Aug. 23 Kentucky football practice report

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Miles Butler (95) attempts a kick during one of Kentucky football’s practices in Lexington, Ky. Photo provided by UK Athletics

Thursday was the first time this season that the football players went to class before going to practice, and afterwards, the various members and coaches of the defense talked with media to discuss Thursday’s practice.

While the coaching staff and players know the value of education, they certainly miss the time when football was the only priority.

“It’s the one time in college football where they don’t have class and you just get them, and that’s kind of fun,” defensive coordinator Matt House said.

While the drills and prep stayed the same, players such as Mike Edwards noticed a difference in today’s practice compared to training camp.

“[During training camp], first thing on our minds is, ‘we leaving for practice,’ now we got school and stuff,” Edwards said. “Just got to get back to practicing in the afternoon.”

Other notes

  • Jordan Jones recently returned to practice, and House is happy to have the energetic veteran back on the practice field. “We all Jordan [Jones] can run around, you get more depth and another older guy,” House said.
  • Speaking of inside linebackers, House believes that Jones and four other players are capable of playing inside linebackers at the moment. “You got Jordan [Jones] obviously and Kash [Daniel], Jamin [Davis], DeAndre [Square] and Chris [Oats],” House said.

  • As for Davis, who was considered one of the top 50 outside linebackers in high school, he is coming off his redshirt season and ready to contribute. “You can tell that the number one thing is he’s got more experience,” House said.
  • As the season opener against Central Michigan approaches, House said he is starting to implement game prep into practices. However, they started coming up with the game prep back in the spring.”You start generating ideas [in the spring] and they becomes broader and then finer and finer and finer,” House said. “Your ideas you had in the summer, you come back and say, ‘okay, what did we do well in the training camp, now what fits for Central Michigan?'”
  • Special teams coordinator Dean Hood was also made available for interview after Thursday’s practice, where he shed some light on the kicking battle going on. “Miles [Butler] is kicking well, Chance [Poore] is kicking well, Grant [McKinniss] has been— if I had to go today, he’s the kickoff guy,” Hood said.

  • Hood said McKinniss has been kicking footballs six-eight yards deep in the end zone during kickoffs. 
  • With such a tight kicking battle, Hood said he will use analytics to help him pick a kicker. “Charting every single kick from this hash, that hash, middle, the distance and all that and just checking the accuracy of it,” Hood said.