Hard work paying off for Jarrod Polson, hopefully rest of teammates
By Paul Jordan
IF it’s not evident before, it is now. There is a youth movement underway with Kentucky football. John Clay tells us that the average age of Mark Stoops staff, including Stoops, is just 39.4. That’s got to be close to the youngest staff nationally, I would think.
One of the youngsters, Neal Brown, had his “Meet the Press” moment yesterday and you just have to love the enthusiasm he is bringing:
"On why he thinks Kentucky football can be successful … “It has been done. The thing about it is, this program has had a couple of down years, but in recent history, it has also gone through its strongest winning years. Here is the deal; the SEC is a tough conference. There is no question. It is the toughest conference in America. I am coming from a conference where it is not chopped liver. Week in and week out it is tough, and if you look at the rankings, I think that will back it up. The opportunity to come home with these people, with the support Kentucky is going to have and turn this thing around, we are going to turn it around.” On the school’s commitment to football … “Mitch (Barnhart) is fully committed to football, and I think the financial commitment he made with the staff shows it. Mark Stoops is a guy I believe in. I think those were the two biggest things in my mind.” On how hard Mark Stoops had to sell him to come to Kentucky … “Not a whole lot. The thing about it is, anything you get presented with a situation in this profession, and it has to be the right situation for your family. I think that was probably as big of a thing as anything. He didn’t have to sell me. I have been sold on Kentucky football my whole life.” On similarities with the Air Raid offense from the 1990s … “The base plays that you (saw) on Saturday afternoons when coach (Hal) Mumme was here, those plays are the same. Those base plays are really the same plays you are seeing at West Virginia being highly successful, at Texas Tech, Oklahoma State is using those same plays, Oklahoma is using those base plays. Those base plays really haven’t changed since 1997 when coach Mumme brought those to big-time college football. Now, what we have done is we have made a concerted effort to run the football. We are playing at a faster pace and we dress those plays up with motions and different formations. Those are the things the fans are going to notice.”"
If you have the time, you can check out the entire press conference here: