Kentucky Wildcats Football: Mark Stoops Monday Presser

Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

Q. Has Raymond Sanders the last couple games stood out when you needed somebody to carry the load offensively? Have you been happy with him?

COACH STOOPS: I think Raymond has played very hard. I think he’s running harder. We need to ‑‑ both him and Jojo (Kemp) both, they need to make somebody miss. I thought we had a chance to win the game on 4th and 1, we pop it, we’re one‑on‑one with a difficult tackle, and we get down. We’ve got to start winning some one‑on‑one situations, as well. But I do think Raymond is playing very hard. We’ve just got to make somebody miss. There’s a lot of yards we’re leaving out there that we are ‑‑ we have people schemed up, blocked up, and just like the counter, we have a 12‑yard ‑‑ we walk for 12 yards and we slip and fall down. Next thing you know it’s 3rd and long and we punt. Can’t have anyone blocked up any better. Can’t.

Q. (Question regarding Jason Hatcher not playing vs. Mississippi State.)

COACH STOOPS: It was a combination of things last week. Jason has been playing a lot of our 3‑4 package because of his hand, and he tried to go with a smaller cast. He needed to go with a little bit bigger one, so he’s been playing a lot of our 3‑4 stuff. And Bud was playing so good and he was healthy; it was hard to get him off the field, and Jason is not quite 100 percent right now. We need to get him going again, though, and get him back in the fold.

Q. Do teams have to learn how to win?

COACH STOOPS: Yeah, I do, I think so. It’s not like not playing smart. There’s a lot of situations in a game that there’s so many situations that come up, and it’s not always black and white. You need to have some instincts, you need to have some understanding, and we do need to make some plays to win and get that confidence level going and everything.
I think our players hopefully do see that. I don’t know, I really don’t read anything. No offense to none of y’all. I can’t imagine it’s all good. (Laughter.)
But I don’t know what the players are saying. I think if they said anything off the wall somebody would bring it to me. But I think they see the things we’re talking about, the position we’re trying to put ourselves in to win, and then it gets frustrating because you don’t do it or we make a couple silly mistakes. You know, I was so mad, and then you watch the last out of the World Series last night and you realize, you know, it’s just ‑‑ really, it’s just ‑‑ I was so frustrated over the weekend. I’ll calm down by the first meeting today.

Q. Appears to me that Alabama State is coming into this game confident. Are your players feeling overconfident knowing that they’re a (Football Championship Subdivision) team?

COACH STOOPS: No, I wouldn’t think our players would feel overconfident about anybody we’re playing I wouldn’t think, and we’ll address that. But no, we’ve taken the approach, we’re worried about ourselves. I can see our players doing that. I think we’re trying to get better as a program. They (Alabama State) should be feeling good about themselves. They won six games in a row.

Q. You sort of alluded to it earlier, and he’s not your player, but what Connor Shaw did Saturday night, can you use that as an example to your team of this is what it takes in this league?

COACH STOOPS: Yep, I do use that, and already have and will again. I’ve always admired how tough he was, and you can see the leadership and you can see the way his team responds to him, to him giving that kind of effort. Johnny Manziel goes out there and plays with ‑‑ he’s a Heisman Trophy winner and up for it again and goes out and plays banged up, and he’s not going to feel perfect. But he goes out and plays, and I think people respond to that. People rally around that.

Q. Were you frustrated a little bit then? I know you went to Jalen at halftime and said basically get out there. Were you frustrated that he was maybe just ‑‑

COACH STOOPS: You know, that’s a fine line. I don’t ever tell players ‑‑ that’s the medical people’s decision. But if somebody is sore, then yeah, I’m going to challenge them. If somebody is ‑‑ they (medical personnel) make all those decisions. I can’t get into that.
But yes, we have to learn to differentiate between being injured and just being a little bit banged up. That’s for the players and for the trainers to decide. But if they can go, they need to go.

Q. Is that part of this process, too?

COACH STOOPS: Let’s put it this way: You talked about Connor Shaw. They told him he was out for a week, he walked out there Monday and threw the ball 40 yards down the field. It’s up to the players, and they have to decide what they can handle, and our medical people do a great job. But I think that toughness comes from a culture, and we’re trying to build it. I don’t think we’re there yet, and we’re going to get there. I can promise you. I don’t know ‑‑ I’ll stay away from that. (Laughter.)

Q. (Question regarding if he currently has players on his roster that he has to tie on the bench to keep them off the field.)

COACH STOOPS: Well, of course. We mentioned it earlier in the year. I think we’ve seen ‑‑ I saw Jason Hatcher play with a hand broken in two spots, and I saw Blake McClain come in and the trainer told him he was out and he begged him to put a cast on him, came back and played and made some plays. We’re seeing that.
Bud Dupree, Bud is not 100 percent. Bud goes out and has 13 tackles, plays his tail off, gives unbelievable effort, unbelievable leadership. We need Bud out there, and Bud showed me that. He’s not feeling great, and went out and played one of his best games ever. Hopefully that’ll get contagious. I think we’re learning as we go and getting tougher and getting tougher mentally, and we need to keep on progressing.

Q. You say contagious. Who do you look for to spread that disease?

COACH STOOPS: Well, Bud would be a good one to start with, because again, I think he’s a great player with a lot of talent, and he’s not exactly a vocal guy, but just by him going out there and playing with the type of effort that he did, not being 100 percent and not being able to practice all the time, getting all the reps but still going out and playing like that I think would be a great guy to start with.
I think you see a guy like Ashely Lowery who’s not played perfect but he’s been banged up all the way through, never wants to miss a practice, never wants to miss a snap. Avery (Williamson), same way. We’ve got some guys. I think Raymond (Sanders) has been banged up and keeps on going in there and running hard and trying to play physical and doing a good job. (Kevin) Mitchell has been banged up. He’s not at all 100 percent and fighting his way through. We need to rally around those guys.

Q. When we talk to the players about the fact that there’s some teams in this position that might be looking for a place to fall down, they keep playing hard. And when we ask them about it they usually mention you. Why do you think that is? Why do you think they are playing that hard?

COACH STOOPS: Well, I don’t need to go back to the tirade a couple weeks ago, do they? They’re going to get called out if they don’t ‑‑ that’s just the way it is. It’s not acceptable, it’s not okay. We’re ‑‑ there’s nowhere to hide. And if they do, they’ll get called out in front of their team, and I don’t see that anymore. I really don’t. I see us needing to play smarter and executing better. I see us growing in that regard. So I’m not disappointed. If I was, I would tell you.
I think we’re learning to be accountable to each other.

Q. You talked about going back to work every Sunday, every Monday with new focus. Is that more difficult to do as the season wears on and the guys haven’t won a game in five or six weeks?

COACH STOOPS: It is for a while. It is for 24 hours. I ain’t going to lie. Maybe 36. (Laughter.) It really is. It’s hard. It is. And then, again, there’s no ‑‑ there’s nowhere to go but just go back to work and keep on grinding and keep on getting better. I think the team is starting to understand that. Now we need to go address the issues again and just see why we’re making these mistakes as a coaching staff and as a team. You need to look at the mistakes we’re making and the situations and when we’re making them and get it corrected and get better.