Mark Stoops talks 2nd major scrimmage, Ryan Timmons and more

The Kentucky Wildcats held their second spring football scrimmage on Saturday, and head coach Mark Stoops likes what he saw.

In addition to good production from the quarterbacks, offense in general and defensive leaders stepping up, Stoops was especially complimentary of senior wide receiver Ryan Timmons.

To this point, Timmons has been more of a tease with his production than the stud receiver and returner we all envisioned the Franklin County star would become. Seeing him step up and take on a bigger role with this team has been a pleasant surprise in spring ball, and hopefully it continues into next season.

Here's a recap of everything Stoops had to say today following the scrimmage:

Opening statement
"I thought it was a very good scrimmage. I thought both sides showed some real progress. There's always going to be some ups and downs, but it was a very energetic, very passionate scrimmage. Both sides did some good things. Certainly the defense improved a bit from last week, which was good to see."

On special teams competition
"I love it because it just brings accountability, more accountability to them, and that's what we talk about all the time. You either win or lose, and we're tired of being close. We want to win and we want to find those plays, those yards, those inches, whatever it is. It's great, because it's right there in black and white.

"You either win a rep or lose a rep. So, it's been a lot of fun as well. I think there's been great competition, and it's been great work. We really got some good special teams work done again today."

On Ryan Timmons
"It's funny you say that because I thought he really showed up today. He really showed up and had a really good scrimmage. He's been very good this spring. Somebody asked me a week or two ago who's been the most pleasant surprise, and I'd say he's definitely one of them.

"So, I'll have to make sure I tell him don't make me regret that. So, I don't want to see him take a step back, but he's really done some good things. He's shown up well today."

On the receivers in general
"The receivers in general - just competition. Just competing, fighting harder, making competitive plays."

On Timmons' improvements
"He's making the routine plays look routine. We're throwing the ball over the middle in (run-pass options) and he makes difficult catches in traffic and turning it up and making some yards, but he should do that. But we're doing that."

On Drew Barker today
"I thought he was good. It was good today because he had some adversity early on, I thought. The defense had some stops and were really playing pretty good and he settled in and got more opportunities and then we ended up starting to move it a little bit."

On young linebackers
"I think Kash (Daniel) is certainly a guy that's showing up, getting better. He's got a long way to go, the game moves fast to him, but for a guy, as you know he should be in high school right now. Courtney (Love) is doing good. All the guys are going good. They're playing well."

On De'Niro Laster
"Laster is doing some good things. De'Niro is doing some good things. Jordan Jones shows up all the time. He's got an electric personality and he's super, super fast, doing some really good things. So I've been pleased with him as well."

On Matt Elam
"I'll have to watch the film. Sometimes at nose it doesn't show up a heck of a whole lot until I watch the film, but overall I think, again, he's getting more consistent."

On defensive line standouts
"Regie (Meant). Regie is a guy that's been a good leader and really passionate. Really playing physical."

On Charles Walker being a special teams captain as a walk-on
"It doesn't surprise me one bit with him. He's a guy that - as a matter of fact we honored Joey Herrick this morning, another former walk-on. Joey came back in and visited in the meeting this morning. Andy presented him with a nice award from last year for the work that he did. Charles is a player. He makes a lot of plays on special teams."

On special teams cuts being stressful
"I think it was fun. For the guys that got cut, I'm sure it wasn't fun, but like we said, that's real life. You either win or you lose. It's in black and white. They'll get another opportunity, not the rest of this spring though. They're cut from special teams. But I think we're making it fun but also putting that accountability back on the players."