Nolan Richardson had one of the best slogans in sports when his Arkansas basketball teams were dominating in the 1990s. The Razorbacks utilized a “40 Minutes of Hell” style of play that included full-court pressure defense with constant traps, a deep rotation off the bench, and a quick strike offense to try and overwhelm opponents. That style plus Richardson’s recruiting led to a national championship in 1994 and a runner-up finish in 1995.
Now the hell is coming back to the SEC on the gridiron. New Kentucky head coach Will Stein was asked to explain what fans will see from this year’s team during an interview with Kentucky Sports Radio on Monday. You can expect the Wildcats to get after it. T-shirts will likely be printed soon.
“We’re going to be connected. Like, connected in every sense possible,” Stein said on KSR. “Our players are going to be connected to each other, that they’re going to play their absolute butts off for each other. Play relentless football from point A to point B, six seconds of hell. Like offense, defense, special teams.
What will that look like? Stein explained that UK’s offense will mix tempos, run RPOs, have variety in the run game, and take vertical shots in the passing game. UK’s defense will play an attacking brand of football that will want to pressure the quarterback. Stein believes that Mike Elko and new Kentucky defensive coordinator Jay Bateman had the best third down pressure package in college football last season. The latter is bringing that to Lexington. UK’s special teams will attempt to change the game by utilizing onside kicks, fake punts, punt block concepts, and a swinging gate formation that anyone familiar with Louisville (Ky.) Trinity football knows about.
The overall philosophy is to essentially give it everything you have on every snap. Football is a game of a lot of individual plays that last 5-8 seconds. Stein wants to see his team go all out. They will do that in a bold manner between the white lines.
Kentucky will play aggressive football under Stein. That means playing sound but taking calculated risks in all three phases. The Big Blue Nation will get to see a glimpse of what this new style of ball will look like at the spring game on April 18.
For a program that played a conservative brand of football over the last decade-plus, this new era will look quite different. There is now even an unofficial slogan to describe Stein’s risk taking philosophy.
“Six seconds of freaking hell, man.”