Kentucky Wildcats Football: Blue/White game recap

Credit to our own Josh Kays

6. The Defensive Backfield
~ Toasted by….Patrick Ligon??? Maybe not to that extent, but the defensive backfield has work to do.
– The starting group appears to be Daron Blaylock, Ashely Lowery, Fred Tiller, and Cody Quinn. They did okay. The real concerns should be at the backup spots. There was a host of walk-ons that played significant minutes in the defensive backfield, and that’s just not the recipe for success.
~ It’s almost a foregone conclusion that JUCO transfer Nate Willis will start at one cornerback position when he arrives in the fall, but watch out for Tiller and Quinn. Both took their lumps as true freshmen last year and will be hard to unseat.
~ I really think that Daron Blaylock or Ashely Lowery would be a linebacker right now if the staff trusted Zach Blaylock or Glenn Faulkner.
~ Of all the position groups, the defensive backs clearly have the furthest to go. With Coach Ansley, Coach Peveto, and Coach Stoops all specializing in defensive backs, its becoming obvious why Mark Stoops hired two different positions coaches in the defensive backfield.

7. The Crowd
~ The only thing I can say is “wow!” I cannot remember the last time so many people were in the Commonwealth stadium parking lot SEVERAL hours before kickoff. Tailgating was live.
~ I just cannot reiterate this enough…At this point, Kentucky is second in the entire frickin’ nation in Spring Game attendance. That’s right, 2-10 Kentucky.

8. The PR department
~ If anyone gets top marks for the Blue/White game, its the folks in the offices that set it all up.
~ Billboards: Check
~ Separate Website for the game: Check
~ Twitter account specifically for the game: Check
~ Add all this up for record attendance. Fans knew where to go and what to do. No confusion. Moving the game away from Thunder over Louisville helped, and the decision to run a shuttle back and forth to Keeneland locked up the record crowd attending the Bluegrass Stakes. This was planning and execution at its finest folks.

9. The Weather
~ Special thanks go out to god. Not too hot, not too cold, slight breeze. Absolutely perfect for bourbon, cornhole, grilling, and football.

10. Mark Stoops, what can you say?
~ There is really no debating that Stoops was a home run hire at this point. Sure, we haven’t played a game yet, but things are going in the right direction. Many have said UK football was a sleeping giant and Stoops proved them all right. He said all the right things at his press conference when hired and followed that up by hiring a top-notch SEC staff. He delivered on his promise to improve recruiting despite having only a month and a half to get a class together, and then made the spring game a midnight madness-type event. Then, to top it all off, Stoops reached out to our nostalgic hearts by bringing back the sirens and former UK greats at the game, and has yet to misstep in his time in Lexington. I tip my hat to you Mr. Stoops.