Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue Insider. Dick Gabriel with you
Speaker 1: on a Tuesday edition of our program. We have got
Speaker 1: a busy night ahead of us. This is going to
Speaker 1: be a lot of fun coming up. Your other comments
Speaker 1: from Mark Stoops of course about to win over Southern
Speaker 1: Miss and the upcoming South Carolina game. But at the
Speaker 1: bottom of the hour, Jojo Kemp will join us. And
Speaker 1: you remember Jojo part of that three headed running attack
Speaker 1: back when Kentucky had him at Benny Snell at Boom
Speaker 1: Williams and Jojo had a lot of great moments at Kentucky,
Speaker 1: but probably best known for his efforts in the win
Speaker 1: over South Carolina in twenty fourteen. It was really the
Speaker 1: first signature win for Mark Stoops. That is to say,
Speaker 1: fans rushed the field because it was a huge win.
Speaker 1: They beat Steve Spurrier, came from behind twice down fourteen points,
Speaker 1: and Jojo with three touchdowns one hundred and thirty plus yards.
Speaker 1: And he did it primarily out of the Wildcat, which
Speaker 1: is a formation that people seemed to when they first
Speaker 1: saw it. They really liked it because it was working.
Speaker 1: Then they got mad at it because it didn't work.
Speaker 1: At Kentucky and then it did work. One of the
Speaker 1: reasons they got mad about it was that Benny Snell
Speaker 1: sophomore year, he had done so well with it his
Speaker 1: freshman season. His sophomore year, Benny would rush things through
Speaker 1: the first four or five games. He would take the
Speaker 1: snap and then just slam it up in there for
Speaker 1: no game, and everybody got so mad about it. And
Speaker 1: I heard one guy say, oh, they're running the sunny
Speaker 1: play over and over. Well, it's the same concept, yes,
Speaker 1: but it's not the same play. It's different literally every
Speaker 1: play because if it's run properly. And I talked with
Speaker 1: Jojo about this on and off the air, there's a pause,
Speaker 1: there's a beat. You take the football if you're the
Speaker 1: quarterback and in that position you are, when you take
Speaker 1: the snap and you read you just take one thousand
Speaker 1: and one, when you see how the line reacts and
Speaker 1: moves and shifts, what the d line does, and then
Speaker 1: you look for the opening. And if you're a gifted back,
Speaker 1: as Jojo was, as many snow was, you go and
Speaker 1: Jojo went all night and South Carolina never adjusted. So
Speaker 1: Jojo will open our broadcast on Saturday for the UK
Speaker 1: Sports Network something new we're trying. Bill Ransdell did it
Speaker 1: last week, Jojo will do it this week and talk
Speaker 1: about his big performance. And so while we had him
Speaker 1: here in the garage, we just threw a headset on
Speaker 1: him and had a long conversation with him about his career,
Speaker 1: about what's going on right now with the wildcast. So
Speaker 1: that comes up at the bottom of the hour. Our
Speaker 1: number two, Nick binge Oonne, joined us, the UK baseball
Speaker 1: coach whose life has been a bit of a whirlwind
Speaker 1: literally since the College World Series victory, or the victory
Speaker 1: that got him into the College World Series. You know,
Speaker 1: working ahead the next year, this coming season, and this
Speaker 1: is a vital time of the year for all baseball
Speaker 1: programs because fall baseball is when you really build your team,
Speaker 1: pull things together and figure out what you have. By
Speaker 1: the time you get the spring, you've got to have
Speaker 1: a pretty good idea, not lockdown, but a pretty good
Speaker 1: idea of what you're going to do and what kind
Speaker 1: of team you're going to put on the field and
Speaker 1: how you're going to do it. You finish that up
Speaker 1: with intersquad games in the spring. But Kentucky always has
Speaker 1: and I know a lot of other schools do an
Speaker 1: intersquad series. They call it the Fall World Series, the
Speaker 1: Blue and Black World Series, and figure out what's what.
Speaker 1: So they're just getting into meetings and individual workouts. So
Speaker 1: we'll talk to Nick Menji on about coming off that
Speaker 1: trip to the College World Series and what he expects
Speaker 1: this coming season. They have more than two dozen new
Speaker 1: players who came through the portal also coming up and out.
Speaker 1: Number two, Colby Wilson. You might not fully recognize the name,
Speaker 1: but you've seen her on Fox fifty six, one of
Speaker 1: the sports anchor reporters who has lived and worked literally
Speaker 1: all over the country. Was a college soccer player, but
Speaker 1: has lived and worked in several different cities and markets.
Speaker 1: So we'll get to know Kolby a little bit better.
Speaker 1: I've gotten a knowwhere just to speak to her and
Speaker 1: say hi at press conferences and games and everything. But
Speaker 1: it'll be her her first time coming up on the show.
Speaker 1: So it's a busy show, busy night, and I'm looking
Speaker 1: forward to sharing that with you. Closer to home. Last night,
Speaker 1: U came in soccer played to a draw with Virginia Tech,
Speaker 1: ending two to two at the Bell Soccer Complex. So
Speaker 1: the Wildcats now are one to zero and one, and
Speaker 1: it was a game in which they went all in
Speaker 1: for Miller. That is a basically a nonprofit organization designed
Speaker 1: to help hospitals, community people in general struggling to struggling
Speaker 1: to improve the quality of life for kids impacted by
Speaker 1: pediatric cancer special needs medical requirements. So that was something
Speaker 1: of a fundraiser last night. In the draw with Virginia Tech,
Speaker 1: it was only the second time those two teams have
Speaker 1: ever played, and believe it or not, the last time
Speaker 1: they played was nineteen ninety three and guess what, they
Speaker 1: tied one to one back then in two overtime periods.
Speaker 1: So the record right now for those teams zero zero
Speaker 1: and two. Speaking of zero, Florida State now is zero
Speaker 1: and two in college football. Hope you got a chance
Speaker 1: to watch a little bit of that game last night
Speaker 1: with Boston College. This is the team Florida State that
Speaker 1: has decided it's just too big and too important for
Speaker 1: the ACC and they're trying to sue to get out.
Speaker 1: This won't slow them down at all. But if you're
Speaker 1: looking for I don't know, sympathy or support, you can
Speaker 1: have a hard time getting it because right now Florida
Speaker 1: State not looking good even with dj Eagle Leleley, the
Speaker 1: quarterback who started at Clemson, transferred to Oregon State, came
Speaker 1: back to the ACC now playing at Florida State, and
Speaker 1: the Seminoles have dropped two straight down, including that loss
Speaker 1: to Georgia Tech in Dublin. So now they're going too
Speaker 1: in the conference. And there's a story on the Athletic
Speaker 1: how they could still go to the playoff or something
Speaker 1: like that. Well, anumerically, mathematically sure, but they're just not
Speaker 1: very good, so that ain't gonna happen. And by the way,
Speaker 1: for Boston College, win number one for Bill O'Brien, who
Speaker 1: became the head coach back in mid February because Jeff
Speaker 1: Halfley remember this, he left, I mean up and left
Speaker 1: to become the defensive coordinator from my Green Bay Packers.
Speaker 1: That was a shocker, so much did he make the move,
Speaker 1: because more college coaches are leaving now if they've got
Speaker 1: a place to go thanks to the portal and nil,
Speaker 1: but he did it in February. But O'Brien rings up
Speaker 1: and win in his first game as a head coach
Speaker 1: at bc LSU fans likewise disappointed by a third consecutive
Speaker 1: season opening loss under Brian Kelly. This one wasn't a crusher,
Speaker 1: but it got away from the Tigers. There's no question
Speaker 1: about that. On Sunday night, losing to USC on the
Speaker 1: last second field goal and LSU missed a lot of opportunities.
Speaker 1: And it's interesting that what has come out of that
Speaker 1: one is not as much talk about USC winning the
Speaker 1: game as LSU losing and Brian Kelly's reaction the table
Speaker 1: pounding anger in his postgame news conference.
Speaker 2: We had some guys played their butts off tonight and
Speaker 2: we're sitting here again. We're sitting here again talking about
Speaker 2: the same things about not finishing when you have an
Speaker 2: opponent in a position to put them away. But what
Speaker 2: we're doing on the sideline is feeling like the game's over,
Speaker 2: and I'm so angry about it that I got to
Speaker 2: do something about it. I'm not doing a good enough
Speaker 2: job as a coach, and I got to coach him
Speaker 2: better because it's unacceptable for us not to have found
Speaker 2: a way to win this football game.
Speaker 3: It's ridiculous and.
Speaker 2: Crazy.
Speaker 1: Somebody who pointed out he was so angry he forgot
Speaker 1: to speak with the Cajun accent. Not a bad line. Look,
Speaker 1: they're going to be fine, and you don't lose the players,
Speaker 1: especially Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Jayden Daniels like LSU did,
Speaker 1: and expect to maintain or even get better right away.
Speaker 1: They're gonna be fine, no question about that. But I
Speaker 1: can see whether they're frustrated. If you watch the game,
Speaker 1: you can see it too. Speaking of frustrated, Pat Forty
Speaker 1: pointed this out on SI dot com. How'd you like
Speaker 1: to be the mayor of Houston right now? You're a
Speaker 1: college football fan. The Cougars Houston lose to UNLV twenty
Speaker 1: seven to seven under first year head coach Willie Fritz
Speaker 1: at Houston. Then Rice, which is in Houston, if you
Speaker 1: didn't know that, coming off its first six win season
Speaker 1: in a decade, loses the SAM Houston State thirty four
Speaker 1: to fourteen. The Houston Christian Huskies fall to SMU fifty
Speaker 1: nine to seven. North American University. I'd never heard of
Speaker 1: this in NAI school in the suburb of Stafford, Texas
Speaker 1: loses seventy seven nothing to Stephen F. Austin and the
Speaker 1: second half two five minute quarters because the score was
Speaker 1: seventy to nothing at halftime, And of course Texas A
Speaker 1: and M loses as well, so not a great day
Speaker 1: in the city of Houston, the mayor and any other
Speaker 1: college football fans, and one pro football note, I wasn't
Speaker 1: aware that the Tennessee Titans had spent in the offseason
Speaker 1: as much as they did. They spent two hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty eight point two million dollars. The controlling owner, Amy
Speaker 1: Adams Strunk, talked about the fact that she has unapologetically
Speaker 1: high expectations for the football team at every aspect of
Speaker 1: the Titans organization unquote. All of that, of course, puts
Speaker 1: enormous pressure on former Wildcat Will Levis. But the comment
Speaker 1: making the rounds from Will was when he talked about pressure.
Speaker 4: Pressure is a privilege, and I feel like I've always
Speaker 4: felt that.
Speaker 1: I think.
Speaker 4: The more that you're focused on what other people are
Speaker 4: going to be thinking about you based on how you
Speaker 4: act and what the outcome of your actions are, than
Speaker 4: the more that it can weigh on you. But I
Speaker 4: think I'm just more solely focused on myself and the
Speaker 4: people here, and I know as long as I'm just
Speaker 4: doing my best to work to get myself to the
Speaker 4: level I know I can get too, then that's all
Speaker 4: I can do. So pressure, Pressure's cool. Pressure means there's
Speaker 4: a lot of eyes on you, and there's a lot
Speaker 4: of people don't count on you to succeed, and I
Speaker 4: welcome it with open arms.
Speaker 1: That's Will Levis and his Titans open up in Chicago
Speaker 1: with dub Bears on Sunday at one o'clock. And how
Speaker 1: about this. The Bears have named Caleb Williams, a rookie quarterback,
Speaker 1: the overall number one pick, one of their team captains.
Speaker 1: How about that a rookie quarterback is one of the
Speaker 1: team captains. There are a total of eight for the Bears,
Speaker 1: and the team has announced that Caleb Williams is one
Speaker 1: of them. Interesting when we come back, Mark Stoops opens
Speaker 1: the week with comments about his team's went over Southern
Speaker 1: Miss and a look ahead to South Carolina at the
Speaker 1: bottom of the hour. Jojo Kemp here in the garage
Speaker 1: on six point thirty WLAP Welcome back coming up in
Speaker 1: just a few minutes. My conversation here in the garage
Speaker 1: with Jojo Kemp. He had that huge game against South
Speaker 1: Carolina back in twenty fourteen, three touchdowns, wildcat formation snapped
Speaker 1: the camp and he goes in touch down Kentucky straight
Speaker 1: up the middle of the Wildcat formation, Kentucky erased two
Speaker 1: fourteen point deficits, and then, of course, with a score
Speaker 1: tied at thirty eight, with a couple of minutes left,
Speaker 1: Bud Dupree made the game winning play.
Speaker 5: Steps up with the pocket.
Speaker 1: It's deflected up into the air. It's intercepting duck down Kentucky.
Speaker 1: Budd dupre caught it right round.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 1: He flipped it into the air and dupre caught it
Speaker 1: in full stride as called by Tom Leach and Jeff Chorus.
Speaker 1: So we'll talk to Jojo about that and more coming
Speaker 1: up in a few minutes. And then our number two,
Speaker 1: Nick Menji on Kentucky's baseball goes. Remember this one.
Speaker 6: Here's a swinging of drive today plaff Beckels Nixon looking up.
Speaker 6: Daily win it, Daily wins it, Daily wins it. Kentucky
Speaker 6: defeats at Sea State five to four on a walk
Speaker 6: off home run five Mitchell Daily.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Darren Hedrick calling Mitchell Daily's walk off home run
Speaker 1: as the Cats win their first College World Series game ever.
Speaker 1: So we'll catch up with the UK coach, but let's
Speaker 1: talk about Kentucky football and the Wildcats coach Mark Stoops,
Speaker 1: who talked to the media yesterday, and we'll be hearing
Speaker 1: from him all week as well as his assistants and
Speaker 1: players about what happened against Southern misson what he hopes
Speaker 1: happens against South Carolina, which has a talented quarterback Leonoras Sellers,
Speaker 1: who can throw it and run it.
Speaker 7: A dual threat guy. He's big, he's strong, he can
Speaker 7: throw the heck out of the ball down the field.
Speaker 7: You know you saw that, so you saw. Do you
Speaker 7: see the arm talent?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 3: So?
Speaker 7: I think a very good football player that is going
Speaker 7: to get better with every stap takes, every game, every rep,
Speaker 7: you know, he'll improve. And a very good, you know,
Speaker 7: physical guy with a lot a lot of attributes.
Speaker 1: You know, I could run, he could throw, and of
Speaker 1: course Kentucky fans for years have seen dual threat quarterbacks
Speaker 1: come in and make Kentucky look bad. Of late, I
Speaker 1: thought the Wildcats have done a better job at that.
Speaker 1: But you know, you just can't let a guy escape
Speaker 1: the pocket and move the chains and that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: I will say that last week, from what I understand,
Speaker 1: I didn't get to see much of the South Carolina game.
Speaker 1: The game Cockus did not look very good against Old
Speaker 1: Dominion and if not for an Odu fumble late in
Speaker 1: the game. Aaron Gerstown was telling me last night, South
Speaker 1: Carolina loses that game and Old Dominion moving up from
Speaker 1: FCS one Double A, has had a really good program
Speaker 1: through the years, but apparently South Carolina just did not
Speaker 1: look good. And Sellers himself modest numbers at best, ten
Speaker 1: of twenty three throwing the football for one hundred and
Speaker 1: fourteen yards, it's an average of five yards per completion
Speaker 1: completed only forty three and a half percent. His long
Speaker 1: was forty one yards, so subtract that from one fourteen
Speaker 1: and it's even more modest. And I'm being kind Raheem
Speaker 1: Sanders twenty four carries eighty eight yards, about three and
Speaker 1: a half yards per carry, but his long was twenty one,
Speaker 1: So look at twenty three for what sixty seven yards?
Speaker 1: Sellers himself ranted twenty two times for sixty eight yards,
Speaker 1: his long twenty three, So then you're talking about twenty
Speaker 1: one carries forty five yards. So he kept plays alive
Speaker 1: and I'm sure he moved the chains more than once.
Speaker 1: But he was your number two rusher for South Carolina
Speaker 1: and that win over Old Dominion. Jared Brown a wide
Speaker 1: receiver had one carry for sixteen yards, so that worked
Speaker 1: Juju McDowell back at two carries for sixteen yards, so
Speaker 1: they were not very productive at all on offense. Then
Speaker 1: Drivius Jacobs two catches for fifty nine yards with a
Speaker 1: long of forty one. They just had a hard time
Speaker 1: moving the ball. So Kentucky, in terms of what we
Speaker 1: saw and what we know about South Carolina outperformed the
Speaker 1: game Cocks in just two and a half quarters. And
Speaker 1: it was tough. And I said the same thing that
Speaker 1: the Mark troops between segments when we were doing the
Speaker 1: postgame show that I was disappointed, and I know they
Speaker 1: were entirely disappointed they didn't get to see the backups
Speaker 1: get in because that was likely going to happen against
Speaker 1: Southern Myths.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it does bother me that we didn't get a
Speaker 7: lot of reps for some guys that we could have
Speaker 7: gotten some reps. You know that there's some players that
Speaker 7: worked extremely hard that we wanted to see in a
Speaker 7: game like situation. We have a big lead, you know,
Speaker 7: so that part of it, you know, is disappointing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you got to wonder when are they going
Speaker 1: to get a chance to empty the bench again because
Speaker 1: Southern Miss just wasn't very good. They might turn out
Speaker 1: to be good, but did not play well at all
Speaker 1: on Saturday night, and Kentucky had so much to do
Speaker 1: with that. Wild kids just had him overpowered and outmanned.
Speaker 1: But there was an opportunity to look like an opportunity
Speaker 1: to get almost everybody in the game. I'm still in press.
Speaker 1: Kentucky played I think seven true freshmen in that game.
Speaker 1: But they do need to build depth on that old line.
Speaker 1: We know there's depth on the defensive front, and they
Speaker 1: were able to get some rotations done and in the
Speaker 1: secondary as well, And at one point Hunting Jeff pointed
Speaker 1: out with Tom Leach that they had rotated most of
Speaker 1: the back seven on defense. So one other thing that's
Speaker 1: disappointing as well is keep in mind if you look
Speaker 1: at if if you care about this stuff, stats are
Speaker 1: going to be kind of skewed all year offensively because
Speaker 1: when we look at average plays per game, now you
Speaker 1: got to remember the fact that they played only half
Speaker 1: a game in the opener. So if you look at
Speaker 1: average plays per game for Kentucky this year, it's got
Speaker 1: to come with an asterisk. Of course, there was a
Speaker 1: shutout and you held the other team to five yards.
Speaker 1: Rushing up next, Jojo Camp here in the garage, six
Speaker 1: thirty WLAP, Welcome back, coming up Saturday. As you know,
Speaker 1: it's the Cats and the Game Cocks, and we're trying
Speaker 1: something new this year on the UK Sports Network on
Speaker 1: we hope all of our games, but at least most
Speaker 1: of them, will open the game with a celebrity monologue.
Speaker 1: Last week it was Bill Ransdell, who quarterback the eighty
Speaker 1: four team to a Bowl victory and to celebrate the
Speaker 1: fortieth anniversary, Bill opened our season. Coming up Saturday night
Speaker 1: or Saturday afternoon. Jojo Kemp, who ran over around and
Speaker 1: threw the Game Cox for three touchdowns and mark Steuben's
Speaker 1: first signature win back in twenty fourteen, we'll do the honors.
Speaker 1: And we decided while we had him here in the
Speaker 1: garage working on that we would chat about that game.
Speaker 1: So here's my conversation with Jojo Kemp right here in
Speaker 1: the garage. Well, Jojo Kemp, welcome to the garage. Good
Speaker 1: to have you here in person.
Speaker 3: Hey, I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Thank you for
Speaker 3: having me and.
Speaker 1: You will hear Jojo open our broadcast on Saturday as
Speaker 1: the Wildcats take on South Carolina. I gotta think that
Speaker 1: that big game you had back in was it twenty fourteen?
Speaker 3: Yes, twenty fourteen?
Speaker 1: How often do you think back on that game you had?
Speaker 1: You had good games throughout your career, but that one especially.
Speaker 3: Yeah, man, you make me feel old. Man. I can't
Speaker 3: believe it's already been ten years that fast.
Speaker 1: You look like you can still play.
Speaker 3: I know I still can't.
Speaker 8: You know we still Yeah, man, we still working out man,
Speaker 8: at your local you know, playing fitness is we've been
Speaker 8: working on at esport and we still getting it in.
Speaker 8: I feel like I could still go out there, you know,
Speaker 8: rush over one hundred yards.
Speaker 1: We had a conversation before we started recording about the
Speaker 1: Wildcat formation, and it's frustrating when it doesn't work. Because
Speaker 1: you and I were talking. You know, someone who doesn't
Speaker 1: run it properly slams it up in there and it doesn't.
Speaker 1: It doesn't go for anything. But you just got to
Speaker 1: take that one beat and let everything unfold in front
Speaker 1: of you. Yes, how difficult was that for you to
Speaker 1: to learn as a running back because your instinct is
Speaker 1: get it and go.
Speaker 3: Yes, you want what tough.
Speaker 1: Is that?
Speaker 8: I mean, you know at first, you know, doing especially
Speaker 8: during practice and things like that. You know, when you
Speaker 8: first get back there, you know, it's like a different
Speaker 8: feeling from lining up you know in a in a
Speaker 8: pistol or ice formation. You know, you just want to
Speaker 8: get the ball and just go hit the whole full speed. Yes,
Speaker 8: you know, one hundred miles per hour. But with the
Speaker 8: you know, wildcat formation, you at the quarterback position, so
Speaker 8: that you know that's the second you know matters. So
Speaker 8: it just helps you just stay patient, letting the line develop,
Speaker 8: you know, you know transform, and then you know, once
Speaker 8: you see the whole, you know, then you hit it
Speaker 8: and you know you attack it with some aggression and
Speaker 8: you know, run behind your paths.
Speaker 1: And like you said, you line up, you're the quarterback.
Speaker 1: You got to take the snap and you got to
Speaker 1: obviously it sounds silly to say, but you got to
Speaker 1: concentrate on catching that ball. You don't want to cheat
Speaker 1: and lift you like you're a golfer. You don't want
Speaker 1: to lift your head.
Speaker 8: Was that an adjustment for yes, because you know at
Speaker 8: the quarterback position, you're lined up you know at five yards.
Speaker 8: You know, when you're in a pistol, you're like seven,
Speaker 8: So those those two yard makes a difference. You know,
Speaker 8: it's a game of interest, so that's gonna you know,
Speaker 8: take some time to you know, let that formation develop
Speaker 8: and you know, let the line do that thing so
Speaker 8: you can, you know, run behind your pass and do
Speaker 8: what you have to do.
Speaker 1: One of the other things I like about it, and
Speaker 1: I'm a bit of an hour I like the wildcat
Speaker 1: because when it's works, it's great. Old linemen don't have
Speaker 1: to try to force the defender in a certain direction.
Speaker 1: I mean they can they can. You know, if a
Speaker 1: defender wants to go to his left, you just take
Speaker 1: him left a little more exactly, which opens things up
Speaker 1: on the right and gives you a chance to.
Speaker 8: Read that exactly. You can you can read the floor
Speaker 8: floor of the of the line. You know, if the
Speaker 8: lineman is letting him take it that way, then you
Speaker 8: can just see the cutback. And then if it's hitting backside,
Speaker 8: you just gonna hit backside. You know, you just reading
Speaker 8: the line and you know, just going off for instance.
Speaker 3: You know, that's what makes us running backs right absolutely.
Speaker 1: Kentucky and South Carolina has become a really vital series
Speaker 1: for both teams. I mean, every win, as we know,
Speaker 1: it's huge. Every conference win is huge. Kentucky, you guys
Speaker 1: have gone on the road and beaten them there, they've
Speaker 1: come up here in one. But did you get that
Speaker 1: feeling with South Carolina like you guys were fighting for
Speaker 1: the same turf in the s SEC East?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 8: Yeah, for sure. South Carolina was you know, a special
Speaker 8: moment for me. Just when we beat him in twenty fourteen,
Speaker 8: that was you know, that was a you know, a real,
Speaker 8: you know, cool exp But I think the most memorable
Speaker 8: win for me also was that very next year. Yeah,
Speaker 8: because we went to their place the year before, they
Speaker 8: thought it was a flu.
Speaker 3: We beat him in a wildcat.
Speaker 8: So I felt like that very next year being able
Speaker 8: to get that first SEC role win at South Carolina
Speaker 8: was very memorable as well.
Speaker 1: You know, as you know, doing the postgame interviews, yes
Speaker 1: that I do here at home, we go upstairs to
Speaker 1: an interview room. On the road, we do him in
Speaker 1: the locker room, and I remember Jojo walking into that
Speaker 1: locker room after that game and the wall of noise.
Speaker 1: You know, you all had sung the fight song and
Speaker 1: coaching made a speech, but then the music cracked up.
Speaker 1: And you guys started dancing and hollering. I have never
Speaker 1: been in a louder locker room. I eventually was down
Speaker 1: in Florida, but that night, man, you guys partied.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, it was.
Speaker 8: It was a great experience, man, And it's just awesome
Speaker 8: to see what the program is you know today is
Speaker 8: it's wonderful. You know, all that hall work it definitely
Speaker 8: paid off, and to see what the program is today
Speaker 8: is remarkable.
Speaker 1: They're standing on your shoulders, you and your teammates from
Speaker 1: that year you were one of coaches. I think that
Speaker 1: that win at home over Carolina was his first signature windows.
Speaker 8: Yes, yes, And in the environment, you know, you see
Speaker 8: that stadium was electrified. Man, that's when the song Road
Speaker 8: Street came all about, came alive. You know, chron helmets
Speaker 8: all black, Why Not Us? You know, it created a
Speaker 8: different environment, just a different culture around.
Speaker 3: You know, Lexington, you did.
Speaker 1: The post game TV interview for the SEC Network. That's
Speaker 1: where Why Not Us was born.
Speaker 3: The game.
Speaker 1: Were you sitting on that in your mind or did
Speaker 1: that just come to you?
Speaker 8: That's just it just came. It's one of those things
Speaker 8: just came to me, man. You know, you just you
Speaker 8: just in the moment. You know, we you know, every
Speaker 8: day a practice, you know, we we put in that
Speaker 8: work with your you know, with your brother, and you know,
Speaker 8: this is something that we, you know, we work hard for.
Speaker 8: So to be able to, you know, be able to
Speaker 8: fight that type of game, in that type of environment
Speaker 8: and be able to you know, get over the hump
Speaker 8: and come out with a with a victory.
Speaker 3: That was that was that was That was awesome.
Speaker 1: Makes it a little easier to go back to work,
Speaker 1: doesn't it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it makes it a lot easier.
Speaker 1: Right, What was your reaction when you saw how why
Speaker 1: not us? Took hold in the big, big blue nation.
Speaker 1: It's still resonating.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you know, why not? You know, why not?
Speaker 3: Why not us? You know, like the wildcats?
Speaker 1: You know, I mean you noticed, you had to notice.
Speaker 1: The next day, I'm thinking that you look around and
Speaker 1: people are saying it or tweeting it or whatever.
Speaker 8: I know, it's awesome and you know, people still saying
Speaker 8: it today. You know, why not us? And and that's
Speaker 8: what we're gonna need to do, you know, weekend and
Speaker 8: week out especially you know, uh, this Saturday, Well, let's.
Speaker 1: Go back to that that big game before we look
Speaker 1: ahead because they want to hear what you have to
Speaker 1: say about this year's team. But it was spurriy or
Speaker 1: wasn't it. Oh yeah, I mean, did you guys think
Speaker 1: much about that? Fans eat up with it, but I
Speaker 1: know you did after the game.
Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, after the game. Not much during the game.
Speaker 8: But you know, you know, Steve Spurr is a great coach.
Speaker 8: You know, Coach Spurr is a great coach. And I
Speaker 8: think he had enough of it once we beat him
Speaker 8: at our home and then we went to their house
Speaker 8: and beat him. I think he said, all right, I've
Speaker 8: had enough. He said, I have enough. I can't get
Speaker 8: a win over the wad As. I think it's time
Speaker 8: to hang it up. So they take that as a
Speaker 8: victory as well.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, man. Two of the biggest plays, uh one
Speaker 1: involved you. One involved Ryan Timmins. So let's listen to
Speaker 1: Ryan Timmins the flea Flicker, which started with you and
Speaker 1: the Wildcat and Patrick Coles hit a wide open Ryan Timmins,
Speaker 1: and I'll drop that in there. Do you remember much
Speaker 1: about that play and having unfolded and you told me
Speaker 1: earlier that you thought you guys could get that in
Speaker 1: the game plan.
Speaker 8: Yes, yes, in the game plan, I definitely thought it
Speaker 8: was gonna get it because I knew they didn't see
Speaker 8: it coming. I mean, I knew I wasn't gonna be
Speaker 8: able to get the ball to Ryan Timmis. I can't throw, yes, Yeah,
Speaker 8: so we flipped the batty Patrick. You know, but what
Speaker 8: I remember about that block. If you watch that but
Speaker 8: I remember about that play, and you watched that play closely,
Speaker 8: you can see me, I have to block a d
Speaker 8: N yeah, And I mean, I mean I almost got
Speaker 8: malled on that play. So it's like I had to
Speaker 8: take everything out of me just to seal this block
Speaker 8: just so we can get this playoff. So I remember
Speaker 8: that player, and that was I remember one of the
Speaker 8: times where it was like it's.
Speaker 3: Me versus him.
Speaker 8: You know, you're proud of that, yeah, man, And being
Speaker 8: able to get that playoff and in that environment, in
Speaker 8: that game situation, it was awesome.
Speaker 3: It was awesome.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I don't remember you being known for your block
Speaker 1: and that you that you weren't a blocker. But that's
Speaker 1: something that you guys need to be able to do,
Speaker 1: and people don't understand that. Some running backs when you're
Speaker 1: wondering where is this guy? Well, it might be a
Speaker 1: situation where you need a block or a chip from
Speaker 1: a running back and maybe this particular guy can't do
Speaker 1: it very exactly, so they sell out. Did you take
Speaker 1: a whole lot of pride in your block?
Speaker 8: Yeah, I took a lot of pride because I knew
Speaker 8: it was gonna it was gonna come to that as well.
Speaker 3: I knew that play.
Speaker 8: I was definitely gonna have to look, you know, front
Speaker 8: side on that d ND because he was gonna come free.
Speaker 8: So I definitely was thinking about that before the play
Speaker 8: even started, like the.
Speaker 3: Time is now, the time is now, I have to
Speaker 3: bike down. I had to bike down.
Speaker 1: And you did it. Another huge play. You didn't score.
Speaker 1: Everybody in the stadium, including you, thought you were going
Speaker 1: to score. There was a huge play out of the wild. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's listen to that one. I'll never forget that play ended.
Speaker 1: I was almost parallel on the other side of the
Speaker 1: field from you. Were just laying there, and if you
Speaker 1: look at the video, one of your teammates comes over
Speaker 1: to help you up, and what did you.
Speaker 3: Do get away? You know, let me, let me, let
Speaker 3: me take a breath.
Speaker 8: But listen though, if you look at that if you
Speaker 8: look at that play and look at me before the
Speaker 8: ball snap. You see, I got my hands on the
Speaker 8: hill like I'm like, I'm trying to catch a breathe. Yes,
Speaker 8: before the play, I'm signaling Blue to come in emotion.
Speaker 8: He's not coming in emotions because his foot is.
Speaker 3: On the line. I'm just all over the place.
Speaker 8: But again, one of those plays where you know I
Speaker 8: had to you know, you know, dig deep.
Speaker 3: I had to dig deep and you know, make it happen.
Speaker 8: But like that whole game and just watching film, breaking
Speaker 8: down film and just just seeing all this little details
Speaker 8: that it's pretty funny. And it's something that me and
Speaker 8: my boys laugh to this, like laugh about to this day.
Speaker 8: It's it's something that we all sit around the group
Speaker 8: and just while we're playing pick a ball. You know
Speaker 8: you got you know, Alan Montgomery is like, don't get tired.
Speaker 8: You know this, you know what I'm saying. Just little
Speaker 8: things like that. It's something that we joke about to
Speaker 8: this day.
Speaker 1: Right now, more of my conversation with Jojo Kemp right
Speaker 1: here in the garage up next here in the Big
Speaker 1: Booming Siders six thirty WLAP, We're talking with Jojo Kemp,
Speaker 1: he of course former Kentucky wide Well, once a Wildcat,
Speaker 1: always a wild kid. But a huge game against South
Speaker 1: Carolina in twenty fourteen at Corgerfield. Back then it was
Speaker 1: Kinmiwell Stadium. And before we move on to this year's team,
Speaker 1: one last question about that game. Bud Dupree's interception and
Speaker 1: then pick six. Basically it was one of the shortest
Speaker 1: pick six as ever, but one of the biggest as well.
Speaker 1: What do you remember about that seeing that unfold?
Speaker 8: Man, I was I was thinking about not going overtime. Yeah,
Speaker 8: So for Buda Prie to get that and seal again,
Speaker 8: seal the game, that was awesome. So all we knew
Speaker 8: we had to do just get the ball back and
Speaker 8: you know, hold them again and you know, run a
Speaker 8: clock out because honestly, man, I did not want to
Speaker 8: go to overtime.
Speaker 3: Man, but I did not want to go to overtime.
Speaker 1: One of the biggest game plays of the night was
Speaker 1: a very short game that you picked up that meant
Speaker 1: first down, game over. Yes, tell me what do you
Speaker 1: remember about that because you fought for that yard?
Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. Again, just one of
Speaker 8: those things where you got to dig deep. It's just
Speaker 8: how bad do you want it, you know, it's it's
Speaker 8: it's plain and simple.
Speaker 3: So you know, I had.
Speaker 8: I just it was one of those deals where again,
Speaker 8: you know, we worked so hard and we put so
Speaker 8: much work in this game. When you get moments like that,
Speaker 8: it's time to you know, seize the moment and you know,
Speaker 8: get the job done. You know, just just think about
Speaker 8: just how special that night were with all the fans.
Speaker 3: It was sold out game under the lights.
Speaker 8: Uh, the field like that was you know, it's like
Speaker 8: a Senderella story, you know.
Speaker 3: So man, uh it was.
Speaker 8: It was a wonderful experience and and I'm just happy
Speaker 8: and just where the program is today and just just
Speaker 8: excited to just see how much energy around you know,
Speaker 8: Kentucky football.
Speaker 1: You know, I remember running it on the field. I
Speaker 1: didn't run, but worked my way out there to talk
Speaker 1: to some players. But before I looked over in the
Speaker 1: end zone and there was Mark Stoops with his hand
Speaker 1: on his zip, just watching the crowd byself, you know.
Speaker 1: So I walked over and talked to him and he
Speaker 1: was just taking it all. So but now he's in
Speaker 1: his twelfth year. That's hard to believe. He is the
Speaker 1: dean of SEC coaches. Uh started off with a win
Speaker 1: although only played two half quarters basically, But what have
Speaker 1: you seen from.
Speaker 3: This year's team?
Speaker 8: Man, I see a bunch of hungry guys, Like out there,
Speaker 8: I see a bunch of hungry guys that's excited to
Speaker 8: play for coach Stoops. And you know, with Coach Stoops,
Speaker 8: I know what type of coaches is. So just to
Speaker 8: see the team that you know, those guys put together
Speaker 8: and see where this team at today and how they
Speaker 8: responded with you know, with the weather, and you know,
Speaker 8: just just to see how focused those guys were, because
Speaker 8: I was in the locker room this past Saturday, so
Speaker 8: to see how focused and none distracted these guys were,
Speaker 8: it was. It was awesome. And you can just see
Speaker 8: the the culture of this team. So I'm excited for
Speaker 8: this year. I'm excited to see this team, you know,
Speaker 8: week in and week out.
Speaker 1: Talking to Jojo Kemp Kentucky running back from early in
Speaker 1: the Mark Stoops era and now seven wins, which when
Speaker 1: when you first got to Kentucky, people would have held
Speaker 1: parties and celebrated seven when now fans expect so much
Speaker 1: more exactly, and you just mentioned the culture, and so
Speaker 1: much of this is because of what you and your
Speaker 1: teammates did ten years ago. That's gonna make you all
Speaker 1: really proud when you get together. I know you're so
Speaker 1: happy for where they are now. I can tell in
Speaker 1: your voice and your smile. Oh yeah, but now the
Speaker 1: expectations are so much greater.
Speaker 3: Yes, for Kentucky football exactly. And that's always supposed to be.
Speaker 8: You know, much has been given much as expected, so
Speaker 8: that's always supposed to be. And and I believe these
Speaker 8: guys are handled it really well, So I'm excited. You know,
Speaker 8: these guys work really hard. You know, these guys trained.
Speaker 8: I know the you know, the coaching staff, the guys
Speaker 8: on the training staff, coach with, coach ed and coach
Speaker 8: hell condition yeah, I know the type of people that
Speaker 8: they're surround it around. So you know, it's not a
Speaker 8: dot in my mind, they're not They're going to get
Speaker 8: the job done this year.
Speaker 1: You still live in Lexon uh your sales but obviously
Speaker 1: you're you're a huge fan. Tell me what life's been
Speaker 1: like after I mean, still a little bit of a
Speaker 1: celebrity people see in the parking live.
Speaker 8: When oh yeah, you know, right right now, just you know,
Speaker 8: continue to make a difference, you know, right here in
Speaker 8: the community, hanging out, playing pick a ball a lot
Speaker 8: with the guys over at kirk Levington, you know, hanging
Speaker 8: out with my surgeons, doctor Hamilton, the Ortho legend. Just
Speaker 8: you know, just you know, living life and you know, adulting.
Speaker 8: You know, you know, I got got property. Uh, doing
Speaker 8: a little side like the Lord on the side, you know,
Speaker 8: growing up, you know, and and you know, enjoying some
Speaker 8: you know Kentucky sports.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, well you're you're rocking a UK hat
Speaker 1: right now.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: You come to be in the locker room prior to
Speaker 1: the opener.
Speaker 8: Just you know, hanging out sometimes, you know, I go out,
Speaker 8: just hang out with the guys. Uh, get in contact
Speaker 8: with Susan Slacks or whatever.
Speaker 3: You know, just it's me, It's Jojo.
Speaker 1: Well that's a great night for that. And then some
Speaker 1: of the other former guys came back and and were recognized.
Speaker 1: But how many times have people asked you, like like
Speaker 1: I do, about that South Carolina game, Because, like I said,
Speaker 1: that wasn't the only game where you excelled, but that
Speaker 1: probably was your best game all things considered.
Speaker 8: Right, Yeah, yeah, especially the environment and the top of victory.
Speaker 3: It was ofh for sure one of the most memorable.
Speaker 8: But like I said, I think that next year unfortunately
Speaker 8: again South Carolina away that first SEC role where was
Speaker 8: remarkable as well, because you know, it was a lot
Speaker 8: of people doubting us, or even the Louisville game when
Speaker 8: they had Lamar Jackson and nobody in the country had
Speaker 8: us winning, and then.
Speaker 1: We came or touchdown underdogs, yeah, and.
Speaker 8: We came in, went in and got that w So
Speaker 8: I think the games where we were, you know, underdogs
Speaker 8: and we were it took everyone in the locker room
Speaker 8: and the facility to believe we was going to get
Speaker 8: it done. I loved those type of wins yea, because
Speaker 8: it's like it's only us that believe.
Speaker 1: Well, and here it is when you're on the road
Speaker 1: to South Carolina. People may not understand there's a lot
Speaker 1: of tough places in the SEC, but when that place
Speaker 1: is rocking Williams Bryce and you're going into that end
Speaker 1: zone with the with the tall backdrop, when it's so
Speaker 1: loud and you all shut them down, didn't you exactly exactly?
Speaker 1: It was almost empty when you all walked up.
Speaker 8: You go in there is it's loud, and you know
Speaker 8: everybody they party hard and then you know, halftime, third quarter,
Speaker 8: you can hear a penny drop. I love that feeling,
Speaker 8: you know, it's I'm sorry, you know, no, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: Like I said, when they opened that locker room door
Speaker 1: and that wall of sound hit me, it was like
Speaker 1: I could barely hear my producer through the radio.
Speaker 3: I'm talk to you that night exactly, but that.
Speaker 1: We had a ball Jojo Kimp, thanks for coming by
Speaker 1: the garage. Maybe i'll say you game night Saturday. And
Speaker 1: I appreciate the fact that you're opening our broadcast.
Speaker 8: Yes, I really appreciate thank you for having me. I
Speaker 8: really appreciate you, you know, for you know, continue to
Speaker 8: you know, reach out.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm here.
Speaker 1: And he was here in the garage and we loved
Speaker 1: having him. And again listen for him opening our broadcast
Speaker 1: this Saturday afternoon. And we're back with our number two.
Speaker 1: Nick Minjeon will join US Kentucky's baseball coach to tell
Speaker 1: us what's up right now with the team coming off
Speaker 1: the College World Series that's next here on the Big
Speaker 1: Winsider six thirty WLAP there is coach in three two
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Luinsider and joining us now
Speaker 1: as a guy I bumped into on the sidelines at
Speaker 1: the football game the other night, no surprise. UK baseball
Speaker 1: coach Nick Bengew coach is always a pleasure to see
Speaker 1: you there, and it always strikes me that you need
Speaker 1: to be on that sideline at least for a while.
Speaker 1: Don't you just take it a feel for that football game.
Speaker 5: Well, there's no doubt about it. I mean, that's a
Speaker 5: great seat number one. But then also I think it's
Speaker 5: really important that we all support each other and I
Speaker 5: think we all know how important our football program is
Speaker 5: to this institution. And got a chance to also take
Speaker 5: Reeves and his buddy Reeese to the volleyball match on
Speaker 5: Friday night and see that awesome venue. So it was
Speaker 5: a good weekend of UK athletics, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And you know, I got to tell people, you're
Speaker 1: not down there just shaking and hattying and seeing to
Speaker 1: be seen. You're into those games.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: You're hollering, your questioning the officials. You're having a good time.
Speaker 9: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I love it. I love the intensity, I love the physicality,
Speaker 5: I love the speed. I love all of those things
Speaker 5: that go into that. So when you sit there and
Speaker 5: you think about all those things from an offensive, a defensive,
Speaker 5: I mean.
Speaker 10: Just from a coaches standpoint.
Speaker 5: I mean there's times where I'm standing right there next
Speaker 5: to coach Doups, I haven't knew anything about football, would
Speaker 5: recommend to play, but I don't, so I'll keep my
Speaker 5: mouth shut.
Speaker 1: Just one more football analogy. I remember Gary Henderson telling
Speaker 1: me that after Kentucky upset LSU, when LSU was the
Speaker 1: top ranked team in the country in O seven, there
Speaker 1: were people phoning the baseball coaching staff that night to
Speaker 1: commit to play baseball. I mean, there's a ripple effect,
Speaker 1: true ripple effect.
Speaker 5: Isn't there? And I was at that game, assistant here,
Speaker 5: I was at that game, and I was actually sitting
Speaker 5: with recruits at the time, So just just see them
Speaker 5: and to share that. And I know, you know, I
Speaker 5: wasn't nice and common poise.
Speaker 1: I was pretty well, Yeah, anytime you can beat LSU
Speaker 1: and anything, it's a good thing. Well, let's let's talk baseball.
Speaker 1: Of course, Kentucky coming off its first College World Series appearance,
Speaker 1: and I know over you got to look forward. But
Speaker 1: what has life been like for you since that happened.
Speaker 1: I know that you never slow down, but that just
Speaker 1: I hope you took a few minutes to bask and
Speaker 1: all that.
Speaker 5: Well, dick I wish I could tell you I did,
Speaker 5: and really it was. It was hard, and I actually
Speaker 5: didn't because we played on that Wednesday, as you know,
Speaker 5: and then the NTAA the way they do it, because
Speaker 5: we played that morning game, we flew right back on Wednesday,
Speaker 5: so we got done. We took the guys to the hotel,
Speaker 5: they showered and got cleaned up, and next thing you know,
Speaker 5: we're flying out that Wednesday. And then Thursday we have
Speaker 5: our team meeting at noon.
Speaker 1: That rolled right.
Speaker 5: Into player meetings on Thursday and Friday, Saturday meet with
Speaker 5: the coaches, and Sunday we had a visit some guys
Speaker 5: that were waiting for us to get back, and it
Speaker 5: was just really it was onto the next thing, and
Speaker 5: it was super busy. And finally Kristin Reeves and I
Speaker 5: got a chance to go on a vacation in August.
Speaker 5: But Dickie was seven months. I went seven straight months
Speaker 5: with no days off, literally not one, as you know,
Speaker 5: because we play every Friday, Saturday, Sunday. On Monday, you're
Speaker 5: preparing and you're practicing. Tuesday, we play Wednesday, preparation Thursday,
Speaker 5: travel or practice, play Friday, century Sunday. And did that
Speaker 5: routine for seven six straight months, and then recruiting for
Speaker 5: a solid month straight and you look up and it's like, whoa.
Speaker 5: We literally went, not just me, our whole staff. We
Speaker 5: went seven months without a day off. But that's what
Speaker 5: it takes and we want to be great. But finally
Speaker 5: got some time at Christina Reeves.
Speaker 1: And that's good because obviously being the head coach, I mean,
Speaker 1: your staff is involved as much as you are, but
Speaker 1: as the head coach, you have so many more responsibilities.
Speaker 1: It's got to be so mentally and emotionally taxing. And
Speaker 1: I know you've got a great family to fall back on,
Speaker 1: but how in the world do you manage all that?
Speaker 5: Well, you're right, and the why it's so taxing for
Speaker 5: me and I and you'll understand this because you have children.
Speaker 5: And by the way, it was great to meet Jack
Speaker 5: finally after all these years of me asking about them.
Speaker 5: But when someone what we do for a living, they
Speaker 5: trust God's greatest gift to them their children with us.
Speaker 5: So it's like we are really they're under our care
Speaker 5: while they're here and we're trying to help them and
Speaker 5: mentor them and shape them. And when you understand that
Speaker 5: and you value that, it's a lot. You're right, it's
Speaker 5: taxing because you know you're trying to help raise them
Speaker 5: and we're the last piece of that puzzle. And then
Speaker 5: but on top of that, you're trying to develop them
Speaker 5: as a student, person player. Then you're trying to win games,
Speaker 5: and you're trying to do all these things. And at
Speaker 5: the show, you're right. I mean, it was exhausting and taxing,
Speaker 5: and it was good to catch our bread finally, but
Speaker 5: it doesn't stop, as you know, and here we go
Speaker 5: right back into another season.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and from everything I've seen, you've got obviously a
Speaker 1: lot of new faces. Everybody does, and you and I
Speaker 1: have talked before that, as odd as it is for
Speaker 1: other sports, it's kind of been a norm for baseball.
Speaker 1: We've talked about that more than once. But are you
Speaker 1: you're reloading in lieu of rebuilding because you've still got
Speaker 1: some good kids who were a foundation of your team
Speaker 1: this past year.
Speaker 5: Yeah, we do. We actually have thirty new players. So
Speaker 5: we have forty eight guys on the roster, and thirty
Speaker 5: of them are new, so it's right at sixty three
Speaker 5: percent of our team, our first year players, and you know,
Speaker 5: it feels like that twenty three season, Dick. I think
Speaker 5: you probably remember that where you know, positionally you look
Speaker 5: up and there's just so many new faces out there.
Speaker 5: So it's one where we feel like, obviously you can
Speaker 5: still win, but we have to replace a lot, a
Speaker 5: lot of starters on really both sides of the ball
Speaker 5: when you think about it. Our Friday guys signed Pro,
Speaker 5: Saturday Starter Sign Pro, Sunday Starter Sign prow first Basement,
Speaker 5: second Basement Sign Pro, seorg Stop Signpro, third Basement Sign
Speaker 5: Pro Leftfielder sign Pro. I mean, we lost a lot
Speaker 5: and that's good. So at the same time, we have
Speaker 5: some guys that have been in our program and we
Speaker 5: really like some of the pieces we added out of
Speaker 5: the portal.
Speaker 1: So you're unique as a program in that I firmly
Speaker 1: believe you lost. I hate to rub it in the
Speaker 1: best shortstop second basement combo in America. You've got some
Speaker 1: great kids to replace them. They got to prove themselves,
Speaker 1: of course, but I guess in your line of work, coach,
Speaker 1: you just gotta just be happy you had them, right,
Speaker 1: you don't more than the fact that they're gone, but
Speaker 1: you're just happy you had them.
Speaker 10: Thanks for reminding me, I dick, they're not here anymore, Okay,
Speaker 10: I mean thank you, but yeah, no, that's it. And
Speaker 10: even that's just whole team. And you know this, you
Speaker 10: were around them a ton is as much as not
Speaker 10: more than most people. Just great group of guys, like
Speaker 10: just when I say men, like mature men who just
Speaker 10: went about their business. It's such a high level and
Speaker 10: valued and paid attention to all the right things.
Speaker 5: I think we're in an age of college athletics. You
Speaker 5: know this, but there's just so many distractions. There's so
Speaker 5: many things that they can put their focus and attention on,
Speaker 5: and they just focused on each other and winning for
Speaker 5: Kentucky and doing something that's never been done before and
Speaker 5: really trying to create a legacy and pretty amazing group
Speaker 5: of men. And I miss them. And we watched the
Speaker 5: video the first team meeting a couple of saturdays ago,
Speaker 5: and you know, just in just a two minute clip,
Speaker 5: we pointed out about fifteen things that made that seem
Speaker 5: so special, and there was a lot of it. But
Speaker 5: I'm excited for this new challenge and journey with this
Speaker 5: group of guys.
Speaker 1: We have this year I will never forget the morning
Speaker 1: after you guys clinched the SEC Championship, being in the dougout,
Speaker 1: We're all doing the pregame interviews and preps and things
Speaker 1: like that, and we got to talking about Omaha and
Speaker 1: just just off the cuff a little bit, and Grant
Speaker 1: was standing there and at one point he said, I
Speaker 1: need that more than I need to breathe, which just
Speaker 1: I mean, that just hit me right between the eyes.
Speaker 1: I knew how much those guys wanted it, but just
Speaker 1: the fact that they can make it happen. And now
Speaker 1: you've got that residue there, You've got guys with well
Speaker 1: Omaha experience. That's huge for you and your staff, Isn't.
Speaker 5: It It is? It is, It definitely is, and for
Speaker 5: them to feel it and touch it. And the reception
Speaker 5: has been unbelievable. Just even around the community. I just
Speaker 5: feel like I hear a new story every single day
Speaker 5: about somebody that went or was there and how they
Speaker 5: soaked it in and they were about to dugout and
Speaker 5: this person was three people deep on the concourse or
Speaker 5: you know, out there in the outfield and those bleachers.
Speaker 5: It's been really need to even just year, even on
Speaker 5: the sidelines this past football game, a very kind gentleman
Speaker 5: just paying the team a just tremendous amount of compliments
Speaker 5: the way they were a team, in the way they
Speaker 5: loved and played for each other, and what it did
Speaker 5: for this community.
Speaker 10: So super thankful for that.
Speaker 1: More well, UK baseball coach Nick bnjeon when we come
Speaker 1: back to the big blew Insider here on six point
Speaker 1: thirty WLA talking with ukhad baseball coach Nick Benjione. Of course,
Speaker 1: a brand new team to put together, not entirely brand new,
Speaker 1: but coming off the College World Series experience and going
Speaker 1: into this coming season, you've got every right to expect
Speaker 1: the fans to be excited about Kentucky baseball. And I
Speaker 1: remember coach being up in the press box during the
Speaker 1: Super Regional, and I'd had this feeling before, of course,
Speaker 1: because that wasn't your first Regional championship, but your first
Speaker 1: Super that you host, jam pack people running for their
Speaker 1: seats once the gates spring open on a gorgeous evening,
Speaker 1: and I remember thinking, man, this is what they had
Speaker 1: in mind. And I was standing there with a lot
Speaker 1: of other people when you guys first turned the shovels
Speaker 1: to build that Ballpark, and I just I could not
Speaker 1: help but just get this big grin on my face.
Speaker 1: I think, Darren Hedrick turning around, what are you smiling about?
Speaker 1: You know, that's what we've seen it in other places,
Speaker 1: and now we've seen it in Lexington. Man, that's got
Speaker 1: to be such a great feeling for you, because, yeah,
Speaker 1: I was here when you were sleeping on couches back
Speaker 1: when you were an assistant coach.
Speaker 10: Yeah.
Speaker 5: And you know, speaking of that shovel, Dick, I have
Speaker 5: that shovel in my office and each day when I
Speaker 5: walked through where my desk is, that shovel is right there.
Speaker 5: Next time you're buy the office, you'll have to you
Speaker 5: have to see it, and that shovel is there. And
Speaker 5: it's a reminder to me that we broke ground and
Speaker 5: we built a place that was intended to have a
Speaker 5: lot of people in it and to win championships in
Speaker 5: and that shovel is actually right by my desk every day,
Speaker 5: and it is a good reminder for the responsibility that
Speaker 5: comes with this position.
Speaker 1: Well, we could talk about your new roster all night long.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to put you through that, but I
Speaker 1: will ask you about one guy in particular, who's coming back.
Speaker 1: And I think it was a little bit of a
Speaker 1: surprise of some of us, but not entirely, that Devin
Speaker 1: Burks decided to come back. And you talk about the
Speaker 1: backbone of a team, and I know you've got depth
Speaker 1: of debt position because of recruiting and transfers and all,
Speaker 1: but what a huge plus for you guys. He's like
Speaker 1: having a coach on the field, isn't he Oh?
Speaker 5: Absolutely, And it's like a coach in the office. This
Speaker 5: is the guy that swings by and brightens up the
Speaker 5: day and just by his presence. So he is definitely
Speaker 5: an extension of our coaching staff and somebody that we
Speaker 5: really trust. And we were obviously disappointed he didn't get
Speaker 5: the opportunity to go pro and in the position and
Speaker 5: in the timeframe in which he wanted. But ultimately he's
Speaker 5: got another crack at that. And you know, I when
Speaker 5: I think about that, then I just think about the
Speaker 5: awardy one early in the spring where he was named
Speaker 5: mister Wildcat. Yeah, And I mean that is the most
Speaker 5: prestigious award you can get from our athletic administration. And
Speaker 5: that's what's what he is and that's what he means
Speaker 5: to our program and this entire athletic department. I mean,
Speaker 5: he truly is mister Wildcat from the way he goes
Speaker 5: about his business on and off the fields. Who recently
Speaker 5: was actually got engaged. Ah, he got engaged over the summer.
Speaker 5: So but just an amazing guy and one we're definitely
Speaker 5: lucky to have back. And we will not definitely take
Speaker 5: him for granted by no means.
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to seeing him again. Obviously, you lose
Speaker 1: another assistant coach, which is normal if you've hired well.
Speaker 1: And now you bring in Chase Sloan as a new
Speaker 1: assistant coach. And was he a camper or is that
Speaker 1: you know him much more time?
Speaker 5: Back in the day twenty twelve, the summer of twenty twelve,
Speaker 5: we have a camp and there's this high energy shortstop
Speaker 5: flying around all over the field and brought tremendous energy
Speaker 5: and was a leader of his team that summer and
Speaker 5: just followed his career. He ended up going to Southern
Speaker 5: Illinois and transferred to a junior college. After that, Meyersburg
Speaker 5: State takes them to the College World Series and then
Speaker 5: he goes to Wright State and one of the greatest
Speaker 5: players of all time, and we connected on the road
Speaker 5: recruiting a couple of years ago and then having played
Speaker 5: them and a couple of years ago, and you remember
Speaker 5: that and watching him coach, and then just following his career,
Speaker 5: you know, that's a program that just wins. Yeah, and
Speaker 5: his development as a coach has been pretty impressive. So
Speaker 5: love follow him and now you look up twelve years
Speaker 5: later and he's on staff with us.
Speaker 1: Wright State is one of those programs where those of
Speaker 1: us who've covered Kentucky tell people, well, listen, don't sleep
Speaker 1: on these guys because they come from a baseball rich
Speaker 1: area and yeah, they've come down and giving Kentucky trouble
Speaker 1: in the past. And now you're plugging in a new
Speaker 1: assistant coach with a team that you found the style
Speaker 1: last year that was so successful and you guys proved
Speaker 1: to us some of us who were improperly saying that's
Speaker 1: kind of a small ball team. But you guys, you
Speaker 1: showed that in Omaha you could win with home runs.
Speaker 1: Can I assume that you've recruited parts that will allow
Speaker 1: you to keep playing that style?
Speaker 5: Absolutely, Dick, You're right on. You know, we started telling people,
Speaker 5: so whatever take type of offenses.
Speaker 10: You remember and you cut on and you know.
Speaker 5: But yeah, so we have those pieces. We got some
Speaker 5: right handed power, we had some left handed power. To
Speaker 5: the team and to the roster. We've got some speed. Obviously,
Speaker 5: we've the defense, as you know, is a as a
Speaker 5: big thing for us, so we have to continue to
Speaker 5: defend at a super super high level. So that has
Speaker 5: still placed an emphasis on that.
Speaker 9: So we like the pieces we've added.
Speaker 5: It's going to take time, as you know, for them
Speaker 5: to understand everything that goes into having an offense. Really
Speaker 5: quite frankly, it's can be pretty complex. It's not just
Speaker 5: to sit back and just let it type play. I mean,
Speaker 5: it's an attacking type of offense. So just teaching them
Speaker 5: the strike zone, the importance of that bunning we still
Speaker 5: haven't gotten in any of that. We'll get into that
Speaker 5: this week and the foundation for that. So there's a
Speaker 5: lot that goes into it. But we definitely like the
Speaker 5: pieces that we've added. And you don't go to omahas
Speaker 5: help get a different, you know, caliber a player. Sometimes
Speaker 5: you know that that was the best type of recruiting
Speaker 5: that we could possibly have was just to sit there
Speaker 5: on the ESPN and to watch us in the college world.
Speaker 10: Series.
Speaker 5: So that's definitely helped.
Speaker 1: You know, I really believe that that played a part
Speaker 1: in fans in Omah, and you've made an impassioned plea
Speaker 1: to them. He if you need a team to root
Speaker 1: for a roof for us. But I think people really
Speaker 1: love that style of play. Your guys come across so well.
Speaker 1: A lot of the kids did from those teams. Uh
Speaker 1: in the news conference settings. Plus you had Reeves sitting there.
Speaker 1: He was winning fans of his own, wasn't.
Speaker 9: He He was, And look, we were around the whole
Speaker 9: This whole city just just embraced Kristen Reves and I
Speaker 9: in such a way that we just love it here.
Speaker 5: And for so many reasons. But that is part of
Speaker 5: the reason. Why is because the way that people have
Speaker 5: just embraced them. And I cannot tell you how many
Speaker 5: times people say, you just such a good job Reeves
Speaker 5: with your interviews, thank you, thank you. So he's gotten
Speaker 5: a lot of great attentions, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: Well, you did meet my son the other day. I
Speaker 1: need to make sure at some points you meet my daughter.
Speaker 1: But I was. I was telling him the other day,
Speaker 1: I said, you've got such an advantage your generation, and
Speaker 1: Reeves is obviously over ours, and I'm a little bit
Speaker 1: older than you in that years and years from now,
Speaker 1: when I'm gone, Jack and my daughter Kay, they'll have
Speaker 1: more pictures and videos and they can remember they care
Speaker 1: to see of me and the rest of their family.
Speaker 1: Reeves is the same way. Man. Can you think about
Speaker 1: years from now when he looks back on the video
Speaker 1: of himself at a young age at the College World Series?
Speaker 1: Probably won't be his only trip. But that's that's huge,
Speaker 1: isn't it.
Speaker 9: Yeah.
Speaker 5: And you know, Kristin and I talk all the time
Speaker 5: about just the importance of giving him experiences. Yeah, and
Speaker 5: that's what we've done. That's so that is an experience
Speaker 5: that he will not forget. And that's just so important
Speaker 5: to us as parents that we just don't give him
Speaker 5: things right, those things are going to break and go
Speaker 5: away and he's gonna lose interest. But an experience that
Speaker 5: you know, hopefully he'll never forget.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, he gave him a lot to remember. I mean,
Speaker 1: you go to Omaha and now you're going to try
Speaker 1: to make new memories. Before I let you go, you
Speaker 1: you kind of touched on it a little bit, but
Speaker 1: and we have learned through the years those of us
Speaker 1: are covered with the team how vital fall baseball is
Speaker 1: fall workouts. Every time we've talked to you guys, when
Speaker 1: you've had really good teams, you and the players have
Speaker 1: all said the same thing. We realized back in the fall.
Speaker 1: What we had so explain to everybody how and why
Speaker 1: it's so important and what happens in the fall that
Speaker 1: sets you up for the spring.
Speaker 5: Well, really it's the foundation of what we're trying to build.
Speaker 5: So it's one thing to talk about a culture, it's
Speaker 5: another thing to actually have one. It's one thing to
Speaker 5: talk about having an attacking pitching staff that is going
Speaker 5: to be able to work extremely fast, attack with their fastball,
Speaker 5: throw a secondary pitch for a strike, and it truly
Speaker 5: be the tip of the sphere. Its thing to say, hey,
Speaker 5: we're going to do a great job of the strike zone,
Speaker 5: it's another thing to do it. And one thing to say, hey,
Speaker 5: we're going to steal bases, and it's another thing to
Speaker 5: actually do it. So everything that we're trying to do,
Speaker 5: really the foundation of that is set in the fall.
Speaker 5: Because we're going to scrimmage.
Speaker 9: We're gonna have over.
Speaker 5: Fifteen scrimmages against each other, so we're gonna have these
Speaker 5: games and we're going to have the opportunity to push
Speaker 5: the envelope. We're going to have the opportunity to have
Speaker 5: a pitching staff prove that they're going to ram the
Speaker 5: ball in the strike zone. And we're gonna have an
Speaker 5: opportunity to prove that we're going to be a high
Speaker 5: level defensive team. So we're going to have to do
Speaker 5: all these things. And ultimately, when you go against each
Speaker 5: other that much, Dick, you just keep sharpening each other.
Speaker 5: If you have two competitive sides that just love getting
Speaker 5: after it and getting after each other, and last year's
Speaker 5: team did. I mean they would chirp each other and
Speaker 5: they would get after it. I mean it was every
Speaker 5: game felt like it was a an SEC Series game.
Speaker 5: But when you have a bunch of guys that lay
Speaker 5: that foundation and they attack it that way, all we
Speaker 5: did was just keep making each other better and better
Speaker 5: and better, and we exploited our weaknesses and we showed
Speaker 5: what our strengths were. And next thing you know, you
Speaker 5: pull up and you get to the spring and you've
Speaker 5: already been in that environment, you've already trained that way.
Speaker 5: So we got an advantage over football to where we
Speaker 5: can do that. We have an advantage over our volleyball team.
Speaker 5: We have quite frankly, we have about six months to
Speaker 5: truly get them ready and they value that practice time
Speaker 5: and so it's really truly the foundation and you can
Speaker 5: see it in the fall. So let's talk in a
Speaker 5: couple of months' let you know what I think.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, I'm looking forward to it. And of course
Speaker 1: that's how the chemistry is built as well. But there's
Speaker 1: plenty of time for that. Although college sports man, it
Speaker 1: comes at you fast, you know that. Nick minjee On,
Speaker 1: the head baseball coach for the Wildcats coach, thanks again
Speaker 1: for the time, and I'll see you back on the
Speaker 1: sideline soon.
Speaker 10: I'm sure I'll see Saturday.
Speaker 1: I'll be there.
Speaker 5: I missing three thirty. Bring it.
Speaker 1: Let's go up next. Kobe Wilson of Fox fifty six
Speaker 1: here on the Big Blue and Siders six thirty. You
Speaker 1: Lap welcome back to the Big Blue side of joining
Speaker 1: us now for the first time on our celebrity highline.
Speaker 1: She's been in the TV market for a while now.
Speaker 1: Kobe Wilson in Fox fifty six. Kolby, how are you, Dick?
Speaker 11: I'm doing well.
Speaker 1: How are you appreciate you taking some time on the
Speaker 1: day off, but like I told you the other day,
Speaker 1: we needed to get you on and learn a little
Speaker 1: bit more about you. I see you at events all
Speaker 1: the time and say hi, But tell everybody where you're from,
Speaker 1: where you went to school, all that good background stuff.
Speaker 11: Yeah, So I'm actually my dad's a football coach. So
Speaker 11: I've moved around my whole life, lived in seven different states,
Speaker 11: but I claim Los Angeles, California, went to all four
Speaker 11: years of high school there, graduated there. I'm actually I
Speaker 11: played soccer in college at Eastern Washington University, played there
Speaker 11: for my first three years, and then ended up transferring
Speaker 11: to the University of Portland for my last two years
Speaker 11: in Oregon. Took my COVID year thankfully, So I had
Speaker 11: five years in college, which was awesome, and then kind
Speaker 11: of got into the news business there in Portland and
Speaker 11: then started applying for jobs and landed right here in Lexington, Kentucky.
Speaker 1: Well, there's all kinds of connections. First of all, what
Speaker 1: part of lac is. One of my closest friends lives
Speaker 1: out there. He works in Hollywood, but he doesn't live
Speaker 1: in Hollywood, but he's lived out there since he graduated UK.
Speaker 11: Yes, I'm Redondo Beach, California is where I live. Just like,
Speaker 11: have you been around there?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've been. I've been to LA a few times. Yeah, awesome.
Speaker 11: Best place ever to me, first.
Speaker 1: Of all, But Eastern Washington and Portland that's quite the
Speaker 1: culture shock.
Speaker 11: Oh yes it was. But you know, the specific Northwest
Speaker 11: it kind of grew on me a little bit.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 11: You know, it's beautiful up there and you kind of
Speaker 11: see all the seasons falls amazing. And then soccer at
Speaker 11: University of Portland. I mean they've won a national championship
Speaker 11: with Meghan Rapinos. So the culture just in terms of
Speaker 11: soccer there was great. So I had a great experience overall,
Speaker 11: for sure.
Speaker 1: This is an Eastern Washington the home of the red
Speaker 1: football field.
Speaker 5: That is, yes, the equal.
Speaker 1: Yes, what was that?
Speaker 11: You know, it was so fun. I know they're an
Speaker 11: FCS program, but when you're there, the environment is rocking.
Speaker 11: I mean in that red field. We got to practice
Speaker 11: on it in a handful of times. They would never
Speaker 11: let us play on it, but just to walk and
Speaker 11: just see red everywhere. I mean, now that kind of
Speaker 11: runs me a Paris High School here got the orange. Yeah,
Speaker 11: but uh No, that environment was awesome, a great football program,
Speaker 11: and it was nice because I I, you know, my
Speaker 11: dad being a coach, I wanted somewhere that had football,
Speaker 11: So getting the experience, you know, playing college at soccer
Speaker 11: and having a football program was super nice.
Speaker 1: And then of course my cousins. I have a bunch
Speaker 1: of cousins in Portland, so I've been there a few times.
Speaker 1: But I love I tell people go to the Pacific
Speaker 1: Northwest is Lake walking through a postcard. It's just really amazing.
Speaker 11: And then no, it go ahead, No, I was just
Speaker 11: gonna say it definitely is. Especially I always tell people
Speaker 11: you have to go there in the fall with the
Speaker 11: lead changing, it's like definitely the place to be for
Speaker 11: that season.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And then, by coincidence, one of your peers here
Speaker 1: in the market, Hallie DeVore, is from Portland, right.
Speaker 11: Yes, it was so funny shee. Before I got here,
Speaker 11: everyone had told her I played at Portland and was coming.
Speaker 11: So the first time I saw her for the very
Speaker 11: first time, she gave me this huge hug that she
Speaker 11: could relate to somebody, which is super nice because we
Speaker 11: have someone something to relate about. She also she also
Speaker 11: played soccer at an early age with one of my
Speaker 11: teammates at Portland, so we know some of the same people.
Speaker 11: So that was super cool.
Speaker 1: Okay, Now your dad was a coach at what level?
Speaker 11: He's been at college and NFL?
Speaker 1: Wow, where do you work in the league?
Speaker 11: He was at the Eagles and he worked for the
Speaker 11: Cardinals just for a little bit.
Speaker 1: No kidding. So are the Eagles your team or were
Speaker 1: the was? Cause there wasn't a team forever in La, right.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 11: It's funny because I guess with my dad going from
Speaker 11: so many different teams, usually my team is just his team,
Speaker 11: so that's kind of it's hard to say committed to
Speaker 11: one team because he leaves and goes to another one
Speaker 11: and then I, you know, get rid of all that
Speaker 11: gear and put all my new gear on. So it's
Speaker 11: kind of a funny transition. But you know, I don't
Speaker 11: really have a specific team.
Speaker 1: I don't blame you, like I said, because growing up
Speaker 1: in LA. I mean, the Rams are back there, but
Speaker 1: in LA.
Speaker 11: I was only there for I was there for four
Speaker 11: years and my dad was coaching at USC at that time,
Speaker 11: so you know, my focus in mindset was kind of
Speaker 11: just on the Trojans at that point.
Speaker 1: That's where my buddy went to grad school, and I
Speaker 1: toured that campus when we helped move him out there
Speaker 1: all those years ago. It's really cool that that football
Speaker 1: culture out there is really neat. And then I did
Speaker 1: when UK played baseball out there, I got to do
Speaker 1: the game on the radio, so that was fun.
Speaker 11: No, that campus is great, and the coliseum it's just historic.
Speaker 11: So it's always fun to be Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well let's talk about you. Then you you come to Kentucky.
Speaker 1: What was it like for you to come here? What
Speaker 1: do you tell people back home wherever home is now
Speaker 1: or you're relatives? What do you tell them? What do
Speaker 1: they ask you?
Speaker 11: You know, when I came here, I think the first
Speaker 11: thing when I said I'm going to Kentucky and one
Speaker 11: to Lexington, you know, head turned in terms of you're
Speaker 11: going to cover Kentucky basketball.
Speaker 5: I got hired.
Speaker 11: I got hired here in December, so you know that's
Speaker 11: in like full basketball season yep. And so they were like,
Speaker 11: you got to get out there, like you got to
Speaker 11: go now so you can at least, you know, cover
Speaker 11: a few months of basketball. And I was like, you're right. So,
Speaker 11: you know, it's been a great transition for me. Lexington
Speaker 11: is a great place. I'm so used to. You know,
Speaker 11: I think Lexington, I think college town. I've lived in
Speaker 11: stark Wool, Mississippi. I've lived in Athens, Georgia. So you know,
Speaker 11: I'm thinking, okay, college town like that, and then I
Speaker 11: get here and I like see the skyline and I'm like, okay,
Speaker 11: Like Lexington is not just like your ordinary small college town.
Speaker 11: Like you know, I still get lost on New Circle time.
Speaker 11: So I'm like, you know, this is this is ton
Speaker 11: of big. So you know that in terms of the
Speaker 11: city that was great. The culture here obviously, Big Blue
Speaker 11: Nation is. You know, I've been around a lot of
Speaker 11: fan bases and this one is just wholeheartedly different compared
Speaker 11: to I mean, I've been between the hedges at Georgia.
Speaker 11: You know, I've been at USC, So this one definitely
Speaker 11: stands out. But most people at home, and when I
Speaker 11: talked to them about being here in Lexington, they definitely
Speaker 11: you know Bat and I when they hear Kentucky basketball,
Speaker 11: and that's an opportunity that I get.
Speaker 1: How does it stand out? What makes it unique?
Speaker 11: I really think it's just the overall culture and the
Speaker 11: history behind really Kentucky basketball, you know, especially John cal
Speaker 11: Perry you talked about, which at the time was who
Speaker 11: was here and then this whole New Mark Pope area.
Speaker 11: But I think, to me personally, I think Big Blue
Speaker 11: Nation is what stands out. I've never been around a
Speaker 11: fan base just so loyal and so just you know,
Speaker 11: they're just so special.
Speaker 1: Well, and for you to make that comparison, and having
Speaker 1: spent time at you in Athens, home of the University
Speaker 1: of Georgia, and I've got a couple of cousins who
Speaker 1: went to school there, and uh right, it's I mean,
Speaker 1: they're nuts obviously about football, but maybe it's because there
Speaker 1: are more basketball games that you feel the BBN presence
Speaker 1: in basketball a little bit more.
Speaker 11: That could be true, you know, but at Georgia, you know,
Speaker 11: obviously game days for football it's packed the environment, but
Speaker 11: you know, you might go to a Georgia basketball zoom
Speaker 11: and it just doesn't feel the same. And I like,
Speaker 11: you know, I go to Rupt and I'm at basketball
Speaker 11: and the environment's crazy, and then I go to Kroger
Speaker 11: Field in the environment is crazy. So I feel like,
Speaker 11: you know, BBN just more consistent, and I definitely just
Speaker 11: think more loyal in terms of what I've seen you.
Speaker 1: Talked about history, and you were witnessed to Mark Pope's coronation,
Speaker 1: if you will, uh, And I'm sure you were as
Speaker 1: stunned as the rest of us, expecting a few thousand
Speaker 1: people to show up and say hi, and instead we
Speaker 1: saw the biggest pep rowley in the history of college basketball.
Speaker 1: What was your take on that?
Speaker 11: I you know, I was pretty speechless for a little bit.
Speaker 11: I mean I was there and I had chilled. I
Speaker 11: didn't know anything that was going to go on. I
Speaker 11: didn't know the bus was going to come inside scrup No,
Speaker 11: I didn't know they were going to bring out, you know,
Speaker 11: people who had built this program to what it is today.
Speaker 11: I mean, just the whole aura, you know, the fans
Speaker 11: outside still trying to get in with it, the seats
Speaker 11: already being sold out inside. It was it was nothing
Speaker 11: like I had ever seen in my life. And I
Speaker 11: even you know, tost of the people I go. I
Speaker 11: feel like there was more energy and like hype in
Speaker 11: here for this for Mark Cope than I saw some
Speaker 11: games this year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's wild. It was it was going to
Speaker 1: be crazy.
Speaker 11: Oh yeah, I'm excited for that.
Speaker 1: His first game We're talking to Kobe Wilson of Fox
Speaker 1: fifty six, and when we come back, we'll talk about
Speaker 1: that rainy opener and the football catch on the other
Speaker 1: side of the break. Here on the Big Moone Sider
Speaker 1: six thirty w Welcome back. We're talking with Kolbe Wilson,
Speaker 1: reporter anchored Fox fifty six. She has lived all over
Speaker 1: the country, but spent her high school years in La
Speaker 1: spent college years in the Pacific Northwest, and now covering
Speaker 1: the Wildcats. And you were there on that rainy Saturday
Speaker 1: talking about crazy. That was kind of an historic night
Speaker 1: in a in a weird way, wasn't it.
Speaker 11: Oh for sure? And it's so funny. I tell people
Speaker 11: it was just my luck because you know, everyone knew
Speaker 11: I'm a football girl, and so they were like, Tobe,
Speaker 11: you're gonna love Proger Field, Like these games are gonna
Speaker 11: be so awesome. So I'm like so ready prepared for
Speaker 11: my first game, and then I get there and this
Speaker 11: all happened. But I saw so much even in that
Speaker 11: like Digglue Nations still being there, you know, steadying the storm.
Speaker 11: So there was it was definitely a good time, but
Speaker 11: nothing I had experienced right before.
Speaker 1: And even you you even lived in the Pacific Northwest,
Speaker 1: but there's rain and then there's rain. So having grown
Speaker 1: up in a football household, though, what kind of feel
Speaker 1: have you gotten in the preseason weeks leading up to
Speaker 1: the season from the football Wildcats, the coaches, because man,
Speaker 1: the portal has just really changed the way I think
Speaker 1: folks like us do our jobs trying to figure out
Speaker 1: what's what.
Speaker 11: No, for sure, you know, with this team, I feel
Speaker 11: like it had a different feeling from previous seasons, and
Speaker 11: that was just you know, I wasn't covering the Cats
Speaker 11: in previous years, but I just feel like that's from
Speaker 11: you know, word of mouth that I had heard. I think,
Speaker 11: you know, this team kind of really having experience returning
Speaker 11: Obviously that's huge in college football. You can't beat that.
Speaker 11: And then I think the addition of the new coaches.
Speaker 11: I think Bush Hampdon obviously a great hire. I feel
Speaker 11: like he you know, bringing a new energy, a new
Speaker 11: offense from Boise State. But overall, you know, being in
Speaker 11: a football family, I feel like this team really has
Speaker 11: a willingness to win. Especially talking to the players, just thinking,
Speaker 11: you know, Mac Harrison stands out specifically, He's always just
Speaker 11: talked about the brotherhood that they've created in this off season,
Speaker 11: and I think that has stuck out to me as
Speaker 11: they you know, going to their second game on Saturday.
Speaker 1: As the daughter of a coach and you've been around
Speaker 1: a lot of different teams, programs, coaches, what's your take
Speaker 1: on Mark Stoops.
Speaker 11: You know, it's funny. So my dad actually coached with
Speaker 11: Bob Stoop to Oklahoma, really, so yeah, so there's a
Speaker 11: little connection there. My dad knows Mark Stops. I think
Speaker 11: I've been around him when I was little, but I
Speaker 11: haven't you know, we haven't got we haven't like reconnected
Speaker 11: since then. You know. I I like Mark. I think
Speaker 11: he is definitely about his business, not you know, just
Speaker 11: the most like he cracks a few jokes in the
Speaker 11: press conferences that are definitely funny, but obviously, you know,
Speaker 11: a very tenured knows what he's doing, high level coach.
Speaker 11: But I definitely think he is a fully about his
Speaker 11: business and I think he wants to win obviously for
Speaker 11: this for this community and b then for sure, Yeah, and.
Speaker 1: He's done it. He's done it at a level that's
Speaker 1: never been done before consistently in the modern era. So
Speaker 1: what did you think of the product that he put
Speaker 1: on the field Saturday. Once they did get to.
Speaker 11: Play, Yeah, I think obviously, you know, that opening drive
Speaker 11: was a little shaky, kind of had the time out
Speaker 11: and then the interception. But once this team settled in,
Speaker 11: I would say, you know, what they said that was
Speaker 11: going to be shown, I think they showed it. In
Speaker 11: terms of, you know, the run game, you saw a
Speaker 11: handful of different running backs, including the broad Vandergrip run.
Speaker 11: You saw obviously positive things out of him. I think
Speaker 11: he threw for what was it, one hundred and sixty
Speaker 11: nine yards obviously was great on his feet. And then
Speaker 11: you know barry On Brown, especially the defense. I know,
Speaker 11: the huge big thing for them was you know, three
Speaker 11: and out and getting off the field. Obviously that first
Speaker 11: drive for them was also was a little shaky. But
Speaker 11: after that, I mean, you weren't seeing Southern Myths do
Speaker 11: a whole lot. They held them to zero points, and
Speaker 11: as a you know, as a defensive coach, that's all
Speaker 11: you can ask.
Speaker 1: For five yards. I mean we granted less than two
Speaker 1: and a half quarters, but still that's that's not too shabby.
Speaker 1: And now South Carolina comes up the conference opener. Uh,
Speaker 1: you drop into Kentucky football at a time when the
Speaker 1: schedule is the strangest I've ever seen, and I've covered
Speaker 1: a lot of Kentucky football. To have a not just
Speaker 1: a conference opener, Kobe, but one that is so vital
Speaker 1: for the South Carolina team, you got to win this one,
Speaker 1: don't you.
Speaker 11: Oh, that'll be big. And then obviously you add the
Speaker 11: SEC nation being here that just adds a different, you know,
Speaker 11: vibe to it all. So this would be a huge
Speaker 11: I mean, to start the season two and zero is
Speaker 11: obviously what you want to do, but to go up
Speaker 11: against South Carolina, I believe. So it's in the past
Speaker 11: two games South Carolina has came up on top, Is
Speaker 11: that right? Yeah, So I think this would just be
Speaker 11: big in terms of especially bouncing back, not bouncing back,
Speaker 11: but coming back from last game where you know, it
Speaker 11: was just different. But this would definitely be a huge
Speaker 11: win to start off the season and build some momentum
Speaker 11: going into this tough SEC schedule.
Speaker 1: As a former college athlete, is there much carryover do
Speaker 1: you think from game to game or season to season,
Speaker 1: Because you know they tried to whip some things up
Speaker 1: between Kentucky South Carolina did last year using some stoops
Speaker 1: comments as motivation and all that is that real?
Speaker 11: You know, I think it could give you an extra
Speaker 11: you know, a little more juice, just a little more excitement.
Speaker 11: But overall, you know, as an athlete, you go into
Speaker 11: each game just ready, no matter what. Sometimes I don't
Speaker 11: even think you need any you know, you don't really
Speaker 11: need any extra momentum or you don't even need extra
Speaker 11: you know, juice to get going. You're just already ready.
Speaker 11: So I don't I don't really think the carryover. I
Speaker 11: don't think there's much of a carryover. I think these
Speaker 11: athletes are ready to go out there and do their
Speaker 11: best each game.
Speaker 1: What did you think of the way the SEC started,
Speaker 1: I mean in the marquee games one and three, although
Speaker 1: Vandy pulled off one of the better upsets in the
Speaker 1: opening weekend.
Speaker 11: Hey, I'm telling you, nothing surprised me. Now you kind
Speaker 11: of mentioned it. With the transfer portal and you know,
Speaker 11: all these teams having good players, there is nothing that
Speaker 11: surprises me. I believe you know a lot. Anyone can
Speaker 11: really be anyone, especially with the portal these days. So
Speaker 11: I know, you know, SEC is what stands out to everyone.
Speaker 11: But if you don't show up ready to play. Another
Speaker 11: team's going to take your opportunity, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: You're an athlete who transferred. Freedom of movement is probably
Speaker 1: the second biggest issue, maybe the first. Between that and NIL.
Speaker 1: It's like one in one A. You're not that far
Speaker 1: out of college. What are your thoughts on the state
Speaker 1: of college sports in general? Now?
Speaker 11: You know, I had just missed the cut in terms
Speaker 11: of NIL. NIL was just starting when I was in
Speaker 11: my fifth year. Women's soccer is a little bit different.
Speaker 11: There's not as much money into it, so I didn't
Speaker 11: play as big as a role for me personally. But
Speaker 11: you know, I kind of look back now, and I mean,
Speaker 11: to me, it feels like the pros you're just moving
Speaker 11: around money for players, which you know, to me is
Speaker 11: a little bit sad, only because I feel like it
Speaker 11: strips you of that real college experience and just going
Speaker 11: out there grinding, earning your spot and working hard every day. Now,
Speaker 11: don't get me wrong, these players still do that, but
Speaker 11: with money involved now, I just think it's it's just
Speaker 11: a whole different beast than I mean, you don't really
Speaker 11: have much loyalty. You're kind of bouncing around, so I
Speaker 11: think it's different, and I start to feel bad for
Speaker 11: even the high school players who are cut short of
Speaker 11: opportunities because most coaches are just now relying on the portal.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and there are some kids who are left with
Speaker 1: nowhere to go. I got less than a minute. But
Speaker 1: could you see a situation where if you sign a
Speaker 1: scholar you signed for two years instead of one. Do
Speaker 1: you think that's tenable?
Speaker 11: I think that's tenable.
Speaker 1: I do.
Speaker 11: But you know, again, with the portal and money and
Speaker 11: you know people even college kids having agents now, it's
Speaker 11: just so different. So nothing really surprising.
Speaker 1: Yeah, gotta be right for it. Well, whatever happens, Colby
Speaker 1: Wilson will cover it for Fox fifty six. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much. We'll see you at the next press conference
Speaker 1: and beyond, thank you, Dick. That'll do it for now,
Speaker 1: thanks to my guest Kolbe Wilson, nickman Gione and Jojo Kemp.
Speaker 1: That's a good night from the garage in Lexington.
Speaker 12: You want to hold it?
Speaker 9: Yes?
Speaker 3: Please?
Speaker 7: Yes?
Speaker 12: Then you got thet the child little Tandon down.
Speaker 9: Believe