Fall Camp reached a crescendo on Saturday. The fall semester at Kentucky begins on Monday. After two weeks of all football, all the time, the UK coaches got one more look at the Wildcats with a scrimmage on Kroger Field. Things looked much better than what transpired a week ago, but it still wasn\u2019t the prettiest picture. Here are a few things we learned. <\/p>\n
Ball Security is Job Security<\/p>\n
There was one thing stopping Will Stein<\/a> from giving the Kentucky offense unmitigated praise: fumbles. The Wildcats had a much smoother operation from the huddle to the snap. Once the ball was snapped, things didn\u2019t always go UK\u2019s way. <\/p>\n \u201cWe put the ball on the ground a couple times, and if you do that, you won\u2019t play. It\u2019s just that simple,\u201d said offensive coordinator Joe Sloan<\/a>. \u201cBut you know, outside of that, I thought there were some really good situational things, some guys taking advantage, some really good work, and a big improvement that we carry throughout the week and into Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n That doesn\u2019t tell the entire story either. Kenny Minchey<\/a> is far from a polished product, but the first-time starter took a step in the right direction, even if it didn\u2019t always produce the desired result. <\/p>\n \u201cThe first week was just \u2014 I think the offense as a whole struggled just to really get going,\u201d said Stein. \u201cToday, I thought he did a nice job of throwing the ball where we\u2019re supposed to. There were some drops that are out of his control, but I thought for the most part today he played within himself and it went where the ball was supposed to go.\u201d <\/p>\n There might be a logical explanation for those drops and fumbles. <\/p>\n Kentucky Tests the Twos<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we have our full strength, we look like a real SEC team,\u201d said Stein. \u201cWe\u2019re really big up front. We got big receivers, big tight ends and backs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n But Kentucky has not been at full strength throughout fall camp. The coaches are managing the health of numerous contributors. WR Nic Anderson<\/a> got back to running routes full speed this week. Jovantae Barnes<\/a> is still out, but CJ Baxter<\/a> is seeing more and more action on the field. DJ Miller<\/a> missed the previous week of practice, but returned this week and made a big play during the scrimmage. <\/p>\n \u201cHe gives us a little bit more of a vertical threat. I think he has that big body. He does a nice job of giving a friendly target in that way,\u201d said Sloan. <\/p>\n Tegra Tshabola<\/a> returned to the starting lineup on the offensive line, but it doesn\u2019t sound like he was blocking too many starters. Jay Bateman<\/a> said he had to pull Tavion Gadson<\/a> out of the lineup against the defensive tackle\u2019s wishes. The Kentucky defensive coordinator used the second scrimmage to see how others would respond without vets \u2014 like LB Grant Godfrey<\/a>, some of the defensive linemen, and the two safeties \u2014 on the field. Kentucky was also light on cornerbacks during this scrimmage. <\/p>\n As much as you want to hear how well the ones are playing together before the opening game, it\u2019s more important that they all make it to the opening game with a clean bill of health. Kentucky protected their playmakers and did not force many of them into action for prolonged periods of the second preseason scrimmage. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n A Few \u201cNo-Name\u201d Players Emerge for Kentucky<\/p>\n Everyone, be honest. Have you heard the name Prince Jean<\/a> before? Go ahead, put your hand down. You\u2019re not fooling anyone. <\/p>\n The true freshman was a three-star recruit who didn\u2019t get a ton of shine when he signed with Kentucky, but he\u2019s emerged as a consistent playmaker in the Kentucky wide receiver room. Will Stein grouped him together with a few other \u201cno-namers.\u201d These are the guys fans may not yet know, but have made the most of every opportunity this summer. <\/p>\n \u201cI like guys like Ja\u2019Kayden Ferguson<\/a> with some big upside. I like Kenny Darby<\/a>. I mean, that guy is super talented. Prince Jean<\/a> had a really great camp. Brock Coffman<\/a> is super reliable,\u201d said Stein. <\/p>\n Chemistry is created during fall camp. When others have not been able to go, the no-namers have stepped in and made plays. They are reliable and available, an expectation that will follow them into the season. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to need all those guys, and when the ball comes to them, you got to make the play,\u201d said Sloan. \u201cPrince made some really nice plays today. Brock made a one-handed grab around a guy that was that was something something pretty cool to see, and they\u2019ve done it all camp. Whatever you do in practice is what you\u2019re going to do out here (at Kroger Field).\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fall Camp reached a crescendo on Saturday. The fall semester at Kentucky begins on Monday. After two weeks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[228053,188880,228056,399,343135,194949,189506,228057,170521,398,396,397,42986,228058,99,246861,194341],"class_list":["post-822748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-brock-coffman-25-sayre-school","tag-cj-baxter-23-edgewater","tag-dj-miller-25-cardinal-ritter-college-prep","tag-football","tag-grant-godfrey-23-north-gwinnett","tag-jakayden-ferguson-25-fort-bend-marshall","tag-jovantae-barnes-22-desert-pines","tag-kenny-darby-26-airline","tag-kenny-minchey-23-pope-john-paul-ii","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-nic-anderson-22-katy","tag-prince-jean-26-valdosta","tag-sports","tag-tavion-gadson-23-jenkins","tag-tegra-tshabola-22-lakota-west"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}