On Tuesday, former Alabama quarterback and current SEC Network analyst Greg McElroy delivered a fiery rant in which he called Kentucky DL Matt Elam one of the laziest and most underachieving players he’s ever seen.

On Wednesday, the Wildcats got their chance to respond, as coach Mark Stoops and LB Courtney Love addressed McElroy’s comments during SEC Media Days.

According to CatsIllustrated.com, Stoops didn’t appreciate the way McElroy singled out Elam, saying the entire unit struggled in 2016:

“I’m not ever going to condone anybody singling out anybody,” Stoops said. “I try not to do that. On occasions, I’ve spoke the truth about certain things with players in media conferences, but that’s not my style to throw any one person under the bus. I’ve been the first to say we need to improve in that area. There’s no hiding that. Our players know that we need to get better. Derrick LeBlanc here is working with our defensive line. I saw some signs in the spring and I think they’re working hard in the summer. I have no response to that, but I’m not going to single out one guy.”

Love said it wasn’t just the defensive line that struggled, adding that the whole defense needs to do a better job in 2017 and he thinks Elam will be a big part of that:

“We hold each other accountable,” Love said. “I think that’s the biggest thing you have to do when you’re on a team, being a leader. He’s gonna respond to that. The whole defensive line is going to respond to that. For that matter, the whole defense is going to respond to that. When someone else is getting called out, that’s a direct correlation to the defense and our team as a whole. We all want to help make Matt successful, make our defense successful. When one guy gets called out, that’s all of us getting called out.”

The Wildcats managed to make it to their first bowl game since 2010 even with the defensive line’s struggles, so if that unit can play better this fall, Kentucky could put together an even better record.