Octavious Oxendine Quickly Learned About The Kentucky-Louisville Rivalry

Octavious Oxendine knows what the Louisville game means to UK fans. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Kentucky is undefeated against in-state rival Louisville during defensive lineman Octavious Oxendine’s career and he wants to keep it that way.

“I definitely say it’s one of the best rivalries in college football just because red, blue, right down the street from each other. No NFL team. When you come to Kentucky, that’s one thing about my family, we’re military, so we moved from Fort Polk, Louisiana., to Radcliff, Kentucky, right outside Fort Knox,” Oxendine said.

“When we first moved, it was a big thing for us to pick Louisville or Kentucky. We actually picked Louisville, which is crazy I’m at Kentucky. It’s just a big rivalry. I feel like everybody in the States knows about it. It’s a game everybody always wants to be at, and there’s a lot of energy behind it.”

Oxendine also wants to instill a business-like work ethic in teammates and be someone for younger teammates to  see who understands the value of the work Stoops and his staff demand.

“Punch the clock every morning you wake up. That’s something coach Stoops is always big on us: every morning, just punch the clock. There’s nothing else for you to do. We’re there to play football and academics,” Oxendine said.

“Every morning you shouldn’t have no excuse. If you wake up ready to go, you should be okay. I feel that’s something my teammates should take from me. Just the mentality, whenever you wake up in the morning, always get better. Just get one percent better, that’s all you have to do, One percent better than the next man.”