WATCH: Stoops, Players Talk Leadership at Kentucky Spring Practice

Attitude reflects leadership, and right now Kentucky’s leadership is not happy with his team’s attitude. Mark Stoops did not pull any punches after Saturday’s spring practice, sharing his disappointment in not only their performance, but the team’s work ethic.

“I just feel like we got a bunch of guys that are entitled and don’t work extremely hard. They think it’s going to happen and are waiting for the next guy to make it happen,” he said. “I’m not real pleased.”

Simply put, right now Kentucky isn’t tough enough. Even though Devin Leary wasn’t in Lexington until January, he knows the Wildcat aren’t playing up to that standard.

“Me coming in as a new guy, I gotta do a better job stepping up as well, upholding that standard,” said Leary. “I remember watching Kentucky before I even came here, and that’s what they were all about, hard-nosed, tough football.”

Leary is one of many newcomers learning what it means to play for Mark Stoops’ blue collar program. That’s why veteran offensive lineman Eli Cox believes there have been some early setbacks.

“There’s a lot of turnover so there’s going to be some disconnect at the beginning. We’ve got a lot of guys that haven’t been a part of this program for two months. That’s the majority of our roster. Devin, who you just talked to, he’s only been here a couple months and he’s trying to figure out what Kentucky’s all about. He’s done a great job,” said Cox.

“There’s a lot of guys in that position. I think we just really need to focus on driving home the rest of spring, all summer, all fall camp, what this program is built on because there’s a lot of guys who haven’t been here very long and they’re being asked to be a big parts of this team.”

The learning curve was not kind to the Kentucky football team on Saturday. The good news: there’s still plenty of time to turn things around before the season kicks off Sept. 2.

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