Mark Stoops has faced many quarterbacks throughout his nearly 30-year coaching career, and he thinks Missouri’s Drew Lock is as good as any of them.

Kentucky’s coach said as much during the SEC Coaches Teleconference on Wednesday while previewing his team’s upcoming trip to Columbia to face the Tigers (4-3, 0-3 SEC).  He offered praise for the senior’s talents despite a bit of a rocky season so far.

“I think Drew Lock stacks up with any quarterbacks I’ve faced through the years,” Stoops said. “He is a very good football player, he has great vision, gets it out quick, he’s accurate and they have weapons around him.”

Shutting down Lock will be critical for No. 12 Kentucky (6-1, 4-1) when it takes on Missouri at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday. Here’s what else Stoops had to say about the upcoming SEC East game:

Missouri coach Barry Odom recently noted you were given time to build his program the way he wants to:

  • It’s extremely important. You have to have that. You have to have great support from those around you — the AD, the fans, boosters. I agree with him. I respect Barry Odom and the way he does things. … I will add that I never gave anyone a reason to let me go. I never did. It was consistent progress here. It was a tough situation.

On last week’s 14-7 win against Vanderbilt:

  • I knew it would be a tough game. … Go back and watch that one, and you’ll see they are tough. They nearly beat Notre Dame. They put a scare in us. … When we had control, we fumbled twice, so that didn’t help. But I respect the way they are playing.

On the defensive backs:

  • We will have a great test this week. There is much we can improve on. We will have a great challenge here, and they have great balance on offense, which puts added pressure on our defense.