Photo | Keyli Chisesi
A year removed from a 10-3 campaign that ended with a victory vs. Penn State in the Citrus Bowl, the Kentucky Wildcats are expected to return to the bottom of the SEC Eastern division standings.
The 2019 preseason order of finish was released on Friday morning and the Wildcats secured sixth place, just ahead of Vanderbilt. Kentucky did receive one first place vote. Alabama is the predicted champion of the SEC.
SEC East Preseason
- Georgia
- Florida
- Missouri
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Kentucky
- Vanderbilt
SEC West Preseason
- Alabama
- LSU
- Texas A&M
- Auburn
- Mississippi State
- Ole Miss
- Arkansas
Mark Stoops, along with Kash Daniel, Logen Stenberg, and Lynn Bowden, fielded questions from the media during Thursday’s media session in Hoover. Among those questions, the main topic was replacing legendary players that are no longer in Lexington following arguably the most successful season in program history.
“Coming off the first ten-win season we’ve had in 41 years, we want to continue to do the good things we’re doing, continue to build on the principles, practices, and systems that we’ve done to get us to that point,” said Mark Stoops. “We’re not interested in just having one good team or one good year. We’re interested in building a program. And that’s what we’re doing.
Clearly, there’s a lot that goes into that. Some of the things that we talk a lot about at Kentucky is build and protect our culture. And then it’s important for us to select the right players. As we have success, as we win, it gives us the opportunity to be more selective with those players and make sure they fit in our system and buy into our culture.”
The message from Stoops and his players on Thursday was that Kentucky has prepared to lose good players. Just as they built and prepared to have the success they had the last two seasons, they have prepared to keep it going.
