Accountability and Physicality: How Kentucky Football Won the Offseason

When Mark Stoops sat in front of the podium at Kroger Field for the first time ahead of the 2025 Kentucky football season, he shared an offseason anecdote that would be unremarkable in most instances. During this offseason, every small detail matters.

For the first time in 13 years, the strength and conditioning staff reported to the head coach that they had 100% participation in summer workouts. There was just one exception.

“We had a situation where a freshman was late a couple times, and his unit grabbed him, straightened it out, and got them right back on track,” Stoops said.

That’s not nothing. As Kentucky’s 2024 season spiraled, we heard whispers about cracks in the culture. There was a void in leadership and accountability.

This anecdote does not mean all of Kentucky’s problems have been solved. You can keep the “Mission Accomplished” banner in the closet a little longer. However, this is one small sign that this program is taking a step in the right direction.

Kentucky Stacked Up Winning Days in the Weight Room

Every offseason is dedicated to getting bigger, faster, and stronger. This applies in every sport. If you got a nickel for every time a professional athlete said ahead of a season, “I’m in the best shape of my life,” you could fully fund your 401(k).

Kentucky amplified the urgency in the locker room this offseason, in part because of the injuries that depleted the team’s depth in the trenches last fall. Mark Stoops’ best teams have been some of the most physical teams in the SEC. You can’t get that by snapping your fingers on Saturdays. It can only be done by putting in the work every single day. Mark Stoops set out to accomplish that by challenging his staff to demand more from the players.

“Our strength and conditioning team, I really challenged them because they are amazing. They’ve done a remarkable job for a long time, and they have my full trust,” said Stoops.

“But I did challenge them because we need to be bigger, we need to be stronger, we need to be more athletic. We need a lot of things, and so there was a lot of pressure put on them, and they’ve really delivered. Now, it’s up to us and our (coaching) staff to make sure that we have a great camp,” said Stoops.

Entering his 13th season in Lexington, Mark Stoops isn’t putting his head in the sand. He knows his program fell well short of expectations a year ago. In order to create a successful team, he did what we knows works, go to work.

Kentucky fans get tired of hearing that their coach is, “Going to get back to work.” But that’s who he is. He couldn’t try to be a Shane Beamer and run PR for his program all offseason. Instead, he went back to the well and built a team in his identity.

“It’s been very quiet. Guys have put their head down, have worked extremely hard,” he said. “They’ve been remarkable. You could see that with their strength, with their size, and their commitment to each other. The fact that we’ve been so consistent this summer says a lot about them.”

If you do the little things right every day, the big things aren’t so hard. This Kentucky football team has a monumental task ahead. They did the little things the right way to set themselves up for success in 2025.