Jelly Roll is a singer, songwriter, rap artist, and People’s Choice Awards winner. The 40-year-old has became a true rockstar in recent years and is popping up everywhere. He even made an appearance for Kentucky’s football camp at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility this week.
The musical artist recently visited the Tennessee Titans and spoke with the team. Kentucky defensive coordinator Brad White showed his speech to his defense this week. The music star with an inspiring comeback story discussed living on the road and how important it is to build strong relationships to reach your professional goals. The latter is what UK is trying to accomplish with 50 new players.
“We’re really stressing it hard. Trying to get them to work with each other not just on the field but off the field. I saw a thing this morning that the Tennessee Titans had brought in Jelly Roll and he was talking about how they really form that bond on the road,” White told reporters on Thursday. “I showed that to the guys just because, man, you can’t just build that consistency for an hour or two on the football field. Or an hour or two in the locker room. It’s gotta be all the time. So we’ve been pushing that because there has been a fair amount of turnover.”
Kentucky has added a handful of transfers and double-digit high school recruits to the defensive room. That means a lot of new faces. David Gusta, Mi’Quise Humphrey-Grace, Sam Greene, Kam Olds, Jaden Williams, Landyn Watson, and Kevis Thomas are all first-year transfers who could play a lot of snaps for Kentucky this season. Each is working with a brand new team and brand new coaching staff. Creating bonds quickly is a must. Forming strong relationships now will help this team handle adversity when it arrives in the season but UK does not have time to wait.
“If we take those lumps, we’re probably taking them on Saturdays, and we don’t have time to scar in and fix it,” White said. “Those things are going to cost us. So they have to kind of learn a different way.”
The Kentucky coaching staff has been showing the defense clips of the 2018 team and the 2021 team for an example of what its supposed to look like when they take the field. UK is also leaning on multiple veteran players to provide leadership and guidance the new players as everyone gets used to each other. White also pointed out that Jelly Roll also had a great lesson that everyone on this defense can learn from.
“He talked about when he was a better father and a better human, he became a better songwriter and performer. It’s the same thing in every profession. You tend to find that when you mature in all areas of your life, there’s carryover. It’s like the olympic ring — it’s a venn diagram. They all bleed in,” Kentucky’s defensive coordinator said.” I can’t live wrong off the field and expect to be that guy on the field. And then vice versa.”
Kentucky is still in the team-building process. Establishing relationships has been a top priority all offseason and it remains a top priority as this new football team starts to gel and come together during the hot summer days of camp.
