{"id":869316,"date":"2026-04-18T17:36:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T17:36:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/869316\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T17:36:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T17:36:29","slug":"offense-beats-defense-23-18-in-kentuckys-weather-shortened-spring-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/869316\/","title":{"rendered":"Offense beats Defense 23-18 in Kentucky’s weather-shortened spring game"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Will Stein<\/a> era got its unofficial start on Saturday at Kroger Field. Kentucky played some breakfast ball in front of an excited crowd in Lexington. Mother Nature held off just long enough for the Big Blue Nation to see what the new era of UK football will bring to the table.<\/p>\n

Stein\u2019s offense claimed a 23-18 win over the defense in a game that was called at the end of the third quarter. There were no stats but we\u2019ve got plenty of takeaways from a fun few hours at the stadium.<\/p>\n

Live Blog: Kentucky Football Spring Game<\/a><\/p>\n

Kentucky was very shorthanded<\/p>\n

There were 15 players who were not suited up for Kentucky\u2019s spring game. Lance Heard<\/a>, Sam Greene<\/a>, Nic Anderson<\/a>, and CJ Baxter<\/a> are all expected starters. Jovantae Barnes<\/a>,\u00a0Xavier Daisy<\/a>,\u00a0Hardley Gilmore IV<\/a>,\u00a0Aba Selm<\/a>, and\u00a0Jaden Smith<\/a>\u00a0were all in position to secure at least a rotational role this year entering spring camp. There were some other players participating who were not cleared for full contact on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Wide receiver Shane Carr<\/a> and nickel Aaron Gates<\/a> were both sporting black non-contact jerseys at the spring game. Each is expected to have a big role on this football team. Both were limited but we did get to see Carr throw a touchdown pass.<\/p>\n

Redshirt freshman cornerback Andrew Purcell<\/a> was also banged up. Due to all of these injuries, Kentucky was extremely short-handed at running back and wide receiver. There were some clunky moments for the offense. That was probably a big reason why.<\/p>\n

The team we saw on Saturday will look much different in Week 1 simply due to the fact that Kentucky had a high volume amount of players unavailable to close spring.<\/p>\n

Kenny Minchey leads multiple scoring drives in first Kentucky spring game<\/p>\n

There has been a lot of hype for quarterback Kenny Minchey<\/a> over the last four months. The former Notre Dame backup who flipped from Nebraska to Kentucky during the transfer portal window has emerged as one of the best \u2014 and most important \u2014 players on this football team. Will the redshirt junior become the next start quarterback under Will Stein? Only time will tell, but Big Blue Nation got their first glimpse of the new QB1 on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Minchey led what was essentially the first-team offense on multiple scoring drives. That included a two-minute possession before half that ended in a field goal after an explosive completion to Wille Rodriguez<\/a> up the seam. Minchey made some very accurate throws from the pocket on third\/fourth down across the middle to numerous different targets. The quarterback did find himself in some trouble when forced to scramble, but flashed accuracy, and command of the offense.<\/p>\n

All of this was done without his top expected running backs and wide receivers. The offense will look much different in the fall. What we know is that Kentucky will put a lot on Minchey\u2019s plate. The quarterback showed some proof of concept on Saturday.<\/p>\n

A look at Kentucky\u2019s rebuilt offensive line<\/p>\n

Kentucky does not have a depth chart. The program has made sure to make that known over the last two months. However, the same offensive line kept running out there with Kenny Minchey. So maybe we should put two and two together.<\/p>\n

This is what UK\u2019s top offensive line looked like without starting left tackle Lance Heard.<\/p>\n

Left Tackle: Mark Robinson<\/p>\n

Left Guard: Olaus Alinen<\/p>\n

Center: Coleton Price<\/p>\n

Right Guard: Tegra Tshabola<\/p>\n

Right Tackle: Malachi Wood<\/p>\n

Baylor transfer Coleton Price<\/a> and Ohio State transfer Tegra Tshabola<\/a> were in their long-time positions as expected. Alabama transfer Olaus Alinen<\/a> has real positional versatility and could be used in multiple roles. He spent all Saturday at the left guard spot that entered spring wide-open. Malachi Wood<\/a> was at right tackle. UTEP transfer Mark Robinson<\/a> replaced Heard at left tackle.<\/p>\n

There was some pressure coming off the edge that gave this offense some problems. Kentucky also had some issues getting the run game going. But we learned at least something about the offensive line. UK needs to get Heard back. Alinen will have a role. Robinson and Wood are next up at tackle.<\/p>\n

The battles at left guard and right tackle will continue in fall camp.<\/p>\n

The defense plays aggressive<\/p>\n

We didn\u2019t see defensive coordinator Jay Bateman<\/a> play a ton of cards today. The Wildcats are still trying to keep how they play quiet. That has been established, but there is no denying that there has been a mentality shift at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility.<\/p>\n

Kentucky wants to play aggressive. Kentucky wants to blitz. Kentucky wants to play more press coverage. All of that was on display at the spring game. UK got a huge red zone sack against the first offensive unit where Bateman brought some heat off the edge on third down. There were also some defensive pass interference flags with cornerbacks locked up in tight coverage. This is a different style of ball.<\/p>\n

Fans will see a different type of defensive football this season at Kroger Field.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Will Stein era got its unofficial start on Saturday at Kroger Field. Kentucky played some breakfast ball…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":869317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[75561,100334,7,54586,97042,111715,97522,95280,100796,41010],"class_list":{"0":"post-869316","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-aaron-gates-23-trinity-christian-school","9":"tag-coleton-price-22-bowie","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-kenny-minchey-23-pope-john-paul-ii","12":"tag-lance-heard-23-neville","13":"tag-malachi-wood-23-madison-central","14":"tag-mark-robinson-24-lyman","15":"tag-olaus-alinen-23-the-loomis-chaffee-school","16":"tag-shane-carr-23-south","17":"tag-tegra-tshabola-22-lakota-west"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116426924743228578","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=869316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/869317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}