Mark Stoops will have several familiar faces on the opposite sideline this week when Kentucky faces off against Eastern Kentucky.

Among them are EKU quarterbacks coach Maxwell Smith, and tight ends coach CJ Conrad, both hired this year and played at UK under Stoops.

Stoops believes he can put aside his personal connections at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday.

“I won’t think much of it once the game starts, I know those guys and have a ton of respect for them,” Stoops said Wednesday on the SEC coaches media teleconference. “Maxwell Smith was one of my first quarterbacks when I got here, and he ended up transferring and having a good career, San Diego State maybe one other. Then came back years later and worked with me and I enjoyed having him.”

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It’s a similar story with Conrad.

“Heck, it feels like CJ was with me basically my whole time, he might have came in Year 2 or 3, so he’s been with me I want to say maybe the last 8 years as a player and then as a graduate assistant and so I love CJ and his family and then of course I’m close with Walt (Wells) as well,” Stoops said. “So I have great respect for those guys, I know they’re competitors and we’re all going to be trying to beat each other’s brains in on Saturday and after that, heck they know where my house is and where my basement bar is and the door’s always open for those guys.”

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UK is coming off a season-opening 44-14 victory over Ball State at Kroger Field.

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