Mark Stoops and Kentucky have opened spring practice and among the several new faces are Devin Leary and Keeshawn Silver.

Leary, the former NC State quarterback, received an early impression from Stoops: “To my eye, it was basically an entire practice and he was just fine and looked really good.”

A potential game changer for the Wildcats could be North Carolina transfer and former 5-star defensive lineman Keeshawn Silver.

“You mean the guy out there, that’s 6-5, 330? He’s pretty damn good. He has 3 years left… He’s a monster,” Stoops said, per Tristan Pharis.

About getting the program back on track after a sluggish 2022 season, Stoops said he returned to some things the team did before for winter workouts. The program got away from those last couple of years, and he can’t assume players know identity of the team. Stoops added that he could have done things better last year.

“I’m not going to let that happen again,” Stoops said.

Stoops announced that several players will be out “until further notice” because of injuries: Nik Hall (OL), Ramon Jefferson (RB), Josh Kattus (TE), Jordan Dingle (TE), Khalil Saunders (DL) and Brenden Bates (TE).

H/T Nick Roush.