When offensive coordinator Joe Sloan took the mic, it became incredibly clear that this offensive staff is operating in lockstep. The synergy between Will Stein and Sloan is already paying dividends in practice, and they are building a unit designed to keep SEC defenses entirely off balance.
Here are the biggest takeaways from Coach Sloan’s fall camp presser.
1. Trusting the process to play fast
You can have the best playbook in the world, but if the players are thinking instead of reacting, the offense stalls. Sloan pointed out that
Will Stein’s practice schedule is the secret sauce to getting this completely overhauled roster ready for September 5th.
“I think the way that coach Stein has organized our schedule… we get so much football in throughout the year, we really take advantage of every minute,” Sloan explained.
The goal? Mental comfort that translates to physical speed. “We just get so many opportunities to work a lot of different things and get our guys extremely comfortable with the fundamentals of what we want them to do and the assignments of what we want them to do, because if they’re in that position…then they can go attack, be aggressive, right, and they can play fast.”
Playing fast is important, but you can’t go fast if you don’t know what you are doing.
2. Pushing Kenny Minchey to be “elite”
While Kenny Minchey is scheduled to be the starter, Sloan made it clear that nothing is being handed to anyone, noting, “Competition is really one of our core values, right? In terms of what we want to be about.”
When asked specifically about Minchey’s development, Sloan pinpointed the exact mechanical tweaks that make the former Notre Dame signal-caller so dangerous.
“Playing on his back foot a little bit and getting his way back so that he can drive the ball consistently… When he does that, he’s elite,” Sloan noted. Beyond the physical tools, Sloan laid out the ultimate expectation for QB1: “Becoming a master of the offense and becoming an elite communicator to where everybody can turn to him and know that he’s going to have the answer for him.”
Minchey is well on his way to QB1, but nothing is set in stone.
3. Multiple speeds and multiple tempos
Don’t expect this offense to just go warp-speed on every single down, nor should you expect them to huddle up and drain the clock all game. Sloan and Stein are building an offense built on unpredictability.
“We’ll try to take advantage of and attack defenses with operation, and a lot of that is change of pace,” Sloan said. “We’re going to attack people in, I would say, multiple speeds and multiple tempos… Keep them off balance so that the defensive coordinator doesn’t know exactly when, right?”
Stoops only wanted to go slow; that ball-control style may come back, but it will not be a permanent fixture.
4. Willie Rodriguez and the arsenal of weapons
If there’s one player who seems poised to break out and become a nightmare matchup, it’s tight end Willie Rodriguez. Sloan didn’t hold back his praise for the tight end’s unique combination of size and fluidity.
“I think Willie is a special football player,” Sloan raved.
Sloan also touched on Martels Carter making the full-time jump to the running back room to provide much-needed depth. “He’s an extremely athletic guy, but he can do a lot of things on a football field. I think you can see got great eye-hand coordination, great balance, good twitch, and then he’s physical, right?”
5. Kentucky’s offense is better because of Kentucky’s defense
Perhaps the best thing for this offense is that they have to face Jay Bateman’s defense in practice every day. Bateman commented on how it has made them a much better team, and Sloan did the same.
“I don’t think it’s a secret that they led the country in third down last year (Texas A&M),” Sloan said. “Last year they played Auburn and allowed zero third-down conversions, right? I mean, that’s wild.”
Sloan also let everyone know that he will be calling the game from the booth and not on the field. I actually think you can see things better from up top, but you do lose those 1-on-1 conversations as players come off the field.
Are you guys ready for some football?
