Kentucky Football: Stoops Pleased With Practice, Wildcats Get 2014 Linebacker From Ohio

Mark Stoops seems to be pretty happy, overall, with how spring practice is going. Obviously, things aren't perfect by any means, but he's been very positive about every practice so far, including this one. Here are some of the things that Stoops talked about today after practice #3.

• Stoops said the players could feel the pressure today.
• The staff is using GPS to track players. I'm not exactly sure how that is supposed to work, or what useful data it allows them to collect, but I'm confident it's something.
• This was day 3 of installation. They are going to go on Saturday, and clean up these last three days.
• Neal Brown is unique in how he and his assistants install the offense, and they can do it very fast.
• Za'Darius Smith ahead of the curve on defense, knows Coach Brumbaugh's techniques.
• Adding pads help the players, but there are NCAA limits as to how many practices have to be in shorts and how many in pads.
• Overall speed level needs to improve.
• It's hard to designate one segment that needs the most improvement. Skill need to get better, and the team need to be bigger.
• Stoops helps more on the defense at this point. He said he's learning the offense just like the players are.
• Soops says he thinks he's seeing leaders emerge, but isn't comfortable talking about who they are yet.
• Team is working on special teams every day. Fundamentally the punt techniques are carrying over from last year very well.

Additionally, I know that Hank told you about the commitment of Dorian Hendrix of Huber Heights, Ohio, for 2014. Hendrix is currently unranked by Rivals and ESPN, but 247 and Scout.com both rank him as a 3-star, which is consistent with his offer list. That includes Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Toledo, and Bowling Green.

This is a nice pickup for UK, but it is similar to the type of players we were getting under Joker Phillips. He's the kind of player that will take a few years to develop, but you have to have that.