Kentucky football defensive lineman Octavious Oxendine was recruited out of North Hardin High School by Coach Mark Stoops, and he is forever thankful for that.
Kentucky Uses a “Player-Led” System
In an article by Larry Vaught in the Marshall County Daily, Oxendine was quoted saying, “I feel like it’s a blessing [to play for Mark Stoops] just cause you don’t get that many coaches that’s actually player-led like he says he is.”
Oxendine added, “In and out of everything we do is definitely player-led from the workouts to the play calling to what we just feel comfortable in what we want to do.”
Evidently, Coach Stoops gives a lot of creative freedom to his players and his position coaches as well.
“He just lets it come down to us. It trickles right down the tree. Goes to our position coaches to the DCs, OCs, then honestly just us. Whatever we want to do is definitely a lot player-led.”
Consistency is Key
During his time at SEC Media Days, Oxendine said that Kentucky’s defense needs to be more consistent in order to be successful in 2023.
“In past years, our pass rush was definitely consistent. We had good guys like Josh Allen, Boogie Watson. J.J. Weaver came back for another year. We’ve always been good at pass rushing and we need to get back to that. I feel one thing we’ve been focused on is our pass rush.”
Last season, Kentucky only recorded 20 sacks, with LB J.J.Weaver leading the team with 3 total. Oxendine himself had none. In 2021, UK had 29 total sacks, and Oxendine tallied 2 total sacks.
UK’s ability to cause mayhem up front was lost last season, and they need to find it again if they want to be able to compete with the SEC’s top teams.
Oxendine has acknowledged this as well, saying, “You’re going to play the best all the time, so you might as well just set up a schedule like that just to get your feet wet and see what the road is going to feel like, to see what the path is going to feel like.”
He added, “We’ll have a couple good games before we head into SEC play, so we’ll definitely see how we’re going to play during the SEC-type games.”
Oxendine Once Chose Big Rival Over Kentucky
Octavious Oxendine also took the time to give his take on the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry, saying, “I definitely say it’s one of the best rivalries in college football just because red, blue, right down the street from each other. No NFL team.”
He also talked about how when his family moved to Kentucky from Louisiana, he had to decide if he was going to be a Kentucky or Louisville fan. Unfortunately, Oxendine chose the Cards.
“When we first moved, it was a big thing for us to pick Louisville or Kentucky. We actually picked Louisville, which is crazy I’m at Kentucky. It’s just a big rivalry. I feel like everybody in the States knows about it. It’s a game everybody always wants to be at, and there’s a lot of energy behind it.“
In the end, Octavious Oxendine is “blessed” to be a Kentucky Wildcat under Mark Stoops’ regime, and you can expect him to wreck havoc on the gridiron this fall.
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