SECMD18 Notebook: Mark Stoops praises Jimbo Fisher's style of coaching

Several onlookers have predicted success for coach Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M.

Count Kentucky coach Mark Stoops among them.

Stoops served as Fisher’s defensive coordinator at Florida State from 2010-12. In that time, the Seminoles were 31-10 and twice ranked among the nation’s Top 5 in total defense.

“There's no doubt he'll do very well at Texas A&M,” Stoops said on Monday at SEC Football Media Days. “You heard me every time I've been here in some form or fashion about some of the things I've learned from my time working with Jimbo. I have great respect for him and the way he goes about his work. There's many things I do at Kentucky that I took from him."

“Certainly you have to be your own man and do things that fits your own program, but there's things I've taken from him I still implement to this day. There's no doubt he'll do well. He'll recruit at a high level. His teams will play extremely hard. He’s a very hard-nosed, tough football coach.”

Stoops is, too. He’s 26-36 in five season at Kentucky, but his last two teams finished 7-6 and appeared in bowl games. That equates as success in Lexington.

Stoops will face his old boss when the Wildcats travel to College Station on Oct. 6.

Give him his due

Kentucky junior running back Benny Snell is perhaps the best obscure player in the Southeastern Conference — maybe the country.

Snell led the SEC with 19 rushing touchdowns and was third with 1,333 rushing yards as a sophomore. He’s the first player in school history to rush for 1,000 yards in consecutive seasons.

He joins Georgia’s Herschel Walker and LSU’s Leonard Fournette as the only SEC players to rush for at least 2,424 yards and 31 touchdowns before his junior season.

Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said Snell should be listed among the elite runners in the SEC this year.

“There's been some star running backs in this league and some of them have graduated as you know,” Stoops said. “There's been some great players, but Benny is certainly worthy of the hype that he gets because of his consistency. He's done it in this league at Kentucky his first two years, and he spent over a thousand yards each of those years, and we look forward to him doing that again this year. Certainly he deserves to be in that kind of conversation.”

LSU’s quarterback search

The quarterback position has been problematic for LSU in recent seasons.

Yet, there is some thought that problem may have been solved with the addition of junior transfer Joe Burrow from Ohio State.

Burrow never started and playing sparingly for the Buckeyes, but LSU coach Ed Orgeron said Burrow was highly recommended by safeties coach Bill Busch, who had previously coached at Ohio State.

“Bill Busch was on the staff at Ohio State with Joe, and Bill gave us an advanced scouting report with Joe Burrow, and he was exactly right,” Orgeron said.

“But it wasn't until we met Joe. We went out to dinner the first night, and then the next day, we may have had three-and-a-half to four-hour meeting on football, and Joe was excellent in there. Steve (Ensminger, offensive coordinator) was running the meeting, obviously, and going through some plays with Joe, some installations that we do, some things that he did at Ohio State. And he was excellent.”

Ronnie Woodard

LSU Head Coach Ed Orgeron thinks junior transfer QB Joe Burrow could be a 'game changer' in Baton Rouge.

Though Orgeron once referred to Burrow as “a game changer,” he hasn’t actually won the starting job in Baton Rouge, yet.

He’s competing with sophomore Myles Brennan, junior Justin McMillan and redshirt freshman Lowell Narcisse.

“You know, the quarterback has to be able to make plays when not everything is just right,” Orgeron said. “They have to make smart decisions, accuracy, throw the football. We're going to throw the football at LSU. We're going to be 50-50. The understanding of the offense and the leadership.

“And you know what? We would love this to happen. I don't know if it's going to happen, but I want this to be a clear-cut decision. I want our team to see it and our coaching staff to see it in camp.”