Stoops: Kentucky ready to play 'somebody with a different colored jersey'

The Kentucky football season is so close, you can almost taste it. The Wildcats will kick off the 2023 campaign at Kroger Field against Ball State Saturday at Noon. After countless preseason practices, Mark Stoops and the Wildcats are ready to hit somebody else.

“I’m very excited about the opening weekend, getting in game week, getting all the preparations going and getting out there and playing somebody with a different colored jersey,” Stoops said on Wednesday’s SEC Coaches Teleconference.

“It gets to be a long offseason by the time you go through all of spring, summer, competing against each other through camp, all of those things. We try to simulate and put our players in as many different scenarios as you can, but the best way to do that is to go play some different competition. Looking forward to hosting Ball State a team from the MAC. They’re a typical MAC team that’s always very well-coached, that’s tough, that’s disciplined.”

Mark Stoops shared a message Sunday that he continues to echo to his team throughout the week. Even though they are playing a new opponent, the Wildcats are focused on putting the best versions of themselves out on the football field Saturday. That means executing and playing a clean football game.

“We just need to continue to be ourself and try to come out and play one play at a time and not worry about the end result, just put some quality, clean football on the field, starting with the opening snap. We’re really trying to focus on ourself. You can’t beat anybody until you stop beating yourself. We want to play a clean game here to start with.”

In Stoops’ 11th year the Wildcats are getting an extra leg up than some of his previous teams thanks to rule changes that allow for more offseason workouts. In past years, coaches could not be around the players if there was a ball on the field. Even though they were limited to just a few hours a week with a football in walk-throughs, those extra hours helped Liam Coen get ahead of schedule while re-implementing his offensive playbook.

“That gives us a lot of time, in particular offensively because you can really go through the sets and the calls, have the football out there with a little more autonomy than we used to have with what we wanted to do through the summer. Our guys worked exceptionally hard through the summer out there Tuesday and Thursday morning very, very early and put a lot of time in. Hopefully it will pay off,” said Stoops.

Kentucky’s head coach will speak one more time, Thursday evening, before the ball is kicked off Saturday afternoon. Don’t blink. It will be Football Time in the Bluegrass before you know it.

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