WATCH: Mark Stoops Excited to Kick Off Kentucky Football Spring Practice

It’s official: Kentucky football is BACK. Spring practice kicked off Monday morning at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility.

The first four days of spring practice will be light. The NCAA requires teams to ease into full contact. Kentucky will knock out the first four, take a week off for spring break, and then go hard for the final three weeks of the spring period.

The first days of spring practice are always the first for a new group. There are fewer holdovers than ever before, with 31 newcomers on the roster. Mark Stoops is now operating on a year-to-year basis. The Kentucky head coach is more comfortable preparing these guys how to practice before the practices actually begin.

“We are able to do a little more work with them in the offseason, so you’re able to get more work with them so you don’t feel like you’re out there day one where it’s just completely new,” Stoops told reporters.

“We’ve been meeting with these guys, we’ve been able to go through walk-throughs, and we’ve been able to do things… I feel like we got really good work in (today). I didn’t feel like it was a complete cluster like it has been in certain spring day No. 1s.”

After only one day of practice, Stoops wasn’t ready to dive into specifics on certain players. He still needs to see more, but the Kentucky head coach liked the energy he saw from his team on day one.

“We’re a work in progress. We have a lot to do, but it’s a great start. We’re excited. We’re excited about this opportunity, excited about spring. The guys had good juice, good energy. The focus has to be there…

“There’s no excuse to take any play off. In a game of 160 plays, you don’t know any one play that’s going to make the difference in the game. Practice is kinda the same way. We have to get into good habits, have great intensity, great focus, and great discipline the entire day. There were some really good moments today, and some we need to build on.”

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