The Kentucky football team has been practicing for two weeks. There are still a little more than two weeks until the Wildcats lace \u2019em up against Toledo. <\/p>\n
These are the dog days of fall camp. It\u2019s hot. The physical grind is wearing on their bodies. For some, it\u2019s incomparable to the mental fatigue they\u2019re fighting through on a daily basis. So, how do the coaches keep the players engaged? By reminding them that jobs are up for grabs. <\/p>\n
\u201cCompetition, it always starts there. We\u2019re certainly trying to create it at a ton of different positions,\u201d said offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan<\/a>. <\/p>\n That incentive has lit a fire under some players. Hamdan likes what he\u2019s seen from the quarterbacks and the running backs. \u201cIf some guys are competing, they\u2019re going to be playing. But how many targets are they going to get?\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s where things are interesting. What\u2019s going on in the wide receiver room? Mark Stoops<\/a> and Zach Calzada<\/a> weren\u2019t exactly eager to single out individuals following Saturday\u2019s scrimmage. It\u2019s been described as a \u201cgroup effort.\u201d Hamdan wants to see more in that wide receiver competition. <\/p>\n \u201cI think the receiver room is the most competitive room right now. We\u2019re really not sure where those guys are at,\u201d said Hamdan. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s probably seven or eight guys you see in practice where the consistency is up and down. The better players are less consistent and so on and so forth. For us, these guys know what\u2019s on the line. We\u2019ve really tried to evaluate and address where they\u2019re at on Aug. 11, so they can respond to that and be ready to go early in the year.\u201d <\/p>\n Where do the vets stand? That\u2019s hard to tell. One thing has been made abundantly clear. Cameron Miller<\/a> and Montavin Quisenberry<\/a> are ball players. A few days after QB1 gave them a shout out, Josh Kattus<\/a> shared a similar sentiment, commending them for making difficult, contested catches. <\/p>\n \u201cYou gotta be extremely talented to be able to play as a freshman\u2026 It speaks a lot to their work ethic and their talent to be able to do that,\u201d said Kattus<\/a>. \u201cThey just gotta keep building that trust. It\u2019s not easy to play a freshman, but they\u2019re doing a really good job of earning Coach Hamdan\u2019s trust and giving themselves a shot to be out there week one.\u201d <\/p>\n The freshmen are checking the right boxes, but Kentucky cannot rely on true freshmen to be Calzada\u2019s primary pass-catchers. The Wildcats have a hodgepodge group of transfers who have experience at the collegiate level, just not as the guy. They don\u2019t need them to turn into Wan\u2019Dale Robinson<\/a>, but Calzada needs players he can trust to catch the football. <\/p>\n Hamdan has issued a challenge to the wide receivers. They\u2019ve got 2.5 weeks to prove themselves. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n