Mark Stoops to UK defense — ‘leverage the damn ball’

Kentucky coach Mark Stoops says UK's cornerbacks "actually played really good" against Tennessee. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Kentucky’s defensive production in losses against Mississippi State and Tennessee left a lot to be desired that UK coach Mark Stoops could not make any excuse for.

“I think there were times when … I’m not going to call out my team’s effort but there were times when maybe the energy and our position on the football, and as I mentioned two weeks ago, our cleats in the ground, some technique things, different in this situation in many ways,” Stoops said Monday.

“I think just missing tackles, maybe some common themes but both teams put you in space where it’s one-and-one and you have to be in a great position to make that tackle and you have to be athletic enough to make that tackle.”

It has frustrated Stoops knowing the last two teams completed 51 of 59 passes for seven touchdowns and close to 700 yards. Stoops not only has been a defensive coordinator but started as a secondary coach.

“It bothers me. You know, it does. The only thing we can control is how we practice, how we improve,” Stoops said.

This part might surprise you — Stoops did see improvement from UK’s cornerbacks against Tennessee compared to how they played at Georgia and then Mississippi State.

“The corners I felt like two games ago at times were maybe not competing at the level that I expect out of them and I did see that Saturday. I did see improvement. You may not because you’re like, ‘What the heck you gave up some many yards,’ but watching specific guys and seeing specific matchups and them winning,” Stoops said.

“They won more than I thought just by watching the game live. Again, there were some obvious situations that I don’t need to call out anyone specific player or anything like that, but there were some missed tackles at the safety and on the perimeter, that we got to leverage the ball, it’s as simple as leveraging the football.

“How many times have I talked about that? I can’t talk about it anymore. We got to get it taught — football 101, leverage the damn ball. First play of the game we don’t leverage the ball.”

That first play was a 75-yard bubble screen that UK seemed to have covered but failed to make the tackle.

“Again, I’m not trying to put this on any one person, but the corners actually played really well. We played poorly inside, inside out, the safeties,” Stoops said.