Stoops disappointed with Saturday practice
Quarterback Patrick Towles (14) gets ready to throw the ball during the scrimmage on Saturday, April 11, 2015 in Lexington, Ky. Photo by Hunter Mitchell
August 22, 2015
By Derek Terry
Back-to-back poor practices
After UK head coach Mark Stoops described Friday’s practice as the “worst day of fall camp,” the hope was the team would respond with a strong scrimmage on Saturday.
It didn’t happen.
“Not pleased. I’m disappointed,” Stoops said after practice. “We weren’t sharp enough on either side of the ball and I didn’t feel like we had a great sense of urgency on either side of the ball.”
Stoops said each position had its struggles and no one stood out during the scrimmage. Among the things that the third year coach was most disappointed in was the lack of leadership from the veterans on the team.
“It’s exactly what I told them, that I thought we moved so far beyond that, to let our leadership come out in the stadium to play like that and not get it rectified. So yeah, I am disappointed.” Stoops said.
Depth chart to be impacted after run of bad practices
With the team two weeks into fall camp, most of the depth chart was starting to come into place. While 14 players from last season had already solidified a spot, other positions were starting to take shape. Stoops announced Patrick Towles as the starting quarterback on Monday. True freshmen cornerbacks Chris Westry and Derrick Baity and sophomore Kendall Randolph were competing for a starting spot at cornerback.
The last two practices have opened up more questions about the depth chart than answered them.
“It complicates things,” Stoops said. “I know this, when we release our depth chart, it’s going to be a bunch of guys that have an attitude and they’re going to go out there and compete. We’ll find 11 on either side of the ball.”
Boom’s back
After being limited for much of the last two weeks with a knee sprain, sophomore running back Boom Williams was able to compete full contact during the scrimmage. Stoops said the 5-foot-9, 196-pound back practiced some, but didn’t give many details on how he performed.
Williams, who was a freshman All-American a year ago, led the team in rushing last season with 486 yards and five touchdowns.
