The Kentucky football team completed its spring practice on April 18 with the annual Blue-White Game at Kroger Field, where the offense outscored the defense 23-18.
Head coach Will Stein said his main focus was on player development and team improvement in a live, game-like setting. “The game’s the game, I think we got a lot of really good work,” Stein said. “That’s the goal of spring is to improve with fundamentals and technique, learn how to practice, learn what winning edges we need throughout spring, to go into summer and fall and prepare the team to play.”
Stein emphasized that avoiding injuries during the scrimmage was more important than the final score. “We came out of the scrimmage clean, there were no injuries,” he said. “That’s the biggest win of the day. I could care less about the score. If we come out clean, that’s good.”
During Saturday’s modified-scoring contest, several players took turns leading drives for both sides of the ball. Redshirt freshman Brennan Ward led an early scoring drive capped by a touchdown from Martels Carter Jr., while Kenny Minchey contributed with key completions and a rushing touchdown later in the game.
After halftime, JacQai Long guided another successful offensive series that ended in a touchdown pass from Shane Carr to Kenny Darby.
Looking ahead to summer workouts and fall camp preparations, Stein outlined his approach for continued progress: “We are going to do this summer, really continue to build repetitions at our core fundamental and base plays,” he said. “And then, as we hit fall, really develop that blue (first team) group as the group moving forward and the white group as the next group up. I think we made strides for sure. I’m pleased so far.”
