Kentucky Wildcats Headlines: Is John Calipari the best coach in the game today?

2 of 2

Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

The Kentucky Wildcats football team suited up for their second Spring practice yesterday and new offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson met with the media. Among the topics that Dawson discussed was RB Jojo Kemp and Drew Barker.

"On if he can sense that Drew Barker feels like he has a fresh start with a new OC: “I’m sure he does. I think him and Reese (Philips) both did going into it. It’s unfortunate what happened to (Phillips). I think anytime there’s a change, you’re able to perform on a clean slate. I think that anybody is not starting probably is excited and looks forward that.” On what Jojo Kemp has done to work his way back into the fold: “We’ve been no pads. So it’s kind of hard to tell anything up front, and a lot of times when you’re not pads run game looks bad in general because you can’t block anybody with no shoulder pads on. So you can’t really evaluate that until you start putting pads on and it starts becoming real life. So really, for me, it helps me for these two days to be non-padded because it is more about communication. And obviously there are some execution things that you want, but the biggest deal with me is being able to communicate across the board and stuff like pre-snap penalties and stuff – which we weren’t very good at today. I think we jumped offsides two or three times today, which is not going to – we’re not going to tolerate that. Stuff like that. I mean, how can you evaluate when it’s not real football? It’s tough.”"

Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports

Mark Stoops also met with the media and a lot of the questions were about Drew Barker and some of the other guys that redshirted. The Kentucky Wildcats had 18 players that redshirted last year and those guys should make a big impact this season.

On if Drew Barker went with the first team today as scheduled: “He did. He did. Shannon’s (Dawson) coming in here in a little bit and he can talk a little bit about what he’s seen so far, but both guys have done some very good things and have a lot of talent, so it will be good to see how the rest of the spring goes.”

On special teams and not having coordinator: “It just felt like with the four defensive coaches, we have five on offense, four on defense and I didn’t want to put the entire load on our fourth defensive coach. So Andy will take the punt and kickoff and obviously they’re all important ad we’re working extremely hard in those two units right now — really worked punt the first two days. So that’s where we’re at with that. We’ll have some of our other assistants handle some of the other special teams.”

On if Jeff Badet and Alexander Montgomery can get something from their red-shirt years: “Yeah, I think so; I hope so. I think obviously they’re a year older, more mature, physically better. Certainly a guy like Jeff who came in and played as a true freshman had a chance to go back in that weight room and just physically grow up a little bit. Alex has always had pretty good speed and pretty good size, so I think it helped them in certain ways.”

Next: Cats look to enter postseason with proper mindset

More from Wildcat Blue Nation

Home/Kentucky Wildcats News