Don’t call it a spring game. Just a week before Mark Stoops’ Wildcats conclude their spring session on the practice fields, the University of Kentucky announced details for this year’s “Spring Showcase.”
Kentucky will host an open practice at Kroger Field on Saturday, April 12, at 10:00 AM EST. Based on previous practices and similar events, you can expect about an hour of individual and small-group work, including 7-on-7, followed by a scrimmage that lasts approximately an hour. It’s unclear if that scrimmage will include live tackling.
If you’re wondering why Kentucky chose to host its Spring Showcase at 10 in the morning, the Bat Cats are hosting a three-game series across the street at Kentucky Proud Park. Kentucky will face Texas at Noon. This allows fans to double-dip with some football in the morning, followed by Kentucky baseball in the afternoon.
There is one other hitch in the Cats’ giddy-up. As Kroger Field prepares for the “Tyler Childers – On The Road” performance later this month, the East and West concourses will be closed. Access to Gate 3 from the south side of the stadium will only be from walking the exterior. Free parking will be available in the Red, Green, Blue, and Orange lots.
Nevertheless, this is a free opportunity for fans to see a new-look Kentucky roster that features 30 new players. The early results from practice this week were intriguing. If you’ve got the time, the Spring Showcase should get your Saturday off to a great start.
Full-tackle spring football games are going out of fashion around college football. Lane Kiffin hosted a hot dog eating contest (as well as a few other competitive events between football players) last spring at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in lieu of a spring game.
Mark Stoops has been ahead of the curve in this regard for quite some time. Last year was just the second Kentucky spring game in the previous five years. A full-tackle scrimmage was replaced by an open practice, with live 11-on-11 “thud.” Defensive players get in position and wrap up, but do not take their teammates to the ground.
Even though it was not a “spring game,” an observer could learn just as much, if not more, out of the live practice period. Last year’s event was not televised, giving Stoops the green light to call more real plays, rather than playing vanilla to prevent future opponents from advanced scouting.
This is the future of spring football games until the NCAA allows teams to scrimmage one another. Colorado and Syracuse petitioned the NCAA to host an inter-squad spring scrimmage, but the four-letter organization made some excuses to prevent it from happening. The potential to play other teams, and elimination of the spring transfer portal window, could bring traditional spring games back to the table.
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