Deone Walker (0) said UK players have to work on not lashing out when they get mad during a game. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Deone Walker was called a “one-man wrecking ball” by Georgia coach Kirby Smart and the Kentucky sophomore defensive lineman certainly played that way against Missouri.
Even though UK lost 38-21, Walker had six solo tackles and one assist. He had a stunning four tackles for loss, including a quarterback sack.
However, he was also called for being offsides which negated a UK interception. A week earlier against Georgia, he was called for a personal foul that helped extend a Georgia scoring drive in the Bulldogs’ 51-13 win.
Kentucky was penalized 14 times for 122 yards, something Walker knows the team must clean up.
“We got to be more disciplined as a team. That’s on the leaders and on the captains, there’s only so much the coaches can do and that is something we have to take more pride in as a team, so worry about getting better for our team’s sake and stopping the emotional penalties,” Walker said.
Walker said coach Mark Stoops told the players Missouri was a “great” team.
“Everyone knows that, but there were times where we just shot ourselves in the foot and that’s leadership, like I said. We got to work on us, work on our discipline, work on when we get mad not lashing out, stop playing with emotion and play with more passion and just being more together as a team,” Walker said.
As bad as the penalties were, UK stats guru Corey Price noted that prior to the Missouri game, the Cats were 13-2 under Stoops with 10 or more penalties in a game and had won 12 straight games with double-digit penalties.
Now Kentucky has an open week before hosting Tennessee on Oct. 28 in what has turned into a must-win to salvage a successful season.
“I mean our number one (goal) is to get healthy. We wanted to go 6-1 going into the bye week. It doesn’t pan out. We are going to work on recovery and have a short-term memory, and just work on getting better,” Walker said.
3 Responses
College Football News predicts that we will finish in 5th place in the SEC East. Not bad for a $9 million dollar salary.
Barry sometimes I wonder your a . Cat fan
Mark Stoops has elevated the UK football program from the ashes that Joker left behind to treating fans with two 10 win seasons, an achievement that this fan believed was unlikely for any football coach at UK.
However, this team and last year’s team have not measured up to the elevated standard that Mark Stoops established over the last 6 years. Before this season, I never considered 6 wins as in the range of possibilities, but as I look at the performance level of this team through 7 games, I am not sure where this team can get 1 more win much less 2 more wins to reach 7.
Is this decline on the coach? The players? Both?
Regardless, it is not on the Fans!!!! And fans are free to point this out.
Mark Stoops has a serious problem within his program. It is Mark Stoops’ job to get that programmatic problem fixed now, so he can return to that difficult climb up the SEC mountain.