“First of all, we had a great camp, just to finish it off,” Stein said. “I thought our guys competed very well. They braved the heat, they braved practice, but that’s what you sign up for when you play football. That’s what it is. So, I thought our guys were really good over the last three, four weeks. We created toughness in our unit. I thought we found out who we are in all three phases of the game.”
Stein knows that, despite the fact that fall camp has ended, the work for his team cannot stop.
“We got to continue to find out who is accountable and who is capable,” Stein said. “That’s the difference, right? Who knows their job, who can line up correctly, and then who can actually go perform at a high level. So, we’ve done it in practice, we’ve done it in scrimmage situations, now it’s time in a real game.”
Now that game week is here, Stein is ready to go for his first game as a head coach, especially with it being at home, where the new UK head man hopes the home crowd can turn Kroger Field into a definite advantage.
“I’m obviously very excited to open up in Kroger Field with Big Blue Nation, to me, the best fans in the country,” Stein said. “We have to make this place the loudest, best environment in all of college football. Believe we have that ability.”
Stein has plenty of respect for Youngstown State, but he knows that the Cats need to take care of their business in all three phases of the game.
“Ultimately, it’s about us,” Stein said. “It’s about us playing clean, right? It’s about playing to our standard, what we’ve created here over the last eight months. We have to play with elite fundamentals and technique. We have to do our job, do our 1/11. We have to own the football in all three phases, right? Protect the football on offense, and special teams recover the ball when they punt it back to us or kick it to us. We have to end with the ball in our hands, and then we have to create takeaways.”
Above all else, Stein wants to see his team give its all on every play.
“Finally, we’ve got to play with relentless effort,” Stein said. “That’s what I want to see, our guys playing whistle to whistle, all four quarters, however long it takes, and again, playing to our standard.”
Fall camp is over and it’s time to buckle the chin straps for game one. Stein believes his team and his staff are prepared and will be ready for kickoff on Saturday.