First Down Kentucky: Most Wonderful Time of the Year

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Best Spring Propaganda On The Timeline

For some, spring practice can be a grind. After taking some time off after the season wraps up, players take the field in March and April to complete mostly fundamental work before offseason workouts continue over the summer leading into fall camp. Not everyone loves spring football.

New Kentucky offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan is not one of those people. The new play-caller in Lexington loves this time of year.

“Favorite part of the year is spring because you can sit down there, teach, and give guys a chance to play different spots and we’ll continually look to work them,” Hamdan said.

Kentucky is now at the halfway point of spring camp with the spring game quickly approaching. Hamdan is feeling good about his new gig and has continually gone on record saying Kentucky “is a special place”. The vibes are strong for the football program at the beginning of April. If they weren’t, we’d probably have a pretty big problem.

Over at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility, Kentucky’s wide receivers to continue to impress people in the building.

Kentucky’s wideouts are all-in

Kentucky entered the 2023 season with high expectations for the passing game. To say the offense fell well short of those expectations would be something many would classify as an accurate statement. Devin Leary had a rocky season at quarterback and the same could be said for the wide receivers. To fix the issue, Kentucky banked on developing returning talent and finding reinforcements in the transfer portal.

Throught the first two-plus weeks of spring practice, positive buzz continues to build at wideout for the Wildcats under new offensive leadership.

“I think it starts with great personalities in that room. I think certainly in my career coaching quarterbacks, receivers — sometimes that receiver room can be a little bit more enjoyable on a day-to-day,” Bush Hamdan told the media on Tuesday. “Those guys are completely bought in. They really are.”

“I think the culture of everything Coach [Mark] Stoops has established here — these practices are tight. It allows them to go out there and truly make every rep extremely important. We focus on speed off the ball. We focus on transition. That group is one of the groups that’s getting better everyday.”

Intel has been positive surrounding this group. That’s with North Texas transfer Ja’Mori Maclin currently limited by injury. The wide receivers still need to go out and prove it on Saturdays, but we all know the talent is there. The consistency of play has seemed to improve this offseason and that could lead to some good moments for the passing game in the fall.

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Class of 2024 continues to impress

On Tuesday, the media got to hear from multiple early enrollees at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility. Hardley Gilmore IV continues to make a splash despite only being 17 years old. Jason Patterson is already running with the ones at tailback and likely sees a real role with the offense this season. They are not the only newcomers making an impact.

We’ve already heard positive things on Brian Robinson and Jerod Smith II. Kentucky doesn’t even have its full signing class on campus with four-star prospects Cam Dooley and Jaden Smith scheduled to arrive over the summer. The early returns on this recruiting haul are very, very promising.

Expect multiple true frosh to play significant roles on the team this season.

Season tickets are now on sale

Want to get your seats locked in for this fall at Kroger Field? Well, you are in luck because the University of Kentucky just put season tickets on sale.

After nearing the 60 percent threshold during the early renewal window, Kentucky is ahead of last year’s pace which ended up being a sell out for season tickets. A final renewal deadline has been set for April 12. Kentucky is offering a variety of season ticket options.