best football we could put on in the spring.”

“Everybody that comes to the spring game, you’re gonna see good football. You’re gonna see ones versus ones, you’re gonna see twos versus twos and you’ll see threes versus threes.”

Sign me up for this every season.

Instead of a random scrimmage game with junked-up rosters, Kentucky is essentially having an open-door practice for any in the Big Blue Nation to attend. Twice during spring practice and twice during fall camp before practice starts, the program will hold extensive scrimmages where best will go against best to determine the pecking order of the depth chart and to see what works in a game setting when forced to play actual 11-on-11 football. Only this time a legit scrimmage will be available for all to see.

Kentucky fans will get a chance to see Will Levis run an offense with Rich Scangarello calling plays against Brad White’s top unit on defense. In live pass-rush situations, we’ll get to see if new offensive tackles Deondre Buford and Jeremy Flax can hold up in pass protection against J.J. Weaver, Tre’vonn Rybka, and Darrion Henry-Young.

For White’s unit, new starting cornerback Andru Phillips will be on display and he’ll likely be facing rising freshmen Dane Key and Chris Lewis in a showcase of young talent. Meanwhile, seeing how the defense flows with Jacquez Jones and DeAndre Square calling the shots while matching the eye candy of Scangarello’s pro-style offense will be fun to monitor.

When the twos take the field, everyone will be watching Beau Allen, but the real story will be in the trenches. Checking in on the development of Jager Burton, David Wohlabaugh Jr., and John Young will be a must-watch as each is a candidate to become a rotation piece on the offensive line this season.

In this year’s version of the spring game, there will be real value to take away from the practice setting as Kentucky is opening its doors to what will be one of the most important practices of the spring. Watching the live scrimmage unfold will be better than any spring game in the past.

“It gives us a great opportunity in front of fans and with as much pressure on the players as we can get to have a really good practice,” Stoops said.