Speaker 1: McRoy, how's his masterpiece?
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Big Blue and sider Dick Abriel with
Speaker 2: you on a Monday following the greatest, well, maybe not
Speaker 2: the greatest, well, one of the best sports weekends of
Speaker 2: the year, Aaron Central Kentucky weather cooperated on Friday and Saturday.
Speaker 2: It was really cold on Friday, but you had Keenlan
Speaker 2: going on, you had Kentucky baseball going on a huge
Speaker 2: series with the second ranked team in the country, and
Speaker 2: the Wildcats played well, as you know, only one one
Speaker 2: out of three really really good games all week and long. Yeah,
Speaker 2: the football Showcase with some scrimmaging at Krogerfield. Not a
Speaker 2: great crowd, which is not surprising given the fact that
Speaker 2: it wasn't a full blue white game. But if you
Speaker 2: wanted a taste of Kentucky football, if you were jonesing
Speaker 2: for UK football, then you got it. And of course
Speaker 2: the Masters. It wrapped up last night, Rory McElroy winning
Speaker 2: fine his green jacket. And if you recall, I didn't
Speaker 2: predict he would win early in the week, but I
Speaker 2: said I was rooting for him. Yes, we root for
Speaker 2: the Americans, of course, but I rooted for Rory because
Speaker 2: I just I so wanted him to complete his career
Speaker 2: Grand Slam. Also, he's from Northern Ireland, where my grandfather
Speaker 2: is from. My grandfather is from Derry. They called it
Speaker 2: London Derry for a while and then after a while
Speaker 2: just Darry. They are're not crazy about the British yup there.
Speaker 2: But Rory is a likable guy, good for golf, hell
Speaker 2: of a player, and he won his first three of
Speaker 2: the four Grand Slam events early in his career. It's
Speaker 2: taken him eleven years to become just the sixth player
Speaker 2: to win the career Grand Slam. Of course, the last
Speaker 2: guy to do it was Tiger but and Rory's come
Speaker 2: close and again for the second time. He blew a
Speaker 2: four stroke lead on Sunday, and if you watched it,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm talking about. If you didn't, I
Speaker 2: won't recount the whole round for you. But he was
Speaker 2: sailing along, man, he was, I mean, he had it
Speaker 2: and then he had a double bogie on fifteen he
Speaker 2: knocked the ball way off the green and just and
Speaker 2: at one point he surrendered the lead to Justin Rose,
Speaker 2: speaking of the British, but charged right back and he
Speaker 2: hit a shot. I will say this, I will describe
Speaker 2: this one for you. If you saw it, you'll never
Speaker 2: forget it. If you didn't, And you know anything about golf,
Speaker 2: if you're in the trees, anywhere near trees, it can
Speaker 2: be real trouble. And if you're a golfer as I was,
Speaker 2: I don't play anymore. But I mean, you're just in
Speaker 2: jail if you're anywhere around trees. But he was not
Speaker 2: only in the tree, under a tree, and he had
Speaker 2: a path to get out. But the ball that he struck,
Speaker 2: he was able to bring it back right to left
Speaker 2: and not only hit the green, but hit the green
Speaker 2: in a remarkable way and the place went nuts. Six
Speaker 2: sion yesterday.
Speaker 3: Is this said up.
Speaker 4: The shot of a lifetime?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was. And that was Jim Nance's CBS Sports.
Speaker 2: He's at his best on the Masters. Inspired he played
Speaker 2: college golf at the University of Houston, and of course
Speaker 2: he gave up the final four this year. Iron Eagle
Speaker 2: had to call for CBS television. But Nance is so
Speaker 2: good at the Masters. You know, it's all about being understated.
Speaker 2: That's why Vernon Lundquist was so great. It's, you know,
Speaker 2: all about being understated and not screaming and yelling and
Speaker 2: they know better. Of course the masters broadcasters, you know
Speaker 2: Vern Lunquist's two greatest cause were yes, sir and then
Speaker 2: the other one. Have you ever in your life that
Speaker 2: kind of thing? And so Nance was up to it,
Speaker 2: Rory was up to it. Fun to watch on a
Speaker 2: great weekend for sports. Now, coming back to Kentucky football.
Speaker 2: If you were there, I'm sure you had a good
Speaker 2: time just getting out seeing the wildcats. But did you
Speaker 2: learn much? Not really. You saw that Zach Calzada throws
Speaker 2: a nice ball, he really does, but who's he going
Speaker 2: to throw to. There are four or five receivers that
Speaker 2: injured this spring. They won one down during the game.
Speaker 2: Nothing serious, we don't think. But we're gonna talk to
Speaker 2: John Hale a little bit later on about what he
Speaker 2: saw and about depth in the wide receiver room, depth
Speaker 2: in the running backs room. You had two guys, Dante
Speaker 2: Dowdell and Jason Patterson, who ran with the ones to
Speaker 2: Maryan Willcox and the other running backs ran with the twos.
Speaker 2: Will Cox is the guy, you might recall, broke a
Speaker 2: fifty yard run on the first play from scrimmage against
Speaker 2: Tennessee and you just kept expecting him to break through
Speaker 2: and just take over at running back. But this kid's
Speaker 2: got He's a kid who doesn't keep his shoes tied
Speaker 2: and is late for things. Stoops kind of speaks in
Speaker 2: code when he talks about him, and I give him
Speaker 2: credit for that. He doesn't want to embarrass the kid
Speaker 2: or belittle the kid, but he's He has basically told
Speaker 2: us and you without saying it, the guy's got a
Speaker 2: lot of growing up to do. Once he does, if
Speaker 2: and when, he could be a terrific college football player
Speaker 2: if that's what he wants, if that's important to him.
Speaker 2: If it's not, okay, fine, But if it is and
Speaker 2: he puts in the work, I think he can be
Speaker 2: an excellent SEC back. So they may head to the
Speaker 2: portal to get some more running back strength. Who knows
Speaker 2: wide receiver as well? How did the defense look pretty good?
Speaker 2: But they didn't tackle to the ground. They did what
Speaker 2: they called thud, which is when you know they hit,
Speaker 2: but that's it, wrap up, but don't take him down.
Speaker 2: So it was good. Mark Stoops was fairly well pleased
Speaker 2: with what he saw on Saturday, what he saw throughout
Speaker 2: the spring.
Speaker 5: We definitely got better. We made a lot of strides,
Speaker 5: you know, the negative that outside of coming out here
Speaker 5: and splitting it up and you know, playing everybody on
Speaker 5: your roster. You know, it's a tendency to look a
Speaker 5: little sloppy from time to time.
Speaker 2: But we've got.
Speaker 5: Better throughout this spring. Well, you know, unfortunately lost to
Speaker 5: wide out again early in the scrimmage. I think we
Speaker 5: were down five five guys that will play, you know, and.
Speaker 2: At wide receiver.
Speaker 5: And and we got through the whole spring, you know,
Speaker 5: for the most part, until you know, this last week
Speaker 5: with a bunch of nagging injuries, hopefully nothing season ending.
Speaker 2: Yeah, more than one Stoops has come out of spring,
Speaker 2: out of the spring game and said so and so
Speaker 2: we'll not be available with this coming season. He needs surgery,
Speaker 2: et cetera, et cetera. Did not have one announcement like
Speaker 2: that this spring, and obviously nothing like that after the
Speaker 2: scrimmage on Saturday. So and he also went into detail
Speaker 2: we'll talk about it further in a week about just
Speaker 2: what kind of an impact it has. It's a fairly
Speaker 2: obvious question for you, you know, but he talked about
Speaker 2: how not having guys in the spring doing that crucial
Speaker 2: work in the spring came back to affect them in
Speaker 2: the fall in like short yardedge situations, execution situations, things
Speaker 2: like that. Because keep in mind, once the fall practices begin,
Speaker 2: once they get through camp and they begin game prep,
Speaker 2: they've got like maybe one day and part of another
Speaker 2: to really really work on stuff or the rest of
Speaker 2: that the rest of the week's game planning and walk throughs.
Speaker 2: So they got to get it done in the spring,
Speaker 2: they got to get it done in the summer. And
Speaker 2: if they're missing players, obviously they are way behind, especially
Speaker 2: if they're not as talented as they've been in the past.
Speaker 2: Are they this time right now? Don't know they've lost
Speaker 2: of course, Barrion Brown and Dane Key to the portal.
Speaker 2: Jamari Macklin is back on the outside. He's not in
Speaker 2: the slot, said he can play both prefers being on
Speaker 2: the outside. He talked about adjusting to all the new
Speaker 2: faces on this team.
Speaker 6: You can tell a lot of the guys are just
Speaker 6: getting comfortable with each other in the locker room. I
Speaker 6: think that's the biggest thing, and I think that's where
Speaker 6: it starts. You can't really have a good team on
Speaker 6: a if you don't have a good team off the field.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 6: So just spending time with each other, going out to eat,
Speaker 6: you know, playing a game with each other, just the
Speaker 6: small things to build that chemistry to help us, you know,
Speaker 6: succeed on the field.
Speaker 2: Macclan also talked about being more of a leader. He's
Speaker 2: going to have to be. But as you can tell,
Speaker 2: he's he's got some charm to him, some charisma, he's
Speaker 2: out going, and he's talented, and that's important. All of
Speaker 2: that's important for being a leader. You can try to
Speaker 2: be a leader as a veteran on a team, but
Speaker 2: if you're not playing, people with all the respect aren't
Speaker 2: going to listen to you very much. But they'll listen
Speaker 2: to the talented guys who are trying to lead, and
Speaker 2: he says he will do that. Ty Bryant, the young
Speaker 2: defensive back, is going to try to lead as well.
Speaker 2: Of course, his father, Cisco, played for the Wildcats. And
Speaker 2: I asked Ty about the fact that, you know, he
Speaker 2: knows Kentucky football inside and out because for obvious reasons,
Speaker 2: he grew up with it. And he talked about wanting
Speaker 2: to get it back to where it was because I.
Speaker 7: Feel like no one wants to go through what we
Speaker 7: went through last year. I mean, everyone knows that we
Speaker 7: want four games. It was a bad season for us,
Speaker 7: and the feeling that we had when we walked off
Speaker 7: this field for the last time against Louisville, no one
Speaker 7: wants to feel that way again. Me personally, have a
Speaker 7: lot of friends that played college football and they were
Speaker 7: all in bowl games, and it's just like I'm at
Speaker 7: the crib chilling while they're, you know, in Florida somewhere
Speaker 7: nice playing a bowl game. So I feel like that's
Speaker 7: just the one base for us when we get back
Speaker 7: into the weight room and we just continue to train,
Speaker 7: just that's just what needs to be on the front
Speaker 7: of our mind that we don't want to go four
Speaker 7: and eight again. We want to flip that, you know
Speaker 7: what I'm saying, to do even better ten win plus season.
Speaker 2: That was a really interesting response, I thought when he
Speaker 2: talked about what it felt like walking off the field
Speaker 2: after the Louisville loss, Because these were kids, the kids
Speaker 2: who had been on that roster for more than a
Speaker 2: year had known nothing but success as a program. I mean,
Speaker 2: for the longest time, every kid who came through that
Speaker 2: program every year went to a bowl game, win or lose,
Speaker 2: went to a ball game, not this team. Every kid
Speaker 2: on that roster, deep into that roster had never lost
Speaker 2: to Louisville, not that team. So now, as he said,
Speaker 2: they want to get it back. They want to get
Speaker 2: it back to where they were and where you all
Speaker 2: want it to be. And that is going to a
Speaker 2: game and not knowing ahead of time who's going to win.
Speaker 2: I've said this on the show many times. That's the
Speaker 2: standard that longtime president back in the day, ODIs Singletary
Speaker 2: said to me should be the standard at Kentucky football.
Speaker 2: He said, I don't expect us to win every game.
Speaker 2: I just want to come to the game not knowing
Speaker 2: ahead of time who's going to win. Now, you might
Speaker 2: have a bad feeling going into a game, Oh man,
Speaker 2: it's going to be hard to beat this team. But
Speaker 2: there have been years and you know it where Kentucky
Speaker 2: went into games and you're like, man, I just hope
Speaker 2: they just you know, everybody comes out healthy, they don't
Speaker 2: get killed. They have no way of winning this game.
Speaker 2: Did you really think they going into Texas and win
Speaker 2: last year?
Speaker 3: Nah?
Speaker 2: With all due respect, Nah, I didn't play badly. They
Speaker 2: just didn't have a shot. Other Kentucky teams did. And
Speaker 2: we know this because they did it. They beat Tennessee,
Speaker 2: they beat Florida, they routinely beat Louisville. Can they get
Speaker 2: back to that, Well, we're gonna find out in a
Speaker 2: few months. But this team has a lot more work
Speaker 2: to do, and the portal opens in less than forty
Speaker 2: eight hours. We're coming back to talk Kentucky baseball and
Speaker 2: more on The Big Boon Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome
Speaker 2: back to the Big Bluon Sider. Coming up at seven
Speaker 2: point thirty. It's the Nick Minjeones Show with Darren Hedrick,
Speaker 2: so we will make way prior to that though. In
Speaker 2: just a few minutes, John Hale of The Hero Leader
Speaker 2: will join us and we will talk about Kentucky football
Speaker 2: a little bit of that mess down in Tennessee as well.
Speaker 2: Same thing with Aaron Gershan. We all sat together up
Speaker 2: in the press box. It was really weird for me
Speaker 2: to be in the press box. I decided not to
Speaker 2: be down on the field. We didn't do a broadcast
Speaker 2: of any kind. There was no TV, no radio, and
Speaker 2: generally when we've done a radio broadcast there's been a full,
Speaker 2: semi full scrimmage, but there have also been either injured
Speaker 2: players or alumni on the sideline, so I was able
Speaker 2: to drop in interviews throughout the years, but no broadcasts.
Speaker 2: So I thought, I'm gonna sit upstairs and see what
Speaker 2: I can see. And yeah, you can see a lot more.
Speaker 2: You can see the plays, of course evolving. It's not
Speaker 2: the same because you just don't hear the sounds as much.
Speaker 2: And you know, it was a great day. It would
Speaker 2: have been a great day to be down there. But
Speaker 2: you again, you can see the line play in a
Speaker 2: different way. I can see it downstairs on the sidelines,
Speaker 2: and if you sit close to the field you can too.
Speaker 2: You can, you can, you know, you can see these
Speaker 2: things upstairs as well. But to me, I get a
Speaker 2: better sense of the athleticism, the quickness to closing speed,
Speaker 2: things like that down on the field. But sitting upstairs Saturday,
Speaker 2: we were all talking about it. That's one of the pluses.
Speaker 2: You know. When I'm on the field, I've got Tom
Speaker 2: Leach and Jeff Picoro in my headset, which is great,
Speaker 2: But upstairs I'm hearing observations from the people around me.
Speaker 2: And John Hill was on one side of me, Aaron
Speaker 2: Gershano the Cats Balls was on the other. So John's
Speaker 2: going to join us next and an Aaron. It was
Speaker 2: a with Tom earlier this morning, but I'll have him
Speaker 2: a little while longer, So we'll talk a little bit
Speaker 2: more with Aaron about the Blue White game, and we're
Speaker 2: also going to talk about basketball with Aaron. The portal
Speaker 2: there the portal when it comes to football and the
Speaker 2: Tennessee mess as I said, but we do need to
Speaker 2: talk about Kentucky baseball. Over the weekend, somebody tweeted, this
Speaker 2: is a hard team to watch. A fan tweeted that,
Speaker 2: and to a point, I agree, simply because they have
Speaker 2: a hard time executing at times, specifically bunting. Minjiones teams
Speaker 2: bunt a lot, maybe more than other teams do. But
Speaker 2: his best teams have bunted really well, very effectively. People
Speaker 2: who don't like the bunt get very frustrated with it.
Speaker 2: But they rode that style of baseball to Omaha last year.
Speaker 2: And again, it's not a small ball team. And those
Speaker 2: of us who called it that were really inaccurate because
Speaker 2: last year Kentucky was one of the best power hitting
Speaker 2: teams in the Southeastern Conference when you look at conference
Speaker 2: games only when they were facing the best pitchers in America.
Speaker 2: They were I think the fourth best team in the
Speaker 2: conference when it came to power home runs. This team
Speaker 2: is not a power hitting team. Cole hegees twelve. That's it.
Speaker 2: Nobody else has double digits. I think next is Tyler Bell,
Speaker 2: maybe with six. Ironically enough, Kyas Gargett, who hadn't played
Speaker 2: much and Menngeon had been keeping an eye on him,
Speaker 2: watched him in VP, penciled him into the lineup. He
Speaker 2: had a big weekend. He hit a home run, his
Speaker 2: first home run against Texas. But you cannot count on
Speaker 2: home runs, and by the way the home runs they've
Speaker 2: been getting, it seems like every one of them, nobody's
Speaker 2: on base. You know, Texas had a big two run
Speaker 2: homer day Wildcats or might have been Saturday anyhow, seems
Speaker 2: like the other teams always had people on base, but
Speaker 2: Kentucky in it. Friday wins it. Saturday, fell behind but
Speaker 2: made it a one run game, had the go or
Speaker 2: the time run on base in the ninth inning against
Speaker 2: the number two ranked team in the country in all
Speaker 2: fairness that were missing their best player, and the game
Speaker 2: they won. Kentucky won on Saturday. You might have seen
Speaker 2: the clip if you were watching and listening to Darren.
Speaker 2: You might have seen it on social media. But in
Speaker 2: what the twelfth No. Fifteenth inning, Griffin Cameron lays down
Speaker 2: a bunt catcher who's really really good for Texas, misplays it,
Speaker 2: throws it away, and the right fielder went to sleep.
Speaker 2: He forgot to back up the play. Devin brook scored
Speaker 2: from first base on that play. Well, the guy that
Speaker 2: Texas is missing, maybe their best hitter, is certainly one
Speaker 2: of the best and an outstanding outfielder. He's the right fielder.
Speaker 2: He probably backs up that play. So Brooks might not
Speaker 2: make it. They might not even have sent him from third.
Speaker 2: They might still be playing. But anyhow, Kentucky in every
Speaker 2: game one to one could have one one or the
Speaker 2: other Friday or Sunday or book could you imagine. So
Speaker 2: it's a good team. And as Darren and Keith Madison
Speaker 2: and Doug Flinn and I were talking, somebody said, they're
Speaker 2: just not yet sure how to be a great team.
Speaker 2: And when you look at where all these guys came from,
Speaker 2: they were all relatively successful at their previous schools, and
Speaker 2: really a guy who played for a program that had
Speaker 2: maybe more success than anybody with Simon Gregorson, reliever from
Speaker 2: Indiana State. That's a team that was an NCAA tournament
Speaker 2: team the last couple of years, played here in a
Speaker 2: regional one year and Gregorson, who struggled earlier in the year,
Speaker 2: was brilliant against Texas Saturday when the Wildcats won. He
Speaker 2: went four and two thirds innings scoreless, gave up one
Speaker 2: hit and walked one, and struck out five. Brilliant Kentucky
Speaker 2: pitchers were absolutely sensational that they eighteen strikeouts in the
Speaker 2: fifteen innings. So Kentucky's got enough, it just hasn't quite
Speaker 2: figured it out yet. And Nick Minjill talked about the
Speaker 2: effort after the game, couldn't complain, just said, they just
Speaker 2: need to do some things a little bit better. You know,
Speaker 2: I give them a lot of credit.
Speaker 1: They got to timely hit, and they had guys on
Speaker 1: base just like we did, and they got to timely
Speaker 1: hit and we didn't. You know, though, we played a
Speaker 1: great defensive game. Sure could we have made a couple
Speaker 1: of better pitches here or there, but this is college baseball.
Speaker 2: They're not going to be perfect. Pitching. Defense gave us
Speaker 2: a chance.
Speaker 1: We just didn't get that timely hit and I give
Speaker 1: our guys credit, like we put ourselves in a position
Speaker 1: right there. We're one swing away from winning the game,
Speaker 1: you know, So I love their fight. Just got to
Speaker 1: execute a tad better, that's it.
Speaker 2: Get a bunt down, move a runner over, get a
Speaker 2: guy on third base, get him home with less than
Speaker 2: two out. A couple of times in the win, the
Speaker 2: fifteen inning win, Kentucky had meant on first and second
Speaker 2: with nobody out and I'm talking about after the ninth
Speaker 2: and couldn't get the winning run around. So it's that
Speaker 2: kind of thing. They got to get busy so they
Speaker 2: can make NCA postseason. John Halo the hair Leaders next
Speaker 2: on six thirty WLAP welcome back to the Big Blue
Speaker 2: in Cider and joining us down our celebrity hotline. As
Speaker 2: I mentioned earlier, as a guy we sat with up
Speaker 2: in the press box. Weird for me, John Hale of
Speaker 2: the Hair Leader to be in the press box with
Speaker 2: you guys, But there really wasn't a game in front
Speaker 2: of us. How much did you take away from the
Speaker 2: football showcase?
Speaker 8: Very little. It was funny because we also women. We
Speaker 8: had the option to go on the field if we wanted,
Speaker 8: and I kind of went there that they expecting, like, well,
Speaker 8: maybe I'll go down and see them up close. But honestly,
Speaker 8: if they're gonna kind of scrimmage, there was no tackling
Speaker 8: or no score kept.
Speaker 9: But if you're doing eleven to eleven.
Speaker 8: It's almost better in the press box because you can
Speaker 8: see the whole field. And so I stayed up there,
Speaker 8: and you know, I mean I thought Zach Kelsot looked fine.
Speaker 8: You know, I thought the running backs for as you know,
Speaker 8: little as you can tell when it're not tackled to
Speaker 8: the ground, looked fine. You know, Dante Dabble in particular
Speaker 8: the Nebraska transfer, maybe I'm matt be sure a little
Speaker 8: more burst than I had expected from him, So that
Speaker 8: was positive. You know, they were really thin at receiver.
Speaker 8: I think they were, you know, by the middle of
Speaker 8: the scrimmage down five guys who might play this year.
Speaker 8: So I don't know that we can take a lot
Speaker 8: from that position.
Speaker 9: You know.
Speaker 8: The second the defense wasn't tackling, so you can't tell
Speaker 8: if they could bring the quarterback down or if they
Speaker 8: could have stoped those guys instead of just you know,
Speaker 8: hitting them. So I don't think there was a lot
Speaker 8: in terms of football lessons to learn from it, which
Speaker 8: is probably what Mark Stoops prefers. In this portal era
Speaker 8: where you gotta war guys transferring or guys you know,
Speaker 8: asking for more and I l money all the time,
Speaker 8: A quiet spring practice is probably better than the alternative,
Speaker 8: as you can see at Tennessee right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're going to talk about that in a minute.
Speaker 2: But following up on, let's talk about the running backs.
Speaker 2: And I'm not sure if you knew, but I knew
Speaker 2: a couple of people were wondering would we even see
Speaker 2: Jamaran Wilcox. He is just kind of an interesting story,
Speaker 2: isn't he And you know, he shows so many flashes
Speaker 2: and then once again you can want to really have
Speaker 2: his shoes on, so it's just a it's a head scratcher.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean, I think that is probably the most
Speaker 8: interesting storyline to watch over the next two weeks when
Speaker 8: the portal opens on Wednesday, because it felt like they
Speaker 8: were in risk of losing them in December just because
Speaker 8: his role wasn't very big, and I'm sure some other
Speaker 8: schools were interested in his big playability and that he
Speaker 8: stayed and then you go out and then the one
Speaker 8: practice they opened to us earlier in the spring and
Speaker 8: then Saturday he was clearly third on the depth chart.
Speaker 9: Doubt the drafta.
Speaker 8: Transfer and Jason Patterson, the retro freshmen are both had
Speaker 8: of getting more reps. I mean, some of that in
Speaker 8: spring might be sending messages to guys. Some of that
Speaker 8: might be keeping other guys engaged so you keep them
Speaker 8: out of the portal with a union for depth. But
Speaker 8: in Wilcox's case, I mean, I think it's a question
Speaker 8: they just need more out of him, Like off the field.
Speaker 8: I asked Mark Stuce about it after the scrimmage and
Speaker 8: he said he's made progress, He's working on He's a
Speaker 8: great young man. He has all that dedication, but it's
Speaker 8: still clear he does not have a complete grasp of
Speaker 8: the playbook. You know, he's talented enough to make plays
Speaker 8: even if he doesn't know the correct play out there
Speaker 8: at times. But like it's hard to depend on him.
Speaker 8: And if we're to buy into the narrative that the
Speaker 8: big change culture wise in this programs, they're not going
Speaker 8: to let players hold them hostage anymore in this portal.
Speaker 8: Nil Era, Like he's an interesting case, Like if he's
Speaker 8: not ready to if he doesn't know the playbook. It's
Speaker 8: hard to play a guy like that, regardless of how
Speaker 8: talented he is. So I'm really interested to see you.
Speaker 8: I mean, I think they probably need another running back
Speaker 8: in the portal regardless, because they just have four on
Speaker 8: scholarship and one of them, definding meiswell retrofreshment is like
Speaker 8: his health status is really unclear coming back from an
Speaker 8: ACL there in so like they could need more depth
Speaker 8: there anyway. But if we go out and see them
Speaker 8: add like a starter caliber player or somebody you expect
Speaker 8: to be in the rotation, I think that sends a
Speaker 8: message about, you know, they're not going to count on
Speaker 8: Wilcox right now.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, And you know, I've got to think that if
Speaker 2: they go out and get somebody like that, they're going
Speaker 2: to be saying, look, you know every team in America
Speaker 2: plays multiple running backs for the most part, so come
Speaker 2: here and there's an opportunity to play, right Yeah.
Speaker 8: Absolutely, and like and and to you know, Willcox is hopefully,
Speaker 8: to his credit, like we have not really heard from
Speaker 8: him that he's considering leaving. I mean that's obviously just
Speaker 8: speculation from people that we've uh last year when you say, like, oh,
Speaker 8: this guy should be playing or he's not playing right. Okay,
Speaker 8: he's going to get in the portal, but maybe he knows,
Speaker 8: maybe he's fully aware of his limitations right now, the
Speaker 8: work he needs to do, and like starting over from
Speaker 8: scratch somewhere else is certainly not going to help learn
Speaker 8: the playbook there anyway any easier. I mean, I guess
Speaker 8: he could go to maybe like a spread team where
Speaker 8: the playbooks not quite as complicated as a pro style,
Speaker 8: but like so hopefully, like even if they had somebody else,
Speaker 8: maybe he takes it as a challenge and sticks around.
Speaker 8: I will say, in the open practice we saw two
Speaker 8: weeks ago, through weeks ago, whatever it was up close,
Speaker 8: didn't have a shoes tied in a practice like I
Speaker 8: don't know what's going on there. That's a bizarre thing
Speaker 8: because it's clearly with such a storyline last year. Yeah,
Speaker 8: he's clearly more comfortable without it for some reason. But
Speaker 8: like those little details, that kind of stuff, he's got
Speaker 8: to get that in control for them to be able
Speaker 8: to count on him this fall.
Speaker 2: That you know, That's where I was going. We obviously
Speaker 2: haven't really been able to talk to him much and
Speaker 2: he's not gonna say this, but I really wonder John,
Speaker 2: does he really want to do this at the highest
Speaker 2: level the best he possibly began, because he hasn't shown
Speaker 2: that he wants to, you know what I mean.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean it's definitely like sometimes you get there
Speaker 8: in regards to your talent as it's just harder. I mean,
Speaker 8: like I don't I've talked to him, I think twice,
Speaker 8: one on one, and I think I was the only
Speaker 8: person to interview him all last season because he is
Speaker 8: so uncomfortable in interviews and that's not like terribly uncommon
Speaker 8: for young guys when they get here, Like he just
Speaker 8: isn't comfortable doing it and doesn't want to. And I
Speaker 8: requested him multiple times very season, and thankfully the sports
Speaker 8: information staff was you know, they worked with me enough
Speaker 8: to where we could get him off to the side
Speaker 8: and in a lower stress environment and then he was
Speaker 8: fine in those situations. But like it's clear that spotlight
Speaker 8: he's not ready to embrace it yet and so like
Speaker 8: maybe that's just just part of you know, the maturation
Speaker 8: process and you'll get older there, but that also speaks
Speaker 8: to like if you're not willing, if you're not ready
Speaker 8: for that yet, maybe he's not looking to go somewhere
Speaker 8: else and be the guy. Maybe he's okay to to
Speaker 8: guide his time and work through it. It's going to
Speaker 8: be fascinating to watch over the next few weeks.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, you know. And I wanted to talk to
Speaker 2: him after the Tennessee game, but they said he he's
Speaker 2: not really big on interviews like that, you know, with
Speaker 2: the big spotlight on him so.
Speaker 9: Game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I understand that. But anyhow, because man, he
Speaker 2: you know, fifty yard run on the first play from scrimmage,
Speaker 2: so who knows, uh, quarterbacks. I know that's what everybody
Speaker 2: he asked me about right away. And you know, how
Speaker 2: do you? I mean, Calzada throws a nice ball, But
Speaker 2: it's all coming back to the old line, isn't it.
Speaker 8: Yeah, they got to protect. And it's even harder to
Speaker 8: judge in spring practice because we've heard positive things about
Speaker 8: the strides they've made there. But also they have a
Speaker 8: completely rebuilt front seven on defense. So are like, is
Speaker 8: the offensive line better because they're better or because the
Speaker 8: pass rush is not very goular defense? We won't know
Speaker 8: that until they go out and play in games. I
Speaker 8: did think it was interesting. We talked to Bush Hampton
Speaker 8: last Wednesday. The last Wednesday of spring practice, and somebody
Speaker 8: asked him about, like, what what do you want from
Speaker 8: that group moving forward? And he's admitted and I think
Speaker 8: here Wolfer talking to him partly the spring too, like
Speaker 8: when they went and got all these linemen from smaller schools,
Speaker 8: Like they clearly think they're good enough to do it
Speaker 8: at the SEC level, but that still means they're going
Speaker 8: to have to make significant strides over the summer and
Speaker 8: winter to date and strength and conditioning. So it's going
Speaker 8: to be really important for those guys to do some
Speaker 8: work in the light room over the next three or
Speaker 8: four months to make sure physically they're read for the
Speaker 8: new challenge they're going to face in this league. So
Speaker 8: even skill wise, if they're really good, they probably need
Speaker 8: to add some strength and so that's going to be
Speaker 8: I think that's going to say a lot about how
Speaker 8: good the line is in the fall, what happens between
Speaker 8: now and when camp opens in August.
Speaker 2: I mentioned this the other day on the air that
Speaker 2: I had during spring break. I ran into a staff member,
Speaker 2: not the old line coach, not Bush Hampden, but he
Speaker 2: mentioned specifically. I just basically said, how's it going, and
Speaker 2: he brought up the old line and he used the
Speaker 2: word athletic, you know, and said that, you know, they
Speaker 2: just might be moving back toward the days of the
Speaker 2: big Blue wall and the John Schlarman era. So you know,
Speaker 2: that really made me sit up straight, you know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's good, and it appears they have more depth,
Speaker 8: which was such an important part of that era too,
Speaker 8: where they could rotate seven or eight guys at times.
Speaker 8: Like that's why a big deal. Like I don't think
Speaker 8: Jagger Burton is going to start at center when the
Speaker 8: fall happened, even though he was the first team center
Speaker 8: at the open practice ball and in the scrimmage on Saturday.
Speaker 8: I don't think he will. But he's an important person
Speaker 8: to have still in this roster because that depth and
Speaker 8: that rotation is huge. He's the guy who started multiple
Speaker 8: years in the SEC at guard has play center in
Speaker 8: the SEC. Like, if you have that guy who you
Speaker 8: can plug in at all three interior positions and fill
Speaker 8: them in and know he's going to at least like
Speaker 8: hold his own, that's a huge piece to have. And
Speaker 8: so like that gets you to sixty right away. They've
Speaker 8: got another transfer from New Mexico Wallis Unamba, who actually
Speaker 8: got banged up a little bit in the scrimmage, but
Speaker 8: he can play guard or tackle. Malchi would obviously played
Speaker 8: a lot down the stretch last year at tackle and
Speaker 8: probably wasn't ready yet, but that's experience that will help them.
Speaker 8: So now you're kind of going like seven, eight, nine
Speaker 8: deep again. That's really really important and so you're not
Speaker 8: necessarily if you get three weeks into the season it's
Speaker 8: not working. You're not just stuck with the five you got.
Speaker 8: I think that's a huge development too.
Speaker 2: You're right, and you know it's it's the SEC, it's
Speaker 2: big boy football. You just got to know going in
Speaker 2: what you got. We're talking to John Hale, other Hero Leader.
Speaker 2: Will come back and talk more UK football with John
Speaker 2: on the other side of the break here on six
Speaker 2: point thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking to John Hale.
Speaker 2: He covers football and other things for the Harold Leader.
Speaker 2: But he was there at the scrimmage. Of course, whatever
Speaker 2: scrimmaging they did on the Football Showcase. I always tell
Speaker 2: people any more, John, I just say, well, their uniforms
Speaker 2: look great and they lined up straight, so how do
Speaker 2: you know? But you talked about the d line and
Speaker 2: there are question marks there. But I think I like
Speaker 2: what I saw, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think that's a group that should be improved.
Speaker 8: I mean, it's it's going to be different. And I
Speaker 8: think a couple of us were talking after the first
Speaker 8: in practice, how so strange it was to like to
Speaker 8: look out there and see different numbers on the defensive
Speaker 8: line that had been the same group for so many years,
Speaker 8: like the Unlocker Oc Davis Achendeine Toron Ripke. You know,
Speaker 8: those guys are going to be out there and they're
Speaker 8: all gone, and so I like, those guys were all
Speaker 8: really big and this group does not seem as big,
Speaker 8: but maybe more athletics. So like it knows in particular,
Speaker 8: you trade, you know, from Keshun Silver who obviously transferred
Speaker 8: to USC to David Gusta, who's coming from Washington. Like
Speaker 8: he's a shorter guy, but he's like a bullying out there,
Speaker 8: like kind of that maybe that Mark one McCall kind
Speaker 8: of guy they had in the past that position. Like
Speaker 8: I think he might be their best transfer overall. Like
Speaker 8: he's not gonna go up huge numbers just because of
Speaker 8: the position he plays, but in terms of like, you know,
Speaker 8: impact on the game. He's really important, right mcquee some
Speaker 8: free grace to the defensive end. They got from South
Speaker 8: Dakota was actually from Cincinnati. Like that's a guy people
Speaker 8: are really high on that they hope can fill. Like
Speaker 8: he's not going to be Josh Pascal, but could be
Speaker 8: that similar kind of role. So you have like somebody
Speaker 8: on the edge there where you're not always relying on
Speaker 8: your outside linebackers to get pass rush, Like that's a
Speaker 8: big deal. And then they do have some guys coming
Speaker 8: back on that line who are important, you know, Khalil Sander,
Speaker 8: Sia Hayes who as part of the year injury last year,
Speaker 8: like Kendrick Gilbert who was a big recruit a couple
Speaker 8: of years ago, like Jared Gerrod Smith who's a sophomore
Speaker 8: now moving in a second year. Like all those guys
Speaker 8: are going to play, so they should be fairly deep.
Speaker 8: So that's a position where they actually have a nice
Speaker 8: combination of impact transfers and veterans who have played a
Speaker 8: lot in this defense and should know what they're doing
Speaker 8: out there.
Speaker 2: One of the question marks, as everybody knows, is linebacker,
Speaker 2: and they've got bodies just a question of you know,
Speaker 2: how good are they going to be? How good are
Speaker 2: they now? And I feel like when when it's not
Speaker 2: tackling but what they call thud, it's really hard to
Speaker 2: maybe hardest to judge the linebackers because you can tell
Speaker 2: how quickly the d lineman close. You can tell from
Speaker 2: past coverage who's getting it done in the defensive secondary,
Speaker 2: But it's the linebackers. To me, I have a hard
Speaker 2: time getting a read. What do you say?
Speaker 8: Yeah, I agree with that, especially this group of linebackers
Speaker 8: because of the question we have about Alex Safari and
Speaker 8: Daburn Rainer, who looks like they're starters inside right now?
Speaker 8: Are their smaller guys? I mean they're super athletic, but
Speaker 8: they're not huge, and like, can they stand up to
Speaker 8: the sec like riggers of playing in that position? We
Speaker 8: know how often Kentucky has gone through injuries there, you
Speaker 8: know the jack Us Jones and DeAndre Squares and Derek
Speaker 8: Jackson's like all those guys were hurt at various times
Speaker 8: even though they were playing a lot. But that that
Speaker 8: position is so physical and like, so can these slimmer,
Speaker 8: more athletic guys handle it when to hundred thirty pounds
Speaker 8: running back coming in there and crushing him ten plays
Speaker 8: a game like we won't know that until the fall.
Speaker 8: And so I think that's another position where you got
Speaker 8: to watch the portal for maybe a depth piece here.
Speaker 8: And they did ad Landon Watson from UH from Marshall
Speaker 8: as a transfer as a death piece. He's a bigger guy,
Speaker 8: so that should help me in the two practice. The
Speaker 8: practice in the scrimmage, like, I didn't see him do
Speaker 8: a lot, so I don't really know what he's going
Speaker 8: to do. Grant Godfrey, who was a big recruit in
Speaker 8: that position, a four star guy a few years ago,
Speaker 8: Like he was playing a lot in the scrimmage and
Speaker 8: the open practice. But he's a smaller guy too, Like
Speaker 8: is he ready to step up? I don't know. And
Speaker 8: so they've got some young guys there, but none of
Speaker 8: them are going to solve that physicality issue. So it
Speaker 8: wouldn't shock me if they go out and ad a
Speaker 8: you know, a big like stutting to run stop for
Speaker 8: kind of guy here for a few weeks.
Speaker 2: You know. I thought it was interesting that when somebody
Speaker 2: asked him Stoops about Kicker plays kicker. He is sounds
Speaker 2: super confident doesn't.
Speaker 8: He Yeah, I mean that was funny. Like in terms
Speaker 8: of last last year, when they were talking about redshirt guys,
Speaker 8: the one guy Stoops was never shy about hyping up
Speaker 8: the kicker, Jacob Cowaway, who from Montana has like a
Speaker 8: huge leg. I mean, he was saying like week one
Speaker 8: last year that if they had a sixty yarder to
Speaker 8: win the game, he'd draw him out there like for
Speaker 8: his first career kick, which seems insane, and that never
Speaker 8: actually happened. And then Alex Rayner was so consistent and
Speaker 8: steady and ended up improving his leg strength last year
Speaker 8: where it wasn't really an issue. We'll see how it
Speaker 8: happens when the lights turn on, and the consistency part
Speaker 8: of it's always a question, but it seems like leg
Speaker 8: strength will not be an issue and that can be
Speaker 8: a real weapon for them. And then at punter two,
Speaker 8: Aiden Larros didn't win the job out of camp last year,
Speaker 8: eve though everybody hyped him up as this impact guy.
Speaker 8: He took it over a few weeks in the season,
Speaker 8: battled some consistency issues, but he also has a huge
Speaker 8: leg and Mark was really really positive about him on
Speaker 8: Saturday too, So it seems like maybe he's pick some
Speaker 8: of those consistency things. That's a huge deal because we
Speaker 8: know that the margin of error for these this team
Speaker 8: is going to be really really slip, and so winning
Speaker 8: the special team, so those hidden yardage that's going to
Speaker 8: be really important for them to come out.
Speaker 2: Well, that's exactly why. That's exactly why I brought down
Speaker 2: up more than ever. They need to be able to
Speaker 2: score from the thirty five on in or maybe deeper.
Speaker 2: And you know, the teams that have struggled with old
Speaker 2: line problems as you know, field position has just really
Speaker 2: been brutal for these teams. I mean that's what people
Speaker 2: forget about Stoops's best teams you know, had shorter fields
Speaker 2: because of defense and could handle longer fields because they
Speaker 2: can move the ball right.
Speaker 8: Yeah, And like just think about how important like if
Speaker 8: if we're kind of comparing this team to that twenty
Speaker 8: sixteen to twenty seventeen right era where they were kind
Speaker 8: of breaking through, because that's frankly where they're at. They
Speaker 8: need to break through to Bolgild again, Like think how
Speaker 8: important Austin McGinnis was to those games, Like how many
Speaker 8: big days where he hit you know, game winning field
Speaker 8: goals from fifty yards fifty three yards like at the
Speaker 8: end of the game, where they knew that was a
Speaker 8: weapon for them. They played so many close games and
Speaker 8: so knowing your kickers were liable when you throw them
Speaker 8: out there.
Speaker 9: As a huge deal.
Speaker 2: Well, he had game winners against both Mississippi State and
Speaker 2: Louisville in the ten win season, and those are just
Speaker 2: the kicks at the end of the game. It's the
Speaker 2: ones that were throughout the games that were vital as well.
Speaker 2: A few minutes left with John Hail of The Harrow Leader,
Speaker 2: you referenced Tennessee situation. Boy, the fallout has been interesting
Speaker 2: over the last forty eight hours. I said earlier John
Speaker 2: that yes, players have a right to do this do that,
Speaker 2: but I don't really think it's accurate to compare players
Speaker 2: jumping in a situation or trying to negotiate, you know,
Speaker 2: and hold the team really for hostage the way Nico
Speaker 2: did to coaches leaving for another job, because coaches, at
Speaker 2: least I haven't seen it yet, they don't hold their
Speaker 2: their employer hostage the way this kid tried to do. So,
Speaker 2: I don't know. There's a lot of misinformation out there
Speaker 2: and the takes on it. But do you credit Tennessee
Speaker 2: because some people said you don't credit them and all
Speaker 2: some said you give them all the credit in the world.
Speaker 8: What do you think, Yeah, I mean, I'd like to
Speaker 8: know the specific details of who actually flinched first there
Speaker 8: in that one before I make a huge decision. But
Speaker 8: if it's if it's accurate what's been reported that Tennessee said, Okay,
Speaker 8: moving on, I think that is to their credit. That's
Speaker 8: the only way you can exist in this era. Like,
Speaker 8: at some point you have to draw the line. And frankly,
Speaker 8: we saw that was a problem with Kentucky the last
Speaker 8: two years. That's part of the culture issue is it
Speaker 8: doesn't seem it didn't seem like they drew that line
Speaker 8: quickly enough where they like guys, you know, kind of
Speaker 8: do whatever they want to do because they knew the
Speaker 8: threat to transfer, you know, need more Naol money was
Speaker 8: always out there and so like, you got to do it.
Speaker 8: And it's it's hard with your quarterback. It's hard for
Speaker 8: a team that has playoff aspirations, who now is really
Speaker 8: uncertain what the quarterback market will be like in the
Speaker 8: spring window. But at some point you do just have
Speaker 8: to say it, and frankly, Nico wasn't good enough to
Speaker 8: justify all that. I know, the market's gone up from
Speaker 8: you know, the quarterbacks who transferred this year got more
Speaker 8: money than he was making. But like he wasn't elite
Speaker 8: last year. Maybe he'll be elite this ball, but like
Speaker 8: he wasn't such a difference maker that he was worth
Speaker 8: this kind of trouble. And so I imagine that if
Speaker 8: Tennessee did move on first, they've probably done some back
Speaker 8: channel feeling out to make sure there's going to be
Speaker 8: a guy who they can go out and get here
Speaker 8: in the next couple of weeks. But I do give
Speaker 8: them credit if that. If that is how it played
Speaker 8: out out, the only way you're going to succeed in
Speaker 8: this era is to have firm boundaries, and you got
Speaker 8: to force some when they come up.
Speaker 2: I am, by no means an expert on quarterback play,
Speaker 2: but I felt like Hendon Hooker for what Tennessee did
Speaker 2: and Amy have been surrounded by better people. I don't know,
Speaker 2: but I felt like Hendon Hooker was better with Tennessee
Speaker 2: than this kid was.
Speaker 8: Yeah, and that's interesting because we think about that as
Speaker 8: such a quarterback friendly system. It's probably not for everybody.
Speaker 8: Van Heile's a guy who knows way more football to
Speaker 8: be talks about that a lot and how Hindon was
Speaker 8: kind of a perfect quarterback for that system, and so
Speaker 8: like it's you know, you got to you got to
Speaker 8: be able to make quick reads and know where you're
Speaker 8: going and be comfortable. And multiple years in there was
Speaker 8: really important for Hinton. And so we'll see what happens
Speaker 8: next there. That's why I don't think it's necessarily certain
Speaker 8: that you can to think go out and get a
Speaker 8: big name in the portal that he's going to be
Speaker 8: ready to go right away. But it's very fascinating to watch.
Speaker 2: And somebody I heard talking about, you know, they had
Speaker 2: a blackball him. I said, well, you know, you got
Speaker 2: to have one thousand percent of people buying into blackball
Speaker 2: somebody and some he somewhere is going to sign this kid.
Speaker 8: Right yeah, and somebody will need him and like maybe
Speaker 8: because I think I've seen a lot of UCLA speculations
Speaker 8: from like, so we'll see how that happens. But like
Speaker 8: I mean, it's the same thing in the NFL, Like
Speaker 8: we've seen this for a long time.
Speaker 9: That's unfortunately how college.
Speaker 8: Is getting so much more like it, like the NFL
Speaker 8: is a sport where people hold out routinely in camp
Speaker 8: and whatever for like more money, and like now it's
Speaker 8: come to college and like those guys all get signed
Speaker 8: somewhere else, Like winning games is the is the most
Speaker 8: important thing at the end. And it will be interesting
Speaker 8: to see whenever he talks again, whether it's his new
Speaker 8: school or before he transfers, what the message his camp
Speaker 8: puts out is and how much kind of imagery building
Speaker 8: they can do. But it'll be, you know, I'm eager
Speaker 8: to watch, of course.
Speaker 2: The same here. Of course when the NFL, when somebody
Speaker 2: holds out, it's not like they're going to another team.
Speaker 2: They're just not going to play. But I mean it
Speaker 2: can still be effective. But you know who knows. Yeah,
Speaker 2: the portals your next big headline, isn't it?
Speaker 8: That's it open to Windnesday. I don't think it's going
Speaker 8: to be like a bunch of huge names for Kentucky.
Speaker 8: But it's clear that they have a few more spots
Speaker 8: they want to add that nothing else receiver. They need
Speaker 8: a new receiver because true Adward's the transfer from Lois
Speaker 8: and a tech who didn't get in time for the January.
Speaker 8: My understanding, he's not going to get that way from
Speaker 8: the NCLA for his extra juco year, so they're going
Speaker 8: to need to go out and find at least one
Speaker 8: more receiver. We talked about running back in linebacker, and
Speaker 8: then we'll see who leaves. I mean, I think mostly
Speaker 8: it'll be guys buried down to that start like looking
Speaker 8: for more reps. But it wouldn't be a shock if
Speaker 8: it's somebody important you know, has heard from back channel
Speaker 8: somewhere and gets an offer somewhere else. So that's something
Speaker 8: to watch.
Speaker 2: Never a shock is a John Hale of the Arrow
Speaker 2: Leader tell everybody how to follow you on Twitter.
Speaker 8: It's John Hale, j O n H L E underscore.
Speaker 2: HL sounds good. Thank you brother, see you soon.
Speaker 9: Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: And after to break, Aaron Gershawn, who also Wash sat
Speaker 2: to my right, John Hail to my left. Aeron Gershwan
Speaker 2: am I right at the scrimmage. We'll talk with Aaron
Speaker 2: on the other side of the break. Then we'll make
Speaker 2: way at seven thirty to the nicknamese you own show
Speaker 2: here on six thirty w.
Speaker 10: Lapata taping.
Speaker 4: The show Anything Canning.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to the Big Blue and cider. I renumber
Speaker 2: two of our program coming up at the bottom of
Speaker 2: the hour, it's the Nickmns you Own show. Uh. He
Speaker 2: will talk, of course Kentucky baseball with Darren Hedrick, But
Speaker 2: as promised, we are going to chat with Aaron Gershaan
Speaker 2: of The Cat's Pause, who said, next to me in
Speaker 2: the press box, John Hale on one side, you just
Speaker 2: heard from John and Aaron on the other. Uh, and Aaron,
Speaker 2: And I'm sure everywhere you go now, people who know
Speaker 2: what you do for a living in like Kentucky football
Speaker 2: will say, how do they look? What would you say
Speaker 2: to people who ask you that question? Given a limited
Speaker 2: number of plays we got.
Speaker 11: To see, Yeah, that'd be the first thing i'd say.
Speaker 11: I'd say, well, it's hard to get a true ter
Speaker 11: gauge because it was a lot of sudd you know,
Speaker 11: wasn't tackling to the ground.
Speaker 3: But you know, at least we did get some eleven
Speaker 3: on eleven stuff.
Speaker 11: I'd say we got a good look at kind of
Speaker 11: where the depth start is at at this point in time,
Speaker 11: obviously minus a couple of guys that were anjured.
Speaker 3: But I think I would say that the.
Speaker 11: Probably the best news of the day and it was
Speaker 11: something that we also saw in that open practice we
Speaker 11: went to about a week and a half ago. Was
Speaker 11: the offensive line looked better. I mean, it's hard again.
Speaker 11: It's the new look defensive line this year, so you
Speaker 11: know they're they're learning a new scheme and things like that.
Speaker 9: For a lot of them are newcomers.
Speaker 11: But holes were open in this eleven on eleven that
Speaker 11: we haven't frankly seen in spring practice in quite some time.
Speaker 11: And I thought Dante Dallas are running veterans from Nebraska
Speaker 11: to the best day at the three running backs picking
Speaker 11: advantage of those holes, and you know they would have
Speaker 11: been big gainers in a game situation. So I would
Speaker 11: say that was the best thing I saw. I thought
Speaker 11: Calzata made a couple of good throws, but we didn't
Speaker 11: really get to see.
Speaker 9: Much of him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, honestly, it made sense.
Speaker 11: They wanted to get a lot of the younger guys
Speaker 11: at the quarterback position more reps. But you know, that'd
Speaker 11: be my main takeaway. I think the offensive line, with
Speaker 11: all the experience they brought in, all the size they
Speaker 11: brought in, looks the part, at least in practice now
Speaker 11: twice that we've seen them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, they just look bigger, especially Pete. I'm really
Speaker 2: curious to see how he holds up in the SEC.
Speaker 2: But I have no reason to believe he won't, right,
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 3: See why not.
Speaker 11: I mean, we're talking, we're all talking about a fifth
Speaker 11: year guy. I believe, I believe he's a fifty or
Speaker 11: fourth year. So he you know, he's his experience. You
Speaker 11: go and look at New Mexico State and you know
Speaker 11: they beat Auburn.
Speaker 3: At Auburn, he was the starting left tackle in that game.
Speaker 11: I believe they had think that another SEC team they
Speaker 11: played against that he played. Well, I don't have it
Speaker 11: in front of me right now, but yeah, he's a
Speaker 11: guy that's been battletets. He's been around the block for
Speaker 11: a minute now. And you know, obviously it was all
Speaker 11: high majors are I guess we're talking football, so all
Speaker 11: group of four now teams that were that were going
Speaker 11: after him hard in the transfer portal here. So I
Speaker 11: don't think there's reason the threat that he can't hold up.
Speaker 11: And then that's what I kind of like to you
Speaker 11: know about Joshua le Bron, the left guard. They got
Speaker 11: as a ton of experience in the SEC. Between Florida
Speaker 11: and Arkansas. And then you know, you bring in the
Speaker 11: right tackle who's played a bunch at Bowling Green and
Speaker 11: was an All MAC guy there, and that that's the
Speaker 11: league that's went and lost in the trenches. So these
Speaker 11: are all guys that are not only experience, but have
Speaker 11: done it at pretty high levels. And not necessarily, you know,
Speaker 11: a group of four, but they've done they've held up
Speaker 11: well when they stayed those teams.
Speaker 3: So I think Peter'll be all right.
Speaker 2: We talked Saturday, John Hale and I talked about it
Speaker 2: as well. You and I did at the game about you.
Speaker 2: Marion Wilcox, who is a real puzzlement. I mean, you know,
Speaker 2: is he going to be here? Is he going to
Speaker 2: hit the portal? Is he ready to take football more
Speaker 2: seriously and with people? You know, football Kentucky fans know
Speaker 2: this guy is capable of what they like to call explosives,
Speaker 2: the big plays like the one he had to Tennessee.
Speaker 2: And here's a guy who last year slightly out game
Speaker 2: basically the same amount of rushing yards as Demi Sumo
Speaker 2: Karnbay in forty fewer carries, but he only ran with
Speaker 2: the twos. This guy, to me is just really intriguing
Speaker 2: in so many ways.
Speaker 11: You know, it's like you're almost begging for him to
Speaker 11: get it off the field because he is so talented.
Speaker 11: I mean, every time he touched the ball, it felt
Speaker 11: like a big play was waiting to happen. I mean,
Speaker 11: was it Texas or first play the game with the
Speaker 11: fifty yard runs Tennessee.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, so it's that's right. I was there.
Speaker 11: I was like, I saw it at first orange it
Speaker 11: was orange. Yeah yeah, it was orange. Yeah, wrong shade.
Speaker 11: But that's all right, but they're both anyway. It's just, yeah,
Speaker 11: you're begging him to get it together off the field
Speaker 11: and get it together, you know, learning to playbook and
Speaker 11: just being with the program for you know, Mark Dukes
Speaker 11: brought up the shoe example of the shoe tying example
Speaker 11: last year, like stuff like that, if they can get
Speaker 11: him over that hump, I mean, he's a special talent.
Speaker 11: I don't know if he's going to be a three
Speaker 11: down back just because he's on the smaller side, but
Speaker 11: my gosh, could he really give them a change of
Speaker 11: pace because Dance Dowell from Nebraska, and I know, you
Speaker 11: know he wants to get the stigma out, but really,
Speaker 11: if you go look at what he did last year.
Speaker 11: He was great in short yardage, not much else. There
Speaker 11: weren't many explosive runs. I think his longest runt of
Speaker 11: the year was in the twenties in terms of yardage,
Speaker 11: gained a lot of one yard touchdown runs. I think
Speaker 11: seven of us twelve.
Speaker 3: Were one yard out.
Speaker 11: So you'd love to have that combination. And I know
Speaker 11: Jason Patterson's had a nice spring as well, but you
Speaker 11: know he's still he's coming off an injury, he's a
Speaker 11: red shirt freshman. I don't know how much that's going
Speaker 11: to translate in the game quite yet, but you'd love
Speaker 11: for Willcox and Dowell to be kind of your combo
Speaker 11: there where you have a guy who's a power back
Speaker 11: that's hard to bring down, wears down the defense, and
Speaker 11: then you can bring in will Cox against the tire
Speaker 11: defense to you know, be a big play threat, especially
Speaker 11: now this year or clearly clearly clearly they're trying to
Speaker 11: get back to being a run heavy offense.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then you know Patterson, like you said, hurt
Speaker 2: last year carry the ball what twenty times five and
Speaker 2: a half yards per carrying? No, he played okay, Yeah,
Speaker 2: caught the ball this spring. I'm curious to see what
Speaker 2: they do that. You know, it.
Speaker 11: Seems like all three backs they were asking that out
Speaker 11: of them because they threw to Dowel a lot yet
Speaker 11: on Saturday as well, So that's clearly going to be
Speaker 11: something they probably try to do more this season, which
Speaker 11: is interesting because Sumo Karnbay that was kind of the
Speaker 11: strength of his game and I felt.
Speaker 3: Like it was almost underutilized last year.
Speaker 11: So uh, when you live and learn, So definitely think
Speaker 11: that's gonna be a bigger piece of the offense. And
Speaker 11: Patterson looked the most comfortable the three from what we
Speaker 11: saw doing it.
Speaker 2: Fred Ferrier didn't play that disappointed me, and that's another
Speaker 2: kid who intrigues me.
Speaker 11: Yeah, the wide receiver rooms beat up right now. Last
Speaker 11: year was the defensive line where they were just down to.
Speaker 9: Walk on with.
Speaker 11: Honestly, I think they had walk on running with the
Speaker 11: first team in this event last year. This year they
Speaker 11: were with the second team and then unfortunately one of
Speaker 11: them got hurt and it's just like, wow, they just
Speaker 11: are really struggling at receiver right now. But yeah, Fret
Speaker 11: Ferrier is a guy that looked good really all spring
Speaker 11: and fall camp last year. Made a couple of nice
Speaker 11: players last year, and then I thought played pretty well
Speaker 11: in the open practice we went to a couple of
Speaker 11: weeks ago, the same with the freshman. DJ Miller looked
Speaker 11: had to play of the day in the open practice
Speaker 11: we went to, and unfortunately he didn't go on Saturday.
Speaker 11: I believe there were Preston Bowman, the freshman didn't go Saturday.
Speaker 11: I believe there was one more. And they're still waiting
Speaker 11: on the whole True Edwards thing. It's really hard to
Speaker 11: read between the tea leaves there as if he's going
Speaker 11: to be cleared or not with the whole you know,
Speaker 11: Jugo ruling and whatnot. So yeah, I would think wide receiver.
Speaker 11: With all the injuries. I wish we got to see Ferrier.
Speaker 11: I wish we got to see DJ Miller. But with
Speaker 11: all the injuries, I and depending on what happens with
Speaker 11: this True Edward's ruling or if it rolls into the summer,
Speaker 11: I would think with the spring transfer portal opening two
Speaker 11: days from now, that's position they probably need to.
Speaker 9: Get a body.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, definitely, and maybe another running back. We're
Speaker 2: talking Aaron.
Speaker 11: So yeah, it's hard to start to play with only
Speaker 11: three at that.
Speaker 2: Position and to count on true freshman, true incoming freshmen.
Speaker 2: Talking to Aaron gershein of the catch clause, We're going
Speaker 2: to talk a little bit of basketball, but before we
Speaker 2: do that, uh, because you talked about that with Tom
Speaker 2: Leach this morning on his show. But uh, you and
Speaker 2: I talked about the mess at Tennessee, and there's been
Speaker 2: so much fallout after that. And of course, you know
Speaker 2: a lot of the a lot of I think some
Speaker 2: of the pro athletes have jumped in and said, well,
Speaker 2: these coaches can move. Yeah, but the coaches don't hold
Speaker 2: their employers hostage. They don't say what I'm not going
Speaker 2: to coach uh in the in the next game or
Speaker 2: in the bowl game unless you renegotiate my contract or whatever.
Speaker 2: Who I think this kid just got some really bad advice.
Speaker 2: But what does that work? A hardship on his friends
Speaker 2: and teammates, you know, Oh my gosh.
Speaker 11: I would say, first of all, good for the Tennessee
Speaker 11: coaching staff for putting the foot down and telling them
Speaker 11: to go, because that's the right thing. You can't you
Speaker 11: can't have that hanging over your head. It doesn't matter
Speaker 11: who you are. And even though he's a five hour quarterback.
Speaker 11: But are okay your last year good for them there?
Speaker 11: But yeah, I think I think you nailed this bad advice,
Speaker 11: and I honestly I just can't. He's a twenty year
Speaker 11: old kid who it was a five star prospect going
Speaker 11: into his second year of Tennessee starting they went the
Speaker 11: playoffs last year, Like, you can't tell me this is
Speaker 11: well he wanted like I will not be convicted of that.
Speaker 11: So I feel bad for the kid in this case.
Speaker 11: I think he got terrible advice, ran with it, and
Speaker 11: unfortunately got kicked to the curb rightfully so because of it.
Speaker 11: So I think it's just a it's a lost, lost,
Speaker 11: lost situation all across the.
Speaker 3: Board, no winners really in this, uh you know.
Speaker 11: And now you know, it'll be interesting to see where
Speaker 11: Nico lands because like, is a program like Oregon, I
Speaker 11: don't know, well, I know Oregon was their coach is
Speaker 11: kind of involved in letting Tennessee know you're sniffing around,
Speaker 11: But USC like some of those prideful programs out left
Speaker 11: because he can't can't transfer within the SEC unless it's
Speaker 11: gonna strip this year. So are any of those really
Speaker 11: prideful programs gonna take this kid on I feel like
Speaker 11: it's gonna be more like a U C. L A
Speaker 11: or a team that's kind of desperate to get something going.
Speaker 11: So uh, I just I feel bad for the kid.
Speaker 11: And then Tennessee, you know, I'm glad the coaching staff
Speaker 11: did what they did, but man, are they in a
Speaker 11: tough spot.
Speaker 8: Now.
Speaker 11: They only have two scholarship the two not just two
Speaker 11: scholarship quarterback, they have two quarterbacks period, wow, on their
Speaker 11: entire rocks. And they're both ones of red shirt freshman
Speaker 11: and one's a true freshman. So they're not like in
Speaker 11: the names that come out in the spring portal, like
Speaker 11: Nico might be the highest profile player ever to go
Speaker 11: into the spring portal in this four year window. So yeah,
Speaker 11: they're gonna have some really hard times. They're gonna have
Speaker 11: some hard time spinding that that single.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know there's no telling. I mean, Tennessee
Speaker 2: might have made another playoff run with that guy. So,
Speaker 2: like you said, bad advice, and uh, you just hope
Speaker 2: you didn't spend the rest of his life blaming everybody else.
Speaker 2: So uh, we'll talk more with Aaron Gershon of the
Speaker 2: cast Balls on the other side of the break here
Speaker 2: on six point thirty WLAP Welcome Back with chatting with
Speaker 2: Aaron Gershaan of the Cats pause. He of course covers
Speaker 2: Kentucky football and basketball. Uh and uh he talked basketball
Speaker 2: this morning with Tom Leach. But man, you know, for
Speaker 2: anybody who covers college sports, you know, you've got to
Speaker 2: keep an eye on a portal. I know there are windows,
Speaker 2: but it's almost twenty four to seven, isn't it.
Speaker 11: Yeah, it really is almost twenty four to seven. It's
Speaker 11: it's crazy, NonStop action. And then you know you have
Speaker 11: a day like Saturday with basketball after the spring game
Speaker 11: where you get a you know, it's so fun with
Speaker 11: this Twitter game now with that Cody Figure puts out
Speaker 11: the cryptic boom tweet yet and you're like, all right,
Speaker 11: who is it?
Speaker 3: Who is it?
Speaker 11: And you're thinking it's this Lamar Wilkerson kid who's currently
Speaker 11: on a visit to Indiana, because that's the only name
Speaker 11: they're really hot and heavy on. And then they land
Speaker 11: a forward from Croatia that no one's ever heard of,
Speaker 11: and like, oh, well that's interesting. And then he sends
Speaker 11: another one off later in the evening. You're like, oh,
Speaker 11: now they surely got Wilkerson. Oh no, Brandon Garrison saying
Speaker 11: that's all that was.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 11: So it's just it's like it is non stop.
Speaker 3: It's fun.
Speaker 11: It's fun, crazy, chaotic and all that. It's a wild time.
Speaker 11: But at the end of the day, I just go
Speaker 11: back to what a job that Mark Pope and the
Speaker 11: staff is done to check all the boxes of getting
Speaker 11: more athletic, getting more physical, still not getting anything where
Speaker 11: you're going to be out of her like guys who
Speaker 11: aren't fit in the scheme offensively, Like I really objectively
Speaker 11: could not be much higher on what they've done so far.
Speaker 2: Did you know anything about this kid they're bringing in
Speaker 2: from overseas from Crost Yeah.
Speaker 3: I've never Yeah. No, it's funny.
Speaker 11: I talked to Jacob Polochek, who is a recruiting expert
Speaker 11: so that he's built his career off recruiting. He used
Speaker 11: to work for Adam Gadore, and he told me, Yeah,
Speaker 11: there are about top four or five guys overseas that
Speaker 11: Kentucky has been linked to or at least has inquired about.
Speaker 11: And this guy I had never heard of. Wow, so
Speaker 11: this one really came out of left field. I really haven't,
Speaker 11: but uh, you know, I'll get the pronunciation down by
Speaker 11: the season. But you're talking about a kid. Yeah, I know,
Speaker 11: it's another each or each versus VIC situation like we
Speaker 11: had with fiction, but no, but this kid's a six
Speaker 11: to eleven forward who can shoot it from three looks
Speaker 11: from the video that we've a little bit of video
Speaker 11: I've been able to watch that he can handle the ball,
Speaker 11: which makes sense. That's what Mark Pope likes in this
Speaker 11: big and you know, definitely physical and not you know, scrawnie.
Speaker 11: I think he's got some muscle to him. So and
Speaker 11: he's going to be a twenty year old freshman, so
Speaker 11: he's more developed than a seventeen eighteen year old.
Speaker 9: So uh.
Speaker 3: The one thing I always caution.
Speaker 11: With these overseas kids, specifically from Europe, is you don't
Speaker 11: really know what the competition they're playing against is, Like
Speaker 11: how comparable really is it to the SEC specifically.
Speaker 3: But I love the idea. I love the creativity where.
Speaker 11: Okay, we didn't necessarily get what we were looking for
Speaker 11: in the portal, or maybe we didn't want a guy
Speaker 11: from the portal that only had a year or two less,
Speaker 11: let's go, there weren't enough options on that and the
Speaker 11: high school circuit in the US that we thought, let's
Speaker 11: go overseas and get a pro I love it. I
Speaker 11: think it's a great wave of a great extension of
Speaker 11: recruiting that you know, has been underutilized by so many programs.
Speaker 11: To see Illinois really dove headfirst into it, and they
Speaker 11: had some really good players on this past year's team.
Speaker 3: You know that Kentucky played against the tournament.
Speaker 9: I think it's brilliant.
Speaker 2: The first thing that came to my mind Aaron having
Speaker 2: never seen him but obviously playing the the quote unquote
Speaker 2: European style, is that pope at times? It's not every
Speaker 2: trip plays that five out style of offense. It just
Speaker 2: seems like it would fit that kid's skill set really well.
Speaker 2: I mean a lot to learn, but a guy that
Speaker 2: can play inside and out, like you said, seems like that.
Speaker 2: It won't be seamless. Nothing ever is. But they got
Speaker 2: a big chance with this guy, don't they.
Speaker 3: I think so.
Speaker 11: I think he fits exactly what they want to do
Speaker 11: that out. I mean, I think he's probably a four naturally,
Speaker 11: But look, you have you added every piece they've added
Speaker 11: has the ability to play five out there. They don't
Speaker 11: have that. You know, Omari Williams, who's not a thread
Speaker 11: at all from three and Omari was great. You could
Speaker 11: play five out with him. I'm just saying, like they're
Speaker 11: going to be spread out with shooters this year. And
Speaker 11: Quainton's this guy that you know his three point is
Speaker 11: work in progress, but he at least hit a couple
Speaker 11: last year to build off of. You know Brendan Garrison. Look,
Speaker 11: he shot at least thirty percent, So we gave you
Speaker 11: something from there. We know this kid from Croatia can
Speaker 11: shoot it. Mo Diabase was a forty shooter on a
Speaker 11: limited number. Cam Williams on a high number of threes
Speaker 11: with forty one percent. Like they have just had guys
Speaker 11: who could shoot the ball at all five positions, probably
Speaker 11: even at a higher rate than last year, all while
Speaker 11: they're better defensively and more athletics. And this kid from Croatia,
Speaker 11: if that's exactly what they were kind of they were
Speaker 11: still missing that one at the four position because Mo
Speaker 11: Diabase as high as I think I might have said
Speaker 11: it last week on the show, he's my favorite one.
Speaker 11: He might not be the highest profile, he's my favorite
Speaker 11: player they've added this offseason because I loved what he Yeah, well,
Speaker 11: I fell in love with his game when he came
Speaker 11: to rupp Arena, it was just dominant against some really
Speaker 11: big I mean he helped shut down on Maury Williams
Speaker 11: at the time, he shut down Bredon Garrison Andrew car
Speaker 11: He could just do it all defensively. But you know
Speaker 11: he's six seven, So could you really trust that out
Speaker 11: of your power starting power forward?
Speaker 9: Yeah?
Speaker 11: Now, and maybe even if he starts so just depends
Speaker 11: on the competition. But now you had a guy at
Speaker 11: that position who's six to eleven and can still do
Speaker 11: all the same things as the Abati. He may maybe
Speaker 11: he's not gonna be as good as a defender, but
Speaker 11: maybe he'll even be a better offensive player.
Speaker 3: I just think it's great. And look at what Florida
Speaker 3: did with all their options in the front court.
Speaker 11: Yeah, I mean yeah, the way they rolled out Condon
Speaker 11: and ha and Kin you Lou, They just kept coming
Speaker 11: at you in waves. And I think Kentucky can do
Speaker 11: a similar thing with this front court.
Speaker 2: Oh. It's the one thing Pope showed everybody last year,
Speaker 2: and not everybody liked it. But he played a lot
Speaker 2: of guys in you know, short shifts. People got upset
Speaker 2: when he would sub and you know why, don't you
Speaker 2: leave him out there, you know, because he said, because
Speaker 2: we work him so hard on offense and we want
Speaker 2: him fresh at the end of the game. And it worked.
Speaker 3: Yep, yep, exactly.
Speaker 11: And you know that's and that's the one thing where
Speaker 11: it's like when you got the d commitment from Kaiden Lewis,
Speaker 11: it was kind of kind of puzzling.
Speaker 9: You know.
Speaker 11: The reasoning I understood was that Jalen Lowe is a
Speaker 11: two year guy. At least that's two years of eligibility.
Speaker 11: They were kind of Lewis's campus, hoping for a one
Speaker 11: year guy and then a clear paths to be the
Speaker 11: starter next year. But you know, the minutes are just
Speaker 11: unless there's a bunch of injuries, the minutes are going
Speaker 11: to be for almost everyone in the twenties at some
Speaker 11: point or low teams at worst. Like Pope loves fresh bodies.
Speaker 11: He doesn't want to play guys thirty.
Speaker 3: Five plus minutes. He wants guys to stay.
Speaker 11: In and out, and they want to get a lot
Speaker 11: of guys engaged and feeling part of this thing. Yeah,
Speaker 11: and that's why the way this roster is so deep,
Speaker 11: and just knowing the guys that can bring off the bench,
Speaker 11: or there's less of a drop offs, I'd say, right,
Speaker 11: which we had this past year and last year, and
Speaker 11: that's fun to watch.
Speaker 2: And I remind people that the national title team on
Speaker 2: which Mark Pope played the best player and Twine Walker
Speaker 2: averaged no more than twenty eight minutes a game exactly.
Speaker 2: And even Antoine was surprised when he went back. He
Speaker 2: was on a podcast, went back and looked it up
Speaker 2: and was surprised to hear that. So it can work.
Speaker 2: You just got to make sure you play it both ends.
Speaker 2: Gotta shoot it, gotta guard a Yeah. Find him on
Speaker 2: Twitter at a Gershon ninety nine. We talked to him
Speaker 2: every Monday here on the show, and good to talk
Speaker 2: to you, sir, and we'll talk next week, I hope. Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 2: and I'll do it for now. Stay tuned for the
Speaker 2: Nick Benji Ownes Show, the UK Coach talking with Darren Hedrick,
Speaker 2: the boys of UK Baseball. Both will be hard at
Speaker 2: work tomorrow night when the Wildcats play host with Miami
Speaker 2: of Ohio. That's a seven o'clock start. We'll have us
Speaker 2: the Big Bill in Sider with you up until six
Speaker 2: forty five, and the Cats and the RedHawks here on
Speaker 2: sixt thirty WLAP.
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