Welcome to the Big Moone sider Dick Gabriel with you on a Tuesday. We
are in the talking season SEC Media Days underway in Dallas. I'll be heading
there tomorrow, so tomorrow we're going to present the best of as I will
be traveling for much of the day on Thursday, that's the day Kentucky talks
and a Wildcats talk late in the afternoon, and of course we have to
prepare the show ahead of time. But what I'm going to do is present
and it's essentially an encore presentation. We usually do this right after the season's
over, but I thought, what a great way to get us ready for
this year. One more look back at last year. Seven wins and some
big plays, some entertaining games. So we will break down the highlights from
last year the way Tom Leach and Jeff Picoro called it. I slipped in
once or twice in the special presentation. But that'll be Thursday. Then on
Friday from Dallas, we will do everything that we could pull together from the
Wildcats appearance down there at SEC Media Days. I watched a little bit of
the coverage last night and on the set, of course, Nick Saban,
who knows football inside and out and knows that league inside it out. He
did a really nice job. I thought kind of ironic, given the fact
that he loves and love throughout his career to kind of lecture journalists on questions
they ask, how they ask it, the subject matter, that kind of
thing. I once or twice had that happen to me with Saban wasn't a
jackass about it like Bobby Knight was, but it was funny. He was
talking to Mike Greenberg of ESPN about what it was like to be on the
other side of the media credential or just the fact that he had to have
one. That's a little different. I've never worn a credential in my life,
and as always for seventeen years able to get in the SEC media day
without a credential. I had to go back to the room today and get
my credential to get in. So that's one of the biggest changes I see.
It's not like it used to be. The subject came up because when
Saban got off the elevator to go to work, I guess it was yesterday
morning, he into security of guard kind of locked eyes and Sabin immediately realized
he didn't have his credential, so he turned and had to go back upstairs.
He left it in his room. Now, one of the stories was,
and this is not presented properly, this is incorrect, that the security
guard turned him away like the guy didn't know who he was, and that's
not true. At first he denied Saban access, but Saban basically said that
he as soon as he saw the guard realized he needed his credential. And
what's even funnier about this was that the security guard is a former four star
player college football player, Keyante Griffin, a wide receiver, played at Baylor,
transferred to sam Houston State, and when his career was over, he
went into the security business. Basically, he is ordinarily a security person at
the Cowboys stadium, but of course it hired out to work this event.
So it's not like he put his hands up and said, hey guy,
you can't go in here. He knew who Saban was, so he saw
Sabin, Saban saw him see Sabin, etc. And Nick went up to
get his credential. So kind of funny. We've all done that, We've
all forgotten our creds. I went to the SEC Football Championship Game one December
Saturday, and I've covered fifteen of those through fifteen years. One year,
I left my credential in the room. I had to rush back and get
it. But it's kind of a sick feeling. You know, you're helpless
without it, But hey, that's the way it works, and I'll be
picking up mine tomorrow at some point. Reed Shepherd shining again for the Houston
Rockets in an exhibition game against the Detroit Pistons. I guess it should come
as no surprise. And really, when you think about it, this was
the first American player, first backcourt player, first player taken by the Rockets,
number three overall. You would think he would be excelling, especially in
a summer league where guys are more concerned about getting their shots and showing what
they can do to their respective teams than actually playing defense. And I'm not
falling into this no defense in the NBA stuff. There is defense, but
it's a more of an individual game. You know that about the NBA.
And Reed Shepherd has got a great hand and knows how to find his spots
on the floor. And we know this. He's a great shooter, so
maybe we shouldn't be surprised by the points, but the overall game, we
know he's a good passer, so I think this will keep up. This
will maintain for Reed Shepherd once he gets into regular season games, maybe not
so much. You know, he may fall back a little bit, but
he'll pick up as he gets smarter in the NBA. Meanwhile, Bronnie James
is struggling, and the headline in the LA Times Bronnie James struggles overshadow Dalton
connects nineteen points and Lakers loss. They played against the Celtics last night.
But I told you when the summer league games began, brace yourself if you're
paying attention to this kind of thing, for an overdose of Bronnie James headlines
and Bronnie James themed stories, because that's a huge story out there on the
West Coast. And for anybody who follows the NBA. Should the Lakers have
drafted him, it made good business sense. Is this kid an NBA player?
Is he just a G League player? Well, right now it's more
of the latter because he's not scoring. He supposedly, like Reed Shepherd,
set apart by his excellent shooting, and he has not shown that in the
NBA. In fact, last night he had one bucket that came in the
fourth quarter. Earlier in the game two air balls from three point land.
If you're a Lakers fan, in my opinion, just treat this as a
sidebar, but pay more attention that a Dalton Connect can get you. And
I guess I was wrong. I went on a Houston radio show prior to
the draft and they asked me, when it just comes down to scoring,
who would you take Read or Connect? That I said, honestly, I
would take Connect because he's bigger, stronger, and older. But Reed Shepherd
has shown he can get a shot and he's a better shooter than Dalton Connect.
So I'll happily say I was wrong there. It's still early and I
think Dalton Dalton Connect will be a factor for JJ Reddick and the Lakers.
But Ronnie James, it's an experiment and I don't think it's going to work
out. Ronnie James has not come close to Dalton Connect, like I said,
nineteen against the Celtics, Connect at twenty five against Reed Shepherd and the
Rockets. So we'll keep an eye on that for you. Coming up a
little bit later on, we're going to talk to Derek Terry of Batcat Central
about the Wildcats who have gone in the Major League Draft, and in our
next segment, Tennessee's head coach Tony working for MLB Network MLB dot Com,
he broke down Walt Schmidt and Petrie and was very complimentary. So we'll hear
that coming up. But of course tonight it's the All Star Game. It's
the only All Star game worth watching in my opinion, and the reason for
that is defense. When you see highlights, you'll see home runs. But
if you see extended highlights of an All Star game Baseball, it's guys making
defensive plays. Those are the athletic, if not acrobatic, plays that draw
the eyeballs. They don't play well. Of course, the NFL game has
gone now the NBA game no defense. That is truly NBA basketball without defense,
the hockey game nine to eight, ten to seven, no defense and
who cares, right, But that's why I really like and it's the only
All Star game I watch. Is Baseball's All Star Game. Plus tonight Paul
Skeins will start for the National League, the former LSU Tiger. I'll be
watching. I hope you are too. Want to come here on six thirty
Wlap Welcome back. Coming up a little bit later on John Hale at the
bottom of the hour from the Herald Leader. He'll be talking about the talking
season in Kentucky football. Down at SEC media day's second hour of Seawan Woods,
who is, of course the unforgettable Guard. We talked to Sean every
week. I'll be traveling tomorrow, so we're going to talk to him today
about LAFA Media. Sean is basically taking a year off from coaching, except
he's helping Tyler Eulis coach this group of former Wildcats, and so we had
a chance to see him in action yesterday at practice on media day basically for
LAFA Media. So we'll talk to Sean about this group they've got and what
it's like to coach a team full of older guys after he has spent his
coaching career on the college level. So that comes up, and now our
number two, we'll also talk Derek Harry Batcat Central about the Major League Draft
and Derek the former sportswriter primarily with the Cats pause but now is in the
private sector but jipping his toe back in the water with batcatcentral dot com.
So if you want to follow Kentucky Baseball. I commend you to that website.
He does a real nice job talking about the current Wildcats and future Wildcats
as well as he keeps an eye on recruiting and the portal. Well.
Speaking of the draft Wildcats, of course, see Ryan Waltschmid go number thirty
one as kind of a compensatory pick to the Arizona Diamondbacks, and Amelian Petrie
goes not long after him to the Tampa Bay Rays. I think Waldy goes
thirty first and Petrie goes fifty eighth. One of the guys working in the
event on a TV for MLB MLB Network in MLB dot Com Tony Vottello,
the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers who won, of course, the College
World Series and shared the SEC title with the Wildcats after taking two out of
three here and election did on an incredible weekend when the crowd showed up like
two hours ahead of time, if not more, not longer, and just
packed the place and it was a great weekend at baseball. I got to
tell you Vittello, Yeah, he wears orange, but he did a great
job I thought on the MLB coverage, not just because he said nice things
about the Wildcats, but he just was very relaxed and a natural I think,
and you know, Doug Flinn and I interviewed him during the games and
he did a great job, just as Nick Minjiom did so. And you've
seen Nick interviewed on the set of the SEC Today Show and things like that.
So both of these guys are really outstanding when it comes to live television.
And here's what Bottello had to say immediately after the Diamondbacks drafted Ryan Waldschmid
Warrior. Walschmidt was the best player on one of the best teams in the
country, first Kentucky team to go to Omahall, and he was the guy
you did not want to mess with at the end of the year. I
believe last five games he did get on base by walking, didn't accumulate a
lot of hits. But I think what everyone started to figure out towards the
end of the season was this is the guy in the lineup that you don't
want to beat you. And it's because he's a talented, strong hitter,
and again he's a warrior. He plays the game, you know, a
little bit of old school, if you will, and a great athlete in
the field as well as you know, running the basis one of the best
combinations in this draft of swing decisions, contact and hard contact. He's an
impact player. I think he's an underrated athlete. Had knee injury in the
Cape Cod League, go off to slow start this year. He was hurt
in high school too, so he's a little underrecruited. I think he began
his career at College Charleston yep. But I mean, you're talking about a
guy who's got a chance to maybe be a twenty twenty guy. The interesting
thing is where does he want to up in the outfit. You think he
could maybe take a shot at center with his speed, or is he more
of a left fielder. As always, it kind of depends on who the
other outfielders are, but you know, probably more of a left field But
I think he makes it worth your while with the bat. He can get
a fastball. There ain't no doubt about this. I like that first word
out of his mouth was warrior, and he is not wrong about Ryan Waldschmidt
and as the leader, as the leadoff man, and the guy really didn't
carry the Wildcats but lit the fire. He was a spark for Kentucky this
year, and yeah, he slowed down and had a poor College World Series
and didn't get a hit in the Oregon State Series either the Super Regional.
But Walshmid, what are you? They don't make it to Omaha Withoul Walshmid.
You can say the same for a lot of the Wildcats, including a
Millian Petrie. And you know the story by now. He was a little
heralded player up in Canada except by Kentucky. He committed to Kentucky I think
his third year of prep school when he weighed one hundred and thirty pounds,
didn't speak much English. And now of course he plays, he says at
WINT eighty five and one of the top draft picks in America and maybe the
best second baseman defensively in this out the Eastern Conference, and impressed Tony Vitello.
We talked about their team earlier and of course Walschmidt, you know,
felt like he was the alpha. But Petrie clearly competitive, interesting, a
lot of toughness. Not a hockey player even though he's from Canada, but
his French speaking and have coached some of those guys. It's amazing what these
guys do when they come from another country, speak a different language or at
least first language, and end up contributing and blending in the way that they
do. And really he didn't blend in. He was a team leader again
for one of the better teams in the country, tremendous hand eye hitting some
of the most important situations the last two years that we played against those guys,
I think, quite frankly, was a pain in the butt. How
much power do you think he's going to have, because even though he's not
a big guy, he hits the ball hard. Look and we all know,
if you're fortunate enough to make it to omahall the park plays big.
But he drove some balls over outfielders' heads, and then also throughout the year
he drove some balls over the left fielder's head going the opposite way. So
I think there's some hidden strength there even though he's not one of the bigger
guys. Our coach, Anderson, our pitching coach, compared him to Marcus
Giles, even though there's you know, right handed left handed difference there,
but a smaller guy that does have strength and clearly the ability to hit a
bit of a surprise because I look at your dot com rankings. He was
outside the top one hundred. Yeah, but there's always you take from Take
him by the team that likes you the most. We had him at one
seventy three. I know there were teams that were talking about him in the
top two rounds. I don't think it was all thirty, but that's saying
only takes one team. You get drafted by the team the lake and I
think defense and character are a little bit of an X factor in here that
contributed. Interesting side note at the end of his comments Vitello talking about the
character in Emilian Petrie. So again, tip of the cap to Vittello,
the Tennessee coach, for the job he did on MLB Network. In MLB
dot Com, the MLB dot com website, as It's Breakdown, Sam Diikstra
wrote about the most intriguing picks from rounds three to ten of the Major League
Baseball Draft, and if you're a Red, you got to like the fact
that he wrote a lot about some of the guys chosen by the Reds,
including Mike Sarota from Northeastern University that's up in Boston, picked thirteen, the
eighty seventh overall and outfielder and uh he was a little inconsistent this year,
they said, but good arm, good defense, good bat. So somebody
for you Reds fans to keep an eye on. Also, we saw this
guy play. Peyton stoveall second baseman for Arkansas, was picked in the fourteenth
round one hundred and seventeen overall, battling a lot of injuries throughout his career,
but batted three point forty this year and apparently improved quite a bit on
defense this season. Still in the fourteenth round, or actually the fifth round,
Tristan Smith, a left hander for Clemson. Clemson had a good team
this year, and the Reds pick up a left hander. In the eighth
round. They got a right hander, Jaden Volker from Northern Essex Community College.
You might say, well, he was a JUCO Pitcher of the Year.
So when you pick up a guy like that coming off for red shirt
years, so maybe a little bit unherlded. Red's was another good opportunity.
In the ninth round, they got a guy named Ryan McCrystal. He's a
catcher from East Carolina, which has a really strong baseball program, and he
excelled in the Appalachian League, the Summer League, which is a wood Bat
collegiate league bat at three ninety seven. So you got it like that if
you're a Reds fan and one of the guys to keep an eye on.
According to Sam Dykstra, and again this is of the MLB dot Com writer,
he pointed to round number ten and Ryan Nicholson, a Wildcat first baseman,
started his career at Cincinnati, was a bear Cat for four years,
then came to UK and for eighth in the SEC with twenty three home runs.
Twenty one of those came in conference player. I think he was second
in the SEC and just SEC games in home runs, but he led UK
hitters even better than Waltschmidt in ops on base plus slugging. He led the
Wildcats in that category. So a left handed power hitter for the Angels.
MLB dot Com says, keep an eye on that former Wildcat coming up next.
John Hale of The Hero Leader, we'll welcome back to the Big Winsider
joining us on our selection. A longtime friend of the show and a guy
who's covered the Wildcats for a long time. John Hale of The Hero Leader.
You see his work at Kentucky dot Com. John, You're heading for
Dallas tomorrow. As I am, what do you expect will be the storyline
about the Wildcasts? Because last year everybody jumped on Kentucky's second team predicted in
the East. We know that didn't work out. Where do they fit in
this year? Do you think in the eyes of the SEC media, what
do you think is going to be the storyline when it comes to the Wildcats
down in Dallas. It's interesting because the timing of when they talk this week
I don't think does them any favors. They're the very last session on Thursday,
the last day, and so frankly, a lot of people, a
lot of regional and national media may be gone by that point. They're they're
not going to get the same amount of eyeballs as they would have if they
had going against Alabama or Georgia on day two, which has been the case
in the past at times, And so that I think affects it a little
bit. And the other thing that didn't really do Kentucky any favors in this
scheduling is the other team in their session is Texas A and M. So
this top story on Thursday is going to be about Mark Stuce and whether and
how close he came to going to Texas A and M, and Texas A
and M has this new coach. We know there will be Texas media there
because it's in Dallas, and so he's going to get a ton of questions
about that throughout the day, about how that process played out, what his
feelings are. And then that ties into the Kentucky narrative too, because the
question we have locally he's addressed since then, but it's going to continue to
be a topic throughout the season. Is was he considering leaving because he thinks
Kentucky is going to ceiling in this new look SEC. Is he confident Kentucky
can still compete in a team with Oklahoma earnily with Oklahoma and Texas and no
SEC East and who knows if the schedule is going to go to nine games
in the future in NIL and revenue sharing and all those things are coming.
Is he confident Kentucky can remain relevant in that or did he think he needed
to leave and go to one of these traditional powers. That's going to be
the conversation on third. Oh yeah, and you know I got to hand
it to Stoops when he got here. John. I don't know about you,
but I thought he was well prepared when it came to dealing with the
media. I mean there, you know, like he had some rough spots,
like most rookie head coaches do. But I thought he's done a pretty
good job and he's grown into that role through the years. But this we
know he is not yet as a Kentucky coach really been in much of an
uncomfortable position because his teams generally have gotten better, they've been successful, they've
gone to bowl games. There have been some disappointments like every coach has to
deal with, but for the most part, he's been able to deal with
that. And we also know John he doesn't like dealing with the same topic
more than once having to repeat himself and brother, he's going to run into
that down in Texas, isn't he. Yeah? Absolutely. I mean he
has to your point, gotten more comfortable at this event basically every year.
I mean a couple of those early ones were a little awkward, yeah,
frankly because he came and he got all the questions about his brothers and the
basketball school and all that kind of stuff, and you know, and he
was learning to be a head coach and be the Facebook program. And he's
gotten so much better at that over the years. But one thing he is
not comfortable doing, or at least doesn't like doing, and he'll tell you
that when you ask him, is he hates answering big picture questions. He
wants to focus on his team and his players and the x's and o's and
how to get better and put in the work every day of the off season,
like he talks about. But SEC Media Days is an event that is
built for big picture questions, and especially with everything that's going on in college
sports right now, going to get asked about revenue sharing, It's going to
get asked about the nine game schedule. He's going to get asked about conference
expansion and no divisions, and what the tiebreaker policy should be, and whether
they should have to release injury reports for the gamblers and all of those kinds
of things, and he's going to get those repeatedly throughout the day because the
way this works, it's like a he goes from one room to the other,
back and back to back, and you know, fans and see the
main media room that they air on SEC network, but he does another fifteen
interviews from various shows and various constituencies in the media and so he's going to
get those questions in almost every single room, and how he handles the repeated
you know, you're to your point having to address them multiple times, and
the big picture stuff. I think it's going to be fascinating to watch because
there I think there are fans who, understandably after the him stuff, are
also wondering where his mindset is at going into the season. He's got a
new offensive coordinator and all those things again, and this is really the first
test we're going to see of how he handles all that publicly. So I
think it's a much more I think most years, as the media days,
is kind of workless, but I think for Kentucky this year, it's actually
pretty interesting. What do you think is the over and under on one of
his favorites? It is what it is? Oh well, I mean he's
going to say it five times in every interview, probably because he's going to
say, that's above my pay grade. It is what it is. I'm
just going to deal with what we can control. I can't control any of
that. That's that's going to be his go too much, Yeah, which
is understandable, and he ain't going to be the only coach who goes there.
John Hale is my guest. He writes for The Herald Leader in Kentucky
dot Com covers Kentucky football. What do you think of the lineup of players
they're taken down there? I think potentially it's pretty good. Yeah, I
think so. I mean, Derek Jackson's a guy who's like not super comfortable
interviews, So I thought that that was an interesting choice. And they've done
that a few times in the past, where you have this senior who's clearly
a team captain, a leadership guy. They've talked so much the last few
years about and getting Derek to come out of his shell in the locker room
and on the field and the talk more. And one of the narratives for
him this season is going to be, Okay, your best friend's gone.
You don't have Trevin Wallace playing next to you as that kind of security blanket.
How do you take on that more of that yourself? And so putting
him in this event I think is an interesting and early test to them.
I'm eager to see how he handles it. The other two guys are great
interviews, Deon Walker and Marcus Cox. They will you fill up your notebook
and in an event that they're not going to bring your quarterback, which has
become the trend at SEC media days. You have a transfer quarterback, you
don't bring those guys. They didn't do it with Devin Leary last year.
They're not doing it with brock Van and Griff this year. You only bring
your quarterback if he's a returning kind of starter. So for us, we
always want the quarterback to be there, but if you don't have him,
as well, bring your best player. And that's who Dian Walker is.
And so he's going to get attention from regional national people because he's already popping
up on these early bock drafts and you know, he had this crazy film.
He's a guy who came out immediately after the Gator Bowl lost to Clemson,
and so like, I have to be a better leader. I have
to take more guys under my wing. He was out for part of spring
practice, so we haven't talked to him since the Gay Bowl. It's going
to be an interesting test for him to see how he's approaching that leadership role.
And then also just you know the Josh Allen narrative of like, okay,
this is your draft year, what you are you motivated to take it
to that next level. What's he done with his body, what's he done
with conditioning? All those I think are going to be really important. Not
to mention that Anteoni has this injury issue on their defensive line, you know
Clean Green from spring practice. Is he going to have to play nose guard
now? Is he going to have to move around a little bit more?
That's going to be interesting to talk too too. I've used the word charming
when it comes to Dion Walker, and for a guy that big, you
know, I guess some of those big guys are kind of lovable like that,
but he, I mean day one John, he kind of captivated people,
didn't he. Yeah, He's very endearing and it was interesting in talking
to Animar Stewart's uring practice. I asked him something about Beon's personality and the
leadership stuff, and he said, and he brought up the fact that I
was a really fun point that Beyon is different than a lot of players in
terms of he will talk to anybody in that building. He will hang out
in the equipment room with the equipment managers. He will hang out, you
know, in the coach's offices. He will hang out in the locker rooms,
the players. He's a guy who wants to talk to everybody, and
that personality really shines through. And then you add in like just his physical
stature and how you know, eye popping that is when you see him for
the first time, it's a fun blend. I mean, it's the same
in many ways. It's like, you know, this giant guy wearing numbers
zero out there these de juctur position of two kind of opposite ideas. That's
kind of who beyond it, this huge guy who's kind of this gentle giant.
When he talked to him to do you think that endearing quality maybe one
of the reasons he stayed put because, let's face it, as I understand
it, he's got the best an IL deal, and I bet he couldn't
could have gotten even more elsewhere. I'm sure he turned down offers obviously,
but he has kind of grown into that building, hasn't he. Yeah,
I mean, it's it says something about his personality, it says something about
his family. It also says a lot about Kentucky's in IL operation, you
know, I mean, they're still not out there signing a bunch of five
school high school, high school kids in the al, but they have been
very successful in keeping their best players, certainly with Dion this year. I
barry On Brown and Dan Key after their freshman year. I'm not sure those
guys had the same market on the Nile Transfer portal marketplace after their sophomore years
as they did after their freshman year, but I'm sure they had other opportunities
as well. And Kentucky has been able to keep all of those guys,
which is step number one. And if you're a program who can identify players
in high school that you can get on campus who might be under the radar,
and when they turn into stars, keep them around. That's huge for
Kentucky because my prediction, and it hasn't happened yet maybe it won't happen,
is there was going to be a time win a Benny Snail or a Lynn
Bowden or a Mike Edwards, those guys who didn't have Ohio State offers out
of high school and turned to the stars. At Kentucky, we're going to
leave for the bigger, the traditional powerhouse because of the transfer portal, and
they have managed to avoid that completely, which is a huge testament to the
culture, the coaching staff, the resources and all those things. But Beyon,
as coaches, we talk about this many times. When you have that
personality and you work hard and you're the best player on the team that demands
so much respect in the locker room from day one, and there's a reason
he was elected to team captain as a sophomore last year. I don't think
they had had that since Wesley Wood. It's just not something that happened.
So we know how Wesley was in the locker room, so I think Dion's
kind of that perfect combination. John Hale is my guest beat writer for The
Hair Leader covers the football Wildcats. He'll be heading to Dallas tomorrow and we're
back in just a minute. We back. We're talking with John Hale,
the Harold Leader. He covers a football Wildcat and is heading down to SEC
media days. You mentioned Dane Key and Barrian Brown, and I'm looking for
breakout years, John, from both of those guys. And when I say
that, I'm essentially thinking not as many drops because they've both done great things.
I think Barrian Brown took a large step forward last year according to our
man Jeff Pecorrel and how he runs his routes, but Jeff also said he's
got to take another step in running better routes, and so is his position
coach. But if both can do that, man, that's a huge plus
for Kentucky. Yeah, it's what I wrote about this morning. That's on
our website and we have the paper tomorrow on Wednesday. It's like a huge
question for this team going into year one. This time of year ago,
we were all just assuming that those two guys were going to take this big
leap as sophomores because they had shown so much freshman as promise. As freshmen,
they were so exciting. We just thought, Okay, this is the
year they're going to be like all sec Calver and frankly, it just didn't
happen. I mean, they had their moments, but inconsistency was still a
huge issue, and I think Dankey had five more catches last year they is
a freshman, and barry On actually had fewer catches as a sophomore than he
did as a freshman. Some of that was the rest of the offense and
some other things going on, but a lot of it was on them and
figuring out the finer art of playing a wide receiver. There's a reason that
after the year. The first coaching move Marks two's thing was to fire the
wide receivers coach, and they brought in Dochielle Schwartz from Houston. There was
a younger guy who played the position at a very high level not too long
ago. It appears to have had that bond already from like day one,
even in the Bowl game before he was coaching the position. We heard from
barryon Brown about how much he was kind of bonding with the coach Shorts already.
I think that's a big deal. But it's year three. Now it's
time to put up or shut up. Basically, I mean these this is
the year they need those guys to come out and be huge contributors. And
I think one thing that helps a lot is it's not just them anymore either.
We know Tavian Robinson when he arrived here two years ago, was supposed
to be the next one dal and that turned out to be not to work.
It didn't work out with him, so it was basically just Dane and
Bury on the last two years. All of the guys behind them transferred out
after the freshman year because they knew that the writing was on the wall.
Well, now you have Jamory Macklin coming in from North Texas, who's one
of twenty five players in the country at one thousand receiving yards last year.
You have Anthony Brown Stevens, who showed some promises a freshman as a year
of experience lenders belt. You have Hardley Gilmore, who was basically the breakout
star of spring practice that all the coaches raved about as an early in role
league. And then you have all those tight ends who are going to be
factors in the passing game too. You don't have to force feed the ball
Tod Dane and Barry On. You want to get them the ball now because
they're two of your best playmakers, but it's not a situation where you have
to force feed it to them. You can spread it around and that's going
to help everybody out. Those guys have to approach that in a mature way,
but we'll see. I think that's going to help. And then the
tempo of the offense, running more plays, which is the goal and going
to huggle, is going to give everybody more opportunities to And of course a
key is who's going to throw on the football. And I was talking to
Jeremy Jarman about this, and he's been to several practice and he told me
he would be surprised if there weren't a real, genuine, spirited competition for
quarterback. That they don't just pencil in the transfer guy automatically. You know
what I mean, I would well, I mean, everybody's new, so
it's going to be a new guy regardless because they have to replace the entire
room. It's interesting because Brock Vandergriff the quarterback is always the most important player
on the roster, but that's especially true for Kentucky this year in terms for
them to have a special season. I just don't see how they do that
without Brock Vandergrift being being a guy people think they are. I'm not sure
he is. I mean, he's basically unprecedented in this era of college football
to be a five star high school recruit who three years into his career now
has barely played. Almost all of those guys either play right away at their
schools or transfer out. Some of them didn't pan out, but we know
that because they played and struggled. We just haven't seen him play. And
you know why. I mean at Georgia he was behind Stetson, been at
two time National Championship to quarterback for two years, then he lost the job
to Carson Beck last year. He's going to be a first round pick because
a year older than him. The narrative is easy to write there, but
we don't know if he's as good as he was in high school yet.
If he is, Kentucky's going to be great this year, they're going to
be in that nine to ten win conversation. If he's not, then you
have some issues because I don't know that you want to fit forced cutter bowlie
out there as a true freshman. It appears that bo Allen, for all
the experience he gained at Charlton and then being on the sideline at Georgia Southern
last year, is probably not in a position to be a backup. Because
they went out and added Gavin Wimsat from Rutgers this summer or in the late
spring. It's a transferraptor spring practice. Nothing that Gavin Wimsatt did at Rutgers
for two years suggests that he's an SEC starting quarterback. But he can at
least make plays with his legs and be using packages and if something happens with
Rock Vand and Griff to where he struggles or it's hurt. You can put
whim set out there and be the the Linn Voten offense with more of a
passing threat, and you can get the six wins in the bowl game.
I think that's that's still a viable path. But if we're talking true special
season, it's got to be Brock Vandergriff being the guy that people thought he
was as a high score crew. A few minutes love with John Hale of
The Hero Leader. We talked earlier about how the white Out specifically Key and
Brown need to take a step forward and in an impressive one this year.
Same can be said for the old line, right. I mean, it
was a little bit better last year. I don't know that they'll ever get
back to the true big blue wall status of that year where they had what
five kids go to NFL camps and three stick in the league. That's a
lot to ask for, but they can definitely improve over last year. Yeah,
I mean, it's it's why he made the change at the position coach.
I mean, it's easy to forget now he was going to bring back
Zach Ginterd. They signed him to a contract in December. He was bringing
him back, and then everything happened to Alabam where Nick Saban retires, the
staff turns over, and suddenly Eric Wilford, who was the position coach in
twenty twenty one when they won ten games and had all those NFL linemen,
is available again, and Mark Stoops puts his pride aside and the park feelings
over how that fell apart, and brings Wilford back and fires the guy he
just signed to an extension because he thought that was a clear upgrade in the
position where they need improvement, and we know that that's true of Kentucky.
I'm with you. I don't think they're ever going to get back to that
like John Schlaraman Big Blue Wall era, because the offense is so much different.
I mean, they work ground and pound, and they schemed in such
a way to be that kind of blocking offensive line, and they don't want
to be that anymore. They know they need to have a more credible passing
attack and be more balanced, which means your offensive line is not going to
look the same way at that time. The floor I think for the offensive
line is pretty high in terms of having Marcus coxback, having Eli Cox back,
having Jagger Burden in year three now, you would hope that he is
ready to take a step forward. You added two more transfers in Jalen Farmer
and jeral Benc from Florida and Tennessee, who are both one or four star
recruits who are running first team at the end of spring practice. You've got
guys like Courtland Ford and Dylan Ray who have played a lot already. I
think the floor is higher than it's been in a few years. I still
wonder how high the ceiling is though. Do they have THOSEFL talent on the
line, And I'm not sure. I think Marcus Cox is your best offensive
lineman. But if he was a definitely NFL guy, he be in the
draft to be in a camp right now, he wouldn't have come back for
another year. Yeah, so that part is interesting for me, and it
will be fun to hear from Marcus Cox in Dallas on Thursday to see what
the progress is there and just what kind of tangible difference Hiring Eric Wolford has
made a couple of minutes left and we have just enough time to talk about
the running backs room, which is intriguing. You've got kids who have come
up to the program, You've got transfers. I don't think you have a
Benny Snell or a Chris Rodriguez, so we may be seeing I think we
will see that. I know the kid from Ohouse Data is a power back,
but I think we're going to see some different styles out of that room.
Yeah, that's my biggest question on the roster, you know, other
than quarterback, is what they're going to do at running back. Every year
the Bushampton has been a play caller at the FBS level, whether it was
at Washington or Boise State, he has had a thousand yard rusher. I
don't know that Kentucky has a thousand yard rusher on the roster right now.
So can he adapt to be a committee approach where it's training on from Myles
State, Gemmi Sumar Conway, who was to transfer Mansa State last year.
They put mostly receiver last year, and then maybe the freshman Jason Patterson.
Between those three guys, can you get to that twenty nineteen level when you
had a j Rose, Chris Rodriguez and Cabasi Smoke kind of splitting carries.
That's what I think it's going to be. It's a little worrisome that clearly
after spring practice. They they tried to go out and find the starter at
running back. Didn't work out. They were pretty far in the process with
Penny Boone, who was the MAC Offensive Player of the Year at Toledo last
year, spent the spring at Louisville, then transferred again, and then I
think it was an academic issue that kept him from from getting in Kentucky.
They were going to get a visit from Aidan Martinez from Oregon State. It's
the top running back in the portal, and then he ended up committing before
he made that visit. So they were clearly looking at their options, which
makes me very interested to see how they approached that position. The one thing
I am confident about is for as good as Ray Davis was last year,
they were not good in third and short, fourth and short. You know,
we're situations where everybody knew you had to get two yards on the ground.
They were not good situations. I do think Chip Trainam can do that,
and that's a big deal in this hockey. John Hall follow him in
the pages of the Herald Leader and at Kentucky dot com. John, we
will see you in Dallas. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me
and our number two was unforgettable guard Sean Woods, who's helping to coach a
lot on me. You next stat at the news break here on six point
thirty WLAP welcome back to the Big Blue and Cider and joining us now usually
joined us on Wednesday, but I'll be traveling tomorrow. So the unforgettable guard
Sean Woods joined us today and he is back, at least temporarily in the
coaching business. He is helping Tyler Eulis with the Live Familiar team playing in
TBT. And Sean, we saw you in action yesterday over at on media
Day. We stuck around for the first twenty minutes of practice. It's like
riding a bike, isn't it. Yeah? It is, man, that's
so so refreshing, just to be out there in my own really just getting
after you know, some young men and how fortunate I I am and and
talnent to be you know coaching form the UK players who you know, who
are professionals. So yesterday was real fun for me. It kind of kickstart,
got my juices flowing again and shooting. Like you said, I was
in hell and it was. It was. It was pretty good, sought
pretty good. Have you ever coached coaching some good guys. Yeah, but
have you ever coached a roster like that with older guys? They're they're still
playing all but one of them professionally, and uh, you know those guys
who played a lot of basketball. No, I hadn't coach pro so this
is my first time, and uh, you know, it's it's it's all
the same. You know, if you coach with some good basketball players,
they all want to learn, and all want to get better, and all
want to be put in positions to be successful. And you know that's all
I'm doing. You know, I'm not reinventing the wheel. I'm just having
fun being with these guys and coaching them and competing for something you know,
well not uk name on our chest, but nobody knows who we are.
It means a lot. And I saw what you were doing. It just
looked like you were explaining the set you guys wanted to run and you had
an active hand in that. You know, I guess that's that's one of
the bright spots is you don't have to teach fundamentals and you know how to
play the game. They all know how to play the game. It's specific
to what you guys want to run right exactly exactly, so when you come
ahead, No, I was going to say, so when you step on
that court, you still have their attention, don't you. Oh, no
doubt about it. You know it's just you know, doing this for twenty
five years, no matter if it's you know, high school, college pro.
You know, I've been a vet just for a while. But you
know, it's talking about the young man that you're coaching, and you know
you don't you only want to coach guys that you can't coach. And we're
fortunate and Twny Betha was fortunate and did a good job of putting this roster
together with guys that really are coming back with some pride to to play.
And you know, everybody gets what they want when you are when you have
a success, specially on the basketball. For you mentioned the fact that it's
not going to be Kentucky on that jersey, but everybody knows what it is.
And like you said, they're gonna come at you, aren't they In
this tournament just as they did in college. People want to measure themselves against
the brand, don't they. Nothing's changed, nothing's going to change, and
they're coming in the rupt. So we're planning against some guys that have never
been in REUP before. Yeah, it's always dreamed about it, and you
know what, they know who they're playing, so it's gonna be a little
extra. Things have not changed, you know. Once the UK player always
the UK player, and you're always going to be compared to and people have
always either be their best around you or try to be their best going going
against you. So, uh, we're looking forward to that and that's why
we're working. You know, yesterday was a really good person day, and
uh, they all got the same mindset of trying to in a championship and
also get an opportunity to play against Louisville in the later rounds and just sort
of stands out there listening. We need ticket sales because louis was beating us
in ticket sales right now. And from what I understand, if we do
get a chance to play Louisville, whoever sold the most tickets is going to
be the one who holds that game, and we want to be the one
who hosts that game. Absolutely. John Hood is the other assistant coach.
I don't know if there's more than two of you guys, but of course,
John a shooter, never met a shot. He didn't like. You're
a point guard, just like Tyler Eulis. I got to think that that's
a bit of an advantage Sean, when you guys put your heads together because
you see the game in similar ways. Am I right about that? Oh?
I no doubt about it. And you know, Tyler's never coached before,
but it doesn't matter if you play this game. You got a great
feal for the game because you're natural and Tyler's a natural. He's got great
or about it. And also you know, he's a natural point guard.
So now the thing is is relaying that to the guys or what you're trying
to do. And I was highly impressed yesterday for his first time, you
know what I mean. And my job is to just help him get things
across. But as far as you're in the basketball game and having a still,
especially on the offensive end, he's a natural. Well, you've been
a head coach, you've been an assistant coach, so you know both of
those rules. And I got to think that's a big help for you.
But man, for Tyler to be able to lean on you, that's huge.
Yeah, it is, And that was one of the reasons why I
did this, you know what I mean. And he's a great guy to
work with. He listens, he wants to be a coach, and I
think he will be, you know, once he gets his degree. I
think he'll be a six year of college basketball because you know, he knows
that he has a greatful or people knowing and liking and you know, if
he sticks with it, you know, you never know what could happen.
Yeah. Well, and in case people are wondering, he said he's not
one hundred percent recovered from the injuries in the accident, but he's off crutches,
which is great. But I'm really curious, Sean, to see you
guys work together on that sideline when you're coaching this group of veterans and a
lot of UK memories and one thing I talked to I think eight of the
guys before time ran out. And the one thing Sean, they all have
in common, whether they were here for four years or one, and most
of them were only here for one or two, is how much it meant
to them to be back. And you grew up watching this program, you
played in this program for four years, or you were a part of it
at any rate for four years. What do you think, What does that
mean to you to hear these guys talk about what it means to them to
come back to Lexion. Well, it's gratifying because no matter how long you
stay in Kentucky, you're going to see the effect. All you got to
do is play a reperarrina one time and hear all these people hearing and screaming
and yellow for you. Unlike any other place in America, that hasn't everlasting
effect. And a lot of these guys haven't been back in over eight years.
You know, I asked the Harrison Twins this the last time they've been
back in Lexic and they said they came back a year after they played and
haven't been back since. Yeah, and you know, there there and and
twenty. Bess has done a great job of putting this thing together in its
first class. And these guys, even though they're pros, they're still getting
treated like they're in college. You know, still got the you know,
the breakfast and the you know, the dinners, you know, the team
meals and and things like that, so you know, they're still they're getting
treated like Kentucky basketball players. Again, twenty said that when he approached players
and they agreed. He told them, this is not a celebrity game,
this is not an exhibition situation. You got to be in shape. And
most of those guys look like they're in pretty good shape, you know.
Nate Sistina said he's still working back because he'd been offered a couple of weeks.
And as you know, it doesn't take long to get out of shape.
Daniel Lordon said, I asked him, he goes, I'm working on
it, you know, but they can't cruise through this thing, no,
no, no, And yesterday was a dicator. You know, even though
these guys, you know, just getting off the plane and things like that,
you know, they still had to get their legs upon them. And
yesterday was a great start, and hopefully today will be better. And you
know, these are pros, and you know, hopefully by Friday we'd be
to hear our stradgle of it, especially from a conditioning standpoint, and with
our roster, if our conditioning could sustain, you know, I like our
chances of having some major success in the tournament. Why simply because of our
roster. I mean, we got all legit pros, all these a lot
of these teams don't have legit pros. They have guys that player in winter
leagues and things like that. And you know, some guys come off the
street and never you know, probably play one or two years of college basketball.
Yeah, so what we have is we have basketball players that know how
to play basketball, played at the highest level, being coached by the best
coaches in America. And another thing is they have pride and they know what's
at stake right now. And you know, they came in with a great
attitude. I was worried about that at first, but man, once we
got after it started getting into it, they were all in tune and it
was like coaching, you know, college basketball players again. Seand was my
guest, the unforgettable guard. He is helping Tyler Elis with LA for me,
the former Kentucky players coming together for the basketball tournament. Winner takes all
a lot of money at stake. We'll talk more about that on the other
side of the break here on six point thirty w I I'll come back.
We're talking with unforgettable guard Sean Woods. He is on the coaching staff for
La Fa Mea, which is playing in the basketball tournament coming up fast Friday
is when you guys play your first game. One of the first people sew
and I talked to is Willie call Ea Stein, who is really an intriguing
guy to me, still is, but when he was here at Kentucky.
And by the way, he looks like he's much skinnier than he was when
he played here at Kentucky. Maybe that's just because of the way he played
in the NBA. But he was a guy who stuck around for I think
three years, and I revisited that with him because he said back then he
wasn't done being a kid. He was in no hurry to get to the
NBA, which I really respected. Everybody has their own way, but I
always respected that about Willie call Eastein. You know what I mean. Yeah,
well, you know he's a guy that beats to his own drum,
you know what I mean. Oh yeah, he's very very unique individual.
But I'll tell you what, if you're around him, you like him.
He's like a magnet. You know. He's just a normal kid that you
know, doesn't do what everybody else does, you know. And but he
loves golf. Now he's picked up golf, is what he told me,
And he's got kids now that you know, he ready to do that now,
be a dad and and and play golf. And he likes taking his
kids out on the golf course with them and and things like that. So
you can tell that he's matured a lot. He knows what he wants.
And uh, I'm just happy that I can coach him, just touch him,
just for a little bit, because all these guys I was gone,
These guys came in and looking at him from afar. You know, you
don't know them. Now I get to actually be involved with these guys and
get to know them as a former player too, even though I'm much older
and I should. These last couple of days have been great for me,
just mingling with these guys, telling their listening to their stories and their experiences
of being a Kentucky basketball player and me telling mine as a college I mean
as a Kentucky basketball player. So the conversations have been great. I think
they all see that Lexington has grown since the last time they've been here.
And uh, you know a lot of guys are talking about you. When
they finished, they may want to live here. So you know, that's
the effect in a short time that this place has had on them. Then
two, they really never got a chance to really embrace the state of Kentucky
because of the short stay. And now that they've become adults and they see
it from afar, now you appreciate it even more than man. You know,
if we just stayed stayed around here a little longer, you know,
this could be, this could be. But you know, for any reason,
you can't turn down being as the dollars to reach a dream of playing
in the NBA. So you know, times are different, but this is
still Kentucky, and Kentucky still has that type of effect on guys, whether
they we're here one year, two years, or four years. Well,
Mark Pope's a great example of that. He's he's over fifty and he only
spent what three years of his life here and couldn't wait to get back.
So you're right, there is that effect on the guys who come back and
the guys you're coaching now, including Eric Bledshell. You talked about legit pros.
It doesn't get more legit than him. I mean, he played a
lot of basketball in the NBA. Hey, what a weapon for you guys,
right, Oh my gosh. You know, it's like having that new
toy, and that toy sticks out more than all the other toys that you
get on MS. Yeah, he's that toy, you know what I mean.
And for me to coach a legit pro well, all these WILLI collas
stand. All these guys had a stint. You know, James Young has
stints. You know, they had stints in the NBA. So you know,
as a coach, you just all you doing is putting them in situations
and creating organization, and you let these guys do what they do, you
know. And I don't think a lot of teams in this TVT has that
type of roster that we have. We just got to get these guys together.
And the more post time we have in a short amount in a short
period, the better we are. So looking forward to today's practice for sure.
I talked to Aaron Harrison about the big shots that he hit or Kentucky.
People remember the two that he had in the NCA Tournament fifteen, but
as a freshman he threw one in a beat Wisconsin with seven centers left,
and he said, I see him on the on the internet all the time,
h and if not, people walk up and talk to him. And
I know you can relate to that about big shots. So that's all part
of it, isn't It's all no doubt about it, man. And now
they get to come back and for the first time and embrace the fans and
really take this all all in as they become adults. I think it's huge
and I think timing is perfect, you know, because what Mark Pope,
you know, what is his theme is about bringing Kentucky back and you know,
three months later you got some you know, the cream of the crop
except for the guys that are still playing in the NBA to come back and
want to play in front of their fans for for common goal, that's big
time. I know he wants he wants his players exposed to your players that
that could really be helpful, right, Oh, no doubt about it.
And you know on Wednesday there's going to be some more formal players coming in.
That's a little deal. And that's that's that's gonna be even more,
you know. And and for me to be the connector between you know,
the past and the short past, which is still pretty much you know what
I mean, Yeah, the press still pretty much the present is big,
you know, And I just think it's all working out for the one common
goal is to make sure that everyone knows that they're part of Kentucky basketball.
If they were wont that that blue and white jersey. You talked about swapping
stories, and it just occurs to me. These guys all played for Caliperi,
you played for Patino. Has anybody asked you about that? No,
because there's still cow driven. They don't know anything, you know, that's
that's the one thing that you know they're listening to that they didn't know about.
When we're talking, especially me telling my stories, they only see it
through eyes And the only reason why is because they didn't have enough time to
embrace. But former players could embrace, did embrace. You know, they
couldn't come out in the community as much as we did. You know,
they couldn't be touched by the people that we were touched because times had changed
by the time Kyle got here. You know, you got social media,
you got things like that, and there's so much in the public eye.
You're trying to protect them for their own good and the university's on good,
so you know what I mean. You know, people can take take something
and twist it around. Well, Kyle did a good job of protecting his
guys and he never had that problem. But on the other hand, they
didn't get a chance to go out and really connect with the commonwealth of Kentucky
like we did. So this is their opportunity now, you know, to
just splurge around. They're walking around town. You know, they're doing things
while they're here, and they're letting people touch them and they're seeing you know,
man, these people really like us. They didn't forget us, you
know, we were just not here to play basketball. Then go on with
our deal. You know, this is a magical place, and what better
way to do it in a team setting? And then also the fans can
actually come watch them play again interrupt. I always tease Cameron Mills, and
actually I bust him a little bit on the fact that he's not really up
to speed on the history of Kentucky basketball, even though he's part of it,
even though his dad played here. I always felt like, you know,
if you played here, you need to know more about the history of
the game. And you've picked up and by that I mean Kentucky basketball.
You've picked up on a lot of that since you graduated. And I guess
that's probably too much to ask these young folks, isn't it. But man,
there's so much tradition. Yeah, and that's the only down part about
it is they don't know who they were playing for, right. They don't
know the significance of that they have on the people in the state of Kentucky.
They really don't. And you know, hopefully, you know, with
the experience that they've had throughout this ordeal, that you know, they can
start to realize it and then be more intrigued about Kentucky basketball, you know
what I'm saying. You know, back then, you know, those guys
were here for one reason, one reason only is to play here, try
to win a championship and get to the NBA. You know, it wasn't
to embrace the tradition and things like that. And you know, they didn't
get to be around people to hear other people's stories of how significant of a
role that they play in the state because you know, they were here for
such a short time and they were pretty much sheltered for you know, many
reasons. I just think that it would be great if these guys and I
know, again you're asking a lot in this generation, but they should know
that pat Riley played here. They should know the name Cotton Ash, they
should know Sam Bowie. I remember asking a players a few years ago and
Bowie was in in the practice center. I pointed at him as a you
know that guy is and the player said, yeah, I think he played
here, didn't he. I'm thinking, man, you know you need to
learn these great names because now you're part of it. But that that's a
process, isn't it It is? You know, and and where things are
going right now, it's only going to get worse, it's not going to
get better. Yeah, you know, because it's all about it's not about
tradition anymore. You're not going to Kentucky because Kentucky is Kentucky. That you're
going to Kentucky because they probably, just like anything, you know, their
situation is better from you from a financial standpoint. And then also trying to
get you to where you're going to in the future, which is playing in
the NBA. That's it, you know what I'm saying that the thought process
is totally different. Yeah, And how do we get that back? I
don't know, because it's all about money now. I think Mark Pope is
going to try to change that because of the players I've already spoken to on
his roster. They said that they wanted to be here because they know what
the Kentucky brand means. And yeah, it'll it'll help and perhaps reach their
goal. But they wanted to be a part, they said, of Kentucky
basketball. So I think that's a step in the right direction. You know,
Oh, no doubt about it. You want to be because you know,
Kentucky is still a household name, you know, uh, and they
want to understand it. And he's got a different type of kid too,
right now. You know, he doesn't have any lottery picks on his on
his team, so he's got some excuse me, some legit college basketball players
for your guys, and so he's got to you know, hopefully he can
get that ring that into them in a short period of time. But that's
what it is now. You know, if you're going to get transfers their
transport for one reason, one reason only, and uh, you know it's
it's a task, you know. But I know that he's preaching it every
day and I know they hear it every day. The difference is can they
experience it every day? You know? After practice, I can go out
and Lexington, you know after a game, I can, you know,
not just me because I have family here, but all of us. That's
not the case anymore. And I'm sure Mark's trying to come up with some
situations to where they're more community accessible, but even then you have to be
careful. Sean Woods, the unforgettable guard now and the coaching staff are Lafami
coach. Thank you so much, Best of luck. We'll talk again soon,
Okay, be careful on that roil, buddy. Derek and three two
one welcome back to the Big Blue Cider. Joining us now is a publisher
of bat Cat Central. Derek Terry formerly with a Cats pause and now has
a job in the private sector, but keeps an eye on college baseball.
And I know you were paying close attention as we were to the early rounds
of the Major League Draft. Were you surprised that it took Ryan Walshman a
while to come off the board. Yeah, I mean he was one of
those guys that depended on which mock you were looking at. He was kind
of all over the place. Some people talked about him maybe getting as high
as kind of the back half of the top ten. That always seemed kind
of ambitious, but then other people kind of said his range might have been
in the twenties. So he ended up at thirty one, which depended on
the semantics of it. Is that the first round, is it not because
you have these prospects and centerpicks. Now he in he got some compensation picks
before you get to the second round, so not within the top thirty.
But I think the Diamondbacks were probably quite happy to see him there at thirty
one. I think they're getting a really good player, someone that his reigne
was kind of you know, if some teams viewed him possibly as a high
as the top fifteen, then I think he'd be pretty happy to get him
at thirty one. How much do you think his struggles in the College World
Series may have affected the draft. I'm sure you would have liked to have
shown a little bit more at the bat. He was able to get on
base a few times via the walk, you know, but yeah, he
you know, was I guess it just wasn't Omaha. It was also against
Oregon State in those two games, he also didn't have a hit. So
I had a really good regional and after that, you know, didn't didn't
Induscreer, I'm sure how he would have hoped overall, but it probably could
have helped him a little bit had he been one of those guys that went
to Omaha and faced the best of the best in college baseball and stuff pitching
and delivered more hits. But also to some extent, you probably have to
assume that a lot of the scouting work has been done by then, you
know, teams scouts in this area. I've had a full season and last
year too. You know, if you keep him on last year, I
mean, he kind of made himself a draft prospect last year, and teams
also saw him with the Cape last summer, so he'd been on the radar
for a while. So I don't know that it necessarily hurt him. I
think it probably could have only helped him had he performed maybe a little bit
better in Omaha. But but overall, I think he's probably still going to
get a nice signing bonus, the one thing I was looking to see,
and it'll probably be close now. He might not quite get past Evan White,
who signed for three point one back in twenty seventeen. I thought Waldy
had a chance set a new UK record for a signing bonus, But we'll
have to see it might be close. Yeah, Evan White had just a
lot going for him, didn't he though, with a glove and the bat.
But yeah, you're right, Walshman, when you think about it this
time three years ago, he's a Charleston Southern, for crying out loud,
not a knock on that school. But you know, not too many first
round picks coming out of that place. No, And he's another one of
those guys too that really wasn't even a draft prospect out of high school.
You have guys like you know, Kaglione at Florida, Condon, Chase Burns,
you know, guys like that content. Yeah, Condon was a little
bit more probably you know, he had the red shirt, but you know,
Burns, kaglio On, these are guys were well known in high school
who continued through college that that we're always going to do on scout the radars
going into it. Whereas a guy like Walschmidt had some injuries in high school,
really full under the radar, probably showed right away at Charleston Southern that
he was he was probably capable at a higher level. I read a story
in the Athletic. It was a really good story Woldie. It seemed like
the coach of Charleston Southern wasn't too happy said he left it for a freshman
year. He kind of thought he might say one more, but even they
recognized that he was a power fop talent. And I think you got to
give a lot of credit to Kentucky's coaches because what we see now is a
top thirty five talent who got selected, but it was still really just Kentucky
and Dallas Baptists, which is a very good program, but no other SEC
schools. You know, as a kid who was playing in Charleston, South
Carolina in the Big South, and no one else really wanted them in Kentucky,
I think you got to give a lot of credits there for a good
evaluation. Oh yeah, and to be sure, Dallas Baptist has a strong
program, but you know, to your point, the only SEC school interested
was Kentucky. And you got to give wal Schmid credit because he told me
this. You may have heard him say it or read it somewhere as well.
Last year as the leadoff man, once he broke into the lineup and
became a regular because it wasn't automatic at the beginning of the year, if
you go back and look at box scores, they they tinkered with the line
of quite a bit. But once he did, he concentrated Derek on getting
on base, drew a lot of walks, was hit by a bunch of
pitches. This year, he said he was determined to work on his swing
more, swing earlier in the count and get on base that way. And
he succeeded in that, didn't he he did. You know, that's a
good point you bring up last year. I can't remember watching games and it
was kind of his I think with him and Petrie both last year. Guy
and Petrie continued it throughout his whole career. But guys that really good on
base percentage type guys that especially Petrie's case, the power wasn't there at all.
You know, he only hit one home run last year. I can't
remember how many Walshman hit. It was espefinitely more than Petrie. But he
was another guy from sophomore to junior year whose power took a leap and he'd
have to sacrifice munch. This was not a guy who had you know,
he didn't start striking out a ton all of a sudden when he started hitting
for more power, I mean, he was an all around really good offensive
player this season and you know someone that I think it super leap that probably
could have been expected in some ways because he's coming from Charleston Southern, where
he did walk more than he struck out his freshman year, came to Kentucky,
you know, saw SEC pitching for the first year, performed pretty well.
I mean, this is the guy that I think people were excited about
coming into this year. I'm not so sure that he was, you know,
first round talent, especially after his injury last summer, but you know,
by the middle SEC player, this is a guy who was clearly moving
up the draft boards. I want to say it was maybe early May when
I saw him mocked potentially in the first round. Yeah, for the first
time from Keith Law. So yeah, I mean, it really an incredible
arise on the Kentucky and you got you gotta think that will be a story
that has used quite a bit in the years to come and recruiting to show
what can happen on the development path here. Yeah, Watchman last year actually
walked a few were times than he did this year, thirty five to forty
one. But when I spoke to him, it was mid midway through the
season and he had not drawn a lot of walks because people were pitching to
him, and then towards towards the end of the year they quit given him
pitches to it. And he still ended up in fourteen home runs as opposed
to five last year. But you know, up the steels total just had
a better year all around, and then then paid off for him. You
mentioned Petrie, and he was expected Derek I think to go in the second
round, but maybe not that high. In the second round. He was
what the fifty eighth player taking. Yeah, he went fifty eight. Overall,
his range kind of varied. ESPN had him as highest seventy six,
whereas MLB had him like one to seventy something. It was pretty clear it
was the savings pick for the race. To what extent, I'm not sure.
We won't know that probably for a few more days. Ended up being
bad luck a little bit for Kentucky because the money that they saved on Petrie,
the Rays ended up picking Tyler Bell signing from News from Illinois, but
he was signed of Kentucky. They took him like eight picks later, and
almost surely the money that they used u the money that they saved on Petrie,
they rolled right into that pick, if I had to guess, And
neither one of those guys was officially signed yet, but anyone taken in the
top ten rounds almost. I mean it's like I want us over nine to
eight percent. Last year. There's gonna be one guy last year who didn't
sign, and I think I read that might have been in the tenth round.
So really good for Petrie that he ended up doing fifty eighth. I
mean, I saw it was the first time in the modern draft of Kentucky
had two players selected in the top sixty. So on one hand, it
really is a pretty special achievement for the program, and it's awesome for Petrie
that, you know, a guy who, depended on where you look,
might have been a third or fifth round projection ends up going second overall.
But it kind of came out of costs as well, for losing Tyler Bell
right there. Oh the way, he shouldn't be a surprise that Tyler Bell
was picked. Wasn't he ab the top player in the state. Yeah,
Illinois I think had one Ryan Sloan. I want to say that one other
guy who was ranked ahead of him. He was thirteenth nationally though in PBR,
out of the high school ranks, and then it was another guy that
his range buried a little bit, but not as extremist Sea tries. I
think the lowest that Bell might have been was like one fourteen at ESPN,
which is still certainly with a sign ability range. The thing for him where
there was some late hope was just that he was going to ask for probably
close to two million, and who you know what teams are doing to give
that to him. You always kind of assume that teams are going to find
the money for a highly thought of high school shortstop. Those are the guys
that are pretty covid. He saw a run on it right around the time
Bell was drafted, probably in probably the twenty picks ahead of him is when
it started. I know, Cincinnati end up taking a high school shortstop in
there, and a few other team Carter Johnson went off the board, Tyson
Moiss for the Reds, and then I want to say there was one other
guy who went to the Pirates forget his name, but Bell kind of fell
in there range a little bit, and those are he was always gonna be
tough to get here but there was some hope that because he was nineteen,
because he would be draft eligible again in two years, you know, maybe
you'd be able to slot him in here and get a little bit lucky.
But you know, unfortunately Freakentucky that wasn't the case. But to your point,
in terms of the coaching staff, how many serious projections for next year
actually included him, I'm gonna say very few. Talking to Derek Terry,
he's a publisher of Batcat Central, of course covers Kentucky baseball in depth,
and we were talking about Walt Schmidt back what three seasons back. Petrie came
here and backed up Ryan Ritter, the Gold Glove winning shortstop with an eye
on the starting job, and we've talked about it all year. He sees
Grant Smith and figures, man, I better learn to play second base,
which he did with shortstop skills. But as you mentioned, picked up the
power jumps from one home run Derek to ten. Is batting average not quite
what it was last year three eighteen, this year this year three oh one,
but he slugged much better, more extra base hits, more stolen bases,
and he told us about midway through the year that he never really felt
like at that point that he really had his stroke down, even though he
was bunching hits, you know, and he had like four or five straight
games with multiple base hits, including the Georgia Series. So even if this
was a down year for him, it was pretty special. Yeah, it
was. I mean here, I mean the average came down, that's a
slight bit three eighteen to three on one. You know, still drew a
few more walks than last year, struck out just a few more times.
I was really impressed. Impressed at his overall career numbers seen in the walking
ninety one times compared to just seventy three strikeouts for a guy who came from
Canada and like you mentioned, didn't really play his first year, and then
to be a mainstay in the line up the last two years. I thought
he really had a I don't want to say underrated career. I mean,
I think people recognize how good he was, but he is, you know,
I think in terms of Minji owned guys that they have recruited out of
high school who have come through here, you know, his his career was
one of the best. I mean, seriously, it was one of the
best ones of anyone. I'll be curious to follow his pro career. I
think he's got a bit of a chance. I think he's in a good
organization with the Rays team that will value his his kind of skill set.
Can you move around a little bit more? You know, he played the
second here at Kentucky. You mentioned he came in as a shortstop in pro
ball. Will he get a chance to show that, because I think a
guy like that there's a decent chance will be a little bit of a utility
player potentially if he advance hire enough through the through the rings. You know,
he obviously he'd love to be an everyday player, but some guys like
that you're able to get to the big leagues and your versatility helps you.
So if he can do that, I mean, I think he'll be one
to watch pretty close. Out of this group. I mean DM pick fifty
eighth. You know, some sometimes he's picks involved saving money. But even
though he's had to come out of discount for the raise, I really don't
think it was that much of a reach. Like this is a guy I
would not be sprouted at all if you looked at for three years and some
team. Yeah, and I'm curious does he play shortstop or second base,
because he's proven he can play either. And speaking of shortstop, it's a
tough year for Grant Smith. I mean, he excelled once again defensively,
but dealt with injuries even more than he did last year. He suffered torn
labrahm in his hip and he played with it all year, had the off
season surgery, but you know, had a broken bone in his foot.
Towards the end of the year. His batting average plummeted. He ended up
hitting only two thirty three. His bat really went to sleep late in the
year, but he never stopped excelling at shortstop. And I know there's a
lot of great athletes out there at shortstop, but I want to see does
he even get drafted or does he have to go to free agent route?
You know? Yeah, I mean of those injuries, that was tough.
Was a you know, he really was really a war. I mean,
he was hurt before he ever came here, you know, and then he
played through like you mentioned last year, so he played through it and offensively,
I think he'd have to say he was a surprise his first year at
UK. I think a guy who's at the bottom of the order end up
in like seven home runs. I think wasn't bad at all, average wise,
not as good to play, but but as you said, I mean
he was You're I think they were just happy to get as much as they
did out of him this season. He's a guy that certainly has the defensibility
I think to play at the pro level. How will the that do?
I'm not sure you give his age job. I think he's almost certainly going
to go the undrafted free agent route. But maybe somebody who you can get
in there and stick a little bit. I like Grant. I think I
think he was the kind of guy to follow Ritter. You know, I
think almost everybody thought they would probably take a little bit of a step back
defensively just because of how good Ridder it was. But I'm not surely did
like ridor pro hade more Range maybe a little flash year with it overall,
but Grant was just so steady. And whoever comes in there next year,
whether it's Kayas Gargett or Luke Lawrence from Illinois State, I don't know which
one will be, they get some pretty big shoes to fill. Because short
stop the last I don't know, four seasons or so I mean it's a
ball is hitting generally area. He felt pretty good about it being an out.
So we'll see who it is next year. But you know, Grant
was a goodemester for the program, I thought, and a guy who very
reliable and sometimes you can take that for granted. But I wish him Luckerman,
I wish all these guys luck. I was happy to see Ryan Nicholson
get taken Trey Booster, two guys who really fit. The bill has money
savers for teams. You know, these are senior signs who have no leverage,
so whatever is offer, they're going to take. But two guys who
you're talking about, two of the better players on the number two overall seed.
These are guys that you know, I don't know how how high.
I hope the organiz they half for them, but they're good players that I
think we'll get a fair shot at the next level. Derek Terry batcat Central
and it's Batcatcentral dot com. Right, yep, that's right, that's how
you can subscribe. Thank you, Sarah, We'll talk to you soon,
all right, thank you. Back to wrap things up in just a minute
here on The Big Blue Insider six thirty w you'lc come back quick segment as
we wrap this up. Thanks to Derek Terry, thanks to Sean Woods,
and thanks to John Hale for joining us today. I don't know if you
saw this or not, but Joel Embiid has been struggling with the Olympic basketball
team, and now Steve Kerr has been asked about possibly benching Embiid when it
comes to the starting lineup and giving more minutes and maybe the starting berth to
Anthony Davis, the former Wildcat, and also more minutes to bam Adebiyo,
who have both played better than Embiid. Now. He's more physical and has
a bigger low post presence believe it or not than Anthony Davison obviously bam Adebio,
but they have outplayed him. That would be something if Steve Kerr made
that decision and decided to play a former Wildcat or two above Joel mb they
turned that's a good night from the garage and Election sixty nine offense. He
was giving him the business