The Primary Point of Emphasis in the Final Week of Kentucky Football Fall Camp

The final live reps of fall camp were on Saturday at Kroger Field. Even though they are finished tackling players to the ground, the hay is not completely in the barn before Kentucky kicks off the 2024 season.

Mark Stoops had a little extra pep in his step at the Louisville Kickoff Luncheon. That’s all thanks to a quirk in the calendar.

Typically, he makes the trip to Louisville to talk to Kentucky football fans on the first day of class for UK students. It coincides with the final week of the preseason, forcing the program to adjust its schedule. This year, class does not begin for another week, giving the players more time to exclusively focus on football.

“We’re going to continue camp, our camp schedule,” Stoops said Monday afternoon. “The practices are more intense because there’s not as much Scout work. We’re doing more good against good.”

The “good against good” Kentucky’s head coach is referring to is simply more reps between the first team offense and first team defense. Stoops is keeping his foot on the gas, although he doesn’t want to push the pedal too hard. After all, staying healthy is priority No. 1 at this point in the preseason.

“We have this extra time. We have to use it wisely, but we can’t push it too hard. I’ve already increased the volume from this camp to last year and the year before, we’re already increased. So we have additional days, today and tomorrow and Wednesday that we’re going to still continue to be pretty physical, continue to go good against good, but we do have to keep people healthy.”

Kentucky Must Execute in Critical Situations

The football team has a little extra time on their hands. They’re using it to focus on one of the biggest offseason points of emphasis for Stoops’ program, executing in critical situations.

“We have a lot to get done. Driving up here, I’m thinking about all of the things we have to get done tomorrow. I’ll be on the phone on the way back, putting together the practice schedule to continue to work some situational football that we have to get done this week,” Stoops said.

“As I tell the players, you can’t possibly simulate every scenario that’s going to happen, but you have to educate them as best you can and make them think about the situational work. Because just like I tell them, you could play winning football 99% of the game, but lose one situation and you lose the game.”

Kentucky made too many self-inflicted mistakes in key moments to win more than seven games last season. The Cats had opportunities to beat Tennessee, South Carolina, Louisville, and Clemson, but only made the late winning plays once. This week is all about making sure the team is playing winning football, no matter what circumstances are thrown their way.

“There’s a lot of what ifs. You get frustrated with what ifs. There’s a couple situations, a couple plays here and there,” said the Kentucky head coach. “But as I tell them, it’s not always the obvious ones, either. It’s all the things that everybody doesn’t see that could have changed the outcome of a game.”

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