What Major Applewhite said ahead of South Alabama’s game at Kentucky

South Alabama head coach Major Applewhite was effusive in his praise of Kentucky heading into Saturday's game in Lexington, calling the Wildcats "a great opponent" and crediting first-year head coach Will Stein for injecting confidence and energy into the program.

"I know that league pretty well and I know those guys, especially at their place," Applewhite said. "What they did to A&M, I don't honestly think I've seen that before. They just pushed them around."

Applewhite said backup quarterback Jared Hollins validated everything the coaching staff believed about him in the Jaguars' Week 3 win over Ohio. His father asked him after the game if he was surprised by Hollins' performance. "Not surprised," Applewhite said. "Pleased. I just felt like he had been working for that for a long time and I felt like he would go out and execute well."

Starting quarterback Bishop Davenport remains day-to-day. Applewhite said Davenport was able to go in some capacity Saturday but the staff wanted to be smart about his workload. He expects to have a better idea of Davenport's status after practices this week.

Applewhite also praised his rebuilt offensive line, noting that last year's left tackle is at UCLA, right tackle at Georgia Tech, left guard at Baylor and center at Tulsa. "It's a brand new group," he said. "They've done a hell of a job."

Full transcript

On moving past the Ohio win:

Major Applewhite: "Always very grateful for a win. Not going to take that for granted at all. But honestly, it's Monday. It's noon. I've moved on. We have moved on. We've said what we needed to say as coaches. Players responded yesterday at practice and they're studying their next opponent. I just move on. It's done. What's been said has been said."

On Kentucky's defense under Jay Bateman:

Major Applewhite: "They just, Jay does a great job with his schematics in terms of fronts, coverages, mixing looks, tying looks together with the skies, the leverage that they play with on routes, the way they can add numbers to the box, the pressure paths. Trying to get a hold of those things and being able to run the ball efficiently. You saw A&M have a little bit of success with it early in the ball game. But then at the same time when it came time to step up, you saw several fourth and twos go the other way, and when they needed to step up and bow up as a defense they did, and it changed the complexion of the ball game. Then the second half when their offense started rolling there in the third quarter, it really changed the complexion of the ball game. That's a hard place to play and that's a difficult team to go against, and to be able to hold them to seven in the first half and then extend it all the way towards the end of the third quarter and let your offense get a lead — it's a very quality defense."

On the opportunity of playing an SEC opponent:

Major Applewhite: "I think you'd be lying if you said no. You're playing an SEC opponent. You're playing a power four conference. You're playing probably a $20, $30 million roster. It is what it is. At the same time, you have to go make plays. They have to make plays. We have to make plays. Then you go out there and you go compete, and it's really just that simple. Yeah, it's a great opponent. You don't walk into Kyle Field and win without being a really good ball club that's well coached and playing hard. You have to have the mental capacity to go in there and handle the crowd noise and the schematics and the understanding as players to go in there and execute in an environment like that. And they certainly look very comfortable in that environment. They look very uncomfortable for about two and a half quarters, three quarters against Alabama, and there's some things that Alabama got towards the end. But they played them hard as well. So, it's a very good opponent."

On Jared Hollins' performance against Ohio:

Major Applewhite: "I have belief in every one of our players, the way they prepare and how hard they work to get ready for their opportunity to go play. I had all the belief in the world with Jared. I didn't sit him down on a Thursday or a Friday and have a coach to quarterback conversation because I believed he was going to play well. My dad even asked me after the game, he said, 'Were you surprised?' And I said, 'Not surprised.' Pleased, and at the same time I just felt like he had been working for that for a long time and I felt like he would go out and execute well. He's a great listener. He's very coachable. And then he can also make plays on his own, and it's hard as a play caller to pin the tail on the donkey 75 times out of 75 times. You need players to be able to make plays. You need backs to be able to break tackles. You need wide receivers to make great catches and beat man coverage. You need quarterbacks to be able to extend plays, and he did that early in the ball game on a crucial fourth and two. He's just got to continue to prepare the way he's always prepared, keep the same state of mind that he's always had and continue to take care of the ball and make good decisions. I do feel blessed and fortunate to have two great young men that can play quarterback for us."

On Bishop Davenport's status:

Major Applewhite: "Nothing as of now. We'll be back on the practice field tomorrow. He was able to go Saturday in some capacity, but we wanted to just be smart about what capacity he plays in and be fair to him so he can perform at a high level. I'll get more from the trainers today and tomorrow, and then throughout the week I'll have a better idea of where he really is."

On the offensive line:

Major Applewhite: "They've done well. They've done really well. And this will be their biggest test thus far this weekend in Lexington. It's a new group. Our left tackle's at UCLA, our right tackle's at Georgia Tech, our left guard's at Baylor, our center's at Tulsa from last year's offensive line. So, it's a brand new group. They've done a hell of a job."

On closing out the Ohio game and maintaining focus:

Major Applewhite: "The third quarter was kind of mind-boggling to be honest with you, like from every aspect — from special teams to us, back to it, it just went around. The encouraging thing was they had every piece of the momentum going that game. We came out, made a couple stops, and kind of got back under control. Didn't like the way that we finished, but you're dealing with a team that's won 40 games in the last four years. They just would not stop, and we've got to get better at closing out games and winning in a style that's necessary to continue to move forward later on down the season. The inconsistency about keeping our focus throughout the course of 60 minutes was an issue going into the game and it's continuing to be this way. So dig into the players like we did on Sunday and real talks in the meetings about where there is communication issues or even from a teaching standpoint. Clarity is a big thing and just cutting out the gray and making sure that we're all focused in. The encouraging part was in the game of football when you're on the other side of a big momentum swing, sometimes you just can't get out of it. We found a way to get out of it, win a ball game."

On what Kentucky's offense presents:

Major Applewhite: "They've got a super confident head coach. Will is as smart as they get. He's brought juice and energy and confidence into the program, and they're all feeding behind him. Schematically, they're incredible. I think they've done a great job of just bringing in the people that they have. The handful of guys that stayed around are super talented, but just from a recruiting standpoint and the GM standpoint, some of the bodies they got — they're super impressive up front. They're big, experienced. They've got dynamic playmakers around them, and what they did with A&M — I know that league pretty well and I know those guys, especially at their place. What they did to A&M, I don't honestly think I've seen that before. They just pushed them around. They ran the football when they wanted to run the football, hit their shots when they could hit their shots. So, they're going to be a super confident bunch right now because everything's coming into play. I know that Will has talked to them that we can get this thing flipped. That's a big, big deal, that last win, to do it and the style that they did. They'll be super confident when they play us."