Stoops: Getting Numbers Down to 85 for Spring Semester will be a Challenge: "That's a severe understatement."

Roster management has become just as important, if not more important, than the Xs and Os for college football coaches as the game has changed. “Recruiting will be the lifeblood of our program,” was a line uttered in every introductory press conference for years, but it’s not just high school recruiting anymore. Roster retention and free agent signings in the transfer portal now play a huge role in offseason moves.

Those moves don’t just happen in the offseason. Reading between the lines, it appears that a lot of that roster planning for the Kentucky football program happened during last week’s bye week.

“We would love our concentration to be on coaching and spending time with our players and being around that. That’s where all of us are still putting most of our time, but we have to, I have to look at roster management,” Mark Stoops said on Wednesday’s SEC Teleconference.

Ahead of the House vs. NCAA settlement, coaches were preparing to play a different numbers game, with scholarships increasing up to 105 players per season. Last week the SEC told its coaches to halt those plans. For the 2025 season, member schools will have an 85-scholarship player limit.

On Monday Mark Stoops said he wasn’t surprised by the decision, however, it’s clear they’re still working out the kinks to the equation. Right before jumping on the conference call, he was on the phone with compliance to ask for clarification about the roster limit.

“For us SEC head coaches to be on the number at 85 (scholarship players) when the spring semester starts, to say that it’s going to be complicated is a severe understatement,” said Stoops.

“So due to the fact that you just asked the question, we need to have some conversation about this, because it’s extremely hard. Knowing who’s leaving, know what you want to bring in the portal, that’s one thing, but then also high school. We’ve been thinking and talking about 105 and then 95 and then down to 85. I think if we all play by the same rules, we’re all good with it, but to say that that we need to hit it, you know, right on the number at 85 starting the first day of spring semester will be a challenge. That’s a severe understatement.”

Typically, getting below that 85-player threshold isn’t a problem in spring. In fact, it’s the opposite. With a departing senior class and only about half of the incoming freshman class enrolled for the spring, the roster is usually light. If a few injuries happen, as they did last spring, they may have to curtail just how active they are during spring practice because the numbers are so low.

Stoops Discusses NIL Decisions Schools Must Make

Unlike college basketball, in college football recruiting, the recruiting doesn’t end with a verbal commitment. Mark Stoops was asked by an Associated Press reporter how that may have changed since the emergence of NIL.

For the Kentucky head coach, it’s all about balancing the budget. Threading the needle has been a challenge.

“How much money do you have and how much money are you willing to invest in a high school player? You see around the country, some of them come in and have a drastic impact right away. Then the schools that have money to recruit the best players to still develop them. And then there’s others where, maybe you have to sink more money into the portal because like it or not, a lot of this is year to year now,” said Stoops.

The “recruit and develop” mantra was the foundation of Mark Stoops’ program. He admits that it’s just not the same. Resources must trickle down to high school recruiting only after they’re spent on retention and the transfer portal.

“I took great pride in building the program on taking those two, three-star guys, guys that we could get in the surrounding areas, and developing them into very good football players. But those days are over, and you better have a good team now. And you have to have the resources to get those players. So let’s just call it the way it is.

“I think that’s your question on the high school is, how much money do you have after you spend the money in the portal, after you reward the guys that you need to keep on your roster, and then how much money do you have to get the impact freshman guys?”