Stoops Calling for More Toughness Starting with the Leader Whitlow

By: LONNY DEMAREE



Without having the benefit of being a fly on the wall in Monday's meeting, we could surmise that there was Cat's fur flying around in that theater-type room in Nutter Practice facility. Stoops felt like they got the message that there are some things they need to do better. But without him saying it he is trying to guard against a letdown and loss of focus. This is easy to do when you are not winning football games.

Stoops knew this job was going to be a uphill grind and wins would be hard to come by. But the competitive juices in him says that a mistake eliminated here and there victory could've been had. That why with the lack of depth they have to be more mentally and physically tougher than the opponent. "You don't know what play will happen that can change the game and that what's we are working on," said Stoops referring to playing every down as hard as they can and for sixty minutes. We need to play better and be consistent. That's why I feel better today, we got better.

There are several examples of players playing with pain and show mental toughness. Stoops threw down the gauntlet as for as Whitlow playing with that pain. Asked how (Jalen) Whitlow responded and how he look out on the practice field yesterday, the Coach said - "Seem to be pretty good from what I saw. I was with the defense most of the day but when I was looking Jalen was in there throwing the ball pretty good he was in there moving around good. The epitome of toughness has been Blake McClain, Bud Dupree, Jason Hatcher, Avery Williamson, Donte Rumph, Kevin Mitchell, Fred Tiller, and others. Nobody on in major Dl school is one-hundred healthy at this point in the season. Often times you hear some one referring to staying healthy. That's just not possible and no matter how deep you are it has it's effect. The Georgia Bulldog are one stark example of what injuries can do to a team.

By the amount of time Stoops spends in practice with the defense I think there isn't any guessing as to what side of the ball a letdown can have the most effect. D. J. Eliot asked can they teach toughness and is that a coachable thing? "I just think you emphasis tough in practice," the coordinator explained. "You just emphasis that in practice and in games. You just celebrate those that play physical and criticize those that don't." When the word overconfident was uttered by a member of the media throng, Eliot bristled at that dirty word. Kentucky is not deep enough and good enough to take anyone lightly. Eliot had some glowing things to say about Michael Douglas who is a bit undersize for the defensive tackle position. "He played great, I was proud of him," Eliot said.