What We Learned from the First Kentucky Football Scrimmage of Fall Camp

Kentucky only has two preseason scrimmages to prepare for the upcoming season. The first was today at Kroger Field. They’re closed to the public, except for friends and family. After speaking to a few folks who had eyeballs on the scrimmage, including Mark Stoops, Zach Calzada, and JQ Hardaway, here’s what we can gather from the action.

Kentucky Focused on the Basics

You gotta walk before you run. During the week, coaches spend most of the time standing right behind the offensive huddle during team periods. Today was a game-like simulation. Coaches were in the pressbox with officials on the field. The No. 1 objective for the Wildcats, particularly on offense, was making the routine look routine.

“We needed to focus on our operation,” Calzada shared after practice. “That was our first time operating under the 15-second cut-off through the headset, so just making sure we’re lined up, ready to go, and practicing some of our tempo, staying ahead of the sticks, and getting the ball out quick, being tough in the run game. It was good to see us march down the field and score a couple of times.”

The Kentucky defense got a stop on the first drive for the ones. The offense bounced back with a touchdown, then got points on the board during a two-minute drill.

Kentucky was Injury Free

Every scrimmage that ends without a major injury is a successful one. Mark Stoops said a few players got dinged up, but there weren’t any major injuries to report.

Kick off the 2025 Kentucky football season with KSR Plus! We’re giving you behind-the-scenes intel you won’t find anywhere else. Join the most vibrant online community in BBN ahead of a pivotal season for Mark Stoops.

Load Management

You can’t suffer a major injury if you don’t play your major players. I was looking forward to hearing how the new running backs performed in a live tackling situation. Much to my chagrin, we learned that Dante Dowdell and Seth McGowan did not take any snaps. From what I’ve gathered, they weren’t the only projected starters who received a light workload.

After losing Chip Trayanum basically for the entire season from an injury during a scrimmage, you can understand why Kentucky would be hesitant to take another chance by playing Dowdell and McGowan in the first scrimmage. On the other hand, Stoops has made it a point of emphasis to bring more physicality in practice this year, now that they have enough depth across the board. One can only hope that some of these guys will get some serious run during next Saturday’s scrimmage.

First Scrimmage Problems: Tackling

Mark Stoops noted that the run defense “got a little leaky” during the scrimmage, with Jason Patterson taking a majority of the carries for the ones. That sounds like Patterson broke a few tackles and turned short gains into chain-movers.

“From a defensive standpoint, we’ve got to get the ball on the ground more, be more consistent in our tackling,” said JQ Hardaway.

As the cornerback noted, this is par for the course in the first scrimmage. Kentucky has not tackled since November. That’s eight months without tackling. Of course, they’re going to be a little rusty.

“We have to do better tackling, getting the ball carrier on the ground,” Hardaway added. “The first guy needs to get him to the ground. We shouldn’t have to have two, three guys to get him to the ground. We also have to eliminate leaky yardage, as Coach says. We can’t let the ball carrier fall forward. We have to be more physical in our tackles.”

The Kentucky Kicker was Perfect

Alex Raynor was the most accurate field goal kicker in school history, knocking down 92.6% of his attempts (25/27) over two years at Kentucky. His successor is Jacob Kauwe, who’s known for his beg leg. A powerful kicker is only valuable if he can squeeze the ball between the uprights. During the special teams period prior to the scrimmage, he made all six attempts, then buried multiple field goals during the 11-on-11 period.

Kentucky Score Points

The defense eliminated explosive “wow” plays, but they couldn’t keep the offense out of the end zone. “We got the ball in the end zone, points. The bottom line is we scored some points and that’s something we know we need to improve on,” said Stoops.

Throughout the first scrimmage, the Kentucky offense had to convert third-and-longs and third-and-shorts. They successfully navigated a two-minute drive. All of the situations they drilled during simulated practices turned into results once they turned on the scoreboard. That’s a positive step forward in fall camp.