There’s really only one purpose to spring football practice — excite the fan base about the future of any given program. That’s not the purpose UK head coach Rich Brooks will give, nor any of his coaches, as the sole reason football teams across the nation trot out every March and April for their allotted practice time — but who is excited for another spring of Jeremy Jarmon and Micah Johnson?

Everyone knows about those players — surefire starters — and this spring is an opportunity for those two players to teach their successors and work on technique. Not much more.

The spring is for someone like Winston Guy, a sophomore who played high school football at Lexington Catholic, to come in and surprise everyone by excelling at safety. Yes, the Cats return three starters for two safety positions. But rising seniors Calvin Harrison and Ashton Cobb and rising junior Matt Lentz should have restless nights until fall practice resumes in August — because Guy isn’t content with being Trevard Lindley’s backup at cornerback and riding the pine, so he’s making a splash at the safety position as well. Taiedo Smith, another free safety, isn’t slacking off either this spring.

The best way they can showcase this? Spring practice. Have they been successful? You bet.

“I think Winston Guy continues to show he’s going to be a force for us on defense,” Brooks said after UK’s second scrimmage of the spring on Saturday. “At the linebacker position, I was very impressed with (Danny) Trevathan and Sam Maxwell today. I thought they were very, very active. Mark Crawford is doing some good things on the inside as well.”

Of those four names Brooks listed, a grand total of zero were full time starters last year. Maxwell is a career backup at linebacker, Trevathan is a sophomore linebacker who saw mostly special teams duty last year and Crawford is a junior college transfer. Yet these are the players making waves during the spring.

Not Lindley, Jarmon or Johnson.

Granted, the stars don’t have to play much during the spring. They can be content taking enough reps to stay in shape and maintaining technique.

While all the focus will probably be on the offense as it was last year, the defense may be a quiet issue as well. Sure, if rising junior quarterback Mike Hartline has a dud of a Spring Game (which is this coming Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium), the young receiving corps get a case of the fumbles or the offensive line looks shabby, there will be problems.

But what about replacing Marcus McClinton, Myron Pryor and Braxton Kelley in the fall? Most of the offense has seen plenty of game action. Much of depth chart on defense has not.

That’s exactly what spring practice is for — getting playing time, even if it’s against your teammates — and why defensive players like Guy and Crawford are making such a splash.

The real boat ride won’t start until September, but you can get a preview for one more week — just bring a roster, chances are the playmakers won’t be those same familiar numbers.