LOCKED IN TILL 2028: Kentucky Wildcats Just welcome their new manager coming from…

Lexington orthopedic surgeons are busy in the weeks after each Kentucky football season. Typically, it’s the players who need a knee cleaned out or a shoulder that needs to be tidied up. This year, it’s also the head football coach.

Mark Stoops tells WKYT that he underwent an ankle replacement procedure on Monday. The procedure prevented him from accompanying Tim Couch to Tuesday’s College Football Hall of Fame induction in Las Vegas.

Ahead of last week’s signing day press conference, Stoops was limping around Kroger Field. The offseason surgery should not prevent him from making it to the Joe Craft Football Training Facility as coaching staff constructs the 2025 Kentucky football roster.

This is not the first time the Kentucky head coach has needed to go under the knife following a football season. Stoops underwent a knee procedure just a few days after signing Kentucky’s 2015 recruiting class.

We already know which teams the Wildcats will play next fall. We do not know exactly when. The SEC is revealing the entire slate during a two-hour show. You can watch all two hours on the SEC Network, but the first hour will air on ESPN2, leading into the Kentucky basketball game against Colgate. Here’s what we know about the schedule so far: