Self-inflicted mistakes plagued Kentucky in 2023. The term “unearned arrogance” was used following celebrations and unnecessary penalties. It may have been a small sample size, but Mark Stoops saw growth from his players who played unselfish football in the season-opening win over Southern Miss.
The Cats were far from perfect. A true freshman got flagged for some after-the-play shenanigans just before halftime. It happens. The Cats committed four penalties for 45 yards, but for the most part, it was a very clean game.
That’s easier said than done. Emotions run high in the first game of the season. They’ve been itching all summer to hit somebody else, then they were forced to wait an extra two hours to kick the ball off. Once they settled in after a couple of drives, the Cats kept their cool when tempers flared and executed.
Kentucky DL Tre’vonn Rybka Showed Growth by Not Retaliating
There is one player in particular that Stoops was proud of Saturday night. Tre’vonn Rybka is an unsung defensive lineman who is being asked to do more this fall, and it starts in between his ears.
“I thought Tre’vonn had a very good game. He’s a guy that has played a lot of football for us. I’d like to see him take another step and I thought this first game showed that. I thought he was disruptive and did his job a lot of times. Those interior defensive linemen are unsung guys, you know. Nobody talks about them because they’re getting they’re doing a lot of dirty work and cleaning things up inside there, and I thought he played very well,” Mark Stoops said Monday.
On one sequence, Rybka made a great move to get to the quarterback, but let Tate Rodemaker slip away. Rather than hang his head, he got back after the quarterback on the following play and recorded a sack.
“I thought he showed a lot of growth because Tre’vonn has a tendency to be — he’s an emotional guy. There was one late hit (by Southern Mmiss) in particular. I don’t think it was called, but there were some things going on after the play, and normally he would respond in a different way, and he was very frustrated by it. But again, that’s the unselfishness we’re looking for. It takes a bigger, stronger man to take that penalty,” Stoops said.
Rybka did not react and draw a penalty of his own. The same could be said about the offensive line near the goal line when Southern Miss was flagged for a late hit. Instead of reacting and pushing back, Kentucky let it slide and took the free first down to get within an arm’s reach of the goal line.
“It was good by our guys not retaliating. I talked a lot about that because early in the year, all the emotions. I’ve watched a lot of football, you see things happening all the time of just being an unselfish football team and being a smart football team and having a high IQ. We’ve got to be that way.
“We cannot beat ourselves. (It’s) football 101. You can’t beat anybody until you stop beating yourself. And I try to beat that into our guys’ heads. It’s hard in today’s world to be extremely unselfish and play for everybody else, but I think we have a really good group, and I think this is a good start to build from.”
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