Kentucky Wildcats Football: Mark Stoops Transcript
By Paul Jordan
Oct 11, 2014; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats running back Stanley Williams (18) runs the ball against Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks safety Cordero Smith (10) in the second half at Commonwealth Stadium. Kentucky defeated Louisiana-Monroe 48-14. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports
Q. Can you talk about Boom Williams?
COACH STOOPS: Yeah. Boom, it was great to get him back again last week, he had a big impact. He’s explosive. You know, the kickoff return, getting him on the perimeter with some of those runs. He’s got the big‑play capability. So he definitely helps us and gives us that added dimension of a home‑run guy.
Q. (Question regarding Braylon Heard.)
COACH STOOPS: No. Again, we had 59 touches and splitting it up. That’s the good news as we move forward here with a big, physical game coming up this week, we have a lot of backs that we have confidence in.
Q. (Question regarding A.J. Stamps.)
COACH STOOPS: He’s fine. He’s been playing ‑‑ he’s been a little bit sore, but he’s been playing through it and he’ll be okay.
Q. And Darrian (Miller), do you know how he ‑‑
COACH STOOPS: Darrian will be fine as well. He could have gone back and played, but you know, once we were in control of things in the second half, we didn’t feel the need. And you know, so he should be healthy and ready to go.
Q. You all kind of talked to your guys about not overreacting to touchdowns, act like they’ve done it before. How do you kind of balance that wanting your guys to play with emotion?
COACH STOOPS: Yeah. Well, we just need to constantly preach being unselfish, and you know, I want aggressiveness. I want them enjoying it. We’re always toting that fine line of letting the guys be who they are.
I want them excited at practice. I want them excited in the games. But we can’t be selfish. We’re not good enough to overcome foolish penalties and all those things. So we’ve gotta continue to work on that, and it’s a situation this week where I’m going to self‑impose a penalty on one of our guys that’s going to miss the first half of this game for that very reason. So we just (have to) continue to grow.
Q. Do you want to tell us who that player is?
COACH STOOPS: Not really. (Laughter).
Q. (Question regarding depth at running back.)
COACH STOOPS: Yeah. You know, it just depends who gets hot, and we feel ‑‑ each of those backs are a little bit different, and maybe it depends on what’s hitting and what style, whether it be the Wildcat, like we talked about or Braylon hitting the big crease or Boom getting on the perimeter and Mikel (Horton). Mikel is kind of the complete back as well. He’s a guy that has good vision for a big guy. Some of those yards don’t look real fancy, but really he’s got good vision and he’s a big, strong guy. Mikel is a guy that I think the more and more touches he gets is better and better as well. So we have a nice mixture.