Mark Stoops Rips 'Entitled' Team: 'We've Got No Leaders Right Now.'
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LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky football head coach Mark Stoops took the podium during the Wildcats' NFL Pro Day on Friday with a smile, happy to reflect on the careers of his former players and hand out some praise.
In true Stoops fashion, though, he threw in some coachspeak and a message directed at his incoming 2023 team:
"Let’s not blow things up until they really produce on the field on a consistent basis. That’s where we need to take our program to another level. Listen, we’re proud of our guys, we like to promote them and all that, but let’s go put it on the field. Let’s prove it. Let’s get back to playing with a chip on our shoulder.”
Finding consistency and playing with a chip on your shoulder are two mainstays in the football coach vocabulary, so why think anything of it? Well, as it turns out, there was a reason for his comments on Friday, as they were reinvigorated by some harsher words when speaking to reporters on Saturday afternoon.
A "pissed" Stoops spoke for less than four minutes, but got some things off his chest:
"I'm a little frustrated, a little disappointed, a little pissed, to be totally honest with you. Been a lackluster past couple of days," he said. "The guys we got right now, I don't if they think they're just gonna roll out of bed and be good, or whatever, but, it's not the same.
"We've got no leaders right now," he said with a blank face. "No excuse, bullshit, whatever it is.”
Saturday rounded out the second full week of spring practice, clearly leaving much to be desired. Senior linebacker J.J. Weaver attributed some of the early struggles to having a young group:
"I know the leadership that needs to be done. I'm working on it every day, we're just young. People pout, people do everything, we just got to accept the manhood and grow up," he said.
The adjustment falls on the shoulder of Weaver as well, as he's now the veteran in the linebacker room, due to the departure of DeAndre Square, Jacquez Jones and Jordan Wright.
"I've been stepping up to it, you know, breaking us down, talking to the guys after every practice, every play, I bring the defense together, trying to talk to them, tell them what we need to do and what not to do. It's been helping me a lot."
When senior offensive lineman Eli Cox was asked about Stoops comments, he pointed to the influx of transfers as well as freshmen, leading to a lack of early continuity among the group.
"I think it's harder to build a team these days ... there's just a lot of turnover, so there's going to be some disconnect in the beginning," he said. "We've got a lot of guys that haven't been a part of this program but for two months. That's a majority of our roster."
One of those guys is quarterback Devin Leary, who transferred in from NC State. The QB is often the natural leader of the team both on and off the field, so Stoops' comments can point the finger a little harder at certain players like Leary, though Stoops didn't single anyone out.
"The good thing is, it's practice. Obviously, we got to get better, we got to take if off of film, we just got get back to the hard-nosed Kentucky football that this program was built on," Leary said. "Me coming in as a new guy, I got to do a better job of stepping up as well, upholding that standard."
The brand, the standard, the backbone, all of that surrounds Stoops' frustration. He was able to see NFL coaches and GM's come in from around the country to scout players that he coached and helped develop, yet he knows his current locker room isn't worthy as April approaches.
Entitlement, he called it:
"We need to get back and play the way our brand was made, that was by being tough and being physical, playing physical on both sides of the line of scrimmage, run the ball...grateful for what we have, I just feel like we got a bunch of guys that are entitled and don't work extremely hard — think it's gonna happen, or waiting for the next guy to make it happen, and i'm not real pleased."
Cox, a Nicholasville, Ky. native and John Schlarmann product, agreed. He knows what "Kentucky football" looks like, so he and the rest of the veterans on the team have to try and bring that to the new faces.
"We just really need to focus on driving home — the rest of spring, all through summer, all through fall camp — what this program was built on, because there's a lot of guys that haven't been here very long, that are being tasked with being big part of this team," he said.
“I like to be a player-led team, but we’re not. We got to step it up,” Stoops said.
Message sent.
For more spring practice coverage, click HERE to learn about Jager Burton's adjustment to the center position.
Devin Leary discusses his decision to transfer to Kentucky HERE.
Ray Davis isn't following former Kentucky RB's footsteps. More HERE.
Want the latest on national football and basketball recruiting, including Cats targets? Head over to SI All-American for the latest news, blogs, and updates about the nation's best prospects.
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