Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big blin Sider. Dick Gabriel with you
Speaker 1: on a Thursday edition of our program One Step Closer
Speaker 1: to Kentucky Football. The Wildcats open up, as you know,
Speaker 1: one week from Saturday, so we are nine days away
Speaker 1: from the season beginning for the Cats. And tonight well
Speaker 1: are going to hear my conversation a special visit to
Speaker 1: the garage with Bill Ransdell. He dropped in yesterday, so
Speaker 1: we recorded a conversation with a former UK quarterback among
Speaker 1: some other things, we talked about the Wildcats, his career
Speaker 1: and how things are going under Mark Stoops. So yeah,
Speaker 1: we're going to talk with Bill. Coming up at the
Speaker 1: bottom of the hour. Also coming up a conversation with
Speaker 1: Brian Milem of WKYT, the sports director and a long
Speaker 1: time colleague, will talk about the football Cats, but also
Speaker 1: High School of Football which begins this week. So there's
Speaker 1: a lot going on, no doubt. And Darren Headrick of
Speaker 1: the UK Network will join us to talk football and
Speaker 1: UK women's basketball because Kentucky announced its schedule for the
Speaker 1: women's team, which of course will make its debut under
Speaker 1: Kenny Brooks on Madness Night October eleventh. Then the Blue
Speaker 1: White Game in Memorial Coliseum on October the eighteenth. Ticket
Speaker 1: info coming up soon on those. Kentucky with five straight
Speaker 1: home games to open the regular season, including a matchup
Speaker 1: with Louisville on November the sixteenth, Game one the official
Speaker 1: game one November fourth with USC Upstate Dennis Wafford. Then
Speaker 1: U OFL Kentucky will go to Nashville for the Music
Speaker 1: City Classic Thanksgiving weekend, no opponents announced as of yet,
Speaker 1: and a big game glowing on the schedule UK North
Speaker 1: Carolina Women's basketball the second sec ACC Challenge that will
Speaker 1: happen down in Chapel Hill. So there's a lot to like,
Speaker 1: a lot that's interesting on the UK schedule. We'll talk
Speaker 1: to Darren about that. But a reminder that Darren is
Speaker 1: also part of our crew on college football game Day.
Speaker 1: He is our scoreboard announcer and he keeps track of
Speaker 1: everything going on nationwide, and he's going to have a
Speaker 1: challenge keeping track of all these teams that have moved
Speaker 1: throughout the last couple of years in a brand new
Speaker 1: homes in different conferences. So we'll talk to him about that.
Speaker 1: A couple of headlines from baseball, Big League Baseball and
Speaker 1: if you're just a casual fan, especially of the Reds.
Speaker 1: This jumps out at to Joey Vado, former league MVP
Speaker 1: in the long time face of the Reds, officially has retired.
Speaker 1: Remember he left the Reds for the Blue Jays, not
Speaker 1: of his own volition, but he was trying over the
Speaker 1: past six months to get back to the big leagues
Speaker 1: one more time. He had signed a minor league deal,
Speaker 1: saying he wanted to try out for what he called
Speaker 1: a local club, Vadawis, Canadian, but an ankle injury cost
Speaker 1: him half the season and he would love to have
Speaker 1: played this past weekend or this week's series with the
Speaker 1: Jays and the Reds, but he did not get the
Speaker 1: call up from Triple A Buffalo, so he released a
Speaker 1: video saying that's it. I'm done. I'm officially retired from baseball.
Speaker 1: He was standing in a parking lot outside Buffalo's ballpark.
Speaker 1: So Joey Vado wraps things up. Twenty ten National League MVP.
Speaker 1: When he batted three twenty four with thirty seven home runs,
Speaker 1: he had the second most hits in Reds franchise history
Speaker 1: twenty one hundred and thirty five plus three hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty six home runs. You know who in first place
Speaker 1: and always will be there. But what a career for
Speaker 1: Vado five times All Star led the National League an
Speaker 1: on base percentage seven times, so you're talking about walks
Speaker 1: and base hits combined the OBP. That was a frustrating
Speaker 1: stat for some fans. You believe you should have been
Speaker 1: swinging anymore, but you can't argue with the results. And
Speaker 1: a lot of people think he'll be a first ballot
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer. I think there'll be some stubborn people
Speaker 1: who don't vote him, but I think he belongs in
Speaker 1: a Hall of Fame on the first ballot. But I
Speaker 1: don't have a vote, and we'll find out in the
Speaker 1: next five years. Another note from last night's Red's Blue
Speaker 1: Jays game. The Reds gets slacked by the Jays and
Speaker 1: they didn't necessarily run out of pitchers, but they didn't,
Speaker 1: I guess, want to waste anymore. So they're down ten
Speaker 1: to two, bottom of the seventh and who do they
Speaker 1: send out to pitch? Backup catcher and former Blue Jay
Speaker 1: Luke Maylee, who at one point was an off conference
Speaker 1: performer for the Kentucky Wildcats. He was on that twenty
Speaker 1: twelve team that made it to the top of the
Speaker 1: college baseball polls a couple of times, the top rank
Speaker 1: Kentucky team. So they sent Melee out against his former team,
Speaker 1: and all he does is set him down in a
Speaker 1: row twice, retired all six hitters he faced through twenty
Speaker 1: eight pitches, twenty for strikes, and at times throw in
Speaker 1: a knuckleball which topped out at seventy seven miles an hour.
Speaker 1: In fact, on Twitter or x there is one clip
Speaker 1: of him striking out, not striking out, but inducing a
Speaker 1: ground ball with that knuckleball. It looks like an ephis pitch,
Speaker 1: like a big looping pitch drops in, but it's a
Speaker 1: knuckleball and he'll need eleven pitches. But he gets Davis
Speaker 1: Schnyder to end the game on a ground ball. He
Speaker 1: raked it the third base, got a good swing at it,
Speaker 1: but he was thrown out. So here's a guy who
Speaker 1: is a veteran. Now, gosh, he's thirty three years old.
Speaker 1: Pretty amazing. But this is evidently the ninth pitching appearance
Speaker 1: of Melee's career, second in Cincinnati over the last four games.
Speaker 1: I didn't realize he had pitched earlier for the Reds.
Speaker 1: Apparently his era eight point six eight. He does have
Speaker 1: three strikeouts, but this season has yet to allow base runner.
Speaker 1: How about that? So became the first position player of
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four to pitch multiple perfect innings in one game.
Speaker 1: And by the way, there is movement of foot there.
Speaker 1: The towers that be believe that there is too much
Speaker 1: of this position players taking the mound in the major leagues,
Speaker 1: and they think that that somehow cheats the fans. Look
Speaker 1: when a position player takes the mound. I have never
Speaker 1: seen that happen in a game that was still on
Speaker 1: the line. It's always during a blowout. And I happen
Speaker 1: to think fans are a little curious about that. There's
Speaker 1: some thought that while you're cheating the fans, no you're not,
Speaker 1: because who's still there in a ten to two game
Speaker 1: in the eighth inning? And I have a feeling that
Speaker 1: fans rather enjoyed that, both Reds and Blue Jays fans
Speaker 1: seeing Luke Mayley. So that's kind of ridiculous to me.
Speaker 1: And this stuff about forcing starting pitchers to go six innings,
Speaker 1: that's dangerous and it should not happen, but you may
Speaker 1: see it shift over to college football. You know that
Speaker 1: the SEC has moved from CBS to ABC. Well, here
Speaker 1: comes an announcement that the broadcast crews on the CBS game.
Speaker 1: You know for years, at three point thirty you turn
Speaker 1: on the SEC on CBS, there's Verne Lundquist and Gary
Speaker 1: Danielson and I can't remember I was Todd Blackledge for
Speaker 1: a long time, who actually grew up in Lexington at
Speaker 1: eighth Street Junior High. Anyhow, you knew you were going
Speaker 1: to get them at three thirty, and then after Verne retired,
Speaker 1: Brad Nessler. But now we find out that you're going
Speaker 1: to see rotating crews for the SEC on ABC. You're
Speaker 1: gonna get Sean Mcdonogreg McElroy, Molly McGrath or Joe Tessitoor,
Speaker 1: Jesse Palmer, Katie George. I really liked that team. I
Speaker 1: don't dislike the other ones. Who's the third one? Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: the top team is Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreet and Holly
Speaker 1: Row that's a good group as well. But yeah, they're
Speaker 1: going to rotate. It won't matter, you know, it depends
Speaker 1: if the game is any good or not. And by
Speaker 1: the way, the SEC Networks top team will come back intact.
Speaker 1: Tom Hart, Jordan Rodgers and Cole Kobalik, and I really
Speaker 1: like that team as well. And Tom Hart is one
Speaker 1: of the best in the business. I don't think he
Speaker 1: gets enough credit for that, but yeah, I get used
Speaker 1: to that. Folks. You're going to see and hear different
Speaker 1: voices in different faces practically every week. They're going to rotate.
Speaker 1: Yesterday we were talking about rookie quarterbacks and who might
Speaker 1: start in the NFL, and it is official. The Broncos
Speaker 1: are the first to announce that their quarterback will be
Speaker 1: the rookie. Bo Nix, who finished his career at Oregon
Speaker 1: had a nice time up there. But remember now, he
Speaker 1: was a widely recruited and highly coveted quarterback who signed
Speaker 1: with Auburn back in the day. And I talked about
Speaker 1: this again the other day. Kentucky opened the COVID season
Speaker 1: with Auburn. Wildcasts were ranked twenty third going into the
Speaker 1: season and Auburn was ranked number eight and Auburn won
Speaker 1: at twenty nine to thirteen. Kentucky was I think it
Speaker 1: was what fifteen to thirteen, No, eight to seven at
Speaker 1: the half? It was weird, fifteen to thirteen. At the
Speaker 1: end of three periods. Auburn put up two touchdowns in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter. Now, what I remember about that two things.
Speaker 1: Bo Nicks was very good through three touchdown passes and
Speaker 1: extended plays with his legs. But the other thing I
Speaker 1: remember is Kentucky was denied a touchdown early in the
Speaker 1: game when they went for it on fourth down, and
Speaker 1: it was apparent to me and I was literally sixty
Speaker 1: five to seventy yards away toward the other end of
Speaker 1: the field, and I could tell that Chris Rodriguez got
Speaker 1: into the end zone and Tom and Jeff called it
Speaker 1: a touchdown, only to say, wait a minute, what and
Speaker 1: they were denied the touchdown, And it really changed momentum.
Speaker 1: And it's not why Kentucky lost the game, but it
Speaker 1: really hindered the Wildcats ability to win the game. And
Speaker 1: in fact, Kentucky had opened up. First touchdown came on
Speaker 1: a ninety three yard drive punctuated by Cavasier smoke on
Speaker 1: thirty five yards for the touchdown. But then after that,
Speaker 1: after that touchdown, they were denied. Things just did not
Speaker 1: go well for the Wildcats. But bo Nicks looked really
Speaker 1: good in that game. But his career began to founder
Speaker 1: a little bit at Auburn, and in fact, he was
Speaker 1: eventually benched, fans turned on him, and he left the
Speaker 1: planes for a new home in Oregon. Hey, it has
Speaker 1: worked out. He'll be the starting QB for the Denver Broncos. Oh, yes,
Speaker 1: one other quarterback. Note, there is a little bit of
Speaker 1: I don't want to say bad blood, but it's really
Speaker 1: interesting what's going on between Patrick Mahomes and a flag
Speaker 1: football star. You know, flag football is going to be
Speaker 1: in the Olympics in four years, and there was some
Speaker 1: loose talk going around from Darryl Househ deuceet, quarterback of
Speaker 1: the US national flag football team. They won a lot
Speaker 1: of championships evidently, and I guess there was some talk
Speaker 1: about NFL players believing they can jump right in and
Speaker 1: play flag football in the Olympics. This guy, and he
Speaker 1: was taken up for his sport, saying it's disrespectful that
Speaker 1: they automatically assume they're able to just join the Olympic
Speaker 1: team because of the person they are. They didn't help
Speaker 1: grow this game to get it to the Olympics, which
Speaker 1: is true. These guys have played a lot of flag
Speaker 1: football and it's very popular. But he said, give the
Speaker 1: guys who helped this game get to where it's at
Speaker 1: their respect, okay, But then he goes a little too
Speaker 1: far by comparing himself to Patrick Mahomes only the best
Speaker 1: quarterback in the game.
Speaker 2: At the end of the day, I feel like I'm
Speaker 2: better than Patrick Mahomes because of my IQ of the game.
Speaker 2: I know he's right now the best in the league.
Speaker 2: I know he's more accurate, I know he has all
Speaker 2: these intangibles, but when it comes to flag football, I
Speaker 2: feel like I know more than him.
Speaker 1: Hey, you may know how flag football is played, clearly
Speaker 1: you do. But to compare yourself, first of all, in
Speaker 1: general to Patrick Mahomes ridiculous. To compare your football IQ
Speaker 1: to Patrick Mahomes even more ridiculous. You got guys coming
Speaker 1: after you trying to grab that flag around your waist.
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes says, guys coming after him trying to crush him.
Speaker 1: He's just trying to preserve himself out there, and by
Speaker 1: the way, he lead his team to a super Bowl.
Speaker 1: So just smile, enjoy the experience, and do not bring
Speaker 1: up Patrick Mahomes again. Up next way from the Football
Speaker 1: Cats bottom of the hour. Bill Ransdell comes by the
Speaker 1: garage here on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the
Speaker 1: Big Blue and Sider. The football Wildcats have been cleaning
Speaker 1: things up as they wrapped up what they call fall camp.
Speaker 1: Next week, they dig into the game plan in earnest
Speaker 1: as they prepare for Southern Myss. You're going to see
Speaker 1: all kinds of pregame specials, including one on WTVQ now
Speaker 1: the home of SEC football BB and Tonight's got a
Speaker 1: lot of programming Hite Fox fifty six. But I was
Speaker 1: nearby when Jeff Bicoro of Channel thirty six and r
Speaker 1: UK Radio Network talk to jam Dumas Johnson the transfer
Speaker 1: from Georgia the linebacker about why he chose Kentucky for
Speaker 1: his new stop after he left UGA.
Speaker 3: Really really just the difference of mindset that Chris White
Speaker 3: and of course Stoops has here at Kentucky. The personnel.
Speaker 3: Of course, White plays with the different kind of flavors
Speaker 3: he got in his bag to throw out never in
Speaker 3: the same defenses can switch it up any kind of
Speaker 3: any day. He went never letting the offense know what
Speaker 3: he's in and know what he's doing. So I think
Speaker 3: that was a big part of my decision making.
Speaker 4: When I look at this defense, and especially from a
Speaker 4: linebacker standpoint, when you were at Georgia, you had those
Speaker 4: big guys up front who took up the blockers. They
Speaker 4: gave you clear pass. You look at this Kentucky team,
Speaker 4: it's kind of the same front that you're gonna be
Speaker 4: playing behind, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: You know you got a big, big, big D big
Speaker 3: zero up there. You know you got trail there on
Speaker 3: the head, you got you got Ox up there, you
Speaker 3: got j J up there. You know you gotta got
Speaker 3: a couple of Kalil up there. You got a couple
Speaker 3: couple of guys with that that's big. I can got
Speaker 3: the help. He can hold their own up there. So
Speaker 3: I don't think it's much difference within the change of
Speaker 3: my D line. So you know, I'm excited what they're
Speaker 3: gonna do.
Speaker 4: I like, you've got a big spile on your face
Speaker 4: when you started drigging up the names. That are you
Speaker 4: gonna be playing around?
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, uh, you know, just making that connection last
Speaker 3: three days in camp, you know, uh, you know, you
Speaker 3: gotta bring that leadership out. You know some sometimes some
Speaker 3: people need some some help to bring bring they they
Speaker 3: better part out, they better stuff out. So you know,
Speaker 3: that's that's what I'm been trying to do. Uh, you're
Speaker 3: trying to lead, you know, not trying to do too much. Uh,
Speaker 3: you know, not your born leader. That's what I had
Speaker 3: to call myself. Uh so not trying to take the
Speaker 3: role that it come to you and when it happened, happened.
Speaker 3: But you know, just just happy for the guys and
Speaker 3: see what they can do.
Speaker 1: Brad White, Kentucky's defensive coordinator, was asked about doing much
Speaker 1: and who said he'd rather not be called pop anymore.
Speaker 1: And that's fine, but he said Doomius Johnson more and
Speaker 1: more transferring in from Georgia is learning the way they
Speaker 1: need things done at Kentucky.
Speaker 5: Every day he gets a little bit better and more nuanced,
Speaker 5: you know, at our terminology, the way we operate, the
Speaker 5: techniques that we run, because every defense that you go
Speaker 5: into is slightly different. But you can see that the
Speaker 5: confidence level really rising in the understanding level. And it's
Speaker 5: like anything like when you finally make that connection point
Speaker 5: and you bridge the gap to say, okay, this is
Speaker 5: what it used to be. How do I execute it
Speaker 5: without always.
Speaker 1: Having to think?
Speaker 5: You know, you think about a foreign language, right the
Speaker 5: moment that you can actually think in the language that
Speaker 5: you're trying to speak as opposed to always translate it.
Speaker 6: Man, you're off and running.
Speaker 1: One of the other transfers backup quarterback Gavin Whimsit from Rutgers.
Speaker 1: He right now is number two on the depth chart.
Speaker 1: Talk to us about why Kentucky. He liked bush Hamden,
Speaker 1: He liked the offense, and he like what he saw
Speaker 1: when he researched the Wildcat program.
Speaker 7: It's smart knowledge about like going into different schools and
Speaker 7: just my comfortability with with with offenses and just football
Speaker 7: in general. I think that made me look into it.
Speaker 7: I'd say if I was a freshman and I entered
Speaker 7: the portal, then I probably wouldn't have looked at it
Speaker 7: as much. But I think now from especially coming from
Speaker 7: Rutgers and just seeing how I fit in that offense,
Speaker 7: I think it's just I wanted to get into offense
Speaker 7: that fit me, fit me best.
Speaker 1: So how do you think you fit in the South best?
Speaker 1: Because when they talk about you, they talk about your
Speaker 1: running ability.
Speaker 7: I think I can fit in with passing as well,
Speaker 7: just uh, you know, just consistency and making the routine play.
Speaker 7: I feel like sometimes you know, get out of whack,
Speaker 7: But I think it's just getting back to that spot
Speaker 7: where I can just keep on playing, you know, you know,
Speaker 7: easy catching and throws, so.
Speaker 6: No shortage of weapons in this offense.
Speaker 1: Is that exciting to be part of?
Speaker 7: I think that is super exciting. You know, you got
Speaker 7: guys who can play multiple positions and you AD's depth
Speaker 7: and I think that's that's super amazing. You know, just
Speaker 7: put guys everywhere you can mix some of it Mattham
Speaker 7: and I think it's it's amazing.
Speaker 1: Really curious to see how and when they use Wimsedd
Speaker 1: as a backup to Brock vandergriff Up. Next, Bill Ransdell
Speaker 1: visits the garage on six thirty WLA. Welcome back to
Speaker 1: the Big Blue Insider. Every now and then we have
Speaker 1: guests here in the garage. And the other day the
Speaker 1: man who dropped by happened to rewrite the Kentucky record
Speaker 1: books when it came to passing, and the record stood
Speaker 1: until Tim Couch showed up on campus. I'm talking, of course,
Speaker 1: about Bill Ransdell, who lived the Wildcats to the nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty four Hall of Fame bull victory forty years ago.
Speaker 1: This season, we'll be talking about that in our season
Speaker 1: opening broadcast as Wildcats take on Suttern Miss. So my
Speaker 1: conversation here in the garage with Bill Ransdell. Bill Ramsdell,
Speaker 1: Welcome to the garage.
Speaker 6: Hey, I love the garage. Everybody's got to have a
Speaker 6: man cave in their garage cave and I love it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well we get it done here. And Bill, of course,
Speaker 1: the long time Kentucky quarterback, and at one point you
Speaker 1: were with us on the UK TV network and now
Speaker 1: you enjoy your tailgating.
Speaker 6: You're having fun with that right absolutely. You know it's
Speaker 6: you know, five kids and my wife I all love
Speaker 6: football and you know we'd like to get out there
Speaker 6: on Saturdays, and you know that's kind of a good
Speaker 6: family time. A lot of people go to the lake,
Speaker 6: a lot of people do different things, you know, horseback
Speaker 6: or whatever. Ours has always been tailgating and Kentucky football.
Speaker 1: That's good. Well, you got a chance to have some
Speaker 1: more fun this year. I know you haven't been able
Speaker 1: to get out to practice yet, but you know, just
Speaker 1: from you can't help it. But read about this team
Speaker 1: and the depth in the quarterback room. And I always
Speaker 1: go back to your time at Kentucky when we talk
Speaker 1: about depth, and I remember you talking about being fifth
Speaker 1: or six on the depth chart. Mike Whittaker was on
Speaker 1: that depth chart, and eventually you got to the top.
Speaker 1: Tell me about the challenge for any quarterback who signs
Speaker 1: up to play, and we'll get to the transfer portal
Speaker 1: in a minute. But you know, going in, you got
Speaker 1: to beat out X amount of guys.
Speaker 6: Right, you do? And you know, you come in and
Speaker 6: I think that it's I think anybody that has played
Speaker 6: the game and gets recruited in college at any level,
Speaker 6: but especially when you get up ato D one regardless,
Speaker 6: you think that you better believe that you're the guy
Speaker 6: that they recruited you for a reason. And when you
Speaker 6: walk into the room, I don't really care who is there.
Speaker 6: I'm here to win and play. I didn't come here
Speaker 6: to sit. And if you don't think that way, you're
Speaker 6: not going to make it to the field. And so
Speaker 6: it's how do you get there? You have to buy
Speaker 6: the time. And when I came in with coach Clayburn's
Speaker 6: first recruiting class, they they're trying to build and so
Speaker 6: the you know, the red shirting and where basically it's
Speaker 6: just a whole back year, as you know, and so
Speaker 6: then you get your your only chance is the next
Speaker 6: spring in spring practice, and so you get a limited
Speaker 6: amount of plays back then there's no red shirt for quarterbacks.
Speaker 6: It was live every day.
Speaker 1: Ridchard means hands off, not the extra year, but yes,
Speaker 1: don't hit this guy.
Speaker 6: Yes, no red jerseys for the quarterback. Yes, so it
Speaker 6: red shirt was when we were held back. But the
Speaker 6: red jersey you don't touch anymore. But everybody was live.
Speaker 6: Is that just a clay Burn thing? No, no, no, cursey.
Speaker 6: It was the time. It was just the time. I
Speaker 6: think that probably the first time. Mummy I think probably
Speaker 6: kept everybody off of the quarter Well. Yeah, and you
Speaker 6: don't think they touch Dusty either before and the other
Speaker 6: team Jared either, So yeah, I think that's part of
Speaker 6: what it was. But they the big thing is you
Speaker 6: you have at then and and it's got to be
Speaker 6: similar now. You're gonna have X amount of plays you're
Speaker 6: gonna get and how do you execute and and it's
Speaker 6: that hasn't changed. You're gonna you know, are you two's
Speaker 6: against ones? You know what what's that look like? I
Speaker 6: mean I can remember, you know, my red shirt freshman
Speaker 6: the sophomore year coming in and coach Devlin was the
Speaker 6: defensive coordinator. Went on to the Houston Oilers. We're all
Speaker 6: waiting to go over to to Commonwealth to you know,
Speaker 6: to have a big scrimmage. And uh, he looked at
Speaker 6: me and says, you're ready to go today? And uh,
Speaker 6: this is one that we were still at Shadley And
Speaker 6: he says, you're ready to go today? And I said, yes, sir,
Speaker 6: And he said that's good because I'm musa throw everything
Speaker 6: in the kitchen sick at you. So you know, that's
Speaker 6: what it comes down. You have to be able to
Speaker 6: sit there and show that you know that you're ready
Speaker 6: to go, and the coaches have to believe it.
Speaker 1: What's it like for a young kid? And I got
Speaker 1: to thing, no matter who the quarterback is, I'm sure
Speaker 1: there exceptions, but I'm thinking you you play quarterback as
Speaker 1: long as you can remember your dad was a quarterback,
Speaker 1: so it was natural to suddenly have to sit and
Speaker 1: wait your turn to play at the college level. I mean,
Speaker 1: you didn't have to do that much in high school,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure in pee wee football. What is that
Speaker 1: like for all these kids who have to sit and wait.
Speaker 6: It's very challenging. It was probably one of the most
Speaker 6: challenging times other than when I got injured in the
Speaker 6: middle of the season. You know that you're you're taking
Speaker 6: something away that you you love. And I don't know
Speaker 6: that myself or anybody else really realizes how much the
Speaker 6: sport becomes a part of you, right, and uh, you
Speaker 6: know a lot of people it's it becomes really more
Speaker 6: than that, it becomes their identity, right, And that's that's
Speaker 6: even tougher. But it was really difficult because I felt
Speaker 6: like I could I could be on the field and
Speaker 6: be doing what was getting done, and uh, you wanted
Speaker 6: to help absolutely, I mean just I mean put me
Speaker 6: and coach.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you know.
Speaker 6: So it's it's a really challenging time. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And speaking of challenging, as we talked to Bill Ransdell,
Speaker 1: former Kentucky quarterback, Uh, Kentucky goes winless under Jerry Claver
Speaker 1: and then suddenly six wins and lexing in Central Kentucky.
Speaker 1: The Big Moon Nation didn't call it that back then,
Speaker 1: going nuts a bull trip. You were not the starter.
Speaker 1: But the following year you were nine wins and another
Speaker 1: bull trip in a win. So it all started to
Speaker 1: pay off for you. Those were heady times, weren't they.
Speaker 6: They were they were, and that spring. Then you know,
Speaker 6: eighty three just went out, you know, had a chance
Speaker 6: to make some moves on the depth chart and played
Speaker 6: quite a bit. Yeah, and and was you know, contributing.
Speaker 6: And so then you get to the you know, eighty
Speaker 6: four and true story, we're sitting in you know, maybe
Speaker 6: maybe this was the best bluff ever. Okay, but we're
Speaker 6: in Neeland Stadium playing Tennessee. We're seven and three and
Speaker 6: they're seven and three. Right, I've never gone back and
Speaker 6: looked at this. But our coach, coach Asma, my quarterback coaching,
Speaker 6: offensive coordinator, they're in and he comes into the locker
Speaker 6: room and for the game and uh, this is the
Speaker 6: last time before we're going out to kick it. And
Speaker 6: uh he said, Fellas, this is it we got. I
Speaker 6: think there were nineteen bowls as I recalled back then,
Speaker 6: and he said, uh, winner at seven and three goes
Speaker 6: to a bowl. Looser goes home. I mean eight and three.
Speaker 6: Excuse me, winner at eight and three goes in because
Speaker 6: we were seven and three. So winner at eight and
Speaker 6: three goes to a bowl, the looser goes home, stays home. Yeah,
Speaker 6: so it it's changed quite a bit, but you know
Speaker 6: it was good, and you know, everybody was fired up.
Speaker 1: And I guarantee you he knew that because, as you recall,
Speaker 1: that was before all the ball games were slotted, correct,
Speaker 1: and they were bull reps wearing those blazers that's it
Speaker 1: on the sidelines in the press box, and they're willing
Speaker 1: to give up info, weren't they?
Speaker 6: They did, and they were there, and it was the
Speaker 6: Hall of Fame was in Birmingham right at the Big
Speaker 6: State now the Outback, and then it moved to Tampa
Speaker 6: and then it became it was a Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: It's a big deal.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, it was a big bull. It was nice, yeah,
Speaker 6: so it h but it was it was an interesting time.
Speaker 1: Was that something that was clearly in your mind when
Speaker 1: he said it? But like they say, first time you
Speaker 1: get hitting the head, all that stuff goes out the window.
Speaker 1: Did you did you think about the bull game at
Speaker 1: all after that?
Speaker 6: No?
Speaker 1: No, I wouldn't think.
Speaker 8: So.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's just it was nice, you know, a little
Speaker 6: little pep in the in the in the locker room
Speaker 6: for everybody and they're like dang, okay, you know, and
Speaker 6: we had gone the year before, so it uh, it
Speaker 6: worked worked out. I'm sure Tennessee probably went to. I
Speaker 6: don't know, but it's it was. It was still a
Speaker 6: nice little talk about.
Speaker 1: More of my conversation with former UK qb one Bill
Speaker 1: Ransdell on the other side of the break here on
Speaker 1: six thirty w l A P. Welcome back to the
Speaker 1: Big boone sider Dick Abriel with you. Here is more
Speaker 1: of my conversation right here in the garage with former
Speaker 1: UK quarterback Bill Ramsdell. We were We've talked before about
Speaker 1: the fact that and I've mentioned it that you rewrote
Speaker 1: the record books and your name stayed in there until
Speaker 1: a guy named Couch came to campus. And yet for
Speaker 1: all the great things you did with your arm, it
Speaker 1: could have been more. But you played for a coach
Speaker 1: jefpi Coral talks about this all the time. Uh. And
Speaker 1: of course when you got he had four different backs
Speaker 1: make the NFL. You can see why Clayburne wanted a
Speaker 1: hand off. Did you feel shackled a little bit? Clearly
Speaker 1: every quarterback wants to throw the ball, but that it'd
Speaker 1: be tough.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, I really never thought much about it again, really,
Speaker 6: you know, I just I played the way I was
Speaker 6: coached and I learned more when I was in the
Speaker 6: NFL for a few years and watching when coach Mummy
Speaker 6: came in, watching his in the philosophy piece of that
Speaker 6: and how to how to control the ball with the spread.
Speaker 6: It made more sense to me.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 6: It made me a pretty I like to think, a
Speaker 6: pretty good coach being able to sit there and understand
Speaker 6: it born. But no, I really never thought much about it.
Speaker 6: I think that if I could have done, you know,
Speaker 6: learned something earlier, it'd have been to drop the ball
Speaker 6: off to the backs a little more of okay, you know,
Speaker 6: from you know, because we were pushed the ball down
Speaker 6: the field quite a bit, and sometimes you know, full
Speaker 6: back Chris Terry or you know, anywhere, they're sitting out
Speaker 6: here on the side, and you know it. I was
Speaker 6: ready to push it down the field. It didn't work
Speaker 6: all the time, you know, but yeah, we you know,
Speaker 6: you do what you can with what you have at
Speaker 6: the time.
Speaker 1: What was it like for you? I mentioned the fact that,
Speaker 1: you know, here's the funny thing. Those two bowl years,
Speaker 1: I'm working in Dallas for Jim Hosts, So I'm reading
Speaker 1: like one paragraph in the Dallas Morning News, but I
Speaker 1: kept saying, hey, Kentucky wan again, what what what's going
Speaker 1: on there? You know? And uh, And when I got
Speaker 1: back and when Jeff Picorla joined us on the radio nowhere,
Speaker 1: he would keep saying, you know, remember that game where
Speaker 1: Paul Calhoun did this or we Bill did that. And
Speaker 1: I'm like, Jeff, I wasn't here. So I had to
Speaker 1: go back and look in the record books, like, wow,
Speaker 1: that was pretty damn good. What was it like in
Speaker 1: terms of the Big Blue Nation for you guys when
Speaker 1: you turn things around like that, because there's nothing like
Speaker 1: the atmosphere week long after.
Speaker 6: A win, No, there's not. You know, it's one of
Speaker 6: the things that that D and I talk about it,
Speaker 6: you know, when you can feel it in town. Yeah,
Speaker 6: not to mention, I mean the support firstly going into
Speaker 6: a game when they they you know, I've got goosebumps
Speaker 6: right now thinking about it. It going into a game
Speaker 6: and you've got people sitting there at you know, whether
Speaker 6: it's kneeling or down at Mississippi State and Starkville or
Speaker 6: you know, Florida lsh. It doesn't matter, but it is
Speaker 6: the Big Blue Nation was showing up back then and
Speaker 6: they still doing it. Yeah, And it's one of those
Speaker 6: things that you know, it's it's a special And then
Speaker 6: in town here in Lexington, it's something that basketball the
Speaker 6: same way football, you can feel it. Everybody's mood just
Speaker 6: seems better. You know, everybody's slid around town. Then you
Speaker 6: can feel it well.
Speaker 1: And now, of course every game's on TV. And I
Speaker 1: mentioned that we're talking with Bill Ransdell, a former UK
Speaker 1: quarterback and formerly with US on the UK TV network.
Speaker 1: But as you decided, I would think I'd rather be
Speaker 1: a tailgater. We were losing those delayed games and eventually
Speaker 1: we lost them all to the SEC network. So every
Speaker 1: game's on TV now and everybody has a big screen TV,
Speaker 1: so it's a tougher sell now, Isn't it used to
Speaker 1: be go to Kentucky football game because that's what you did.
Speaker 1: Now it's easier to put your feet up it is
Speaker 1: and look at your seventy inch TV. You gotta give
Speaker 1: them a reason to come out. I think Mark Stoop's
Speaker 1: teams have done that for the most part, don't you.
Speaker 6: I agree? Yeah, And I think that what you see
Speaker 6: back to the Big Blue Nation is they want to
Speaker 6: be there.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 6: My family said earlier. My family, that's what we do.
Speaker 6: If we're not we're finding a TV somewhere for sure.
Speaker 6: But and I think that the coach has done a
Speaker 6: really fine job with it. You know, you got some excitement,
Speaker 6: You got young men out there that you know had
Speaker 6: bought into his program. Seems the culture seems to be
Speaker 6: pretty solid to me. And what else would you ask for?
Speaker 6: You know, it's a big family.
Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier the portals that we had come back
Speaker 1: to it and the fact that you had to work
Speaker 1: your way up to depth chart like practically every quarterback
Speaker 1: and people are transferred. Mike Whittaker, your former teammate, left
Speaker 1: foy Ku rewrote their record books and had much success
Speaker 1: under Roy Kid. But now and I had a soundby
Speaker 1: with Tom Brady on the show earlier this week talking
Speaker 1: about how kids now quarterbacks now who transfer all over
Speaker 1: the place. You learn the playbook, but you don't necessarily
Speaker 1: learn the program. You know about getting all the lessons
Speaker 1: that you were taught, and that he was taught at
Speaker 1: Michigan beginning when he was seventh string. I don't know
Speaker 1: you're never going to get back to that, are you.
Speaker 1: But the portal being what it is, guys can shop
Speaker 1: for programs now.
Speaker 6: They can shop and you know it's one of those
Speaker 6: things that having not experienced, I can't overly speak to it,
Speaker 6: you know from an outsider's opinion, which is what's that worth?
Speaker 6: I don't know much, but it I think there's something
Speaker 6: to being in you know together. I mean back in
Speaker 6: our day we had dorms. If you remember, we were
Speaker 6: all in dorms over in the Curve and stuff that's
Speaker 6: gone now. And you the sense was you give that family, right,
Speaker 6: you you work together. Everybody have to live in a dorm, yes,
Speaker 6: unless you're married.
Speaker 1: Now I think it's just a freshman yes, And.
Speaker 6: I think freshmen think you're right. They still they still
Speaker 6: put in the.
Speaker 1: Fall or whatever, but now they'll have apartments.
Speaker 6: Yeah, everywhere. And you know, coaches thought was, you know,
Speaker 6: we're all here and you're there, and I mean it
Speaker 6: was just like a locker room. I mean you go
Speaker 6: into the bathroom, showers. I mean you might have a
Speaker 6: little stall area but nothing different. But yeah, I think
Speaker 6: that you the culture piece and getting a feel of
Speaker 6: that with your coach is about hopefully you have a
Speaker 6: few years. But you know, I guess on the other
Speaker 6: side of that, gabeis you know, whether it's the running
Speaker 6: back or the quarterback or whoever it is, why did
Speaker 6: you come here? There's I like to think that at
Speaker 6: some point, some way, people have some gut instinct that
Speaker 6: brings them even besides money. It's like any job. You know,
Speaker 6: money is there, but what ultimately keeps you there? And
Speaker 6: you know it?
Speaker 8: Uh.
Speaker 6: I love doing football. I love doing the the LA telecasts.
Speaker 6: And as you were saying earlier, I was looking and
Speaker 6: considered working through and working yeah, and you know, I mean,
Speaker 6: but I mean just you know what it came back
Speaker 6: down to. It's like, Okay, this is my favorite time
Speaker 6: of the year. I love this sport with a passion.
Speaker 6: But that means I'm potentially out of town every weekend,
Speaker 6: away from my family. And I wasn't. I wasn't ready.
Speaker 1: Your girls were so young back oh yeah.
Speaker 6: And I wasn't ready to sit here and that I
Speaker 6: wasn't going to give that family time up. And even
Speaker 6: though it you know, that's what they've done. As far
Speaker 6: as a part of it, Yeah, I wasn't gonna do that. Yeah. No,
Speaker 6: I think the culture piece of it and then getting
Speaker 6: to know and you know, they these kids now look
Speaker 6: at the tea, look at all the communication, you know,
Speaker 6: look at all the technology. Yeah, they just sit there
Speaker 6: and text, how's your coach? What's he like? I'm sure
Speaker 6: they're talking before they get here, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, which which is a good thing.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, it's like recruiting now, you know, you
Speaker 6: get one or two and then the what they they're
Speaker 6: talking and trying to recruit for you when you get.
Speaker 1: Together with with the letterman over at the k Man's house.
Speaker 1: How much does nil come up? How much do you
Speaker 1: guys talk about that? Because I've heard basketball players rex
Speaker 1: chapping and can you imagine what we would have gotten,
Speaker 1: you know, and me than what we got?
Speaker 6: Is that what they said though? But the you know
Speaker 6: what it comes up. Some the guys, uh, you know
Speaker 6: they've talked about it, but it you know, they're just
Speaker 6: everybody just kind of shakes their head. And you know,
Speaker 6: we always I mean, I think we got I think
Speaker 6: we got twenty dollars a week is what we got
Speaker 6: back gaundry money, that's exactly. Yeah, And you know what
Speaker 6: we always Nobody writ that, you know, it's just I mean,
Speaker 6: you look at Joe fed or some people that were
Speaker 6: back years ago. What I mean, our time was better
Speaker 6: than his. You know, it's just it's just changing times.
Speaker 6: But I think the big thing is just everyone being
Speaker 6: able to sit there and look and go, yeah, we
Speaker 6: you do need something. I mean, okay, you're getting your education,
Speaker 6: but how do you do anything else?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 6: And there was nothing, there is nothing else to do
Speaker 6: before I let you go.
Speaker 1: Bill Ransdell, here in the garage with us, you mentioned
Speaker 1: your time in the NFL. I believe you also played
Speaker 1: at least one season in Italy correct pro football.
Speaker 6: Correct.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's still there, but I read
Speaker 1: the book about co playing for Pizza. It's based on that.
Speaker 1: That league it's still it's still is it still going? Yeah?
Speaker 6: We went. So my youngest Mason, she's now twenty three,
Speaker 6: but in nineteen, yeah she'll be twenty three.
Speaker 1: Yeah, my daughter used to babysit her.
Speaker 6: Yeah, so we Uh, in nineteen she was still playing.
Speaker 6: She doing some club soccer, right, And so they had
Speaker 6: a team going over to Italy, and so we loaded
Speaker 6: up and we went and actually.
Speaker 1: Went to Parma where you played.
Speaker 6: We played and caught up with some old teammates and
Speaker 6: had bread and uh they got to see, you know,
Speaker 6: meet her, and uh it was really special, really special.
Speaker 6: But yes, the league is still going in one of
Speaker 6: the receivers that he was a guy that was just
Speaker 6: loved football and he never really got on the field.
Speaker 6: He was he's the GM now. You know, it's just
Speaker 6: it was, it was, it was it was, you know,
Speaker 6: full circle kind of thing. And it was really nice.
Speaker 1: Well, and you know they're opening the season in Dublin,
Speaker 1: and you know, I worked a game in Tokyo. I
Speaker 1: mean it seems like wherever football goes. It was great.
Speaker 1: Japanese people they loved college football. That didn't understand it,
Speaker 1: but you know they were learning.
Speaker 6: They'd like the gladiator sports.
Speaker 1: Exactly exactly right, and they would put up messages on
Speaker 1: the board, you know about win too, applaud and things
Speaker 1: like that. But I you know, having Italian hair. It
Speaker 1: has been over there. Next time I go over, I
Speaker 1: need to find American football.
Speaker 6: I will set you up. I'll get you some contacts.
Speaker 6: And did people show up and watch over the cops?
Speaker 1: Did they?
Speaker 6: Yeah? It was cool, it was really I know.
Speaker 1: Kenny Walker played basketball over there, Kyle Macy loved his time.
Speaker 6: I mean, they're just good. I mean it's it's you
Speaker 6: played just the one year though you tempted, you tempted
Speaker 6: to stay over there at all. I was, but yeah,
Speaker 6: there were some things, you know, I was, I had
Speaker 6: some life happens. Well yeah, so it was yeah, I
Speaker 6: needed I had some other things to take care of.
Speaker 6: But it was really neat great owner in Parama right there.
Speaker 6: I mean, I mean, you know.
Speaker 1: It's a big deal.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's it's it was.
Speaker 1: It was a fan and you can confirm. People always
Speaker 1: wonder about this, is the food really that good? Yes?
Speaker 6: It is, isn't it. Everything's everything's fresh and it's all yeah,
Speaker 6: you know, made right right to order.
Speaker 1: And there there, there's it. He's got his problems like
Speaker 1: every country, Butcher I can't recommend it more. Bill Ransdell,
Speaker 1: thanks for dropping by the garage anytime. Game glad to
Speaker 1: have you and listen for Bill. You'll hear him kicking
Speaker 1: off our first UK Radio Network broadcast this year as
Speaker 1: we try something new. So thank you. Sarah. We'll see
Speaker 1: you in the parking lot.
Speaker 6: Sounds great, look forward to it that.
Speaker 1: I'll do it for our number one coming up in
Speaker 1: our number two, Brian milem WKYT will join us of
Speaker 1: course talk Kentucky football, but I need Brian to prepace
Speaker 1: on high school football. That coverage begins this week and
Speaker 1: you've seen the series. A lot of the TV stations
Speaker 1: have counted down to the high school season with feature stories,
Speaker 1: so we'll talk with Brian about that, and Darren Hendrick's
Speaker 1: going to join us, the radio voice of the baseball Wildcats.
Speaker 1: A lot of news involved in Kentucky baseball here leading
Speaker 1: up to the fall, which is a crucial part of
Speaker 1: the season, but also Darren's part of our team on
Speaker 1: UK football coverage, so we'll talk about that as well.
Speaker 1: That's next in our number two on the Big New
Speaker 1: Insider six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue
Speaker 1: and Cider, and joining us on our celebrity hotline is
Speaker 1: a longtime friend and colleague, Brian Milam, sports director w KYT,
Speaker 1: who's been talking a lot of football here over the
Speaker 1: past several weeks. We're going to talk with Brian, premarily
Speaker 1: about the high school season which begins this week, but
Speaker 1: real quickly, Brian, you guys have been prepping, of course
Speaker 1: for the Kentucky season upcoming, and we've talked a little
Speaker 1: bit about that this summer. I do believe this is
Speaker 1: a pivotal year for Mark Stoops and it's kind of complicated,
Speaker 1: made more dramatic by the schedule change, the addition of Texas.
Speaker 1: They do away with divisions, which I think we agree
Speaker 1: does not help Kentucky at all. But how do you
Speaker 1: see this one shaping up?
Speaker 8: Well, I think you hit it right on the head.
Speaker 8: This is huge for another reason also because he admittedly
Speaker 8: tried to get out of Lexington during the SEC media days.
Speaker 8: The first question when he hit the big room was
Speaker 8: you know, how serious were you in Texas? A and
Speaker 8: in and he came clean, which I understand he could
Speaker 8: not really discuss right after you beat Louisville in a
Speaker 8: dramatic win, and you know that kind of just has
Speaker 8: been the undercurrent, I think, one of the many undercurrents
Speaker 8: in the off season. And yet this season is big
Speaker 8: because he tried to do what he wants to do,
Speaker 8: and that is coach football and not be a salesman
Speaker 8: to go out and get money the way. That's all
Speaker 8: he has done. He told me and a function about
Speaker 8: well it is right before the day before I left
Speaker 8: for the College World Series. He said, this is all
Speaker 8: I do. I don't get to coach anymore. And so
Speaker 8: I think he is excited for this season, but he's
Speaker 8: got a lot to prove because the divisional the division's
Speaker 8: being gone. Yeah, that really throws you right into the
Speaker 8: lions den, where in the past you could avoid certain situations.
Speaker 8: But now, yeah, you're right in the thick of it
Speaker 8: with everybody. And and when you just look at the
Speaker 8: schedule from thirty thousand feet, you don't see a ten
Speaker 8: win season. You don't see a nine win season unless
Speaker 8: you get some great breaks along the way and at
Speaker 8: least a regular season. So there, and you've got a
Speaker 8: you know, a running back room which has been in
Speaker 8: many ways the skapfle of your offense for the better
Speaker 8: part of the last seven or eight years since this
Speaker 8: Bowl run. The running backs that really you know, Bennie
Speaker 8: and Rodriguez being the two big ones and then Ray Davis,
Speaker 8: they have really solidified the big blue wall in the
Speaker 8: past as a lethal threat in the SEC. Well, now
Speaker 8: you don't have that room right now, and it may
Speaker 8: take a while to grow. So yeah, and another new coordinator,
Speaker 8: offensive coordinator, another new quarterback. So yeah, there's a lot
Speaker 8: of Oh boy, let's wait and see.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, that's going to be the theme of
Speaker 1: the season. And I've talked all summer about how the
Speaker 1: calendar as much as the schedule works against him with
Speaker 1: that South Carolina game and Georgia looming early. So it's
Speaker 1: going to be interesting. And the fortunes of Kentucky football,
Speaker 1: I think you're in for a roller coaster ride. And
Speaker 1: I was talking to Bill Ransdell. It came by the
Speaker 1: garage about the fact that the whole city feels it
Speaker 1: when the team is down or up, doesn't it. I mean,
Speaker 1: you can you can almost tell walking down the street
Speaker 1: what happened this past Saturday.
Speaker 8: You know, Oh yeah, that's the way it ought to
Speaker 8: be throughout college and it isn't a lot of places,
Speaker 8: but especially here where you have had for decades that
Speaker 8: big blue basketball bouncing in the distance. And if UK
Speaker 8: was to start, you know, subpar the way they did
Speaker 8: before Mark Stops took over. It was football for a
Speaker 8: long time was just a buffer until you get to basketball.
Speaker 8: And over the last seven or eight years, and even
Speaker 8: Stoops the second and third year when he started five
Speaker 8: and one and four and two, it was, hey, let's
Speaker 8: put that basketball on hold for a minute. We've got
Speaker 8: something here. But I am afraid with so much positivity
Speaker 8: and a new breath breathed into the basketball program. If
Speaker 8: Kentucky football was to stumble out out of the gate,
Speaker 8: I think a lot of people might check out interesting.
Speaker 1: Well, Brian Mylin will keep it on that for w
Speaker 1: kyt uh. Well, let us talk some high school football though,
Speaker 1: because it's cranking up and man, you talk about we
Speaker 1: talked about Kentucky schedule. Some of the local high schools
Speaker 1: have schedules that are impressive, if not ambitious, Starting with
Speaker 1: Brian Station, which got to the state championship game last year,
Speaker 1: and all they're going to do is what start off
Speaker 1: with a bowling Green which is number one in Division five?
Speaker 1: What's going on?
Speaker 6: Man?
Speaker 8: Well? The thing with that I love about Brian Station, Well,
Speaker 8: first of Boyle County is going to play LCA and
Speaker 8: then Brian Station gets their hands with Trinity. So let's
Speaker 8: a rematch right off the jump of last year's championship game.
Speaker 8: And then you go to the year before Station beats
Speaker 8: tr on the north side ten to three. So this
Speaker 8: is kind of a budding rivalry all of a sudden,
Speaker 8: and the Great American Rivalry Series is even coming in
Speaker 8: to showcase this game because we had that Louisville Lexington
Speaker 8: rivalry and it's of unexpected means you don't think of
Speaker 8: Brian's Station in Trinity to be that inter city rivalry
Speaker 8: from Louisville to Lexington.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 8: But with the emergence of Douglas being who they are
Speaker 8: and they get a hold of of Bowling Green, they've
Speaker 8: got a crazy schedule as well. It is you're getting
Speaker 8: state championship game quality on week one, where in the
Speaker 8: past you did not, you know, you had the cupcake
Speaker 8: for a couple of weeks, maybe just to get your
Speaker 8: feet under you. Wow, they're come shooting out of the
Speaker 8: gates because a lot of teams like Station, like Douglas,
Speaker 8: Boyle County, Trinity, Corbyn, Pikeville, way Out, way out East,
Speaker 8: and so many others, they have a tough time. Nobody
Speaker 8: wants to play this, so you might as well have
Speaker 8: some heavyweight showdowns to start the season.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's not going to keep you out of
Speaker 1: the playoffs, but it is going to show you what
Speaker 1: you've got. And I misspoke, actually was Frederick Douglas that
Speaker 1: opens up with Bowling Green. But yeah, they played Trinity,
Speaker 1: they play male and of course Brian Station they play manual.
Speaker 1: So boy, you talk about ambitious, but let me ask you,
Speaker 1: does Brian Station have enough to make another run in
Speaker 1: the state championship where they did lose to Trinity. Oh
Speaker 1: and by the way, the field on which Brian Station
Speaker 1: plays right now, the team that dedicated that with Brian
Speaker 1: Station back in nineteen seventy three or seventy two, I
Speaker 1: should say, what's Trinity? The Shamrock came up and they
Speaker 1: opened that field a zillion years ago. But anyhow, Brian
Speaker 1: Station has got a lot coming back, doesn't it.
Speaker 8: Brian Station is a ball club. They've got one main weapon,
Speaker 8: and I mean they've got more than one. But the
Speaker 8: main guy you've got to look at is Kaylin Washington.
Speaker 8: They call him Jaws. I mean he is an old
Speaker 8: school loaded the ground running back. And Bryan Station they
Speaker 8: returned a lot of good guys. I mean, this is
Speaker 8: a ball club that I don't think anybody saw them
Speaker 8: really don't making the run they made last year, and
Speaker 8: it took its call on the ball club, the coaches,
Speaker 8: because this was territory they had not visited since nineteen
Speaker 8: ninety nine when Eric Shelton and the guys went to
Speaker 8: the state finals. And they have a legitimate shot in
Speaker 8: a district where they are matched up with Douglas, and
Speaker 8: in last year's playoffs, had Douglas Beaten Trinity, they lost
Speaker 8: to him fourteen to seven in overtime. I believe you
Speaker 8: would have had, I think for the first time ever,
Speaker 8: the district champion and the district runner up from the
Speaker 8: same district meeting for a championship, because you see that
Speaker 8: in the past. Well with the way the RPI comes
Speaker 8: into play, which totally different subject for another time, you
Speaker 8: would have had the same district, district winner and runner
Speaker 8: up meeting just seven miles away, which would have been
Speaker 8: pretty cool. You talk about Lexington rolling out everybody to
Speaker 8: see that game that had been something but stationed they
Speaker 8: are going to be very good. Philip Hawkins has done
Speaker 8: what I don't think anybody thought possible. He has rattled
Speaker 8: off four years in a row of ten plus wins
Speaker 8: and that's the greatest run in terms of back to
Speaker 8: back to back to back regular seasons and just total
Speaker 8: seasons in station history. Fans the state title, even.
Speaker 1: The team that had Dermanti Dawson and a couple of
Speaker 1: running backs that eventually they all made the NFL back
Speaker 1: in the day, that team, I think the most wins
Speaker 1: they ever got were six because they didn't have enough
Speaker 1: around those guys. So you're right, it's amazing what they've
Speaker 1: done there. Brian mileam sports director WKYT, is my guest.
Speaker 1: We'll come back and talk more Kentucky high school football
Speaker 1: on the other side of the break here on a
Speaker 1: Big Moonsider six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big
Speaker 1: moons Sider to Gabriel with you're talking to Brian Mylem
Speaker 1: of WKYT about high school football, which begins this week
Speaker 1: in the Bluegrass and of course specifically Lexing. And you
Speaker 1: were talking about the job that Brian Station did and
Speaker 1: the job that Frederick Douglas did. Frederick Douglas has kids
Speaker 1: who've already committed to play college football. How much do
Speaker 1: they have coming back?
Speaker 8: Did you say, Douglas, Yeah, Douglas is loaded. I mean
Speaker 8: they have. I've been to three practices of theirs. They're
Speaker 8: only two miles from the TV station. And now they
Speaker 8: just got another addition, Cedric Wirks, the four star defensive
Speaker 8: end outside linebacker from the Dayton area. He transferred in
Speaker 8: about two or three weeks ago, and he is going
Speaker 8: to be if he's ruled eligible. And I have no
Speaker 8: doubt he will be just because it's a out of
Speaker 8: state transfer coming in. Now you add a four star
Speaker 8: recruit who's going to UK on top of all of that,
Speaker 8: and to these guys, it is it is crazy to
Speaker 8: see the athleticism on the Douglas ball club when I've
Speaker 8: been to again, I've been to three practices. It is
Speaker 8: watching It is like watching a small college football team,
Speaker 8: and I dare say some of their athletes would rival
Speaker 8: some of the same athletes we would see at a
Speaker 8: smaller college level right now now. And their linemen are huge.
Speaker 8: I mean it is a They have a juggernaut over
Speaker 8: there and they have had since about year two. Year one,
Speaker 8: they're just trying to get their feet under them, but
Speaker 8: they are outstanding. Douglas has just got guys all over
Speaker 8: the place. Last year was their first year in class
Speaker 8: sick A. But they're top adon CHANLT, very good receiver
Speaker 8: Darien Talbert. They're just stacked. Again.
Speaker 1: We're not gonna have time to get to every school
Speaker 1: in election in and around. But I'm really curious, Brian
Speaker 1: about Sayer, which you know had been a sad sack,
Speaker 1: but now Chad Pennington had them last year undefeated, going
Speaker 1: into the playoffs where they lost to Racelin in the
Speaker 1: region finals. I mean, that's a heck of a story.
Speaker 1: Another Class A, but still that's a heck of a story,
Speaker 1: it is, and.
Speaker 8: What Sayer has done, they've also done everything the right
Speaker 8: way in terms of if you're breaking out a brand
Speaker 8: new program, don't jump into district competition. Get your seat
Speaker 8: under you. And you have Chad Pennington, a former NFL
Speaker 8: guy at Comeback Place here, the NFL ten year veteran,
Speaker 8: I think whatever it was, he knows how to construct
Speaker 8: this thing. Sayer did not try to take on the
Speaker 8: heavyweight guys right off the jump or even in year
Speaker 8: two or three. They have played what I call that
Speaker 8: confidence schedule. We are going to learn, we're going to win,
Speaker 8: but we're gonna learn, we're gonna play teams our caliber.
Speaker 8: And then slowly but surely they have put together a
Speaker 8: nice little program. Now the one thing for them that
Speaker 8: they cannot do just yet because they are still a
Speaker 8: tier under the Class A power of Pipeville they have had.
Speaker 8: They have had, however, a nice run to build this
Speaker 8: program and it's a great success story, it really is,
Speaker 8: and it is the joy to go over there. They
Speaker 8: have a nice facif it's a growing facility. Their surface
Speaker 8: is top notch for a team, one of the few
Speaker 8: teams that still plays on grass. But everything about there
Speaker 8: is on the uptick big time, and they are good.
Speaker 8: They've got some very good ballplayers. The Coffee kids can
Speaker 8: go and they have put a couple of kids in
Speaker 8: college already.
Speaker 1: The Theedra City schools, Tates Creek coming back off eight
Speaker 1: wins with a quarterback and transfer from Douglas. But I
Speaker 1: think what has surprised me the most, Brian, And I
Speaker 1: know everything's cyclical, but schools like Dunbar and Lafayette and
Speaker 1: Henry Clay really struggling. And these are teams that have
Speaker 1: played for state championships, you know, over the past couple
Speaker 1: of decades. But Henry Clay winless last year, has lost
Speaker 1: fifteen straight. Lafayette snapped a nineteen game losing streak last year.
Speaker 1: You know, Dunbar played for a state title and the
Speaker 1: first year of its existence. How do you think this
Speaker 1: has happened? And I know that's a broad question.
Speaker 8: Well the big part, the easy answer just to throw
Speaker 8: at you. As Douglas has come into the mix, and
Speaker 8: it think to me that when the city redistricted. A
Speaker 8: couple of years ago, you had different kids going in
Speaker 8: different schools. And I asked an athletics director, who will
Speaker 8: remain nameless, I said, why is this school who used
Speaker 8: to be great at this coming down? Why is this
Speaker 8: school going up? Walked me through that the analytics of that,
Speaker 8: and he said, well, whether you get redistricted, and he
Speaker 8: pointed out Dunbar first. He said, look at the male enrollment.
Speaker 8: Dunbar has I believe twenty eight percent Spanish American kids. Kidding,
Speaker 8: those guys don't play football, they play soccer, wellball, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 8: guess what. Dunbar goes to the soccer state championship seemingly
Speaker 8: all of the time, or in the final four, Lafayette,
Speaker 8: Henry Clay Tates Creek, They've all been hit by Douglas.
Speaker 8: And then when you have carter Gie Woodson Academy attached
Speaker 8: to Douglas, I mean, that's just that's just come on
Speaker 8: in Fellows and that is just an easy way to
Speaker 8: to basically, you know, make everybody else subpart. LCA lost
Speaker 8: a lot. Lexington Catholic. You will not recognize Lexington Catholic
Speaker 8: when you see them because they're the smallest team I've
Speaker 8: ever seen on a high school football team, on a
Speaker 8: football with a name that resonates greatness like Lexington Catholic. Wow,
Speaker 8: Douglas effect has really hit hard over the last seven years.
Speaker 8: But in that same breath, Bryan's Station has become a
Speaker 8: volcano over there on the north side and Dougton Station
Speaker 8: have a heck of a rivalry. And yes, some of
Speaker 8: their kids go back and forth, not many, but a
Speaker 8: few big one paths. But the city is down and
Speaker 8: I think it's the Douglas effect makes sense.
Speaker 1: A couple of minutes left with Brian Milein, you mentioned
Speaker 1: Lexcat and LCA election and Christian beat Lexcat in the
Speaker 1: playoffs last year, but of course they lose a big
Speaker 1: time quarterback to Kentucky. So what do you see from
Speaker 1: these two as we wrap this up?
Speaker 8: Well, LCA, they're both teams. LCA and Katholic are in
Speaker 8: a rebuilding phase. When you look at LCA and they're
Speaker 8: still going to be good, mind you, but you lose
Speaker 8: cutter Bully from LCA goes to the UK. But the guy
Speaker 8: who drove that engine last year was Brady Hensley. He
Speaker 8: was a transfer from Madison Central. He is now following
Speaker 8: his dad's footsteps, and playing at EKU, he was forced.
Speaker 8: I think he had forty seven touchdowns last year. He
Speaker 8: was the guy that LCA needed. LCA just ran into
Speaker 8: a bus saw in Mayfield that a team that just
Speaker 8: could not lose all of a sudden, But Cat is in.
Speaker 8: I'm telling you it's it's so strange to see a
Speaker 8: team so small. They lost their entire offensive and defensive
Speaker 8: line anchor Tis John Schlarmont, one of John Schlarman's sons
Speaker 8: who also went to UH to Eastern. I believe, and
Speaker 8: it's a different dynamics. They're gonna look hugely different. And
Speaker 8: I was at Boyle County yesterday and Boyle County they
Speaker 8: are ready for a run. If they can do it,
Speaker 8: only two schools have ever done it, and they're going
Speaker 8: to try to win five in a row. Boyle did
Speaker 8: it time ninety nine to three and Highlands has done
Speaker 8: it to win five or six titles in a row.
Speaker 8: And if Boyle can do it, my gosh. And they've
Speaker 8: got montag and Clisonberry who has to be, in my opinion,
Speaker 8: the front runner for mister football. He has to be,
Speaker 8: and if he if he doesn't get it, it's only
Speaker 8: going to be because of injury or something like that.
Speaker 8: But Boyle County looks to Boyle County again in the
Speaker 8: center in the Bluegrass region, and we'll just have to
Speaker 8: wait and see what we started tomorrow. I mean, my gosh,
Speaker 8: it's finally here.
Speaker 1: Love it, love it. I'll be watching Brian Miles. It's
Speaker 1: a mini election night. It's an election year, but we
Speaker 1: always joke about the fact the newsroom gets so excited
Speaker 1: on election I were like, every Friday, we have precincts
Speaker 1: calling in so but that's why we sign up. Brian,
Speaker 1: thank you so much. We'll be watching, Thank you, Bude.
Speaker 1: I like watching the high school football coverage. I like
Speaker 1: to spin the dial and not that we have dials
Speaker 1: anymore that we can spend, but go from channel to
Speaker 1: channel to see who has what. And of course Fox
Speaker 1: fifty six their show comes on at ten thirty, so
Speaker 1: you can check them out and then you can check
Speaker 1: out the other stations. But for those of you who
Speaker 1: do like watching the high school football coverage, and it's good.
Speaker 1: In the city election, it's very ambitious. You try to
Speaker 1: get to as many games as you can. That all
Speaker 1: started back in the eighties. It used to be that
Speaker 1: they would get to three or four games. But there
Speaker 1: was a show on Channel eighteen that I can't remember
Speaker 1: who started it is. I think it was a couple
Speaker 1: of former coaches and it was called high School Sports
Speaker 1: Journal and it aired on Saturday morning. But because you
Speaker 1: couldn't turn things around quickly, it was games from the
Speaker 1: previous weekend. They were like seven or eight days old.
Speaker 1: But what that meant was they needed a lot more
Speaker 1: people with more cameras out shooting a lot more games
Speaker 1: to fill a half hour show. So eighteen's Friday night
Speaker 1: show benefited from that, and then the other stations began
Speaker 1: this before I got to KYT. The other station saw, hey,
Speaker 1: we got to keep up, you know, we got to compete,
Speaker 1: and so viewers, high school football fans were the better
Speaker 1: for it. They benefited. We all did from it. But yeah,
Speaker 1: like I said, that takes you back to the early eighties,
Speaker 1: and it has kept up the stations. For all the
Speaker 1: hacking and slashing they've done of local sports, they have
Speaker 1: not hacked and slashed as much high school football coverage.
Speaker 1: And let's hope that stays the same. More to come
Speaker 1: on The Big Blue Insider six thirty Welcome Back, to
Speaker 1: the Big Blue Insider joining us now as promised. Darren
Speaker 1: Hedrick of the UK Sports Network. He wears many hats.
Speaker 1: Of course, you know him because he's the radio voice
Speaker 1: of the Baseball Wildcast. We're gonna talk some baseball here
Speaker 1: in a minute, and UK Women's basketball, which just released
Speaker 1: its schedule. But Darren also anchors the Scoreboard show on
Speaker 1: the UK Football networking drops in occasionally with scores and highlights.
Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier on the show, Darren, you've got the
Speaker 1: challenge now. And I know you've got a Google machine
Speaker 1: in front of you when you're on the air, but
Speaker 1: you got to keep track of these teams and what
Speaker 1: conferences they're in. Now it's gonna be big.
Speaker 8: It's still gonna be weird this year when I talk
Speaker 8: about a big hit matchup between Oregon and Rutgers, or
Speaker 8: Ohio State and USC whatever it is. But yeah, it's
Speaker 8: still weird. I still Dick can't get used to seeing
Speaker 8: Texas and Oklahoma next to SEC, even though it's really
Speaker 8: neat that I'm looking forward to visiting both ditties and
Speaker 8: seeing those programs. It's still weird to see that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it shouldn't happened, But We could talk all
Speaker 1: night about that. But when you're talking Kentucky football, and
Speaker 1: you have been with us for several years now on
Speaker 1: the network, you know how this program's had its ups
Speaker 1: and downs, mostly ups center Mark Stoops. But what do
Speaker 1: you expect this year?
Speaker 8: You know what? I'm excited. I really am looking forward
Speaker 8: to seeing the offense and the new quarterback with Frog
Speaker 8: Vandergriff and the new offensive coordinator. I think this defense
Speaker 8: has a chance to be pretty special with the guys
Speaker 8: coming back. Obviously, Deon Walker is going to be a
Speaker 8: massive disruptor on the line. The schedule is going to
Speaker 8: be challenging, that's for sure. You start looking up and
Speaker 8: down the schedule. And I've said this some interviews have
Speaker 8: already done this preseason, Dick. I think that Week two
Speaker 8: matchup with South Carolina is massive for both teams because
Speaker 8: it's an early chance to get ahead of the game.
Speaker 8: At want to zero in the SEC and you certainly
Speaker 8: don't want to be zero to one with Georgia following you.
Speaker 8: So I think that Week two matchup with South Carolina
Speaker 8: is so big this year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I couldn't agree more. We always tease Darren about
Speaker 1: the fact that he knows who signs his paychecks and
Speaker 1: what his audience is. But he did go to Tennessee,
Speaker 1: and I think Tennessee is going to be a problem
Speaker 1: for the wildcast for a lot of people this year.
Speaker 1: What are you hearing from down there?
Speaker 8: I know there's a lot of excitement surrounding their quarterback,
Speaker 8: Nico Iamaliaba and trust me, I have practiced al sempers
Speaker 8: saying that name. But the Iva is showing so far
Speaker 8: in pre season to be a sophomore, core through sophomore
Speaker 8: quarterback that's poised and ready to go. The coaching staff
Speaker 8: down there thinks he is the most prolific quarterback they've
Speaker 8: had in this offense. Wow, and that's saying a lot
Speaker 8: when you consider what Hindon Hooker was able to do
Speaker 8: a couple of years ago. I don't think, Dick, that
Speaker 8: they have the elite wide out that they've had. The
Speaker 8: title's been there, sort of like a Jalen Hyatt. But
Speaker 8: I think they do have some really good receivers. Brew
Speaker 8: McCoy's back for another year after being hurt. They also
Speaker 8: have the Brazil transfer from Tulane, so I do think
Speaker 8: they have skilled players. The tight end room has gotten
Speaker 8: better defensively, I don't think they're at an Alabama or
Speaker 8: Georgia level, but they're certainly the deepest and most talented
Speaker 8: they've been on defense, and title's been there.
Speaker 1: Well. Like I said, it's going to be tough, and
Speaker 1: there was a wild Tennessee was backing up to the
Speaker 1: rest of the league and Kentucky didn't take advantage enough
Speaker 1: advantage of that. So but a lot has to happen
Speaker 1: between then and now. Let me shift over to baseball
Speaker 1: as we talk with Darren Hedrick of the UK Radio Network,
Speaker 1: and of course was part of that great run to
Speaker 1: the College World Series. Now Kentucky starting over, as does everybody,
Speaker 1: but a lot of pieces are still in place, Darren,
Speaker 1: including some young arms in one veteran arm at least
Speaker 1: down the stretch were important. And I'm talking about of course,
Speaker 1: Robert Hogan comes back. I thought he was one of
Speaker 1: the real heroes down the stretch and a true leader.
Speaker 1: But Ben Cleaver showed flashes, Cooper Robinson showed flashes. I'm
Speaker 1: excited to see these guys. I know you are.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I'm really anxious to see this fall. This is
Speaker 8: a big fall for this pitching staff, especially the young arms.
Speaker 8: That have waited their turn, like Ben Cleever, anxious to
Speaker 8: see how they've grown this summer. It's another year of
Speaker 8: learning under Dan Roselle. Plus you've got Trevor Fitz and
Speaker 8: they're helping from the player development standpoint. So this is
Speaker 8: a staff that has the potential to be right as
Speaker 8: good as they were last year. You know Robert Hogan,
Speaker 8: the guy that might contend for a weekend spot in
Speaker 8: the rotation, and we all know how good his slider is.
Speaker 8: Oh yeah, it's good enough to strike out Travis Bozanna
Speaker 8: or Abizana rather in a big spot in the Super
Speaker 8: Regional and get some big timeouts in the College World Series.
Speaker 8: So you know, it's going to be a fun and
Speaker 8: I think it's going to be a big fall for
Speaker 8: several of these young guys that they get opportunities. And
Speaker 8: that includes some position players too like Griffin Cameron and
Speaker 8: Ethan Hemvile.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the portal, of course, plays a big role
Speaker 1: in all of this. She had eleven players finish up
Speaker 1: their eligibility. You had a dozen and as a portal
Speaker 1: and we talked about this before. People get really concerned
Speaker 1: about that, and it was really after the regional team
Speaker 1: of twenty seventeen when people began to pay more attention,
Speaker 1: as you know, to Kentucky baseball and stories of kids
Speaker 1: entering the portal. People were losing their minds, and guys
Speaker 1: like you and me, we had to educate people. Hey,
Speaker 1: that's all part of college baseball. But now, Darren, more
Speaker 1: scholarship money. And I don't think anybody's figured it all
Speaker 1: out yet, but these new rules where they're gonna have
Speaker 1: smaller rosters but more scholies, how dramatically do you think
Speaker 1: that will affect college baseball?
Speaker 8: I think it levels the playing field a little bit
Speaker 8: because it takes away an advantage that you know, an
Speaker 8: LSU or Florida or even a Vanderbilton Stanford have had
Speaker 8: for so long. You know, Vanderbilt and Stanford dominated college
Speaker 8: baseball for a while there because they operated on a
Speaker 8: different playton field from everybody. And I'm not saying it's
Speaker 8: morally or ethically wrong, but they had endowments as private university,
Speaker 8: so they could offer full ride and you know, it
Speaker 8: wasn't a case of hate the player. It was just
Speaker 8: take the game that was available to them. And I
Speaker 8: think now these full scholarships take away those type of advantages. Now,
Speaker 8: what is still there as an advantage is nil. And
Speaker 8: there are some programs in THENCC that have a lot
Speaker 8: more resources in that advantage. I think programs like LSU
Speaker 8: and Tennessee we're seeing why they're at the top of
Speaker 8: college baseball. It's because they still have a little bit
Speaker 8: more money than a lot of the other programs, and
Speaker 8: so you know, there's still there's still some advantages for
Speaker 8: other teams. But I'm excited about the full time scholarships,
Speaker 8: even though it does shrink the rosters. I think down
Speaker 8: the down River part of that, if you will, is
Speaker 8: that guys that might have been on the fringe of
Speaker 8: making a roster in then CC will go somewhere else
Speaker 8: and it will boost the lower levels Division three, NAIA,
Speaker 8: Division two mid majors. I think you'll see more opportunities
Speaker 8: there for those programs to haul in some really talented players.
Speaker 1: Darren Headrick, my guess radio voice of the baseball program
Speaker 1: at UK. We'll come back with more questions for Derek
Speaker 1: and we'll talk about the women's basketball schedule on the
Speaker 1: other side of the break here on the Big Blue
Speaker 1: and Sider six thirty eight, WLAP Well come back we're
Speaker 1: talking with Darren Hedrick. He is the radio voice of
Speaker 1: the baseball Wildcats, but also looking forward to joining us
Speaker 1: on the Football Network anchoring the scoreboard segments as well
Speaker 1: as UK women's basketball. But right now we're talking about
Speaker 1: fall baseball, and before I ask you about any other players,
Speaker 1: one of the things Darren and you you've known this
Speaker 1: for a while that people might not understand it is
Speaker 1: how crucial fall baseball is. Because when we were talking
Speaker 1: to Nick ben Jones better teams about how they got
Speaker 1: so good. Everybody, of course talks about the fall. We
Speaker 1: knew in the fall that we had something special. And
Speaker 1: you and I have sat together watching scrimmages in the fall.
Speaker 1: This is a vital time for everybody, isn't it?
Speaker 8: It really is. And I just think back to last year.
Speaker 8: People have asked me a few times, Hey, when did
Speaker 8: you know this team was good enough to make the
Speaker 8: College World Series? Well, you know, the true answer is
Speaker 8: you get into the season and there's some victories under
Speaker 8: their belt, and you see some things and you're like, yeah,
Speaker 8: this team is really good. But in the fall you
Speaker 8: get a sneak peek and looking at some of the
Speaker 8: guys that I knew would be contributing in the bullpen
Speaker 8: or on the weekend rotation, guys like Mason Moore or
Speaker 8: you know, time it was Travis Smith and in the
Speaker 8: season it became Trey Booser. Yeah that you know, that's
Speaker 8: something you don't anticipate in the fall, But then you
Speaker 8: watch the defense in the fall and you see Grant
Speaker 8: Smith in a million p tree and Ryan wald Schmidt.
Speaker 8: You know, it's just it's a big time in the fall,
Speaker 8: and it's going to be a big one this year
Speaker 8: because Kentucky does have some transfer portal guys that'll have
Speaker 8: to get acclivated to the culture. But also I'm excited
Speaker 8: to see the youth. Like we've already talked about, I'm
Speaker 8: really excited to see Tyler Bell, a short stop as
Speaker 8: a young man that was drafted not first round by
Speaker 8: the race, but in the compensatory round, which is basically
Speaker 8: an extension of the first round, and chose to come
Speaker 8: to college. I'm really excited to see this talented young man.
Speaker 1: Before I shift you to basketball, I got to ask you,
Speaker 1: how surprised where are you the Devin Burks came back
Speaker 1: And I don't know what that means in terms of
Speaker 1: the depth chart, if you will. But mister baseball, the
Speaker 1: happiest man in baseball back for another year.
Speaker 8: Yeah. I was mildly surprised, you know. I thought that,
Speaker 8: like some of the other players, the run of the
Speaker 8: College World Series was his big send off. But I'm
Speaker 8: excited that he's back, certainly because of what he contributes
Speaker 8: on the field and off the field to this team.
Speaker 8: He's such a great leader for the program. And you know,
Speaker 8: his decision to come back, I think is a big one.
Speaker 8: It's going to make the catching room crowded, but certainly
Speaker 8: Kentucky can use his experience and his leadership, and obviously
Speaker 8: for the rest of us, we will enjoy seeing that
Speaker 8: smile back on the field this year. Excited to see
Speaker 8: Devin And you know, like I said, I was a
Speaker 8: little surprised by the decision, but certainly I'm excited to
Speaker 8: see him back.
Speaker 1: Talking to Darren Headrick, radio voice of the Baseball Wildcast
Speaker 1: and UK Women's basketball, and you talked about making some
Speaker 1: trips to some new places, and of course you'll do
Speaker 1: that with baseball and women's basketball, and of course unveiling
Speaker 1: comes on October eleventh at Madness and Rupp Arena. But
Speaker 1: you get to call a ball game once again, my
Speaker 1: friend and Memorial Coliseum. But it's not going to look
Speaker 1: like the old coliseum, is it starting on I don't
Speaker 1: know if you're going to do anything with a blue
Speaker 1: white gam on the eighteenth, But USC Upstate comes up
Speaker 1: November fourth.
Speaker 8: It's going to be incredible. I can't wait. I've had
Speaker 8: a chance to sneak in the coliseum throughout the summer,
Speaker 8: and if I've been over there to do interviews or
Speaker 8: meet with some folks, I always snut down the hallway
Speaker 8: where they have all the trophies and peep through the
Speaker 8: window to see how the progress was going. And you know,
Speaker 8: now that it's on the cusp of being finished, they're
Speaker 8: just putting in finishing touches and polishing things and and
Speaker 8: all that stuff. The floor is there, the ceiling is there. Man,
Speaker 8: it's going to be so much fun. And I can't
Speaker 8: wait to see the new atmosphere starting with volleyball season, yeah,
Speaker 8: coming up in the I guess that starts in about
Speaker 8: a week now.
Speaker 9: So.
Speaker 8: It's going to be fun to see that, like you said,
Speaker 8: and and man, it's it's just it's it's a whole
Speaker 8: new era. I think it's really interesting that they're opening
Speaker 8: what is an old arena, but it's essentially a brand
Speaker 8: new one coming in with a new era of SEC basketball,
Speaker 8: with two new teams and a new coaching staff and
Speaker 8: a lot of new faces on the roster. This year
Speaker 8: with women's basketball kind of.
Speaker 1: Reminds me of when they redid Freedom All. You weren't
Speaker 1: here for that, but Freedom All was was just the
Speaker 1: grand old Lady of arenas, but it was really outdated,
Speaker 1: and they dropped the floor, put in new lights, new paint,
Speaker 1: and you know, I didn't even recognize it when I
Speaker 1: first walked in, So I'm looking forward. I've snuck in
Speaker 1: a couple of times as well, but not lately, so
Speaker 1: I haven't seen the near finished product. But air conditioning,
Speaker 1: my friend, it will be big. And that's every volleyball
Speaker 1: or basketball player we've talked to. They've all had the
Speaker 1: same reaction you just did. They've smiled, they laughed, they giggled.
Speaker 1: But that was a big deal, wasn't it.
Speaker 8: Yes, Yes it is. I mean I can remember some
Speaker 8: night's coming in there, those early season games. I can
Speaker 8: imagine what it was like for volleyball with the pack
Speaker 8: counts because those early, you know, late October, early November games.
Speaker 8: If you were in a suit down there on the
Speaker 8: floor calling the game, man, you sweed off about two
Speaker 8: or three pounds by the end of the night. So
Speaker 8: it'll be nice. And then you know, come January and
Speaker 8: February to have a little bit of East in there
Speaker 8: as well.
Speaker 1: So yeah, and you're a guy who likes to dress
Speaker 1: up for games, so I'll give you that. A couple
Speaker 1: of minutes left with Darren Heddrick radio voice at a
Speaker 1: UK women's basketball program. They start off to the Wildcats
Speaker 1: with Upstate. They got Northern Kentucky Wafford, but Louisville comes
Speaker 1: up very quickly on the schedule on November sixteen. That
Speaker 1: is always a big test, isn't it.
Speaker 8: Yes, it is. And Jeff Wallton has done a great
Speaker 8: job with his program there in the Derby City, and
Speaker 8: you know it's going to be different to have Louisville
Speaker 8: that early in the season. Typically that is amid to
Speaker 8: late December matchup, but moved up this year. In Kentucky
Speaker 8: gets to go to Nashville and play in the Music
Speaker 8: City Classic, and those opponents will be announced at a
Speaker 8: later date. But the trips to North Carolina and the
Speaker 8: acc SEC Challenge and then going to West Lafaiette to
Speaker 8: play Purdue. I really like the schedule that coach Brooks
Speaker 8: has put together to showcase the program and really test
Speaker 8: his team before we get into league play.
Speaker 1: Have you ever done a game down in Chapel Hill.
Speaker 8: I have, but it was many, many years ago. It
Speaker 8: was still in the Carmichael Arena, but they've done some
Speaker 8: rent of to it since the last time I was
Speaker 8: down there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've covered football down there, I've covered baseball down there,
Speaker 1: but not yet had a chance to see any basketball
Speaker 1: down there. A couple of minutes left with Darren we
Speaker 1: haven't even talked yet about the SEC, which of course
Speaker 1: includes South Carolina. They'll be great again, But what do
Speaker 1: you think Kenny Brooks can accomplish? And again, how I
Speaker 1: got about a minute and a half left, But in
Speaker 1: his first season in the SEC.
Speaker 8: I think this team's talented enough. I think you can
Speaker 8: see them get back to the NCAA Tournament. I think
Speaker 8: you can see them be competitive with the best teams
Speaker 8: in the league and win some ball games this year.
Speaker 8: I'm really looking forward to seeing how Georgia Amore plays
Speaker 8: in the SEC. Is the point guard. The size Kentucky
Speaker 8: has this year with the rim protectors, so I think
Speaker 8: this is a team that can make some noise this year.
Speaker 1: They've got size and this may be they'ren the biggest
Speaker 1: UK team ever when it comes to women's basketball. But
Speaker 1: you've got to have that in the SEC anymore.
Speaker 8: Yeah, you really do. If you want to compete with
Speaker 8: LSU in South Carolina and Tennessee and the top teams
Speaker 8: in the league, you absolutely have got to have some
Speaker 8: rim protectors to be able to rebound the basketball.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and put it back in if you can so.
Speaker 1: Darren Headwick is the radio voice of the women's basketball
Speaker 1: team and also Kentucky Baseball. Will also be with us
Speaker 1: when we crank up UK football in the UK Sports
Speaker 1: Network coming up and well a week from Saturday. Looking
Speaker 1: forward to a young.
Speaker 8: Man, Yes, sir, I'm excited about it. Let's go.
Speaker 1: I think we're all excited. And I did a radio
Speaker 1: show as a guest for a syndicated network down out
Speaker 1: of Georgia and one of the hosts asked me about,
Speaker 1: you know, what is the moment I look forward to
Speaker 1: or something like that, and I said, what brings it
Speaker 1: home for you that the season is about to start,
Speaker 1: I said, when I'm standing out there at midfield and
Speaker 1: they come running out of the tunnel for the last time,
Speaker 1: you know, after warm ups are over and they're ready
Speaker 1: to get going, I said, because I'm usually out there
Speaker 1: waiting for the coin flip. And that's when I tell myself,
Speaker 1: like Darren said, let's go hereere we go, you know,
Speaker 1: it's time to get started. Oh, by the way, one
Speaker 1: thing we haven't even talked about yet is the new
Speaker 1: light display at Kroger Field. It costs more than half
Speaker 1: a million dollars. They're going to be firing that up
Speaker 1: this season as well, so fans should be happy about that.
Speaker 1: So and again, it just seems like this last week
Speaker 1: to ten days just drags by. The summer shoots by,
Speaker 1: especially if you've got vacation because that races by. But
Speaker 1: now you've got to wait for that opening kickoff. And
Speaker 1: it's going to help that. We got football tonight on TV,
Speaker 1: We've got high school football tomorrow, as Brian Milin said,
Speaker 1: and college football starts for real this Saturday and in
Speaker 1: Lexington next Saturday. That's going to do it. Thanks to Darren,
Speaker 1: thanks to Brian Mylin, thanks to Bill Ransdell for dropping
Speaker 1: by the garage. That's a good night from the garage
Speaker 1: in Lexington.
Speaker 2: Number two.
Speaker 7: Chicken Stouth sand all the butter, the letters, the mayonnaise
Speaker 7: and a cup of coffee anything else.
Speaker 9: Yeah, Now all you have to do is hold the chicken,
Speaker 9: bring me the toast, give me a check for the
Speaker 9: chicken salad sandwich, and you haven't broken any rules. You
Speaker 9: want me to hole the chicken, huh? I want you
Speaker 9: to hold it between your knees.
Speaker 6: N h.