UK Football: The Minchey Mentality

LEXINGTON, Ky. (FOX 56) — Kentucky football held its first game week press conference on Tuesday with head coach Will Stein, followed by players on Wednesday. Quarterback Kenny Minchey was one of the few players who were available, allowing media to catch up with the Cats QB1 ahead of his first collegiate start. While excited for the opportunity, naturally, nerves comes along with it too - but is confident come game time, it's all ball. "After the first play, I think that's when I tend to relax and breathe," said Minchey. "I can remember even back to high school, it was probably some jitters, some butterflies heading into a game. Then after the first play was always good from there. Making sure my energy is up at all times, that's something personal thing I can focus on each and every time. At the end of the day, I think it's going out, how am I going to execute this play? What are my rules for this play? And just executing that. That's the best advice I can give myself." The day prior, Stein echoed something similar. The first year head coach isn't expecting the guy who's a first year starter to be perfect - rather just take it one play at a time. "There's going to be butterflies," said Stein. "If you don't, then you're probably not human; so that that's that's okay. The key is taking all fear out of it, don't be afraid to fail. Don't be afraid to go play hard, and he's done it in practice. That's what he needs to do is just go out there and just take the easy money and run the show, run the offense. We don't need him to go be Michael Jordan or LeBron James or Tom Brady. Go be Kenny Mincey and we'll be fine." Prior to UK, Minchey served as Norte Dame's second string quarterback seeing time in 10 games over three season with the Fighting Irish. Minchey threw for 212 yards completing 23-of-29. Now, Minchey looks to take those career stats and make those game stats coming up this Saturday at home to open up the Cats season against Youngstown State. Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 56 News.