Everything You Need to Know About Kentucky Football at SEC Media Days 2025
SEC Media Days is an opportunity to unleash an avalanche of content. That can be overwhelming. If you weren’t locked into the Live Blog or KSBoard, don’t worry. Rather than drinking from a firehose, allow me to hit all of the high points from Kentucky’s appearance at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.
Mark Stoops isn’t a Fan of the Motivated Meme
Motivated Mark Stoops became one of the most talked-about topics discussed around BBN this offseason. It was a fun, silly joke that transformed into a reason to get excited about the 2025 Kentucky football season, but no one knew what the head coach thought about it. I asked the question, and he made it clear that he’s not a fan.
“I love how people grab certain aspects of things that I say, and it’s no different than I’ve ever been. Zero change.”
Stoops has always been motivated. Clearly, that’s not going to change after last year’s embarrassing season. He would prefer the adjective grateful.
“I’m very grateful and looking forward to this 13th year, but it’s business as usual for us. It’s business as usual for myself. I think I’ll play along and let the media have their fun and take their shots, and that’s cool with me, and I’m ready to just move forward.”
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Three Catchphrases
Kentucky is not going to embrace Motivated Mark Stoops. There is another motto he prefers. Kentucky is preparing for the 2025 season with a ‘fourth-and-one mentality.’
“We’re showing up every day, and we’re working with that fourth-and-one mindset, attacking the weight room, attacking the film room, attacking the field work,” said Josh Kattus. “That’s what we love about it.”
Stoops also dropped a few other lines that popped, one that included an expletive.
Kentucky Plays Nice on Vince Marrow’s Departure
SEC Media Days was the first opportunity for members of the media to ask Stoops and some of the players about Vince Marrow’s surprising offseason departure. The Kentucky head coach doesn’t share any animosity for his longtime friend.
“I think anybody that’s making a decision to leave the program, I don’t think there’s any, like, perfect way to do that… I greatly appreciate our friendship and what he’s done to help us build this program for 12 years,” Stoops said.
All three players who attended the event, Kattus, Alex Afari, and Jordan Lovett, were recruited to Kentucky by Marrow. None of them were eager to speak ill about their former coach.
“It was crazy, especially Louisville. You know, it was crazy,” said Lovett. “But I wish the best for him. I wish the best for him. Good luck to him. And when we see him, we see him.”
Revenue-Sharing Eases Financial Burden on Stoops
SEC Media Days was also our first chance to speak with the Kentucky head coach since revenue-sharing went into effect. Last year, we heard Stoops regularly bemoan the burden of fundraising NIL dollars to create a roster. That part of his job has mostly been put to rest, thanks in large part to revenue-sharing.
“As we move forward, all of us (coaches), as far as the way we monitor it, everybody’s staying within the budget, and there are penalties if you exceed that and things of that nature. But it excites me, because hopefully, it’ll level the playing field,” Stoops said.
Stoops says he wasn’t laying low
The Kentucky football program has been quiet this offseason. Stoops did one interview at the Spring Meetings and said, “I don’t want to get into a headline today,” he told Sirius in Destin. “That’s one thing I want to get out of the summer.”
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Adam Luckett asked Stoops why the program took that approach. He said it wasn’t intentional, and wondered if the media was just “looking for some ammo.”
“I didn’t do anything different this offseason with y’all. I don’t think. People have tried to insinuate that I’ve been laying low on purpose,” Stoops said in Atlanta. “But I think people would appreciate the fact that we’re just working, and we’re trying to get better, and we’re trying to assemble a quality football team, and we have a lot of work to do.”
Josh Kattus Delivered an Outstanding Performance
Going through the SEC Media Days car wash is difficult for the players. They’re tasked to regurgitate answers to questions they’ve already answered so many times. Some are radio interviews at stations they’ve never heard of, but others bring a much bigger spotlight. It can be intimidating to speak into the SEC Network camera. Josh Kattus delivered his message with polish and poise. It’s one of the most impressive interviews I’ve seen from a Wildcat at this event.
Stoops is a Mark Pope Fan
Entities from around the SEC aren’t as plugged into Kentucky football as we are in the Commonwealth. That means they’re going to bring up basketball. While speaking with SiriusXM, his relationship with John Calipari and Mark Pope was brought up, and he had nothing but nice things to say about the Wildcats’ new head basketball coach.
“Mark Pope is absolutely wonderful. What you see and how he interacts, you’re like, ‘Is this real?” It’s real, man. He’s the best,” said Stoops.
Oddly enough, he took it upon himself to then bring up his old beef with John Calipari. That was not on my SEC Media Days Bingo card.
Positive Reviews on Seth McGowan
Yes, they actually did talk about the players, even though it was a little lighter than usual. Kentucky has 50 new players on its roster. Stoops is typically hesitant to praise new guys too early, but he didn’t hesitate to give Seth McGowan his flowers. The running back is the real deal.
“I’m very excited about him,” Stoops said. “He brings a lot of juice, a lot of energy off the field and with the way he runs, with the way he plays. I think he’s a complete back. He’s an NFL back and we’re happy to have him on our team.”
We’ll have more on McGowan, tweaks to the scheme, and what the players said, like Alex Afari’s incredible journey to football, shared on Kentucky Sports Radio in the coming days. Now, it’s time to return to my Old Kentucky Home. In the meantime, enjoy a new edition of 11 Personnel.
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