Speaker 1: It's Dick Gabriel taking a little bit of time off,
Speaker 1: so we thought we would replay some of the best
Speaker 1: interviews from over the last several months. Please enjoy the
Speaker 1: best of the Big Blue Insider. There's got a lot
Speaker 1: of response again to the Coaches round Table, not the coaches,
Speaker 1: but the Chain Gang roundtable that we had here in
Speaker 1: the garage. Whenever we get the Chain Gang, which is
Speaker 1: our text chain group, Darren Hedrick, Keith Madison, Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame coach Doug Flynn, who of course is my partner
Speaker 1: on UK baseball telecasts, and of course Darren's a radio
Speaker 1: voice of the Baseball Wildcats. They get to get in
Speaker 1: the garage. We have so much fun talking about a
Speaker 1: lot of baseball, sports in general, life, in general, music
Speaker 1: and it just kind of free wheeling, and it's four
Speaker 1: friends sitting together talking sports. And I always get a
Speaker 1: lot of response on social media. So we're glad you
Speaker 1: enjoyed the Encore presentation. We may roll it out again
Speaker 1: this summer, but we'll get together again summer before the
Speaker 1: football season begins. Coming up tonight is a pack show
Speaker 1: coming out of the holiday week. Jeff Picorol is going
Speaker 1: to join us. I should say rejoin us. He is
Speaker 1: back from vacation as well, our UK Sports Network football analyst.
Speaker 1: He and his brothers and a friend flew to Alaska
Speaker 1: for some fishing, and Jeff sent me some pictures both
Speaker 1: during and after. Spectacular as you might expect, so we'll
Speaker 1: find out a little bit more if you like the fish.
Speaker 1: I am not a fisherman. I just didn't grow up
Speaker 1: with it. My dad died when we were young. I
Speaker 1: don't know if he was a fisherman or not. I
Speaker 1: don't think he was, but I was never really exposed
Speaker 1: to it. But I will tell you this. One day
Speaker 1: in Maine with a buddy of mine on a drive trip,
Speaker 1: we went lobster fishing. Got on the boat at five am,
Speaker 1: got back about one in the afternoon. I learned all
Speaker 1: about lobster fishing. One of those damn things almost took
Speaker 1: off a piece of my finger, but that's a story
Speaker 1: for another day. That's the extent of my fishing. I've
Speaker 1: been on a couple of boats where we threw some
Speaker 1: lines in the water, but that's about it. This will
Speaker 1: be great to hear Jeff talk about not just Alaska,
Speaker 1: but Kentucky football as well, because Jeff I think, is
Speaker 1: going to cover SEC football media Days for WTVQ next
Speaker 1: week in Dallas. I'll be down there as well late
Speaker 1: in the week when the Wildcats are there. Aaron Gershan
Speaker 1: will join us. He's heading for Dallas as well. We'll
Speaker 1: get caught up with him on recruiting and other things.
Speaker 1: A lot of recruiting news out there right now. And
Speaker 1: also Max Godbees speaking of football. Max really I put
Speaker 1: him on the air a long time ago on this
Speaker 1: radio station. Since then, he and his wife have moved
Speaker 1: to Louisville and he is working as a regular guest,
Speaker 1: you know, full time co host on a segment or
Speaker 1: two each week on ESPN six City. I don't know
Speaker 1: how often he's on the air over there, but he
Speaker 1: talks a lot of football on the ESPN radio station
Speaker 1: in Louisville. But he reached out to me because he
Speaker 1: is and another guy at the radio station are marketing
Speaker 1: merchandise and it's really different, it's really unique, and he
Speaker 1: sent me a link to the Round Daddy link of merchandise.
Speaker 1: That's the nickname of the co host from the radio station.
Speaker 1: And if you like UK merch that's different, you're gonna
Speaker 1: like it. And I can't wait to see how much
Speaker 1: of this merch shows up at Kroger Field this season,
Speaker 1: and we'll see it in the stands when UK and
Speaker 1: U of L play, because even though the show that
Speaker 1: Max appears on with the host that is a primarily
Speaker 1: U OFL slanted radio station, but Max and James Streeble
Speaker 1: do a more of a UK show, so they are merchandise.
Speaker 1: Are pushing this merch both UK and U of L,
Speaker 1: and a lot of vintage stuff as well. It's really
Speaker 1: interesting and we'll hear more about that from coming up.
Speaker 1: In hour number two. I mentioned recruiting and over the
Speaker 1: last week in the holiday weekend as well, there's been
Speaker 1: a lot of news of late which you might expect.
Speaker 1: Probably the biggest literally and figuratively is in addition to
Speaker 1: the big Blue Wall, Jemial Atkins, one of the top
Speaker 1: offensive tackles in this side of the country, has committed
Speaker 1: to the Wildcats. He's from Ohio, He's from Dayton and
Speaker 1: man is he big six ' eight two ninety and
Speaker 1: he committed to the Wildcats during the holiday weekend. He
Speaker 1: is one of the best in the country and Eric
Speaker 1: Woolford Vince Merrow helped reel him in. They worked together,
Speaker 1: just like the Corona's brother's reeling in big fish. They
Speaker 1: reeled in this guy and he said no thanks to
Speaker 1: Virginia Tech, to Minnesota, a number of other schools, West Virginia,
Speaker 1: Arizona State. But this was a highly anticipate, hated decision
Speaker 1: and the Wildcats got him. So now that's another lineman
Speaker 1: who committed over the weekend, will go along. You may
Speaker 1: have heard about Caitlin Edwards, a D lineman four star guy,
Speaker 1: so to keep building on the D line. He's six four,
Speaker 1: three thirty. He's from Dyersburg, Tennessee, and he chose the
Speaker 1: Wildcats over Auburn, Louisville, Memphis, among others. Brad White had
Speaker 1: a big hand in recruiting him and war Stuart as well. So,
Speaker 1: and I tell you what an wash Stuart, not just
Speaker 1: with the recruits but with the coaching is really getting
Speaker 1: it done. And I got to think some programs will
Speaker 1: come after him. They'll have to work to hang on
Speaker 1: to him. And it's what's been the most interesting thing
Speaker 1: with me was hearing former players who go to practice
Speaker 1: and who played with or know anwar Stuart. I have
Speaker 1: not heard one person and who didn't rave about it,
Speaker 1: not just say yeah, he's doing a decent job. No,
Speaker 1: they've raved about the job he is done. But the
Speaker 1: person in the pudding look at the job they did.
Speaker 1: And over the weekend I recorded a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: off UK Takeover Day on the SEC Network, including the
Speaker 1: two football games that went over Florida when Ray Davis
Speaker 1: went crazy and it went over Louisville, and I was
Speaker 1: laid up for that game. I was there for the
Speaker 1: Florida game, but I was laid up for the Louisville
Speaker 1: game after open heart surgery. I missed three games. The
Speaker 1: first two no problem. I missed Alabama, yeah, South Carolina Yeah.
Speaker 1: But then I missed the Louisville game. That was a
Speaker 1: great football game. And I'm not saying that simply because
Speaker 1: Kentucky won. Any game like that that involves a rivalry
Speaker 1: that goes back and forth, and both teams make big plays,
Speaker 1: impressive plays. It's a great football game. And even the
Speaker 1: announcement I listened when I watched it live. I listen
Speaker 1: to our radio broadcast Tom and Jeff, and I think
Speaker 1: Jeremy Jarman filled in for me on the sideline. So
Speaker 1: this time I listened to the TV guys Joe Testitour
Speaker 1: and Jesse Palmer. I think they're both really good. I
Speaker 1: think Testatur is one of the hidden gems at ESPN
Speaker 1: when you think about playbo play guys. I don't know why,
Speaker 1: but I don't hear his name enough. I think maybe
Speaker 1: it's because he works the noon games. I don't know,
Speaker 1: I think, but he works in primetime games as well.
Speaker 1: I think that guy is tremendous. And they both did
Speaker 1: a great job on that game. They were well prepared.
Speaker 1: You could tell they've done their homework, and the great
Speaker 1: the game lent itself. You know, it's very very not
Speaker 1: very often. It's very rare that you see a great game.
Speaker 1: And if you're watching a network broadcast or regional broadcast,
Speaker 1: generally the announcers are up to the job. And these
Speaker 1: guys were. Some some aren't. And I'll tell you one
Speaker 1: moment as well. I also pulled up the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: this past Super Bowl when the Chiefs win it in overtime,
Speaker 1: and I said this the moment the game ended on
Speaker 1: the last second touchdown scored in ot Mahomes touchdown pass.
Speaker 1: And we talked a week or two ago about our
Speaker 1: broadcasters need to find the time and the inclination to
Speaker 1: what we call layout on TV now not radio. Well
Speaker 1: you can do it on radio as well, like when
Speaker 1: Vince Scully would lay out it for a big play
Speaker 1: in baseball. If ever they're called for a moment when
Speaker 1: announcers should just shut up. It was at Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: Nance had a great call, he said, jackpot on the
Speaker 1: touchdown past to mcole Hartman. But what happened next Tony
Speaker 1: Romo starts running his mouth and I'm not a hater.
Speaker 1: I'm not a huge fan of his, but I'm not
Speaker 1: a hater, but I hated what he did. Then he
Speaker 1: just started blubbering and blabbering instead of just letting the
Speaker 1: pictures take over. And I wasn't the only one. I
Speaker 1: complained immediately on social media and a lot of other
Speaker 1: people did too. But that reminded me of that game.
Speaker 1: And you know what, in the uk U of L game, Jessa,
Speaker 1: Tor and Palmer knew when to shut up, when to
Speaker 1: let the picture do the talking, and when to do
Speaker 1: their talking. And I'm going to talk to jepicor more
Speaker 1: about this, but it reminded me of obviously just how
Speaker 1: great Ray Davis is, and as great as he wasn't
Speaker 1: at Florida game. Think back to the big plays he
Speaker 1: made against Louisville, but also a lot of defenders, the defense,
Speaker 1: the defensive line I was talking about anymore. Stewart tremendous,
Speaker 1: Trevin Wallace, the linebackers, Eric Jackson. Kentucky played a great
Speaker 1: football game and pulled the upset. We all think Kentucky
Speaker 1: should be favored and as better than U of L
Speaker 1: that day. Remember now, Kentucky was six and six going
Speaker 1: into the game or six and five, and Louisville's top
Speaker 1: ten Lowe was going to play the ACC championship. Gabe.
Speaker 1: Wildcats pulled the upset. They were the better team that
Speaker 1: day and it was a great football game. We're listening
Speaker 1: to the best of the Big Blue Insider. More to
Speaker 1: come here on six point thirty WLAP. It's Dick Gabriel.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Best of the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 1: Congratulations to Mark Pope and his family. They finally found
Speaker 1: a place to live off Paris Pike, not far from
Speaker 1: where I used to live, but kind of a world away.
Speaker 1: They live right next now to Lectioningdon Country Club off
Speaker 1: Paris Pike, eleven and a half acres about four and
Speaker 1: a half million dollars. Good for them, money well spent.
Speaker 1: It's really pretty over there, so not quite the high
Speaker 1: profile place that John Caliperry and his wife enjoyed on
Speaker 1: Richmond Road, but you know they've got their privacy gated community.
Speaker 1: Good for them. Wanted to bring up a couple things
Speaker 1: that I had noticed on the interweb on my Google machine,
Speaker 1: basically on X. Couple things real quickly, Bronnie James is
Speaker 1: going to dominate the headlines and we're gonna get sick
Speaker 1: of it. I already am. But it's funny. There's a
Speaker 1: guy on X trying to make the point. As the
Speaker 1: guy goes by Apex Jones and he posts a lot
Speaker 1: of stuff about the NBA, and he was complaining, and
Speaker 1: rightly when you talk about results. The coverage of Bronni's
Speaker 1: game against Sacramento Summer League now Lakers versus Kings, Bronnie goes,
Speaker 1: he starts, goes for four, two and two, and of
Speaker 1: course dominates the headlines. And this guy made the point
Speaker 1: that players like Adonnis Arms and Blake Henson, who did
Speaker 1: much better, should have gotten more attention. But we got
Speaker 1: to remember this ain't about Bronnie and his numbers is
Speaker 1: about Daddy. You know, the entire story is not this
Speaker 1: kid who at one point was they thought he had died,
Speaker 1: was trying to make an NBA team. It's nepotism and
Speaker 1: its finest. They in no surprise, they draft him to
Speaker 1: try to keep Dad. And now he's on a two
Speaker 1: way with the Lakers and he will probably take a
Speaker 1: job from somebody like Adonna's Arms. And you're like, who
Speaker 1: Donna's Arms was? A juco guy from Milwaukee, went to
Speaker 1: a small school, transferred to Winthrop, then transferred for another
Speaker 1: year to Texas Tech. Undrafted free agent, has spent the
Speaker 1: last two years in the G League and is trying
Speaker 1: to make it in the NBA, trying to catch on.
Speaker 1: And he had thirty two points and eleven rebounds in
Speaker 1: that same game. Blake Henson kid from Florida. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't remember him, but he went to Ole Miss and
Speaker 1: transferred to Pittsburgh where he was didn't do much at
Speaker 1: all Miss. At Pittsburgh, he was second team All ACC
Speaker 1: his junior year, first team All ACC his senior year.
Speaker 1: Oh he spent a year at Iowa State but was
Speaker 1: hurt or something never played, but anyhow, first team All
Speaker 1: Conference and wasn't drafted, so he has been trying to
Speaker 1: make it in through the G League with the Lakers.
Speaker 1: Just get used to it. We're gonna hear way too
Speaker 1: much about Bronnie. He's not a great player, he's a
Speaker 1: great athlete. But in one of the headlines, well USA Today,
Speaker 1: their story was Bronnie James held to four points in
Speaker 1: Summer League debut. NBC Los Angeles their headline on their website,
Speaker 1: looking a lot like Dad. Bronnie James makes NBA Summer
Speaker 1: League League debut. Well, the only reason he looked like
Speaker 1: his dad had nothing to do with the way he played.
Speaker 1: It was how he favors him. Of course, he looks
Speaker 1: like his father and came into the arena with shades
Speaker 1: and headphones just like dad. I wonder where he learned that.
Speaker 1: Good for him, but a couple of miss or one
Speaker 1: misleading headline. Basically, he didn't play anything like dad, but
Speaker 1: coming to the arena, yeah, he looked like him, which
Speaker 1: is no surprise. There was another piece on X from
Speaker 1: and it directed us to a YouTube video called the
Speaker 1: Craziest College Football Season of All Time and it's a
Speaker 1: twenty minute documentary on twenty oh seven, and it really
Speaker 1: was all the upsets in Kentucky. Twice is involved. The
Speaker 1: first time came in week three when stevee got loose
Speaker 1: what's it from the gun play thing he's throw tucking
Speaker 1: and of course that's a great call from Tom Leeds.
Speaker 1: The music is from the documentary. We didn't have music
Speaker 1: under it during the broadcast. And of course the other
Speaker 1: upset was when Kentucky beat top ranked LSU and LSU
Speaker 1: ultimately worked its way back to the top of the
Speaker 1: polls in the championship game where the Tigers romped. And
Speaker 1: what I had forgotten about that day was col the
Speaker 1: Cow Golden Bears. They were second in the country and
Speaker 1: so for a little while that day they were by
Speaker 1: default the number one team in the country because LSU
Speaker 1: had lost. But then Cow lost to Arizona State, just
Speaker 1: one of a bunch and mostly number two. The number
Speaker 1: two team in the country lost time and time and
Speaker 1: time again, including Boston College, which got all the way
Speaker 1: up to number two and had to come from behind
Speaker 1: to be Virginia Tech and then lost the next week
Speaker 1: to Florida State. And here's what that sounded like. There
Speaker 1: was a pick six. They clinched the game on ABC
Speaker 1: and ESPN. Brent Musburger with a.
Speaker 2: Call on this second down and had seven.
Speaker 1: Intercepting thank you doing touchdown Florida State and that bo
Speaker 1: was spelled Doune, probably for another number two team.
Speaker 2: What is it about number two this year?
Speaker 1: Now, keep in mind that season began with app State
Speaker 1: going to Michigan pulling off an upset there as a
Speaker 1: thirty four point underdog, but you had all kinds of
Speaker 1: bizarre upsets that year. Stanford beat Southern cow snapped the
Speaker 1: thirty five game home winning streak for Southern cal Trojans
Speaker 1: were a six touchdown favorite in that game. Stanford pulled
Speaker 1: off the win. And remember that year Kansas was twelve
Speaker 1: and one, went to the Orange Bowl under Mark Mangino.
Speaker 1: They fell right back to mediocrity and of getting fired.
Speaker 1: A few years later, West Virginia got up the number
Speaker 1: twenty two and got beat by Pittsburgh. Check it out
Speaker 1: on YouTube. Type in craziest college football season and you'll
Speaker 1: find it. You're listening to the best of the Big
Speaker 1: Blue Insider more to come here on six thirty WLAP. Hey,
Speaker 1: it's Dick Gabriel and you're listening to the best of
Speaker 1: the Big Blue Insider. Joining us now is a voice
Speaker 1: from our past, Derek Terry, who has covered sports in
Speaker 1: the past. He now has a job in the private sector,
Speaker 1: but dipping his toe back in the water. He is
Speaker 1: the creator. I believe you. Are you the creator of
Speaker 1: Batcat Central. I am yeah. All right, Well, welcome back
Speaker 1: first of all, and tell everybody before we start talking
Speaker 1: about UK Baseball and beyond, about why you decided to
Speaker 1: dip your toe back in the water and tell us
Speaker 1: about Batcat Central.
Speaker 3: Well, I actually started back at Central back in January
Speaker 3: twenty twenty three, and I started it at the time.
Speaker 3: I'd been out of sports riding full time for about
Speaker 3: a year at that point, but still enjoyed riding still
Speaker 3: right for my day job, so I've never really lost
Speaker 3: my love for riding, and I tried to think of
Speaker 3: kind of a pathway I could take to still cover
Speaker 3: something that I liked, and that was kind of what
Speaker 3: I came up with from sub stack. And it's the
Speaker 3: platform a lot of journalists who are full time and
Speaker 3: they kind of gravitated towards it. It's a really good platform,
Speaker 3: so kind of the idea behind it, though at the
Speaker 3: time was just to try to help fill avoid you know, Dick,
Speaker 3: When I was a beat rider, you know, I covered football,
Speaker 3: I covered basketball, covered some baseball. That's how the job
Speaker 3: is if you're covering it. So my thought was, you know,
Speaker 3: these people who they do a very good job on
Speaker 3: the UK beat, they can't always get around to baseball
Speaker 3: until you know, maybe men's basketball's over. So my idea
Speaker 3: was I kind of wanted to. I thought I could
Speaker 3: be good at it. And this this spring, I just
Speaker 3: I went out to the ballpark song and I saw
Speaker 3: how people were very excited about this team, and I thought,
Speaker 3: you know, this could be a way that if I
Speaker 3: really invest a lot of time and energy and try
Speaker 3: to make it like a true part time job, I
Speaker 3: might have something I can work with here. And so far,
Speaker 3: I've been very pleased with the reception. I mean generally speaking,
Speaker 3: if that someone's not heard of it. It's a newsletter,
Speaker 3: but also there's it's a website as well, So if
Speaker 3: it's easier for you to to just get a story
Speaker 3: straight to your email, h it can do that, but
Speaker 3: it's also a website where I have a full list
Speaker 3: of their high school commitments to scattering reports stuff that
Speaker 3: I've not really seen done before. When it comes to
Speaker 3: covering UK I've got a roster tractor going and and
Speaker 3: just all the stories I've written are all on there.
Speaker 3: So it's it's it's kind a pretty good reception so far,
Speaker 3: and I hope to keep growing it and I hope
Speaker 3: to cover Kentucky baseball. You know, it's a little bit
Speaker 3: deeper level because I think the circumstances of this past
Speaker 3: year have really allowed to bring us to new fans
Speaker 3: and then really just I think grow the excitement even
Speaker 3: from the fans who have been watching it for a
Speaker 3: long time.
Speaker 1: Your resume includes the Rivals Network, two four seven Sports. Uh,
Speaker 1: so we're talking deep dive, you know, agencies when it
Speaker 1: comes to covering UK sports. So was this kind of
Speaker 1: like riding a bike for you?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it kind of was.
Speaker 3: You know, I've always loved riding, I always loved covering
Speaker 3: sports man. It's kind of published for the first time
Speaker 3: when I was in high school. It was for a
Speaker 3: little blog, but you know, no one really read, but
Speaker 3: it was still kind of my intro. And of course
Speaker 3: I've got a journalism degree, and like I mentioned, I
Speaker 3: worked for the city government. That's just fun job. Still
Speaker 3: it's it's the right stories, just in a different way.
Speaker 3: You know, they're not sports stories anymore. So I've never
Speaker 3: really lost my love for riding, and I felt like
Speaker 3: this was an avenue to be really uh be really centralized.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: I really do have a great deal respect but a
Speaker 3: lot of the beat riders in my friends, I mean
Speaker 3: people I'll still talk to you, so they do a
Speaker 3: great job. I think there are a lot of really
Speaker 3: good rid on the uk B, but I just thought
Speaker 3: there was I don't really have the I'm just like
Speaker 3: baseball is my favorite sports what I like writing about.
Speaker 3: But I couldn't make this work if I wanted to
Speaker 3: try to cover basketball or football. There's no way I
Speaker 3: could do a better jobs. And the people are there
Speaker 3: every day because you know, I do have a day
Speaker 3: job and this is just something I do on the
Speaker 3: sides in the evening. So I make it work when
Speaker 3: I can. But I had invested a lot of time
Speaker 3: these last three weeks and into doing this and I
Speaker 3: think it's something that that will be pretty good and
Speaker 3: I'm excited to see where it goes. So I'm excited
Speaker 3: to see what it looks like six years from now
Speaker 3: or six months from now, as I work through the
Speaker 3: fall and try to do that, because you know how
Speaker 3: it is, there's not a whole lot that gets that
Speaker 3: gets written once August gets here and football starts off.
Speaker 3: You know, It's it's kind of most people's attention turn
Speaker 3: to those fall sports. But I hope to try to
Speaker 3: provide some stuff that people will find compelling and then
Speaker 3: to keep their on baseball all through the off season.
Speaker 1: You mentioned how you were at the ballpark and you
Speaker 1: began to kind of you reclue in on what was
Speaker 1: going on. It was excitement. What did you notice this year?
Speaker 1: And when did you start noticing? It was at the
Speaker 1: very beginning of the season.
Speaker 3: Well, actually, after that Kinnasall State Series, I wasn't really
Speaker 3: wasn't really all that sure. I mean what on a
Speaker 3: pre season preview.
Speaker 2: That I wrote.
Speaker 3: I mean, I wouldn't say my expectations were low. I
Speaker 3: feel like the expectations for this group should have been
Speaker 3: to get back to the intu A tournament. And really
Speaker 3: for the Kentucky baseball program, making an into a tournament
Speaker 3: appearance is a good season. They had never gone back
Speaker 3: to back into a tournament, so looking at what they
Speaker 3: had coming back looking at just where the program was
Speaker 3: they got. You know, they lost one coach last year
Speaker 3: with Willicogna, but but by and large the staff is
Speaker 3: kind of the same and as a good group of
Speaker 3: players that were coming back. So this felt like reasonable expectations.
Speaker 3: But I went out to the UH I think they
Speaker 3: have emissaries and they had started playing really well. It
Speaker 3: was actually the day John cal Perry left us. The
Speaker 3: news started coming up that John cal Perry was going
Speaker 3: to leave, So that was the day that I can't
Speaker 3: remember what exactly the record was for the team, but
Speaker 3: they'd started off so well and it was just a
Speaker 3: normal Sunday game, but the crowd is great and people
Speaker 3: are really energized, really into it. And then I would
Speaker 3: say probably the big one was the Tennessee series Friday night.
Speaker 3: There was a big group of people that I went
Speaker 3: with who I mean, it was looked forward to all
Speaker 3: week and you know it was number two or number
Speaker 3: three at the time, and having a record breaking crowd,
Speaker 3: It's like, all right, this is something that people are
Speaker 3: really going to be into and this is it was
Speaker 3: clear at that point. I mean, they were going to
Speaker 3: be an InPlay tournament team. You know, they were probably
Speaker 3: gonna have a really good chance to host. I mean,
Speaker 3: things are going very well for them. So just noticing
Speaker 3: all the excitement with the team, I mean, the fan
Speaker 3: base thoff. I really brought it this year and showed
Speaker 3: really what Kentucky Proud Park was intended to be whenever
Speaker 3: they opened it back in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to ask you that because that
Speaker 1: was my next question. It's interesting how this all came
Speaker 1: together at Kentucky Proud Park. This is what they had
Speaker 1: in mind, was it? And I mean you've been to
Speaker 1: the Cliff, you knew that. You know, they they had
Speaker 1: hosted regionals there before, but it was a pretty tight
Speaker 1: squeeze and they had this kind of thing in mind
Speaker 1: when they built KPP.
Speaker 3: They did it and close I can say it was
Speaker 3: very charming, I thought, I mean, it had a really
Speaker 3: good despite being outdated and not not great by SEC centers,
Speaker 3: it was still I thought, a pretty good spot to
Speaker 3: watch a baseball game. But yeah, Kentucky Proud Park I
Speaker 3: thought held up remarkably well the Tennessee series. I don't know,
Speaker 3: maybe I'm not sure the operations were as great that night.
Speaker 3: I don't know that they were expecting as big of
Speaker 3: a crab, but by the time that the Regional got
Speaker 3: there in the Superrio I went to the Super Regional,
Speaker 3: it was it was great. I thought the ballpark was
Speaker 3: set up very well the way it's designed, allowing people
Speaker 3: to bring in chairs or blankets or whatever they might
Speaker 3: want to have right. Plus the outsold seaza got at it.
Speaker 3: I mean, it made for a really good environment and
Speaker 3: it made you know, the content sh lines moved quick.
Speaker 3: I mean I think they probably won quite a few
Speaker 3: returning people because I mean there were people. I heard
Speaker 3: a woman who was sitting behind me, she's never been
Speaker 3: to a game at all before, waiting in line. I
Speaker 3: think she was a student. And we had to I
Speaker 3: mean we had to line up. We went in the
Speaker 3: outfield entrance and we were wrapped all the way around,
Speaker 3: like down near the soccer stadium. I mean, it was
Speaker 3: crazy how many people are waiting to get in there.
Speaker 3: And the line moved very quick. But I think with
Speaker 3: all these people who maybe came up to the ballpark
Speaker 3: for the first time or were just looking for ways
Speaker 3: to pass the time in the spring, I mean, I
Speaker 3: think we're going to have a maybe a new generation
Speaker 3: of fans who really cared about it and want to
Speaker 3: get involved. I think it'll be an easier so down
Speaker 3: the road. I think, whether it's next year or future years,
Speaker 3: the next time Kentucky has a team that people are
Speaker 3: very excited about, I think you'll see big crowds, probably
Speaker 3: even sooner than what just happened this past year.
Speaker 1: I always really enjoy it when when crowd fan bases,
Speaker 1: crowds realized their power, their strength. I mean, I remember
Speaker 1: Tubby Smith's best team was was in three. You know,
Speaker 1: due respect to the team they won the national title,
Speaker 1: but that team that won twenty sixth straight, fans realized
Speaker 1: we can help this team take over. And of course
Speaker 1: during the Fatino era, the same thing happened.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: I just think it's it's a lot of fun when
Speaker 1: that happens. And I really believe that those games you
Speaker 1: talked about, Derek and the Tennessee series, the Vandy series,
Speaker 1: I think the Kentucky fans took some ownership, you know,
Speaker 1: and realized, hey, we're part of this now. That makes
Speaker 1: a big difference, doesn't it.
Speaker 2: It does.
Speaker 3: To have all those people Like whenever I saw all
Speaker 3: the time it was gonna be nine pm, I thought
Speaker 3: it was like a type. Originally, I was like, surely
Speaker 3: they're not actually gonna start this game and I'm pm
Speaker 3: Eastern time, but you know, they hadocated to the West
Speaker 3: Coast goal and all was good and it's not. It
Speaker 3: did not dissurb people at all. People will showed up.
Speaker 3: I think they actually set the record again that night.
Speaker 3: I think that's currently the the ballpark record. And so
Speaker 3: I said that, you know, back to back ninth and
Speaker 3: I do. I think the Crawdnede cleared out a little
Speaker 3: bit more, but that's to be expecting enough. People had
Speaker 3: to get up the next morning, go to work and
Speaker 3: then do all that. But the people who made it
Speaker 3: out and say, I mean, you were rewarded and that
Speaker 3: was kind of I think that's a good point you
Speaker 3: mentioned to. I think this team play this season and
Speaker 3: to see kind of what they had accomplished even though
Speaker 3: the game was tied there in Game two at the
Speaker 3: end and you're witnessing something you haven't seen before. I
Speaker 3: was thinking about kind of old UK football games where
Speaker 3: you always just kind of and I hate to say
Speaker 3: this because they I think Mark Seams has done a
Speaker 3: tremendous job really kind of resetting kind of how we
Speaker 3: think about some things. But whenever you watched some of
Speaker 3: those UK football games, it's like he just kind of
Speaker 3: waited for something bad to happen. And it was baseball
Speaker 3: this year. Even though it had never happened and they
Speaker 3: had never made it that far, I never really got
Speaker 3: that feeling. Even whenever it was close there in the
Speaker 3: bottom of the nine, it was just like, I feel
Speaker 3: like they're going to win it.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: It just just feels like the team that is going
Speaker 3: to get the job done. So it was really, uh,
Speaker 3: it was a bit of an odd thing, I think,
Speaker 3: to witness something that had never been done. One just
Speaker 3: watching it, three regional at hosted by Kentucky, and then
Speaker 3: two playing a i'll call him the traditional power in
Speaker 3: Oregon State. They won severalles. I've been alive playing you
Speaker 3: know program, it's very good and not really feeling any
Speaker 3: kind of pressure. Like I just felt great about Kentucky
Speaker 3: winning that series. It was really kind of a different feeling,
Speaker 3: but a very rewarding one as well.
Speaker 1: I think Derek Terry is my guest. Derek was a
Speaker 1: veteran of the UK Beat till he moved to the
Speaker 1: private sector, but he's back now covering UK baseball for
Speaker 1: a site he created, Batcats Central. We'll come back and
Speaker 1: talk more with Derek in just a minute. You're listening
Speaker 1: to the best of the Big Blue Insider. More to
Speaker 1: come here on six thirty w LAP. Hey, it's Dick
Speaker 1: Gabriel and you're listening to the best of the Big
Speaker 1: Blue Insider. We're talking with Derek Terry. He covered UK football,
Speaker 1: basketball and baseball for two four seven Sports for Rivals,
Speaker 1: and now he's back with his regular job. Gives him
Speaker 1: a little bit at a time to work what do
Speaker 1: you call it, a part time job, and that's creating
Speaker 1: Batcat Central, a website, of course devoted to Kentucky baseball.
Speaker 1: And this was a good year to do it, as
Speaker 1: we all know, the Wildcats making it to the College
Speaker 1: World Series. Now, be honest, when you were working on
Speaker 1: the UK Beat back in the day, Derek, did you
Speaker 1: believe Kentucky would ever make it to Omaha?
Speaker 3: I thought they had. I thought the twenty seventeen team
Speaker 3: was good enough. But in the last segment when we
Speaker 3: were kind of talking about the expectations, I'm not sure
Speaker 3: I expected that from them, and I wasn't really all
Speaker 3: that surprise like that team very much. Felt like just
Speaker 3: winning the regionals for the first time ever was kind
Speaker 3: of the goal. And you know, Louisville was a really
Speaker 3: good team that year, and I think Kentucky you know,
Speaker 3: played I thought they had a respectful, you know, respectable
Speaker 3: series showing at that time, but you know, it took
Speaker 3: a little bit more time to get back, and no
Speaker 3: last season. I'm not sure how many teams flash what
Speaker 3: are gone down to LSU in one game. I mean,
Speaker 3: the national champ in that ballpark was gonna be h
Speaker 3: was gonna be hard. But yeah, I mean I think
Speaker 3: I defy had my doubts. I think most fans did.
Speaker 3: I've done a lot of reporting, and the I'll say
Speaker 3: maybe a lot might be an exaggeration. I've done some
Speaker 3: reporting in the past, talking to Keith Madison. I believe
Speaker 3: I've had a quote from Mitch Barnard at the time
Speaker 3: and one of the stories just talking about how far
Speaker 3: you know, the program had kind of fallen behime financially
Speaker 3: in the early two thousands, And I really did probably
Speaker 3: the best story I've done so far on back at
Speaker 3: Centrals with John Cohen, the former coach at Kentucky who's
Speaker 3: now at Auburn as the ad and some of the
Speaker 3: best stuff he gave me actually didn't make it into
Speaker 3: that story. It's something I'm probably going to use in
Speaker 3: the future. But just talking about all the challenges, Like
Speaker 3: everybody knows about the weather. You know, if you're a
Speaker 3: college baseball fan, you understand that the weather is challenging.
Speaker 3: At UK, I do think there's this perception that the
Speaker 3: talent in state is very good and there are all
Speaker 3: I mean, there's always players that will help you within
Speaker 3: your state, but the number is relative. Kentucky could not
Speaker 3: just build a team out of all Kentucky kids, you know,
Speaker 3: the way you probably could in a Florida or even
Speaker 3: at Georgia or whatever. So that's the challenge as well
Speaker 3: that UK has that a lot of schools don't have
Speaker 3: within their conference. And you got Texas coming in. I mean,
Speaker 3: Texas is gonna be the same way, like they would
Speaker 3: really probably never have to leave their state to build
Speaker 3: a very good team if they didn't want to. So,
Speaker 3: you know, he mentioned some of most challenges, but also
Speaker 3: kind of the scholarship roles where there's eleven point seven
Speaker 3: scholarships in baseball and some teams can get away you know,
Speaker 3: they can get around that by having some better kind
Speaker 3: of in state lottery opportunities. He mentioned I think Georgia, Florida,
Speaker 3: and Louisiana, three states in particular in Mississippi as well
Speaker 3: where he ended up going after Kentucky and Mississippi State
Speaker 3: that also had pretty good advantages. So there were a
Speaker 3: lot of things historically Kentucky was up against, and I
Speaker 3: think it's been minimized an extent. I wrote a story
Speaker 3: on that too. Kind of talking about the recruiting is that,
Speaker 3: you know, the facility now is great. I don't know
Speaker 3: where it ranks nationwide, but Kentucky Baseball is not going
Speaker 3: to lose a kid because the facilities they are good enough.
Speaker 3: I'm not sure how many they're going to get just
Speaker 3: because of the facility, or how many of those kids
Speaker 3: you would probably want to take if they're just basing
Speaker 3: their decision on that. But you also have the winning
Speaker 3: piece now or they've been to home Hall. So I'm
Speaker 3: gonna be very curious to see kind of what happens
Speaker 3: moving forward, And it might take you know, a year
Speaker 3: or two for that uptick to kind of take place.
Speaker 3: But what do the recruiting classes like in twenty twenty seven,
Speaker 3: for twenty twenty eight, whenever you have, you know, these
Speaker 3: middle schoolers that will one day be getting recruited. You
Speaker 3: know what did they think about Kentucky versus what those
Speaker 3: same kids around those days? Is what a thought five years.
Speaker 1: Ago, right right? And I've got to think that. Like
Speaker 1: you said, I if somebody wants to come just for
Speaker 1: the stadium, that's not the right reason. But that can
Speaker 1: be the closer, can it. I mean, if all things
Speaker 1: are equal, and you've got to picture yourself. I've had
Speaker 1: football recruits tell me about how the weight room can
Speaker 1: help them, and I know it's not quite the same,
Speaker 1: but we're talking about where you spend a lot of
Speaker 1: your time. And I never really fully realized or understood
Speaker 1: the value of the weight room until a player told me.
Speaker 1: He said, Look, you might play in a stadium, you know,
Speaker 1: twenty times in your career, you're in the weight room
Speaker 1: every literally every day.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So when you can picture yourself in a facility like
Speaker 1: that that's your second home, it makes a huge difference.
Speaker 1: And John Cohen pushed for it, and Gary Anderson did,
Speaker 1: and Nick Minjion is reaping the benefits, isn't he.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, and that he's think in some ways you
Speaker 3: could say, uh, I mean, I think Minjeon is one
Speaker 3: of the most fastening, you know, coaches on campus right now,
Speaker 3: just this whole career art he came here, I thought
Speaker 3: he was maybe the victim, victim, for lack of a
Speaker 3: better word, of provision of history that took place during
Speaker 3: some tough years for Kentucky because I think over time
Speaker 3: it was somehow people just thought that that twenty seventeen
Speaker 3: team was going to be good the whole time, and
Speaker 3: that was not the case. The year they were they
Speaker 3: had replaced over three hundred innings on the mountain year,
Speaker 3: they had no said, one returning SEC start and it
Speaker 3: was Zach Loog in the SEC tournament, so he wasn't
Speaker 3: even like a normal starter of the year before. And
Speaker 3: they did have an ice group of position players. But
Speaker 3: you had so many seniors that year like Marcus Carson
Speaker 3: and Connor Hetty. Zach Rex is a senior that year.
Speaker 3: I know, I'm forgetting a few others, but a lot
Speaker 3: of guys our career years who played very well. And
Speaker 3: then in twenty eighteen they had so many draft pick
Speaker 3: because think they might have even led the country that
Speaker 3: year in draft picks, but they didn't make the tournament.
Speaker 3: They had a lot of injuries that hurt him. I
Speaker 3: think they still had a resume. I mean, look at
Speaker 3: how many teams that were thirteen and seventeen in the
Speaker 3: SEC this year made I think there were five but
Speaker 3: actually made the Instabay Tournament this year. Kentucky went thirteen
Speaker 3: and seventeen with the top thirty RPI in two thousand
Speaker 3: and eighteen and didn't make it. So it kind of
Speaker 3: got used against them for a long time that, you know,
Speaker 3: how could you have all these good players and yet
Speaker 3: not make the tournament. I think they kind of lacked
Speaker 3: some contexts. But after that they did have some tough years.
Speaker 3: I think from twenty nineteen for twenty twenty one. You know,
Speaker 3: those teams just simply were not good enough, and they
Speaker 3: made some changes once the portal came around that really
Speaker 3: helped them. So they've reached the point now that they
Speaker 3: kind of have everything. I mean, they've showed that they
Speaker 3: can win. I think Menjion's done his part and his
Speaker 3: staff have done their part to show that this is
Speaker 3: the place you can win at a high level. And
Speaker 3: then I think a few years ago you know, Mitch
Speaker 3: getting that stadium done something I think he'd wanted to
Speaker 3: get done for you know, a while longer before. I'm sure.
Speaker 3: I think they were having conversations about it back when
Speaker 3: Cohen was still there.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, that was a carrot on the stick
Speaker 1: that he would use to try to keep John Cod here.
Speaker 1: But you know, getting money through the legislature and all that,
Speaker 1: you know how tough that is. I've only got a
Speaker 1: minute or two left with Derek Terry, who has created
Speaker 1: Batcat Central. But one of the selling points, and you
Speaker 1: you touched on this early, is you've got a lot
Speaker 1: of info about the new guys coming through the portal
Speaker 1: now and MinJe On and staff have done an emphasized
Speaker 1: staff and so does he have done a marvelous job
Speaker 1: building the last two teams with a combination of recruits
Speaker 1: and portal kid and that's where we are, as you know,
Speaker 1: in college athletics now. So there's a lot of good info.
Speaker 1: They got some talent coming.
Speaker 3: In, Derek, they do, and they're kind of getting guys
Speaker 3: every day here here lately. You know, Oliver Boots from
Speaker 3: California's right in the pitcher, who just finished his freshman
Speaker 3: year I like a wht. I think he'll play a
Speaker 3: major role in some regard, whether it's the bullet in
Speaker 3: multiating guy or potentially even a starter if he can
Speaker 3: win a job. And they got a couple of guys,
Speaker 3: I know, we gotta be quick here. The draft coming
Speaker 3: up will be a big thing. Jackson Tron from Canisius
Speaker 3: and then Ryan Dugo from cal State Bakersfield. Our two
Speaker 3: guys that I think would be among the best players
Speaker 3: on the team next year if they're able to show up.
Speaker 3: The draft that begins, to believe July fourteenth, the first round,
Speaker 3: and then it's a three day event. The days two
Speaker 3: and three will be the day is to pay attention
Speaker 3: to if you'r UK fans, and I have a primer
Speaker 3: on that pretty soon, kind of letting people know what
Speaker 3: to look for.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I've already mentioned on the air here the
Speaker 1: young man coming in who's transferring from EKU. He is
Speaker 1: coming in off Tommy John. But they got high hosts
Speaker 1: for him as well, and they've had some success with
Speaker 1: kids who have come over from Richmond. So it's going
Speaker 1: to be fun. And if you keep your fingers crossed
Speaker 1: about the weather, because as we know, you mentioned it earlier.
Speaker 1: That's the key, especially in those early games. But you're right.
Speaker 1: I think they won a lot of new fans this year.
Speaker 1: Derek Terry batcat central veteran of the UK beat and
Speaker 1: now is like I said, dipping his toe back in
Speaker 1: the water. Good talking to you again, and we won't
Speaker 1: be a stranger now that you're back covering UK sports
Speaker 1: to a degree.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's great to hear from me and I really
Speaker 3: appreciate you having me back on.
Speaker 1: Since that conversation with Derek, a lot has happened with
Speaker 1: the Kentucky roster and including of course, Tyler Bell, the infielder,
Speaker 1: second baseman, shortstop from Illinois, turning down the Tampa Bay
Speaker 1: Rays who took him in the second round and deciding
Speaker 1: he will play for the Wildcats for at least a
Speaker 1: couple of years. Devin Burks said he would come back.
Speaker 1: The veteran catcher, of course, who helped lead the Wildcats
Speaker 1: to the College World Series, announced he will return, and
Speaker 1: then Wildcats picked up an intriguing left hander through the portal,
Speaker 1: Adam Hotsman or Hawkman. He is a red shirt freshman
Speaker 1: from Arkansas. Was a top fifty draft prospect ranked by
Speaker 1: Baseball America, but suffered an arm injury. I believe the
Speaker 1: Razorbacks believed thought he could or at least hoped he
Speaker 1: could pitch this past season and Arkansas had a really
Speaker 1: good team, but he was not able to make it
Speaker 1: back before the arm injury. Prior to that, he was
Speaker 1: rated Baseball America's number thirty two best draft prospect and
Speaker 1: didn't have Tommy John surgery. That's according to Arkansas coach
Speaker 1: Dave Van Horne. In the preseason comments he made when
Speaker 1: they were hoping he would come back, but he couldn't
Speaker 1: quite make it back, didn't pitch for the Hogs, and
Speaker 1: now he's a Kentucky Wildcat. More to come right here.
Speaker 1: It's the best of the Big Blue and siders stay
Speaker 1: with us on six point thirty wlap. Hey, it's stick Gbriel.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. Our number two
Speaker 1: taking a little time off, so please enjoy the best
Speaker 1: of the Big Blue Insider Joining us now on our
Speaker 1: celebrity Hidline. One of my favorite people and a teammate
Speaker 1: on the UK Sports Network. Former UK All Conference defensive
Speaker 1: end Jeremy Jarman and Jeremy It won't be long now,
Speaker 1: will it are? You feeling it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely starting to get the emotion again. Uh. I
Speaker 2: was able to get on the website and download the
Speaker 2: schedule onto my calendar, so, uh that was a nice
Speaker 2: little addition that you Can Athletics added to the site,
Speaker 2: the ability to just kind of plug those games into
Speaker 2: the personal calendar. So I think doing that the other
Speaker 2: day that really brought, uh brought everything to the table
Speaker 2: and brought those emotions full circle. And the times are
Speaker 2: slated for the first few games for the first time
Speaker 2: in my lifetime, I'm pretty I'm pretty excited game.
Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about that schedule. And I've been saying
Speaker 1: all along that and everybody knows the games are always tough,
Speaker 1: it's when they happen. And in terms of early challenges, Jeremy,
Speaker 1: this has got to be the toughest that I've seen
Speaker 1: in a long long time for uk Man.
Speaker 2: It gets started fast and you know, you think back
Speaker 2: some years back when we when we played Southern Miss
Speaker 2: uh in Kroger Field and they had us on the ropes.
Speaker 2: Uh So to start that game out against Southern Miss.
Speaker 2: I have a lot of respect for that program. Really tough,
Speaker 2: really tough group of kids that they recruit. I'm looking
Speaker 2: forward to deep diving in there, but then boom, you
Speaker 2: turn around the next week and you're right in the
Speaker 2: SEC football play. So I mean there's no margin there,
Speaker 2: There's no margin for error, there's no margin for just
Speaker 2: kind of lackluster start because it comes quick this season.
Speaker 1: Yeah, now the ups and downs are you got everybody healthy,
Speaker 1: but you're not quite settled in maybe in week two
Speaker 1: or three that you will be mid season. Do you
Speaker 1: have many concerns in that direction?
Speaker 2: Say that again, Gave.
Speaker 1: When you've got a tough game early in the year,
Speaker 1: you're relatively healthy, but you're still trying to figure things
Speaker 1: out with maybe some of the younger players. Are the rotations.
Speaker 1: Do you have any strong feelings either way?
Speaker 2: You know, when I look at this team and I
Speaker 2: look at I look at the offensive line, I look
Speaker 2: at the defensive line units, those are the those are
Speaker 2: experienced units for us this year. So you know, ideally
Speaker 2: you'd like to think that those are going to be
Speaker 2: your strong suits. And when those when those units are strong, game,
Speaker 2: you don't have to get you don't have to be
Speaker 2: fancy early. You just got to be effective at what
Speaker 2: you want to do and what you want to be
Speaker 2: good at and we know markzouts football teams. Offensively, they
Speaker 2: want to eat the clock because that's the football. And defensively,
Speaker 2: Brad White, he just wants to basically mix it up
Speaker 2: and muck it up for these teams. So when you're
Speaker 2: strong up front, like I'm starting to suspect that we
Speaker 2: could be on both sides of the ball, I think
Speaker 2: that that's going to help some of the inexperienced players
Speaker 2: to be able to ease into gameplay, especially at the
Speaker 2: quarterback position.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the D line, and that's got to be
Speaker 1: an area I would think of strength. Although losing Josiah Hayes,
Speaker 1: I really that's that's a real damaging blow. I think
Speaker 1: he may be gone for the year. We don't know.
Speaker 1: They just signed a Juco D tackle, but I still
Speaker 1: think they've got quality depth, starting with Dan Walker obviously,
Speaker 1: but he makes everybody around him better. What do you
Speaker 1: think of that D line? You know a little something
Speaker 1: about d.
Speaker 2: Lions, You know, I like this group. I look at
Speaker 2: Ripka just continuing to come into his own anticipate him
Speaker 2: having a big season. Silver's the guy, in my opinion.
Speaker 2: I think he's the X factor up there on that
Speaker 2: defensive line, keeping him on the field, keeping him healthy,
Speaker 2: keeping him in gauge. Last year, he got off to
Speaker 2: a quick start and then he just kind of, I think,
Speaker 2: just kind of things and banged up and he just
Speaker 2: kind of disappeared from the film. And if they can
Speaker 2: keep him on the field game he's a super talented
Speaker 2: d lineman. He's shoes, he's massive, long arm, long, big
Speaker 2: broad chest and back. He's a guy that can help him.
Speaker 2: Between him and Walker, if both of those guys are
Speaker 2: playing at their capabilities, it just makes life for everybody
Speaker 2: a little little bit easier.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because they got a double team Walker. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, I've been talking on the air about the
Speaker 1: fact that on takeover Day, I don't know if you
Speaker 1: had any time, you're a busy man to just sit
Speaker 1: and watch any of those those games that they replayed.
Speaker 1: They replayed the Florida win and the Louisville win, and
Speaker 1: those guys you've been talking about, especially Walker, they kept isolating.
Speaker 1: ESPN did on how U OFL in particular was trying
Speaker 1: to one on one block him And it was impossible,
Speaker 1: wasn't it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's impossible. There's not a lot of players that
Speaker 2: you just come across in college football that just have
Speaker 2: that physique and that stamina, that skill set. There's nothing
Speaker 2: you can do in practice, gay to prepare for Dion
Speaker 2: Walker if you don't have a guy that's ultimately sixty six,
Speaker 2: three hundred and thirty pounds and moves as well as
Speaker 2: as as the best defense into the defense linement in
Speaker 2: the country. I mean, he's a unicorn. Yeah, and you
Speaker 2: can't simulate that in practice. So you got to respect
Speaker 2: those teams and those programs for allowing their guys to
Speaker 2: have the opportunity to try to block these guys, because
Speaker 2: sometimes it can be a detriment to a player if
Speaker 2: you don't give him the ability to see if he
Speaker 2: can block a player one on one, and if he can,
Speaker 2: that's a confidence booster. If he can't, then that player knows. Okay,
Speaker 2: I need to dig in a little bit more. I
Speaker 2: got some film and now I can work towards this
Speaker 2: on the offseason. Now I know what an all ses
Speaker 2: he give us to the aligneman looks like. I know
Speaker 2: what a potential All American, potential lottery pick defensive lineman
Speaker 2: looks like. So you got to give your players a
Speaker 2: chance versus just saying you can't block the on walker.
Speaker 2: You know, we're just gonna double We're gonna double teaming today,
Speaker 2: So you know there, so there's a couple of different
Speaker 2: ways to look at why you see teams attempt to
Speaker 2: block him in one on one situation. But I don't
Speaker 2: expect there to be too many players that are going
Speaker 2: to be able to do that consistently this season.
Speaker 1: I hadn't thought about that that if you're sitting in
Speaker 1: in the meeting room prior to playing Kentucky and you're
Speaker 1: an old lineman, you've got to be saying to yourself, well,
Speaker 1: I think I can take this guy, but unless you
Speaker 1: faced him before, you know, how do you admit give
Speaker 1: me some help on this?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 3: For sure?
Speaker 2: And for sure? I mean, and there's times, you know,
Speaker 2: as a defensive lineman or linebacker, you know, whether it's
Speaker 2: a back being able to carry a back out of
Speaker 2: the backfield and man the man situations where you're asking
Speaker 2: your coach, hey, you know, why aren't you giving me
Speaker 2: a chance? I can tackle this guy in space? And
Speaker 2: I think sometimes as a player, that competitor nature has
Speaker 2: to come out and you got to say, you know,
Speaker 2: I can block this guy. Coach, don't we don't need
Speaker 2: the double team. Let's let's try to work up and
Speaker 2: you try to do it until you realize that maybe
Speaker 2: you just can't. But you know, even in our practice,
Speaker 2: you know, with our players on our team, you know
Speaker 2: they have to double team Dion Walker to be able
Speaker 2: to get through practice segments. And when they don't, he's
Speaker 2: so disruptive that ultimately Mark has to take him out
Speaker 2: out of some of the practice sessions.
Speaker 1: I think I remember Stoop's talking about that. That that
Speaker 1: got my attention as much as anything where they actually
Speaker 1: had to take him out of drills because he was
Speaker 1: throwing people around to he didn't want to hurt anybody.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I thought it was a little bit of
Speaker 2: hyperbole at first, and then as I started to get
Speaker 2: in and get over there to practice, and then we
Speaker 2: saw the body of work on game days. He's absolutely right.
Speaker 2: I mean, Deon Walker, it's tough to practice against a
Speaker 2: guy like that unless the guy that's blocking him in
Speaker 2: practice is also a unicorn, are also ultimately a bona
Speaker 2: fide pro because he is, he is a he could
Speaker 2: potentially this season we could be saying that he's a
Speaker 2: generational type tighte talent at the defensive tackle position.
Speaker 1: All right, be honest with me, and then we'll move
Speaker 1: on talking about Dion Walker with Jeremy Jarman. But how
Speaker 1: surprised are you, Jeremy, that he's still here? Let's face it,
Speaker 1: we all know we got a nice nil chunk, but
Speaker 1: a lot of schools have nil bucks. Are you pleasantly
Speaker 1: surprised he's still a wildcat?
Speaker 2: I'm not. And the reason why that is is because
Speaker 2: I know the type of relationship that he has with
Speaker 2: the guys in the locker room and also anwar Stewart,
Speaker 2: the defensive line coach, and Brad White. But him and
Speaker 2: anwar are very close. And you can see the body
Speaker 2: of work. I got film breakdown on Dion from game
Speaker 2: one to present and the buy in the technical that
Speaker 2: he's got natural gifts, but you can see you can
Speaker 2: see the tools that are being that he's deploying, that
Speaker 2: he's being taught by anwar Stewart who was a technician
Speaker 2: in college, a technician and professional Canadian Football league. So
Speaker 2: he's getting better. There's no reason for Dion Walker to
Speaker 2: leave and go to another school for a little bit
Speaker 2: more money, because he's he's ultimately he's going to end
Speaker 2: up where he wants to be, which is the National
Speaker 2: Football League. And he's just he's just continued to just
Speaker 2: grow and develop at UK and and and and he's
Speaker 2: going to have an incredible junior campaign.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you mentioned Ann War. I was going to
Speaker 1: ask you about him. You and so many former players
Speaker 1: who either know him or played with Anwar have been
Speaker 1: so complementary of him and supportive of Anwar there. So
Speaker 1: you guys are all so impressed with a job he's
Speaker 1: doing and obviously the proofs of the putting, But what
Speaker 1: is it about Anwar you think that has made him
Speaker 1: so successful at his alma mater.
Speaker 2: He's authentic, He's an authentic person and he truly wants
Speaker 2: what's best for his guys. And I just see the
Speaker 2: relationship when I go out to practice. I go over
Speaker 2: and that's where I like to hang out. I like
Speaker 2: this see and War and those guys and their interactions,
Speaker 2: and it's always inspiring for me when I see the
Speaker 2: best the best players on the team also being amongst
Speaker 2: the hardest workers on the team, because that from a
Speaker 2: cultural standpoint, that's not always the case. Sometimes your best
Speaker 2: players are average workers in practice and then they kind
Speaker 2: of flip a switch on game day and Dion's just
Speaker 2: the guy that he's a grizzly twenty four to seven. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean he's mauling people. When it's time to mall people,
Speaker 2: he's malleling them. And they're having to ultimately putting, you know,
Speaker 2: taking out of practice sessions in order to be as
Speaker 2: productive as they want to be because they're focusing on
Speaker 2: the team. So relationships trump everything. And I think ultimately
Speaker 2: for these guys they're going to learn is that you
Speaker 2: can go out and you can go shop around and
Speaker 2: you can find the highest price tag. But when you
Speaker 2: continue to look at the high level of recruiting that
Speaker 2: this staff is getting done, and you look at the
Speaker 2: quotes are coming out from the players and from their families,
Speaker 2: they say, the facilities are great, you know, the bills
Speaker 2: and whistles they're there. But the people, it's the people
Speaker 2: that I enjoyed, the people that I met, the people
Speaker 2: that when I'm coming on my unofficial business, the true
Speaker 2: relationship building that's taking place. And that's why Marcus continuing
Speaker 2: to have success in recruiting, and that's why he's also
Speaker 2: been able to keep some of his top stars being
Speaker 2: able to keep them at Kentucky despite us not having
Speaker 2: the highest NIL offer. I can assure you Dean Walker,
Speaker 2: the offers that he's gotten have exceeded probably not probably,
Speaker 2: they have exceeded what he's getting at UK. There's no
Speaker 2: doubt in min There's no doubt in my mind.
Speaker 1: And it's funny you say that because he's talking about family.
Speaker 1: I've heard more recruits talk about that about on their visit.
Speaker 1: You know, they just felt a kind of a family
Speaker 1: at UK and that facility and from the coaches, the recruiters,
Speaker 1: the guys who host them on their visits, and it
Speaker 1: seems to be genuine and it's paying off on the field.
Speaker 1: We're talking to Jeremy Jarman of the UK Sports Network.
Speaker 1: We'll come back and talk more with Double Jay's in
Speaker 1: just a minute. You're listening to the best of the
Speaker 1: Big Blue Insider. More to come here on six thirty WLAP. Hey,
Speaker 1: it's Dick Gabriel and you're listening to the best of
Speaker 1: the Big Blue Insider. My guest Jeremy Jarman from the
Speaker 1: UK Sports Networking and Christy Thomas part of our pregame
Speaker 1: coverage of Kentucky football and it won't be long now.
Speaker 1: I've talked to a lot of people this summer, Jeremy
Speaker 1: about the fact that, of course Kentucky is not in
Speaker 1: the preseason top twenty fives after back to back seven
Speaker 1: win seasons, which amazingly have been disappointing to Kentucky fans.
Speaker 1: But really is it is a mystery at least on offense,
Speaker 1: isn't it. When you've got a new OC, a new quarterback,
Speaker 1: we don't know who's going to carry the mail in
Speaker 1: the offense to backfield. We think we know, But the
Speaker 1: one thing that you touched on earlier is the offensive line.
Speaker 1: How confident are you with all these question marks on
Speaker 1: the offensive side of the ball.
Speaker 2: It's one of those It's one of those things, Dave,
Speaker 2: is that the players in the talent is there. But
Speaker 2: I'll tell you, changing coordinators, new quarterback, those are recipes
Speaker 2: for disaster.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: I mean, we just we just have to be honest.
Speaker 2: I mean, statistically, I've seen the articles over the years
Speaker 2: when you see NFL teams change offensive coordinators, they change quarterbacks.
Speaker 2: Those are significant and and there's no different tier in
Speaker 2: mark he has he has somehow he has been able
Speaker 2: to manage these these changes with the coordinators as well
Speaker 2: as anybody as I've ever seen, because for some head coaches,
Speaker 2: these OC or DC changes they're they're there. I mean,
Speaker 2: they ultimately lead to two coaches getting fired. GM is
Speaker 2: getting fired. But he's been right in picking these coordinators
Speaker 2: to come in. He's been right ultimately and finding that
Speaker 2: that signal caller to come in and run the offense.
Speaker 2: So the concern is here is is you know you
Speaker 2: go and you got you got a new OCS coming
Speaker 2: in from an outside conference like the scheme, still got
Speaker 2: to watch some more Boise film. You have a talented
Speaker 2: quarterback room. The guy, as you're likely starter, doesn't have
Speaker 2: a lot of snaps under his belt. Gavin Wims that
Speaker 2: is coming in, he probably he may be one of
Speaker 2: the more experienced players in the room. I still think
Speaker 2: that there's gonna be a true quarterback battle in that room.
Speaker 2: I don't care how many stars, I don't care how
Speaker 2: many starters are there across some of these players, But
Speaker 2: I still think that there's going to be an honest
Speaker 2: quarterback battle in Paul Camp.
Speaker 1: Do you think it's going to be a two man
Speaker 1: battler or three man.
Speaker 2: We're gonna see but I'm I'm really intrigued. I think
Speaker 2: there's gonna be some storylines that come out, and as
Speaker 2: they should. I don't think that this quarterback, this position
Speaker 2: is gonna be handed to someone. Yeah, I think everybody
Speaker 2: knows has an expectation of who they think QB one
Speaker 2: is gonna be from the start. But I think that
Speaker 2: there's gonna be a battle for it. I really do.
Speaker 1: Are you saying that because of your concern about the
Speaker 1: fact that, let's face it, we all think Brock vandergriff
Speaker 1: released a lot of us will be the starter, or
Speaker 1: are you saying that because you believe Bo Allen has
Speaker 1: improved that much and that Gavin Wimsy brings a lot
Speaker 1: to the table.
Speaker 2: I think Gavin does bring some things to the table.
Speaker 2: You know, it's experienced, been one of them we talked about.
Speaker 2: Bobo also has experience. You know, whether he's gonna whether
Speaker 2: he's going to be able to push to be the
Speaker 2: push to be a starter in that room, I can't
Speaker 2: make that determination. I think that that's I think that
Speaker 2: that's more unlikely. But I like the experience that Bo brings.
Speaker 2: So we're gonna see Gabe. I just want to I
Speaker 2: want to get out. I want to watch the guys
Speaker 2: kind of spin it. I want to watch the edge
Speaker 2: rushers come off the edge. I want to watch them
Speaker 2: push the quarterbacks up into the pocket. One of the
Speaker 2: things about Bush with these quarterbacks quick release. It's quick
Speaker 2: release football, quick reads football, and basically the guy that
Speaker 2: thinks that that his brain sees it breathes the coverage
Speaker 2: the quickest. Yeah, I don't think that you have to
Speaker 2: have the most talented arm in the room in order
Speaker 2: to succeed in Bush's offense.
Speaker 1: You just got to have the smarts and the release
Speaker 1: and the accuracy, don't you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's it's it's it's a lot of
Speaker 2: quick game stuff. It's a lot of stuff off of
Speaker 2: some misdirection, a lot of quick games. And with quick
Speaker 2: game that to me, that benefits that benefits a lot
Speaker 2: of quarterbacks. I think that that with good decision making
Speaker 2: that you can really get into a rhythm. And I
Speaker 2: think a guy like Gavin, I think he's I think
Speaker 2: that this is a this is a system that he
Speaker 2: could potentially thrive in. Obviously Brock as well. So I'm
Speaker 2: just curious to see a little bit more this fall.
Speaker 2: You know, obviously we didn't get a chance to see
Speaker 2: see a ton. Uh, you know, see a ton from
Speaker 2: from this room. But I'm curious to see what what
Speaker 2: ultimately what it's going to look like here in a few.
Speaker 1: Weeks follow up on on the quick release brand of offense.
Speaker 1: And I'm not trying to pigeon all anything, but I'm
Speaker 1: just curious from your side of the football, does that
Speaker 1: benefit a receiving group more one than the other or style?
Speaker 1: Does it mean fewer deep shots? Does that mean fewer
Speaker 1: checkdowns to running backs or or more patterns for running
Speaker 1: backs that kind of thing. What should we look for?
Speaker 2: I think what we should look for is a little
Speaker 2: bit of noise in the background. Uh. I think what
Speaker 2: we should look for is is just basically when I
Speaker 2: look at this offseason, I look at Coach Short's the
Speaker 2: new wide receiver coach. I'm curious to see the level
Speaker 2: of I think mental toughness, consistency and just route running
Speaker 2: and understand and basically comprehension of of of defensive schemes.
Speaker 2: I think that our wide receiver room under coach Shorts
Speaker 2: has the ability to basically take a take a step
Speaker 2: forward in terms of IQ football IQ. So when you
Speaker 2: look at some of this quick game stuff, being able
Speaker 2: to understand the route tree, being able to read the defender,
Speaker 2: the corner that's in front of you, especially when you're
Speaker 2: talking about option routes, being inn seek what's your quarterback.
Speaker 2: So when you go back a few seasons and you
Speaker 2: look at you look at Onndale Robinson catching one hundred balls,
Speaker 2: which is just absolutely just amazing one hundred balls as
Speaker 2: the smallest player on the field. It's because of football IQ.
Speaker 2: It's because him and Will Levis were so in sync
Speaker 2: and they understood coverages. I mean, those guys just put
Speaker 2: on They put on a clinic a few years ago.
Speaker 2: So I'm curious to see if one or multiple of
Speaker 2: these guys, with this new quick with this new offense,
Speaker 2: if they're gonna take a similar step where they're gonna
Speaker 2: be in sync ultimately with our QB one to be
Speaker 2: able to start to rack up yards, move the chains.
Speaker 2: I mean, a lot of this is IQ, and the
Speaker 2: more those guys can comprehend, then the more that can
Speaker 2: be added with the option routes and with the wrinkles
Speaker 2: that you can put in place off these things.
Speaker 1: Wandale so often was it catch and run kind of
Speaker 1: guys that what you're talking about. Yes, good to me,
Speaker 1: Jeremy Jarmy. I guess we'll come back and talk more
Speaker 1: Kentucky football here in just a minute with Double Jay's.
Speaker 1: We're listening to the best of the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 1: More to come here on six thirty WLAP. It's Dick Gabriel.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Best of the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 1: We're talking with Jeremy jarm and he is in transit
Speaker 1: as he often is, but we took the opportunity to
Speaker 1: talk some UK football with him and it'll be here
Speaker 1: before long here Jeremy's coverage along with Christy Thomas on
Speaker 1: our pregame show here on the UK Sports Network. And
Speaker 1: of course the Wildcats again a mystery team according to many,
Speaker 1: but that's understandable with all the question marks. But the
Speaker 1: one thing we know, Jeremy, I'm fairly confident that the
Speaker 1: defense will give the offense the opportunity to win the game.
Speaker 1: And that's what it's all about him, all right, it is, And.
Speaker 2: That's that has been Brad White's calling card since he's
Speaker 2: been here. I think I think Brad it's just he's
Speaker 2: done a phenomenal job and I'm curious to see how,
Speaker 2: if any new wrinkles that he puts in, Uh, that'll
Speaker 2: be you know, those will be conversations to kind of
Speaker 2: talk with him about. But he's just done a good
Speaker 2: job and I had a chance to sit down with him,
Speaker 2: and I just always always enjoy, always enjoy seeing how
Speaker 2: he develops inexperienced players and how he continues to just
Speaker 2: kind of add to their workload as they grow and mature.
Speaker 2: And Andrew Phillips being one of those guys who's going
Speaker 2: to be missed dearly. But Andrews starting out here as
Speaker 2: a guy primarily an inside inside corner, you know, and
Speaker 2: and basically being asked loud stand and and and play
Speaker 2: outside coverages. And I asked, Brad, and he kind of
Speaker 2: he kind of got a frown on his face when
Speaker 2: I asked her the question. I kind of felt like
Speaker 2: a parracist what I asked it. But I said, you know,
Speaker 2: you're losing, And I said, does it feel like you're
Speaker 2: losing two players? And he kind of frowned up, and
Speaker 2: then he bounced back and he said you and and
Speaker 2: you know, he acknowledged just the importance of that role
Speaker 2: that Andrew played, So you know, trying to replace his
Speaker 2: experience and his tenacity and just seeing how he how
Speaker 2: he facilitates that and how did players how they handle it.
Speaker 2: So just just a lot. I think he's just done
Speaker 2: a good job. It was huge getting out and being
Speaker 2: able to get to Georgia transfer at the linebacker this
Speaker 2: and to come into the linebacker room that was that
Speaker 2: was a huge void void filler there. James gonna do
Speaker 2: well right next to right next to our guy d
Speaker 2: Eric Jackson.
Speaker 1: D jack Down. The stretch was money last year, wasn't he?
Speaker 1: He was?
Speaker 2: He really was continuing to grow, continuing to grow. He's
Speaker 2: a guy because he's not as fast and twitchy as
Speaker 2: some of the other linebacks inside linebackers have been over
Speaker 2: the years. So for him, the pre snap, the pre
Speaker 2: snap reads, the post snap reads, being able to process
Speaker 2: that a little quicker. I think that that's what what
Speaker 2: what was happening for him is being confident in his
Speaker 2: reads and and basically starting to anticipate things versus sitting back.
Speaker 2: He didn't have the He doesn't have the natural ability
Speaker 2: sometimes to sit back and let something open up and
Speaker 2: be able to react and and and get in there
Speaker 2: and get that PBu like like a Trevin Wallace. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but but d Jack, he he's a physical player. There
Speaker 2: a lot of experience. Looking forward to seeing him down
Speaker 2: in Dallas, uh in about a week or so at
Speaker 2: the SCA days.
Speaker 1: Yeah he got you know, he's wasn't He's not as
Speaker 1: outgoing as Trevin Wallace was, but he still led the
Speaker 1: team in tackles the last couple of years. And I
Speaker 1: do believe though. Help let me ask you how much
Speaker 1: will he miss playing alongside Trevin wall They had such
Speaker 1: a great relationship, you know, one of those kind of
Speaker 1: unspoken deals where they just knew each other's moves on
Speaker 1: and off the field. But bringing in Pops from Georgia
Speaker 1: should help kind of allay that, right for sure.
Speaker 2: And a lot of that's just going to be in
Speaker 2: camp in the film room, talking through things as you
Speaker 2: start to see what a player is capable of. And
Speaker 2: and you mentioned Pop, just another experienced football player, And
Speaker 2: I really think that they're going to sharpen each other
Speaker 2: just in terms of just play and alignment and anticipation
Speaker 2: of routes and just down in distance, just a lot
Speaker 2: of the pre staff communication that happens before the snap
Speaker 2: of the ball. And I think pop is one of
Speaker 2: those guys. He's he's really good at that. You don't
Speaker 2: rack up and have the kind of success that he
Speaker 2: has by not having a good, good understanding of the
Speaker 2: game and schemes and what teams are trying to do
Speaker 2: to you.
Speaker 1: That's work that's done in what you guys call the
Speaker 1: film room when you're looking at video right.
Speaker 2: For sure. Yeah, that's where a lot of the work's done.
Speaker 2: Sitting back with some flower seeds and the cowboy remote
Speaker 2: gave and uh and going through and just looking at
Speaker 2: the film until things just start to until they just
Speaker 2: start to click, until you start to see tendencies, You
Speaker 2: start to see s friends, you start to see little
Speaker 2: pre snap alignments that teams and that players do to
Speaker 2: get subtle advantages. And those are the kind of things
Speaker 2: that experience coaches that they that they teach, that they
Speaker 2: teach players, and as players get more and more experienced
Speaker 2: than the coaches just basically able to just pour it on.
Speaker 2: I mean it becomes like a aster a graduate level
Speaker 2: of course of the ball. Where Brad Moulhak I like
Speaker 2: like the d jack that he wouldn't be having with
Speaker 2: one of the younger linebackers because he's just not there yet.
Speaker 1: I've heard guys talk about learning to watch film. You know,
Speaker 1: it's not like you could just sit down and it
Speaker 1: washes over you, right, I mean, you've you got to
Speaker 1: know what to look for and that kind of thing,
Speaker 1: and what the study and what to let go.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think the main thing is is that now
Speaker 2: there's so much there's so much that these offensive coordinators
Speaker 2: are throwing as you and they're self scouting. They're making
Speaker 2: sure to try to keep their runs to the left,
Speaker 2: run to the right, balance short, intermediate, long range play action.
Speaker 2: So there's a lot of self scouting where they try
Speaker 2: to keep the defenders from being able to guess. But
Speaker 2: at the end of the day, the film, ultimately, you
Speaker 2: just need to have an answer for what teams do
Speaker 2: do the best. Yeah, and if they beat you on
Speaker 2: some of the ancillary things and you just got to
Speaker 2: live with that, but you can't let them beat you
Speaker 2: at what they do best.
Speaker 1: Interesting, you know, And I remember I think it was
Speaker 1: it was either what he Hayes or Bow, one of
Speaker 1: those two legendary coaches, talked about just that, about attacking
Speaker 1: a team at its strongest point because if and when
Speaker 1: you can break that down. You've broken them mentally and emotionally,
Speaker 1: haven't you.
Speaker 2: You know, there's a lot of psychology behind that. I
Speaker 2: think some of the old school guys they do such
Speaker 2: a good job of saying those kinds of things. And
Speaker 2: now you look at a Shun Peyton with some of
Speaker 2: the more controversial statements. You know, attack the head and
Speaker 2: the body will die. Well symbolically, symbolically, he's absolutely right.
Speaker 2: I mean, if a team's run dominant and they've had
Speaker 2: to sets running the toss suite and you're shutting those
Speaker 2: things down early, now that team can't get into a rhythm.
Speaker 2: So now the head of the team, you're offensive coordinator,
Speaker 2: Now he's trying to figure out, Okay, how can I
Speaker 2: get the team into a rhythm. Now he has abandoned
Speaker 2: what has worked best for the team. Now your players
Speaker 2: know that there's some struggles because you're talking about it
Speaker 2: on the sideline, and now you're starting to cast doubt
Speaker 2: amongst yourselves of whether this game plan is going to
Speaker 2: be good today. So there's a lot of psychological chess
Speaker 2: play that's going on throughout the game in different phases
Speaker 2: that are you know, that are fascinating and it's fun
Speaker 2: to sit back and just kind of talk with guys
Speaker 2: about what it was, what play it was, at what
Speaker 2: point there was a sudden change that really kind of
Speaker 2: you know, blew the door in to either allow a
Speaker 2: team to get back on track or what it was
Speaker 2: ultimately that that kind of brought about the defeat. So, yeah,
Speaker 2: football is a very complex game. It's simple, but it's
Speaker 2: very complex with the different nuances and alignments that you
Speaker 2: could show. You know, it's fun, it's fun covering for
Speaker 2: UK Sports Network game and or we get a chance
Speaker 2: to sit back and just kind of talk about talk
Speaker 2: about some of those things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know what if you can along with
Speaker 1: what you're saying, take let's say it is the toss sweep.
Speaker 1: Take that away from a team that's really good, and
Speaker 1: now they've got to be wondered, all right, what do
Speaker 1: we do now? You know, now you're you're trying to
Speaker 1: adjust on the fly, when you've worked all week on
Speaker 1: a game plan that suddenly just melted away.
Speaker 2: Right, correct, correct, And it's it's and it's frustrating for
Speaker 2: a coach, and it can be demoralizing for a football team.
Speaker 2: You know, you can just go you can go back
Speaker 2: and you can look at you can look at a
Speaker 2: game like Florida last year with with uh, I mean,
Speaker 2: it was just, it was just. It was an incredible game,
Speaker 2: an incredible individual effort for Ray Davis, but the offensive line,
Speaker 2: so many things fell in place. And once you cast
Speaker 2: that doubt, once that doubt creeps in and teams and
Speaker 2: players know, hey, this game plan is not working today.
Speaker 2: It's over. Yeah. When the players start to doubt the
Speaker 2: game plan and they start to you know, doubt the doubt,
Speaker 2: the scheme is absolutely over that afternoon, and so it is. Uh.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be fun to see to see how this
Speaker 2: camp opens up, Gabe, and I'm looking forward to the
Speaker 2: Southern miss game to see where to see where Mark
Speaker 2: and this team are.
Speaker 1: We will wrap things up with Jeremy Jarman on the
Speaker 1: other side of the break. More UK football chatter coming up,
Speaker 1: and you're listening to the best of the Big Blue Insider. Hey,
Speaker 1: it's Dick Gabriel and you're listening to the best of
Speaker 1: the Big Blue Insider. I'm talking with Jeremy Jermy. He is,
Speaker 1: of course the former Kentucky defensive and All Conference and
Speaker 1: now a teammate on the UK Sports Network. You mentioned
Speaker 1: Ray Davis a minute ago and again going back to
Speaker 1: watch those sec takeover games, a Florida game, the U
Speaker 1: of L game, and you remember them, I know, because
Speaker 1: you've just been referring to him, and you filled in
Speaker 1: for me quite capably on the u of L game
Speaker 1: when I was out with my little medical adventure last year.
Speaker 1: But those I think were his best two games. Obviously
Speaker 1: the Florida game where he said records, but the Louisville
Speaker 1: game on the road against a higher ranked team and
Speaker 1: a team that had clearly geared its defense to stopping
Speaker 1: his run game, and yet he found ways both on
Speaker 1: the ground and through the air to help Kentucky pull
Speaker 1: out that upset. It's a lot to ask one guy
Speaker 1: to come in and fill his shoes, though, am I right?
Speaker 2: There's no one coming in the field of the shoes
Speaker 2: that Ray Davis field. I mean, he had one of
Speaker 2: he had one of the best running back seasons that
Speaker 2: I've that I've been able to witness uh in person,
Speaker 2: And it was just it was fun to cover him.
Speaker 2: He was such a versatile running back. The ability to
Speaker 2: hit the home run tougher as the season went on
Speaker 2: in terms of being able to get some yards. Some
Speaker 2: yards have to contact as well, not in the way
Speaker 2: that obviously his predecessors in Rodriguez Snail had, but in
Speaker 2: his own way, but its versatility catching the ball out
Speaker 2: of the backfield. I mean the seven the seven touchdowns receiving,
Speaker 2: the compliment is almost fifteen hundred yards rushing. And what
Speaker 2: an incredible campaign that he had at this last year.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I don't have any expectations that that one
Speaker 2: person is going to be able to do that to
Speaker 2: replicate that. So I'm curious to see who's who is
Speaker 2: of this group. Will he merge? I'm really high. I'm
Speaker 2: really high on Demi Demi, Simo Karmba, really high on him.
Speaker 2: I think he's a fantastic football player. I think he
Speaker 2: can help us in the run game as well as
Speaker 2: the receiving game. I'd like to see if they're going
Speaker 2: to utilize him maybe a little bit more and in
Speaker 2: the slock capacity, give him some opportunities there and the
Speaker 2: way NC State did a couple of seasons ago. So uh,
Speaker 2: so we'll see there. I think he's very versatile. So
Speaker 2: uh but we all know that there's a there's a
Speaker 2: there's an open battle there at the running back position.
Speaker 2: I think, I think it's a it's a talented room,
Speaker 2: but we'll see if there's someone that will emerged that's
Speaker 2: able to carry the bulk of the shares.
Speaker 1: The one thing we know. We've talked a lot about
Speaker 1: the mysteries on offense, but the one thing we know
Speaker 1: is Barrion Brown is one of the premier home run
Speaker 1: hitters potentially in the country. And the Dane Key. Even
Speaker 1: though he had a couple of drops against Louisville, he
Speaker 1: made some absolute clutch catches for first downs for touchdowns
Speaker 1: against the Cardinals. Those two guys compliment each other so well.
Speaker 1: I think Dane has shown growth and maturity from maybe
Speaker 1: the middle of his freshman year on. I think Barrion
Speaker 1: needs to take a big step this year. But I
Speaker 1: keep hearing Jeremy that he is poised and ready to
Speaker 1: do that. Have you heard the same thing?
Speaker 2: I have heard that. And I think that that room,
Speaker 2: I think that that's a very talented room, and and
Speaker 2: I was, I was very appreciative. I know it's always
Speaker 2: tough anytime you have to go different directions from a coach,
Speaker 2: from a coaching perspective, but I'm really high on the
Speaker 2: things that I've read about coach Schortz. I like his
Speaker 2: background as a player as well, and I'm just I'm
Speaker 2: really intrigued to see how his presence will translate to
Speaker 2: the wide receiver room.
Speaker 1: That's interesting because generally coaches come in pick up where
Speaker 1: somebody else left off. Uh, this guy, I think he's
Speaker 1: already had a pretty good impression, left a pretty good impression,
Speaker 1: a good impact on that room, don't you.
Speaker 2: I think so. I think so. And ultimately, I think
Speaker 2: I think that we'll know for sure here here in
Speaker 2: a few weeks game And and I'm eager to talk
Speaker 2: with the players as well and just kind of talk
Speaker 2: about some of the differences, some of the differences and
Speaker 2: how they feel that they've grown as grown as players
Speaker 2: and pass catchers. I know at times last year there
Speaker 2: seem to there seemed to be just kind of a
Speaker 2: I don't know, I don't want to say lack of focus,
Speaker 2: because you know, when you're dropping the football, it's hard.
Speaker 2: You know, I never had to catch the football for
Speaker 2: a living, So sometimes with some of those drops, is
Speaker 2: it focused, is it you know? Is it good defense?
Speaker 2: Was the ball a little wide?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 2: There's a lot of reasons, but there were times where
Speaker 2: it just seemed like we kind of our receiver room
Speaker 2: kind of got into a lull.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Barrian had that big drop in the back of the
Speaker 1: end zone wide open against the Gators, and Dane dropped
Speaker 1: the first ball thrown to him against Louisville, but they
Speaker 1: both bounced back and made huge plays, either catching the
Speaker 1: ball or on the jet sweep of Barrion Brown. So,
Speaker 1: and it's interesting that you mentioned coach Schortz one of
Speaker 1: the first answers of our interview, and so he has
Speaker 1: clearly made an impression on you. So that's going to
Speaker 1: be interesting. Jeremy. I won't take any more of your time.
Speaker 1: It's always great talking football with you, looking forward to
Speaker 1: that first game as you are looking forward to hearing
Speaker 1: you and Christy break things down. And I'm sure we'll
Speaker 1: talk again before kickoff. I appreciate you joining us.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Gay anytime. Man.
Speaker 1: Love talking football with Jeremy Jarman. And it won't be
Speaker 1: long now before we see kickoff over at Kroger Field.
Speaker 1: Something came out the other day. I don't know that
Speaker 1: we saw a whole lot of play. I know I
Speaker 1: didn't talk much about it because we were wrapped up
Speaker 1: in other things, but the athlon preseason All America and
Speaker 1: All Conference teams announced. Used to be Athlon was the
Speaker 1: voice when it came to preseason magazines. Now there are
Speaker 1: so many it kind of gets lost in the shuffle.
Speaker 1: But important to note that Kentucky had three preseason All
Speaker 1: Americans on the athlon team. Dion Walker made second team
Speaker 1: of course, Barrion Brown was second team preseason All American
Speaker 1: as a specialist, and Maxwell Harston defensive back, was fourth
Speaker 1: team of course on defense. So three on the preseason
Speaker 1: All America team for athlon, and then of course Dion
Speaker 1: Walker first team for a defense, Barrion Brown first team specialist,
Speaker 1: Harriston a first team defender. Dane Key was named second
Speaker 1: team on offense, Pop Dumas Johnson's second team on defense
Speaker 1: on the third team, Derek Jackson linebacker, Marcus Cox offensive lineman,
Speaker 1: JJ Weaver defensive end, and Eli Cox made fourth team
Speaker 1: as an offensive lineman. So Atlon Man, we couldn't wait
Speaker 1: to get to you know, Kroger or whatever and get
Speaker 1: our copy of the Atlon preens. He was on the cover,
Speaker 1: on the regional cover, and that kind of thing we
Speaker 1: already knew about the Phil Steele preseason All America lists.
Speaker 1: That'll do it for now. Thanks for joining us for
Speaker 1: this special edition the best of the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 1: That's it. Good night from the garage in Lexington, Chang