Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue Insider on a Friday, one
Speaker 1: more sleep until Kentucky football Tomorrow night. As you know,
Speaker 1: Wildcats and the Southern Miss Golden Eagles, a game you'll
Speaker 1: hear right here on six thirty WLAP seven forty five
Speaker 1: kickoff thanks TV. Our radio coverage begins at five point
Speaker 1: thirty with campdown to kickoff, Christy Thomas, Jeremy Jarman, and
Speaker 1: the newest member of our team, Logan Stenberg, the former
Speaker 1: Kentucky All American offensive lineman. He'll be sharing his knowledge
Speaker 1: of the trenches on the offensive side of the ball,
Speaker 1: knocking heads with mister Jarman again. So that'll be a
Speaker 1: lot of fun tomorrow. But it may not be a
Speaker 1: fun as fun an atmosphere as you would like to
Speaker 1: have on opening Day because it's gonna rain at some
Speaker 1: point tomorrow. It's gonna rain, so it's either gonna be
Speaker 1: humid it'll cool off for the game, or rain during
Speaker 1: the game. But hey, it's Opening night, so let's just
Speaker 1: all enjoy it. And in fact, college football has already begun,
Speaker 1: but it begins for the Big Blue Nation tomorrow night,
Speaker 1: a game you'll hear right here on six thirty WLAP
Speaker 1: coming up tonight, well, tonight is game night as well.
Speaker 1: UK Volleyball in Action. The Bluegrass Battle cranks up this
Speaker 1: weekend at Memorial Coliseum. The new and improved Memorial Coliseum,
Speaker 1: the Wildcats take on Northern Kentucky at six thirty. I
Speaker 1: would say it's probably six thirty ish because prior to
Speaker 1: that match, Morehead State takes on Western Kentucky at four o'clock.
Speaker 1: I got to think that's going to be done and
Speaker 1: plenty of time for Kentucky and the North to knockheads
Speaker 1: at six thirty. Then on Saturday, the Wildcats take on
Speaker 1: Western Kentucky at five thirty. You can do it. Not
Speaker 1: impossible volleyball football doubleheader, but Western Kentucky Wildcats at five
Speaker 1: point thirty, And on Sunday, Kentucky takes on Morehead State
Speaker 1: at one o'clock. All of these games will be streamed
Speaker 1: on SEC Network Plus. Now. Unfortunately, it's going to be
Speaker 1: what they call a pass through. It's going to be
Speaker 1: just the cameras they have in the coliseum. I don't
Speaker 1: know that there's even going to be any audio at all.
Speaker 1: Because of the construction that's still ongoing at Memorial Coliseum.
Speaker 1: It affects the control room set up and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: It's kind of a long story, but the bottom line
Speaker 1: is you can watch it, you can check in on
Speaker 1: it if you like. As a volleyball Wildcats open the
Speaker 1: home portion of their schedule following that lost tough one
Speaker 1: to Nebraska on Tuesday night, three to one over in Louisville.
Speaker 1: Mentioned college football already underway. It opened big last weekend
Speaker 1: in Dublin, Ireland, as you well know, but a lot
Speaker 1: of action last night involving some top twenty five teams.
Speaker 1: Missouri beat Murray State fifty one to nothing. And this
Speaker 1: was called the Mystery game because murray has sixty new players.
Speaker 1: So of course the Racers and their staff they had
Speaker 1: all summer long to scout and study Missouri, which is
Speaker 1: a really good team last year. If you're Missouri, how
Speaker 1: do you know what to look for with Murray State?
Speaker 1: You can you can scout the new coaching staff at
Speaker 1: Murray State and look at see what they have done
Speaker 1: in the past. But they brought in sixty new players.
Speaker 1: Of course, Murray State plays at the FCS level, so
Speaker 1: they're going to have a lot of players just looking
Speaker 1: for a chance to play, looking for playing time, and
Speaker 1: they got it, but they did not play well last night.
Speaker 1: By the time they played Kentucky, of course the Racers
Speaker 1: will have figured out a lot, but last night they
Speaker 1: just couldn't get it going. In course, Missouri really good.
Speaker 1: So the Racers with a new head coach, two new
Speaker 1: offensive coordinators, they have co coordinators, a new DC, and
Speaker 1: more than sixty new players, just couldn't get it done
Speaker 1: last night. Their starting quarterback as a kid named Jaden Johansson.
Speaker 1: He last played at South Dakota School of the Mines,
Speaker 1: not South Dakota or South Dakota State, South Dakota School
Speaker 1: of the Mines. So where do you go to figure
Speaker 1: things out? Well, Missouri did it. Like I said, fifty
Speaker 1: one nothing was the final. Missouri, by the way, ranked
Speaker 1: number eleven in the ESPN. Pull Utah number twelve, beat
Speaker 1: Southern Utah last night forty nine to nothing. Kansas, ranked
Speaker 1: twenty third, beat Lyndenwood forty eight to three. NC State,
Speaker 1: which is ranked twenty fourth, had a little bit of trouble,
Speaker 1: fell behind fourteen to seven in the first quarter to
Speaker 1: Western Carolina, but then beat the Catamounts with twenty one
Speaker 1: points in the fourth quarter. This one was tight going
Speaker 1: into the fourth. In fact, Western Carolina led it twenty
Speaker 1: one to seventeen, but NC State, with three tds in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, wins it thirty eight to twenty one.
Speaker 1: Another high profile game, North Carolina beat Minnesota nineteen to seventeen,
Speaker 1: but the biggest story there was Tario starting quarterback Max
Speaker 1: Johnson carried off the field with a hip in injury
Speaker 1: in the third quarter. If you recognize that name, that's
Speaker 1: because you've seen him already with two different SEC schools.
Speaker 1: Started his career at LSU. He's the son of former
Speaker 1: NFL quarterback Brad Johnson, who played, of course, for Billy
Speaker 1: Rutledge's Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He didn't get much clock as
Speaker 1: much as he wanted at LSU, so he transfers to
Speaker 1: Texas A and m played a couple of years there,
Speaker 1: but then left for North Carolina. Wins the starting job
Speaker 1: over sophomore Connor Harrel, but then couldn't finish the game
Speaker 1: because he was carried off, as I said, with a
Speaker 1: hip injury. So keep an eye on that. Not the
Speaker 1: Kentucky plays North Carolina, but you never know what you're
Speaker 1: going to see in the postseason. Rutgers beat Howard forty
Speaker 1: four to seven, and I checked on this one for
Speaker 1: a couple of reasons. One of the headlines was Rutgers
Speaker 1: scores a late touchdown and it ticked off the coach
Speaker 1: at Howard thought they were running up the score. But
Speaker 1: the quarterback for Rutgers, Athan Colliagemnis, had a nice game
Speaker 1: one hundred and forty seven yards and three touchdown passes.
Speaker 1: He's the guy who took over for Gavin Wimsen, who
Speaker 1: is now a Kentucky Wildcat. So Rutgers now moving on
Speaker 1: without a guy who's on the Kentucky roster. One other
Speaker 1: SEC team in action last night, Arkansas played Arkansas Pine
Speaker 1: Bluff and one easily final seventy to nothing. Coach Prime
Speaker 1: in Colorado's made a lot of noise in the offseason,
Speaker 1: sparring and feuding with the media. His team did win
Speaker 1: its opener last night, but North Dakota State had a
Speaker 1: pass in the air that, had it gone for a touchdown,
Speaker 1: would have meant an upset win. But one of the
Speaker 1: bigger headlines was an interception that Shador Sanders, the quarterback
Speaker 1: through in the third quarter, an end zone interception. His
Speaker 1: team was down twenty one seventeen and they are on
Speaker 1: the five yard line. He throws into the end zone.
Speaker 1: He underthrows the ball, might have been trying to throw
Speaker 1: it away, but it kind of sank and it bounced
Speaker 1: off the leg of a North Dakota State lineman up
Speaker 1: into the air and it was picked off by the Bison,
Speaker 1: but they still Colorado still survived and pulled off the
Speaker 1: wind behind Travis Hunter, who was an early Heisman Trophy candidate.
Speaker 1: In fact, he caught the touchdown pass late his second
Speaker 1: of the game that put Colorado in the lead. But
Speaker 1: if you can find that video online easy to find,
Speaker 1: just google it. You'll see it's one of the stranger
Speaker 1: interceptions you've seen in a while, might be the weirdest
Speaker 1: one you see all year long. Tragic news out of Columbus, Ohio,
Speaker 1: where the Blue Jackets are mourning the loss of one
Speaker 1: of their players, Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew, both
Speaker 1: killed in a bicycle accident up in New Jersey. A
Speaker 1: drunk driver apparently was trying to pass some vehicles on
Speaker 1: a backcountry road were bicycling in the other lane, and
Speaker 1: the drunk driver didn't see Hi until it was too late,
Speaker 1: hit them both and they both died on the scene,
Speaker 1: so terrible accident that cost the Blue Jackets one of
Speaker 1: their players, along with his brother up in New Jersey.
Speaker 1: Over in New York City, former Kentucky Wildcat Gabriel Diallo
Speaker 1: with another win at the US Open, his first main
Speaker 1: draw win of his career at a Grand Slam. He
Speaker 1: upsets twenty four seed Arthur Fives in that second round
Speaker 1: he was a qualifier into the main draw. Diallo now
Speaker 1: has won five straight matches at Billy Jean King National
Speaker 1: Tennis Center, so he will play fourteenth seeded Tommy Paul
Speaker 1: in the round of thirty two. A couple of NFL
Speaker 1: notes before he hit the breake the Niners and Brandon Aiyuk,
Speaker 1: the talented wide receiver, finally reached a contract deal four years,
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty million dollar extensions. So if he's
Speaker 1: on your fantasy team, yeah, go ahead and play figure
Speaker 1: he'll be in the lineup. And Brendan Bates it looks
Speaker 1: like has made an NFL roster the former Kentucky tight end,
Speaker 1: but not with the Chicago Bears where he was. He
Speaker 1: was picked up by the New York Jets, so he
Speaker 1: is now on the main roster. At least for now
Speaker 1: with Aaron Rodgers and the rest of Gang Green over there,
Speaker 1: and so he will be apparently on an opening day
Speaker 1: roster going up next week. Good for Brendan Bates. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: a couple of his former Wildcat teammates have not made
Speaker 1: the cut. Devin Leary cut by the Baltimore Ravens. Not
Speaker 1: really a surprise, he did not play well in preseason action.
Speaker 1: Tayshaun Manning also cut by the Ravens. He of course,
Speaker 1: started his career at Auburn and then went through the
Speaker 1: portal to Lexington, played this last year at Kentucky. When
Speaker 1: we come back, we'll talk Wildcat football. Bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1: Johnny Cox, the radio voice of the Southern Mists Eagles.
Speaker 1: Yes name as the former Wildcat basketball star. Not related,
Speaker 1: but a lot of his family members went to UK
Speaker 1: and as a kid, the Southern miss radio announcer went
Speaker 1: to several games at Stole Field and watched the Wildcats.
Speaker 1: We'll hear about that at the bottom of the hour
Speaker 1: here on six point thirty WLAP Welcome back to the
Speaker 1: Big Blue and Sider Dick Abriel with you Friday, the
Speaker 1: day before game day and coming up in just a
Speaker 1: few minutes, we're gonna learn more about Southern Miss from
Speaker 1: John Cox. He is the playback play man for Southern
Speaker 1: Miss football, baseball, and basketball. Took over doing football nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy nine. He's been there ever since. He called that
Speaker 1: Southern Miss upset back in twenty sixteen here in Lexington
Speaker 1: of the Wildcats, when the Wildcats jumped out to the
Speaker 1: big lead and then gave it up and more, and
Speaker 1: the Golden Eagles came back and won. And then of
Speaker 1: course Kentucky goes down to Hattiesburg and wins the following year.
Speaker 1: But he also called the win over Louisville. This was
Speaker 1: back when Brett Farv was a Southern Miss Golden Eagle
Speaker 1: quarterback and was not highly tattered when he got there,
Speaker 1: but won the job, went on to do great things,
Speaker 1: you know what he did, Hall of Fame career in
Speaker 1: the NFL, won a Super Bowl for my Packers. But
Speaker 1: one of the great moments in Southern missistory, of course,
Speaker 1: is the upset went over Kentucky, but they beat Louisville
Speaker 1: on the last play of the game. The score was
Speaker 1: tied at ten, the ball on USM's twenty one yard line,
Speaker 1: so Truehill Mary Brett Favre rolls out and just heaves
Speaker 1: it down the field and the ball was tipped usm
Speaker 1: ran it in for the touchdown, much like the Bluegrass
Speaker 1: Miracle or LSU came back and beat Kentucky. John Cox
Speaker 1: again behind the microphone, and this is how he called
Speaker 1: that play one of the greatest in the history of
Speaker 1: Golden Eagle football.
Speaker 2: Free wide receivers left side, one to the right side,
Speaker 2: dropped back to under pressure, scrambles right get away from Washington.
Speaker 2: He's gonna throw it as far as he can down
Speaker 2: the field. It is tift that tip by Tilma come at.
Speaker 1: Twenty put steal us out. They still talk about that
Speaker 1: play as well they should in Hattiesburg. And what's wild
Speaker 1: about that year for Southern miss was earlier that season,
Speaker 1: the Golden Eagles had upset Florida State thirty to twenty
Speaker 1: six down in Tallahassee. So, yeah, that was a magical
Speaker 1: season for the Golden Eagles and they're hoping to pull
Speaker 1: off some more magic coming up against the Kentucky Wildcats.
Speaker 1: So we'll hear from John Cox. You'll talk about that play.
Speaker 1: But before we get back to Kentucky football, I did
Speaker 1: want to mention the fact that some good news from
Speaker 1: the Bengals camp. I was talking about players who got
Speaker 1: cut and got signed and re signed in the previous segment,
Speaker 1: and the Bengals actually picked up Tayshaun Manning, the former Wildcats.
Speaker 1: So he's on the practice squad for the and so
Speaker 1: is Logan Woodside. He of course, is from Frankfort, Kentucky,
Speaker 1: played his college football at Toledo. Is drafted by the
Speaker 1: Bengals in twenty eighteen, bounced around a little bit, has
Speaker 1: played in the NFL, but just has them been able
Speaker 1: to catch on with anybody. Played for the Titans, played
Speaker 1: for the Falcons, played in the Alliance of American Football.
Speaker 1: But now he is gainfully employed on the practice squad
Speaker 1: by the Cincinnati Bengals. Not too far from home. A
Speaker 1: former Franklin County flyer, Logan Woodside. All right, back to
Speaker 1: the Wildcats taking on Southern miss a team with lots
Speaker 1: of new players, a new coaching staff, a new offense,
Speaker 1: a quarterback who is transferred in from Florida State. And
Speaker 1: I was just talking about that upset they pulled back
Speaker 1: in twenty sixteen. Somebody asked Brad White whether they'll use
Speaker 1: that or he has used that with a defense to motivate.
Speaker 1: Of course, Brad White wasn't here, None of these kids
Speaker 1: was here, so no, he didn't really have to do that.
Speaker 1: He said, is guys are already dialed in.
Speaker 3: We don't need to look back like that to get motivation.
Speaker 3: There's plenty of recent occurrences, you know where if we
Speaker 3: don't play well, you know, you're in a dog fight
Speaker 3: for four quarters and sometimes you're on the wrong end.
Speaker 3: They're close to the wrong end. So our guys understand
Speaker 3: that there's no I've got no worries about them and
Speaker 3: being a letdown or looking ahead or any of that.
Speaker 3: Their sole focus has been Southern Myss.
Speaker 1: They've go hard into it.
Speaker 3: You know, we've we've tried to do a real deep dive.
Speaker 3: You know, there's a lot of unknowns, you know, sort
Speaker 3: of stepping in one because it's the first game too.
Speaker 3: It's a different coordinator, three, a lot of different personnel.
Speaker 3: So there's they we've got a focus and the focus
Speaker 3: has been on us to execute.
Speaker 1: You know, games like that really only have a shelf
Speaker 1: life in terms of the player's memory and their emotions
Speaker 1: for a year or two. If you're so many years removed.
Speaker 1: They don't know about it, they don't care. In fact,
Speaker 1: I remember and people a week and fans kept asking
Speaker 1: players about those long losing streaks, the Florida and Tennessee,
Speaker 1: and we think about the Tennessee Streek. The Florida streak
Speaker 1: was worse, actually, and Stoops pointed it out to us.
Speaker 1: He said, our players keep actually in sort of puzzled
Speaker 1: about why we keep wondering about that, because they're not
Speaker 1: responsible for it. If you're a player and your team
Speaker 1: has been involved in a streak like that, at worst,
Speaker 1: you're responsible for three maybe four years responsibly, meaning you've
Speaker 1: been on the team that long, not personally responsible. So
Speaker 1: to ask about a loss eight years ago, nah, Now
Speaker 1: that's not going to come up in practice, in the dorms,
Speaker 1: in the locker room, not at all. Quite Frankly, I
Speaker 1: think we in the media talk about it more than
Speaker 1: anybody because we have all this time to fill and
Speaker 1: colin inches to fill, and feature stories to write and
Speaker 1: people to interview. I don't even know if fans really
Speaker 1: worry about it or think that much about it, but
Speaker 1: certainly the coaches and the players do not. There are
Speaker 1: so many story lines out there, especially an important one.
Speaker 1: I can't remember who brought it up on the show,
Speaker 1: but somebody mentioned the corner spot, cornerback spot opposite Maxwell Harston.
Speaker 1: That guy is going to get a lot of work
Speaker 1: whoever is rotating in because well, people aren't gonna throw
Speaker 1: at Maxwell Harston on the depth chart right now. JQ
Speaker 1: Hardaway is the starter, backed up by Jansen Dunn. But
Speaker 1: that person's gonna have to be on top of his
Speaker 1: game because, like I said, no one's gonna want to
Speaker 1: throw to the side wherever Maxwell Harston is. But the
Speaker 1: guy I'm gonna kind of iso on from the sideline
Speaker 1: is Jamon Dumas. Johnson don't want to be called pop anymore,
Speaker 1: but we talked to him earlier in the year about
Speaker 1: what he brings to that position. Playing alongside the Eric Jackson,
Speaker 1: it gives Kentucky a great one two punch up the middle.
Speaker 4: You know, Djako physical back, you know, just like me.
Speaker 4: So you know you got like I said earlier in spring,
Speaker 4: you got two outfits in the middle. You know, I
Speaker 4: think that's better than one always. You know, two physical
Speaker 4: backs that can run a hit and smart at the
Speaker 4: same time. You know, long we get on the same
Speaker 4: page and build. The only thing we're building up is
Speaker 4: right now is our chemistry right now, and I'm excited
Speaker 4: to see what two and fifty four do the season.
Speaker 1: So Dumus Johnson transfers in from Georgia, where he was
Speaker 1: only an All American, but as you know, they recruited
Speaker 1: over him, so he's wearing blue now. But you know,
Speaker 1: the one transfer we haven't talked much about is Gerald Mincy,
Speaker 1: and he is penciled in as a starter on the
Speaker 1: offensive line. He came from Tennessee, which has, of course
Speaker 1: the jail break offense, and now Kentucky is going up Temple.
Speaker 1: Although we have been told repeatedly that it's not going
Speaker 1: to look as it's not gonna be as fast as Tennessee.
Speaker 1: It's not gonna look like Tennessee's offense, but it will
Speaker 1: be up Temple. But to hear Mincy talk about it,
Speaker 1: he believes that based on his knowledge of both, it
Speaker 1: could be as fast or faster.
Speaker 5: It's just the same, but a little worse because we've
Speaker 5: got to run our sides on to the right, and
Speaker 5: then we got to hurry up to the ball, you
Speaker 5: know what I mean. So when we when we had
Speaker 5: the scrimmages and we see like, oh wow, like we
Speaker 5: could actually catch the defense off guard and stretch stretch
Speaker 5: the defense out and then throw it over.
Speaker 6: Talk.
Speaker 5: We just all bought into the system and all bought
Speaker 5: into what it take to prepare to have our offense
Speaker 5: because our rule is to be the number one offense
Speaker 5: in the SEC. So I think we have a good
Speaker 5: group of guys right now that we could do that,
Speaker 5: and we just got to keep working.
Speaker 1: So not quite as fast as Tennessee, but but still faster.
Speaker 7: Nah.
Speaker 5: Probably probably a little faster we go we go see Saturday,
Speaker 5: Probably a little faster because were gonna try to really
Speaker 5: push the tip over, really wear these guys out there.
Speaker 1: And of course this could be the year. We say
Speaker 1: this every year that the tight ends put up big
Speaker 1: numbers for the Wildcats. But you never do know about
Speaker 1: this new offense. You do know Kentucky has a lot
Speaker 1: of talent in the tight end room, including Josh Catis
Speaker 1: and he is back, he is healthy, and he is
Speaker 1: impressed with the quarterbacks, all of them in that room,
Speaker 1: and thinks that they will be productive, which means the
Speaker 1: tight ends should be productive.
Speaker 8: You know, three new quarterbacks, it's it's obviously, you know, Uh,
Speaker 8: we got to get adjusted to it, but we did.
Speaker 8: We had a we had o t as all summer,
Speaker 8: fall camp, everything. So there's a lot of talent in
Speaker 8: that room. I think some of the most we've seen
Speaker 8: probably in the past couple of years. But they're all
Speaker 8: doing great, and uh, you know, I'm really excited about
Speaker 8: Brock and about Gavin. I think they're going to do
Speaker 8: good things both for us. And then Cutter has a
Speaker 8: lot of talent. He's got to keep keep working hard,
Speaker 8: and I think he could really be the future.
Speaker 1: The key, of course for the tight Ends is this
Speaker 1: new up temple offense, which should mean if things are
Speaker 1: happening right and they don't turn the ball over more plays.
Speaker 1: That's the number one culprit behind the lack of plays
Speaker 1: to the tight ends through the years. Kentucky just hasn't
Speaker 1: run enough plays on offense to spread it out, and
Speaker 1: as Kata said, he thinks they're all going to eat
Speaker 1: center Miss. Broadcaster John Cox next on six thirty w
Speaker 1: l A P. Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider,
Speaker 1: joining us on our celebrity hotline. As a gentleman, I've
Speaker 1: not had the pleasure of a meeting, but we have
Speaker 1: chatted prior to the interview and texted back and forth.
Speaker 1: John Cox, the radio voice of the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles.
Speaker 1: And before we get into your long and illustrious resume
Speaker 1: and background, John, you hit me with a Stole Field
Speaker 1: reference when we were first texting back and forth and
Speaker 1: kind of knocked me out of my chair. But you've
Speaker 1: got a deep family background with the state of Kentucky,
Speaker 1: don't you.
Speaker 9: Yeah, no question about it. My dad's family all grew
Speaker 9: up in Wolfe County, obviously not too far away from Lexington.
Speaker 9: My dad got graduated from UK, My sister has several degrees,
Speaker 9: had several degrees from UK, and talked there for a
Speaker 9: long time. In the first college football game that ever
Speaker 9: went to, I couldn't tell you the year, but it
Speaker 9: was at old Stole Field there, which I don't think
Speaker 9: even exists anymore. And I want to say, I want
Speaker 9: to say John Ray was the head coach back in
Speaker 9: those days. So so yeah, I spent a lot of
Speaker 9: time in my lifetime in Lexington. Loved Elecxedon, was excited
Speaker 9: when we came there to play first time back at
Speaker 9: nineteen eighty six, and excited me back here this weekend
Speaker 9: and one of the great places for sports le to Kentucky.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're right about John Ray being the coach, and
Speaker 1: as I relate to you, he didn't have a whole
Speaker 1: lot of success, but he did lobby for a new
Speaker 1: stadium and they built Commonwealth Stadium now Kroger Field, and
Speaker 1: of course they own They offered him John a one
Speaker 1: year contract extension, which of course no coach could work
Speaker 1: with that, so he basically parted company. Frank Kersey came
Speaker 1: in and you know the rest. So you you really
Speaker 1: go back with Kentucky football. Before I ask you about
Speaker 1: your team, I need to ask you about that game
Speaker 1: you called back here. What was it twenty sixteen when
Speaker 1: Southern Mississippi raced a huge halftime deficit. What are your
Speaker 1: memories of that that upset win?
Speaker 9: Well, and I think we're all excited to be there
Speaker 9: and you never know quite well it's going to happen.
Speaker 9: But we got off to just a horrible start in
Speaker 9: that ballgame. Most of it was a Kentucky but we
Speaker 9: helped him a little bit, and you know, you kind
Speaker 9: of sitting there thinking this one is over, and then
Speaker 9: you get into that second half, and we got a
Speaker 9: little closer, a little closer and made some big plays
Speaker 9: and next thing you know, we've got a chance to
Speaker 9: win the ball game and hang on to win that.
Speaker 9: It was an exciting one, much better than my previous
Speaker 9: game I called there back in eighty six, where I
Speaker 9: think Kentucky won thirty two to nothing to eat. So
Speaker 9: that last trip is certainly a whole lot better than
Speaker 9: the first.
Speaker 1: Kentucky came down the next year and turned the tables
Speaker 1: on Southern Miss. But that was a tight one, and
Speaker 1: you guys had a really good running back, Dave Kentucky
Speaker 1: all at one. And this has turned into a really
Speaker 1: interesting rivalry, hasn't it.
Speaker 9: Yeah, it's been a lot of fun. It's you know,
Speaker 9: we enjoyed Southern Mis enjoys playing teams out of the
Speaker 9: Southeast Conference. You always played Alabama and Albury quite a bit,
Speaker 9: played at Georgia quite a bit, a few times with LSU.
Speaker 9: We played some against Old Miss and Mississippi State that
Speaker 9: had a little success there, and so those are hard
Speaker 9: to those two were skeat Hartman schedule anymore. But we
Speaker 9: played Florida, so we played at South Carolina. We've played
Speaker 9: a lot of the teams in both the Old Southeastern
Speaker 9: Conference and the New Southeastern that conference, So always a
Speaker 9: great challenge for stead of Miss. Always a lot of
Speaker 9: fun for our fans. They love to travel, they go
Speaker 9: and go with the system out everywhere we played, we'll
Speaker 9: have a good crowd all on Saturday for the ballgame.
Speaker 9: So always fun to play teams in the SEC.
Speaker 1: Talking to John Cox, radio voice of the Southern Miss
Speaker 1: Golden Eagles. He is a director of sports broadcasting at
Speaker 1: USM and has had that position since nineteen seventy nine.
Speaker 1: More than five hundred football games called, more than twenty
Speaker 1: two hundred baseball twelve hundred basketball games. So you've seen
Speaker 1: a lot in your time Hattiesburg, and you've seen a
Speaker 1: lot of great athletes come through that football program because
Speaker 1: they can't all go to SEC schools, or sometimes the
Speaker 1: SEC misses on kids and they wind up at a
Speaker 1: place like us M.
Speaker 9: Well, you know that's the secret is, you know, our
Speaker 9: guys go out and kind of find them. I mean,
Speaker 9: there's you know, Brett Parr comes to mind, Brett Barb.
Speaker 9: His choices were Southern Miss, Pearl River Community College in
Speaker 9: Delta State, just free that he had a chance to
Speaker 9: get to and you know, he came to Southern Myths,
Speaker 9: but they thought he might it's nothing more, he might
Speaker 9: try to be a good punter. He was a good
Speaker 9: punter in high school, but they knew he could throw
Speaker 9: the ball, and you know, he got a chance to
Speaker 9: play and the rest is history. Ray Guy was another
Speaker 9: guy that you know, it was not all that well
Speaker 9: recruited coming out of the Georgia back out of there
Speaker 9: in the early seventies and turned out to be, you know,
Speaker 9: the greatest punter you know of all time. So on
Speaker 9: and on down the line. There's a lot of great
Speaker 9: ones in of sports at Southern Mists who got turned
Speaker 9: down by other schools and wound up at Southern Mists
Speaker 9: and the rest is history.
Speaker 1: We talked about those two games a few years ago.
Speaker 1: But what about now, John, what do you expect from
Speaker 1: this team? I know everybody's kind of flying in the
Speaker 1: dark right now.
Speaker 9: Well, I think I think it'll be a better Southern
Speaker 9: miss team than a year ago. When you look at
Speaker 9: their roster of the one hundred and thirteen guys, I
Speaker 9: think that they list on the roster one hundred and
Speaker 9: ten of them now are guys at will Hall and
Speaker 9: his coaching staff have recruited. There's no longer the three
Speaker 9: guys that they sort of inherited when Will took over
Speaker 9: a few years ago. And you know, he's kind of
Speaker 9: adopted the same philosophy that they always have around Southern
Speaker 9: diss you know, kind of draw that circle a couple
Speaker 9: of hundred miles around Hattiesburg and go find the best
Speaker 9: players that you can and no reason to fly halfway
Speaker 9: across the country. And you know, they do a good
Speaker 9: job of finding those guys. Some guys that aren't highly
Speaker 9: recruited to turn out to be really good players. And
Speaker 9: so I think this team, if you look up and
Speaker 9: down this Golden Eagle roster, you find a lot of
Speaker 9: those guys that probably didn't have a lot for the
Speaker 9: Division one offers and some that did. And of course,
Speaker 9: like most teams nowadays, it's a team that has got
Speaker 9: quite a bit of guys that they brought in out
Speaker 9: of the transfer portal and things like that. So I
Speaker 9: think Will finally got the type of players for the
Speaker 9: type of team that he likes to have at Southern Minsfield.
Speaker 9: They'll play aggressively if you're on defense, they'll do a
Speaker 9: lot of different things offensively all start quarterback or quarterback
Speaker 9: is tat Rodymaker, who's the new guy who's transferred in
Speaker 9: from Florida State, backed up by Ethan Crawford. And so
Speaker 9: they picked up a few guys like that. So I'm
Speaker 9: excited about anxious to see how they're going to play
Speaker 9: on Saturday against the big Blue up there lessons.
Speaker 1: Mark Stubs said he thought that USM had what ten
Speaker 1: transfers and offensive lowers at the total ten.
Speaker 9: There's quite a few. I don't know honestly that I
Speaker 9: know the number there are. There are several an offense
Speaker 9: I think maybe now, Mark, he may be right, but
Speaker 9: it's I think most of them that I have noticed
Speaker 9: so far anyway had been on the offensive. But I
Speaker 9: know there's some deep bits of guys as well. But
Speaker 9: the total number, I'm not quite sure.
Speaker 1: Gotcha, Well, you know everybody has got the transfers going,
Speaker 1: except I guess for Clemson because you know, as you know,
Speaker 1: KENTUCKYO start a quarterback who came through the portal. And
Speaker 1: you and I have both been in this business for
Speaker 1: a long time, you a little bit longer than I.
Speaker 1: But uh, it has changed so radically, so drastically hasn't
Speaker 1: it John not necessarily for the better. I know a
Speaker 1: lot of kids are benefiting, but there are going to
Speaker 1: be some kids who are left out of the picture
Speaker 1: thanks to all these transfers. But it's kind of hard
Speaker 1: to keep up, isn't it.
Speaker 6: It really is? Uh.
Speaker 9: You know, you know when you do what we do,
Speaker 9: you know, you used to could get used to that
Speaker 9: roster and it wouldn't change very much over a three
Speaker 9: or four year period. You don't have to learn about,
Speaker 9: you know, half a dozen new players, maybe a dozen
Speaker 9: new players. Now you've got to sit down and you know,
Speaker 9: virtually the whole roster has changed. And there are I said,
Speaker 9: a lot of guys that come in and stay around
Speaker 9: for a few years. But you know, there's a lot
Speaker 9: of guys that come in and play one year and
Speaker 9: move on, or two years and move on. So it's
Speaker 9: changed the game. It's changed things for the for the
Speaker 9: play by play guys and their preparation and things like that.
Speaker 9: I maybe even for the fans. You know, the fans
Speaker 9: have to kind of renew their knowledge of me to
Speaker 9: root for and which players to look for and things
Speaker 9: like that. So but that's the way it is. And
Speaker 9: I see it a lot in basketball. I see it
Speaker 9: in baseball, and you know, and and Southern missus right
Speaker 9: and over everybody else bringing guys from all over the country,
Speaker 9: all over the world for that matter, when it comes
Speaker 9: to basketball and sports like that.
Speaker 1: I'm talking to John Cox, radio voice of Southern miss
Speaker 1: And by the way, UK fans, I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's on YouTube or somewhere, John, but it might make
Speaker 1: them feel good to go back to your nineteen eighty
Speaker 1: nine call of the miraculous touchdown throw by Brett Favre
Speaker 1: to beat Louisville. That had to be one of your
Speaker 1: favorite memories.
Speaker 9: Yeah, that's uh, that's one. You know, Brett, Brett and
Speaker 9: I talk about that. Brett leaves here in town, so
Speaker 9: occasionally we was sitting down and Chatt and you know
Speaker 9: he that was just the first of many miraculous things
Speaker 9: he did to help the Golden Eagles win games and
Speaker 9: go on to do that in the Packers and the
Speaker 9: the NFL. But yeah, that was in the old stadium there, Yeah,
Speaker 9: in Louisville, and you know that was and late in
Speaker 9: the game and he rolls out to throw. You knew
Speaker 9: it was going to be the final pluck of the
Speaker 9: ball game, and he rolls out to his right and
Speaker 9: big Ted Washington, a big defensive line guy for Louisville,
Speaker 9: almost hands him down and Brett somehow throws it as
Speaker 9: far as he can down the field, and I think
Speaker 9: the Cardinals got a piece of it, and Darryll till
Speaker 9: We caught it. The Eagles and the two Louisville guys
Speaker 9: kind of fell down and Kilman rand in the end
Speaker 9: zone for a touchdown. So just one of many miraculous
Speaker 9: plays and reckless wins for Brett Park in his career,
Speaker 9: not only Southern Miss but up in Green Bank.
Speaker 1: We'll talk more with John Cox on the other side
Speaker 1: of the break here on the Big Blue and Sider
Speaker 1: on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking with John
Speaker 1: Coxy is the radio voice of the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles.
Speaker 1: Of course, they'll play the Wildcats tomorrow night at Kroger Field.
Speaker 1: It's a team that is coming in just like Kentucky,
Speaker 1: with a lot of new faces and a lot of
Speaker 1: question marks. But as we've talked all week and really
Speaker 1: all summer, or Kentucky fans have seen Southern Miss come
Speaker 1: in here and win. They've seen the Wildcasts go down
Speaker 1: to Hattiesburg and pull up a win. And John Cox
Speaker 1: has been there for all of it. And John, as
Speaker 1: we mentioned, you have been just a fixture in that
Speaker 1: radio booth. A kid from Middletown, Ohio ends up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
Speaker 1: He went to school there, right.
Speaker 10: I did.
Speaker 6: I did.
Speaker 9: I'll say how I found out about it. I was
Speaker 9: like every other kid, every other kid. I played Middletown
Speaker 9: High School, which is halfway between Cincinnati end date and home.
Speaker 9: And Jerry Lucas books, Carter, Chris Carter, guys like that,
Speaker 9: and so you know, looking for playing a book, although
Speaker 9: I didn't play a whole lot, and I was looking
Speaker 9: through a street in Smith's College. A basketball yearbook in
Speaker 9: Southern miss the year before I came down had gone
Speaker 9: to twenty four in basketball, and the coach Deep Clark,
Speaker 9: who's from Ashland, Kentucky, had played at Boyd County and
Speaker 9: maybe coach there for a while, was quoted as saying,
Speaker 9: we're going to be quicker next year, even at me
Speaker 9: fat sacrificing heights and I'm five a. I thought that
Speaker 9: sounds good, and I wrote him a letter. They wrote
Speaker 9: me back, said if you want to try out. We
Speaker 9: can't promise anything. I came down here almost sight unseen,
Speaker 9: play a little bit of JV basketball, got into the
Speaker 9: bing in the things, and have never left so basketball
Speaker 9: and brought me to Southern miss Fact today, what is it.
Speaker 1: About that university that is just grabbed me. I mean,
Speaker 1: you've got a great job, obviously, but you could have
Speaker 1: pursued other broadcasting positions. But there are so many people
Speaker 1: move in our business, like, you know, no mads, But
Speaker 1: why have you stayed put for so long?
Speaker 9: Well, you know, the guys I listened to growing up
Speaker 9: were guys that I had. Martin Warren Johnson was a
Speaker 9: guy in Middletown who did Middletown High School games and
Speaker 9: Miami of Ohio for years and years. The guys I
Speaker 9: listened to, Van Vance was one of those, yeah too,
Speaker 9: in Louisville. You know, Van was there, you know forever.
Speaker 9: Kwood led at Kentucky, you know, have stayed at you
Speaker 9: know forever. And those were the guys that I listened to.
Speaker 9: And you know, those are guys that I admired and
Speaker 9: I liked the fact that they stayed somewhere and became
Speaker 9: kind of ingrained with the programs got ingrained with the
Speaker 9: with the cities and the schools and things like that,
Speaker 9: and I just thought, that's the way it's supposed to be.
Speaker 9: You know, growing up too, I've listened to on a
Speaker 9: little white zena transistor radio to Harry Carry and Jack Buddy,
Speaker 9: the Cartnill game, you know, for so long lived outside
Speaker 9: of Cincinnati, where they had guys like Marty Brennaman, Joe
Speaker 9: Knuck saw guys like that, You didn't. I just thought,
Speaker 9: that's the way it's supposed to be. Find a place
Speaker 9: that gives you a chance to make your dreams come true,
Speaker 9: do what you want to do, and stay there and
Speaker 9: try to give back to those programs. And so that's
Speaker 9: not the total of the reasons I stayed at Southern Miss,
Speaker 9: but it's a part of the big reason that they
Speaker 9: gave me a chance to do what I always wanted
Speaker 9: to do. And so I love being here and love
Speaker 9: the people, love the programs.
Speaker 1: We've talked about some of the big wins and the
Speaker 1: high profile players who are there, and I always wonder,
Speaker 1: and I firmly believe John that the kids who are
Speaker 1: at Center Miss, and not just the transfers, but kids
Speaker 1: who signed they're either been overlooked as you and I
Speaker 1: have talked about, or they want to show that, hey,
Speaker 1: I can play right up against these sec kids. Have
Speaker 1: you found out to be the case through the years
Speaker 1: that kids want to prove themselves against these so called
Speaker 1: big name teams.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I think so, you know, especially especially when they
Speaker 9: uh you know, back and they don't they don't play
Speaker 9: as much anymore. But ol Miss Mississippi State, uh and
Speaker 9: teams like that that are close by the state or
Speaker 9: close by that you know, probably grew up some kind
Speaker 9: we had. We had great success over the years getting
Speaker 9: kids out of the Birmingham and down around Tuscaloosa and
Speaker 9: parts of Alabama and in Louisiana. And they were all
Speaker 9: kids that, uh for the most part, you know, that
Speaker 9: wanted to go to the school close to them, but
Speaker 9: they didn't. And Southern Miss has always been able to
Speaker 9: find those guys like that, and uh so I would
Speaker 9: I would say some of the better players we've ever
Speaker 9: had that Southern is if you went up and down
Speaker 9: the line, our Hall of Fame and guys like that,
Speaker 9: for the most part, we all guys who you know,
Speaker 9: were not recruited like they hoped that they would be.
Speaker 9: And the Southern Myths has always been smart enough to
Speaker 9: kind of find those guys, those diamonds in the rough,
Speaker 9: and yep, you know, they've made quite a history of
Speaker 9: finding players that here's the great guys, the Brett Fares
Speaker 9: and you know, guys like that.
Speaker 1: And I saw in your resume that you obviously you
Speaker 1: cover and you call Southern miss baseball, which included a
Speaker 1: run to the World Series fifteen years ago. Of course,
Speaker 1: Kentucky made its first run this year. There's nothing like Omaha,
Speaker 1: is there?
Speaker 6: Unbelievable?
Speaker 9: You know that Southern Myss team that went for the
Speaker 9: first time. The star player on that team was Brian Doser,
Speaker 9: who went on to play I don't know it half
Speaker 9: a dozen years or so in in Major League Baseball.
Speaker 9: And Brian got hurt about the middle of April, and
Speaker 9: everybody said the season's over. Yeah, no way we're going
Speaker 9: to do anything. But after that they went on and
Speaker 9: in one something like twenty one to the next twenty
Speaker 9: five and you know, won the regional and Georgia Tech
Speaker 9: won the Superregional with Florida, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 9: you're in Omaha Rosenblant Stadium in the College World Series,
Speaker 9: and man, what a thrill for the players, But what
Speaker 9: a thrill for the old play by play guy who
Speaker 9: got a chance to go in there and calls a
Speaker 9: couple of ballgames. You know, we came close again a
Speaker 9: couple of years ago, got beat by Tennessee in the
Speaker 9: super Regional here in Hattiesburg. Yep, you know, so their heart.
Speaker 9: It's hard to get to that World Series at college
Speaker 9: World Series, and when you do, and you love every
Speaker 9: minute of it.
Speaker 1: I watched that super Regional, John, I really thought you
Speaker 1: guys were going to get there, but Tennessee was building
Speaker 1: something special, which of course culminated this year with the championship.
Speaker 1: A couple of minutes left with John Cox, the radio
Speaker 1: voice of the Southern miss Golden Eagles other than the
Speaker 1: transfer Rock Vander Grip, the quarterback. I know you're still
Speaker 1: doing research and prepping, But what do you know about Kentucky.
Speaker 1: What do you expect?
Speaker 9: Well, I think in talking to our coaches, they expect
Speaker 9: at this Southern itskin, you know, run into a really
Speaker 9: good Kentucky fall club. I think, like everybody does. You know,
Speaker 9: they've added some guys to the program. Looks to me
Speaker 9: like they recruited really really well. They've found some really
Speaker 9: good players and a lot of talent on both sides
Speaker 9: of the football. So I know, at least I know
Speaker 9: that the Southern miss is going to run into a
Speaker 9: really really good Kentucky ball club. It's gonna be a
Speaker 9: great atmosphere there in the stadium. You know, I've enjoyed
Speaker 9: the two times I've been there. It's always a lot
Speaker 9: of fun.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 9: So I think it's gonna be a great football game.
Speaker 9: I think it's touch Southern miss will play really really well.
Speaker 9: But there's a lot of new parts of this ball club,
Speaker 9: and you just don't know until you get in there
Speaker 9: and turn the lights on and get the crowd going
Speaker 9: to see how those young guys and those new guys
Speaker 9: are going to perform in the Black and Gold. So
Speaker 9: I hope it's a good one. I think it'll be
Speaker 9: a good ball game. So we'll just see what happens
Speaker 9: on Saturday night. I know I'm looking forward to and
Speaker 9: I can't wait to pop on the plane and get
Speaker 9: up there.
Speaker 1: Well with all your deep Kentucky root, so you're gonna
Speaker 1: have many or any relatives of the game, Uh, you know.
Speaker 9: I think there's I think there's a handful of my
Speaker 9: cousins up there in Lexington that have season tickets. And
Speaker 9: you know, I don't know one of my cousins up
Speaker 9: there that or cousins first cousins that have not gone
Speaker 9: to the UK. I mean that was the place. I
Speaker 9: mean they grew up in Lexington. They all went to
Speaker 9: UK and they have worked at UK. Like I said,
Speaker 9: my sister talked there for a long long time, so
Speaker 9: I'm sure. I'm sure in the back of their minds
Speaker 9: they may hope their old cousin Johnny has a his
Speaker 9: team gets a touchdown or two, but they'll be rooting
Speaker 9: for the Wildcats. I can promise you.
Speaker 1: That, John. Thank you so much for your time, safe travels,
Speaker 1: looking forward to meeting you.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I can't wait to see you on Saturday. Thank
Speaker 9: you for having me on and look forward to being
Speaker 9: there and thanks again for the visits.
Speaker 1: Up next Jeff Drummond of Cats Illustrated, we will talk
Speaker 1: in Chucky Football with Jay drum Or to come on
Speaker 1: The Big Moonsider here on six thirty wlap. Welcome back
Speaker 1: to the Big Bluin Sider. Joining us now as a
Speaker 1: longtime friend of the show, mister Jeff Drummond of Cats Illustrated,
Speaker 1: who's covered UK sports for quite some time for a
Speaker 1: number of different agencies and a terrific photographer. Jay Drumm,
Speaker 1: you covered Kentucky football for quite some time. I find
Speaker 1: this the walk up to this season really interesting, kind
Speaker 1: of unique, you know what I mean, just because coming
Speaker 1: off back to back seven wins seasons that were deemed disappointing,
Speaker 1: We've never covered a situation like this, have we, No it, it.
Speaker 6: Is rather unique for Kentucky to be in this position.
Speaker 6: I've maintained for quite some time that that's something that
Speaker 6: Mark Snookes should feel really good about. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 6: nobody in the history of this program, at least modern history,
Speaker 6: has been able to elevate expectations to the point where
Speaker 6: where fans not only want, you know, more, but expected. Now.
Speaker 6: It used to be kind of, oh, I wish someday
Speaker 6: these guys could win nine or ten games. Well they've
Speaker 6: seen it twice in the last five years, and they
Speaker 6: know it's possible. So yeah, people, people are excited to
Speaker 6: see if they can get back to that this season.
Speaker 1: And you know what else is kind of an unspoken
Speaker 1: at least with regard to press conferences and things like that.
Speaker 1: Element to this story is the fact that Stoops was
Speaker 1: almost out of here last season, going A and M
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, he spoke to it at media
Speaker 1: Days in Dallas, but and that's really been the end
Speaker 1: of it. But I think you couldn't blame Kentucky fans
Speaker 1: for wondering about that too. I don't know about you.
Speaker 1: I wasn't surprised since he's done the job you just described.
Speaker 1: I was surprised someone hadn't come for him already. But
Speaker 1: it I think in the mind that some people, it
Speaker 1: still hangs over the story a little bit.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it does. I think there's that sense there with
Speaker 6: the fans that are saying, Okay, well, you know, you
Speaker 6: were almost reported me out the door to another conference team.
Speaker 6: You're coming off these couple of these seasons that didn't
Speaker 6: quite live up to ranted lofty expectations, and you're back now.
Speaker 6: So there's kind of this. There's an equal parts excitement
Speaker 6: and I think people are really into this team this season,
Speaker 6: as evidenced by the you know, season ticket sales and
Speaker 6: all the pre season yeah buzz that's going on. But
Speaker 6: there's also that a little bit of that Okay, you
Speaker 6: know you're here, you say, this is where you want
Speaker 6: to be, so let's let's go do it now.
Speaker 1: I guess we shouldn't be surprised, should we, that the
Speaker 1: season tickets sold out and the student passes and all that.
Speaker 1: But I just keep hearing cautious optimism. I guess that's
Speaker 1: no reason to not buy a season ticket. But I
Speaker 1: was a little surprised by that. Were you.
Speaker 6: Maybe a little bit coming off some of the disappointment
Speaker 6: that we heard at the end of last season. But
Speaker 6: I think that is quickly kind of turned around. When
Speaker 6: you've got the recruiting that they've done for one thing,
Speaker 6: and then the transfer portal, when you can add like
Speaker 6: a high profile guy bought Vandergriff I think that re
Speaker 6: energizes people. And you could grab a linebacker who was
Speaker 6: getting All American nominations and buzz at Georgia and put
Speaker 6: these pieces with what you've already got. I think people said,
Speaker 6: you know, I think they're onto something this year from
Speaker 6: a talent standpoint.
Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but I think the transfer
Speaker 1: of Dumas Johnson, a linebacker, was even bigger in terms
Speaker 1: of a surprise, and you know, filling a need than
Speaker 1: Brock Vandergriff, you know, and that was a good get.
Speaker 1: I mean, as you said, a former five star QB.
Speaker 1: But I did not expect a former All American linebacker
Speaker 1: to land in their laps, you know what I mean.
Speaker 6: No, I think that's a little stunning for everybody, especially
Speaker 6: coming from a program like Georgia. Yeah, you know, you
Speaker 6: could maybe see that happening if he was at a
Speaker 6: smaller school or maybe a conference that wasn't getting the
Speaker 6: type of exposure that he wanted. But this guy was
Speaker 6: playing at the you know, big team at the moment,
Speaker 6: and for the best defense in the country the last
Speaker 6: you know, probably three or four years at least, I mean,
Speaker 6: the consistency and remarkable. So yeah, that's that's a big edge.
Speaker 6: That big addition that people should probably be just as
Speaker 6: excited about that as the quarterback. But we know that
Speaker 6: the quarterback is such a vital position in the public eye.
Speaker 6: That brought Vandergriff will really be more under the microscope
Speaker 6: than than Pop will be.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, And I also think that it's because vander
Speaker 1: Griff is still a bit of a mystery because you
Speaker 1: never got a chance to play at Georgia. I think
Speaker 1: that's the number one reason that Kentucky has not been
Speaker 1: rated highly in any of the preseason Pauls.
Speaker 6: You agree, Yeah, I think everybody around the country, and
Speaker 6: even at our own media contingent here, I want to
Speaker 6: see what he can do. We really don't. We don't
Speaker 6: have enough to really say one way or any other.
Speaker 6: We we think that they have a guy that can
Speaker 6: be really good, but until he gets out there and
Speaker 6: does it, nobody can say for certain. Because you know,
Speaker 6: as we sat here, if we were talking on August
Speaker 6: twenty ninth to thirtieth, the end of August last season
Speaker 6: with Larry coming down from NC State, people were SKYI
Speaker 6: on Devin there. Yeah, and for whatever reason, And it's
Speaker 6: you know, certainly not all his fault. People didn't perform
Speaker 6: at a high level around him either, but it never materialized.
Speaker 6: So there's probably going to be potious optimism, like you
Speaker 6: said earlier in regard to Brook.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's again understandable. But I'll tell you what,
Speaker 1: given the receivers he has, given the tight ends he has,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think if that old line gives him
Speaker 1: any opportunity to execute this offense of bush ham Dan,
Speaker 1: he's got a great opportunity, does any great chance to
Speaker 1: show what he can do.
Speaker 6: Finally, Yeah, and I think that's a big part of
Speaker 6: why he's here. I think he did his homework. He
Speaker 6: saw the opportunity for somebody to step in and just
Speaker 6: surrounded by weapons, even though they're real thin at the
Speaker 6: You know, as far as having approven running back rund now,
Speaker 6: I do think they've got some talent in the backfield.
Speaker 6: But you may have three of the better receivers in
Speaker 6: the SEC out there and barry On Brown, Dat and
Speaker 6: Mary Macklin. I don't think many SEC teams are going
Speaker 6: to put three guys on the field significantly better than them.
Speaker 6: You can maybe make an argument for something.
Speaker 1: Talking to Jeff drudging to be close talking to Jeff
Speaker 1: Drummond of cat Illustrated, a veteran on the UK beat.
Speaker 1: Of course, Kentucky opening up Saturday night against Southern Myss.
Speaker 1: You like those night games when it comes to taking pictures,
Speaker 1: I know it's tougher uh on photographers for an obvious reason.
Speaker 1: That big light in the sky isn't there for the sun.
Speaker 1: But uh, you get some dramatic stuff, don't you on
Speaker 1: night games.
Speaker 6: Yeah, people, there's a misconception a little bit out there.
Speaker 6: When it comes to photography, the worst scenario for us
Speaker 6: is when it's just blazing sunshine and blinding light out there.
Speaker 6: Why cast it casts shadows, harsh shadows over faces. Okay,
Speaker 6: you can't, you can't see eyes and faces. Certain parts
Speaker 6: of the field get really polarized. You'll be shooting. A
Speaker 6: guy will come out of the shadow and into the
Speaker 6: bright sun, and it just have it on your camera
Speaker 6: meter and your fighting jumps all over the place. I
Speaker 6: absolutely hate a day like that. The best conditions are
Speaker 6: a cloudy day game where of course when it stays dry.
Speaker 6: And then second for me is a night game. I
Speaker 6: like the night game. If I've got the right equipment. Yeah,
Speaker 6: that's a big piece to it. You've got to spend
Speaker 6: the amount of money and invest in getting the type
Speaker 6: of equipment to be effective at night.
Speaker 1: Well, i've seen your lenses, brother. If you don't have
Speaker 1: the right equipment, that's on.
Speaker 5: You, right.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I've got pretty good stuff. I don't have the meat,
Speaker 6: you know. I would have to sell my car to
Speaker 6: get some of these lenses that are out here right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, some of those lenses that are as big as
Speaker 1: the person holding them, and you know, like I said,
Speaker 1: you've been doing this for a long time. Experience is
Speaker 1: so vital for people like you, guys sports photographers. And
Speaker 1: I had a guy who was a really good sports
Speaker 1: photographer tell me that he believed that the best part
Speaker 1: of a photo, a really good photo, was anticipation. It
Speaker 1: was almost like something that, as a picture would look
Speaker 1: like was about to happen, a ball that was about
Speaker 1: to arrive, or a linebacker that was about to level somebody.
Speaker 1: Do you feel the same way.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's kind of what. I take a lot of
Speaker 6: pride in that because I'm most photographers are more skilled
Speaker 6: than I am. Most of them have maybe even better equipment,
Speaker 6: more training, understanding of the light and the scientists behind it.
Speaker 6: I was trained in writing editorial journalism, I kind of did,
Speaker 6: I've always done photography of a side thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember.
Speaker 6: So I'm still learning, at fifty plus years old, every
Speaker 6: day about it. But I feel like I really stay
Speaker 6: engaged in the game and try to get into the
Speaker 6: mind of what the teams are doing out there, and
Speaker 6: it feels great when you have that hunch and you
Speaker 6: get focused on a certain area and you get that shot.
Speaker 6: That's that's my kind of superpower when it comes to
Speaker 6: the sports shot, trying to think ahead, and it kind
Speaker 6: of like a little baseball coach always taught me. Always
Speaker 6: act like every ball is going to be hit to you,
Speaker 6: so something he preached, and when it's hit.
Speaker 9: To you, what are you going to do with it?
Speaker 6: And it's the same approach when you're shooting the game
Speaker 6: and following the action.
Speaker 1: If people only knew how many pictures you all took,
Speaker 1: all of you all on the sideline to get that
Speaker 1: one or two, that really it's it's worth the effort.
Speaker 11: I know.
Speaker 1: Jeff Drummond of Catulluciated is our guest. We'll come back
Speaker 1: and talk, we'll get back to football, We'll get we'll
Speaker 1: get away photography to get back to football after the break.
Speaker 1: Here on the Big Blue Sider six thirtylap Welcome back.
Speaker 1: We're talking with Jeff Drummond of KAT Illustrated. He'll be
Speaker 1: on the sideline covering Saturday nights game with the Wildcats
Speaker 1: take on Southern Miss And we talked a little bit
Speaker 1: of offense in the and some defense in the first segment.
Speaker 1: But you know, we talked with Mark Stoops on Thursday
Speaker 1: about special teams and he talked. He went a little
Speaker 1: bit further on the punting game. It sounds like right
Speaker 1: now he believes he'll go with Barry as the punter,
Speaker 1: but he's not completely sold that he'll take every snap
Speaker 1: and make every kickback there. That's going to be an
Speaker 1: interesting element, isn't it.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it really will, and maybe as an indication of
Speaker 6: what we talked about earlier with the fans sensing that
Speaker 6: this could be a really good team. That has been
Speaker 6: the hottest topic of discussion on our message board about
Speaker 6: four or five days.
Speaker 1: No kidding, the.
Speaker 6: Punter spot on the depth chart. You know, how good
Speaker 6: must you be feeling about all the other positions if
Speaker 6: that's what the fans are kind of wringing their hands
Speaker 6: going into the season. But yeah, it is an interesting situation.
Speaker 6: Barry struggled with consistency last year and had some games
Speaker 6: where really the field position was was hurt by that inconsistency,
Speaker 6: and they went out and got another punter to create
Speaker 6: some competition. I believe this is low loss.
Speaker 7: Is that you.
Speaker 6: Understanding how you say it?
Speaker 1: I believe.
Speaker 6: I haven't quite got that down yet because we've not
Speaker 6: really heard anybody say it. Aiden la Ross, who was
Speaker 6: one of the better punters, was it u T Martin
Speaker 6: at that level? I want to say yeah, and came
Speaker 6: here was highly recommended and he has really pushed Barry
Speaker 6: And what Mark Stoops told us after one practice that
Speaker 6: you know, he hit seventy five yards when they backed
Speaker 6: him up to the goal line just to see how
Speaker 6: well he could flip the field, and he certainly did.
Speaker 6: But it sounds like he's also hitting some forty five
Speaker 6: fifty yard punts on a line drive and that will
Speaker 6: get you hurt in a hurry if those are the
Speaker 6: ones that the other team takes back to the house
Speaker 6: or gets really good field position on. So they want
Speaker 6: to see a little bit more consistency from him before
Speaker 6: you know he can take that job away from Barry.
Speaker 1: Well, at least they know they are in pretty good shape,
Speaker 1: we would think. When it comes to placekicking, though, I mean,
Speaker 1: Raider was really outstanding last year. So you know inside
Speaker 1: the forty five or so Kentucky's scoring right.
Speaker 6: You'd like to think so. I think he missed one
Speaker 6: field goal, one extra point yeah last season. Yeah, outstanding
Speaker 6: accuracy and that was a big question coming into the season.
Speaker 6: He came through for them, but similar situation to the
Speaker 6: punting job. They brought Annika to kind of create some
Speaker 6: competition are and to have a guy for the future
Speaker 6: in Jacob Alway. And here's a guy that's had three
Speaker 6: attempts from sixty plus in live situations during camp and
Speaker 6: made all three of them. So that is an incredible
Speaker 6: extra weapon to have when you're thinking in terms of
Speaker 6: close games in the SEC, tough to drive the ball,
Speaker 6: sustained drives. If you can get to the forty yard
Speaker 6: line and have a guy who's got a shot to
Speaker 6: give you points, that's that's massive. And you know, that's
Speaker 6: something that that Rainer really doesn't have. I think I
Speaker 6: think Rayner's good out to about fifty, but you get
Speaker 6: a situation where you could have a long range guy
Speaker 6: too this season.
Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting when you think about the biggest
Speaker 1: games that Mark Steupis's teams have won through the years,
Speaker 1: and several of them have been with last second field goals.
Speaker 1: And I'm thinking Austin McGinnis, I'm thinking, you know, a
Speaker 1: Mississippi State win. It was huge, as a Louisville win
Speaker 1: in sixteen, it was huge a couple others. Again, it
Speaker 1: seemed like Jeff those games, and you and I have
Speaker 1: both covered for a long time. Kentucky would lose games
Speaker 1: like that, the teams that would hit field goals at
Speaker 1: the buzzer. But that's all part of this turnaround, isn't it.
Speaker 2: It is?
Speaker 6: And going back to Austin McGinnis being the guy that
Speaker 6: seemed like the one that started that run of touch
Speaker 6: guys that could help, you know, win them a past
Speaker 6: game when you're in this league and you look at
Speaker 6: it from the standpoint of when I look at the
Speaker 6: schedule this season, I think they have four toss up
Speaker 6: games fifty to fifty and four that you would have
Speaker 6: to say on paper unlikely losses, even though Kentucky could
Speaker 6: play three or four of those clothes. The kicker is
Speaker 6: going to be huge in those eight games. It could
Speaker 6: be the difference and being above five hundred or blow five.
Speaker 1: The swing games as we call them for years and
Speaker 1: for a long time they were swinging in the way
Speaker 1: of Kentucky, but then they let them get away. And
Speaker 1: now because of the lack of divisional play, you see
Speaker 1: the switch out in the in the schedule and all.
Speaker 1: And you know, I'm kind of an outlier Jay Drummond
Speaker 1: that I did not want to see the divisions go
Speaker 1: away because I felt like that was a better shot
Speaker 1: for Kentucky to get to Atlanta. And I've covered that
Speaker 1: event for fifteen years when I was with the SEC
Speaker 1: Radio network. I so want Kentucky fans and media to
Speaker 1: have the opportunity to cover that event. It's it's just incredible.
Speaker 1: It's unlike any other in college football, at the exception
Speaker 1: of the National Championship Game. And now, I don't know
Speaker 1: about you, but I just think it's going to be
Speaker 1: it's going to be easier to get to the college
Speaker 1: football Playoff than it is to get to Atlanta, don't
Speaker 1: you think.
Speaker 6: I mean, I can't see any other way around that
Speaker 6: at this point, I think that window of getting to
Speaker 6: Atlanta that way probably closed, barring just an incredible, once
Speaker 6: in a generation, once in a lifetime maybe type season
Speaker 6: at Kentucky. But you can re am listen the pigue
Speaker 6: book at a twelve team playoff field and it's I'm
Speaker 6: sure that's going to sixteen before we know it. Oh yeah,
Speaker 6: they're in business then, because Mark Suits had several teams
Speaker 6: on the cusp of you know, a twelve to sixteen
Speaker 6: range team and then you know, maybe they can parbay
Speaker 6: that into even better recruiting than they've already done, take
Speaker 6: it to a whole new level.
Speaker 1: Well, I'll let you go with this. I've asked a
Speaker 1: lot of people about, you know, predictions and storylines to follow,
Speaker 1: but let me ask you this. I'll put it to
Speaker 1: you this way. Let's say Kentucky's offensive line takes another
Speaker 1: impressive step forward. I thought it moved up last year,
Speaker 1: but let's say it takes another. I won't say I
Speaker 1: won't put it on a part of the twenty eighteen
Speaker 1: line that put five guys in NFL camps, but let's
Speaker 1: say it takes another impressive step forward. What do you
Speaker 1: think this team can accomplish if they do that.
Speaker 6: It brought vandergriff Is who we think he is, and
Speaker 6: there's no reason to think otherwise, based on his pedigree
Speaker 6: and what we saw in extremely limited action between Georgia
Speaker 6: and then the Spring game. I think the sky's the limit.
Speaker 6: There's so many weapons over there on offense, and you
Speaker 6: may have the best defensive unit that they've had since
Speaker 6: that twenty eighteen bucks as well. And if those guys
Speaker 6: keep opponents the low scoring figures, there's not going to
Speaker 6: be as much pressure on them, you know, to light
Speaker 6: up the scoreboard and think they're going to have to
Speaker 6: put thirty something on every game. I think twenty seven
Speaker 6: twenty eight points probably wins this team a ton of games.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and as you mentioned, the kicking game cost Kentucky
Speaker 1: a little bit of times last year. Well, if the
Speaker 1: kicking game is healthy field position, now Kentucky's putting the
Speaker 1: pressure on the other team for much of the game,
Speaker 1: owning momentum owting field position, just as we saw back
Speaker 1: in twenty eighteen when Kentucky had probably Mark Stuuke's best
Speaker 1: ball club. Whatever happens, Jeff Drummond's going to be there
Speaker 1: taking pictures tomorrow evening and we will enjoy his work
Speaker 1: at Cats Illustrated. Tell everybody how to find you on
Speaker 1: Twitter as well. J drum.
Speaker 6: You can find me at j J drum Uk.
Speaker 9: There it is.
Speaker 1: Thank you, brother. We'll see you at the ballgame, all right,
Speaker 1: We'll see you up next. We will recap game week
Speaker 1: here on the Big Blue Insider. It's been a big one.
Speaker 1: Six thirty wlap.
Speaker 6: That was the.
Speaker 12: Weekkaw over, let it go, that was the week. It's
Speaker 12: not it way up flock but he's playing there all.
Speaker 1: It was indeed a busy week here on the Big
Speaker 1: Blue Inside here as we prepped for Kentucky football. We
Speaker 1: covered Kentucky volleyball, lots of stuff going on nationally, but
Speaker 1: one of the first interviews we did this week was
Speaker 1: with our new member of the UK Radio Network squad,
Speaker 1: Logan Stenberg, the former Kentucky All American offensive linemen. He'll
Speaker 1: be joining Christy Thomas and Jeremy Jarman on the pregame Show.
Speaker 1: You'll hear him tomorrow afternoon, starting at five point thirty.
Speaker 1: And my first question to Logan this week on our
Speaker 1: show was what do you hope to bring to the
Speaker 1: pregame show.
Speaker 13: I'd hope to bring a little off of line and insight,
Speaker 13: kind of break down the offense, you know, to simple
Speaker 13: terms where people can understand what the main goal is.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 13: I just want to make it fun and accessible for everybody.
Speaker 1: This is a great time for you to be joining
Speaker 1: because there is a big question mark hanging over the
Speaker 1: offensive line. Isn't there Not in a bad way because
Speaker 1: I thought they took a step forward last year, but
Speaker 1: there there's going to be a lot to.
Speaker 13: Look at, Isn't there I agree, and I think that
Speaker 13: we've got a lot of young guys backing up some veterans.
Speaker 13: I think it all starts with el like Hawks up
Speaker 13: front at center. I mean, I think if he is
Speaker 13: a good year, the offensive line will have a good year.
Speaker 13: I think we're booke ended pretty well at left and
Speaker 13: right tackle. I'm just excited to see what those boys
Speaker 13: can put together this year.
Speaker 1: And it is a great time for Logan to join
Speaker 1: us because there are question marks about this offensive line,
Speaker 1: so he'll be able to keep us educated. Not that
Speaker 1: Jeremy couldn't, but of course Jeremy's knowledge of offensive lineman
Speaker 1: comes from years and years of studying video on how
Speaker 1: to attack offensive lineman and of course Logan on the
Speaker 1: other side of the football, so we will all gain
Speaker 1: some knowledge from him starting tomorrow night. Naturally, we're hear
Speaker 1: from head coach Mark Stoops. He talked about how vital
Speaker 1: it is to at this stage of the preseason to
Speaker 1: work on the little things, to keep things cleaned up,
Speaker 1: to work on continuity on and off the field.
Speaker 10: We've really tried to head off all those issues. You know,
Speaker 10: if we you know, running the problems. We do have
Speaker 10: timeouts for a reason. Obviously, we want to save them
Speaker 10: for two minute situations at the end of the half
Speaker 10: in the games, if you should you need them. But
Speaker 10: also we want to make sure we don't waste place.
Speaker 10: We have worked the communication, the new communication, you know,
Speaker 10: over and over again, all the way from spring, all
Speaker 10: the way through camp. We've practiced it. We've practiced live
Speaker 10: in the stadium, you know. We we try to anticipate
Speaker 10: those things and head them off before they happen. You know,
Speaker 10: nothing you know is ever perfect. We're going to strive
Speaker 10: to be. But you know, we will say, you know,
Speaker 10: we're we're going to go out there with a confidence
Speaker 10: that we are going to be able to operate smoothly.
Speaker 1: Of course, bush Hamden is a new offensive coordinator, and
Speaker 1: they have had him since early in the year, so
Speaker 1: the Wildcats have been able to master or at least
Speaker 1: work on mastering, the new verbiage, the new language that
Speaker 1: he brings with his offense, the way he does things.
Speaker 1: And of course you've got now more of an uptemple offense.
Speaker 1: You've got the radio receiver and the helmet, You've got
Speaker 1: a new way to bring in plays. So there are
Speaker 1: a lot of details to take care of. And Stoops
Speaker 1: said things were going well and he likes what bush
Speaker 1: Hamden has brought. He also likes the fact that Hamden's
Speaker 1: going to be up in the booth keeping an eye
Speaker 1: on things as he calls plays.
Speaker 10: I love the way he operates. I like the way
Speaker 10: he thinks. I like the way he anticipates his calls.
Speaker 10: He is in the box so he could write down
Speaker 10: his oats and have his thoughts and his ideas handy
Speaker 10: and at his fingertips. I think it also helps with
Speaker 10: the communication to be able to see the defense, see
Speaker 10: the big pitcher, and possibly adjust at times as well.
Speaker 1: Speaking of offense, we also heard earlier in the week
Speaker 1: from Jamuri Macklin. He's the wide receiver who began his
Speaker 1: career at Missouri, didn't like how things were going, transferred
Speaker 1: to North Texas State where he did extremely well, and
Speaker 1: now he will probably be the number three receiver in
Speaker 1: this Kentucky offense lining up in the slot. The advantage
Speaker 1: he has is that while everybody on the UK offense
Speaker 1: is learning this new offense, Macklin's already been exposed to
Speaker 1: it because when he was at Missou, so was Bush Hampdon.
Speaker 1: So he's able to pitch in and really help other
Speaker 1: guys with the new offense.
Speaker 10: Well, everybody's on the fresh slate man, and I kind
Speaker 10: of came from this type offense.
Speaker 4: I've you know, played with Bush my first year of
Speaker 4: the Malus everything that I know he expects, like already
Speaker 4: know what it is.
Speaker 2: So I'm just trying to help those guys out.
Speaker 1: And you know, we all started fresh. That's Jamury Macklin.
Speaker 1: And I remember a couple of years ago, Tavion Robinson,
Speaker 1: who didn't have the career he hoped he would have
Speaker 1: a Kentucky did some good things, but especially did good
Speaker 1: things on his very first game as a Wildcat. So
Speaker 1: maybe Jamury Macklin will have a similar effort coming up
Speaker 1: tomorrow night. Earlier this week, we talked a lot of
Speaker 1: volleyball as the Wildcats opened their regular season with Nebraska
Speaker 1: at the AVCA event over in Louisville's Young Center. Of course,
Speaker 1: the Wildcats dropped at three to one, they took a
Speaker 1: set off Nebraska. That's nothing to sneeze at, and after
Speaker 1: the match, Craig Skinner talked about some of the things
Speaker 1: his team took away from the loss to the corn
Speaker 1: Husker in their season opener.
Speaker 14: We've always scheduled tough. It wasn't in the initial plan
Speaker 14: to play Nebraska or off the bat in the first
Speaker 14: ear showcase, but when Jamie offered, I was like absolutely.
Speaker 14: You know, our players love these situations, and you know
Speaker 14: we're going to be a team that's going to be
Speaker 14: continued learning through November.
Speaker 1: So his great, great match for us in that regard.
Speaker 1: It was a doubleheader over there in Louisville. U of
Speaker 1: L played Wisconsin and was beaten by the Badgers in
Speaker 1: game number two. But the real winner I thought it
Speaker 1: was volleyball was the sport. It was women's volleyball. Because
Speaker 1: this was on ESPN two. It was a nine o'clock
Speaker 1: start for the local game, the U of L game.
Speaker 1: But I'll tell you what that place was had a
Speaker 1: bigger crowd than I thought it was. It wasn't full,
Speaker 1: but it was a great crowd, a great atmosphere. It
Speaker 1: felt like an NCAA tournament, and why not because Louisville
Speaker 1: is the site of the Final four this year for volleyball.
Speaker 1: One of the great things was a number of kids,
Speaker 1: especially the young girls, who were there watching the young
Speaker 1: women play volleyball and thinking, hey, maybe I can do
Speaker 1: that someday. And John Cook, the great coach at Nebraska,
Speaker 1: was impressed with what he saw.
Speaker 11: I'm glad those kids are out there because i know
Speaker 11: it's Tuesday night and school's in so so, but.
Speaker 1: You know, the AVCA is in.
Speaker 11: Jamie's doing a great job of trying to build events
Speaker 11: to continue to build on the momentum that I think
Speaker 11: really started with the Stadium match last year, and then
Speaker 11: the Final Four, and it's and then in the Big
Speaker 11: Ten Conference. I mean almost every arena is selling out
Speaker 11: and it's hard to get tickets. I think I've read
Speaker 11: we have seven thousand people on the waiting list. So
Speaker 11: it's happening. And volleyball is a great sport and there's
Speaker 11: a lot of great players that are great role models
Speaker 11: for these kids as well.
Speaker 1: And as one of the UK players said, we get
Speaker 1: a chance to put to work what we learned against
Speaker 1: Nebraska this coming weekend in the Bluegrass Battle, which of
Speaker 1: course is already underway over at the new and improved
Speaker 1: Memorial Coliseum. Earlier this week, we talked with Corey Price.
Speaker 1: He is our statistician on the UK radio network for
Speaker 1: football and a guy who tweets and posts all the time,
Speaker 1: obscure facts, numbers, interesting tidbits. He just a numbers cruncher,
Speaker 1: a guy who loves working with stats and numbers. And
Speaker 1: I asked him, how did all this begin with you?
Speaker 11: I'm glad to those kids are out there because I
Speaker 11: know it's Tuesday night and school's in so so, but
Speaker 11: you know, the AVCA is and Jamie's doing a great
Speaker 11: job of trying to build events to continue to build
Speaker 11: on the momentum that I think really started with the
Speaker 11: stadium match last year, and then the Final four, and
Speaker 11: it's and then in the Big Ten Conference, I mean,
Speaker 11: almost every arena is selling out and it's hard to
Speaker 11: get tickets. I think I've read we have seven thousand
Speaker 11: people on the waiting list. So it's it's happening. And
Speaker 11: volleyball is a great sport and there's a lot of
Speaker 11: great players that are great role models for these kids
Speaker 11: as well.
Speaker 1: Corey is also known for putting out birthday greetings on
Speaker 1: social media to people in sports media, and somehow he
Speaker 1: digs out photos of us from way way back when
Speaker 1: nobody is safe from that, but we do appreciate Corey.
Speaker 1: Sean Woods, the Unforgettable Guard, joined us as he does
Speaker 1: every week. We talked about Kentucky's basketball skin, some of
Speaker 1: the non conference games that guarantee games. He had to
Speaker 1: play a lot of those when he was coaching at
Speaker 1: Mississippi Valley and at Morehead State and at Southern But
Speaker 1: he also talked about the schedule that the Wildcats played
Speaker 1: when he was on the roster, and he remembers the
Speaker 1: fact that Kentucky played what he believed to be an
Speaker 1: indornent number of neutral site games against big name opponents,
Speaker 1: and he never really liked that. He wanted the home
Speaker 1: and homes. Didn't mind going on the road to the
Speaker 1: more powerful teams, but he wanted them to come to Lexington.
Speaker 7: Well, you gotta remember now, no one wanted to come
Speaker 7: in the rut, right, you know. That's the only thing
Speaker 7: I questioned was why we had to go to Why
Speaker 7: do we have to go to all these places and
Speaker 7: play them? We played Carolina in the Dean Dome, but
Speaker 7: then we had to play Carolina in Freedom Hall. You know,
Speaker 7: we played Indiana in Assembly Hall, but then we had
Speaker 7: to play them in either Louisville or Neutrals Tite like
Speaker 7: the Hoosier, don't Yeah, you know, so really wasn't fair,
Speaker 7: And I understood coach at that particular time, like, you
Speaker 7: know who's doing these deals, you know who's scheduling this
Speaker 7: to where.
Speaker 13: We have to play at their home site.
Speaker 7: But then they don't want to come playing rough. And
Speaker 7: I heard grumblings that, you know, Bob Knight never liked
Speaker 7: to come playing rough, so on and so forth, But
Speaker 7: we came and played in the assembly hall. Yep, you know,
Speaker 7: I just didn't buy that. But nowadays, these Power five
Speaker 7: schools are playing in classics because of money.
Speaker 1: And those indeed are made for TV events and the
Speaker 1: coaches like to use them for recruiting. But John Caliperi
Speaker 1: didn't like home and homes because of course there's a
Speaker 1: chance you're going to lose. And Sean and I talked
Speaker 1: about the fact that Kentucky stopped playing Indiana. After the
Speaker 1: Wildcats lost in Bloomington up in twenty twelve, they stormed
Speaker 1: the court. Cali Peri said he didn't like that and
Speaker 1: made it sound like that's why he didn't want to
Speaker 1: go up there anymore. But those players on that team
Speaker 1: told us that that law us. And of course they
Speaker 1: kept seeing the promotional video from ESPN with the game
Speaker 1: winning shot by Indiana, so that motivated them to win
Speaker 1: the national championship. I'm like Sean, I really love those
Speaker 1: home and homes and I wouldn't have held it against
Speaker 1: any coach anywhere if they played tough home and homes
Speaker 1: if they lost the away game. But that's not how
Speaker 1: it works in the Big Blue Nation. I know that,
Speaker 1: And of course this week we heard it from our
Speaker 1: West MBUA chief, Gary Mory. Chicks in every Wednesday when
Speaker 1: our schedules permit, and they usually do, and Gary took
Speaker 1: a look at the schedules for both UK and u
Speaker 1: of L tried to figure out what was going to
Speaker 1: happen this season and make some sort of prognostication. I
Speaker 1: did too, and here's what that sounded like.
Speaker 15: And if you were to ask me how I think
Speaker 15: the Cards and the Cats will do this season, I
Speaker 15: will quote a line from the uber eloquent Schultz from
Speaker 15: Hogan's Heroes.
Speaker 1: I know nothing. Yeah, thank you for not asking.
Speaker 15: I mean, last year, did I think UK would have
Speaker 15: their second seven and six season in a row?
Speaker 6: Nope?
Speaker 15: And did I think that UFL would be ten and
Speaker 15: one going into the Kentucky game, double Nope? But is
Speaker 15: Bill Parcells once worn. Comparing this year to last year
Speaker 15: in football is a fools game.
Speaker 1: Hey, just ask Florida State, right.
Speaker 15: Well, I predict Louisville will be about seven and four,
Speaker 15: possibly eight and three when they come to Lexington November thirtieth,
Speaker 15: and I'm thinking UK. I was going down the list
Speaker 15: last night. Who knows six and five? Maybe seven four
Speaker 15: as well.
Speaker 1: I've got them potentially eight. I don't know if they
Speaker 1: can get the nine, but they can't. Kentucky just can't
Speaker 1: stumble through games it's supposed to win, which is what
Speaker 1: happened two or three times last year. I'll stand by
Speaker 1: eight and four. That is what I said to John
Speaker 1: Hale of the hero Leader, who was publishing the picks
Speaker 1: and predictions by the media. I said eight and four.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure which is which yet, but I'll share
Speaker 1: that with you probably next week. Day tuned, We're gonna
Speaker 1: rep thing up with Heroes, fools and Flakes on The
Speaker 1: Big Moonsider six thirty WLAP. That was the week.
Speaker 12: Let it go, that was the week.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider as we wrap
Speaker 1: up Game week with Heroes, fools and Flakes and our
Speaker 1: hero Tonight takes US back to Paris side of this
Speaker 1: summer's Olympics and now the site of the Para Olympic Games,
Speaker 1: where we find Sarah Adams competing in wheelchair rugby. But
Speaker 1: here's the unusual thing. She is playing for the men's team.
Speaker 1: That's right, men and women play rugby together in the
Speaker 1: Para Olympics. And last night in the US versus Canada match,
Speaker 1: she scored a try, which is essentially the same as
Speaker 1: a touchdown. It's were three points in rugby. But she
Speaker 1: became the first woman to compete with the American Para
Speaker 1: Olympics rugby team, and of course became the first woman
Speaker 1: to score a try with the US team. So Sarah
Speaker 1: Adams a real trailblazer. And as you might expect wheelchair rugby,
Speaker 1: you've seen rugby. In fact, a lot of people got
Speaker 1: their first look at it this summer because of the
Speaker 1: great way that the US team a meddled. But they
Speaker 1: call Para Olympics rugby murder ball because rugby or non
Speaker 1: disable athletes is tough enough imagine a similar sport in wheelchairs.
Speaker 1: But the US won fifty one to forty eight. So
Speaker 1: her try, basically you could look at it as the
Speaker 1: difference in the victory, but Sarah Adams becomes the first
Speaker 1: woman to play on the US wheelchair rugby team in Paris.
Speaker 1: That's where we're going to stay for our fool tonight.
Speaker 1: And our fool is unnamed, but it's anybody who decided
Speaker 1: they had to go online and bully. American Paralympic swimmer
Speaker 1: Christy Rawley. She set a world record in her Paralympics
Speaker 1: debut yesterday, competing in the fifty meter freestyle of preliminary
Speaker 1: hate And she's thirty seven years old and wanted to
Speaker 1: be an Olympian all her life. Finally got a chance to,
Speaker 1: but only after surviving a car accident which left her
Speaker 1: with a brain injury. And there are people who, of
Speaker 1: course look at her and do not see a disability,
Speaker 1: but she certainly does have one. She said, people think
Speaker 1: I was a cheater. Then I somehow fake the hole
Speaker 1: in my brain and the cyst in my spinal cord.
Speaker 1: She had to have a tumor removed from her brain
Speaker 1: and this qualifies her for the Paralympics because athletes are
Speaker 1: classified in three categories, physical, visual, and intellectual. She has
Speaker 1: a neurological condition classified as S nine and competes against
Speaker 1: other swimmers with similar impairments. So you morons who looked
Speaker 1: at her and didn't see that she was missing a limb,
Speaker 1: didn't see that she was site impaired, or whatever decided
Speaker 1: she was a cheater. She survived a brain injury from
Speaker 1: a crash back in twenty seven and in twenty eighteen
Speaker 1: was paralyzed on her left side because of bleeding in
Speaker 1: a previously unknown blood tumor in her brain. So that
Speaker 1: is why she is on the Paralympics team, and that
Speaker 1: is why she deserved her world record. Christy Rawley, Crossley,
Speaker 1: you idiots need to leave her alone. Our flake tonight
Speaker 1: is Johnny Manzel. That's right, Johnny Football. Not that we're
Speaker 1: picking on him at all, but you just remember him
Speaker 1: as the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy, put
Speaker 1: up incredible numbers at Texas A and M, and then
Speaker 1: left early for the NFL, where he was a complete
Speaker 1: flame out. He's still third all time in passing yards
Speaker 1: at A and M, was more than seventy eight hundreds
Speaker 1: passing touchdown sixty three, started twenty six games over two
Speaker 1: seasons before going to the NFL, where he just completely
Speaker 1: bombed out and if you saw the documentary on him,
Speaker 1: you saw him admit, he never looked at video or
Speaker 1: as they call it, film. But he will be the
Speaker 1: guest picker on ESPN's College Game Day show. They're going
Speaker 1: to be of course, at the Notre Dame Texas A
Speaker 1: and M game, but Johnny Manziel, him being there on
Speaker 1: set just kind of reminds you of what it was
Speaker 1: like when he was Johnny Football, creating something out of
Speaker 1: nothing on his way to the Heisman Trophy. But after
Speaker 1: he left, the head coach Kevin someone heard that somebody
Speaker 1: said something about Manziel coming back for his junior year.
Speaker 1: He was like, what huh. Now you could tell he
Speaker 1: was kind of glad Johnny Football had moved on. But
Speaker 1: he has grown, he has matured, and we'll see what
Speaker 1: kind of picker he is for ESPN. That's going to
Speaker 1: do it. Thanks to my guest Jeff Drumming the Cats
Speaker 1: illustrated Johnny Cox of the Southern Miss Radio There. We'll
Speaker 1: hope you enjoy our coverage Tomorrow night. Right here, five
Speaker 1: thirty start time for Countdown to kick off with Christy,
Speaker 1: Jeremy and Logan, Tom Leachs Jeff picoorl and I with
Speaker 1: a call seven forty five kick for the Cats and
Speaker 1: the Golden Eagles. That's it. Good night from the garage
Speaker 1: and Lexi.
Speaker 6: Do fight to zero niner.
Speaker 1: You are clear for takeoff, Roger, huh la.
Speaker 10: Departure frequency on two.
Speaker 1: Roger, all right, request vector over but flight two zero
Speaker 1: niner clear for victor.
Speaker 13: Of three two four We have Clarence Clarence, Roger, Roger,
Speaker 13: what's our vector?
Speaker 14: Victor beat