Stoops likes what he sees from Chris Westry

By: LARRY VAUGHT

Any time Kentucky coach Mark Stoops sees the ball thrown on cornerback Chris Westry's side of the field, he expects it to be an incompletion.

"I feel like it's just not going to happen," Stoops said about a pass being completed against his sophomore cornerback.

"He needs to continue to work, and I mentioned that through spring because he's such a big guy, he's so long, it's uncommon for a guy to be 6-4 and play corner. He's got to constantly work his fundamentals. When he gets out there in game like situation, he just can't -- through the course of spring, I, we have to really stay on him and push him because he fundamentally has to play good to play at that elite level and to get him to play like he's capable of.

"So he's got a long way to go, but I like his work ethic and he takes the coaching and he takes hard coaching and we just got to stay on him and he's got to have a great summer. Because he's just so darn big, I don't want him to grow into a linebacker."

Westrey senses that Stoops, who is spending more time coaching the secondary, likes what he is seeing from the defensive backs.

"He gives us more leeway than past times. He expects a lot from us this year. We only lost two guys and the majority of the guys that have returned have played before. So he expects a lot from us right now," Westry said.

Westry likes the confidence Stoops showed him with his comment about expecting any pass thrown his way to be incomplete.

But Westry also says not to underestimate Derrick Baity, another sophomore cornerback.

“Derrick is great. Derrick plays up the field more and I guess you could say he gets more of the shifty guys and I get more of the big, jump-ball guys. He has to be on his A game too, just like I do," Westry said.

The two could give UK its best cornerback combination in years.

"Each and every guy in our secondary we have faith in. Really, in my opinion, we really don’t have one, two or three deep, we are all really just ones. We all go out there and grind and like I said you either win or lose and most the time we want to win," Westry said.