Brad White explains downplaying excitement in spring football

The Kentucky football team has certainly made some headlines in spring football, from coach Mark Stoops calling players entitled to defensive coordinator Brad White saying his players need a dose of humility.

It’s been that kind of spring for the Wildcats, who apparently have needed a little bit of an attitude adjustment.

So it comes as little surprise that White isn’t ready to start crowing about his defense and how they’re playing during spring football. As he explains, spring can sometimes be a bit deceptive in terms of how well either side of the ball is doing.

“I think spring ball and fall camp, you can get a false sense of security or hope or you’re like, ‘Aw, this is going to be the year,’ because you go against the same tackles, protections,” White said. “You can do some things.”

It is easy enough to pick up on patterns on the opposite side of the ball.

Teams are typically working through the basic levels of install, so there’s a certain rhythm to how the work gets done in the spring. Often that can favor the defense.

White isn’t reading too much into Kentucky’s work for exactly that reason.

“Sometimes you can feel like you’re in a better situation than you are,” White said. “That’s something I’ve had to learn in terms of I’m not going to fall into that trap. We’re going to see when Saturdays come in the fall.”

Brad White stressing his defense in spring football

White had some interesting comments recently about his players needing a “dose of humility.” His comments come not long after Stoops called his players “entitled.”

“It was a great assessment by coach in terms of understanding something,” White explained. “There’s reality, right? And humility. And those are two really important qualities for guys to understand. Sometimes they live outside of reality and they need a dose of humility.”

To work toward that end, White has been stressing his defensive guys by occasionally stacking the deck against them in spring football practice.

The more they get used to working in less than ideal situations this spring, the better prepared Kentucky will be for any such situations that arise on fall Saturdays when the bullets are live, so to speak.

“I think it’s good. I think they need to feel it,” White said. “They need to feel getting beat and playing light boxes and doing different things in that regard. Has its ups, has its downs, but that’s spring.”