Why Kentucky football coach Will Stein brought spring game back to UK

LEXINGTON — Whether a college football program holds a spring game each season varies. Sometimes, a team doesn't have one because of a lack of healthy players. At other schools, a coach might merely prefer to end the spring with a final, straightforward practice instead of a traditional intrasquad game in front of fans.

There's another reason that spring games began disappearing from the landscape in recent years, though. And that's now been rectified. "You put the spring (game) on TV, and then somebody sees a freshman that's going off, and then they tamper with the kid and the agent.

And then they leave your school," first-year Kentucky football coach Will Stein told The Courier Journal in February, shortly before the Wildcats started spring practice. "So I think because we have one portal (window) now, I think spring games will probably be starting to show up. " UK averted that situation last year under former coach Mark Stoops .

The program didn't hold a spring game; instead, the final practice was relaunched with a new name , which the Cats dubbed " Kentucky Football’s Spring Showcase. " Though there wasn't a true scrimmage during the showcase, there were game-like elements sprinkled throughout. Pertinently: The event did not air live on TV or a streaming service.