Kentucky kicked off six weeks of spring football on Tuesday morning with the first practice of the Will Stein era. Before seeing his team in action for the first time, the new Kentucky head coach needed his players to see how it would operate. The Wildcats practiced practice.

On Monday morning, the Wildcats went through a walk-through designed to teach them the flow of practice. There’s only so much time a team is allotted on the field together. It cannot be wasted moving from one drill to the next team period.

“Football energy when you’re practicing is different than a walk-through. Everything’s heightened. You’re going faster and harder than you were before,” Stein said Tuesday morning.

The Kentucky football team was moving fast on Tuesday. In the Wildcats’ first practice, Stein liked the speed at which his team was operating together.

“I thought out coaches did a nice job with the transitions in between periods. Players were responsive to coaching, and we got a lot of work done; good first day.”

How Kentucky Spring Practice Will Work

There’s one big difference in spring practice vs. fall practice. An opponent isn’t waiting for Kentucky on Saturday. There will be a couple of scrimmages in April, but it’s not quite the same as what his players should expect later this year.

“I want to see great strain, great commitment, connection within our team,” said Stein. “We’re not trying to reinvent football during spring ball. It really is fundamentals, technique, and can we run our base install really well, and do it so well we can’t get it wrong during a high-stress level on Saturdays?”

Even though there isn’t an opponent waiting down the road, Kentucky is installing its playbook over the next six weeks. Players will learn something new about the scheme in every practice.

“We install something every day. We’re whole-part-whole mentality. We’re going to throw a lot of stuff at the wall, see what sticks, especially schematically, learning our team,” said the Kentucky head coach.

“This setting is different than a walk-through setting in the winter. We install every day. We’ll have a new one tomorrow and have about 15 installs over 15 practices. Now, how many players or schemes that is — it’s not like everyday has 15 new plays. It might be two or three here or there.”

The Wildcats are operating in survival mode this week. A lot is happening quickly. They’ve seen the plays on paper, but it’s a whole different ballgame when you’re actually moving around on the football field. There are plenty of guys on the roster who have the athletic tools to compete in the SEC. It’s their job to prove to Will Stein and his coaching staff over the next six weeks that they can execute within the scheme.

“Can they get lined up? You’re in a new scheme, so everybody’s at square one right now, base camp. It’s important that they can get lined up, hear the call, and just go execute the call. Once they learn that, understand it, next thing you know, you’re going to see them popping off on tape and playing really fast.”

Stein on Hardley Gilmore’s Return

Kentucky football fans were surprised to see a familiar face back on the roster. Hardley Gilmore entered the transfer portal in January. He initially committed to Louisville before flipping to Baylor. As he did a year ago, the wide receiver ultimately decided to return to Lexington.

“We had an opportunity to bring him back, which was really exciting for us,” Stein said. “There’s never ill will. You can’t have any ill will. Stuff happens in college football. There’s too many moving parts, so we had an opportunity to bring him back and was really excited to do it.”