The Mark Stoops Show presented by UK HealthCare, November 17th 2025

The Voice of the Wildcats, Tom Leach talks with head coach Mark Stoops

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
The Cats Cats Show, the all time winning this football
coach at Lake University of Kentucky.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
The Kentucky Batcats go.

Speaker 3 (00:11):
Do you know what We're doing?

Speaker 4 (00:14):
Touch Down.

Speaker 5 (00:16):
From the UK Sports Network. This is the Mark Stoop
Show presented by UK Healthcare. To talk to Coach Stoops
called the Clark's Pumpin' Chop Big Blue online eight five
nine two eight zero Cats, that's eight five nine two
eight zero two two eight seven or state wide at
one eight hundred six oh six game that's one eight

(00:38):
hundred six oh six four two six three, or you
can tweet your questions to at UK Sports Network. The
Mark Stoop Show, presented by UK Healthcare begins. Here's the
voice of the Cats, Tom Leach.

Speaker 6 (01:00):
Good day, everybody, Welcome in to the Mark Stoop Show,
presented by UK Healthcare. As the Wildcats notched their third
consecutive victory on Saturday, beating Tennessee Tech forty two to ten.
Back into the SEC this week for the final conference
game of the season against the Vanderbilt Commodores, the top

(01:21):
fifteen team nationally. Three point thirty Eastern time is the
kickoff down at de Vandy and it'll be on ESPN
we'll have the call of the UK Radio network with
pregame coverage starting at one thirty. Cutter bowlie Freshman of
the Week in the SEC for the third week in
a row. And here are just a few of the
impressive numbers that he put up. Completion percentage of eighty

(01:44):
five point seven was the best for a UK quarterback
since nineteen eighty six when Bill Ransdell set the school record.
Going twenty to twenty three, Cutter was eighteen of twenty one.
Cutter's the first UK quarterback with a completion percentage of
seventy four percent in four different games since Tim Couch
in ninety eight, first freshman quarterback with a touchdown pass

(02:05):
in four straight games since Jared Lorenzen in the two
thousand season. Get a theme there of the names we're
mentioning him in connection with some of these marks. And
then Kendrick Law had his best game as a wildcat
eleven catches for one hundred and twenty four yards. He
certainly I think merited some All SEC or SEC Player

(02:25):
of the Week consideration. So we'll talk about all of
this coming up with Coach Stoops And if you want
to go ahead and jump online, you can give us
a call on the Clark's Pumping Shop phone line, or
you can post a question on social media. Go to
x and post at UK Sports Network. Tomorrow I'll be
in New York at the Garden for Kentucky men's basketball

(02:47):
against Michigan State. And if you are up there already
or heading up there, there's a pregame party for the
UK alums at Jack Dempsey's where they always meet. That's
on West thirty third Street in Manhattan and just a
short walk over to the Garden. It is a free
event with some special giveaways. It's the New York City
UK Alumni Club, that scholarship fund that puts that on

(03:10):
every year. So where you're blue and white if you're
heading to that Tomorrow afternoon, we're heading to a break
and we'll come back with Coach Stoops in just a moment.
Here are the UK Sports Network.

Speaker 5 (03:21):
You are listening to the Mark Stoope Show presented by
UK Healthcare on the UK Sports Network.

Speaker 4 (03:37):
Now.

Speaker 5 (03:37):
Mark Stoop Show is front to you by Kroger, Little Caesars,
UK Healthcare and by Coca Cola.

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Let's go cut it loose and have them on.

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You got Mark Stoop Show presented by UK Healthcare. It's
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Places, Welcome back into the show. Celebrate the holidays at Malones,
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Contact Malons to begin planning. The holidays are at hand
and we are here to talk Kentucky football with you
for the remainder of this As the Wildcats get set
to head down to Nashville on Saturday, game kicks at
three thirty Eastern time. Our pregame will start at one
thirty on these UK Sports Network stations. If you haven't

(07:11):
done this already, go to UK Athletics dot com, backslash,
sink s y n C Sync and they that will
explain how you can sync up the radio broadcast to
the TV coverage of the game on Saturday. As we
welcome in coach Mark Stoop's three wins in a row.

Speaker 4 (07:29):
Congratulations, Thank you Tom.

Speaker 10 (07:32):
Definitely please with the way we played Saturday, you know
it was nice to play a relatively clean game, you know,
started fast and played pretty good and had an opportunity
to play many young guys.

Speaker 4 (07:46):
So that was a good thing.

Speaker 10 (07:48):
How about practice today, very good, you know, beautiful day outside.
The guys are energetic, you know, they know it's a
big game and we just want to keep it going.
You know, the the preparation the weeks. You and I
have sat here and talked Monday after Monday, and the
guys who are in a really good place and just

(08:08):
eager to get better. So it's another opportunity here this week.

Speaker 6 (08:12):
When this has to be maybe the toughest time in
college sports to keep a team together, I would think
with the transfer portal and I all these other things
that are at their social media distractions, all of that.
So you must have some really strong leaders to have
withstood some adversity and to come out of it and
gone on this winning street.

Speaker 10 (08:32):
Yeah, no question. Just you know, I've said it over
and over again because it's true. Just really good people.
You know, they're great young men. They really care about
their teammates, they care about the team, the school. They've
played extremely hard all year and it's nice to see
our execution catching up with our effort. You know, the

(08:53):
guys have played, you know, exceptionally hard, just starting to
put it together and executing at a higher level.

Speaker 6 (09:00):
It's really cool to see some of the unselfish plays guys,
you know, for instance, wide receivers blocking on the outside.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
We talked about this after the game Saturday.

Speaker 6 (09:07):
Some of Kendrick's plays where you're throwing those horizontal screens
to him, they you know it requires to make those
turn into more than a yard or two. Really good
blocking getting that. Think of what now Dell has done
picking up blitzes, you know, Cutter able to turn the
corner on Saturday. You're getting guys doing their.

Speaker 4 (09:26):
Job without a doubt, and you hit on it.

Speaker 10 (09:28):
The unselfish play by many of the groups. In particular,
I think you can point out the wide receiver room
because what wide out doesn't want to catch the football
a bunch of times? Right, But they're willing to sacrifice.
There's a rotation in there. You know, some of the
older guys like Jay Mack and JJ and you know

(09:50):
they're still in there fighting whatever amount of reps they
get and doing all the dirty work and doing anything
necessary to help us win. While young guys are getting
some reps and getting some catches and so, uh, they've
been very unselfish. They've been working really hard and and
you know ultimately that that group is playing as good
as we have in a long time. So really proud

(10:12):
of that group. You mentioned Dante, all the running backs
just blitz pick up. It's physical. This is gonna be
another big physical game here this week. So but they've
been very unselfish, and you know, that's one of the
things I'm most most pleased about.

Speaker 6 (10:26):
Your two open dates came fairly close together, so you
had a long stretch of games to finish the season,
and so that does take a toll. And you've had
four new starters in there on defense last Saturday, and
Khalil got hurt. Sauted, like you said at your presser
today that maybe the outlooks a little better for him
than you initially thought.

Speaker 4 (10:44):
I hope, So you know, we'll see.

Speaker 10 (10:45):
But yeah, we were down you know, for you know, starters,
you know, you know, relative really new injuries too, so
you know, just a lot of guys are stepping up.
You know, we we have played quite a few defensive
guys early all year, so that's the good news offensively,
We're staying decently healthy, so that helps.

Speaker 6 (11:07):
If you have questioned for coach stops, you can send
it in on ex at UK Sports Network. You can
call it the Clark's Pump and Shop phone line. We're
to come back continue our conversation here in the bit
and we'll get some of your questions when we return.
This is the UK Sports Network, Goline Twork.

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Speaker 6 (14:33):
Welcome back into the show. We'll get to some of
your questions here in just a bit. For Coach Stoops,
we want to continue our chat for a few more minutes,
we'll get to our Alumni Hall Fan question of the week,
and I'm gonna make it this one. If you look
at the Vandy quarterback Diego Pave which we're going to
talk about here with coach Stoops, who does he remind

(14:56):
you of in terms of the defensive challenge that he
will present to the Wildcats. Send that into Alumni Hall
uk on X and you'll have a chance to win
an Alumni Hall gift card. It's gonna be quite an
interesting quarterback battle two of the best ones in the league.

Speaker 2 (15:11):
Pavia.

Speaker 6 (15:12):
I was telling you Brad White, we were asked, Jeff
and I were asking him last week. Does the quarterback
Visparis for Tennessee Tech? Is he similar at all to Pavia?
Because of his running ability and he had some impressive scrambles,
but he said no, Pavia runs more like a linebacker.

Speaker 4 (15:27):
Yeah, yeah, Pavia.

Speaker 10 (15:28):
To your question there, Tom, I can't think of anybody
that Diego compares to. You know, he's and that's a
compliment to him. You know, he's kind of very unique.
He makes some of truly amazing plays each and every week,
and you know, the game kind of runs through him.
They're very good across the board. But Diego is certainly worth,

(15:53):
you know, all the praise that he's been getting because
he's been playing really incredible. But you are right, our
guy is playing lights out and that's what I like
to concentrate on because Cutter is playing really good football.
It was great to see again this past week. You know,
you and I've been talking about some of the kind
of amazing statistics that he's been getting in, you know,

(16:14):
in particular completion percentage, and this past week it felt like,
you know, things just felt okay to me. And then
I look at the stats and it was eighteen for
twenty one once again, and you know, the couple of
the incompletions, I know, were we're going in the direction
and the win was really how when at that time,

(16:34):
you know, it was interesting, but it's like he made
an adjustment and you know, from that point on, extremely consistent.

Speaker 6 (16:42):
He's a little like I mean, he's had three games
in a row now where he's had a stretch of
ten consecutive completions or more, two elevens and a.

Speaker 2 (16:51):
Ten last week like a you know, a.

Speaker 6 (16:54):
Golfer when he's in a groove and just everything's right
down the middle, everything's in the perfect spot.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 10 (16:59):
Yeah, And I think Bush has done a really good
job of getting them off to good starts and you know,
getting them some completions and him getting comfortable and you know,
like last week, I thought one of the you know,
impressive plays was the strike that he threw, you know,
on second and extremely long to hardly but not only

(17:19):
you know, with the throw and the catch by hardly
in the run, but but the fact that it came
right after a massive sack.

Speaker 4 (17:24):
Yeah, you know, he got.

Speaker 10 (17:25):
Hit, got a big sack. Next play, just regroups, steps
right up in the pocket and just absolutely rips one
right in between two defenders and gets a huge completion.
It just kind of shows you the mentality that he has.

Speaker 6 (17:39):
One of his teams. I can't Rember, who was talked
about this, but the first time you put him in
a game, he threw a.

Speaker 4 (17:44):
Pick six yeah Florida, Yeah, and.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
Didn't phase him then.

Speaker 6 (17:48):
And I think back is the Vanderbilt game comes up.
Maxwell Harston had a rough moment in a in a
Vandy game couple of years ago, and three maybe and
he comes back in the next two, Well, he've went
down there. He got two pick sixes against them. That's right,
he became an NFL caliber.

Speaker 10 (18:08):
Yeah, you're right. I forgotten about that. You know, my
brain's not going back that far. But but yeah, certainly
you are correct with that with Maxwell, and I remember
you and I talking about it on this show.

Speaker 2 (18:19):
These are said than done.

Speaker 4 (18:21):
Yeah, without a doubt.

Speaker 10 (18:22):
But you know, for our guy being so young, you know,
he has to be resilient like that and have a
short memory. Like I said, it's just to me, that's
very impressive, you know, along with his physical attributes and
the way he's playing. You know, I guess we're going
to have to put some bigger shoulder pads on him.

(18:42):
After that that run he had last week, you know,
that was pretty impressive. I think the media asked me
that right after the game, and you know, I don't
get stumped too often, tom do. I mean, you know,
I mean after a lot of years, but I didn't.
I didn't know what to think of that that run.
You know, the fact that he's healthy afterwards, you know,
kind of fires me up because you know the team

(19:03):
likes it.

Speaker 4 (19:03):
You all know, that kind of sets the tone.

Speaker 6 (19:05):
It's I mean on social media. I don't know how
many times a day, you'll see somebody putting that clip up.

Speaker 4 (19:11):
Yeah, I wouldn't know. I'm not good for you, good
or bad.

Speaker 2 (19:16):
Tom.

Speaker 4 (19:16):
I am on no social media, very good for a
few years now. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:20):
So you just got the text chain with your coaching body.

Speaker 4 (19:23):
We do have the text chain about well. Sometimes they
send things on social I'm like, what's it saying? Guys?
I can't open it up, so I have to get
somebody else to open it up.

Speaker 2 (19:33):
Any of them talking to you about.

Speaker 10 (19:36):
No, no, no, we all are. We're pretty much all
knee deep in this right now. So everybody's just holding on.

Speaker 6 (19:44):
He They did a feature on Game Day Saturday with
coach Saban and he was talking about arch Manning and
how he had improved his numbers and he illustrated and
he used a clip from the Kentucky game how his
footwork was a little sloppy and he was throwing going
off balance, and then he used some clips from recent
games where he was much better fundamentally and that was

(20:07):
leading to improvement.

Speaker 2 (20:08):
Did Cutter have to go through any of that?

Speaker 10 (20:09):
There were some things I don't need to get into
great detail. Bush has done a remarkable job with him.
I think from a game plan standpoint. And then also
I've mentioned the addition of Michael Hartline. You know, Michael
is a very good influence on him. Michael was a
very good quarterback here. He played the position he played
it at Kentucky, had some ups and downs here, and
he's very good fundamentally, and he's been very good for

(20:31):
Cutter because you know, they're a good balance. I mean,
you still have Bush who's the OC and quarterback coach and.

Speaker 4 (20:37):
Spends time with him meetings.

Speaker 10 (20:39):
But sometimes when you're coming up at night or during
the day and Bush is knee deep in the in
the game plan and overwhelmed with what we're going to do,
Michael has the time to go through things with him,
and he's a I think, very good calming person for him.
And and you know, I think some of it, and
you know, I'm a dB guy, but the urgency of

(21:01):
footwork and Cutter just being a little bit more urgent
and paying attention to it. He made some corrections early on,
but you know the great thing about Cutter is he
picks things up very fast.

Speaker 4 (21:13):
So it's been really good.

Speaker 6 (21:15):
One thing you mentioned, the DBS you had to because
of injury, put a true freshman out there to start
his first game, Grant Greyton.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
Yeah, when you watch the tape, how did he look?

Speaker 10 (21:24):
Yeah, Grant did some really good things, you know, and
he's played an awful lot, you know, with some injuries
here this year, but he went out there and played
the majority of the game and is doing well.

Speaker 2 (21:35):
We're gonna get to a break.

Speaker 6 (21:36):
We'll come back get some of your questions for coach
doops when we're finished up. Make sure you stay tuned
for BBN Radio presented by Clark's Pumping Shop with Darren Hedrick,
and tonight he'll talk to Zoe Hammond from UK Tennis
and with Logan Stenberg from our UK Sports Network pregame show,
former Wildcat offensive lineman the big Blue wall up there
in front of Cutter Bowl. He's doing great work right now.

(21:59):
Logan can talk about that and how that's come together.
It's all coming up right here on The Mark Stoop Show,
presented by UK Healthcare on the UK Sports Network.

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Three in a row for the Cats.

Speaker 6 (24:21):
They meet Tennessee Tech forty two to ten, first loss
of the season for Tech, and now the Wildcats go
back into conference play for the final conference game of
the season at Nashville on Saturday afternoon against the Vanderbilt Commodores.
And think that stadium, if all the renovations are complete
or certainly very close to it, it's going to look

(24:43):
a lot different than when Kentucky was down there two
years ago. If you have a question for coach stops,
you can give us a call on the Clark's Pumping
shop phone line. It's eight hundred six oh six four
two six three inside Lexington Direct call eight five nine
two to eight to zero two to a. Questions on
social media can be posted on x at UK Sports Network.

(25:07):
That is the address and thank you for the water coach.
Stoops is here ready to take your questions and let
me start with one that listener emailed in. When is
signing day and how's recruiting going.

Speaker 10 (25:23):
Yeah, recruiting's going very good. And the early signing period
will be in December. Once again, a lot of that
happens in the summer. We got quite a few verbal
commitments in the summer. A lot of people ask and
the old days, it used to be, you know, kind
of a panic if somebody decommitted and all that. And
now in the portal era and all that, it's, uh,

(25:45):
you know, we do a lot of work up front
and in the summer, and these guys have been very
locked in, very committed, you know, and so we'll sign
them up in December and it's going very well.

Speaker 6 (25:55):
And then one portal window. Now that's different.

Speaker 10 (25:57):
One portal window and that'll come in January. That's a
little different. So it gives us an opportunity after the
season to really focus on our team, have meetings with
our players kind of. And it's it's really it's new
every year, Tom, I mean this year, now you know,
the contracts so to speak. They're coming from the university.

(26:21):
So it's not like it was last year third party
and all that and collectives and so now it's coming
from the university. And so really there's a balancing act
towards the end of the year right now, with finishing
up the year strong, but so securing your team, you know,
for the future, and you know, so there's a lot

(26:42):
a lot happening in the next two to four weeks.

Speaker 6 (26:46):
One of the great signing day or approaching signing day
stories was Josh Allen, who was able to get a
scholarship offer from you guys because somebody else de committed. Yeah,
and he only had one other off at that point,
I believe from Monmouth.

Speaker 2 (27:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (27:02):
Yesterday, This is just a lead up to say, yesterday,
the former Wildcat legend set the all time sacks record
for the Jacksonville Jaguars franchise.

Speaker 10 (27:13):
Yep, does not surprise me. You know, just so proud
of Josh. He's around quite often. He was back again
during their bye week and you know, always get a
chance to see him and Kate and uh He's always
present around our university. He cares about it, he spends
time with our players. Just a phenomenal human being. And

(27:37):
you know when I said that today in my press conference,
didn't surprise me that he's the all time sack leader
with Jacksonville. He did that here and where he goes,
he leaves that kind of legacy. He's just he's that
kind of guy. He's a franchise guy. Uh So I'm
happy for him. I'm happy for Jacksonville. You know, they
have a great one in Josh. And you know, more importantly,

(27:58):
he's just a great hum, a great person.

Speaker 6 (28:01):
I want to go back to Kendrick Law for a
minute because I remember the kickoff luncheon back in July,
was you and Bush and Brad up there on the
podium with me and Bush at that point said something
I can't remember the exact quote, but that the offense,
a lot of the offense will run through Kendrick because
you were very excited about getting this young man and
he was a little slow out of the gate, as

(28:23):
was you know, the offense with fitting new peoples together.
But the thing that has impressed me about him, he's
on an incredible role right now.

Speaker 2 (28:30):
But you never heard him complain.

Speaker 6 (28:33):
And he always, as far as I could tell, was
doing his job blocking and all those other things while
he wasn't getting the balls thrown his way.

Speaker 10 (28:39):
He's amazing, you know, just a great, great person. You know,
once again, one of those guys that just he's competitive,
he cares. I mean, he works hard every day in practice,
every day through this summer. He does anything we ask
him to do. Go down and you know, be the
gunner on punt team, he's the first one down.

Speaker 4 (29:00):
The guy would run down on kickoff. We'd let him.
I mean, he would do just about anything.

Speaker 10 (29:04):
And you know, a play that I mentioned today in
my presser as well was one of the ones that
Cutter came to him on a late checkdown. We tried
to get a shot play on the boundary and wasn't open.
They covered it and he came back and had the
check down and I mean he took it and it

(29:25):
was amazing catch. And then the physicality that he runs
with I mean is impressive. It was right in front
of us, and I mean you could I mean you
know I felt it, and I was standing about twenty
feet away when he got tackled. But I could promise
you that defender will think twice about, you know, confronting
him again like that.

Speaker 2 (29:43):
So very physical player and quite a hurdler for me.

Speaker 4 (29:48):
Quite a hurdler, Yes, quite a hurdler.

Speaker 10 (29:50):
You and I. You asked me after the game on
our radio show if anybody didn't hear that. But Tom
asked me about if I taught him that, and I
was like, well I did, Actually, yeah I did.

Speaker 4 (30:00):
Didn't didn't quite look like that.

Speaker 10 (30:03):
I was a good eight inches off the ground when
I when I did it.

Speaker 4 (30:07):
Yeah, he was a little higher than just a little higher.

Speaker 6 (30:11):
Kudos to coach Washington, the job he's done with those
guys who having managing so many different people there, getting
them all to buy in and you know, one it's
kind of as they always say, you kind of the
ball finds its way to you. It was Kendrick's day
the other day, but uh, you know, Hester's had five catches,
three of her touchdowns.

Speaker 2 (30:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 10 (30:32):
I was really happy for JJ, you know, the week
before against Florida getting us off to a good start.
That was a great play, great catch and finished that
he had for the touchdown k Law this past week.
You know, ld has done a remarkable job coaching those guys,
he really has. They've you know, it took us a
while to find the rotation, to find the right guys

(30:52):
and for the freshmen to come along. But but as
we mentioned on an earlier segment segment, they're all bought
in and ever their role is, they're doing it at
a high level. You know, Fred Ferrier is a guy
that I love that that was a captain for us
this past week because because yeah, and he's but he
does anything you ask him to do, and he's reliable

(31:14):
and he's in there, you know, and I really appreciate that.
You know, the other day we had you know, one
of you know, they we fumbled one and what did
we do? You know, we just picked him up and
you know, and the other guys picked him up and
we overcame it and and so you know things are
going to happen.

Speaker 4 (31:31):
But but everybody's you know, stepping up. That was you
know j Mac.

Speaker 10 (31:35):
You know, the fumble hurt, but you know he came
back in later in that half and had.

Speaker 4 (31:41):
Some catches that set up a touchdown. So I'm really
proud of those guys as a group.

Speaker 6 (31:45):
If you have a question, you could give us a
call on the Clark's Pupping Shot phone line or you
could send it in on x. We have one on
social media at UK Sports Network to get to when
we come right back halfway home. On this edition of
The Mark Stoop Show, presented by UK Healthcare, the UK
Sports Network crows for the inside.

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On Saturday, got a question from Chase at UK Sports Network.

(35:33):
What's going to be the key to stopping Diego Pavia
and the Vandy offense.

Speaker 10 (35:37):
You know, I talked about that a little bit today
with Diego. You know, nobody has just completely stopped him.
You know, he's the type of guy. It's kind of
like that when you use your basketball analogy when you
have certain players right that are gonna they're gonna go off,
They're gonna score, They're gonna they're gonna score some points,

(35:57):
you know, And uh, with Diego, he's gonna make his place.
He's gonna make some plays with his legs, he's gonna
make some plays with his arm, he's gonna make some
plays with his leadership. But we have to make ours,
you know, we have to make enough plays to win
the game. We have a very good football team and
we're playing very confidently right now, and we just have

(36:18):
to play great as a team.

Speaker 4 (36:19):
You know.

Speaker 10 (36:20):
But uh, Iego is he's worth the praise that he's
getting right now. Once again, he's really an impressive player.
But you know, it's it's uh, you know, football is
the ultimate team sports.

Speaker 2 (36:32):
Pete, give you any intel on him.

Speaker 10 (36:34):
Yeah, yeah, she has is a man of few words,
but uh, but he's he's a fun one though.

Speaker 4 (36:43):
He's a great one.

Speaker 6 (36:44):
Let's get to call it the Clark's puppet shot phone line, Dennis,
what do you have.

Speaker 14 (36:50):
Hey, guys for a small coach. I appreciate what you've done.

Speaker 2 (36:53):
Here at the University of Tay Thank you.

Speaker 14 (36:56):
I appreciate that. Uh, how is I know Sam Green's
got hurt and love it. And I know Sam Green
was playing real good football. And how's Cam?

Speaker 10 (37:12):
Yeah, Cam was our defensive player of the game this
past week. So Cam really stepped in and had a
heck of a game. Of course, Cam has had quite
a few reps, you know, and so he uh, you know,
he's done. You know, you know, he's played a lot.
You know, we had a lot of confidence in him.
But uh, Cam Olds and Steven Souls are guys that

(37:33):
played a bunch of football at outside linebacker as well, uh,
filling in you know for Sam, and Sam was really
playing good football for us. He's a great another great one,
really inspirational guy, plays extremely hard. You love having him
on the field, and you know him and Jordan love it,
both of them. We miss him you know, we missed
their leadership, we missed their energy, but we have guys

(37:54):
that are stepping up and playing well behind them.

Speaker 2 (37:57):
Anything else Dennis.

Speaker 14 (38:00):
Playing out here. About three weeks ago, coach, I was
on social media and so that we had a shot
to win these next free games. People kind of made
fun of me. Oh you know what I'm saying. They
asked me what I was drinking and anyway, so.

Speaker 6 (38:17):
I'm glad that.

Speaker 14 (38:19):
So let's go up win these next two games, and
it makes more people mad right here as well.

Speaker 4 (38:24):
Thanks Dennis.

Speaker 10 (38:25):
I appreciate your sport and glad we made your your
comments come true. And we're looking for the next one.

Speaker 4 (38:32):
Now.

Speaker 10 (38:32):
We just want to it's coach speak, but it's so true.
We want to go one to know here this week, man,
we want to win this one.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
Thank you Dennis for the for the call. Uh.

Speaker 6 (38:43):
Defense played really well right now despite some injury issues.
I was looking at numbers in the month of November,
Kentucky's number one in yards per game allowed in the
SEC and number one in yards per attempt only four
point three and giving up big plays.

Speaker 10 (38:59):
Was it is, yah, it really was. We've played better
team defense. The defensive backs have done a better job
keeping things in front of them. Uh, we've been cleaner
on the perimeter, making tackles, making people earn their yards,
and the guys have you know, continue to play hard,
and I challenged them once again today, each and every

(39:20):
week it's a team of ours. I mean, we have
to continue to play extremely hard, but we've got to
continue to execute in this game. You know, is going
to be a lot of stress in that area, critical moments.
This team is hard to get off the field. They
execute on third downs, they execute on fourth downs, Uh,

(39:40):
you know, critical plays. We have to invest a lot
of time during practice this week and be on point
with winning those situations because it's going to be definitely
uh you know, a game that could come down to
some you know, critical you know situations. And I've said
it on the radio before. I said to my team
all the time, you could play ninety percent of a game, well,
ninety five percent of a game well, and if you

(40:02):
don't play one situation right, then you can lose.

Speaker 6 (40:05):
Month of November. Vani's number one and third down conversions,
you know who's number two? US Yep, yep, yeah, there
you go. Could be quite a battle between those two
QBS and those teams to watch on Saturday, and you
can start your coverage with our coverage which is the
Jack Burferd Chevrolet Countdown to Kickoff Show with Christy Logan
and Ricky That gets going at one thirty Eastern time

(40:28):
on Saturday, and then we'll have the broadcast live at
three point thirty from the press Box in Nashville jefficorro
Di Gabriel and I. So make sure you're tuned in.
Go to UK Athletics dot com backslash sync and you
can sync up the radio broadcast with the TV coverage
on ESPN. We'll take a break and come back with
more of the Mark Stoop Show, presented by UK Healthcare

(40:48):
all the UK Sports Network.

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(43:21):
buy for. Kentucky and Vanny coming up on Saturday from Nashville.
It's a series historically that has always been very close.
I think there have been forty games that have been
decided by seven points or fewer, as was the game
last year. I had a question from Ben asking about

(43:42):
how fans can contribute exclusively for football and has it
changed with the new plan for operating in the NIL
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(44:07):
what you're looking to do.

Speaker 10 (44:08):
So thanks to men, appreciate it, yep, and all help
is greatly appreciated.

Speaker 6 (44:14):
Question on social media from Sean at UK Sports Network
asking about the run schemes that you're doing now. When
coach Grant was here you had some great rushing attacks
and he asks, is it different from what it was
then what you're doing now.

Speaker 10 (44:28):
That's a good question. There is definitely some carryover, you know,
some of the gaps, the zone schemes and the gap schemes. Listen,
you know, football's football. Some people may feature outside zone
or inside zone or split zone er there's so many
different ways. But zone schemes are zone schemes. Then you
have gap schemes. And so when coach Grant was here,

(44:51):
we were we spent a lot of time not only
running those plays, but how we dress them up, how
we ran them, whether they're out of unbalanced, whether they
were out of big sets, out of you know, eleven
personnel sets, you name it. We were We were a
little more complex than people think. You know, Vandy is

(45:13):
like that. Vandy is they can go on a deep
dive on what they do in their run scheme and
what they do out of unbalanced and what they do
out of certain things. They are, they're they're they're tough,
they're good, you know in that way. So I give
them a lot of credit with the with how they're
running the ball, and of course I love the way

(45:34):
we're running it as well. It's just you kind of
you know, at some point you gotta it's time on task, right,
It's like how much time do you have and and
how can you execute? But like I think why I
say it's similar in some ways because we would maybe
add just a different wrinkle each and every week. And

(45:56):
that's where Vandy can. They could run their plays. They're
very good at them, but they could dress them up
so many different ways, and they do. When you put
it all down there, it's a lot and they they're
they're very good at it.

Speaker 6 (46:07):
Because of the defensive side of you know, I've heard
you talk about this and brand it's all about recognizing
and firing yeah, and if they give you something you
haven't seen on tape, that's where.

Speaker 2 (46:17):
Maybe you have a little hesitation.

Speaker 10 (46:19):
Everybody dresses things up different. And uh, of course that
was us, you know, and I'm talking specifically in the
run game when they were talking about that comparison Vandy
this year compared to last year. Uh, They're they're really
throwing it at a high clip and so effective. Diego
has been really impressive with the way they're throwing the ball,

(46:39):
in particular the last you know, three or four weeks,
but really all season.

Speaker 6 (46:43):
We've talked so much about him and their offense. On
the other side of the ball, What when they're playing
well defensively, what do they do well?

Speaker 10 (46:51):
They they you know, they do a lot of things
well if you know, first of all, you know they
they they play hard. You know, they're very fundamentally sound.
Can be multiple they could get down in three you know,
much like us defensively, they could be three down, they
could be four down. They could they could show three down,
stem the four down or vice versa. Bring pressure from anywhere.

(47:11):
They they you know, run a variety of blitzes, whether
it's the illusion of pressure, so the you know, the
the simulated pressures where they could be multiple in their coverage.
They could you know, they're you know, probably similar to
us in that the percentage is probably about the same
in some form of zone compared to man. But they

(47:34):
do play some man. The other thing with Vandy that
you give them credit for is there they're they're gonna
bring They're gonna bring some pressure as well. They're not
afraid to bring you know, all out pressures and of
course that's been effective for us this year as well,
So you know, they do it. They just do a
very good job across the board.

Speaker 6 (47:52):
How has Cutter improved through these last couple of months
in terms of, you know, recognizing things when people I'm
sure people are throwing all kinds of crazy curves.

Speaker 10 (48:00):
At it, crazy curves at him. But I think the
you know, the offensive line has given him time to
go through his progressions and he has become more more confident.
He also like, there are times when you just have
to get on the move. I mean, look at Diego,
who we're talking about. He's the ultimate guy off schedule.

(48:21):
But everybody, every college, really college in pro you watch quarterbacks,
they're going to make plays off schedule. But you know,
Cutter has done a really nice job in rhythm and
on time and through progressions when they're there and when
he has time. And then he also has done a
nice job when he's off schedule. And again, if he's
playing a guy that is kind of like the ultimate
you know what I mean, When he when he's off schedule,

(48:42):
he is extremely dangerous.

Speaker 6 (48:44):
Yes, that's what excites it seems like it's certainly it
has been the case when Jeff and I will talk
to Bush when he talks about when you find a guy,
it's it's one thing to have the right play call
and it works and you're they're blitzing and you run
a screen and it works perfectly or something like that.
But there's time when they win the chess match, and
what can your guy do to freelance a little bit

(49:05):
and still make a play when the other guy has
a little bit of an.

Speaker 4 (49:07):
Advantage, no doubt.

Speaker 10 (49:09):
And and again I just give Cutter an awful lot
of credit because I just feel like he has a
great presence about him.

Speaker 4 (49:19):
You know, he really does.

Speaker 10 (49:20):
He's really hanging in there and delivering the football in
the pocket how you want it to be done. And
he's he's and he's being decisive, he's making good reads,
and he's he's getting rid of the football he's and
that takes good vision and he's doing those things, but
yet you have to be able to pull it down
by some time. And and he's throwing it accurate on

(49:42):
the run and and he's been very comfortable on the move.
So you know, again, just super impressed with Cutter and
the way he's going about his business. And he's very comfortable.
He's out there playing ball. He's playing football and we
know that from recruitnum he's always been excellent at that
and just playing ball and being a great leader. So
we got to just continue to give them that time

(50:04):
and again the receiver's got to continue to make tough
catches for him as well.

Speaker 2 (50:09):
Larry had a.

Speaker 6 (50:09):
Question about defending Diego Pavia. We've talked a lot about that,
but we do appreciate the question, Larry. Hopefully, if you've
heard the show tonight, you've got the.

Speaker 2 (50:18):
Answer of that.

Speaker 6 (50:19):
We'll come back and have one more segment with Coach
Stops when we return. This is the Mark Stoops Show,
presented by UK Healthcare of the UK Sports Network.

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Speaker 2 (53:35):
For complete coverage of the Cats.

Speaker 6 (53:37):
Like UK sports Network on Facebook, follow on Instagram. It's
at UK Underscore Sports Network, or you can follow on
x at UK sports Network. Got just a little bit
of time left for questions If you want to call
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(54:00):
at the matchup between Kentucky and Vandy on Saturday, he
didn't get much work Saturday. But your punter's come through
for you big time. I guess Auburn was the best example.
But Aiden is Yeah, Aiden, that was tough condition the
other day.

Speaker 10 (54:17):
Yeah, it really was. Aiden's been really good player all year. So,
you know, we we've been pretty solid. Knock on wood,
we didn't. We had the one game where the punt
the punt coverage units hurt us in the in the
Texas game, that's for sure, But outside of that, we've
been really solid.

Speaker 6 (54:34):
The most focused group, the most the challenge to stay focused,
I guess it is the best way to put it.
For a particular group has to be the kickoff team.

Speaker 10 (54:43):
Yeah, yeah, without a doubt, because you never know when
we may mishit one and it not go out of
the end zone.

Speaker 4 (54:49):
But you know, well he kicked one out of bounds
the other day.

Speaker 2 (54:51):
But yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, he was trying to keep
it under the wind.

Speaker 10 (54:54):
Yeah, the wind was definitely a factor. And he has
such a strong leg and our guys usually do so
such a good job of placing the ball where we
want it, you know, I, you know, I had to
talk with their special team coach, who does a remarkable job.
Jays of perfectionist. He really does a great job, and
that was kind of my point to him. I'm like, man,
let's just let's see him it at the gold post

(55:15):
and not it, you know what I mean, Just and
and hit it. You know, hit it hard. If it
curves a little left with that wind, and so be it.
If it goes straight, so be it. Our guys will
cover you know, in general, we don't want to kick
the ball right down in the middle of the field.
But I felt like the way our guys are humming
and moving fast and the way he kicks it, we'll
be able to you.

Speaker 4 (55:34):
Know, we'll cover it.

Speaker 2 (55:35):
Well.

Speaker 6 (55:36):
Got a couple of minutes left if you have a
question for Coach Dukes. You got a chance to get
a look at a lot of young guys, certainly back
freshman quarterback, and I know you wanted to get both
of those guys in to get a look at them
for the future. But there were a lot of players
that didn't get to play much and they put in
a lot of hard work.

Speaker 2 (55:54):
So it's great to be able to reward them.

Speaker 4 (55:56):
Yeah, they really do.

Speaker 2 (55:57):
You know.

Speaker 10 (55:57):
It was senior day and you know, tried to play
a lot of those guys and just you know, just
have such appreciation, you know, for our players. And you know, listen,
I said that to our guys at halftime, you know,
because I felt like we played pretty solid. We give
up that drive that you know pissed me off because
you know, you want to get those players in as

(56:21):
early as you can. You know, we're playing a team
that was good, right, you know they were Yeah, won
fifteen games in a row.

Speaker 4 (56:30):
They were good.

Speaker 10 (56:30):
But they also did a nice job of kind of
shortening the game some too, you know what I mean,
And so the possessions were at a premium. You we
all know we're a methodical team. Now, we'd use tempo
when we used it again effectively at times last Saturday,
and tried to you know, just speed up play to
get some reps under our belt and to try to
get some points and pull away because you just want

(56:53):
to get those guys in there as early as possible.

Speaker 4 (56:56):
You know, I remember last year, if forget who the
heck it was, you'd probably know, but you.

Speaker 10 (57:00):
Know, I put in some guys early, and they scored,
and all of a sudden, it becomes a game, you know,
real and you you can't do that, but but it
is important to reward some of the guys that are
down the line, maybe true freshmen that are red shirting
that you're going to count on the future. Some walk
ons that dedicate a ton of their time and are
on scout team all year, and you just want to

(57:20):
get guys reps.

Speaker 2 (57:21):
And we were.

Speaker 10 (57:22):
Able to do that and still look good and still
play good, so that that I appreciated it.

Speaker 2 (57:27):
Cayden Doll here has gotten a tacks.

Speaker 4 (57:30):
Hayden is awesome.

Speaker 10 (57:31):
Just you want to talk about an absolute phenomenal human
being and a really good player. Two weeks in a
row he's gotten in so I was happy for him.

Speaker 2 (57:38):
Good luck on Saturday, Okay, thank you very much.

Speaker 6 (57:40):
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Speaker 5 (57:49):
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Speaker 3 (57:54):
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Speaker 6 (58:06):
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