Kentucky Football: Mark Stoops addresses Marcus Walker’s arrest

Mark Stoops addressed former Kentucky Wildcats safety Marcus Walker’s drug arrest while hosting Kentucky Sports Radio on Thursday.

Walker was arrested on charges of marijuana and cocaine trafficking. Police also found large amounts of cash inside his apartment. Walker entered a not guilty plea to the charges.

“It hurts our program and I’m disappointed that it happened,” said Stoops of the arrest. “And I’m going to work as I’ve always worked to put our players in position to be successful.”

Stoops also addressed whether or not situations like this hurt his program when they are recruiting.

“We don’t live in a glass house here,” said Stoops. “We don’t throw stones. The only thing we worry about in recruiting is ourselves and the position we put kids in to be successful, and we’re very proud of that. Every school would have to look at themselves and if they’re perfect, good for them.”

Walker played safety for UK before the staff dismissed him due to the arrest.

“I have 105 guys on the team, and so many guys are doing so many good things. It makes me so proud of the things that we’re accomplishing and the things we’re doing. These kids are like (my own) children to me, so any time somebody does something like that, it’s very disappointing. It’s very disappointing to me.”

The former four-star defensive back came to UK as a highly-touted recruit out of Lake Wales, Florida. ESPN ranked him 214th overall in the Class of 2015, though he was a career backup heading into 2018. He did appear in 12 of UK’s 13 games in 2017.