'I love the way this group has come together': Mark Stoops believes Kentucky's strength will be the team

Kentucky decided to press the roster reset button in the offseason after a brutal 4-8 campaign that included just one SEC win in 2024. That means a full-on flip of the roster. The Cats now have 50 new players as Mark Stoops and his staff appeared to put their focus on rebuilding in the trenches first and constructing a well-rounded roster. Throughout the preseason, there have been concerns about the lack of star power as UK appears to be make leaning heavily on depth paying off as the season progressses.

Stoops believes that Kentucky’s roster balance will become a real strength for this football program this season. That means depth across the board but it also includes how this new group is coalescing together.

“What I love most about this team is the team. The strength of our team is going to be the team. We can’t be overly dominant on defense or on offense, special teams. We have to be good everywhere,” Stoops said at the Greater Louisville UK Alumni 2025 Wildcat Kickoff Luncheon at Churchill Downs on Monday “And we have to play together. I love the way this group has come together.”

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For a large portion of last season, it appeared that Kentucky had some team splintering going on and it led to some bad performance where this program struggled to respond to adversity and didn’t always appear to be playing for each other. Mark Stoops was determined to fix that in the offseason. The dean of SEC head coaches decided to lean on coaching staff continuity and a new concerted effort to build relationships with the players on the roster. Despite the heavy roster turnover, UK believes that this group is coming together. UK is hopeful that will lead to results on the field.

“I just like the way they care about each other. I like the way they play. I think you as a fan base — you’re going to love watching them. I’ve been proud through the years, and I know we fell short time to time. We all want the same thing,” Stoops explained. “We want a passionate group that plays extremely hard, that represents Kentucky the right way, and plays very physical, very tough, very hard, and cares about each other. We’re going to do that.”

Kentucky has made a commitment to get back to its blue collar roots. That likely mean a run-heavy offense that masters in ball control and a defense that plays a bend but don’t break style but can generate enough stops in a shortened-possession contest to win games. That blueprint has worked well for the program in the past under Stoops but it can only happen if Kentucky becomes one of the hardest playing teams in the SEC again. College football programs cannot become max effort operations unless the team culture is strong and everyone is pulling on the rope together. This is what UK is trying to get back to.

Mark Stoops seems to think they have returned to their roots and that the Big Blue Nation will see a more inspired effort from the Wildcats this fall. Will this plan lead to more wins? We will find out soon.