Kentucky Getting New Players Used to Game Week Routine

It's game week in the Bluegrass as the Kentucky Wildcats take on Southern Miss to open the season. During game week, plenty of stuff goes on in practice and film sessions to prepare for their next opponent. With that, players need to be familiar with the routine, especially with getting used to it as fast as possible.

Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops spoke with media on Monday, and one of his first topics was about getting all of the new and younger players to adapt to the game week routine that goes on week-to-week during the season. "We have quite a few newcomers in our program that need to find that routine and that rhythm that I have, and try to have throughout the year so that the players can anticipate and know what to expect on Monday through Friday of game week," Stoops said. The head coach is making sure his players are ready come game-time. Stoops noted that there is a lot of new players on the offense, much more than the defense, which holds a lot of experience.

“Offensively, probably for the most part, that’s where there is a lot of change. If you look at five, six guys that are very important roles that hadn’t gone through this routine. Defensively, not as many. Maybe Pop (Jamon Dumas-Johnson) and DJ (Waller), depending how many reps he gets. Offense, we’ve got to make sure everyone’s comfortable, including our offensive coordinator (Bush Hamdan). Again, just going through our process and what we do throughout the week, and really just the routine and rhythm that I try to have throughout the week with them. So, it’s a first for some new guys, and we’ll get through it and looking forward to playing our first game here at home."

Many coaching staff always implements a certain routine during the week of each game, and it's good to teach the new players how everything goes. The experience on this Kentucky team can certainly help with that.