Mark Stoops says he’s impressed with the new offense: ‘Our completion percentage is extremely high’
By Keith Farner
Published:
Kentucky has several new faces on the offensive side of the ball, from new assistant coaches, to a battle for the starting quarterback position. So far, coach Mark Stoops said the installation of the new offense is going great.
The Wildcats held their first full-pads workout of the spring on Saturday, and Stoops reviewed the practice with reporters. He said he was very pleased with the efficiency of the offense.
“Just the basics, the communication, the urgency,” Stoops said. “Getting to the line of scrimmage, alignments, assignment. Just being efficient at our plays. I feel like the accuracy, our quarterbacks know where to go with the football. Our completion percentage is extremely high, which I really like to see. Very few drops, very few footballs on the ground.”
On defense, Stoops said the defenders showed some pop and punch, which you can imagine helps when full pads are put on.
At quarterback, Beau Allen shared his initial thoughts about the new offense under Liam Coen. He said footwork is among his toughest challenges.
“There’s definitely a transition,” Allen said. “We’re always having to learn more stuff and trying to dive more into the playbook every day, but I don’t know if there’s one certain thing off the top of my mind that may be the hardest, but there’s definitely a lot of things you have to put some extra effort in to get right and get to the ability you want to have. There’s definitely a change, but it’s a good change for me to help learn more stuff on football and learn more different styles of offenses. The struggle and the grind’s been fun so far.”
Joey Gatewood also offered his thoughts on how the installation of the offense is going. It’s his third offense in college, but he said he tries to take something from each to the next one.
“I’m just putting everything together and really trying to make it one,” he said. “I feel like if I can get that done, and I keep striving every day and push people with me, my teammates with me, I think we’ll be pretty good.”
Gatewood added that, “I know our guys are really excited for this opportunity with him and ready to take advantage of it.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
