Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue Insider. Dick Gabriel with you
Speaker 1: on a Thursday edition of our program, as we take
Speaker 1: one step closer to college football. We're going to chat
Speaker 1: a lot of college football tonight. Coming up in our
Speaker 1: very next segment after the break, we'll hear from the
Speaker 1: football Wildcats, they made them available to us earlier today. Also,
Speaker 1: we're going to chat with Walt Wells of EKU. The
Speaker 1: Colonels open up with an SEC opponent at Mississippi State
Speaker 1: same Saturday that Kentucky opens up here in Lexington, and
Speaker 1: then after that the Colonels the following week play at
Speaker 1: Western Kentucky. So last year they opened up at Cincinnati
Speaker 1: and then at Kentucky, and they'll do it again this
Speaker 1: season with a tough one to two punch before they
Speaker 1: get into conference play.
Speaker 2: But you might recall last year EKA you crushed.
Speaker 1: At U, saying on media day, Walt Wells admitted he said,
Speaker 1: we got boat raced. But then we talk then and
Speaker 1: we'll talk tonight about how they turned things around in
Speaker 1: time to throw a scare into the Wildcats. So that's
Speaker 1: coming up at the bottom of this hour, and our
Speaker 1: number two we're gonna I'm sorry that's coming up in
Speaker 1: our number two with wal Wells.
Speaker 2: Bottom of this hour, Corey Peters is going to join us.
Speaker 2: He is one of the new.
Speaker 1: Members of the UK Athletic Hall of Fame. So Corey
Speaker 1: Peters coming up in just a few minutes, and then
Speaker 1: leading off our number two wal Wells followed by Kim Shelton,
Speaker 1: the new CEO of the Lexingingon Sporting Club professional soccer
Speaker 1: here in Lexing and it's moving up a league starting
Speaker 1: next season. And if you haven't been out Richmond Road
Speaker 1: which turns into Athens Boonsboro Road, that huge construction project
Speaker 1: that's been going on for at least a couple of
Speaker 1: years now, that's where the new seventy five hundred seat
Speaker 1: stadium will be for LSC. So it's growing and it's
Speaker 1: moving and it's all happening quickly, and we'll talk about
Speaker 1: that coming up as well in our number two. We
Speaker 1: talked last night with Sean Woods, the Unforgettable Guard, which
Speaker 1: we do every week, and we talked a lot about
Speaker 1: the fact that players today, these kids today, but it
Speaker 1: bothers me and it bothers him, and he's a former player.
Speaker 1: I've covered the program since the mid seventies. But I
Speaker 1: just it bothers me. And this is even before the
Speaker 1: portal and Ni Ellen all that players who come through
Speaker 1: Kentucky not everybody, and of late, it doesn't seem like many,
Speaker 1: if any, really appreciate They talk about tradition. But to them,
Speaker 1: tradition is we want to hang a ninth banner. And
Speaker 1: that's great. They know that obviously eight came before them,
Speaker 1: but who did it? Most players don't really know unless
Speaker 1: that kid you're asking him about, that young man is
Speaker 1: in the NBA.
Speaker 2: They don't know.
Speaker 1: About the great players who came before them. And if
Speaker 1: you're of a certain age, you'll shrug that off. It's
Speaker 1: no big deal. But if you follow Kentucky basketball for
Speaker 1: much of your life, you might agree with me that
Speaker 1: that's important. And I tease Cameron Mills all the time
Speaker 1: about that because he knows a little bit, probably more
Speaker 1: than you're a player. But to me, I don't think
Speaker 1: he knows enough, especially given the fact that his dad played.
Speaker 1: But I told him, I said I one day, I said,
Speaker 1: I'm going to give you the media guy, or you
Speaker 1: should take the media guy and just study it, open
Speaker 1: it up and read it like a textbook. I bring
Speaker 1: that up because Shawn and I also talked last night
Speaker 1: as we often do, Sean being a former head coach
Speaker 1: at the college level, and I got to think he'll
Speaker 1: do it again. He's taking a sabbatical this year, but nil,
Speaker 1: and he is so frustrated. Sean is by the recruiting process,
Speaker 1: and it's what can you do for me? You know,
Speaker 1: it's basically a bidding war for the top players. And
Speaker 1: when you think about Shawn's level, you know where he coached,
Speaker 1: he coached at Moorhead State, Mississippi Valley. The smaller schools,
Speaker 1: he is having to re recruit guys coaches at that level,
Speaker 1: and well, every coach really has to re recruit, but
Speaker 1: those kids that players who come through the smaller schools,
Speaker 1: you know, it's probably easier to lure them away. They
Speaker 1: were just a little more money.
Speaker 2: You don't need to come up with a couple million
Speaker 2: for players like that. So it's got coaches really in
Speaker 2: an uproar right now.
Speaker 1: And you feel for him, and you know what Mark
Speaker 1: Stoops said about it, and he's been criticized for talking
Speaker 1: about it. But Sean, by follow up, we had a
Speaker 1: conversation of via text. He sent me this clip off
Speaker 1: of TikTok courtesy of DraftKings, which sponsors The Big Podcast.
Speaker 1: That's Shaquille O'Neill's podcast. And Shaq was talking to his
Speaker 1: former Orlando Magic teammate Penny Hardaway, now the head coach
Speaker 1: at Memphis, and Memphis has got some deep pockets and
Speaker 1: Penny has used them legally and some say illegally at times.
Speaker 1: You know, they did get nailed by the NCAA back
Speaker 1: before NIL and everything seemed like everything became legal. But
Speaker 1: the bottom line is Penny Hardaway's facing the same issues
Speaker 1: Mark Stoops is facing and he talked about it with
Speaker 1: Shaquille O'Neal and a possible solution.
Speaker 3: The kids, and he's in iol deal. How do you
Speaker 3: as a coach, how do you deal with all these
Speaker 3: agents and NIL players and all that stuff, because it's
Speaker 3: kind of driving me crazy.
Speaker 4: It's very difficult because you gotta do it. We're in
Speaker 4: a world right now where it's happening. It's here, there's
Speaker 4: nothing that we can do about it. It's survival of
Speaker 4: the fittest. It's a whole thing now and it's not
Speaker 4: about hooping anymore. Shaq, who knows what you would have
Speaker 4: gotten from LSU coming out right now, they would have
Speaker 4: been crazy numbers. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 4: think about now the foundation that we laid and even
Speaker 4: the guys before us. For these young men, they're able
Speaker 4: to get these type of numbers in NIL and it's
Speaker 4: just a part of the college life now, man.
Speaker 5: And it's very.
Speaker 4: Difficult because instead of talking to a guy about what
Speaker 4: you can do for him from a basketball point of view,
Speaker 4: of helping him become a young man to a man,
Speaker 4: it's instantly talking about the number that everybody else is offering,
Speaker 4: and what can you do?
Speaker 3: You think we should have some type of NIL governing
Speaker 3: body because the only thing I don't like about it is,
Speaker 3: let's just say I took three hundred thousand from University
Speaker 3: of Memphis and me and you don't get along. Now
Speaker 3: I can go back in the portal and get some
Speaker 3: new money. You think I should be able to say, Okay,
Speaker 3: if you're gonna sign with Penny Hardaway and he gives
Speaker 3: you three hundred thousand, you at least got to stay
Speaker 3: two or three. Do you think there needs to be
Speaker 3: like an NIL governing body?
Speaker 4: There should be a governing body because I think that
Speaker 4: what's making that donors and the boosters around the country.
Speaker 4: Frown is because they could give a guy by six, seven,
Speaker 4: eight hundred thousand and he could have the best year
Speaker 4: of his life. But if someone offers him two million max,
Speaker 4: sure he's gone.
Speaker 2: It's just that simple.
Speaker 1: You could go anywhere anytime, it seems, for any amount
Speaker 1: of money. And the reason is there are no guardrails,
Speaker 1: as people said, and the schools were forced or agreed
Speaker 1: at least to jump into this because there was a
Speaker 1: lack of leadership involved. You can either say it was
Speaker 1: from the president of the NCAA committee, members, presidents, chancellors.
Speaker 1: They didn't listen to coaches or ads. And now it's
Speaker 1: a mess and they're going to have to come up
Speaker 1: with something. You can call it a contract, you can
Speaker 1: call it a different letter of intent. But it used
Speaker 1: to be scholarships bound you for X amount of years.
Speaker 1: And this is ironic because the coaches and administrators did
Speaker 1: away with that. It used to be when you sign,
Speaker 1: you signed for four years. I mean that was on
Speaker 1: the dotted line. That was that was on the paper
Speaker 1: you signed. Then they cut it back to one year.
Speaker 1: Because coaches and ads and universities were having to live
Speaker 1: with scholarships that didn't work out.
Speaker 2: Jerry Clayburne used to.
Speaker 1: Talk about why he never signed kickers, He only took
Speaker 1: walk ons because one year at Maryland we signed a
Speaker 1: kicker to a four year scholarship and he wasn't any good.
Speaker 1: And I'm paraphrasing a guy apparently couldn't kick or whatever,
Speaker 1: couldn't couldn't get the job done, and they were stuck
Speaker 1: with him for four years on scholarship.
Speaker 2: So that changed.
Speaker 1: They are one year deals now, and you think a
Speaker 1: kid signs for two, three or four years, No, technically
Speaker 1: he signs for one year and they can quote run
Speaker 1: him off after that. Well, now it's backfired. He signed
Speaker 1: him for one year and if it takes a million
Speaker 1: or two to get him, hey, that's the way things
Speaker 1: go these days, because next year he can go find money.
Speaker 1: As Penny hardway he just said somewhere else. And Sean
Speaker 1: Woods has talked about that at length, and he's quite
Speaker 1: open and frank about it. You won't hear as many
Speaker 1: coaches talk about it the way Penny did because they
Speaker 1: don't want to sound like their poor mouthing. And that's
Speaker 1: exactly what has happened with Mark Stoops that all happened
Speaker 1: while I was on vacation and I came back and
Speaker 1: I've been following it on social media and Stoop's getting
Speaker 1: blasted for the comments he made to Daryl Bert, and
Speaker 1: he was quite pointed with Daryl. But that's essentially where
Speaker 1: it started and ended with this latest round of comments.
Speaker 1: The problem is everybody and their brother picked it up
Speaker 1: and ran excerpts of it on their website in their publications,
Speaker 1: talked about it on the air, and it made it
Speaker 1: sound now and I keep hearing Mark Stoops keeps whining, no,
Speaker 1: he doesn't. He did it the one time he has
Speaker 1: referred to it. Yeah, but the really pointed comments, and
Speaker 1: he wanted to talk about it with Darrylt to talk
Speaker 1: about it more than he wanted to talk about his
Speaker 1: football team, because he had a point to make and
Speaker 1: he made it. But now, just because everybody else is
Speaker 1: weighing in on it, the story itself, it still pops
Speaker 1: up and Stoops is catching flak for it.
Speaker 2: And I'm not here to carry his water. He doesn't
Speaker 2: need me.
Speaker 1: I just find it kind of annoying that the second
Speaker 1: cycle of this is Mark Stoops keeps complaining no, people
Speaker 1: keep running his comments, but they're the same old comments
Speaker 1: from the middle of the summer.
Speaker 2: Anyway.
Speaker 1: It ain't going away, folks, and changes have to be made.
Speaker 1: There's no question. Well here from the Football Wildcats. On
Speaker 1: the other side of the break bottom of the hour,
Speaker 1: Corey Peters and hour number two Walt Wells and Kim
Speaker 1: Shelton of LSC here on the Big Blue Sider six
Speaker 1: thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Bluinsider. Coming up
Speaker 1: at the bottom of the hours. It's a few minutes away.
Speaker 1: Corey Peters, warmer Kentucky defensive lineman, thirteen year career in
Speaker 1: the NFL and now being inducted into the UK Athletic
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame. Our number two Wald Wells EKU head
Speaker 1: football coach and Kim Shelton the new CEO of the
Speaker 1: Lexington Sporting Club. We'll talk about pro soccer both men
Speaker 1: and women here in Lexington. Speaking of defensive lineman, Dion
Speaker 1: Walker has been named to yet another preseason All America team,
Speaker 1: as has Barrion Brown. Sporting News and USA Today have
Speaker 1: put both of them on the first team by Sporting News,
Speaker 1: second team by USA Today. Walker was also named to
Speaker 1: ESPN's first team and of course Brown as a kick
Speaker 1: return specialist, and Dion is one of the best and
Speaker 1: biggest defensive linemen in the country and another awards list
Speaker 1: basically potential for Brock Vandergriff. He's on the Johnny Andanidis
Speaker 1: Golden Arm Award watch list. If he says, hell, sure
Speaker 1: he's got a shot at it, given Bush Hampden's office.
Speaker 1: But he will not rack up huge numbers. But if
Speaker 1: he can, you know, put up decent numbers and has
Speaker 1: a good touchdown to turnover ratio. And the key here
Speaker 1: is ken Kentucky win a bunch of games. If Kentucky
Speaker 1: wins like ten games or more, he'll have a much
Speaker 1: better shot. You don't see these awards very often go
Speaker 1: to somebody playing with a team that's only won seven
Speaker 1: or eight games, although Tim Kautz was mentioned. Tim Kutch
Speaker 1: was a Heisman finalist for a team that only won
Speaker 1: seven regular season games, So it can happen. But yeah,
Speaker 1: preseason awards and lists, the players will be the first
Speaker 1: to tell you they don't mean anything. Got to go
Speaker 1: ahead and win and something that will help the Wildcats
Speaker 1: win this year. Of course, the plan is defensive line,
Speaker 1: and that's what we talked about a lot today with
Speaker 1: the Wildcats their coaches.
Speaker 2: Kendrick Gilbert, the backup nose.
Speaker 1: Tackle, got to stand up in front of the media
Speaker 1: at the podium, talked about his progress and talked about
Speaker 1: the bonds that the defensive line is building both on
Speaker 1: and off the field.
Speaker 6: Yes, sir, so we actually have a close bond in
Speaker 6: D line room, you know, group chats and just like
Speaker 6: I said when we were on in the field, we
Speaker 6: really try to help each other, like get better in
Speaker 6: It's really no selfishness in the group and all. Coach
Speaker 6: Stule's really great with us as well with teaching us,
Speaker 6: teaching us life lessons as well that go on more
Speaker 6: than just football. So we really do have a good
Speaker 6: connection in the.
Speaker 7: D line run.
Speaker 1: Gilbert, as a red shirt freshman, only played in the
Speaker 1: first and last game last year because of an injury,
Speaker 1: but he is learning learning very quickly. But the veteran
Speaker 1: Octavia Saxendne also talked to us today about chemistry and
Speaker 1: as the guy who's been through the wars, he knows
Speaker 1: how vital that can be.
Speaker 8: I feel like it definitely is because sometimes we communicate
Speaker 8: down the line and there's some things Coach always says
Speaker 8: before you get down, take that.
Speaker 9: Pre snap picture.
Speaker 8: And I feel like us with the veteran room and
Speaker 8: the veteran guys, like we can definitely take that pre
Speaker 8: snap picture and get a lot of things set in
Speaker 8: line before the play even starts. And I feel like
Speaker 8: that just comes with, like you said, the chemistry and
Speaker 8: us being around each other. We know the communication, we
Speaker 8: know how coach wants is to talk to each other.
Speaker 8: So it definitely, it definitely is a blessing to have
Speaker 8: that type of communication and connection in the room.
Speaker 2: So what do you look for in the pre snap picture.
Speaker 8: Honestly, we're just looking for anything, any tales, coach Tara Taylor,
Speaker 8: is any clues, any tales how the office linemen look,
Speaker 8: where the split back is, stuff like that. So honestly,
Speaker 8: we just try to get our football IQ better and
Speaker 8: just and they tell you look think about the play
Speaker 8: before it snets.
Speaker 1: The defensive line coach is annear Stewart played at Kentucky
Speaker 1: and well under Bill Curry, then went on to a
Speaker 1: nice career in Canada. Uh played for a long time
Speaker 1: up there and got into coaching winds up in Kentucky.
Speaker 1: And I've mentioned this before. I don't know that I've
Speaker 1: ever heard of another former Wildcat who became a position
Speaker 1: coach who has gotten more praise from his ex teammates
Speaker 1: and just former Letterman and Anne war Stewart. They have
Speaker 1: taken notice of what he's done and how he's doing it,
Speaker 1: and they're very, very impressed with what he's doing. So
Speaker 1: we talked to Anwar today about a number of things,
Speaker 1: including the chemistry, the bonds that his charges the guys
Speaker 1: on the defensive line are building.
Speaker 9: Well that's huge, you know, the camaraderie.
Speaker 10: You know, you got to be a unit, and so
Speaker 10: you got to make everybody feel like, you know, they matter.
Speaker 9: Everybody has a role to play, and so that's huge.
Speaker 10: You know, they spend time and I told them, man, like,
Speaker 10: you've got to spend time outside the building together, right,
Speaker 10: go ahead, you know, hanging out.
Speaker 9: You know, they play the video games. Apparently Khalil likes
Speaker 9: to cook, so they go over.
Speaker 10: You know, they love to eat, so they all go
Speaker 10: over and they eat and they have a good time.
Speaker 10: And that's what it's about, you know. And then you
Speaker 10: know they watch film together. All that's gonna pay off
Speaker 10: for us, and so you know, I just keep speaking it.
Speaker 9: Coach White.
Speaker 10: You know, coach Toop's always talking about, you know, the
Speaker 10: camaraderie of the team and their attitude and stuff, and
Speaker 10: you got to have that in our room and there
Speaker 10: there's no hating, there's no division.
Speaker 9: We're all one unit and we're all going to do
Speaker 9: it together.
Speaker 1: Brad White, of course, is the defensive coordinator. He has
Speaker 1: taken note of the links that the d linemen have made,
Speaker 1: the bonds they've been forging, and he has noticed the
Speaker 1: improvement on field during summer camp.
Speaker 11: So much is about communication and and energy. And so
Speaker 11: when when guys are talking, when they're flying around, when
Speaker 11: they're you know, good bad are in different you know
Speaker 11: they're gonna go to their team, they're celebrating their the
Speaker 11: good things they do. They're they're coaching them on the
Speaker 11: on the things that they've done wrong. You feel the
Speaker 11: communication coming off the sideline. So the guys on the
Speaker 11: side are getting mental reps because they're engaged, uh, you know,
Speaker 11: watching the guys, especially the older guys. They're watching the
Speaker 11: younger guys trying to be you know, an extra set
Speaker 11: of eyes you know for those guys, because as a coach,
Speaker 11: you know you're watching the next group and you can't
Speaker 11: always make the you know, the corrections. And so to
Speaker 11: have a veteran group that young guys walk off to
Speaker 11: and they hey, you know, hey JJ, what about this?
Speaker 5: You know?
Speaker 11: You know, hey Max resign, what about this?
Speaker 5: You know?
Speaker 11: It's great for those young guys and it helps speed
Speaker 11: their development, you know, and we're gonna need those guys.
Speaker 11: There's some young guys out there. You know that I'm
Speaker 11: not gonna you know, mention, but that I'm really looking
Speaker 11: forward to see playing this fall.
Speaker 1: Mentioned Dion Walker earlier another preseason All Conference or All
Speaker 1: All American football team. You know about him and because
Speaker 1: of him, the other d lineman as they say, they
Speaker 1: should be able to eat, they should do well if
Speaker 1: indeed he is commanding the double teams that you expect
Speaker 1: him to command. So Octavius Oxen dot I remember when
Speaker 1: he first got started. They expected so much of him
Speaker 1: and we talked a lot about him. Now he gets
Speaker 1: to fly a little bit below the radar. That's what's
Speaker 1: kind of cool with a guy like Dion Walker up front.
Speaker 1: One of the questions I put to Brad White, just
Speaker 1: in a general sense, is we know that they're not satisfied.
Speaker 1: There is still time to work. But how does he
Speaker 1: feel about what he sees with the defense right now
Speaker 1: in camp?
Speaker 12: Huh?
Speaker 11: I would say that I'm glad that we still have
Speaker 11: a couple of weeks left, but I've been I think
Speaker 11: the energy, the intensity is there, you know, the way
Speaker 11: they go about their business is there. You know, we're
Speaker 11: still in that. You know, we got to just clean
Speaker 11: up some of the small things, you know, and clean
Speaker 11: up some of the technical things. But I think we're
Speaker 11: we're right about where you should be at this point
Speaker 11: in camp.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 11: I think if you every year, you know, somebody's asked
Speaker 11: me that question, it's probably been about the same. Like
Speaker 11: as a coach, you never quite feel ready. I mean,
Speaker 11: it'll be it'll be that, you know, whatever it is Wednesday,
Speaker 11: I guess is when we talk on defense before for
Speaker 11: Southern miss and You're I'm gonna be saying I can't
Speaker 11: wait for us to have these last three practices, you know,
Speaker 11: I just you feel like you need everyone. I think
Speaker 11: our guys are ready, Like if we had to play
Speaker 11: this weekend, you know, are we as polished as we
Speaker 11: need to be? No, But with the energy level, with
Speaker 11: the way they fly around, you know, I'm pleased with
Speaker 11: where they are at that point.
Speaker 1: White also said, and he kind of reiterated what he's
Speaker 1: been saying preseason all along, that a couple of things
Speaker 1: they obviously have to do. Get off the field on
Speaker 1: third down. Every defense needs to do that. But one
Speaker 1: of the problems for Kentucky specifically last year giving up
Speaker 1: big plays, especially on third down. They got to get
Speaker 1: back to what they did in twenty twenty two, which
Speaker 1: was statistically be one of the top teams in the
Speaker 1: country at avoiding those what they call explosives that give
Speaker 1: the other team new life and oftentimes too many points.
Speaker 2: So we'll keep an eye on that for you and
Speaker 2: so you I know, Excat.
Speaker 1: Corey Peters is up next to new Hall of Famer
Speaker 1: here on six thirty WAP welcome back to the Big
Speaker 1: Blue Insider and joining us now on our Celebrity hotline
Speaker 1: is a guy who talked with us last when he
Speaker 1: retired from the NFL. Not Corey Peters is going into
Speaker 1: the UK Athletic Hall of Fame, one of six name
Speaker 1: the other day.
Speaker 2: Corey, Congratulations, thank you.
Speaker 7: I appreciate it man, It's an honor and I believe Blue.
Speaker 7: I'm a huge Kentucky guy and following all sports programs
Speaker 7: and so it was really exciting for me to get
Speaker 7: that call.
Speaker 2: And the class you're going in with man not to
Speaker 2: your bed right.
Speaker 7: Right, I mean Olympic medalist Jody Meets is one of
Speaker 7: my favorite basketball players, a shooter.
Speaker 5: You know, it's awesome.
Speaker 7: You know, I'm really humble by it, and I'm thankful
Speaker 7: to be a part of the class.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Coach Crop has always been one of my favorites.
Speaker 2: So yeah, uh, I.
Speaker 1: Was talking on the earlier in the show, Corey about
Speaker 1: I remembered specifically the day you signed with Kentucky and
Speaker 1: came out of Louisville because, as we all know youI
Speaker 1: vel have been doing pretty well, but you.
Speaker 2: Made that decision.
Speaker 1: You helped turn things around in terms of recruiting out
Speaker 1: of the city Louisville, if not the Rich Brooks era.
Speaker 2: What do you remember about that?
Speaker 7: I really just remember the relationships with Coach Brooks, Joker
Speaker 7: Phillips at the time, and just the love that everybody
Speaker 7: on staff really showed me how comfortable they made me.
Speaker 7: And it really was an easy decision for me. And
Speaker 7: then you put that with the fact that we got
Speaker 7: a couple of guys in the class that we've been
Speaker 7: talking for a while, Josh Minton, Michael Johnson, a couple
Speaker 7: of other guys. Justin Jeffery is a Louisville guy who
Speaker 7: was my roommate there, and that just made me even
Speaker 7: more comfortable. So it was a really exciting time and
Speaker 7: I'm very thankful that I made that decision.
Speaker 1: You signed at a time when it wasn't super popular
Speaker 1: to go to Kentucky is you know, they were dealing
Speaker 1: with the NCA penalties and lack of scholarships. But then
Speaker 1: you became part of that class corey that turned things around.
Speaker 1: Four straight ball games under Rich Brooks, three wins when
Speaker 1: people really doubting you guys could make it happen. What
Speaker 1: did it mean to you to be a part of
Speaker 1: that process?
Speaker 5: Oh, it was huge. You know, we worked incredibly hard.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 7: Coach Brooks was an excellent motivate, always reminded us of
Speaker 7: you know, what people thought about us outside the building,
Speaker 7: and so to see it go from where it was
Speaker 7: to you know, being able to go to all those
Speaker 7: Bowl games. The excitement of that first that very first
Speaker 7: Music City Bowl, which may not be much to some
Speaker 7: but for us and where we had come from. It
Speaker 7: was huge. The turnout was amazing, and you know, like
Speaker 7: I said, I'm very thankful for those experiences at a
Speaker 7: lot of big wins in that time. We beat LSU
Speaker 7: when they were number one here, they won a national experimionship,
Speaker 7: and you know, I was really grateful to just be
Speaker 7: a part. I played with so many great men at Kentucky,
Speaker 7: guys that I still talk to today, Guys that I
Speaker 7: respect greatly.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm glad you mentioned that Music City bawl
Speaker 1: because there is a lot of criticism and second guessing
Speaker 1: about so many ball games and people who try to
Speaker 1: dismiss ball games if it's not part of the playoffs,
Speaker 1: it's not important.
Speaker 2: But I always remember and I direct them to the
Speaker 2: video and.
Speaker 1: The photos of you guys celebrating that Bowl game and
Speaker 1: Rich Brooks jumping into your arms and what that entire
Speaker 1: process meant to you.
Speaker 2: Guys. That'll never go away.
Speaker 5: Will it? No, not at all.
Speaker 7: I mean, you know, when you work hard and you're
Speaker 7: really grind blood, waiting tears, you know, we were super
Speaker 7: thankful for that opportunity to compete. And I don't care
Speaker 7: what anybody says if we keeping the score.
Speaker 5: You know, we want to win.
Speaker 7: So if we're playing, it doesn't matter what the circumstances are.
Speaker 7: You know the person I am, I always want to win.
Speaker 7: It could be monopoly, we could be playing flag in
Speaker 7: the back are and I'm gonna go hard. I'm gonna
Speaker 7: try to win, give it everything I got. So, like
Speaker 7: I said, we really enjoyed that time. And you know,
Speaker 7: having an opportunity to go to a different city with
Speaker 7: your teammates and really just enjoy some time together. Man
Speaker 7: made it all work for them.
Speaker 2: It's one more one more game. You get to pull
Speaker 2: the pads on one more time that year, right.
Speaker 7: Yeah, absolutely, I mean you only get so many of those.
Speaker 7: And you know the boat games are a little bit
Speaker 7: different in the sense that you know, we got to
Speaker 7: travel down on our own a lot of US road trips,
Speaker 7: and you know, really had some great memories from just
Speaker 7: you know, spending time in the car together, spending time
Speaker 7: in the hotel, you know, being in a different environment
Speaker 7: which kind of forces you to kind of lean on
Speaker 7: each other. So I'm really grateful.
Speaker 5: For all those experiences.
Speaker 1: One other side note on that Music City Bull trip
Speaker 1: in six we were of course in downtown Nashville for
Speaker 1: the TV station doing specials and live shots, and Corey
Speaker 1: all over town, or at least all over downtown. There
Speaker 1: were these pictures, these posters tacked up on street corners,
Speaker 1: you know, and then power line power pols and in
Speaker 1: bars and restaurants of this young I guess she was
Speaker 1: sixteen year old blonde haired singer trying to make a
Speaker 1: name for herself named Taylor Swept and she did okay.
Speaker 2: Moving down there from Pennsylvania with her mom. And I'll
Speaker 2: never forget that.
Speaker 1: Man that week, those posters were everywhere, and now of
Speaker 1: course she's everywhere. So just just a happy coincidence. As
Speaker 1: we talked to Corey Peters, former UK defensive aligneman and
Speaker 1: a thirteen year NFL veteran, now a member of the
Speaker 1: UK Sports Hall of Fame, and he's going in later
Speaker 1: this season, so I guess, well, you'll be able to
Speaker 1: take a break from your job as a scout for
Speaker 1: the Jaguars.
Speaker 2: How are you enjoying that It's going.
Speaker 7: Well, you know, it's a new experience, so I'm learning
Speaker 7: as much I can and you know, taking my knowledge
Speaker 7: from being a player and trying to apply it where
Speaker 7: where it fits. And you know, I'm really grateful for
Speaker 7: the opportunity to stay close to the game while also
Speaker 7: being able to kind of spend some time at home,
Speaker 7: and so, you know, I'm just I'm just looking forward
Speaker 7: to whatever else God brings my way.
Speaker 1: You were very keen on academics and social work at Kentucky.
Speaker 1: You won the Jerry Clavern Award for Academics and Team Attitude,
Speaker 1: part of the SEC Academic Honor Roll three years in
Speaker 1: a row. I know that was very important to you, obviously.
Speaker 1: Is that something you look for now as an NFL scout?
Speaker 7: You know, I tend to believe that how you do
Speaker 7: anything is how you do everything. So you know, obviously
Speaker 7: we were putting the premium all finding good players, you know,
Speaker 7: but in this business, you got to take care of
Speaker 7: business all across the board. So, you know, I feel
Speaker 7: like a lot of doing well in school and doing
Speaker 7: well in colleges speaks to your organization and your effort frankly,
Speaker 7: you know, and how important it is to you. So
Speaker 7: although it's not the end.
Speaker 5: All be all, you know, we love to see well.
Speaker 7: Rounded prospects and guys that take, you know, all aspects
Speaker 7: of their development.
Speaker 5: Seriously.
Speaker 1: You spent a season in Jacksonville as a player. So
Speaker 1: Josh Allen, now Josh Heinz Allen was your teammate. It's
Speaker 1: got to be fun for you as a Wildcat to
Speaker 1: see a fellow Wildcat excel and landed the big contract.
Speaker 1: And he's got himself with a young family as you do.
Speaker 1: What was that like being his teammate for a little while.
Speaker 5: Oh man, it was awesome.
Speaker 7: I didn't know Josh previously, so I had only you know,
Speaker 7: kind of been a fan from watching UK play and
Speaker 7: then his early days in the league. So that opportunity
Speaker 7: to go to Jacksonville and be teammates and getting to
Speaker 7: know him on a personal level was excellent. Watching him work,
Speaker 7: his work ethic and how he approaches the game each
Speaker 7: and every day something special, and I'm really happy for him.
Speaker 7: I think it's deserved and I'm looking forward to what's next.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 7: Obviously, he had a career year last year. I think
Speaker 7: he had seventeen packed something like that, and you know,
Speaker 7: so I think this is he's just scratching the surface of,
Speaker 7: you know, what he can be. So, you know, I'm
Speaker 7: looking forward to what he can do next.
Speaker 1: We're talking to Corey Peters he is one of the
Speaker 1: new members of the Kentucky uk't Athletic Hall of Fame,
Speaker 1: the former NFL D lineman and All Conference Kentucky d lionon.
Speaker 2: We'll come back with more in just a minute. Here
Speaker 2: on the Big.
Speaker 1: Blue Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome back.
Speaker 2: We're talking with Corey Peters.
Speaker 1: Corey, of course, the former Wildcat defensive lineman, All Conference performer,
Speaker 1: thirteen year NFL veteran, now a scout for the Jacksonville Jaguars,
Speaker 1: and he is one of the newest members of the
Speaker 1: UK Athletics Hall of.
Speaker 2: Fame class of twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: You mentioned two of the Olympians you're going in with,
Speaker 1: Jasmine Camacho Quinn and of course Sidney McLauchlan li Rome.
Speaker 2: Did you have a chance to watch much of them?
Speaker 1: I know you're on the road a lot, but did
Speaker 1: you get to check them out in the Olympics.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I always you know, I love track and field,
Speaker 7: so just being able to watch it on replay was
Speaker 7: quite amazing. And you know, Sydney is you know, I mean,
Speaker 7: I think we all knew she was going to win
Speaker 7: long before. It's just really amazing how she keeps pushing
Speaker 7: the limit and you know, world record at the world record.
Speaker 7: So you know, I always root for the Kentucky people
Speaker 7: look for them in all sports. So it's great to
Speaker 7: see them representing that Kentucky at such a high level
Speaker 7: at a you know, really a global level with the Olympics.
Speaker 1: You mentioned Jody Meeks earlier. You all were on campus
Speaker 1: at the same time. Did you get a chance to
Speaker 1: know him at all?
Speaker 5: No, I don't.
Speaker 7: I don't really know him personally, but you know, obviously
Speaker 7: just being there and you know, he had some amazing
Speaker 7: performances a collegiate athlete and just scoring a lot of
Speaker 7: points and going off. So I'm a huge fan of
Speaker 7: his game, and so it's just an honor and hopefully
Speaker 7: I'll get a chance to, you know, kind of speak
Speaker 7: to him and chop it up with him when we
Speaker 7: go down for the ceremony.
Speaker 1: Well, what do you think of what you see in
Speaker 1: Kentucky football? I know, when you're when you're in the NFL,
Speaker 1: you can't follow as much as you like.
Speaker 12: Now.
Speaker 1: Of course you've got your eye on him as a
Speaker 1: as a fan and as a scout, But watching the
Speaker 1: Mark Stoops Aeron for you were part of something special
Speaker 1: when Rich Brooks was there.
Speaker 2: What do you think of what's been happening under Mark Stoops.
Speaker 7: I think I think coach Toops has done an amazing job.
Speaker 7: I think he's kind of taking that success we've had
Speaker 7: and taken it to another level, you know. And I
Speaker 7: think that he's building the that's respected nationwide. And I think,
Speaker 7: you know, when Kentucky football comes up, it's a different
Speaker 7: feeling than it was, you know, twenty years ago, fifteen
Speaker 7: years ago. So I'm really grateful to have him and
Speaker 7: you know, see what he's done. I look for that
Speaker 7: to continue to grow. I think the next step for
Speaker 7: us is, you know, trying to push for that playoff. Obviously,
Speaker 7: expanding the playoff to twelve teams, it makes it so
Speaker 7: that it's really wide open, you know, and I feel
Speaker 7: like any team that plays well has an opportunity to kind.
Speaker 5: Of get in.
Speaker 7: So I look forward to this year. I know we
Speaker 7: got a lot of talent, and hopefully we can put
Speaker 7: it all together and continue to take steps and see
Speaker 7: these see these guys win ten eleven games, you know,
Speaker 7: and get the opportunity to make that playoff.
Speaker 1: And of course, the d line we were talking before
Speaker 1: went on the air is going to be a real strength.
Speaker 1: And we heard from some of the players earlier on
Speaker 1: the show Show and Brad White, But I'm sure you agree,
Speaker 1: Corey that if you're gonna win in the SEC, it
Speaker 1: starts with a D line, doesn't it. I mean, the
Speaker 1: old line is important, but if you can't stop the
Speaker 1: other people, and you were part of a pretty good
Speaker 1: D line, but uh man, the SEC trenches.
Speaker 2: That that's where it all happens.
Speaker 5: Isn't it right?
Speaker 7: You know, the Southeastern Conference a lot of big boys,
Speaker 7: a lot of really talented guys. I think we have
Speaker 7: guys that are just as talented as anybody in the country,
Speaker 7: and I'm really excited to see what they put together
Speaker 7: and how they perform. It's going to go a long way,
Speaker 7: and it's really going to depend on our success, you know.
Speaker 7: I think we're going to go as the Lions go
Speaker 7: both both ways, offensive and defensive. So I'm really looking
Speaker 7: forward to seeing how they come out and perform, and
Speaker 7: I'm expecting success. So I can't wait for the season
Speaker 7: to start. I'm really excited about this team and their possibilities.
Speaker 1: College football college sports in general, though, have changed quite
Speaker 1: a bit of course, since you played with the Portal
Speaker 1: and the Nil. What are your thoughts on on how
Speaker 1: that's been unfolding, Because you know, it's great for players
Speaker 1: to have more latitude, but then on the other hand,
Speaker 1: guys are coming and going like free agents, aren't they.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I'm torn.
Speaker 7: Obviously, I want to see guys, uh, you know, maximize
Speaker 7: their value getting paid as much money as possible. But
Speaker 7: I do think there is value. And you know, this
Speaker 7: is college athletics, and part of going to college to
Speaker 7: play football is your personal development. And and some of
Speaker 7: the things that's been happening as far as the transfers
Speaker 7: and you know, guys getting into facing some adversity and
Speaker 7: being running from it, just transferring schools here or there.
Speaker 7: I'm not sure that that's the best thing in all situations,
Speaker 7: you know, And sometimes I think the best for a
Speaker 7: young person's development is to stay through and face those
Speaker 7: challenges and overcome them. So, you know, I don't think
Speaker 7: it's perfect, but I do love the fact that the
Speaker 7: guys are able to put some money in their pockets,
Speaker 7: are able to help their families and maximize their value.
Speaker 5: So I love to see some.
Speaker 7: Kind of situation where, you know, maybe it is corralled
Speaker 7: in a little bit. But at the same point, you know,
Speaker 7: I think it's important that you know, the players have
Speaker 7: the freedom to you know, market themselves how they see fit,
Speaker 7: and if that comes with money, then that's great.
Speaker 1: Do you recall having to overcome adversity or doubt you
Speaker 1: might have had as a player. I got to think
Speaker 1: most players, especially at the highest level of college football,
Speaker 1: ask themselves, you know, am I really in the right place?
Speaker 1: Can I really get this done? Do you remember going
Speaker 1: through that?
Speaker 5: Oh? Absolutely.
Speaker 7: One of the reasons that I tolse Kentucky was, you know,
Speaker 7: I knew I'd have an opportunity to compete for time
Speaker 7: on the field as a young player, and I kind
Speaker 7: of worked my way into that rotation as a freshman,
Speaker 7: and you know, obviously playing as a freshman, playing as
Speaker 7: a sophomore, starting as a sophomore, you know, sometimes you
Speaker 7: come up against an opponent that you know, maybe a
Speaker 7: little bit ahead of where you are, either physically or
Speaker 7: just with experience, and so it really forces you to
Speaker 7: kind of get out of your comfort zone and growth.
Speaker 7: And so I'm really thankful for those experiences. There are
Speaker 7: lots of times where you know, I wasn't sure if
Speaker 7: I could get the job done or you know, I was,
Speaker 7: you know, kind of wavering on my confidence as far
Speaker 7: as you know, you know, can I beat this guy?
Speaker 7: But pushing through that and having those challenges and then
Speaker 7: overcoming them, I think it's really helped me and as
Speaker 7: a professional, you know, really got my confidence a point where.
Speaker 5: You know, I know that I belong on to field
Speaker 5: with anybody.
Speaker 1: How much did it help being able if you wanted
Speaker 1: to to talk to a guy like Rich Brooks. I
Speaker 1: know you had your position coach, but it was really
Speaker 1: interesting to me, especially given the fact that when Rich
Speaker 1: Brooks was hired there were people who were so critical
Speaker 1: of the hiring because of his age. Yet I could
Speaker 1: tell from producing his TV show and being around you
Speaker 1: guys how much you liked and respected him. And I
Speaker 1: know position coaches have a more intimate relationship, but I
Speaker 1: could tell, just like I said, from being around how
Speaker 1: much you guys cared for Rich Brooks.
Speaker 7: Yeah, you know, I love Coach Brooks and despite his age,
Speaker 7: you know, especially at that time, Coach Brooks had.
Speaker 5: A lot of fire. Yeah, and he would get after you.
Speaker 7: So you know, I don't I don't think I ever
Speaker 7: really you know, categorized him as an older coach. But
Speaker 7: the one thing that I would say about Coach Brooks
Speaker 7: is he always made sure that we knew that he
Speaker 7: cared about us, that he loved us, and you know,
Speaker 7: he loved on us quite a bit. So I think
Speaker 7: when you do that, it gives you some leeway to
Speaker 7: be hard on guys and to push guys.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 7: I'm really thankful for that relationship, thankful for that experience,
Speaker 7: and I think he was the right man for the job.
Speaker 1: You know, John Crop, who's going to be part of
Speaker 1: your your Hall of Fame class, and a couple of
Speaker 1: other of your teammates, uh since then have told me
Speaker 1: that rich Brooks could drop into any position group and
Speaker 1: teach technique and fundamentals equally well at all of it.
Speaker 1: Do you remember that.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I definitely remember him, you know, being hands on
Speaker 7: with us. You know, I can't speak to the other groups,
Speaker 7: but definitely for d Line, you know, And and that's
Speaker 7: that always goes a long way when you know the
Speaker 7: head man is really spending that personalized attention with the group,
Speaker 7: and it also enforces the importance of you know, executing and.
Speaker 2: Doing well well you're going to go into the Hall
Speaker 2: of Fame.
Speaker 1: It's not the first time you've you've gone into a
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame, But uh, do you have a speech prepared?
Speaker 1: Are you going to I think I guess they've already
Speaker 1: told you if and winning for how long you're going
Speaker 1: to speak?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I haven't prepared anything as of yet, but I'll
Speaker 7: have something prepared, and you know, it'll really just be gratitude.
Speaker 7: I'm just extremely thankful. Like I said, man, I'm a
Speaker 7: huge Kentucky sports fan. I follow all the teams, so
Speaker 7: I'm just grateful to you know, have this opportunity and
Speaker 7: you know, have a reason to go back.
Speaker 5: And celebrate a little bit.
Speaker 7: So we'll try to make a weekend out of it
Speaker 7: and taking a game and spend some time. So I'm
Speaker 7: really looking forward to it.
Speaker 1: Well, congratulations once again, and congrats on the new twins
Speaker 1: in the house or are you getting any sleep at all?
Speaker 5: A little bit?
Speaker 7: You know, they sleep a little bit, but you know,
Speaker 7: they definitely want to eat and they don't really care
Speaker 7: what time it is.
Speaker 5: So it's been a huge blessing.
Speaker 7: I'm really thankful for them, and they are good babies,
Speaker 7: you know, But we are functioning off limited amount of weak.
Speaker 1: Well, thanks again so much, looking forward to seeing you
Speaker 1: when you come down here to be honored, and again
Speaker 1: congratulations all. I think Corey Peters now living in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1: He was of course a star out of Louisville Central
Speaker 1: High School, but originally from Pittsburgh, and that's where he's
Speaker 1: living now, him and his family, and he is, as
Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier, already at Hall of Famer. He went
Speaker 1: into the Kentucky NFL Hall of Fame back in twenty
Speaker 1: nineteen and now in the UK Athletic Hall of Fame
Speaker 1: coming up. He'll be honored next month. I Renumber two
Speaker 1: is on the way. We'll talk EKU football with Weal
Speaker 1: Wells and we'll talk about the election and sporting club
Speaker 1: the soccer program.
Speaker 2: Here on the other side of the newsbreak, Cerny w ib.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. Joining us now
Speaker 1: is a guy we love having on the show. We
Speaker 1: love talking football with e k U head coach Walt
Speaker 1: Wells and coach. We were talking before we went on
Speaker 1: the air about how the off season anymore seems like
Speaker 1: it races by.
Speaker 2: Doesn't it.
Speaker 12: Oh, it just flies by. I mean you get it,
Speaker 12: you get one really good solid week in the summer,
Speaker 12: and unfortunately for us most of the time, that week
Speaker 12: is the second session of summer school. So you're worried
Speaker 12: about that. And but you know that's part of the process.
Speaker 3: That's you.
Speaker 12: You're just dread and Barrett, and you know, with the
Speaker 12: new things and the new way college football is right now,
Speaker 12: it takes a lot of your time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, let us talk about your schedule first of all.
Speaker 1: And everybody in Lexington knows when the team over here starts,
Speaker 1: so you start the same day and you started in
Speaker 1: the SEC. You guys open at Mississippi State. We talked
Speaker 1: to some of your kids on media day and they
Speaker 1: know it's a heck of a challenge, Walt.
Speaker 2: But they're excited about this, aren't they.
Speaker 12: Oh they are. I mean, it's it's an opportunity to
Speaker 12: go measure yourself against an SEC opponent, both individually and
Speaker 12: collectively as a group, and you know, to see where
Speaker 12: where you're at, and uh, to bring some reality to
Speaker 12: to what your situation is and to realize, you know,
Speaker 12: who all's out there that you're fighting against to get
Speaker 12: to the dreams and goals and aspirations that these kids
Speaker 12: and coaches and everybody has and so uh but that
Speaker 12: being said, you still got your line that you put
Speaker 12: the ball down in between the white lines and you
Speaker 12: go out there and play in And that's what I
Speaker 12: try to stress to them, like, you know, hey, I
Speaker 12: get it. You've probably played against these guys at one
Speaker 12: point in time in high school and maybe even had
Speaker 12: a great game against Yeah, now you just got Now
Speaker 12: you got ten or eleven of them on the same
Speaker 12: team and going against you, and you just, you know,
Speaker 12: we got to decide, you know, are we gonna go
Speaker 12: out there and fight or we're gonna go out there
Speaker 12: and you know, let what happened, what everybody thinks is
Speaker 12: going to happen, happen. And uh, you know, my been
Speaker 12: in a lot of these games as a G five
Speaker 12: SCS coach and and and just tell them all the time, Hey,
Speaker 12: just get the game to the fourth quarter. That's all
Speaker 12: you gotta do. Be in reach in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 12: If you're in reach, you got a chance.
Speaker 1: Odd media day, you were very frank about what happened
Speaker 1: last year with the opener at Cincinnati, and you said
Speaker 1: we got boat raced, But then you guys came back
Speaker 1: and took Kentucky into the fourth quarter. So again we
Speaker 1: were talking to some your kids in you about how
Speaker 1: do you skip that step, you know, where you stumble
Speaker 1: through the first game and get to that Clearly that's
Speaker 1: the obvious question. But I got to think, well, even
Speaker 1: though you like to put stuff in the rear view mirror,
Speaker 1: that's going to have to help you.
Speaker 2: I would hope.
Speaker 12: I hope it does. I hope it lets them know
Speaker 12: that they had to prepare a certain way and then
Speaker 12: go out there and have belief in themselves and each
Speaker 12: other to even have a chance. And I think that's
Speaker 12: what happened is is you know, we went to Cincinnati.
Speaker 12: It was you know, it was extremely hot for them,
Speaker 12: just like it was for us. We had some younger
Speaker 12: players or probably not younger, but inexperienced players playing, and
Speaker 12: you know they they got a little overwhelmed. Yeah, and
Speaker 12: you know, and so coming back to next week, just
Speaker 12: told them, like, guys, you know, you have to go
Speaker 12: out there and be your best version of yourself, not
Speaker 12: what everybody thinks you can be. You just got to
Speaker 12: go be you and be the best version of yourself.
Speaker 12: And if we'll all do that together, we'll give ourselves
Speaker 12: a chance. And you know, I think you saw that
Speaker 12: in the Kentucky game. I mean it was it was,
Speaker 12: you know, seven to seven at halftime, we come out,
Speaker 12: we drive down the field and go ahead, and then
Speaker 12: they come back and make a run. Then we come
Speaker 12: back and make a little run. And in the end,
Speaker 12: you know, obviously they were better than us and they
Speaker 12: beat us. But you know, never excited about moral victories
Speaker 12: at all, be quite honestly, because we're still going to
Speaker 12: going into our first home game and last year, and
Speaker 12: but you're proud of the improvement that you make from
Speaker 12: week one to week two, and that's what everybody talks about.
Speaker 12: And I think you can continue to improve as a
Speaker 12: year goes on, as long as you stay healthy and
Speaker 12: people are are getting comfortable with what they're doing on
Speaker 12: the field.
Speaker 1: Talking to ek, you head football coach Wald Wells, one
Speaker 1: more question about Mississippi State before we start talking about
Speaker 1: your team. The one thing from and you know I've
Speaker 1: covered the SEC for quite a while, You've worked in
Speaker 1: the SEC many years.
Speaker 2: We all know. I don't know what it is.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's because of all the Jucos in the state
Speaker 1: of Mississippi. Their linemen, Wald are always huge on both
Speaker 1: sides of the ball. And when it's not a really
Speaker 1: good Mississippi State team, they're they're just not very athletic.
Speaker 1: But Mississippi says had some really good teams with linemen
Speaker 1: who can fly. Have you already seen that in the Bulldogs?
Speaker 12: Oh yeah, their defenses, their defenses big and mean, and
Speaker 12: you know they brought in some transfer offensive linemen on
Speaker 12: that side. And so just saying a little bit of
Speaker 12: them besides going back and watching their individually their tapes
Speaker 12: from where they came from. But yes, they're I mean,
Speaker 12: the state of Mississippi has big people and Mississippi State
Speaker 12: as opposed to you know, I don't know old Missus
Speaker 12: doing a better job. And that's what their philosophy is now.
Speaker 12: But Missippi State always had that philosophy. I remember playing
Speaker 12: them when we were at UK and and you know,
Speaker 12: that's the first time I really ever had seen them
Speaker 12: up close in person because I never got to plan
Speaker 12: when we're at Tennessee. And so they are some large,
Speaker 12: big humans, and you know that that's gonna be a
Speaker 12: tall task for us. We know that, and we're gonna
Speaker 12: have to to be stout and what we do, and
Speaker 12: we're gonna have to play with great leverage and great
Speaker 12: you know, great eye control and putting our eyes where
Speaker 12: they need to be, and you know, straining for sixty
Speaker 12: minutes to stay in our gaps on defense and to
Speaker 12: just try to get a good push, you know, on offense.
Speaker 12: And you know, it's like facing the big Walker kid
Speaker 12: up there last year. I mean there was times he
Speaker 12: got in the backfield, and there was times that we
Speaker 12: were able to just maintain him so we could get
Speaker 12: some rooms and then know when certain ones are going
Speaker 12: out of the game and try to attack it that way.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you the question that I'm sure you
Speaker 1: have been asked at least two hundred times during the
Speaker 1: off season about going into the sea.
Speaker 2: He's in minus.
Speaker 1: One of the most talented quarterbacks in EKU history, Parker McKinney.
Speaker 1: You told us after the spring game Walt did it
Speaker 1: was a three man race for quarterbacks. Do you know
Speaker 1: any more about who's gonna win that job or has
Speaker 1: he already wanted or is that going up to right
Speaker 1: before game week?
Speaker 12: Well, I think it'll go uh, it'll go into uh
Speaker 12: as we're getting prepared for game week. Uh. You know,
Speaker 12: it's hard for me to sit here and say we
Speaker 12: had one scrimmage so far, both kids, cam Herget and
Speaker 12: Matt Morrissey are competing really, really hard. We've narrowed it
Speaker 12: down to two and they're they're competing, and you know,
Speaker 12: it's a it's a good thing. I wish it would
Speaker 12: be easier for me to just for one of them
Speaker 12: to just you know, be playing that much better than
Speaker 12: the other one, but it's not. I've had one quarterback
Speaker 12: race in my five years as a head coach and
Speaker 12: we fortunately picked the right one. And uh, and hopefully
Speaker 12: we'll be able to do that again. But whoever wins
Speaker 12: the job, Uh, you know, we expect to go out
Speaker 12: there and play and and and give us the chance
Speaker 12: to win the game. And you know, just I think
Speaker 12: we'll end up playing both of them some. I think
Speaker 12: that's just how it'll go. Uh and uh, but I think,
Speaker 12: you know, we will determine a starter and let him
Speaker 12: get his feet wet and get in there and get going.
Speaker 12: Because I'm not one to believe that you can just
Speaker 12: rotate quarterback. It's fur that and some other people and
Speaker 12: had success with it, and I get that, but you
Speaker 12: know that's just not I don't think that's where we're at.
Speaker 12: So when we have the opportunity, we've got scrimmage coming up,
Speaker 12: we've got a couple more days here that we'll do
Speaker 12: some things and in a couple of days next week
Speaker 12: that we'll look into it, and then we'll probably sit
Speaker 12: down and make a decision. And you know, it's like
Speaker 12: I told somebody I was talking to the other day, Uh,
Speaker 12: you know, we'll let everybody know because I think that's
Speaker 12: right for the kid, for his leadership. I think it's uh,
Speaker 12: there's so much information out there nowadays. I don't think
Speaker 12: it's that big a deal anymore, you know. I mean
Speaker 12: not like Mississippi State and their defensive staff hadn't got
Speaker 12: all the film on Matt from Western Illinois and all
Speaker 12: the film from on camp from here in high school,
Speaker 12: and they figured out who they are. You know, yeah,
Speaker 12: you know, so.
Speaker 1: Was rotating quarterbacks, Walt, they were, whoever the quarterback was
Speaker 1: was surrounded by future NFL players.
Speaker 2: So Spurrier could get away with that, as you know.
Speaker 1: Uh, they throwed up, Oh man, before I hit the break,
Speaker 1: when you got started in coaching, I got to think,
Speaker 1: where were you all still swapping film? I mean flying film?
Speaker 1: Canisters back and forth or were you in the video
Speaker 1: age by then?
Speaker 12: No, we were in We were in the sixteen millimeter,
Speaker 12: finishing out the sixteen millimators, going into the UH, going
Speaker 12: into VHS and man, we would drive halfway across the
Speaker 12: state to meet and meet at every truck stop between
Speaker 12: here and Murray or here and you know, Semo and
Speaker 12: different places. You know. My I was three years at
Speaker 12: Cumberland and then University in leven in Tennessee, and then
Speaker 12: you know, I came up here and sometimes I would
Speaker 12: take those trips just so I didn't have to be
Speaker 12: in a staff meeting. I'm bolunteer. I'll go, you know,
Speaker 12: so they get to get out of the staff meeting,
Speaker 12: especially if we lost. I didn't want to have to
Speaker 12: do that.
Speaker 2: That's smart.
Speaker 12: And coach wasn't very happy on those days. So I'd
Speaker 12: be the one that was dripped up wherever we drove there.
Speaker 12: You know a lot of times it was bars town
Speaker 12: or some places like that. We you know, we'd actly, oh,
Speaker 12: he's late, he's late, and you know, I'd sit there
Speaker 12: and just hang out. You know, he didn't have a
Speaker 12: cell phone back then, so you just hung out.
Speaker 1: Walt Wells is my guess. He is a head football
Speaker 1: coach at Eka. You will come back with more questions
Speaker 1: for Walt in just a minute on the Big Bluing
Speaker 1: Sider six thirty w Lap Welcome back to the Big
Speaker 1: Bluing Sider. We're chatting with Wald Wells. He is a
Speaker 1: head football coach at Eastern Kentucky, which opens it season
Speaker 1: August thirty first at Mississippi State. And well, looking back
Speaker 1: last year, we talked about Parker McKinney, but your entire
Speaker 1: offense really began to click. You got after that slow start,
Speaker 1: and then six of your next seven games you scored
Speaker 1: at least thirty points, and it just you. You guys
Speaker 1: were so exciting to follow. I know, a new QB
Speaker 1: and all, but oh, do you think we'll see a
Speaker 1: similar kind of attack, a similar tempo this year or
Speaker 1: do you need to adjust given the fact that you
Speaker 1: will have a new QB.
Speaker 12: I think some of the skill sets that our new
Speaker 12: QB will have, whichever one it is, will require us
Speaker 12: to adjust anything we do. Because Parker had a unique
Speaker 12: scrambling and running ability along with his ability to you know,
Speaker 12: to see the field clearly and make the right decisions
Speaker 12: and so our attack will you know, will grow as
Speaker 12: the quarterback grows in our system. Like I said, one
Speaker 12: of them play college ball before. One of them has
Speaker 12: really not. But they're both just competing hard. So I
Speaker 12: think you'll see a little age in it. But now
Speaker 12: you know, we are who we are and we're gonna
Speaker 12: try to be who we can be. It's just how
Speaker 12: comfortable they are with it as we move forward.
Speaker 1: Parker, by the way, got an NFL free agent offer?
Speaker 2: Was it the Vikings?
Speaker 12: The Vikings?
Speaker 1: Correct, they just lost JJ McCarthy. You know if he's
Speaker 1: still in camp?
Speaker 12: No, Parker, did you know he got the mini camp
Speaker 12: invite deal?
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 12: I haven't talked to him in about two weeks, so
Speaker 12: I need to check in with him and see. But
Speaker 12: as of then, he hasn't gone anywhere, but he's making
Speaker 12: himself available. Yeah, of course, u AC and the Canadian
Speaker 12: League are often for him right now. And uh, you know,
Speaker 12: he's got two degrees. He I think he's in love
Speaker 12: and he's got a great job. So you know, I
Speaker 12: don't know, you know, Parker is uh. I think he'll
Speaker 12: continue to fight to play, don't get me wrong, and
Speaker 12: he deserves it, right, But I think he's also got
Speaker 12: his head on straight and he's he's probably got a
Speaker 12: job somewhere doing some some good things. You know, it
Speaker 12: probably picked up a job since the last time we
Speaker 12: talked about that point.
Speaker 1: Well, with McCarthy going now, maybe they call him back,
Speaker 1: So who knows. We talked so much about your offense,
Speaker 1: but on media day we talked to some of your
Speaker 1: veteran guys back from the defensive side of the ball,
Speaker 1: and I know you struggled at times on defense last year,
Speaker 1: but what do you see on that side of the
Speaker 1: ball coming up.
Speaker 12: Well, I'm really impressed with in training camp where we're
Speaker 12: at right now. Our defensive line has really grown and uh,
Speaker 12: you know, we got we got four seniors upfront that
Speaker 12: have played a lot of football for us, and they're
Speaker 12: starting to take over. And I really like saying that
Speaker 12: because you know, you're only as good as as you
Speaker 12: are upfront on both sides of the ball. So I mean,
Speaker 12: I think it's important that those guys continue to play
Speaker 12: at a high level. I mean you're talking Ryan Jackson,
Speaker 12: Darian Baker, Both those guys have been here since they
Speaker 12: signed in my first class, and then marve on Field
Speaker 12: was a transfer from from Elon and he's done a
Speaker 12: nice job. And Jeremie has done a nice job, and
Speaker 12: Gabe Fletcher.
Speaker 5: Has come on.
Speaker 12: So we've got about four anywhere from four to six
Speaker 12: guys up front that are really starting to play at
Speaker 12: a high level I think, and will be trouble for
Speaker 12: some teams, especially in SCS. And then, uh, you know,
Speaker 12: we're we took a head at linebacker are he hasn't
Speaker 12: played here, So when I say we take a hit,
Speaker 12: poor young man Tylan Robinson. He's been here three years
Speaker 12: and every year he's had a season INDI injuries, you know,
Speaker 12: one knee, then one shoulder, then the other knee this year,
Speaker 12: and so we took a hit there in our death
Speaker 12: to Kyle Kelly from Northern Kentucky is doing a great
Speaker 12: job transfer from Ohio. You and uh, and and then
Speaker 12: we've got Marcellus Maddox from Miami who's a true sophomore
Speaker 12: who came on strong last year at the end of
Speaker 12: the year. So you know, I like where we're going.
Speaker 12: And then our secondary we made, Uh, we've really picked
Speaker 12: up some talent in that area. And uh, you know,
Speaker 12: I like Mike Smith Jr. We've got a ton of
Speaker 12: scout coming in here to see Mike Smith junior, Yeah,
Speaker 12: as well as Peyton Collins are left tackle, but they've
Speaker 12: been running in and out of here, so I'm excited
Speaker 12: about him and he's having a good camp. And then
Speaker 12: you know at corner we've got Jordan Thomas, Trey Goodins
Speaker 12: who's been here for a while, and then Vito Tisdell.
Speaker 1: You know, Mike told us on media day that the
Speaker 1: number one goal now is finished games that you guys
Speaker 1: would would battle into that fourth quarter we talked about,
Speaker 1: but you just had trouble finishing. What has to happen
Speaker 1: this year, Walt to make that occur.
Speaker 12: Well, I think if you look at our season last year,
Speaker 12: you know we were and that's been our criss since
Speaker 12: you know, we sat down and came back in January.
Speaker 12: It was finished, you know. And and but what does
Speaker 12: finish mean? Well, you know, finish to me means taking
Speaker 12: care of the details to be able to overcome whatever
Speaker 12: obstacle they put in front of you. And you know
Speaker 12: we're at we're at Central Arkansas. We finished offensively, we
Speaker 12: score with twenty thirty seconds left, but getting on the
Speaker 12: hell merrit and one guy did one thing wrong and
Speaker 12: the ball bounced right to him, you know, And some
Speaker 12: people can call that dumb luck. For some people say, hey,
Speaker 12: if you'd have been standing there, that might not have happened.
Speaker 12: And that's where you're supposed to be standing, and it
Speaker 12: still could have happened. We don't know, but we'll never
Speaker 12: know because you aren't standing there. And those are the
Speaker 12: things that we have to understand are important little things,
Speaker 12: and you know, I've been stressing those and trying to
Speaker 12: expose those to situations. We've done a lot of situational
Speaker 12: work this off season, this spring, summer, and now in
Speaker 12: training camp, and we're just trying to make sure that
Speaker 12: they understand, Hey, if you're in the position, you've done
Speaker 12: everything you can do and the play is just made
Speaker 12: by another guy and it's just a great play by
Speaker 12: that other guy. That happened. That's football. We can't do
Speaker 12: a whole lot about that, okay, you know, but if
Speaker 12: you're not in the position and either us as coaches
Speaker 12: haven't covered it enough or you haven't been detail oriented
Speaker 12: enough to remember it, then we have to improve on
Speaker 12: that and we have to focus on that and make
Speaker 12: sure that when those moments come, which some of them,
Speaker 12: we know, like a Till Mary situation. Obviously, then we'll
Speaker 12: take them. But you know, you can't. You've got to
Speaker 12: understand issue situation. We're playing Austin Pe and it's the
Speaker 12: last portion that we're in the overtime. We've got them
Speaker 12: third and third and longs and we bite on a
Speaker 12: play fake, yeah, you know, and which opens up a window.
Speaker 12: And it's just little things like that that we can't.
Speaker 12: We can't make that mistake because if you're where you're
Speaker 12: supposed to be, his eyes go somewhere else. And literally,
Speaker 12: if his eyes would have went somewhere else, we would
Speaker 12: have sacked him and it had been forced down and
Speaker 12: they would have had to kick a field gun and
Speaker 12: so and then we'd have went into another over time.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it ate it.
Speaker 12: So you know, it's those little things that you know,
Speaker 12: I'm not trying to sit here and place blame, but
Speaker 12: I'm trying to fix the prog right right, And because
Speaker 12: you know, there's blame for there's enough blame for everybody.
Speaker 12: It's just whether or not you're in there at the
Speaker 12: end when it matters. And you know, but then there's opportunities.
Speaker 12: We had to make those plays and we did against
Speaker 12: Tartleton State and other people where we won games, of
Speaker 12: Southeast Missouri State where we won games like that. So
Speaker 12: you know, college football is going to come down if
Speaker 12: all things are equal, which most of them are are
Speaker 12: going to come down to four quarter games more than likely.
Speaker 12: And I think we know how to play in those
Speaker 12: and get to those. Now we've got to continue to
Speaker 12: realize how to finish.
Speaker 2: Those before I let you go just real quick.
Speaker 1: I know you guys don't look ahead, but big picture
Speaker 1: EKU fans know you guys played Western Kentucky over in
Speaker 1: bowling Agreen, but that's back on the schedule.
Speaker 2: That's fun.
Speaker 12: Oh, Battle of Blue Drafts is a great game. I
Speaker 12: was fortunate enough to be on both sides of it,
Speaker 12: and uh, you know, I've seen the The I saw
Speaker 12: the eastern side was uh with coach Kid, and then
Speaker 12: it got to see the western side with obviously David Elson,
Speaker 12: Willie Taggart or excuse me not uh yeah, just David
Speaker 12: Elson really and because we didn't play them with Willie
Speaker 12: and so, uh you know it's went down there under
Speaker 12: Jack Harball.
Speaker 9: Uh.
Speaker 12: I never got to a season with him, so it's uh,
Speaker 12: it's a great rivalry. And like I said at media days,
Speaker 12: I think it was for so many years it was
Speaker 12: the game in Kentucky because Kentucky and Louisville didn't play,
Speaker 12: and quite you know, frankly, you know, Eastern and Western
Speaker 12: at third heights of SCS were two of the top
Speaker 12: teams in the nation, and so, uh, you know, it
Speaker 12: was always a packed house. It was always fun to play,
Speaker 12: you know, fraternity sororities, everybody got involved in different things
Speaker 12: and uh and it was just a neat, neat experience.
Speaker 12: And I'm hoping that those that that situation, it will
Speaker 12: be the same when we roll into Bowling Green the
Speaker 12: second week of the season and you know, we aren't
Speaker 12: looking past them, but we also know they're on the
Speaker 12: schedule and like every time, you know, we work on
Speaker 12: both teams that we're gonna play first two games in
Speaker 12: training camp. And so we've looked at Western and we've
Speaker 12: looked at what they do, and Tyson's done a great
Speaker 12: job down there, and it's got them rolling. They get
Speaker 12: the big quarterback now and and you know they've you know,
Speaker 12: they've always got somebody, uh that is, you know, somebody
Speaker 12: you got to know about. They're going to be drafted
Speaker 12: or something like that. They've got players, you know, like
Speaker 12: malacat Corlou last year, and so it's, uh, it's going
Speaker 12: to be a great atmosphere. It's gonna be a great game.
Speaker 12: You know, I'm quite frankly like you said, you know,
Speaker 12: I've got more people wearing me out about that game
Speaker 12: than the other games. You know, won't tickets, won't an
Speaker 12: RV passes, want and all the things that you get,
Speaker 12: which is awesome. I want to do it. I want
Speaker 12: to make sure we take care of everybody. But uh,
Speaker 12: and you know, and I know that week of practice
Speaker 12: coach buried right there about our practice fields, and you know,
Speaker 12: I know I will hear your voices from the past
Speaker 12: and excited about you know here notes.
Speaker 2: Nobody wanted to be well Wku more than Roy Kid.
Speaker 2: We know that, coach.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much and I know we'll talk before them,
Speaker 1: but best of luck with the season opener.
Speaker 12: Thank you very much, thanks for having me up.
Speaker 2: Next.
Speaker 1: Professional soccer in Lexington is moving on up. We're back
Speaker 1: to talk about that in just a minute. Here on
Speaker 1: the Big Blue Insider six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to
Speaker 1: the Big bluon Sider. Joining us now is a former
Speaker 1: colleague of mine. We work together at IMG a few
Speaker 1: years ago and now Kim Shelton is the new CEO
Speaker 1: of Lexington Sporting Club. People who are soccer fans and
Speaker 1: know all about this and Kim a former soccer player
Speaker 1: at UK yourself, good morning, welcome.
Speaker 13: Good morning, good morning. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: You've been working in the business world, but it's usually
Speaker 1: had something to do with sports, and of course you were,
Speaker 1: you know, a key part of the UK network for
Speaker 1: many years. But as we went on the air we
Speaker 1: were talking about Kim, this seems like such a great
Speaker 1: fit for you.
Speaker 2: I got to think you're really excited absolutely.
Speaker 13: You know, when the ownership approached me about leaving the club,
Speaker 13: it really was kind of a culmination of all things
Speaker 13: in my past, whether my playing days, my coaching days,
Speaker 13: on my work in the business of sports, and to
Speaker 13: bring that all together to do something that I believe
Speaker 13: will really have a positive effect on the community was
Speaker 13: a bit of a no brainer.
Speaker 1: You were a part of the first women's soccer team
Speaker 1: at UK when you got here in nineteen ninety two.
Speaker 1: What does it mean to you to seise the sport
Speaker 1: grow like this not just a UK now they had
Speaker 1: a terrific program men's and women's at UK and now
Speaker 1: you've got the Lexion sc happening right now. That's got
Speaker 1: to be a real thrill for you.
Speaker 13: You know, it has been a thrill and it's been
Speaker 13: a journey for sure, but to see the game grow
Speaker 13: from a collegiate perspective. You know, the number of teams
Speaker 13: in the SEC when when we started, I think was
Speaker 13: four or five teams in the SEC. By the time
Speaker 13: I finished my playing days, we were up to a
Speaker 13: full a lotments. All all the schools in the SEC
Speaker 13: had women's soccer, so you know, had the opportunity to
Speaker 13: watch it grow from that perspective. And now to see
Speaker 13: what's happening on the professional side with women's soccer, you know,
Speaker 13: the addition of the Super League providing more opportunities for
Speaker 13: for more women to have the opportunity to play after
Speaker 13: college and to be a part of that. It's just
Speaker 13: a thrill.
Speaker 1: How good is the soccer league in which election and
Speaker 1: competes right now, and how challenging is it to bring
Speaker 1: in players?
Speaker 13: You know, it's interesting. Uh and Dick, I'll ask you
Speaker 13: you're talking about on the women's Uh yeah, yeah, So
Speaker 13: it's interesting. The Super League is brand news, so as
Speaker 13: we as we look ahead to the upcoming season, it's
Speaker 13: a bit of a mystery, right who will be up
Speaker 13: against We certainly know the players and we're beginning to
Speaker 13: know or you know, they're just beginning to see some
Speaker 13: scrimmages out there and you're beginning to see the results.
Speaker 13: And but it is going to be really interesting to
Speaker 13: watch as the league. As the league grows, I think
Speaker 13: that I think the competition is going to be fierce.
Speaker 13: These are women who, you know, in some cases had
Speaker 13: been overlooked by other professional leagues and other cases are
Speaker 13: coming right out of college ready to play and having
Speaker 13: an additional opportunity to play. So it's going to be
Speaker 13: fierce competition and we're going to grow with it.
Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting we talk about women's soccer and
Speaker 1: then now the Olympics just concluded. It's really funny that, uh,
Speaker 1: I know, that's a good thing. I guess that America
Speaker 1: knows more about the US national women's team because of
Speaker 1: their success. Does that surprise you, Kim.
Speaker 13: No, No, not at all. You know, I've I love
Speaker 13: the fact that the women have in our country really
Speaker 13: in some ways taken the lead. Yeah, and the success
Speaker 13: that we've had on the women's side, you know, dating
Speaker 13: back to the nineteen ninety nine Women's World Cup, when
Speaker 13: when the women's game took the world stage and that
Speaker 13: event hosted the you know, the finals in the in
Speaker 13: the rose bowls. Ninety thousand people watch these women play
Speaker 13: and and and that game was was quite a show.
Speaker 13: I was blessed to be able to be in the
Speaker 13: stands for that for that match. So it doesn't surprise
Speaker 13: me at all. And now to have our women's national
Speaker 13: teams bring home the gold and to be back at
Speaker 13: the top of that pedestal, I think just draws a
Speaker 13: lot of attention to everything that we're doing in our
Speaker 13: country from a women's sports perspective. I think you've looked
Speaker 13: over the past couple of years, you see the spotlight
Speaker 13: shining brighter on women's sports. And so to have the
Speaker 13: opportunity to participate in that right here in Lexington, and
Speaker 13: have you know Lexington's first professional team launching at about
Speaker 13: the same time, at all of that excitement is peaking
Speaker 13: is a real opportunity I think for our community to
Speaker 13: demonstrate our support for women playing in the professional game.
Speaker 1: Talking to Kiv Shelton. She is the CEO of the
Speaker 1: Election and Sporting Club. And on your resume was the
Speaker 1: work that you put in, uh for on the FIFA
Speaker 1: Women's World Cup. You worked in Chicago with that event,
Speaker 1: did you not?
Speaker 13: I did?
Speaker 12: I did?
Speaker 13: And you know that was an absolute thrill. Many don't
Speaker 13: know that when that event was initially pitched, Marlon Metting,
Speaker 13: who was the CEO of the Women's World Cup, was
Speaker 13: approached to host those games in small venues across the
Speaker 13: country and she she pushed back against that and hosted
Speaker 13: those games in the largest venues in the country, right
Speaker 13: in Chicago the field my men earlier.
Speaker 12: In LA in the.
Speaker 13: Rose Bowl and and you know, maybe to some surprise,
Speaker 13: those events all sold out to watch our women play.
Speaker 13: And so then taking that success and then building upon it,
Speaker 13: it was an incredible experience for me. I think it
Speaker 13: was great for our young girls who saw the spotlight
Speaker 13: shown on women playing at the highest level. And I
Speaker 13: think that's part of how we've seen the game grow.
Speaker 1: The men's program, the men's team part of USL League One.
Speaker 2: Now what does that mean for Lexing and Sporting Club?
Speaker 13: You know right now we are part of League one.
Speaker 13: We announced earlier this week that going into next season
Speaker 13: will be playing in the Championship League, and and what
Speaker 13: that means for our club and our community and for
Speaker 13: our state is that we pland at the same level
Speaker 13: as the city. We'll have that rivalry right down right
Speaker 13: down the road. So we're really looking forward to what
Speaker 13: we can do with that and how our state will
Speaker 13: will embrace will embrace the game.
Speaker 1: You've got this brand new facility going up seven field,
Speaker 1: state of the art at Athon's Boonsboro Road, and Kim,
Speaker 1: I hadn't been out there in a little while, and
Speaker 1: I had seen them kind of moving earth and everything,
Speaker 1: but I hadn't been out that way in about a month.
Speaker 1: It's impressive. How often, or if ever do you do
Speaker 1: you ever drive out there and just gaze at it.
Speaker 12: We sure do right now.
Speaker 13: We drive out there and look at it and make
Speaker 13: sure that everything's moving along for our home opener on
Speaker 13: September the eighth. So you know, at this moment in time,
Speaker 13: we don't have a lot of time to just stop
Speaker 13: and gaze, yeah, because we're moving pretty hard to be
Speaker 13: prepared for September the eighth, and you know, when we
Speaker 13: get there on September eighth, with the with the stadium. Look,
Speaker 13: we'll we all have things moving around, right as with construction,
Speaker 13: you're kind of always under construction, and we'll have some
Speaker 13: moving pieces for sure. We have fans to be patient
Speaker 13: with us. We're working to be prepared to host that
Speaker 13: game and we will do that. But yeah, I mean,
Speaker 13: it's amazing what our ownership has invested, not just on
Speaker 13: the professional side, but this is in many ways for
Speaker 13: ownership about the youth side. Right, like you said, there's
Speaker 13: there's seven high end turf, fully lit field for our
Speaker 13: young people to compete and to play. And now the
Speaker 13: addition of the stadium, with the you know, with the
Speaker 13: move the Championship League and with the Super League playing
Speaker 13: at you know, the highest level of the USL pyramid,
Speaker 13: our young people have the opportunity to play on their
Speaker 13: home field and then look just down the hill at
Speaker 13: an amazing seventy five hundred seat stadium where you know,
Speaker 13: where they might perceive themselves to be able to take
Speaker 13: their dreams. So for our ownership, for our club, it
Speaker 13: is about that to kind of give our young people
Speaker 13: the chance to see what can happen when your dream big.
Speaker 1: What do you think of how Lexington has accepted and
Speaker 1: opened its arms to professional soccer.
Speaker 13: Yeah, you know, I think we continue to work at that.
Speaker 13: We continue to educate Lexington about, you know, what we're
Speaker 13: doing and who we are. Every conversation I have, I
Speaker 13: hear excitement, right, I hear people express their excitement for
Speaker 13: what we're doing, not just from the soccer perspective, but
Speaker 13: just from the community perspective and what we're developing with
Speaker 13: this facility. And I see Lexington embracing everything that we're doing,
Speaker 13: and not only just on the soccer side, but also
Speaker 13: and we think about the day, when we think about
Speaker 13: what we're putting together, we're really working to make sure
Speaker 13: that what happens out there is an experience, making sure
Speaker 13: that when you come out to a match that yes,
Speaker 13: you get to see a really high caliber of soccers,
Speaker 13: but also you're able to have a great time.
Speaker 2: You've got a match coming up this Friday, do you
Speaker 2: know I'm reading do you? Yeah?
Speaker 13: We do, we do, and every match right now is important.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 13: In the league, we're not where we want to be.
Speaker 13: But interestingly, in the in the USL and League One,
Speaker 13: we have the a Ormeister Cup within which is kind
Speaker 13: of the tournament within the season.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 13: And we're on the cuffs of having an opportunity to
Speaker 13: participate maybe even host this semi final match. So you know,
Speaker 13: every game is important to us at this state of season.
Speaker 1: And you are on the road actually Friday, but you're
Speaker 1: back home, Uh what on the twenty fourth, Right back.
Speaker 13: Home on the twenty fourth and on the thirty first,
Speaker 13: and those two games will continue to be held in Georgetown.
Speaker 13: You know, we're we're very thankful for our hosts in
Speaker 13: Georgetown up there. We're also anxious to get get down
Speaker 13: into into the stadium. You know, the men's home opener,
Speaker 13: if you looked on a previous schedule, it was on
Speaker 13: September the fourteenth at seven o'clock. But you know, there's
Speaker 13: something else going on in Lexington on September the fourteenth
Speaker 13: at seven o'clock, so we did move that game to
Speaker 13: that Friday night. So we're going to open the men
Speaker 13: will open at the stadium on September the thirteenth, Friday night,
Speaker 13: seven smart.
Speaker 2: Well, that's marketing one.
Speaker 12: On one, right, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 1: Tell me a little bit about your attendance numbers. I
Speaker 1: know you always want more, but Is it what you
Speaker 1: hoped it would be so far?
Speaker 13: Yeah, you know, it's interesting. You're right, it's never what
Speaker 13: you hope until you're sold out. It's never what you
Speaker 13: hope that it would be. But quite candidly, as we
Speaker 13: look at going into the new stadium, we want to
Speaker 13: make sure that we're providing the best experience. So yes,
Speaker 13: we want everybody to come out. We want to build
Speaker 13: the house, and I think as people learn more about
Speaker 13: what we're doing and they get to have the experience
Speaker 13: that we're going to put on, I think more and
Speaker 13: more folks will will come out. I think the drive
Speaker 13: up to Georgetown was an obstacle for some folks and
Speaker 13: we appreciate so greatly appreciate the fans that have been
Speaker 13: very loyal to us up there, but look forward to
Speaker 13: getting to Lexington and making it easier for our fans
Speaker 13: and Lexington to get out to the stadium and watch
Speaker 13: the men and the women's play.
Speaker 1: So the USL Championship move happens next season.
Speaker 12: Right, that's correct, Yeah, that's correct.
Speaker 2: Kim, Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: That's Kim Shelton, the CEO of Lexing and Sporting Club,
Speaker 1: and we're back in just a minute. Here on a
Speaker 1: big Boon sider six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the
Speaker 1: Big Blue and Cider final segment of our program. And
Speaker 1: it is hard to believe we always say that this
Speaker 1: time of the year, though, doesn't don't We two weeks
Speaker 1: from Saturday season openers for a lot of teams, including
Speaker 1: Kentucky and e KU and the talking season makes everything,
Speaker 1: I believe, go faster.
Speaker 2: But I think the last.
Speaker 1: Few days leading up the game week seemed to crawl
Speaker 1: a little bit. But it's going to be right here
Speaker 1: and it is going to be a momentous I believe
Speaker 1: season four Kentucky. We've talked about this a lot, but
Speaker 1: there's a lot on the line after back to back
Speaker 1: somewhat disappointing seasons for the Wildcats, so of course you'll
Speaker 1: follow it all right here on six point thirty WLAP.
Speaker 1: I wanted to take a look though, as I often
Speaker 1: do it. You know this day in sports and things
Speaker 1: like that. I've tweeted this earlier. It was Joe Cally's birthday.
Speaker 1: Joe from Lexington and played five or six years in
Speaker 1: the Biggs before he ran into some injury issues. But
Speaker 1: while he was at his best, he was pitching for
Speaker 1: the White Sox one year and had a no hitter
Speaker 1: back in nineteen eighty six. I think, so Happy birthday
Speaker 1: to Joe. But also one of the notes out of
Speaker 1: last night action is Aaron Judge hits career home run
Speaker 1: number three hundred and reached that mark faster than anybody
Speaker 1: in the history of the game. It came against the
Speaker 1: White Sox, and believe it or not, they walked pick
Speaker 1: your poison, Juan Soto to get the Judge. It made
Speaker 1: the most sense, you know, in terms of baseball strategy,
Speaker 1: but to have to walk Sodo to get to Aaron Judge,
Speaker 1: who had his forty third home run, and it came
Speaker 1: in his nine hundred and fifty fifth career game. That
Speaker 1: broke the major league record previously held by Ralph Kiner.
Speaker 1: It his first three hundred home runs in one thousand
Speaker 1: and eighty seven games, so he is just destroying this pace.
Speaker 1: Came in at bad number three thousand, four hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty one, quicker than Babe Ruth, quicker than McGuire. You know,
Speaker 1: baseball love stats like that, but it is pretty amazing.
Speaker 2: However, Aaron Judge is thirty two years old. You wonder
Speaker 2: how long will he play?
Speaker 1: And you go back and look at guys like Babe
Speaker 1: Ruth and Hank Aaron. Aaron Judge has already played nine
Speaker 1: years in the Big This is his ninth year at
Speaker 1: age thirty two. Hank Aaron played twenty two years, Babe
Speaker 1: Ruth played twenty two, twenty three. No, twenty two years
Speaker 1: because he played his last year in Pittsburgh in the
Speaker 1: National League.
Speaker 2: Otherwise all the others were in the American League.
Speaker 1: So will Aaron Judge be around long enough and stay
Speaker 1: healthy long enough to top those marks? And of course
Speaker 1: Barry Bonds. Bonds played twenty two years as well and
Speaker 1: retired with seven sixty two. That's the record. Tainted or not,
Speaker 1: I'll leave that up to you. But it's pretty amazing
Speaker 1: what Aaron Judge is doing right now. Somebody out there
Speaker 1: on the Internet and Internet world has been compiling and
Speaker 1: posting information about Tony Gwynn and how tough it was
Speaker 1: to strike him out and just comparatively speaking, you know
Speaker 1: today's players gwin against pictures of his era. Things like that.
Speaker 1: Really fascinating. But somebody else has really hooked on to
Speaker 1: Nolan Ryan. I'm not sure why I came up. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's because of the Nolan Ryan documentary that was out there,
Speaker 1: and it's still out there if you go find it.
Speaker 2: It's really terrific.
Speaker 1: But of course the strangest stat of all, one of
Speaker 1: the strangest in the history of baseball, was that Nolan
Speaker 1: Ryan for all of his accomplishments, and it was on
Speaker 1: this day in history that he retired with three hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty four we pitched his last victory, three hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty four seven no hitters, zero cy youngs. But
Speaker 1: he has also tied with Bob Feller for the most
Speaker 1: one hitters with twelve, so he could have had as
Speaker 1: many as nineteen no hitters and by the way, another
Speaker 1: eighteen two hitters.
Speaker 13: Now.
Speaker 1: On the other hand, Nolan Ryan struggled at the beginning
Speaker 1: of his career, walked a lot of guys and did
Speaker 1: not play for really good teams. So a, that may
Speaker 1: be why he was not a cy Young winner, and
Speaker 1: b it may explain why he played into his forties
Speaker 1: because he finally got him so healthy and turned things around.
Speaker 1: And again, baseball is a game of numbers, and that
Speaker 1: might be why some people don't find it all that
Speaker 1: intriguing anymore. But the numbers are out there. If you
Speaker 1: take a deep guy, that's kind of fun. That's going
Speaker 1: to do it for tonight. Thanks so much of my guess,
Speaker 1: Kim Shelton Wald, wells Corey Peters.
Speaker 2: That's it. Good night for the garage and Lexington. A
Speaker 2: A ron?
Speaker 9: Where are you?
Speaker 2: Where is AA ron?
Speaker 5: Right now?
Speaker 13: No?
Speaker 2: A ron?
Speaker 12: Huh? Well you better be sick, dead or mute.
Speaker 9: A ron here? Oh man? Why didn't you answer me
Speaker 9: the first time I said em? Huh, I'm just you know,
Speaker 9: I'm just asking you.
Speaker 10: I said it like four times, So why didn't you
Speaker 10: say it the first time?
Speaker 5: I said A A ron?
Speaker 9: Because it's pronounced it aaron.
Speaker 12: You domb messed up A ron