Will Stein needs time to get Kentucky football on fast track to success

LEXINGTON — Kentucky football's spring game gave a quick glimpse of how new coach Will Stein's season is going to be before the clouds came in, the winds blew tents down the sideline and the game was called early for cautionary reasons.

Stein streamlined the Wildcats for maximum efficiency. But it's going to take some time before they reach maximum impact.

The game was not an offensive explosion.

Despite Steins’s background as a former quarterback and offensive coordinator, not even he could fast track the process of blending an entirely new system with new personnel into a well-oiled unit during 15 practices.

There were false starts, passes that should have been completed (quarterback’s fault) and passes that could have been caught (receiver’s fault). And one play where quarterback Kenny Minchey Jr. twirled and back pedaled so far he bumped into Stein, who stood on the field behind the offense to observe every play.

The Cats were also down a few offensive players who could potentially be stars in this offense: running backs Jovantae Barnes and C.J. Baxter; arguably their best offensive lineman in Tennessee transfer Lance Heard; and Hardley Gilmore IV, who is the leading receiver returning from last season.

This column will be updated.

Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown atclbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at@CLBrownHoopsand subscribe to his newsletter ats.