Mark Stoops Heaps Praise on Seniors, Cutter Boley and Defense

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Coach Mark Stoops opened his regular weekly press conference Monday letting 25 Kentucky seniors who will be honored at Saturday’s final home game know how much he appreciated what they have done at Kentucky.

“I really appreciate those seniors. Some have been here for a long time, some not so long, but they have all had an impact and we appreciate them,” Stoops said.

“And also the support staff (student equipment managers, athletic trainers, recruiting assistants, etc.) – there’s a lot of young people that dedicate a lot of time and I probably don’t say it enough and acknowledge them enough, but I really appreciate them.”

Clearly winning two straight Southeastern Conference games and continuing his dominance against Florida Saturday put the UK coach in the best mood he’s been in this season — and who could blame him.

Here’s how he started the press conference Monday:

“Obviously pleased with the victory. To get back home and get a good win over Florida meant a lot to our team, to our fan base, and to everybody. Really good and complete game. Just pleased with the offense, efficiency, defense and special teams across the board, played extremely well.  Once again, I think our players, we’ve been talking about it, continuing to play with great effort that they play with, but the execution has been better,” Stoops said.

“You can’t say enough good things about Cutter (Boley) and the way he is playing. Going back as a staff and watching it Sunday, and even buzzed it again prior to coming in here, so effective. Sure, we’d like to have a couple of those turnovers back, the fumble and the interception, you take those away, and he absolutely played lights out. Felt like during the game we could have thrown it a bit more, but you really look at how the game played out, he was very effective in the first half.

“The second half, the first six plays we called, we actually called five passes. He scrambled for one, got the first down, and then the next thing you know, we feel like you could put a dagger in them, we ripped off some runs, got it in the high red (zone), and were able to pound it in. The very next possession, we ripped off a long run, and Cutter’s day was about over throwing the ball at that point. We didn’t need to, and it just wasn’t smart, and we wanted him to play ball and he needed the snaps, but didn’t want (him) pulling the ball down and running around, getting some kind of senseless injury.

“We also pulled him out, I want to say, with about nine minutes to go in the game. Very good game by him. Across the board, I thought the offensive line played very well. Once again, the running backs and receivers are all stepping up.”

Stoops was not finished feeling the good times.

“Defensively, I can’t say enough good things about coach (Brad) White, the defensive staff, and certainly those players. As I’ve said over and over again, (they) have great pride in what they’re doing, have really responded the right way, and played extremely well. Back-to-back, probably two of the better games we’ve played in a long time here defensively. That says a lot about them and their character. I really appreciate the effort. Once again, special teams were solid.”