Look who made front page news on ESPN.com

Mark Stoops and the Kentucky Wildcats are the lead story on ESPN.com’s college football page today. SEC blogger Edward Aschoff writes about Stoops working from the ground up with his new team after conducting a phone interview with UK’s head coach on Monday.

Stoops told Aschoff, “We gotta get our players to buy in and believe and change the mentality around here from top to bottom.”

A little more from Aschoff and Stoops:

Stoops cares about schemes and relishes an aggressive defense that can raise hell, but he understands that in order to turn things around at Kentucky, he has to start from the ground floor. Sure, it’s cliché, but it’s the only way to improve a team that checked out last year and has consecutive seasons without a bowl berth.

That process started with a very tough offseason regime that his strength staff implemented. He couldn’t be there to constantly monitor players, so he made sure his players felt his wrath with a taxing workout schedule.

So far, Stoops is pleased with the results, as he said players reported to spring practice on Monday looking better physically and with much more positive attitudes. But for Stoops to get some real substance out of this team, he’s going to ask for even more from his players.

You can read the entire piece here.