Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue and sider Dick Gabriel with
Speaker 1: you on a Thursday, one day closer, you got tomorrow,
Speaker 1: then one more sleep until UK Football Saturday seven forty
Speaker 1: five kick. We're on the air with you on the
Speaker 1: UK Sports Network at five point thirty for the Cats
Speaker 1: and Southern Mists. And of course college football kicked off
Speaker 1: last weekend on zero week, but the real slate begins tonight.
Speaker 1: You got a bunch of games going on tonight, including
Speaker 1: Rutgers at home with Howard. You've got NC State with
Speaker 1: Western Carolina, Central Florida plays New Hampshire. Not a lot
Speaker 1: of great games, but there's all kinds of college football.
Speaker 1: If you want to check out an SEC team, Arkansas
Speaker 1: is home with Arkansas Pine Bluff.
Speaker 2: That's going to be on the U.
Speaker 1: Missouri with Murray State tonight at eight o'clock. That's on
Speaker 1: the SEC network. That's going to get a lot of eyeballs,
Speaker 1: I would predict. So yeah, college football tonight, a little
Speaker 1: bit tomorrow, right, and then everybody, it seems, cranks things
Speaker 1: up on Saturday. The ABC C SEC contract begins in earnest,
Speaker 1: of course, and it's gonna be weird. It's gonna be
Speaker 1: weird not seeing the SEC. We've talked about this all
Speaker 1: summer on CBS and now ABC, Slash ESPN has released
Speaker 1: it's theme music. Earlier in the summer, there was a
Speaker 1: promo that went out basically with the phrase this is
Speaker 1: how it's done, and people began to compare it to
Speaker 1: the SEC theme song, saying it's not as good, it's
Speaker 1: not the same all it. But back then I warned
Speaker 1: it don't compare the two because they're not the same thing.
Speaker 1: One was a promo, one was a theme song. This, remember,
Speaker 1: was the CBS theme song. You would hear Uncle Vern
Speaker 1: and Gary Danielson. As soon as you'd hear this song,
Speaker 1: you knew exactly what was coming up. It was the
Speaker 1: SEC on CBS, the three thirty game. Everybody wanted to
Speaker 1: play at three point thirty. That was where the national
Speaker 1: eyeballs popped in. And technically, Noah wasn't primetime at eight
Speaker 1: o'clock at night. I always said, the primetime on Saturdays
Speaker 1: and Sundays is the afternoon.
Speaker 2: That's when people start watching football.
Speaker 1: That's not how they measure viewership for advertising ratings and
Speaker 1: all that. But now instead of this song, which I
Speaker 1: guess goes to the archives forever or until maybe CBS
Speaker 1: ever gets the SEC back. I don't think they'll use
Speaker 1: this for their Big ten covers. They haven't released any
Speaker 1: info or music saying what they're going to do, but
Speaker 1: this is what it's going to sound like on ABC.
Speaker 2: This will be the theme music.
Speaker 1: They released this earlier today or last night for the
Speaker 1: theme music the anthem if you will for the SEC
Speaker 1: on ABC. There is a musical clip out there. One
Speaker 1: it's about a minute twenty five. It's got all the
Speaker 1: teams represented, it's got different representations.
Speaker 2: Of the graphics you're going to see, and all that just.
Speaker 1: To prep you for the SEC on ABC. Make of
Speaker 1: it what you will if you like it, and if
Speaker 1: you know, if you don't like it.
Speaker 2: But it's gonna be in brain.
Speaker 1: They're gonna you're gonna hear that going in and out
Speaker 1: of promotional spots and breaks and all that. So that's
Speaker 1: gonna be your new Saturday afternoon when you watch the
Speaker 1: SEC on ABC.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be different, it's gonna be weird.
Speaker 1: But in the as they say, at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, it's Southeastern Conference football, which of course includes.
Speaker 2: Your Kentucky Wildcats.
Speaker 1: And they are prepping like crazy for Southern Myss, including
Speaker 1: first year quarterback Brock Vandergriff, who told the assembled media
Speaker 1: last night really anxious to get started.
Speaker 3: Just ready to go really against somebody not wearing blue
Speaker 3: and whites. The main thing, I've been hitting these dudes
Speaker 3: since spring, winter and stuff like that, in condition with them,
Speaker 3: been fussing with them, stuff like that. So I just
Speaker 3: ready to get out there. And I guess see if
Speaker 3: plays work, No, but they do. But I mean, we're
Speaker 3: looking forward to a good game. And you know, hopefully
Speaker 3: this practice is a tough practice. It's been hot out here,
Speaker 3: but it should be. Shouldn't be as hoot on Saturday,
Speaker 3: but you know, this is just making a stronger for
Speaker 3: whenever it is hot.
Speaker 1: Like all the Wildcats, he wants to see how this
Speaker 1: offensive attack is going to function under Bush Hampden, and
Speaker 1: it all starts with the old line, as you know,
Speaker 1: and Brock Vandergriff says he is confident and the guy's
Speaker 1: up front the lines.
Speaker 3: The line's been doing really well. And whether it's pass
Speaker 3: blocking or run blocking, those guys are gonna get ready.
Speaker 3: They're gonna be looking forward to it obviously. Like I said,
Speaker 3: hitting somebody not wearing blue and white, so they're all
Speaker 3: jacked up.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: The line is always wanted to rush, so we'll see
Speaker 3: what that's all about.
Speaker 1: Vandergriff himself sounds pretty confident, but he will admit that
Speaker 1: on game day, especially when he first runs out onto
Speaker 1: the field. Yeah, there's gonna be nerves.
Speaker 3: I always just kind of get pretty emotional, like just
Speaker 3: walking out on the stadium. Whether I'm the thirst string guy,
Speaker 3: four string guy, the second first, don't even matter. I
Speaker 3: think it's just kind of a testament to just like
Speaker 3: I love ball, Like walking out there, like probably get
Speaker 3: a little teary eyed and stuff, but that's just that's
Speaker 3: what's all about. Obviously, gonna be some nerves, and just
Speaker 3: that means you care at the end of the day.
Speaker 3: So we're looking forward to that and just that's what
Speaker 3: you do it for men, your BBN, the people, your
Speaker 3: friends and family and coaches stuff like that. So it
Speaker 3: all comes full circle when you walk out there. And
Speaker 3: he also want to player.
Speaker 5: Best for him.
Speaker 1: John Hale asked Brock if he could recall his first
Speaker 1: start in high school, and Brock had a hard time
Speaker 1: thinking back that far. He's been to a lot of
Speaker 1: games and a lot of practices since then, but he
Speaker 1: said the nerves were pretty much the same.
Speaker 3: It's kind of bad. I don't really tell the coaches,
Speaker 3: but like I will not sleep the night before at all,
Speaker 3: just so jacked up, the same thing like before I
Speaker 3: get hon or something like.
Speaker 5: It's just I love it.
Speaker 3: And he was right for him.
Speaker 1: That is Brock vander Griffkentucky's new starting quarterback. Courtesy Jeff
Speaker 1: Drummond and Kat Illustrated. He also had some comments from
Speaker 1: JJ Weaver, who said he I can't wait to see
Speaker 1: what the defense dials up.
Speaker 6: This little just more younger, you know, but they listen,
Speaker 6: they leave by the by example, and they eager, they
Speaker 6: ready to go. Lastly, if I've been on, they already
Speaker 6: knew it. They have been through the system already. But
Speaker 6: this my fresh brand Newton to be excited.
Speaker 1: JJ, of course a veteran linebacker. When you think about
Speaker 1: what Kentucky has up the middle defensively, it might be
Speaker 1: a young defense, but up the middle it doesn't get
Speaker 1: much better.
Speaker 6: Got Dion right there and then.
Speaker 2: Me just clean everything up.
Speaker 6: US three us for you forgot about Jerk Jackson too,
Speaker 6: so you're just adominant force should have just added pop.
Speaker 1: For sure JJ Weaver, who needs to have I think
Speaker 1: his best season as a Kentucky linebacker. They helped that
Speaker 1: defense be what it can be. One of the swing
Speaker 1: games for Kentucky each year, it seems, has always been Tennessee.
Speaker 1: Not a whole lot of success, as you know, with
Speaker 1: the volunteers, Kentucky missing some opportunities to take down some
Speaker 1: substandard Tennessee teams. But that standard seems to be rising
Speaker 1: again under Josh Heipel and the guy who hired him,
Speaker 1: Danny White, the athletics director, is now the highest paid
Speaker 1: ad at a public university in the country. That's according
Speaker 1: to USA Today. White apparently just signed a contract extension
Speaker 1: that pays him at least two point seven five million annually.
Speaker 1: Evidently this went into effect on August. The first big
Speaker 1: rais from his two point four to five million, and
Speaker 1: he'll get the same five percent annual increase from his
Speaker 1: original contract. So many people believe that college sports are
Speaker 1: out of whack, if for no other reason soaring salaries,
Speaker 1: of course, mostly with the coaches, but ads are making
Speaker 1: a big chunk of change as well, and White can
Speaker 1: get as much as six hundred thousand in bonuses. If
Speaker 1: ut it's either academic or athletic benchmarks or both, which
Speaker 1: it routinely has done, according to the story during his tenure.
Speaker 1: So Danny White gets paid down at Tennessee. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: congratulations to him. A couple of baseball notes. Don't run away.
Speaker 1: It's not the usual scores and highlights. I will tell
Speaker 1: you if you're a Reds fan, a frustrated Reds fan,
Speaker 1: at least the future may be coming up close. Ret Louder,
Speaker 1: the red number seven overall draft pick, is coming up
Speaker 1: from the Miners tomorrow. He is a great pitching prospect
Speaker 1: at a wake forest, and MLB dot Com is reporting
Speaker 1: that the Reds, he's listed as their number two prospect,
Speaker 1: will start game two of a doubleheader against the Brewers
Speaker 1: tomorrow at Great American Ballpark. No confirmation yet from the team.
Speaker 1: He was the second pitcher taken after the Pirates took
Speaker 1: Paul Skeen's first overall did not pitch in the Red
Speaker 1: system last year because he had already reached his innings
Speaker 1: limit in college. But once he makes his first appearance
Speaker 1: five at the top seven picks in the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: three draft will.
Speaker 2: Have made their MLB debut.
Speaker 1: Skeiens of course lighting it up for Pittsburgh, Dylan Cruz
Speaker 1: out of LSU for the Nats, Wyatt Langford at number four,
Speaker 1: Jacob Wilson at number six, and now Louder the number
Speaker 1: seven pick. Apparently we'll be pitching tomorrow in Great American Ballpark.
Speaker 1: Dylan Cruz got his first base hit the other night,
Speaker 1: it was a double, and then he follows up last
Speaker 1: night with his first home run in the NATS Series
Speaker 1: clinching win over the Yankees.
Speaker 2: How about that.
Speaker 1: Cruise, of course, was a teammate of Paul Skeens at LSU,
Speaker 1: part of that LSU team that won the national champion
Speaker 1: two years ago and had to go through Kentucky to
Speaker 1: get there, beat the Wildcats in the ense Super Regional
Speaker 1: down in Baton Rouge. Of course, the Wildcats got that
Speaker 1: taste of success, followed that up with the Super Regional
Speaker 1: of their own this past year. But imagine having to
Speaker 1: face Paul Skins and Dylan Cruz and company in the
Speaker 1: same weekend at a super regional the way Kentucky did.
Speaker 2: But they just learned from it.
Speaker 1: Shohai Otani Bobblehead Night was last night in La. Obviously
Speaker 1: you know how popular he is, and now.
Speaker 2: His dog is too.
Speaker 1: His dog is named deck Opin, which is Japanese for decoy,
Speaker 1: and the dog throughout the first pitch, apparently the bobblehead
Speaker 1: included an image of the dog or the dog itself.
Speaker 1: It's got show Hi holding the dog right. So Deco
Speaker 1: quote unquote threw out the first pitch. What he did
Speaker 1: was basically deliver it to the plate. He had in
Speaker 1: his mouth of course, and trotted up to the plate
Speaker 1: and handed the ball off to the catcher Shohaiotadi, his master.
Speaker 1: So the crowd loved it. At Dodger Stadium, of course,
Speaker 1: everybody who got a bobblehead of both show Hi and Decoy,
Speaker 1: they were happy. First forty thousand fans to enter the
Speaker 1: stadium on Wednesday got bobbleheads, and by one o'clock, maybe
Speaker 1: one thirty in the afternoon, fans, hundreds and hundreds of
Speaker 1: fans were lined up at the gates, at the parking gates,
Speaker 1: at the stadium gates. Some of them got there, it
Speaker 1: says here prior to eleven am. They wanted that bobblehead.
Speaker 1: They wanted to see show Hi and Decoy on their mantle,
Speaker 1: and they hung in there and they got it and
Speaker 1: Decoy delivered that pitch and I will tell you based
Speaker 1: on the video it was a strike. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 1: A bobblehead with a player and his dog and the
Speaker 1: dog delivers the first pitch. Coming up next, we'll talk
Speaker 1: about NFL quarterbacks a little bit later on John Clay,
Speaker 1: The Herow Leader. Forrest Tucker of WTVQ will join us
Speaker 1: as well on six point thirty WLAP Welcome back to
Speaker 1: the Big Blue Insider. Coming up in just a few minutes,
Speaker 1: John Clay from The Hero Leader. We'll look ahead, of
Speaker 1: course to Kentucky football and the new quarterback we just
Speaker 1: heard from Vander Griff. All kinds of quarterback news from
Speaker 1: the NFL. As you might expect, the opening week is
Speaker 1: coming up fast.
Speaker 2: To me.
Speaker 1: The biggest story is about the former quarterback Tom Brady,
Speaker 1: who is of course joining Fox TV much money and
Speaker 1: much attention, much ballyhoo, But he is also trying to
Speaker 1: buy a piece of the Las Vegas Raiders, trying to
Speaker 1: become part of the ownership group there with Mark Davis.
Speaker 1: They have agreed in principle, but the move is yet
Speaker 1: to be passed. By the NFL's finance committee. If the
Speaker 1: move is cleared by that committee, Brady would also need
Speaker 1: to have at least twenty four of the league's thirty
Speaker 1: two owners approve the agreement for.
Speaker 2: It to be allowed.
Speaker 1: It is a tight knit club, and if indeed they
Speaker 1: approve it, this could have what are being described as
Speaker 1: severe repercussions on Brady's broadcasting career, because you think about that,
Speaker 1: You've got a guy on the lead broadcast and one
Speaker 1: of the biggest platforms, and he's an owner of one
Speaker 1: of the teams. So ESPN's Seth Wickersham, writing on the
Speaker 1: website about tuesday's NFL meetings in Minneapolis, talked about and
Speaker 1: wrote about some of the restrictions Brady would face if
Speaker 1: he would simultaneously serve as an analystic Fox and own
Speaker 1: a stake of the Raiders. Now think about it, he
Speaker 1: would be subject to the league's gambling policies. He'd be
Speaker 1: permitted to quote only strictly social communication with members of
Speaker 1: other clubs. So how's he going to do research, you know,
Speaker 1: on the games? If he can only have strictly social
Speaker 1: communication with other teams. He could not publicly criticize game
Speaker 1: officials he couldn't publicize or critically. He couldn't publicly criticize
Speaker 1: other teams, other ball clubs, front offices, things like that.
Speaker 1: There would be some real problems logistically for Brady talking
Speaker 1: to players and coaches and general managers, which you know
Speaker 1: he's going to do. You know he's going to go
Speaker 1: and prepared. He was extremely well prepared as a quarterback.
Speaker 1: He's not going to skate on his TV job. So
Speaker 1: this is going to be really interesting.
Speaker 2: The New England.
Speaker 1: Patriots had decided to keep Joe Milton as their number
Speaker 1: three quarterback, and remember him from Tennessee, a good player,
Speaker 1: but he is right now the number three guy in
Speaker 1: New England, not really a surprise. They're trying to figure
Speaker 1: out who they want to start, Jacoby Brissett or Drake May.
Speaker 1: But that meant they had to cut Bailey Zappi, and
Speaker 1: he of course spent his last college football season at
Speaker 1: Western Kentucky. But he has landed on his feet. Bailey
Speaker 1: Zappy signs with the Kansas City Chiefs their practice squad,
Speaker 1: so he is gainfully employed. Patrick Mahomes and his backup
Speaker 1: Carson Wentz will be the only quarterbacks on the regular
Speaker 1: season roster. But Zappi on the practice squad, which means,
Speaker 1: of course, not just a paycheck, but he could also
Speaker 1: be signed off that practice squad by other teams. And
Speaker 1: just in case you're wondering about the other Western Kentucky
Speaker 1: grad who is floating around the NFL, that would be
Speaker 1: Mike White. He was cut recently, he signed on as
Speaker 1: a practice squad QB for the Buffalo Bills, So I
Speaker 1: got a couple of former Hilltoppers out there at least
Speaker 1: drawn paychecks in the National Football League. White was most
Speaker 1: recently with the Miami Dolphins, but he lost out in
Speaker 1: competition with Skuyler Thompson for the backup role there as
Speaker 1: they back up two Toungavaloa in Miami and one other
Speaker 1: name you might recognize as a backup QB. The Los
Speaker 1: Angeles Chargers have signed Taylor Heineke in a trade with
Speaker 1: the Falcons for a conditional six round pick. Justin Herbert's
Speaker 1: been hurt in training camp. He was hurt last year
Speaker 1: for a little while, but he had planted our fasci
Speaker 1: itis in his right foot, and the backup qbs did
Speaker 1: not perform well apparently in camp for the Chargers, including
Speaker 1: Easton Stick I have to be honest, never heard of him.
Speaker 1: He's in a sixth year in the NFL. He came
Speaker 1: from North Dakota State. That wild offense up there. North
Speaker 1: Dakota States put some guys in the league, but apparently
Speaker 1: he did not play well. He played well last year
Speaker 1: filling in for Herbert, but didn't play well in camp.
Speaker 1: So they went out and got Taylor Heineke, who was
Speaker 1: kind of the flavor of the week a couple times
Speaker 1: for the team in Washington, but not so much lately.
Speaker 1: So they trade him to the Chargers, and if Herbert
Speaker 1: can't stay healthy, Taylor Heinekee might be back in the
Speaker 1: starting role.
Speaker 2: You might recall that when.
Speaker 1: He was signed, he was going to school, he was
Speaker 1: taking college classes. He was pretty much done with the NFL,
Speaker 1: or so he thought, but there was a need in
Speaker 1: DC for a quarterback, and Taylor Heineke made a comeback
Speaker 1: and now he's still in the National Football League. While
Speaker 1: we're talking injuries, Jamar Chase may not be ready. Less
Speaker 1: than twenty four hours after Zach Taylor said that Jamar
Speaker 1: would practice this week, he did not practice yesterday, and
Speaker 1: Taylor said he may have spoken too soon, said I
Speaker 1: might have been putting. He said, I might have put
Speaker 1: my foot in my mouth. Speaking too quickly. He said,
Speaker 1: it's day to day. We will just keep seeing after
Speaker 1: Jamar Chase now, Taylor said Chase remains healthy, but he
Speaker 1: did not practice beyond some stretching on Wednesday. He has
Speaker 1: two years left on his rookie contract, including a fifty
Speaker 1: year option worth twenty one point eight million in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five. While we're talking people with big bucks, that's
Speaker 1: Jimbo Fisher, the former Texas A and M coach who
Speaker 1: has paid a lot of money to go away. Well,
Speaker 1: he has a new job now on Serious XM Radio,
Speaker 1: the network announcing last night that Jimbo was going to
Speaker 1: join the network's college football coverage. He will co host
Speaker 1: Off Campus every Tuesday at three pm alongside former Florida
Speaker 1: State quarterback EJ. Manuel and former LSU running back Jacob Hester.
Speaker 1: They already got a show going on, but Jimbo now
Speaker 1: becomes one of their costs.
Speaker 2: He served as.
Speaker 1: LSU's offensive coordinator from two thousand to six, which is
Speaker 1: where he got to know Hester. All right, when we
Speaker 1: come back, John Clay at the Harold Leader will join
Speaker 1: us here on the Big Bluwinsiders six thirty WLAP Welcome back.
Speaker 1: Joining us on our celebrity hotline is a longtime friend
Speaker 1: and colleague, mister John Clay at the Herald Leader sports
Speaker 1: columnists who's covered a lot of Kentucky football and we'll
Speaker 1: be there when the Wildcats open up this weekend. John,
Speaker 1: you were at the Mark Stoops news conference on Monday,
Speaker 1: and it was fairly routine. I do recall the one
Speaker 1: of the reporters asking Stoops to comment on all the
Speaker 1: excitements surrounding the program and building up to it. Fairly
Speaker 1: innocuous question and answer. But I just remember thinking, I
Speaker 1: don't know that I've heard that much excitement. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of chatter, but I'm not knocking the
Speaker 1: program at all, But I just think Kentucky fans have
Speaker 1: got a little bit of a barrier up.
Speaker 2: How do you feel about that?
Speaker 7: No, I think that's right. Uh, you know, I haven't
Speaker 7: the same. It's not I haven't heard necessarily that, you know,
Speaker 7: people are down on the football program or anything like that,
Speaker 7: but I haven't heard know a lot of a lot
Speaker 7: of talk about you know, I think they're I've heard
Speaker 7: you know, people glad that football is starting, but not
Speaker 7: necessarily a lot of it, So I would dra fift team.
Speaker 7: I think there's a couple of reasons for that. I
Speaker 7: think number one, they're not sure what to expect out
Speaker 7: of this team. You got a new quarterback, you got
Speaker 7: a new offensive coordinator. I think also people are a
Speaker 7: little concerned because you're coming off back to back seven
Speaker 7: and six seasons and then you got Texas and Oklahoma
Speaker 7: coming into the league, so in a tough schedule. The
Speaker 7: other thing I think is most of the people that
Speaker 7: I've seen the summer, they want to talk about Mark Pope.
Speaker 7: They want to talk about basketball because he's the new guy.
Speaker 7: He's the new guy with an entirely new team. And
Speaker 7: I think that, you know, and people don't know what
Speaker 7: to expect, you know, from basketball, and I think that's
Speaker 7: kind of taken up. They have been most of the chatter.
Speaker 7: The other thing I hear from football people that I know,
Speaker 7: it's our too, and they're all talking about the Texas game.
Speaker 7: I think it's just go to They want to go
Speaker 7: to Austin because that's something new for Kentucky football. So
Speaker 7: there's been a lot of chatter. At least one people
Speaker 7: I know about that. But as far overall, I think
Speaker 7: people are happy, they're interested to see what's going to
Speaker 7: happen with the team, and they're happy the football starting.
Speaker 7: But I think it's more if they're not sure what
Speaker 7: to expect.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I fully agree with you.
Speaker 1: I think that on all of it, especially the Mark
Speaker 1: Pope basketball angle. And I don't think we're going to
Speaker 1: regret unless football just bottoms out, which I don't expect.
Speaker 1: But I don't think we're going to go back to
Speaker 1: spending the entire summer talking about basketball recruiting. As you recall,
Speaker 1: that's why Schnellenberger and Curry got together on the uk
Speaker 1: U of L series as a season opener. They're retired
Speaker 1: of hearing the basketball recruiting talk. But I also do
Speaker 1: think John that now that this league is so much tougher,
Speaker 1: and I think it is just enormously more difficult now
Speaker 1: to think about Kentucky making the SEC title game. We
Speaker 1: were talking on the show last night, on the State
Speaker 1: Wide Show. But it's going to be tougher now for
Speaker 1: Kentucky to get to Atlanta that it will be I
Speaker 1: think to get to the football.
Speaker 2: Playoff, You know what I mean?
Speaker 7: Oh? Absolutely, I agree with that one hundred percent, because
Speaker 7: you're talking about the Cup. You know, there's you know,
Speaker 7: the only two teams play in the SEC championship game.
Speaker 7: There could be as many as four or five teams
Speaker 7: SEC teams in the in the college football playoff, depending
Speaker 7: on how it shakes out after you get past the
Speaker 7: conference champions So yeah, I mean, you look back at
Speaker 7: the two seasons at Mark Stukey where they won ten
Speaker 7: games in twenty eighteen and twenty twenty one, especially the
Speaker 7: twenty eighteen team. If the if there have been a
Speaker 7: twelve team college football playoff at that point, they were
Speaker 7: I don't know they would have gotten in, but they
Speaker 7: would have at least been on the cusp of getting in.
Speaker 7: So yeah, I think that probably is a more realistic
Speaker 7: goal than making the making the championship game, and.
Speaker 1: You're not going to make the SEC title game. Of
Speaker 1: three conference losses, you might make the playoff depending on
Speaker 1: who the losses were and depending on what everybody else does.
Speaker 1: Of course, and looking back on last year, and this
Speaker 1: has been a puzzlement to me for several years, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure to you Mark Stoops has done just a
Speaker 1: remarkable job.
Speaker 2: We all agree on that at Kentucky.
Speaker 1: Better than a job than I thought anybody could ever
Speaker 1: do at Kentucky, with all due respect, and yet they
Speaker 1: lose those games they shouldn't lose, which I just amazing.
Speaker 1: And I know there are good players and good coaches everywhere.
Speaker 1: But you know, they lose to Missouri, which turned out
Speaker 1: to be a pretty good team, but they had that
Speaker 1: game in hand for a while and they just haven't
Speaker 1: gotten over the hump against Tennessee. Does that and then
Speaker 1: of course the South Carolina loss was the worst slash
Speaker 1: best example of that. Does that play into your mind
Speaker 1: at all?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, I mean obviously the South Carolinas was I
Speaker 7: mean the last two years losing the South Carolina tenne
Speaker 7: excuse two years ago because Levis was hurt, you were
Speaker 7: playing a new quarterback Kyles Sharon. The last year to
Speaker 7: lose that game at South Carolina, that was really tough.
Speaker 7: That was about doubts. I've seen mark a Soops after
Speaker 7: a game. I don't know about you. If you remember,
Speaker 7: was he like sitting after he got through with his
Speaker 7: press conference. He was sitting on the kind of the
Speaker 7: cyborg or whatever else, Yeah, on the curb outside the
Speaker 7: locker room. I think that was as down as I've
Speaker 7: seen him. Uh yeah, in Tennessee can't get over the hump.
Speaker 7: So yeah, they got to win those types of games
Speaker 7: to have the season that they want to have. I
Speaker 7: mean those a lot of times. Those separate the uh
Speaker 7: uh you know the wind, you know, separate you know,
Speaker 7: the kind of season you have from having a great
Speaker 7: season to haven't just a mediocre season. I thought it
Speaker 7: was funny yesterday speaking of that South Carolina game. I
Speaker 7: thought it was interesting yesterday somebody brought up the game
Speaker 7: where uh uh Southern Miss beat Kentucky in the opener
Speaker 7: back in what every year that was to that okay,
Speaker 7: and uh uh Mark said he still, oh yeah, he
Speaker 7: still remember that game. He should have called time out
Speaker 7: at the end of the first half, but he did
Speaker 7: didn't do towards you in the first half. He didn't
Speaker 7: do it. And it reminds me of I've heard say
Speaker 7: before coaches always remember the loss of the tough losses
Speaker 7: more than the wins. I remember talking. I went over
Speaker 7: to Richmond to talk to Roy Kidd this summer when
Speaker 7: he before his ninetieth birthday, to do a story about it.
Speaker 7: You know, he was about to turn ninety and I
Speaker 7: remember asking coach, kid, who you knew very well, you know,
Speaker 7: what do you remember for those national championship teams? He
Speaker 7: immediately started to talking about the teams that should have
Speaker 7: won that and the one where they lost that defended
Speaker 7: the back or something made a bad play, misjudged the ball,
Speaker 7: or they should have won that game. And I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 7: but what do you remember from the ones you won? No,
Speaker 7: he wanted to talk about the ones they lost, the
Speaker 7: ones they should have won.
Speaker 1: I distinctly remember that column. It made me laugh and
Speaker 1: shake my head.
Speaker 2: And you're right. And by the way, it was twenty sixteen,
Speaker 2: not fourteen for the USM game.
Speaker 1: But no, I know. But the thing is successful coaches
Speaker 1: they win so many more games than they lose, so
Speaker 1: those losses are just burnished in their minds. You know,
Speaker 1: I'll never forget Rich brooks Uh took me aside when
Speaker 1: at a function one night and said, man, you've been
Speaker 1: around for a while. You've seen some and he used
Speaker 1: graphic terms bad football, and he sas he said, you've
Speaker 1: seen some pretty good football, and he kind of ruefully
Speaker 1: shook his head. He goes, but you haven't seen great football.
Speaker 1: This is well before you know some of the gamestoops
Speaker 1: is one. And I said, yes, sir, I said, but
Speaker 1: you know what you you flirted with it. He said, yeah,
Speaker 1: we really did. And then he paused for a moment. John,
Speaker 1: and he goes, but we just couldn't recover an on
Speaker 1: side kick against Florida.
Speaker 2: I grabbed his arm and said, man, you got to
Speaker 2: let that go.
Speaker 1: I said, you want a lot of games, shit, you
Speaker 1: got to let that go. He goes, I know, I
Speaker 1: just can't. I said, you don't understand, so you know.
Speaker 2: But anyway, we're talking to John Clay, the hero leader.
Speaker 1: Kentucky football opener is coming up shortly again. It's Southern
Speaker 1: Miss And I'll tell you what. We've talked a lot
Speaker 1: about those of us who remember that game. A lot
Speaker 1: of people remember that loss, but they go down the
Speaker 1: following year winning Hattiesburg in a close one, and a
Speaker 1: youngster named Josh Pascal made himself known.
Speaker 2: You got to remember that.
Speaker 7: I would think, well, yeah, yeah, I remember that game.
Speaker 7: I think Kentucky won twenty four to seventeen I think
Speaker 7: or something like that. Yeah, and they win that game.
Speaker 7: They had to overcome a lot, didn't they have? They
Speaker 7: had some pumbles in that game, they had some problems
Speaker 7: on the offensive line and they ended up winning that game.
Speaker 7: That was a big That was a big win. So yes,
Speaker 7: I mean Southern Miss is interesting that I think there
Speaker 7: were three and nine last year. But they got a
Speaker 7: lot of new players, including their quarterbacks of Florida State transfer.
Speaker 7: Their coach Will Hall apparently he's recruited pretty well the
Speaker 7: last two or three years. They just don't have the
Speaker 7: results to show for it. So they're kind of, like
Speaker 7: Mark said Yester, they have a new offensive coordinator, a
Speaker 7: new defensive coordinator. They're kind of a mystery team coming
Speaker 7: in here. I mean, I expect Kentucky to win in
Speaker 7: Kentucky to win handily, but it's kind of it. You know,
Speaker 7: it's tough with these days with the transfer portal, you
Speaker 7: never know what to expect when these teams coming in,
Speaker 7: especially when you got a team with two different coordinators,
Speaker 7: two new coordinators coming in.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think said ten transfers for Southern Miss.
Speaker 2: And I asked him about the fact that, you know.
Speaker 1: This is a school and a football rich part of
Speaker 1: the world, and the SEC can't take every kid nearby,
Speaker 1: so and you got to I think cether Miss John
Speaker 1: is a great example of a team full of kids
Speaker 1: you believe they either should be in the SEC or
Speaker 1: maybe used to be in the SEC. So they're not
Speaker 1: going to be intimidated, are they.
Speaker 7: No, No, they're not. And as you mentioned yesterday when
Speaker 7: were talking to market, if a lot of players in
Speaker 7: the Pro pros a quarterback, I can remember being at
Speaker 7: the top of that list. And Sun Belt teams are dangerous.
Speaker 7: I mean, you know we know that that they're dangerous teams.
Speaker 7: They play good football in the Sun Belt and I
Speaker 7: know Southern miss got a good tradition and I know
Speaker 7: they're trying to get back to that with this team.
Speaker 7: So it'll be interesting to see what kind of what
Speaker 7: happens on Saturday.
Speaker 1: John Clay, my guests from the Herold Leader will come
Speaker 1: back and talk more football with John in just a
Speaker 1: moment on the other side of the break here on
Speaker 1: the Big Moon Siders six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're
Speaker 1: talking with John Clay, longtime sports writer and columnists for
Speaker 1: The Herald Leader. He'll be covering I don't want to
Speaker 1: ask you how many openers you cover, John, but you've
Speaker 1: you've seen a lot of a lot of the ups
Speaker 1: and downs a you're looking forward to the lights show
Speaker 1: at the stadium.
Speaker 2: It's a night game, Yeah.
Speaker 7: It's a night game. Yeah, I'd be interested to see
Speaker 7: the new lights. You know, back in what I guess
Speaker 7: it was back when Sam was at CMN was ad
Speaker 7: didn't they go through a few years there, back before
Speaker 7: TV controlled everything where they wanted all the September games
Speaker 7: would be at night because of the heat and what's
Speaker 7: it going to be like ninety five ninety six during
Speaker 7: the week, although I think it's going to be a
Speaker 7: little cooler on Saturday. But but oh yeah, the opener
Speaker 7: is always fun no matter who they play. Uh, you know,
Speaker 7: just to get it started. I know, people in the media,
Speaker 7: so we're ready for a game, We're ready to write,
Speaker 7: start writing about a game. Set of trying to come
Speaker 7: up with stuff to write with, you know, from camp
Speaker 7: and so forth on the players two years. The old
Speaker 7: thing about the players, they are just tired of hitting
Speaker 7: each other. They want to hit somebody new. So, yeah,
Speaker 7: everybody looks forward to the opener.
Speaker 1: It's almost a journalistic equivalent of us being tired of
Speaker 1: hitting hitting the same ang r. Yeah, you know, preparing
Speaker 1: for this interview, I'm like, what am I going to
Speaker 1: ask John that I either haven't asked.
Speaker 2: Him already, or he's written about or you know, but
Speaker 2: it is.
Speaker 1: It is a great mystery story, this Kentucky team, which
Speaker 1: is why. And I can't remember who might have been
Speaker 1: CBS Sports dot Com at Louisville eighteenth preseason when they
Speaker 1: ranked every team in America and Kentucky thirty ninth, and
Speaker 1: I remember I was a little surprised, maybe more than
Speaker 1: Louisville was ranked highly, but not surprised was Kentucky because
Speaker 1: what do we know with a new OC and a
Speaker 1: new quarterback and you know, missing the power run games
Speaker 1: right now, and an old line and needs to take
Speaker 1: a step forward. That's probably a fair assessment, isn't it.
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's my biggest questions. I mean, obviously the biggest
Speaker 7: question coming in is I meanquarterback as your most important position.
Speaker 7: You got brock band of Griff who has all the
Speaker 7: tools to be really good quarterback, but three years of
Speaker 7: Georgia didn't really play. It was a five star prospect.
Speaker 7: When he comes out, I've sort of forgotten that he
Speaker 7: originally committed Oklahoma and Lincoln Riley and then when Riley
Speaker 7: left to go to USC, de committed and went to Georgia.
Speaker 7: So obviously you know the offensive line. You got two
Speaker 7: new uh you know, new starters on the one side
Speaker 7: of the offensive line. H Eric Wolford Baptist coach, which
Speaker 7: I think offensive line coach with I think is a
Speaker 7: good deal, which will help. But the thing about you
Speaker 7: mentioned about the running game, that's that's that's a concern
Speaker 7: to me. Uh, Chip Trainham is out who I stay
Speaker 7: transferred out for a while with a broken hand. So
Speaker 7: you got some unproven guys there. You got Demi back
Speaker 7: from last year. He was known more of a guy
Speaker 7: who could catch the ball out of the backfield. We
Speaker 7: haven't really seen him as the you know, workhorse back.
Speaker 7: And then you got the few freshmen behind him. Uh
Speaker 7: So that that's going to be kind of a mystery
Speaker 7: to me. I'm interested to see how that's going to
Speaker 7: turn now, considering Kentucky has had a string of really
Speaker 7: good running backs and really productive running backs, you know,
Speaker 7: Benny Snell, Chris Rodriguez, Ray Davis last year. No way
Speaker 7: you kind of forget that. You shouldn't forget about Boom
Speaker 7: Williams back there, or you know Rose, I think it
Speaker 7: was Rose. Some of the aj Rose, some of the
Speaker 7: other guys who were good productive backs too. You know
Speaker 7: that that to me is a concern going into the
Speaker 7: going into the opener end the season.
Speaker 1: I took a look at the quarterback situation at Kentucky,
Speaker 1: just curious because now it's the revolving door with with
Speaker 1: the transfers as we all know, and Cutter Bowley. You
Speaker 1: know they're hoping is the future. But we were talking
Speaker 1: about those two seasons where they played Southern Miss and
Speaker 1: John Coincidentally enough, you go back and look at that
Speaker 1: Drew Barker just did amazing things in the first half
Speaker 1: of that Southern Miss game, and it looked like the
Speaker 1: Barker era had already begun. It was going to be
Speaker 1: a success, even with the flame out in the second half.
Speaker 1: But then it gets hurt the following week, hurts his
Speaker 1: back against Florida and was never the same and aggravated
Speaker 1: it early and in the Mexico State game, and that
Speaker 1: gave way to the brief Stephen Johnson era of two
Speaker 1: years which were very productive. But really since Drew Barker,
Speaker 1: they have not been able to really get things on
Speaker 1: track when it comes to quarterbacks, have they. It's just
Speaker 1: kind of ironic that it goes back that far.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, obviously, you know we'll getting Levis, but
Speaker 7: they haven't been able to get like I have their own.
Speaker 7: I guess you would call it a homegrown.
Speaker 2: Quarterback I can develop, That's right.
Speaker 7: A lot of transfers, right that they can develop. Obviously,
Speaker 7: they developed Levis with William Cohen so forth. But he
Speaker 7: he you know, had already played at Penn State, so
Speaker 7: he had some experience. Vander Rift sort of fits in
Speaker 7: that same category, you know. He was how like I said,
Speaker 7: Ali rated. There are people who from Georgia tell me
Speaker 7: that he was neck and neck with Carson Beck last
Speaker 7: year during Falk Camp. Kirby smartwill with Beck. He played
Speaker 7: so well. He played himself into where he's one of
Speaker 7: the favorites for Eisman this year. So vander GRIFFI left
Speaker 7: thought that was interesting during camp when we were talking
Speaker 7: to Brock and he mentioned something. But we asked him
Speaker 7: about the communication with the helmet, the new thing like
Speaker 7: the NFL, and he said he had talked to Carson
Speaker 7: about about how it was going in Georgia. And somebody asked,
Speaker 7: how often do you talk to Carson back? He said, oh,
Speaker 7: we talk almost every day, so you know, at least
Speaker 7: have some kind of communication. You know, they still talk regularly.
Speaker 7: So I thought that was interesting. So but yeah, I
Speaker 7: mean so much of it. You know. I had somebody
Speaker 7: who's fairly close to the program in Osbroge told me
Speaker 7: this summer because I think they feel really good about
Speaker 7: the roster. It all depends on how the quarterback's going
Speaker 7: to play. And that's kind of a cliche, I guess,
Speaker 7: because of your quarterbacks, your most important position. I do
Speaker 7: think that they feel like that, and I think this
Speaker 7: is true. This is probably the best and deepest quarterback
Speaker 7: they've had. Room. They had some stoops is there with
Speaker 7: with obviously with Vander griff and then with Gavin Winch
Speaker 7: said with the experience that he has to give her
Speaker 7: mo owensqul transferring from Rutgers. And then yeah, they love
Speaker 7: Cutter Bowlie. What little we saw Cutter Bowley and those
Speaker 7: two open practices, he looked really good to me. I
Speaker 7: know he's listened as or with whim set at number
Speaker 7: two on the depth chart yesterday, you know they really
Speaker 7: like him as well. And then you got Beau Allen,
Speaker 7: who even if bo never gets on the field, I
Speaker 7: think Bo was a great help just being in the
Speaker 7: quarterback room and being on the team because the type
Speaker 7: of kitty is in the experience that he has.
Speaker 1: Well, I got to go to the scrimmage Saturday this
Speaker 1: a couple of saturdays back, and obviously I can't talk
Speaker 1: about specifics of what I've seen, just.
Speaker 2: Leave it at this.
Speaker 1: Cutter Bowley acquitted himself well for a freshman, really yeah,
Speaker 1: and so it was it was impressive. But yeah, maybe
Speaker 1: we get to see him a little bit. But I'm
Speaker 1: curious about how they use Whimsen, aren't you.
Speaker 8: Oh yeah, definitely.
Speaker 7: I thought it was interesting when we first talked to
Speaker 7: bush Hamd and I forgot the job. He said made
Speaker 7: this statement about it, you know, these days a quarterback.
Speaker 7: I think it's something. I think he said, you want
Speaker 7: your quarterback to pick up at least two first downs
Speaker 7: running the ball, whether that's a scrambler design run, and
Speaker 7: so I think, you know, whim I think they're going
Speaker 7: to use wind set in uh, you know, different situations
Speaker 7: and so forth. We might. I wouldn't be surprised if
Speaker 7: we see him maybe down on the goal line as
Speaker 7: a wildcat or a quarterback something like that. I mean,
Speaker 7: I don't think he's you know, I think brock Bandergriff
Speaker 7: is the established starter, but I think Wimset definitely adds
Speaker 7: another convention where he will help him.
Speaker 1: You know, when we think about the two quarterbacks, I
Speaker 1: keep flashing back again to Rich Brooks. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you remember that before his first season, and he
Speaker 1: had already been working with a team and had already
Speaker 1: fallen in love with Shane Boyd as every coach he's
Speaker 1: ever had him does, because of his athletic ability, leadership ability,
Speaker 1: But he just couldn't get past Jared the runs. And
Speaker 1: Rich was still planning on using And remember when they
Speaker 1: asked Rich something about how many quarterbacks that are you
Speaker 1: going to use? Or somebody goes only two, you know,
Speaker 1: which is unheard of in football, but it.
Speaker 7: Can be done, you know, right, yeah, because especially because
Speaker 7: we'd just come off of how mummy, Yeah really almost
Speaker 7: didn't believe in a second string quarterback. See, but your
Speaker 7: first guy got all the reps in practice. Because that
Speaker 7: was this whole thing was you know, when the air
Speaker 7: right offentioned the repetition, repetition, repetition, and we would ask, well,
Speaker 7: what if he gets hurt? Oh, he's not gonna get hurt.
Speaker 7: I don't had a quarterback get hurt, you know, at
Speaker 7: the starter. So yeah, you know, and Shane was a
Speaker 7: terrific athlete, and yeah I remember that well. You remember
Speaker 7: Ron Hudson of course, was the coordinator, had come from
Speaker 7: Kansas State with a big reputation with real Snyder and
Speaker 7: things didn't quite work out, but they had big plans
Speaker 7: to use the two of them together, to use Jet
Speaker 7: and Shane boy together.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 1: And when Shane finally got his chance to start second
Speaker 1: or third game and he went crazy against Indiana, had
Speaker 1: an incredible game, but hurt his shoulder and they had
Speaker 1: to hide that the rest of the year so they
Speaker 1: couldn't let him run the football. And I looked it up,
Speaker 1: and you know, coach, like I said, coaches just loved him.
Speaker 1: I think he signed a total of like nine different
Speaker 1: pro contracts with every league out there, including the NFL.
Speaker 1: So but I just couldn't quite break through. But anyhow,
Speaker 1: it's a good, good guy. And his brother Aaron of course,
Speaker 1: played here at Kentucky as well. John Clay is sports
Speaker 1: comms for The Hero Leader. He and Mark Story and
Speaker 1: John Hale and the gang will be there on Saturday,
Speaker 1: and you can follow John of course on Twitter at
Speaker 1: John Clay IV and John, I don't think you'll.
Speaker 2: Need an ivy on Saturday might rain a little bit
Speaker 2: on us.
Speaker 7: I think I saw that. I just saw that this morning.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you'll be safe and warm up in the
Speaker 1: press box. So John, thank you so much. We'll be
Speaker 1: looking for you.
Speaker 7: I'll be it for you too. Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1: Up next our number two Forrest Tucker of Channel thirty
Speaker 1: six and Hunter Mitchell, who covers volleyball for.
Speaker 2: On three dot com.
Speaker 1: He was there on Tuesday to cover the Wildcats in
Speaker 1: the AVCA event. That's all ahead here on The Big
Speaker 1: Bull Insider.
Speaker 2: Six thirty w.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider and joining us
Speaker 1: down our celebrity hotline. Is a guy who's been in
Speaker 1: the market for a little while, Forrest Tucker. He is
Speaker 1: a sports reporter and anchor at WTVQ here in Lexington,
Speaker 1: and I want to talk to you a little bit
Speaker 1: about the volleyball you covered the other night for us,
Speaker 1: but we got to talk Kentucky football of course, and
Speaker 1: now with the SEC on ABC, you guys over A
Speaker 1: thirty six are all in on college football not that
Speaker 1: you weren't before.
Speaker 2: But that's exciting for you. Oh, isn't it?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it is. I can't believe the turnout, whether it
Speaker 4: was prompted by everyone's full television faces or not. At
Speaker 4: Double Dogs on Wednesday night, it was really great, super fun.
Speaker 4: Kicked off the season there. Someone won four hundred dollars
Speaker 4: of parts pump and Shop Jeff Ruby's and Double Dogs.
Speaker 4: What I would do with all of that, I mean,
Speaker 4: I just wish if it was me, I would wish
Speaker 4: just four hundred dollars rubies because I could do something
Speaker 4: in that place.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there was a promotional event at Double Dogs. You
Speaker 1: ought a great crowd. I appreciated the invite. You had
Speaker 1: a great crowd there.
Speaker 4: I know, I know, I was very happy. I mean,
Speaker 4: we had some good fun. You know, Lafayette and Georgetown
Speaker 4: College's fine as TG shuck the best place kicker to
Speaker 4: race read lane down there at Lafayette. ET shucked and
Speaker 4: we talked about his thoughts on football. He's a fun conversation.
Speaker 4: He is a fun person to talk to. I enjoyed it.
Speaker 4: It was probably one of the best, you know, nights
Speaker 4: I've done television because everything went well.
Speaker 1: TG probably is the last straight ahead kicker they ever
Speaker 1: had at Georgetown.
Speaker 4: College my own mind.
Speaker 1: How about that? That's how old he is.
Speaker 4: And he said, I'll have all that too.
Speaker 1: Well, And here's a fun fact for you. His first
Speaker 1: job yours truly. I hired him as a part time
Speaker 1: sports photographer at WKYT way back in the day and
Speaker 1: he did a great job for us, and then of
Speaker 1: course shifted into weather. So uh yeah, he is a
Speaker 1: passionate football fan as well. Well, let's talk about the
Speaker 1: team you covered, primarily to Kentucky Wildcats. You've been over
Speaker 1: at times getting some interviews and things like that. Is
Speaker 1: there a particular storyline? You guys have worked inside outside
Speaker 1: every story you can for your preseason special in your newscast,
Speaker 1: But is there anything in particular? Can I assume it's
Speaker 1: Brock Vandergriff the main storyline?
Speaker 8: You know?
Speaker 4: When I look at the team, I think that everything
Speaker 4: that people had anxiety about week in week out last
Speaker 4: season and into the off season seems like it's been answered.
Speaker 4: Bush Hampson bringing a Temple offense, you have a quarterback
Speaker 4: to his STEC experience, and everyone seems to like, you know,
Speaker 4: Devin Larry was kind of like that not sec experience wise,
Speaker 4: but you know people liked him. Brock teams different. So yeah,
Speaker 4: main storyline there, I think is Bush and Brock's first
Speaker 4: game together. How is that going to work? Bush will
Speaker 4: be up you know, up on high with all of
Speaker 4: us in the press box. Barrion Brown seems like he's
Speaker 4: a mature, young gentleman now. I think last year he
Speaker 4: had some hijinks that were not appreciated and his production
Speaker 4: wasn't what it could have should have been. So all
Speaker 4: these expectations that we have now, I think that this
Speaker 4: team is in a good spot. There's that's on the
Speaker 4: offensive line, a lot of experience there. There's a ton
Speaker 4: of great options at receiver, running back to big question
Speaker 4: mark right. I think, you know, that's going to be
Speaker 4: really interesting to see how that pans out Saturday. I
Speaker 4: mean we're gonna have to watch who does that. I mean,
Speaker 4: Demi Sumo is a guy who, you know, like Ray Davis,
Speaker 4: can catch and run you know of the backfield, in motion,
Speaker 4: you know, going downfield too. So I think this team's
Speaker 4: in a good spot. You know, we're talking about offense, right,
Speaker 4: that's the main thing. That's the main thing. You can
Speaker 4: assume Brad White has some good guys. I think i'd
Speaker 4: interest see how JJ Weaverer does this last season because
Speaker 4: last year I just don't know if I heard his
Speaker 4: name enough.
Speaker 7: Yeah, so there's a lot.
Speaker 4: My whole thing is it looks like on the outside
Speaker 4: everything's I are now. And can Mark Stukes make this
Speaker 4: team because it's in top twenty five, you know, just
Speaker 4: week in and week out contender and you know, and
Speaker 4: appearance wise, can he do that? I think that's the
Speaker 4: next step for him, obviously, but you would probably have
Speaker 4: a better take on that than me, just giving your
Speaker 4: you have more depth. But from where I look at it,
Speaker 4: expectations have to meet reality a bit more of this season,
Speaker 4: as much as that never easy.
Speaker 1: Oh that's true, but the last couple of years clearly,
Speaker 1: and Mark Stuis will be the first to tell you
Speaker 1: that results did not meet expectations in the Big Blue
Speaker 1: Nation restless after back to back seven and six years.
Speaker 1: And we're always joking about how back in the day
Speaker 1: that would have been cost for celebration all day every day.
Speaker 1: But Mark Soufi raised not just the ceiling, but the floor.
Speaker 4: Hasn't he exactly exactly? I think that he's a great coach.
Speaker 4: But for me, I just wonder, what what is the
Speaker 4: ceiling at Kentucky because again it's interesting that nil Ah
Speaker 4: this you know new conference realignment age and expansion age
Speaker 4: where you kind of just get some games, you know,
Speaker 4: how do you get some gains? And I just actually
Speaker 4: wrote up for our good buddy John Hale at the
Speaker 4: Herald Leader my prediction, and you know, you're gonna have
Speaker 4: to go out and you're gonna have to show you
Speaker 4: the big dog. You're gonna have to be like Missou
Speaker 4: last year and a merge out of people's thoughts that
Speaker 4: you're probably not doing much special, and you know, knock
Speaker 4: off Tennessee at their place, which they should be if
Speaker 4: they came to our place and knocked us off here
Speaker 4: last season. You're gonna have to see you know about
Speaker 4: beaten Lane Kiffin or see Startisian at their place too.
Speaker 4: And I mean I would bet that if George is
Speaker 4: gonna get upset, George is gonna take an OL. It
Speaker 4: probably the Kroger Field because with the new light, I
Speaker 4: think it's the first the second night game, the first
Speaker 4: SEC night game of the season is Georgia. So hopefully
Speaker 4: the Dogs bark is worse than their bite on that
Speaker 4: particular night. But that's kind of how I see things,
Speaker 4: is that, you know, you just you're just gonna have
Speaker 4: to do that.
Speaker 7: But that's the.
Speaker 4: SEC wide, though, isn't it. You know everyone have to
Speaker 4: nick something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no question about that.
Speaker 1: As we talked with Forrest Tucker, WTVQ ABC has the
Speaker 1: SEC now, So that's where you're going to be watching
Speaker 1: the Southeastern Conference. Uh, you know you're talking about expectations
Speaker 1: and getting things done if you're Kentucky. Uh, it's weird
Speaker 1: how Mark stoops. It seems every year at least once
Speaker 1: his team will drop a game.
Speaker 2: It shouldn't. You go back to that twenty eighteen team.
Speaker 1: Which was his best, and they lose down at Tennessee,
Speaker 1: which they shouldn't. But I wonder if Forrest can this
Speaker 1: team avoid those kinds of prat claus you know what
Speaker 1: I mean.
Speaker 4: Dick, I'm never going to pick Kentucky to beat my game.
Speaker 7: Cocks, all right.
Speaker 4: So that's the one we'll lose him. And that's just
Speaker 4: because the school arride. Should they win. Yet, I look
Speaker 4: at this thing on paper, maybe it's honestly better you
Speaker 4: have some non conference games, you know, mixed in right.
Speaker 4: Sometimes you're non conference schedule first a couple of weeks,
Speaker 4: you just kind of we're going through it a little bit. Uh,
Speaker 4: it's not the SEC yet, so maybe that helps because
Speaker 4: it kind of sharpens you. But I just think, you know,
Speaker 4: in games last year Eastern Kentucky for example, at home,
Speaker 4: you know, just just just got to put the foot
Speaker 4: on the gas.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you've asked about pre snap penalties, man, We've been
Speaker 4: asking about the airs. That mark every year was loathing.
Speaker 4: We're not clean, We're having all these penalties pre snat
Speaker 4: We're moving. You know, it's Eric Wolford, man, he's got
Speaker 4: to make a differences another guy. I mean, it's you
Speaker 4: think that these things are addressed. And the coaches of
Speaker 4: these like also to kill Schortz. I mean they have
Speaker 4: hands in Wilford Shorts. Great guys, great people to talk to,
Speaker 4: and they're great coaches. So you hope that those guys
Speaker 4: are trickling down man, and we're going to see some
Speaker 4: really attractive football, some complimentary football too.
Speaker 1: We're talking to Forrest Tucker. He is a sports reporter
Speaker 1: anchor at WTVQ. He covers the football Wildcats, covers everything
Speaker 1: really we'll come back and talk more Kentucky football, a
Speaker 1: little volleyball as well as Forrest made the trip over
Speaker 1: to Louisville as I did on Tuesday. That's all I
Speaker 1: had here on the Big Blue Sider six point thirty.
Speaker 1: Welcome back. We're talking with Forrest Tucker of WTVQ. That
Speaker 1: is the new home for SEC football on ABC. Of course,
Speaker 1: the Wildcats kick things off with Southern Miss on Saturday night,
Speaker 1: and I guess you've heard by now, Forrest, the history
Speaker 1: of this series, with Southern Miss coming in and pulling
Speaker 1: off a big upset back in twenty sixteen, Kentucky returned
Speaker 1: the favor wasn't really an upset the following season. But
Speaker 1: with your game Cocks and Georgia looming ahead, do you
Speaker 1: think there's a any danger that Kentucky, I don't say
Speaker 1: looks past Southern Miss, but maybe some of the younger
Speaker 1: guys might not be as focused. Or is that all
Speaker 1: a race by the fact that this is the season
Speaker 1: opener and they're tired of beating on each other.
Speaker 4: I don't know if you got to answer that question,
Speaker 4: because I think that's all us in the air. You
Speaker 4: probably have. That's the one in the team with that.
Speaker 4: In my opinion, I think that you know what would
Speaker 4: make what would make them take Southern mister really seriously,
Speaker 4: if you know, we went back I don't know how
Speaker 4: many decades, but a couple a good few and Brett
Speaker 4: fav was under center for them, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: I think that's where he went to school. But you know,
Speaker 4: these guys seem like they have a good juice in them.
Speaker 4: I just don't know how the injuries are going to
Speaker 4: play out, you know, I just you know, you want
Speaker 4: to see the tempo work right. So this game, if
Speaker 4: it's a slow first half, it might be because the
Speaker 4: tempo's not right with Bush's offense yet, So that probably
Speaker 4: takes a while to kind of work out. And you know,
Speaker 4: you got to hungry South Carolina team, a very perennial
Speaker 4: power in Georgia coming in weeks two and three, and
Speaker 4: you can't really mess around with that, right, Like, you know,
Speaker 4: South Carolina has beat Kentucky two years in a row,
Speaker 4: so you don't want to make it three because that
Speaker 4: team is going to be scraping and calling for anything
Speaker 4: it can get to try and prove itself. With a
Speaker 4: lot of young talent and a lot of transfers in
Speaker 4: that group.
Speaker 1: We talked a little bit touchdown defense in the first segment,
Speaker 1: but it's interesting that with all the talk about the
Speaker 1: new offense and Brock Vandergriff and the transfer from Ohio
Speaker 1: State ship train them, who's now injured, all the question
Speaker 1: marks about offense, they're going to need this defense probably
Speaker 1: to lift this team for at least a little while
Speaker 1: until the offense settles in. And there are some young players,
Speaker 1: but up the middle for us, I think you'd have
Speaker 1: to agree Kentucky's as strong as most teams in the SEC.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, big number zero Deon Walker. You cannot get
Speaker 4: much better than him coming across the line like that,
Speaker 4: and he is just a monster. And I think that
Speaker 4: it's great because you have a guy like Eric Jackson,
Speaker 4: you know, playing linebacker as well, and with JJ beside him,
Speaker 4: I think that that's, like you said, just probably one
Speaker 4: of the best in the SEC for that matter. So
Speaker 4: I think it's a year where they just have to
Speaker 4: kind of overperform, you know, Mac Harrison, I'm gonna be
Speaker 4: very interested at how many interceptions he has to how
Speaker 4: many PBUs he has as well, because the guy that
Speaker 4: definitely has grown and we've all wanted to talk to
Speaker 4: him more as the months and going on in the
Speaker 4: off season.
Speaker 1: Before I shifted a volleyball. A quick question about high
Speaker 1: school football. You all cranked up your coverage, everybody in
Speaker 1: town did on Friday. It's a lot of work, but
Speaker 1: it's a lot of fun. I know covering the high schools.
Speaker 1: Did anything surprise you? Any team jump out? I know
Speaker 1: you can only eyeball a couple of them, but you know,
Speaker 1: after you saw the highlights and read about everybody, anything
Speaker 1: jump out at you.
Speaker 4: Well, when I went to balla Belporn Creek up in Georgetown,
Speaker 4: I think I'm very surprised Scott County didn't do as
Speaker 4: well as they did. Only scored six points, I believe
Speaker 4: on Franklin County, so really good to slay from the Flyers.
Speaker 4: And as far as Great Crossing, that was the same game.
Speaker 4: You know, I don't I think that you know they're
Speaker 4: they were pretty pretty good. You know, they shut out
Speaker 4: for a good while Madison Southern. So that was my
Speaker 4: first kid experience. From what I've heard from the staff
Speaker 4: at our our our shop, you know, don't know if
Speaker 4: LCA and Catholic, you know the two you know private
Speaker 4: schools in town are going to do two this year.
Speaker 4: I think they've lost a lot of experience and stuff.
Speaker 4: Obviously there's there's two quarterbacks on those teams. Is Jackson
Speaker 4: Washington Cutter Bull who are playing college football. So if
Speaker 4: you want to talk about another private school, you know
Speaker 4: many are not thinking of you know, it's it's a
Speaker 4: newer school. But that kid Loose Pennington man, his dad's
Speaker 4: not Chad Pennington for nothing. And Brock Coff is a
Speaker 4: three sport athlete, the Fallic. He's got blue on his hands.
Speaker 4: And then they had Charlie Slayball who is returning running
Speaker 4: back and I think a couple you know, dual or
Speaker 4: triple threat position. You know, he can do a lot.
Speaker 4: So they're there are a lot of good teams. Uh,
Speaker 4: Paris the team outside of town. I love watching them
Speaker 4: because they're a team that loves to be gritty and
Speaker 4: they had their the orange turf was talk of front
Speaker 4: this week. Got it. I mean Western Hills, a team
Speaker 4: that went up to Bourbon County last week to rebuilding programs,
Speaker 4: has uk commit Jasiyon Campbell. That team's gonna be, you know,
Speaker 4: gonna be something where they have a really high standard
Speaker 4: and everyone does that.
Speaker 6: I know.
Speaker 4: I I don't mention Frederick Douglas or Boyle Count yet.
Speaker 4: I haven't seen them play yet, you know, I wasn't
Speaker 4: we do our blitz to previ off the team. Haven't
Speaker 4: seen them in person yet. Will be interested to see
Speaker 4: what happens with that. I said, you're Alma Modern Trinity.
Speaker 4: I believe right. You got the win last week and
Speaker 4: then they're playing Douglas this week. So I tell you what,
Speaker 4: I don't think you could be happier.
Speaker 1: Nobody wants to play Trinnedy Holloiver loves it's a district game,
Speaker 1: so they got to come to Lexion. A couple of
Speaker 1: minutes left with Forrest Tucker of WTVQ. As I mentioned,
Speaker 1: you made the trip over to Louisville, what did you
Speaker 1: think of the atmosphere for that huge volleyball doubleheader at
Speaker 1: the YOUM Center.
Speaker 4: I thought it was pretty good. I thought it was
Speaker 4: a really great atmosphere for the young volleyball players. The
Speaker 4: young girls earn attendance because something like that shows that
Speaker 4: there's a lot of good investment, a lot of good
Speaker 4: buzz around the sport. And as Christ sinners souls before
Speaker 4: you know they're trying to grow, if they're trying to
Speaker 4: make sure it's better. We saw ads for a League
Speaker 4: one volleyball and Volleyball TV and everything, so you could
Speaker 4: tell that it was a pretty professionally put on event.
Speaker 4: It looked really well done. What I loved was Emma
Speaker 4: Grome whenever she was a couple feet away from Kentucky
Speaker 4: side of the net, which just softly touched the ball
Speaker 4: over kind a soft spot in the Nebraska defense and
Speaker 4: just dropped the ball pretty much in the same position
Speaker 4: where she was on the other side of the net
Speaker 4: for a point. And I just I love watching the
Speaker 4: internases of that. Like Brooklyn delay served as something that
Speaker 4: I think is just lethal, how high she throws the
Speaker 4: ball up, how fast she runs and jumps in the air.
Speaker 4: So this is it's a great sport to be a
Speaker 4: spectator of, and I think that it definitely for me
Speaker 4: with this team to move this conversation but forward is
Speaker 4: you know, can they avoid a early season slump and
Speaker 4: eighteen game winning street don't just happen like last year,
Speaker 4: But I would hope they can go a little bit
Speaker 4: further than that nta regional round as well, And that's
Speaker 4: my thirty thousand foot kind of views. Yeah, but I
Speaker 4: loved it.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be tough, though. We're going to see a
Speaker 1: different brand of volleyball. When the Wildcats played Texas, which
Speaker 1: they played in the championship match, you know, three years ago,
Speaker 1: and beat Texas, I don't know that this Kentucky team
Speaker 1: is deeply talented as that one, but it's young. They
Speaker 1: got They've got a lot of new faces, including a
Speaker 1: that shirt freshman and Brooke Baltimore. But what you're that play,
Speaker 1: what you're talking about with uh with uh emmcgraham is
Speaker 1: the uh we we call it a dump. They don't
Speaker 1: like that where they want us to call it a
Speaker 1: quick attack. But yeah, the setter dump is an exciting
Speaker 1: play and they actually Nebraska use it against them as well.
Speaker 1: But it's just a real change up and it is
Speaker 1: a lot of fun. But yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 4: No, I was just saying, yeah, it is like kind
Speaker 4: of it's like an off speed pitch or something in basement.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 7: Uh.
Speaker 1: And then the jump serves not a lot of players
Speaker 1: use the jump serves that Brooklyn delay does, but Kentucky
Speaker 1: trying to serve more aggressively this year. A couple of
Speaker 1: minutes left with Forrest Tucker. So what are you going
Speaker 1: to be doing Friday? Do we know yet what games
Speaker 1: you're going to be covering tomorrow night?
Speaker 7: No, not yet.
Speaker 4: Game of the week that's pending. You know, I have
Speaker 4: to see you have to tune in, man, you just
Speaker 4: have to keep it locked on Twitter as well for everybody.
Speaker 4: So you know, it's one of those things where we'll
Speaker 4: be out five and six. I'm anchor, But I tell
Speaker 4: you what, this heat, this rain, this infinate weather. I'm
Speaker 4: not a fan of it. The same thing happened we
Speaker 4: had rain come through. It canceled all the games, we
Speaker 4: had no highlights. It was terrible. So I am just
Speaker 4: hoping we have something to go on the air with
Speaker 4: at eleven o'clock. That's kind of what I'm I'm trying
Speaker 4: to manifest this right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but are from South Carolina and they've got humidity
Speaker 1: and rain down there.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but I have never had to deal with that
Speaker 4: canceling my football games. That will for Friday. So I
Speaker 4: take two different ways. But you know, I tell you what,
Speaker 4: it should be fun either way. We're or dressing down
Speaker 4: a bit this year, not like I'm wearing a T shirt.
Speaker 4: On air, but we are. We're doing a little bit
Speaker 4: like some competition does not not not as much tie
Speaker 4: in soup jacket, a little more polo shirt action. So
Speaker 4: that should be good because you never I always hated
Speaker 4: changing last season to really like, you know, long sleeves
Speaker 4: and a tie and my hair's all messed up, and
Speaker 4: it's good to just kind of stroll in a little
Speaker 4: you know it, al have to do a one agent
Speaker 4: return to get on camera when you all start editing
Speaker 4: highlights up until about you know, fifty minutes before the
Speaker 4: show goes on.
Speaker 1: Well, someday I'll give you some old guys stories about
Speaker 1: what it was like to do that under the old lights,
Speaker 1: that you could have baked the country ham under the
Speaker 1: old lights in TV studios. Now you barely feel him,
Speaker 1: but ask TG Shuck about that. He can tell you.
Speaker 1: He goes back that far. Forrest Tucker is a reporter
Speaker 1: anchor WTVQ. You can watch SEC football there. Tell everybody
Speaker 1: how to reach you on Twitter.
Speaker 4: At Forrest Tucker TV. Dms are open. You can just
Speaker 4: tweet me directly too, but please story ideas, community story ideas,
Speaker 4: can't get enough of them. I'm the main feature storyteller
Speaker 4: for our team, and so you know right now it's
Speaker 4: just scheduling. It's the biggest thing. So get on my radar.
Speaker 4: We can try and schedule. That's the biggest deal. Just
Speaker 4: reach out to me and then we'll see. Does guarantee
Speaker 4: I'll cover something. It has to pass the I test,
Speaker 4: but I always appreciate increase. Thank you, sir, Thank you Dick.
Speaker 1: By the way, in case you didn't pick up on
Speaker 1: it earlier, and we've talked about it before. Forrest came
Speaker 1: from South Carolina. That's where he's from, from Charleston and
Speaker 1: went to the University of South Carolina. So yeah, when
Speaker 1: it comes to his background, he is a game cock.
Speaker 2: But while he was down there.
Speaker 1: Covered a lot more than just a South Carolina covered
Speaker 1: minor league baseball and things like that. Originally from Annapolis, Maryland,
Speaker 1: actually I think I said he was born in Charleston,
Speaker 1: but originally from Annapolis, Maryland, home of the Naval Academy,
Speaker 1: but grew up spent a lot of his childhood in Charleston,
Speaker 1: and at some point in his bio it says that
Speaker 1: his family roots traced back to England somehow, and he
Speaker 1: spent a semester studying at the University of Kent in Canterbury,
Speaker 1: so I need to find out about that the next
Speaker 1: time we bring him on. So hey, you know, it
Speaker 1: helps just to stare at somebody's bio. Up next, we'll
Speaker 1: talk more volleyball with Hunter Mitchell of on three dot com.
Speaker 1: Here on the Big one Sider six thirty WLAP. Here's
Speaker 1: Hunter in three to two one join us now in
Speaker 1: our celebrity hotline. Is a longtime friend and colleague, Hunter Mitchell.
Speaker 1: You might remember him from Cameron Mills radio show, but
Speaker 1: I know Hunter from his coverage of UK volleyball, which
Speaker 1: he's covered for years. He's very passionate about the sports
Speaker 1: and was posting last night for on three dot com
Speaker 1: at the AVCA event. What did you think, Hunter, of
Speaker 1: the overall atmosphere?
Speaker 8: That was so cool? I mean, such a cool way
Speaker 8: to kick off the twenty twenty four season, obviously, especially
Speaker 8: with Lowell being the hosting site for the final four
Speaker 8: the facult. We got the first serve of the season
Speaker 8: in Louisville last night and then we'll get the last
Speaker 8: nerve and Little one December was really cool just in general,
Speaker 8: but to have the fourteen to the perennial perennially be
Speaker 8: it then from the best four in the country to
Speaker 8: last four or five years. I mean, Nebraska Conson obviously
Speaker 8: have been that way always, but Little One and Kentucky
Speaker 8: kind of joined the mix, especially the last five years
Speaker 8: or so. It was just a really cool way to
Speaker 8: start the season, and the environment was great. The fan
Speaker 8: bases were great. Nebraska I think had the loudest fan
Speaker 8: base there, which was not surprising because Cornuskar fans and
Speaker 8: volleyball are essentially Kentucky fans in basketball, so they travel very,
Speaker 8: very well, so it wasn't surprising to see that many there.
Speaker 8: But just a really cool night with a lot of
Speaker 8: great volleyball being played between four really really good teams
Speaker 8: that they are going to do some serious things come
Speaker 8: tournament time, you know.
Speaker 1: And it's interesting to me that all four of those
Speaker 1: teams on Wednesday. Obviously Nebraska and Wisconsin are fixtures, but
Speaker 1: of late so of Kentucky and Louisville. So it's no guarantee,
Speaker 1: but I'm certain we'll see all four NANCA tournament and
Speaker 1: none of them making the final four would surprised me.
Speaker 2: Do you feel the same way, Oh yeah.
Speaker 8: I mean absolutely those four are definitely going to be
Speaker 8: four of the top ten teams in the country. I
Speaker 8: think some people are little for whatever you and down
Speaker 8: Kentucky after last night, actually kin away encourage. We'll talk
Speaker 8: about that, I'm sure, but those four are absolutely going
Speaker 8: to be in the mix. Nebraska obviously as a runner
Speaker 8: up from last year, so they're absolutely going to make
Speaker 8: a push to try and defend that run to the
Speaker 8: national title game and hopefully win it for them this time.
Speaker 8: And Wisconsin has been there it seems like the last
Speaker 8: four or five six years too, So they're all going
Speaker 8: to be in the next Louisville has been in the
Speaker 8: next the last four years, almost in every single year
Speaker 8: in the final four. So they'll all be there come
Speaker 8: to tournament. We'll just see obviously how the seating goes
Speaker 8: and what their path was. Unfortunately, some of them might
Speaker 8: have to play each other in the lead eight in
Speaker 8: order to get to a final four.
Speaker 1: So I was talking on the show last night about
Speaker 1: the fact that Louisville for a while there just really struggled.
Speaker 1: They recruited heavily at a europe and Kentucky just had
Speaker 1: its way for the longest time with U of L
Speaker 1: but Danny Kelly gets in there and turns that program around,
Speaker 1: and she's just done a remarkable job. It says a
Speaker 1: lot for college volleyball in the entire state of Kentucky,
Speaker 1: given what UK's done. Western can Hucky's got a strong program.
Speaker 1: There were players there from Alice Lloyd College watching last night,
Speaker 1: so it's taken off so well.
Speaker 8: Yeah, and honestly, Kentucky's become a hotbed for the sport.
Speaker 8: So it was Western Kentucky and Kentucky. You know, about
Speaker 8: ten years ago. We're still top twenty five teams there
Speaker 8: towards the end of the poll, but not quite as
Speaker 8: high as they are now, but we're always in the
Speaker 8: top twenty five. Louisville just struggled. But once the hired
Speaker 8: Danny Bustin Kelly. She obviously came from John Cook's coaching three.
Speaker 8: Everything every coach he touches seems to have success, similar
Speaker 8: to Craig Skinner obviously, so it wasn't shocking that once
Speaker 8: she got there and had a couple of years under
Speaker 8: her belt and got her own recruiting classes and established
Speaker 8: her own culture, that Louisville took off. And she's a
Speaker 8: great coach and the rivalry is better for it because
Speaker 8: those Louisville Kentucky games are always musty television and will
Speaker 8: be again this year wherever those two plays.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I talked about this again last night that
Speaker 1: John Cook hired Craig Skinner on three different occasions, and
Speaker 1: of course that's where Craig was.
Speaker 2: When when Mitch Barnard hired him at Nebraska.
Speaker 1: But Craig said he he knew Danny Kelly when she
Speaker 1: was fifteen years old. So it's really a tight knit group,
Speaker 1: isn't it.
Speaker 8: It is. Yeah, they've all got a good history there.
Speaker 8: And I mentioned kind of the similarity in Nebraska volleyball
Speaker 8: and the Kentucky basketball fandom, even Kentucky football fandom, just
Speaker 8: of how loyal they are. It's similar to volleyball. There's
Speaker 8: just there's so much loyalty and they take care of
Speaker 8: their own. I mean, John Cook still talks so highly
Speaker 8: about Danny Buster and Kelly, Craig Skinner, He talked very
Speaker 8: highly about them in the postgame last night. You know,
Speaker 8: can't say enough great things about them and what they've
Speaker 8: achieved their respective programs. So it's honestly a very big
Speaker 8: similiar unit and they all speak crazy highly of one
Speaker 8: that I've all had great success, So it's really cool
Speaker 8: to see that.
Speaker 1: Actually, let's talk about what happened on Tuesday night with
Speaker 1: Kentucky and Nebraska. The Wildcats jumped out fifteen eleven, that's
Speaker 1: what it was at the first media timeout, and then
Speaker 1: Nebraska goes on a run to finish up that set
Speaker 1: and take it, and then Kentucky bounce back in the
Speaker 1: second step. But in that first what was the difference Hunter,
Speaker 1: did you see after that time out between the way
Speaker 1: Nebraska handled Kentucky, which you know was pretty much doing
Speaker 1: what it wanted, but it looked like a different Nebraska
Speaker 1: team after that time out.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think Kentucky got a little tight, They got
Speaker 8: a little unsure themselves. Craig talked about that in the
Speaker 8: post game. They started the match with that nothing to
Speaker 8: lose mentality that you have to have when you're playing
Speaker 8: a team as physical and as big and as talented
Speaker 8: as Nebraska, where you're just swinging for the fences and
Speaker 8: using the block and using defenders to score points. Once
Speaker 8: it got to fifteen eleven, that time out was called.
Speaker 8: Nebraska came out and scored a couple in a row
Speaker 8: and Kentucky just got tight. I thought they started tipping
Speaker 8: the ball a lot, which, again, when you're playing a
Speaker 8: team as talented as Nebraska, tips don't work. Let' see,
Speaker 8: Robriguez is one of the best libarros in the country,
Speaker 8: so she was getting every single one of those tips.
Speaker 8: Lady Toeboy is a very talented sophomore defensive specialists for them,
Speaker 8: So those just don't work against a team like Nebraska
Speaker 8: unless you are very very specific with where you're tipping
Speaker 8: the ball. And Nebraska also just ends up at serving pressure,
Speaker 8: which got Kentucky out of system. And then Brooklyn and
Speaker 8: Aaron Lamb just didn't had a lot of options outside
Speaker 8: of tipping because the sets just weren't in a great
Speaker 8: location and the block was fully formed. So honestly, I
Speaker 8: think Nebraska just tightened up a little bit. They started
Speaker 8: a little anxious, and Kentucky unfortunately went the other way.
Speaker 8: They started really loose, and then I think they kind
Speaker 8: of tightened up towards the end of that frame. To
Speaker 8: their credit, like you mentioned, they bounced back in that
Speaker 8: second set, especially after going down by six. They were
Speaker 8: down ten to four in that second frame before coming
Speaker 8: back and taking it, which again, when you're playing a
Speaker 8: team like Nebraska, that's not easy to do. It's not
Speaker 8: easy to do that against any team, but especially a
Speaker 8: team is talented to Nebraska. To come back and take
Speaker 8: control of that frame when you're down that big is
Speaker 8: actually really impressive.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I agree, And it's interesting to me that
Speaker 1: Kentucky struggled in the early stages of the second set
Speaker 1: the way it did towards the end of the first.
Speaker 1: But then again, you and I have talked about this before.
Speaker 1: I've talked about this with everybody with regard to volleyball.
Speaker 1: In no other sport hunter, in my opinion, does momentum
Speaker 1: shift as quickly as it does, at least in women's volleyball.
Speaker 1: I don't know why that is, and I've had coaches
Speaker 1: telling me the same thing. They don't understand it either.
Speaker 1: If they did, they could change it. But that's what
Speaker 1: happened Tuesday night.
Speaker 8: Yeah, you start exerting your will from every area of
Speaker 8: the game. It's not just offense. It then turns into
Speaker 8: your blocking, Then you start digging everything. Then from the
Speaker 8: service line, you can't not miss and you can't not
Speaker 8: get an ace. Like it's just all of a sudden
Speaker 8: you can catch fire in a two point span, and
Speaker 8: like you mentioned, a fifteen to eleven deficit or advantage
Speaker 8: for Kentucky can quickly turn on you and you can
Speaker 8: look down and go, wait a minute, how do we
Speaker 8: lose that set? You're up by six? So it kind
Speaker 8: of happened to both teams last night early until Nebraska
Speaker 8: obviously pulled away in the second half. But volleyball is
Speaker 8: one of those funky games like that. It's what makes
Speaker 8: it so much fun.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then the last couple of sets, as you said,
Speaker 1: too much tipping. I called it a finesse game. You know,
Speaker 1: you cannot play finesse volleyball against any really any big
Speaker 1: ten team. But the likes of the team of Nebraska
Speaker 1: just too physical, too big. Kentucky's got a big team, Hunter,
Speaker 1: But do you think Kentucky has got enough I don't
Speaker 1: know that the size has enough experience to go with it,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean.
Speaker 8: Yeah, they kind of have a unique team. I've talked
Speaker 8: with Lee m R Podcast about this. They have a
Speaker 8: lot of experience at some of the key positions on
Speaker 8: the court. Obviously Cethern Liverero both being simmers set for
Speaker 8: seniors Inmmcgrom and Elmer Bevin, but a lot of their
Speaker 8: offensive production is very youthful. Obviously, Brooklyn Delay is only
Speaker 8: a sophomore. A just take down to the back row
Speaker 8: as a freshman. You've got brit Baltimore, red shirt freshman,
Speaker 8: Jordan Gilly's redshirt freshman. Megan Wilson is a senior, but
Speaker 8: she's only been here for a year. Even last year
Speaker 8: she wasn't playing a lot for Kentucky because she was
Speaker 8: playing behind Regan Rutherford. So I mean there's just a
Speaker 8: lot of new pieces and offensive production. You gotta think
Speaker 8: Johnny Teeler at least Guessinger have been playing out of
Speaker 8: the middle for four years for Kentucky. I mean, you've
Speaker 8: had those two staples inside the middle and hitting on
Speaker 8: the right pen for four straight years now they won
Speaker 8: national titles. That's not there anymore, and it's going to
Speaker 8: take a little bit of time for the entire team
Speaker 8: to adjust to not being able to throw the ball
Speaker 8: behind you in Howajianni go smack it down. So there's
Speaker 8: gonna be those growing pains. Unfortunately for Kentucky, they just
Speaker 8: don't have one of those schedules where you can go
Speaker 8: through those growing pains and still get all these wins
Speaker 8: like you're gonna see some losses and that's okay. Again,
Speaker 8: I mentioned it earlier. I actually came away from last
Speaker 8: night's game pretty impressed with Kentucky. They had a lot
Speaker 8: to work on. But Nebraska the team that returned every starter,
Speaker 8: and obviously they had run to that national championship. They
Speaker 8: are legitimate. And the facts that Kentucky won that second
Speaker 8: set and was competitive in two of the other three
Speaker 8: where it was really anybody's sets, was actually very impressive
Speaker 8: given how new most of their offense was. So yes,
Speaker 8: they've got a lot to work on, but I think
Speaker 8: they're going to be fine.
Speaker 2: I agree completely. I got there.
Speaker 1: And I have to say that given the us on
Speaker 1: this Kentucky roster, given the loss of a Johnnie who
Speaker 1: might be the most athletic player that ye to come
Speaker 1: along in the last fifteen years, With all due respect
Speaker 1: to Leah Edmond, I mean as Johanni maybe five ten
Speaker 1: and can jump out of the gym.
Speaker 7: But and Lea would tell you that, yeah, absolutely, you know.
Speaker 1: But so to have those challenges and yet punch Nebraska
Speaker 1: in the mouth coming out of the gate, you know,
Speaker 1: and then yeah, the Huskars warm down, but that is
Speaker 1: a that is a huge plus. I think for Kentucky
Speaker 1: going into tomorrow night's match with Northern they ought to
Speaker 1: handle Northern Kentucky. But as Aaron Lamb said after the
Speaker 1: game Tuesday night, you know, we need to take what
Speaker 1: we learned and put it to work for us. You know,
Speaker 1: in the next four or five matches, they got a
Speaker 1: bunch coming at him.
Speaker 8: They do, and this weekend's a great opportunity. You know,
Speaker 8: you should on paper win off three of these matches.
Speaker 8: But Western Kentucky, while they're not ranked, they're sitting at
Speaker 8: twenty six and the a Peo pole, they're basically ranked.
Speaker 8: You can never look past Western The job that they've
Speaker 8: done over there. Western Kentucky is always, you know, incredibly impressive.
Speaker 8: They're always in the mix of the end of the year.
Speaker 8: So that's going to be a good game. That's going
Speaker 8: to be a game that challenges Kentucky. All of these
Speaker 8: will be even Northern Kentucky the first game of the year,
Speaker 8: which they should win. You got to say, that's the
Speaker 8: first time this team is playing inside of the world
Speaker 8: class team and over a year that didn't played by
Speaker 8: last year Obviously it's brand new. There's gonna be nerves.
Speaker 8: You're playing at home. So some of these sophomorees Brooklyn
Speaker 8: Delay she has never played in Memorial Coliseum, even though
Speaker 8: she's played for KENTUCKI before. So there's a lot of
Speaker 8: newness that's happening for the program right now. A lot
Speaker 8: of the old guard is just as graduated, and you're
Speaker 8: having to bring in new players, and you're getting this
Speaker 8: new building, this new facility, like all this stuff is
Speaker 8: new and it's going to take some time.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 8: They've gone a lot of these big games at home
Speaker 8: this year, which is nice because you don't have to
Speaker 8: worry about traveling quite as much and you can just
Speaker 8: s lieve in your own bed obviously before these massive matches.
Speaker 8: But there's gonna be a lot of newness, and so
Speaker 8: I think again the takeaway is last night. Yes, there's
Speaker 8: a lot of work on, a lot to improve on,
Speaker 8: but I think Kentucky is in a good spot for
Speaker 8: that being the first game of the year and how
Speaker 8: they perform on the national stage, I think they're going
Speaker 8: to be in a good spot and have a really
Speaker 8: good ceiling of what they could become, especially as freshmen.
Speaker 8: Like Asia Bigpen develop especially as Aaron Lambton needs to
Speaker 8: improve in Brooklyn Delay continues to get better. I think
Speaker 8: they're going to be fine.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you've got a lot ahead of you if you're Kentucky,
Speaker 1: just like everybody in the country, but especially as Hunter said,
Speaker 1: this weekend with Northern Kentucky Tomorrow night six thirty Western
Speaker 1: Kentucky unfortunately at five thirty, so a lot of people
Speaker 1: are not going to be able to Well, maybe you
Speaker 1: can catch volleyball and then hustle over to football and
Speaker 1: then morehead stay at one o'clock on Sunday.
Speaker 2: So a lot to like.
Speaker 1: But again, you got the Kentucky Invitational coming up the
Speaker 1: weekend after that, and I keep saying it, Hunter, if
Speaker 1: people you know this, if people just give it a
Speaker 1: chance to go to a volleyball match, especially at the
Speaker 1: new and improved Memorial Coliseum, do you work your butt
Speaker 1: off taking pictures.
Speaker 2: You got to be happy about that air conditioning.
Speaker 8: I am so excited to have AC I'm excited to
Speaker 8: have brand new lights. They're just going to be making
Speaker 8: my job a lot easier. Like I cannot wait to
Speaker 8: get in that building and watch the game, but I
Speaker 8: especially can't wait to get in there and photograph. It's
Speaker 8: going to make my job a little bit easier, I think.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what's final question? You mentioned Brooke Baltimore, she came
Speaker 1: back from the injury said it was like ripping off
Speaker 1: the bandaid, just geit and back at it. But I
Speaker 1: can't imagine what it was like for her to have
Speaker 1: to sit with that ankle injury all year long.
Speaker 2: So how do you think she's going to fit into
Speaker 2: her plans?
Speaker 8: I love what rot Boltimo can bring to this team.
Speaker 8: I have heard nothing but positive things from her in
Speaker 8: every practice from last year and every off season workout
Speaker 8: this summer. They are so high on Brookes' ability to block,
Speaker 8: to defend. She's physical at the net, She's got good instincts.
Speaker 8: They talked on the broadcast last night. She's not the
Speaker 8: most gifted athletically in terms of just natural ability, but
Speaker 8: she works her tail off. I think she is going
Speaker 8: to be one of those middles that we look back
Speaker 8: on her career later on, similar to an Emily Franklin
Speaker 8: and at least get sing her just one of those
Speaker 8: physical middle blockers that was steady and you could always
Speaker 8: count on seven, eight, nine, ten kills and you know, three, four, five,
Speaker 8: six blocks, and she's just she's got a really good
Speaker 8: head on her shoulders. And even last night, though he
Speaker 8: didn't didn't do a great job of getting its middles involved,
Speaker 8: I kind of expected that. Again, you have two brand
Speaker 8: new middle blockers. The connection with Emma isn't going to
Speaker 8: be perfect right off the bat, but she showed glimpses
Speaker 8: in her blocking ability, even in her ability to run
Speaker 8: the slide attack behind the center. She didn't always score
Speaker 8: with it, but she runs the route really well. I
Speaker 8: think as Emma gets the placement of that ball a
Speaker 8: little bit more accurate and Kentucky learns how to tool
Speaker 8: the block and kind of run their offense more efficiently,
Speaker 8: I think that's going to shore up. I think Brooke
Speaker 8: is going to be one of those unsung heroes that
Speaker 8: we look back on, maybe even at the end of
Speaker 8: this year and just say, man, her growth, her improvement
Speaker 8: from game one to the end of the season is
Speaker 8: really what propelled Kentucky too hopefully, you know, competing for
Speaker 8: an st championship, a Final four national title. I think
Speaker 8: she's going to have a great career at Kentucky. And
Speaker 8: Leah Sen saying he's talking to the podcast, she has
Speaker 8: talked about Brooke Boltimont and ajdig Pen in practice and
Speaker 8: how great they are and just what the two of
Speaker 8: them what they can bring to this team in terms
Speaker 8: of just how high this ceiling can be as long
Speaker 8: as those two especially reach their potential.
Speaker 1: Honor Mitchell, tell everybody where they can find your podcast.
Speaker 2: What's the name of it? With a great Leah Edmund Yeah, me.
Speaker 8: And Lee Emman host podcast called Point Kentucky for KSR.
Speaker 8: So we're previewing all the big matches this year. We'll
Speaker 8: do post game for all of those matches as well,
Speaker 8: So we don't have a set weekly schedule this year,
Speaker 8: but we're going to release for all the big the
Speaker 8: big stuff and break it all down for you, and
Speaker 8: then you can follow my writing on Cancer's website as well.
Speaker 2: So I'm sure it's fun working with Leah.
Speaker 1: You're not harassed the way you were by camera Mills,
Speaker 1: so there is there no Lea.
Speaker 8: Lee is a great co worker. I get a lot
Speaker 8: of texts from her just throw on a mask where
Speaker 8: she's like, hey, did you see this? I'm like, you
Speaker 8: know what, You're still teaching me about volleyball, even though
Speaker 8: I've been covering the sport for ten years. So Leah,
Speaker 8: she's got she's got a great career in broadcasting ahead
Speaker 8: of her when she decides to stop playing. She's going
Speaker 8: to take a break this fall and play professionally again
Speaker 8: in the spring because she's her shoulders bothering her. But
Speaker 8: I've told her, you've got a great career in coaching
Speaker 8: or being a broadcaster, whatever it is that you decide
Speaker 8: to do, because you're a great teacher of the sport.
Speaker 8: So but the worker will Lee has been great, She's awesome.
Speaker 1: I need to get her to copy me on those
Speaker 1: texts because I'm working with her all. Yeah, we've only
Speaker 1: got four matches for TV matches this year on SEC Plus,
Speaker 1: but I always look forward to that and I look
Speaker 1: forward to seeing you there.
Speaker 2: Hunter, Thank you so much anytime day.
Speaker 8: Thank you man.
Speaker 1: Hunter Mitchell looked for his coverage on ON three and
Speaker 1: of course his podcast with Leah Edmund, But just follow
Speaker 1: him on Twitter at h Mitchell fourteen and you'll be covered.
Speaker 1: We'll come back and wrap up this edition of The
Speaker 1: Big Bloon Sider in just a minute here on six
Speaker 1: thirty WLAP Welcome back to The Big Blon Sider Final
Speaker 1: segment of our program, just a quick one, of course,
Speaker 1: Tom Leach and Jeff Piicorro and your surely we'll have
Speaker 1: the call of Kentucky and Southern miss on Saturday night.
Speaker 1: As college football really cranks up everywhere, and play by
Speaker 1: play announcers get cranked up everywhere and every now and
Speaker 1: then on this program. Thanks to the awful announcing site
Speaker 1: on Twitter, I can share with you some play by
Speaker 1: play calls that are kind of fun. And last night
Speaker 1: might have been the best one of the year because
Speaker 1: it might have been the best catch of the year
Speaker 1: in the Rangers White Sox game, in of course, the
Speaker 1: White Sox have been terrible. Rangers have not.
Speaker 2: They've not been great.
Speaker 1: Sixty two and seventy one White Sox now thirty one
Speaker 1: and one h three, historically bad. There's kind of a
Speaker 1: double header situation going on a suspending game. The Rangers
Speaker 1: win the first game, it looked like the White Sox
Speaker 1: were about to win the second game because in the
Speaker 1: ninth inning the White Sox Andrew Vaughn comes to the
Speaker 1: play with one out, turns on a one to two
Speaker 1: pitch from Andrew Chafin, and it looks like he had
Speaker 1: dumped it into the bullpen and left field for an
Speaker 1: apparent walk off home run. But the Rangers had put
Speaker 1: a defensive player in late in the ballgame, Travis Jankowski,
Speaker 1: and he made the catch of the year. Really, he
Speaker 1: went up and stole this home run. His chest was
Speaker 1: flat on the fence, his arm was about well, his
Speaker 1: glove was maybe three feet over the fence, plucking the
Speaker 1: ball out of the bullpen and saving the home run.
Speaker 1: So here's the call from the Rangers TV playboy play
Speaker 1: man Dave Raymond.
Speaker 2: We'll hear him first, then we'll hear the White Sox call.
Speaker 5: The one too. That's in the air left field.
Speaker 2: That's trouble.
Speaker 5: Jack Kowski back the.
Speaker 2: Catch, goud, that's what I grab.
Speaker 1: It brings the game back. Now that's the Rangers play
Speaker 1: by play man. You can imagine how disappointed the White
Speaker 1: Sox announcers were in this season of disappointment. Here are
Speaker 1: John Schiffren and the color man Steve Stone.
Speaker 2: Multy strikes Dad, oh.
Speaker 5: Man, you can't cut miss Shankowski. Justin solded for defensive purposes,
Speaker 5: just loves von On a home run that would.
Speaker 8: Have been ball game.
Speaker 5: You have cats to be kidding me. What a catch?
Speaker 5: By John Kowsky. He goes up way over the wall.
Speaker 5: He handles his body so he can get more extension.
Speaker 5: This is about as good a robbery as we've seen.
Speaker 1: He's not wrong about that. You won't see much better
Speaker 1: Thanks to all my guests. That's it, good night from
Speaker 1: the garage in Lexington.
Speaker 2: Do you understand the words that are coming out of
Speaker 2: my mouth?