Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue Insider. Dick Gabriel with you
Speaker 1: on a Monday edition of our show, coming up at
Speaker 1: seven point thirty. It's the nickmn Geones Show, so we
Speaker 1: will be with you right up until then. We got
Speaker 1: a lot to talk about. We're gonna chat with Kentucky's
Speaker 1: co defensive coordinator Chris Collins. He also coaches defensive backs
Speaker 1: and of course one of his prize pupils is now
Speaker 1: a Buffalo Bill thanks to being drafted in the first round,
Speaker 1: Maxwell Harriston. We talked about it on Friday to day
Speaker 1: after the first round, which happened on Thursday, but since then,
Speaker 1: Dion Walker also was drafted by the Buffalo Bills, so
Speaker 1: they'll be teammates along with Ray Davis, the X Wildcat,
Speaker 1: and a number of Wildcats signed free agent deals, including
Speaker 1: jam and Dumas Johnson. Pops is going to be a
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packer. At least he's going to be in
Speaker 1: camp of the packer, which gives a packer nation two
Speaker 1: guys at least two who can go by Pops if
Speaker 1: they so desire. That's my grandkids call me. I'm sure
Speaker 1: in the millions and millions of Packers fans there's other
Speaker 1: people who call themselves or go bypops, but those are
Speaker 1: two that now you know about. So we'll hear from
Speaker 1: Chris Collins coming up in hour number two, ahead of
Speaker 1: the Nickmnjeonne show coming up as well, though at the
Speaker 1: bottom of this hour Mitch Barnhardt's gonna join us. Over
Speaker 1: the weekend, there was a lot of chatter about a
Speaker 1: couple of things. First of all, the rededication of Memorial Coliseum.
Speaker 1: They finally finished it. Basically it's been open and operating
Speaker 1: for a while, but this was the formal dedication of
Speaker 1: the coliseum. And remember, for you younger folks, that's where
Speaker 1: the varsity played, and I want you to think about
Speaker 1: that the next time you go in there. That place
Speaker 1: used to hold eleven thousand, five hundred. So when they
Speaker 1: start playing at Rupp Arena and the UK women start
Speaker 1: playing basketball and volleyball in the facility, it just really
Speaker 1: began to age and it needed a facelift, and it
Speaker 1: got a great one. I just thought they did a
Speaker 1: tremendous job on now what they're calling this year Historic
Speaker 1: Memorial Coliseum. It goes back to being Memorial College next year.
Speaker 1: But they wanted to pay homage to the fact that
Speaker 1: it is Memorial Coliseum. It was dedicated with veterans in mind,
Speaker 1: particularly the ones who made the ultimate sacrifice in World
Speaker 1: War Two, in the Korean War, which I think was
Speaker 1: going on when that building opened, and then of course
Speaker 1: later on in the Vietnam War. A lot of Kentuckians,
Speaker 1: of course, lost their lives in those conflicts, and twenty
Speaker 1: five UK student athletes were killed in World War Two.
Speaker 1: So they were able to maintain a lot of that heritage,
Speaker 1: but did a great job of the facelift. So we'll
Speaker 1: talk to Barnhardt about that as well. Go to UK
Speaker 1: Athletics dot com if you want to learn more. There's
Speaker 1: a picture page, the speeches and things like that. But
Speaker 1: we'll also talk to Mitch about the new LLC that
Speaker 1: is a huge part now of the University of Kentucky Athletics,
Speaker 1: and I heard a lot of talk over the weekend
Speaker 1: about that and grumbling on social media. Well now these
Speaker 1: kids aren't playing for the school anymore, they're playing for
Speaker 1: an LLC. Well, no, the LLC is part of the school.
Speaker 1: It's not a separate entity. Many of you out there,
Speaker 1: I have an LLC in my name. It's in many ways,
Speaker 1: something you do to protect yourself legally taxes involves things
Speaker 1: like that. But for UK it's designed to increase flexibility
Speaker 1: within the department and help it find new ways to
Speaker 1: generate additional revenue and manage expenses and things like that.
Speaker 1: College athletics is changing so quickly, as you well know,
Speaker 1: not entirely for the better. You've got kids in and
Speaker 1: out of the portal, a lot of kids in the
Speaker 1: portal who shouldn't be there who are being disappointed, a
Speaker 1: lot of money flying around, stuff like that, So it's
Speaker 1: up to these schools to try to stay ahead. Arn
Speaker 1: Art's been criticized for dragging his feet when all this
Speaker 1: first started, but he and I were on a show
Speaker 1: together on k ET and he talked about that. I
Speaker 1: did ask him about that, and I've talked to him
Speaker 1: about it on this show before, and his response was,
Speaker 1: we just want to make sure we do everything right
Speaker 1: so that we don't run into a situation down the
Speaker 1: road where we inadvertently break some rules and get into
Speaker 1: some trouble. And sure enough, UK did. You might recall
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago there were some players involved
Speaker 1: with not showing up for work and being paid and
Speaker 1: they had to make restitution and things like that. That
Speaker 1: could have gone a lot worse than it did. But
Speaker 1: it's difficult now for universities across the country to stay
Speaker 1: ahead of things, to stay on top of things, and
Speaker 1: so UK really and this is the first of its
Speaker 1: kind creating an LLC within the athletics department. It's called
Speaker 1: Champions Blue. And I want to know, how is this
Speaker 1: different from what used to be the UK Athletics Association,
Speaker 1: which was an independent entity independent of UK Athletics. That
Speaker 1: was more of what people think the LLC is. Again,
Speaker 1: this is not external. The LLC is not It's like
Speaker 1: UK Healthcare, it's part of the university. But UK Athletics
Speaker 1: was a separate entity. It was run by the president
Speaker 1: of the university and the athletics director. So we'll get
Speaker 1: a lot of that nailed down by Mitch Barnhardt. The
Speaker 1: baseball Wildcats take two out of three over the weekend.
Speaker 1: They win game number one and game number three in
Speaker 1: the series. Should have swept quite frankly, not just could have,
Speaker 1: but should have if not for one bad pitch in
Speaker 1: Game number two, a home run, two run homer in
Speaker 1: the eighth inning that turned a four to three Kentucky
Speaker 1: lead into a five to four South Carolina lead. Otherwise
Speaker 1: the Wildcats sweep, but still they win the series. Now
Speaker 1: they've won back to back series dating back to Tennessee
Speaker 1: last weekend, and it's the first home series the Wildcats
Speaker 1: have won this season in baseball, So they protect their
Speaker 1: home turf and they protect their status when it comes
Speaker 1: to the NCAA Tournament Selections Committee. One of the services,
Speaker 1: I think it's D one Baseball projected Kentucky going into
Speaker 1: last weekend as a three seed coming out, and especially
Speaker 1: now with the wins over South Carolina, a two seed.
Speaker 1: So a team that we all wondered are they even
Speaker 1: going to get into the postseason about a month ago.
Speaker 1: They're starting to figure things out. They're just grinding away
Speaker 1: and they're making plays. Their defense has been solid pretty
Speaker 1: much all year long. The pitching started to come around
Speaker 1: in the Ole Miss series, and now the hitting is
Speaker 1: catching up. And as Patrick Herrera told us after the
Speaker 1: blowout win over Louisville, he said, the hitters have now
Speaker 1: just settled in to concentrate on quality at bats stacking
Speaker 1: them up, which was pretty apparent over the weekend because
Speaker 1: they were more aggressive. They weren't letting as many two
Speaker 1: and oh fastballs right down the middle. And I'm oversimplifying,
Speaker 1: but they were not letting as many of those pitches
Speaker 1: go and it paid off. And the Sunday game was
Speaker 1: hanging in the balance for a little while. They're late.
Speaker 1: South Carolina was down seven to three, put up two
Speaker 1: runs and might have had more but on a base
Speaker 1: hit the left field when it scored, made it seven
Speaker 1: to five, but the third base coach sent another runner
Speaker 1: and Cole Hages from left field gunned him down at
Speaker 1: the plate. That was a big momentum swing, and then
Speaker 1: the Wildcats tacked on four more runs. So it was
Speaker 1: a fun weekend. It was a good weekend in terms
Speaker 1: of weather on Sunday, not so much Saturday. It was chili,
Speaker 1: but it was a weekend the Wildcats needed. And Kentucky
Speaker 1: is now heading for Western Kentucky tomorrow night. That's a
Speaker 1: game you'll hear right here on six thirty WLAP and
Speaker 1: then Kentucky will stay on the road and go on
Speaker 1: Tossissippi State. I think they're going to stop maybe in Franklin, Tennessee,
Speaker 1: and practice. I don't know if they'll still over a
Speaker 1: night there, but they'll go from Bowling Green. They won't
Speaker 1: come home. They packed extra clothes and they'll be heading
Speaker 1: down to State, which is struggling this year, seven and
Speaker 1: fourteen in conference play. But still anything can happen, as
Speaker 1: you know, So the Wildcats need to keep right on
Speaker 1: rolling if they can through Bowling Green and into Starkfield.
Speaker 1: Rachel Lawson's softball team split two on Saturday with Mississippi State,
Speaker 1: but dropped the rubber game of the three game set
Speaker 1: yesterday afternoon by a final of five to nothing. Now
Speaker 1: it's Northern Kentucky here in Lexington tomorrow night. Then it's
Speaker 1: a trip to Austin, Texas for the first time South Carolina,
Speaker 1: or rather a Texas playing in Kentucky as an SEC team.
Speaker 1: The Wildcatch are seven and fourteen in conference play, twenty
Speaker 1: nine and twenty two overall. They need wins to solidify
Speaker 1: a spot in the postseason. So that's what's been happening.
Speaker 1: And when we come back, we'll talk more about Maxwell
Speaker 1: Harston being drafted by the Buffalo Bills. Well here from
Speaker 1: Van Hiles, the former Kentucky defensive back who played in
Speaker 1: the NFL. That's all ahead at the bottom of the
Speaker 1: hour of Mitch Barnhart, You're on six thirty WLAP. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to the Big Blue and Sider. Coming up, we're
Speaker 1: going to talk with Chris Collins, the co defensive coordinator
Speaker 1: of the Kentucky Wildcats. He coaches defensive backs, and we
Speaker 1: had Chris on the show a few weeks ago before
Speaker 1: spring I think it was, and before spring practice. But
Speaker 1: since then, Maxwell Harston of course was drafted by the
Speaker 1: Buffalo Bills, and so was Dion Walker. So we're going
Speaker 1: to get Chris's remarks about both of those guys going
Speaker 1: to Buffalo, which obviously right now is one of the
Speaker 1: best teams in the NFL, and particularly Maxwell Harston, who
Speaker 1: was a first round pick, a guy who a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago was struggling to find his way as
Speaker 1: a young defensive back. Young defensive backs often struggle, but
Speaker 1: then he became a real force for Kentucky. Was injured
Speaker 1: last year, didn't get to play nearly as much as
Speaker 1: everybody would have liked, but now is a member of
Speaker 1: the Buffalo Bills in great standing, not just good standing,
Speaker 1: because he was their first round draft pick and it
Speaker 1: was also, as we all know, the guy who ran
Speaker 1: the fastest at the combine that got him if you
Speaker 1: weren't already looking at him, that got you looking at
Speaker 1: him right away. So and you know it matters. It
Speaker 1: does matter some with linemen, but clearly matters with skill players,
Speaker 1: especially with defensive backs. So we'll talk to the coach,
Speaker 1: Chris Collins coming up in just a few minutes. But
Speaker 1: the other day I hosted the Leach Report and one
Speaker 1: of my guests was Van Hiles, who knows what it's
Speaker 1: like to be drafted. He was taken by the Bears.
Speaker 1: He played in the NFL till his injury. Injuries Cutter's
Speaker 1: career are short. Now he is a pundit if you will,
Speaker 1: breaks down video of Kentucky games and comments on the
Speaker 1: inner on YouTube. It's fun talking football with Van and
Speaker 1: had a chance to chat with him about a fellow
Speaker 1: d bat going in the first round of guy who
Speaker 1: Van likes a lot. And if you saw the draft,
Speaker 1: you saw Maxwell Harrison well before he was drafted, congratulating
Speaker 1: every player. Everybody who left the green room had to
Speaker 1: walk past Max and they got a handshake and a
Speaker 1: hug and a big smile, and Van like that. I
Speaker 1: think everybody like that.
Speaker 2: I think he's more happy for the other guys in
Speaker 2: the draft they get drafted, and I am happy for him.
Speaker 2: Was the best thing the op steen in the draft
Speaker 2: in a long time, because at first I was like,
Speaker 2: is that genuine? But then when he got picked, I'm like, Okay, yeah,
Speaker 2: that was not a show, that was not an act.
Speaker 2: That was him being himself and that was extremely awesome.
Speaker 3: It was great and what Van is talking about. And
Speaker 3: if you watched the draft or just glanced at it,
Speaker 3: every kid who was drafted as they made their way
Speaker 3: from the green room, which was huge, by the way
Speaker 3: they passed the different players, and every time there was
Speaker 3: a young man with a huge smile on his face
Speaker 3: and an incredible electric blue and silver jacket and a
Speaker 3: blue tie and blue slacks, and of course and and
Speaker 3: he was I mean, what do you dapping him up?
Speaker 1: Is that what you say? You kids?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, and just hugging and shaking hands for it.
Speaker 3: You could tell how happy he was for every young
Speaker 3: man in that room. And he had to wait a
Speaker 3: little while, didn't e Van, But he heard his name.
Speaker 3: But when you wait like that, the odds are you're
Speaker 3: going to a damn good team.
Speaker 2: And he did, didn't He Yes, And that's and and
Speaker 2: I think he knew that, and I think that that
Speaker 2: he was enjoying the moment because this is a once
Speaker 2: in a lifetime experienced and why not treated like that?
Speaker 5: And and I love.
Speaker 2: The energy, and I am happy to see him with
Speaker 2: with organization that that has a history recently of winning
Speaker 2: games and potentially getting too the Super Bowl next year
Speaker 2: because they have an extremely incredible team led by Josh Allen.
Speaker 2: But then they have Ray Davis there. So to go
Speaker 2: to a team with someone you're played with and you
Speaker 2: know you have a relationship with is just extra comforting
Speaker 2: for him. And I'm hoping that he has a great year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they expect him to have a grade.
Speaker 3: When you're a corner and you go on the first
Speaker 3: round in the National Football League Draft, that means they
Speaker 3: want immediate results.
Speaker 1: Am I right?
Speaker 2: Exactly? And that's an extreme amount of pressure. But I
Speaker 2: didn't know he had this attitude. But I think he
Speaker 2: has the right attitude to go in there and hopefully
Speaker 2: meet those those expectations.
Speaker 3: I interviewed him after the Vanity Game two years ago
Speaker 3: when he had the two pick six's that game just
Speaker 3: he just exploded on everybody's radar. For obvious reasons. He
Speaker 3: was a National Defensive Player of the Week, and he was.
Speaker 3: It was funny because Vandy was doing all the construction
Speaker 3: and they can Entucky locker room and air quotes. Was
Speaker 3: one of those huge inflatable tints by what was left
Speaker 3: in the stadium, and so they had kind of dragged
Speaker 3: Van out there and we interviewed him on the sidewalk
Speaker 3: with people walking by. But he couldn't have been happier,
Speaker 3: of course, and more humble. He was not quite the
Speaker 3: level of elation that we saw last night, which is understandable.
Speaker 3: But that day, you know, breaking on the ball the
Speaker 3: way he did that put him on video for everybody
Speaker 3: to see it. Just how vital was that pretty obvious
Speaker 3: question Van, But next thing, you know, everybody knew who
Speaker 3: he was.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: The thing about it is that for me, what was
Speaker 2: great was he's a bad thing to bring up for
Speaker 2: him for most of BBN, but the year prior when
Speaker 2: he had the issue with Vandy and them beating nothing
Speaker 2: coming wealth, which means he has so resilience to come
Speaker 2: back and have great year after that. His eye discipline
Speaker 2: is very good, and to combine that with his elite
Speaker 2: athleticism it's going to have a good career because if
Speaker 2: you can do the little things at that position, which
Speaker 2: is being patient and have a great eye discipline, it's
Speaker 2: going to translate to the next level. And I think
Speaker 2: he has a chance to be very special because of
Speaker 2: the traits that are beyond his athleticism.
Speaker 3: You've taught me a lot about eye discipline, not just
Speaker 3: the term, but exactly what it means. And it's some
Speaker 3: of it's obvious, some of it is not. But you
Speaker 3: know what I find van the most interesting about this,
Speaker 3: and it reminds you, is that in the heat of
Speaker 3: battle and all of that's going on, an NFL quarterback
Speaker 3: can look at you a d back thirty or forty
Speaker 3: yards down the field and tell if your eye discipline
Speaker 3: is bad, can they not?
Speaker 1: Exactly?
Speaker 2: It's it's a quality that you can train for, but
Speaker 2: it's also something that as an individual you have to trust.
Speaker 2: And if a quarterback sees you not looking at him
Speaker 2: and looking at a receiver, therefore you don't know when
Speaker 2: a ball is going to be thrown for how kin
Speaker 2: I react as a corner if I don't see the ball.
Speaker 5: In all your head?
Speaker 4: If we plan zone, if you're.
Speaker 2: Playing man the man you should never see the quarter
Speaker 2: But if we're planning zone and you're not looking at
Speaker 2: me as a quarterback, I know you have no chance
Speaker 2: to break on the ball. So therefore, with my quarterbacks
Speaker 2: on that level, thirty two of the best quarterbacks in
Speaker 2: the world, and they can put the ball anyway they
Speaker 2: want to the majority of the time. So yes, if
Speaker 2: you're not. If you're not, I guess your intentions are
Speaker 2: in the wrong area. They will exploit it.
Speaker 3: I watched the NFL networks coverage for a change, nothing
Speaker 3: against ABCS, just wanted something different. But I did hear
Speaker 3: what the guys on the ABC set had to say
Speaker 3: about Harston, and they were raving about his ability. Not
Speaker 3: just to break on the ball, that's pretty obvious, but
Speaker 3: as Herbstreet talked about finding the ball, he talked about
Speaker 3: the fact that so many corners, so many d backs
Speaker 3: had trouble doing that.
Speaker 1: Is that the case?
Speaker 4: Van?
Speaker 1: How tough is that? What you know? Tell me the
Speaker 1: challenges there?
Speaker 5: Tracking the ball.
Speaker 2: Is a god given talent and some people just have
Speaker 2: it naturally. And he does have that the ability to
Speaker 2: have you seen DB's jump too early or and then
Speaker 2: they missed the ball and the receiver catches after they
Speaker 2: come down. That is a trait that is God give
Speaker 2: And that's the same trait that Travis Hunter has the
Speaker 2: ability to track the ball and some people just don't
Speaker 2: have it, and he has that ability. And when you
Speaker 2: run a four to two whatever, now you can catch
Speaker 2: up to any ball while you're tracking it. Because most people,
Speaker 2: like myself, if I'm looking back at the ball, I'm
Speaker 2: slowing down him on the hop city And with that
Speaker 2: amount of speed and and catch up on ability is
Speaker 2: what makes him the potential to be special.
Speaker 1: That's Van Heils, the former Kentucky defensive back, former Chicago
Speaker 1: Bears defensive back, talking to me on the Leachs Report.
Speaker 1: I love looking at his cutups online on Twitter, and
Speaker 1: of course he's a podcast host, The Locker for one one.
Speaker 1: You hear him on Sunday Morning Sports Talk Now and
Speaker 1: then with Anthony White and Larry and the Gang, so
Speaker 1: you can learn a lot of football from Van Eiles,
Speaker 1: and I really enjoy talking to him. He still lives
Speaker 1: in his home state of Louisiana, but he keeps an
Speaker 1: eye everlastingly on his beloved Kentucky Wildcats. More Football Talk
Speaker 1: comes up next with Chris Collins, the defensive backs coach
Speaker 1: and co defensive coordinator for the Wildcats. That's all I
Speaker 1: had on the Big Blue Insider. Plus we'll hear from
Speaker 1: the baseball Cats here on six thirty WLAP. You're back
Speaker 1: to work. I know you're busy today. Here is Mitch
Speaker 1: in three to two one. Welcome back to the Big
Speaker 1: blueing Sider, joined now by Kentucky Athletics Director Mitch Barnhardt. Mitch,
Speaker 1: how has your week been going? I mean, I know
Speaker 1: it's early, but you had a busy one last week,
Speaker 1: didn't you.
Speaker 4: We did a lot going on with obviously we had
Speaker 4: trustee meetings and full slate of activities on campus, and
Speaker 4: so thankful for You're getting close to the end of
Speaker 4: the year. We get and wrap up some of our seasons.
Speaker 4: Our teams are doing well, but a lot to play
Speaker 4: for in a lot of different areas. But a lot
Speaker 4: to do between now and end of June as well,
Speaker 4: so we've got a lot of things on our plate.
Speaker 1: I want to touch base on a couple of things,
Speaker 1: but I want to start with the LLC that I
Speaker 1: don't know if you want to call it a bombshell,
Speaker 1: but it was certainly a newsworthy A lot of people
Speaker 1: talking about that. If you could just sort of in
Speaker 1: a nutshell explain what it is to listeners and why
Speaker 1: it's a good thing for.
Speaker 4: UK, Well, I don't know that you know that in
Speaker 4: terms of the time allotted, I think the easiest thing.
Speaker 4: I think the easiest thing for people to understand is
Speaker 4: that we've been fairly static in the world of college
Speaker 4: athletics for a good long time. And we can say that, hey,
Speaker 4: we've done this innovation and we've done that innovation, but
Speaker 4: the relaty of it is all falls down in four
Speaker 4: or five buckets of revenue for athletic departments, whether it's tickets,
Speaker 4: or it's fundraising, or it's multimedia contracts, conference revenue sharing,
Speaker 4: licensing and t shirts and hats and concessions and serving
Speaker 4: those kinds of things. It's sort of been in that circle.
Speaker 4: If you look differently and you're trying to think differently,
Speaker 4: we needed to create an entity that allowed us to
Speaker 4: be hopefully a little more nimble and the way we
Speaker 4: do our work allow us some creativity and some space
Speaker 4: to go do some things that are different and some
Speaker 4: ways to be more efficient in what we do. In
Speaker 4: terms of the way we spend our money. And so
Speaker 4: the university's got a thought process on this. They've put
Speaker 4: those in place through the healthcare system with UK Healthcare
Speaker 4: in the overarching organization of Beyond Blue, and in that
Speaker 4: we have created some entities for healthcare that have been
Speaker 4: super helpful in terms of hospitals across the state. So
Speaker 4: we took that same concept and applied that to athletics
Speaker 4: and gave us that concept to create Champions Blue, which
Speaker 4: will be the entity which will house the athletic department.
Speaker 4: Much different from the UK Athletic Association in the old days,
Speaker 4: where that was an externally run organization with an external board.
Speaker 4: This will be internally run organization with under the board
Speaker 4: the auspice of the Board of Trustees and Athletics Committee. Okay,
Speaker 4: so that will be different. And then the concept would
Speaker 4: be to at that point be able to create three
Speaker 4: to five six new buckets of revenue streams coming into
Speaker 4: our department. That takes some of the pressure off of
Speaker 4: these other places that have been sort of been sort
Speaker 4: of holding most of our efforts for a good number
Speaker 4: of years. And so that's the goal is to try
Speaker 4: and alleviate some of that financial pressure and create a
Speaker 4: new two or three new wheels where it's constant revenue
Speaker 4: of things coming in and we have a chance to
Speaker 4: continue to grow it.
Speaker 1: You and I have talked about this a few times
Speaker 1: through the last few years, and we were on a
Speaker 1: panel discussion show together on KEET and you mentioned the
Speaker 1: fact that you wanted to proceed wisely and cautiously. At
Speaker 1: the beginning. Some people might have thought that you were
Speaker 1: dragging your heels, but you said, you want to make
Speaker 1: sure we do this right and we're smart about it.
Speaker 1: Because they're just everybody dove in. There weren't any guard rails,
Speaker 1: and now I think, does this not apply guardrails where
Speaker 1: they're needed the most.
Speaker 4: Well, I think a couple of things with the litigation
Speaker 4: that is currently being talked about out of the ninth
Speaker 4: District Cord of California for the A four and the
Speaker 4: n C douable a between that and the name, image
Speaker 4: likeness and the the expenses that are so difficult to
Speaker 4: keep track of in terms of travel and medical and
Speaker 4: food and things like that just continue to grow. Those
Speaker 4: pieces give us some ability to say, okay, what is
Speaker 4: necessary for us to move forward, and then it defines
Speaker 4: it a little bit and then for us to be
Speaker 4: able to say, yeah, here's the guardrails with which we
Speaker 4: think we can operate under this new world that we're in.
Speaker 4: Number one and number two, that gives us the chance
Speaker 4: to be most effective under Kentucky law. And there are
Speaker 4: some things that we've been able to change. Thankful for
Speaker 4: the leadership in Frankfort in mid March that they were
Speaker 4: able to change our our Kentucky nil law that gave
Speaker 4: us a chance to be more in line with what
Speaker 4: the settlement will have coming out. And in the next
Speaker 4: few weeks, we hope and we get that that squared away.
Speaker 4: Now we have the ability to implement the things that
Speaker 4: are of the settlement and will give us a chance
Speaker 4: to hopefully be thoughtful about what we do as we
Speaker 4: as we go forward. So, you know, I don't know
Speaker 4: if there's there's never hey, these are these are the
Speaker 4: ten answers to every question. But in terms of the
Speaker 4: things that we're facing, we do know that there's gonna
Speaker 4: be a it's going to be a little bit of
Speaker 4: a dance trying to figure our way through all of this.
Speaker 4: We know the waters and I've said this before, the
Speaker 4: waters are a little choppy, right now, and hopeful after
Speaker 4: we get this and we can begin to smooth smooth
Speaker 4: things out a little bit and give us a chance
Speaker 4: to to operate in a way that that gives Kentucky
Speaker 4: the best chance to be competitive in a really difficult
Speaker 4: league and and and Nash only we have been very
Speaker 4: competitive nationally. We want to make sure that we're still
Speaker 4: on that.
Speaker 1: In that conversation, what was the change in law that
Speaker 1: came from Frankfurt if you can explain that in Senesame
Speaker 1: Street terms to.
Speaker 4: Us, Yeah, I think I think what it allowed it
Speaker 4: allowed us the institution to pay directly finances from the
Speaker 4: revenue share and arrange nil deals that will help our
Speaker 4: student athletes in the landscape. We weren't allowed to do
Speaker 4: some of that before. So it's not just for Kentucky,
Speaker 4: it's for all schools in the state of Kentucky. It
Speaker 4: gives them the flexibility for institutions to participate in the
Speaker 4: rest share and then for the institutions to use our
Speaker 4: money or third party money to directly pay our student
Speaker 4: athletes in the rep share.
Speaker 1: Piece, I got you, Kentucky UK is plumbing some new
Speaker 1: ground here that's going to make you proud.
Speaker 4: Well, I'm thankful, We've got a very thoughtful staff. They're
Speaker 4: working hard at it all the time. Thankful for the
Speaker 4: administration of the university, doctor Capludo and doctor Monday, and
Speaker 4: they've been really helped full as we try and get
Speaker 4: to a different spot. They've been helpful. We've been The
Speaker 4: conversation we've used a lot, Dick is that it's been
Speaker 4: partner equity, and you hear a lot about private equity,
Speaker 4: and that's certainly one component in the world that we're
Speaker 4: in today in terms of all business. Ours is more
Speaker 4: like a partner equity. We've been good partners to the university,
Speaker 4: and the university has been great partners to us, and
Speaker 4: so we've been able to work together and to find
Speaker 4: a way and I appreciative of them stepping forward to
Speaker 4: a time when we need we need some help and
Speaker 4: in both administratively in terms of the things that we're
Speaker 4: allowed to do and the things that may be financially
Speaker 4: we're going to need to do.
Speaker 1: When you were a young assistant ad and you were
Speaker 1: a fundraiser and eight's around the country worried about hiring coaches,
Speaker 1: building facilities, I mean you look down the road and
Speaker 1: now you know every guy in your line of work,
Speaker 1: and woman is dealing with similar situations with the portal
Speaker 1: within I with things that seem to be changing every
Speaker 1: day in the courtrooms and things like that. I know
Speaker 1: you didn't sign up for this, but what is that
Speaker 1: like the way it's affected your job, especially you have,
Speaker 1: you know, a fewer years ahead of you compared to
Speaker 1: what you got behind you. But man, it's it's just
Speaker 1: a challenging job now more than ever, isn't it.
Speaker 4: It really is, you know. And there's an old phrase
Speaker 4: in it says, it doesn't have to be your fault
Speaker 4: to be your responsibility. And I would say a lot
Speaker 4: a lot of this a lot for a lot of folks.
Speaker 4: It wasn't It wasn't what they created, it wasn't what
Speaker 4: they got into. But it has our responsibilities. We go
Speaker 4: forward to try and find our way through it. So
Speaker 4: that's what we'll do, and we'll try and find our
Speaker 4: way through it. I've got again, I'm thankful for the
Speaker 4: staff that I have. It's an amazing group of people
Speaker 4: that have worked really really hard to sort of get
Speaker 4: us to the starting line of all this. And we've
Speaker 4: got a lot more work ahead of us. And but
Speaker 4: the goal the end of the day is still everyone
Speaker 4: thinks this is trite when you say it. I did
Speaker 4: an interview with a the SEC Network last week and
Speaker 4: one of the comments maybe he talked about academics. I
Speaker 4: guess he has to. Now that's because we want to
Speaker 4: We've got We've still got five hundred student athletes. Although
Speaker 4: some of them may be getting some monies that they
Speaker 4: didn't get before, they're still going to school, they're still
Speaker 4: getting degrees, and they're still important for us to dial
Speaker 4: into the Academy of Higher Education. And so that's really
Speaker 4: important for us, and so we worked really hard to
Speaker 4: make sure we haven't lost that alignment between diplomas and
Speaker 4: hands and rings on fingers. We talked about that all
Speaker 4: the time.
Speaker 1: Well, when people in my line of work who walk
Speaker 1: my side of the street scoff at the at the
Speaker 1: student end of things, I try to remind hey, one
Speaker 1: percent of these kids go pro the way that you
Speaker 1: know you see within the media and we cover the
Speaker 1: tail that wags the dog. We've got to remember that.
Speaker 1: So we're talking with Mitch Barnard, UK's athletics director. I
Speaker 1: mentioned facilities. Over the weekend you all celebrated the historic
Speaker 1: Memorial Coliseum of the formal reopening up it. And I
Speaker 1: know that the weather could have cooperated a little bit better,
Speaker 1: But were you pleased at the way it turned out,
Speaker 1: because I'll tell you what, Mitch, the renovation turned out
Speaker 1: incredibly well.
Speaker 4: Well, thank you. We're certainly excited about it. I think
Speaker 4: we finally got to an in spot of most of them.
Speaker 4: There might be a couple of punch list things still
Speaker 4: to do, but by and Marche the heavy liftings done
Speaker 4: on the facility. It is spectacular. So much history and
Speaker 4: so much so much memories for so many people, and
Speaker 4: so it was wonderful to bring everybody together on Saturday
Speaker 4: and just have a chance to reflect on that. I
Speaker 4: think sometimes when we see a lot of times in
Speaker 4: facilities and different places across the country, you see the
Speaker 4: word memorial, and I think that just a word we
Speaker 4: toss away pretty casually. And I thought it was really
Speaker 4: really special to listen to people talk on Saturday about
Speaker 4: what memorial meant to them, not only the word, but
Speaker 4: what them meant. And for the ability to watch people
Speaker 4: as they walked around the pillars out front and to
Speaker 4: find names of loved ones from their hometown or from
Speaker 4: their family or for whatever it happened to be in
Speaker 4: the on the stone pillars out front was really spectacular.
Speaker 4: It was emotional for a lot of people, and really
Speaker 4: really cool to know that we've honored our veterans in
Speaker 4: such a really really remarkable way and the want to
Speaker 4: continue to do that, so we're thankful for that. It
Speaker 4: was pretty neat. It was really really great. It was
Speaker 4: great to ask some of our teams there, in our
Speaker 4: athletes to listen. That's what it meant to be one
Speaker 4: of those one of those folks that has a chance
Speaker 4: to play in that facility and appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Many years ago, I just took some time and walked
Speaker 1: around reading the plaques of the names, and I knew
Speaker 1: obviously there were a lot of Kentuckians who lost their
Speaker 1: lives in World War Two. I was not aware of
Speaker 1: Mitch that there were what twenty five UK students who
Speaker 1: went off to fight and were killed in the war.
Speaker 1: So so it's just it's an incredible history lesson, isn't it.
Speaker 2: No, it really is.
Speaker 4: In twenty five student athletes for that matter. Yeah, student
Speaker 4: athletes that went that went to and went over there
Speaker 4: and we had a chance to represent our opportunity to
Speaker 4: represent our in our country and lost their lives in battle,
Speaker 4: and so I you know, you talk about it back
Speaker 4: in the day of World War two and the Korean
Speaker 4: conflict in Vietnam and those they were drafted into that
Speaker 4: at ages seventeen, eighteen, nineteen years old and brought into
Speaker 4: it with you know, that's what they did. And so
Speaker 4: they went in knowing that the result could be one
Speaker 4: that didn't didn't allow them to keep their life, which
Speaker 4: was really So that's what we want to make sure
Speaker 4: we honor that the right way. And so I think
Speaker 4: we've done that. I think the facility reflects that, and
Speaker 4: it reflects the incredible, incredible athletic tradition of this institution
Speaker 4: and so so we're excited to be able to carry
Speaker 4: that on.
Speaker 1: Well, I was going to say when Jack Gibbans and
Speaker 1: I worked the pro day, boy, it seems like a
Speaker 1: long time ago, but before basketball season and here's I'm
Speaker 1: dating myself. But the first couple of years I was
Speaker 1: a UK, I attended the varsity games in the coliseum
Speaker 1: Jack Gibbons played, and we would tell today's players about that,
Speaker 1: and they would look around and go, how did they
Speaker 1: do that? I said, well, the seating arrangement was a
Speaker 1: little bit different back then with eleven thy five hundred,
Speaker 1: and people don't realize Adolph Rupp thought that the coliseum
Speaker 1: was going to be a white elephant. He was thinking,
Speaker 1: how do we fill this thing? Obviously they did, but
Speaker 1: now it's a show place. And and what's it like
Speaker 1: for you when other coaches in ad eastmen around the country,
Speaker 1: around the conference come in and look around and see
Speaker 1: the job you all have done on this building.
Speaker 4: Well, I think I think it's it's obviously it's a
Speaker 4: source of pride for our institution and for and we're
Speaker 4: certainly excited about it. I think people, you know, I
Speaker 4: think there was there's been a couple of facilities that
Speaker 4: when we were going through the design process we took
Speaker 4: note of and said, hey, we want to be like that,
Speaker 4: and we want to take it. And I used the
Speaker 4: term we had a gem. I wanted to make sure
Speaker 4: we turned it into a jewel, you know, And so
Speaker 4: we polished up the gem and made it a really
Speaker 4: beautiful jewel. And it's and it's really really well done.
Speaker 4: And I love the fact that there's so much blue
Speaker 4: in the facility. And uh, I was The greatest story
Speaker 4: on Saturday was Sad Jerris. He was talking about when
Speaker 4: he played for REPS, was on REPS runs and uh,
Speaker 4: he said, he came in. He said, they'd go in
Speaker 4: at halftime and he goes, the crowd back then there
Speaker 4: was no laws that said they couldn't smoke. So they
Speaker 4: went out in the lobbies and smoked a half a
Speaker 4: pack of cigarettes and came back in the seats and
Speaker 4: he said, he said, when you came out from halftime,
Speaker 4: there was this thin haze of smoke over the court,
Speaker 4: and he goes, you're you're running up and down the
Speaker 4: court and haaling all that. He goes, it was it
Speaker 4: wasn't great. So but but you know that's yeah, we
Speaker 4: laugh a little bit, but uh, that's those feelings were
Speaker 4: full of that. And so you know, but great stories
Speaker 4: and great memories and and and and times change and
Speaker 4: and we've got to adjust and but at the end
Speaker 4: of the day, we still want to capture traditions and
Speaker 4: memories that went.
Speaker 1: On to be as you know, a Lieutenant curdl in
Speaker 1: the United States Air Force. Before I let you go,
Speaker 1: you mentioned some teams that are coming to the ends
Speaker 1: of their respective seasons. I work baseball over the weekend.
Speaker 1: Looks like the baseball team is with all those new faces, Mitch,
Speaker 1: and you've been at a lot of the games lately,
Speaker 1: they're figuring things out. The pitching and the hitting are
Speaker 1: all coming together.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they're starting to work the way through it. And
Speaker 4: as I was talking to someone earlier today, we've had
Speaker 4: so many injuries in all of our sports program this year.
Speaker 4: This is most most, maybe the most injuries we've ever seen.
Speaker 4: I'm not remembered as many as many injuries by sport
Speaker 4: as we walk through that have just affected us in
Speaker 4: so many ways. And so it's you know, coach Men
Speaker 4: just had his share this year between some of the
Speaker 4: arm injuries and the pitching staff. And then we've had
Speaker 4: a couple of unfortunates. Well you know here the last
Speaker 4: couple of weeks, just folks, we're just starting to play
Speaker 4: some good baseball and they get hurt and now they're
Speaker 4: sitting down and and you know, it's so to walk
Speaker 4: through and continue to find your way to victories through
Speaker 4: all of that, regardless of teams, has been incredible this weekend.
Speaker 4: We obviously the baseball team took two or three from
Speaker 4: South Carolina, which was important to protect home field a
Speaker 4: little bit. You know. We go on the road with
Speaker 4: Mississippi State next week, come home with Oklahoma before going
Speaker 4: on the road to Vandy, so some games down the stretch.
Speaker 4: We got to finally have nine games down the stretching conference.
Speaker 4: We need to find our way to do some work there.
Speaker 4: But thankful that our guys are playing some really good
Speaker 4: ball and so a good time of year's story would
Speaker 4: be trending towards postseason. So we got some other team
Speaker 4: working towards that as well, and so we're thankful for
Speaker 4: their efforts. And this should be a good spring season
Speaker 4: for us. We're twentieth in the Director's Cup going into
Speaker 4: the spring and so see if we can hold our
Speaker 4: spot there. It'll be tough. Our conference is really good
Speaker 4: in the spring.
Speaker 1: So really good, Mitch. Thank you so much for your
Speaker 1: time and congratulations on getting out ahead of things. But
Speaker 1: I'm glad you were able to clear some things up.
Speaker 1: And i hope people understand better now. People who can play, well,
Speaker 1: they're not playing for the school anymore. They're playing for
Speaker 1: the LLC. Well, the LLC is the school. That's what
Speaker 1: they need to remember.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it is. It is as far as it just
Speaker 4: gives the chance to fund it differently. Yeah, yeah, appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Appreciate it.
Speaker 4: Talk to you soon, Thanks, Dick. Appreciate all the best.
Speaker 1: Welcome back with a quick segment and on to hour
Speaker 1: number two and we talk with Chris Collins, Kentucky's co
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator and DB's coach. We'll talk to him about
Speaker 1: Maxwell Harston going to the NFL and Dean Walker they're
Speaker 1: playing for the Buffalo Bills together now along with Ray Davis.
Speaker 1: And then at seven thirty we'll make way for the
Speaker 1: Nick Menji Ownes show here on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back,
Speaker 1: Thanks again to Mitch Barnhardt for joining us. Coming up
Speaker 1: in our next next hour Chris Collins, the defensive coordinator
Speaker 1: and d backs coach for the Wildcats. We'll talk about
Speaker 1: Maxwell Harston being drafted along with Dean Walker by Buffalo
Speaker 1: in the NFL draft over the weekend. But we need
Speaker 1: to talk a little bit of baseball because well, of course,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned earlier, the Wildcats beating South Carolina took
Speaker 1: advantage of four South Carolina errors, three coming in one
Speaker 1: inning involving one Kentucky player, Luke Lawrence, who had a
Speaker 1: weekly hit ground ball to first base. The first baseman
Speaker 1: flips to the pitcher trying to cover, he drops the ball.
Speaker 1: It was there ahead of Lawrence, but Lawrence reaches on
Speaker 1: the air. Then he moves up on a bunt, so
Speaker 1: now they try to pick him off. Second pitcher throws
Speaker 1: it away, center fielder charges backs up, fires a seed
Speaker 1: to third base, but it's wild goes and hits the
Speaker 1: front of the dugout. Lawrence breaks for home and he
Speaker 1: scores a run. So one guy involved with three different
Speaker 1: errors on one one half inning as Kentucky put up
Speaker 1: a run that made it what six to one, and
Speaker 1: Wildcat's going to win at eleven to five. I bring
Speaker 1: that up because making the rounds on the internet was
Speaker 1: a walk off what they call little league home run
Speaker 1: by the San Francisco Giants over the Texas Rangers. A
Speaker 1: ground ball to the infield, thrown away at first base,
Speaker 1: and then a comedy of errors and the base runner
Speaker 1: the batter ends up scoring, comes around to score on
Speaker 1: a weak round ball that never left the infield. And
Speaker 1: when you see that kind of thing, you're reminded of
Speaker 1: how young kids, the little kids, the little leaguers will
Speaker 1: spray around the yard. And that's how the Giants announcers
Speaker 1: Dwayne Kiper and Mike Cruco called it on the San
Speaker 1: Francisco Giants telecast promos. Is one for two tapsis one
Speaker 1: to third and.
Speaker 4: He tells down the right Bill l.
Speaker 1: Robinson is on the ball and he is gonna stuck.
Speaker 6: No, now he's gonna go to third. Here's the throuw
Speaker 6: the gowd. There comes rebels. This game is over. The
Speaker 6: Giants win the game at a.
Speaker 1: Little league home run, and again that's courtesy Bay Area Sports.
Speaker 1: That is the most it's gotta be the most embarrassing
Speaker 1: way to lose the game. They were looking at extra innings,
Speaker 1: but in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Rangers
Speaker 1: throw it all over the yard and the Giants go
Speaker 1: home happy with a three to two win. The play
Speaker 1: from the Kentucky game happened in the sixth inning. It
Speaker 1: was later in the game that Kentucky socked it away.
Speaker 1: But teams need to get South Carolina now because Paul
Speaker 1: Minarrey is a coach and he's a great one and
Speaker 1: he will turn things around there as he did at
Speaker 1: LSU and Notre Dame. Our number two is next with
Speaker 1: Chris Collins on six thirty.
Speaker 7: Wlapning at such.
Speaker 6: Tact Can Anything Anything?
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Blue and Cider. Joining us
Speaker 1: down our celebrity highline is a guy we talked to
Speaker 1: you back in March about Kentucky football. But we need
Speaker 1: to revisit with Chris Collins, co defensive coordinator and Dback's
Speaker 1: coach for the Wildcats, because one of your star pupils
Speaker 1: now had the night of his life, didn't he, Chris
Speaker 1: h Maxwell Harrison going in the first round of the
Speaker 1: Buffalo Bills. You had to be excited, almost excited as
Speaker 1: he was.
Speaker 5: I definitely definitely was, man. It was, you know, the
Speaker 5: site to see, you know, tremendously excited for Max and
Speaker 5: his family. I don't know if I could match his excitement, man,
Speaker 5: you know, watching him, you know, watching him throughout the process. Man,
Speaker 5: you know, just be who he is, you know, congratulating
Speaker 5: every guy that went across the stage before him.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 5: It was funny. We had some uh my wife's sister,
Speaker 5: so my sister in law was in town and and
Speaker 5: she's like, he always liked that, Like, yes, he really
Speaker 5: always liked that, you know, So it was it was
Speaker 5: it was a pleasure to see. I'm so happy for
Speaker 5: him and his family.
Speaker 1: And he had that that great spot right by the camera.
Speaker 1: I don't know if he planned it that way or what,
Speaker 1: but every person who left that room got a handshake
Speaker 1: and a hug from Maxwell. Yeah.
Speaker 5: Man, good little works and mysterious ways.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 5: You know that that position and kind of put him
Speaker 5: in a great spot to show who he was. Yeah,
Speaker 5: so he being for us and show he'll be at
Speaker 5: the next level. So you know, it's funny. And then
Speaker 5: you know, out of all the things that kind of
Speaker 5: could have gone viral, that was one thing that went viral.
Speaker 5: You know from the experience. You know, so again, man,
Speaker 5: just excited for him and his family, the hard work
Speaker 5: he's put in, commitment to the process of being phenomenal.
Speaker 5: Watch it, you know, watch it kind of unfold.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you've coached in several places. You've also worked with academics,
Speaker 1: with with student athletes, so you get to know these guys. Uh,
Speaker 1: and so there's it's more than just a coach player relationship.
Speaker 1: It's more than just you know, having a guy helping
Speaker 1: a guy move on, isn't it?
Speaker 5: Oh, it is it is, man. You know I was
Speaker 5: blessed in my career to kind of work my way
Speaker 5: up through the ranks, you know. And so at division two,
Speaker 5: you know, he talked about it. We had to wear
Speaker 5: a lot of caps, you know, the blessed to have
Speaker 5: some guys going to the next level from Division two
Speaker 5: and every level since. But yeah, I think the Good
Speaker 5: Lord put it on my heart at that time. You know,
Speaker 5: it's bigger than just football, you know, and help need
Speaker 5: you grow and develop into two quality humans, quality men,
Speaker 5: you know, and so you know, but yes, dealing with
Speaker 5: the academics at that level and you know, doing a
Speaker 5: lot more than just you know the x's and o's.
Speaker 5: You know, I just continue to carry that, you know,
Speaker 5: every stop and so that relationship, man, that bond, you know,
Speaker 5: it's one that's really special. And you know it takes
Speaker 5: a lot of time and a lot of committment, a
Speaker 5: lot of sacrifice to get it to the place that's necessary.
Speaker 5: But continue to be willing to do that, and you know,
Speaker 5: nights like Thursday night man or you know, phenomenal deals, uh,
Speaker 5: to watch that maturation process.
Speaker 1: Let's go back a few years when Maxwell was struggling
Speaker 1: a bit, uh, you know, had a particularly tough game
Speaker 1: against Vandy when Vandy came in here to election into
Speaker 1: one and then turned it around, come completely the next
Speaker 1: year and became an All Conference performer, National Player of
Speaker 1: the Week. The two pick sixes against Vandy I had,
Speaker 1: he was our player of the game on the radio network.
Speaker 1: I interviewed him out outside of that you know, inflatable
Speaker 1: tent you guys had for a locker room, and I
Speaker 1: talked to him before I knew how gracious and humble
Speaker 1: he was. But just how in the world did this happen? Chris?
Speaker 1: I mean, the hard work, I know, But what is
Speaker 1: it that he brings to that position that you think
Speaker 1: enabled him to make this climb?
Speaker 5: Well, you know, the Good Lord blessed Max with ability, right,
Speaker 5: and so it was our job to kind of help
Speaker 5: him home that ability, you know. But to his credit,
Speaker 5: to his parents' credit. Man, you know, the kid understood
Speaker 5: adversity and wasn't afraid of it, you know. And so
Speaker 5: a lot of young people go through those moments, and
Speaker 5: you know, we call them pit moments, to where they
Speaker 5: could really make you or they could break you, you know.
Speaker 5: And so we knew what type of player he could be.
Speaker 5: He knew what type of player he could be. And
Speaker 5: so that moment, you know, rewinding back to that young
Speaker 5: freshman who probably wasn't ready for that moment at the time,
Speaker 5: you know, thrown in that fire in the sec in
Speaker 5: the critical moment. He used it as motivation, you know,
Speaker 5: he used it as fuel to continue to level and
Speaker 5: elevate the level of work. You know, that was necessary
Speaker 5: to take those steps. And so we knew he had
Speaker 5: the ability. You know, we talk about potential, and potential
Speaker 5: is a dangerous word, and so you know, but he
Speaker 5: took advantage of what was in front of him and
Speaker 5: made the most of that potential. And so you know,
Speaker 5: again that just goes back to the foundation as parents
Speaker 5: laid in them, you know, in terms of who he
Speaker 5: is character wised, His work ethic was there, but it
Speaker 5: was about honing that work ethic, right, not just going
Speaker 5: and doing really nearly all kinds of millions of things.
Speaker 5: Let's be specific on how we're getting better and intentional
Speaker 5: about that process from the field work to the film study.
Speaker 5: And he took the plan and ran with it, you know,
Speaker 5: and took the plan and ran with it. And so
Speaker 5: the results are the results. And we talk to our
Speaker 5: guys about that process all the time, and so it's
Speaker 5: a great thing to see, you know, when you can
Speaker 5: see those scars live and in person, you know, and
Speaker 5: then be able to see guys fight through that a version.
Speaker 5: That wasn't the only adversity they faced in his career,
Speaker 5: but that was a good starting point to it to say, hey, man,
Speaker 5: I'm strong and I'm mentally in physically to fight through
Speaker 5: this thing and come out on the other side better
Speaker 5: because of it.
Speaker 1: We're talking with Kentucky co defensive coordinator Chris Collins, a
Speaker 1: defensive backfield coach for the Wildcats. I've got to think, Chris,
Speaker 1: this is kind of an obvious question, but dealing with adversity,
Speaker 1: the ability to do that, I would think has to
Speaker 1: be especially vital for a defensive back. Am I right,
Speaker 1: shortest memory on the team?
Speaker 5: I gotta think, yeah, it is. It is a crucial,
Speaker 5: a crucial attribute to being successful at the position. And
Speaker 5: you know, as coaches, we try to train it. You know,
Speaker 5: we work really hard at trying to train it and
Speaker 5: putting our guys in adverse situations, you know, throughout practice,
Speaker 5: you know, throughout the off season and training, even in
Speaker 5: the meeting room. You know, we try to train it
Speaker 5: there as well, and so it becomes a little bit easier,
Speaker 5: a little bit easier.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 5: You know, but I tell guys all the time, nothing
Speaker 5: like playing in front of one hundred thousand, nothing like
Speaker 5: playing in front of you know, uh you that home crowd.
Speaker 5: And so you know, we're putting you in these situations intentionally.
Speaker 5: So you get these scars now, but understand, you want
Speaker 5: to get them now in practice, get them now in
Speaker 5: the meeting room. Uh, so you don't have to feel
Speaker 5: those same scars in the ball game. And you know,
Speaker 5: Coach Stoop says it all the time. Nothing is a
Speaker 5: better teacher than scars. You know, you get scard from
Speaker 5: a moment. You know, you'll learn, you know, and a
Speaker 5: lot of times those scars, you know, run a little
Speaker 5: bit deeper, you know, when in front of the audience.
Speaker 5: And so but but training that mentality of the next play,
Speaker 5: you know, is important, and so we talk about man
Speaker 5: the confidence that it takes the place position is the
Speaker 5: correct reflection of the work that you're willing to put in,
Speaker 5: you know. And so if you're willing to put in
Speaker 5: extra you'll develop that confidence and that confidence and carry
Speaker 5: you through those that situations because they're going to show up,
Speaker 5: especially in this league.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, uh and in the NFL. You you've been
Speaker 1: here for it four years, so you know all about
Speaker 1: the Big Blue Nation. But you know, there's a real
Speaker 1: parallel I think with Bill's mafia, right, I mean, and
Speaker 1: they have been vocal and welcoming Maxwell Harriston. You got
Speaker 1: to love that for.
Speaker 4: Him, I do.
Speaker 5: I do. His personality, you know, who he is as
Speaker 5: a young man. I think it fits just like it's
Speaker 5: fit here. You know, humble, hard working, blue collar you know,
Speaker 5: a kid that that wasn't given anything, had to go
Speaker 5: earn it, you know. And I think that speaks to
Speaker 5: to our fan base, and of course it speaks to
Speaker 5: the Bills fan base as well, and so I think
Speaker 5: it's a great fit. I think that's why we have
Speaker 5: other UK former UK players you know, on their rosters. Yeah,
Speaker 5: and so you know, it's really exciting, really exciting time.
Speaker 5: But again, I think not just the Blue got a
Speaker 5: lot more in common than Just the Blue in terms of,
Speaker 5: you know, the style of play, you know, the program
Speaker 5: and the fan base.
Speaker 1: And you gotta love the fact, like you said that
Speaker 1: Ray Davis is there so and it was Max was
Speaker 1: so funny when he's that I'm moving in. But uh
Speaker 1: and now Dion Walker is going with him. So will
Speaker 1: you talk about a safety We're not a safety blanket,
Speaker 1: but just some real comfort around him, right.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, no question, no question in terms of you know,
Speaker 5: some guys that have gone through it, you know that
Speaker 5: he can lean on the guys that are going through
Speaker 5: it at the same time. You know, rookie year is tough.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 5: I was talking to Drew Phillips, you know, a couple
Speaker 5: of weeks back he came back training. He's like, man,
Speaker 5: it just it goes so fast because you're going from
Speaker 5: the draft pre draft process, you know, the end of
Speaker 5: the season, bowl games right then you go straight into
Speaker 5: Singior Bowl pre draft. Then you're going straight into to
Speaker 5: Combine right then his draft and and then he goes
Speaker 5: straight in the rookie Minnie camp and it just stopped.
Speaker 5: It's almost a full you know, three hundred and sixty
Speaker 5: five in terms of like you're going going going, so
Speaker 5: that rookie year can be a lot, and so having
Speaker 5: guys who you know going through it, you know previous year,
Speaker 5: and guys that are going through it with you from
Speaker 5: the same place. Man, I think will help tremendously.
Speaker 1: He is Chris Collins, co defensive coordinator for the Wildcats
Speaker 1: and defensive backs coach. And of course we're talking about
Speaker 1: Maxwell Harrison and Dion Walker, both drafted by the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 1: Back in just a minute on six thirty Wlap Welcome
Speaker 1: back to the Big Blue Insider. My guest is Chris Collins.
Speaker 1: He is the co defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach
Speaker 1: for the Wildcats. Dion was drafted to provide depth. They
Speaker 1: needed help on the D line. They drafted some other
Speaker 1: D linemen, but Max, he's a first round pick. Now
Speaker 1: they're going to expect results right away. I don't know
Speaker 1: if he'll be a starter or be a nickelback whatever,
Speaker 1: but he's going to have to produce right away, isn't he.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 5: I'm excited for him. I know he's excited about it.
Speaker 5: You know. He doesn't run from challenges, you know, and
Speaker 5: I think that's shown throughout his career and I think
Speaker 5: that's a big reason why you know, he's drafted the
Speaker 5: first round. But outside of that, man, the kids all
Speaker 5: worker like he outside of just the football piece, right,
Speaker 5: the kids will work. He takes the information. Let's give
Speaker 5: it to him and try it. Really are works really
Speaker 5: hard to apply, you know. And I say work, I
Speaker 5: mean in the classroom, in the meeting room, right, those things,
Speaker 5: those those traits, man, you can't always see on tape,
Speaker 5: but they show up in big plays. And so again, man,
Speaker 5: I'm excited for his opportunity. He'll make the most of
Speaker 5: it because he'll continue to work and continue to grind
Speaker 5: that and it's gonna be hard, you know. We talked
Speaker 5: about it, man, at every level it is, and so
Speaker 5: embracing that grind, you know, leaning on the past experiences
Speaker 5: that he's had to go through and his life stick
Speaker 5: up to this point to push him through. But I
Speaker 5: know he's excited for the challenge and we're excited to
Speaker 5: see him accept that challenge.
Speaker 1: Well, speaking of work, I love the video clip I'm
Speaker 1: sure you saw when he walked onto the field up
Speaker 1: in Buffalo for the first time, saying I'm in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and he was so excited and I'm ready to run
Speaker 1: some drills right now in my loafers. A lot of
Speaker 1: adrenaline happenings. But that that's typical, isn't it.
Speaker 5: Oh hundreds percent, hundred percent Again, like you know, that's
Speaker 5: that's his DNA, you know, that's that's his DNA, you know,
Speaker 5: and he learned it from his mom and his dad
Speaker 5: and and uh he's continued not just to again learn
Speaker 5: but apply it right. And so I think that's a
Speaker 5: big piece of being successful. A lot of guys can
Speaker 5: get the information right, but who's willing to apply it
Speaker 5: on a consistent basis? And so, uh, he's had guys
Speaker 5: that he's learned from in our room in the past, uh,
Speaker 5: who have gone on to the NFL, who's still in
Speaker 5: the NFL. And so I think he took all those
Speaker 5: you know, those nuggets right that he got from from family,
Speaker 5: from from teammates, right from uh, from from myself, from
Speaker 5: our coaching staff, from coach students and uh and worked
Speaker 5: really hard to apply him And so, you know, getting
Speaker 5: tremendously happy for him.
Speaker 1: Some of the experts say that as great as he
Speaker 1: is at breaking on the ball his speed, that he
Speaker 1: needs to learn to tackle a little bit better. But
Speaker 1: at least one guy said, then, you know, he was
Speaker 1: dealing with injuries this past year. Do you have any
Speaker 1: qualms about that? I mean, everybody needs to get better,
Speaker 1: but was that Chris The result of the fact that
Speaker 1: he did have the injury he was dealing with this
Speaker 1: past season.
Speaker 4: I do.
Speaker 5: I do believe that, you know, we never know, but
Speaker 5: I do believe that because you look back, you know,
Speaker 5: you know, you go back twenty three season, and he's
Speaker 5: one of our better tackles, you know, especially out in
Speaker 5: pliminary space. He's willing to do it, you know what
Speaker 5: I mean, And so there's no fear in that regard.
Speaker 5: And so I think, you know, dealing with the injuries,
Speaker 5: because it's funny, you know, for forty injuries. I was
Speaker 5: talking to one s guy and he's like, man, the
Speaker 5: best name Max needed versus South Carolina was special teams.
Speaker 5: They had three tackles on special teams of the gunner,
Speaker 5: you know, and so you know he had to strip
Speaker 5: back and so again that was pre you know that
Speaker 5: nobody really realizes that that injury was early in the season, yeah,
Speaker 5: you know, and so again that's a really uncomfortable deal.
Speaker 5: You know that he pushed through all through. But but
Speaker 5: I do think they had to, you know, play the
Speaker 5: part in it, played the party in the kids tough.
Speaker 5: You know, he's fought through injuries in the path. You know,
Speaker 5: when you're dealing with a show. You're trying to get
Speaker 5: big people on the ground. You know, it plays the part,
Speaker 5: It plays the part. But but again I think he's
Speaker 5: you know, he hears it, you know, just like he
Speaker 5: hears everything. Here are things here when he was a player.
Speaker 5: You know that that that motivate him, you know, that'll
Speaker 5: push him. And again I think he's excited for the challenge.
Speaker 1: Talking with Chris Collins, he is a co defensive coordinator
Speaker 1: and defensive back coach for the Wildcats, and we mentioned
Speaker 1: Dion Walker earlier. Were you surprised Dion? I don't know
Speaker 1: if I want to say he slipped to the fourth
Speaker 1: round because generally D tackles D linemen are quite a commodity.
Speaker 1: But you know, I guess the team and whole kind
Speaker 1: of struggled last year, as we all know. Do you
Speaker 1: think that affected his draft status?
Speaker 5: You know, I think I think the good little works
Speaker 5: and mysterious ways, you know, I think it was a
Speaker 5: perfect storm that everything kind of played the way it did.
Speaker 5: And you know, and Max and Dion both from the
Speaker 5: same area, right, played at the same university, get to
Speaker 5: start their professional career, you know, with the with the
Speaker 5: with the same programs. So you know, I think, you know,
Speaker 5: we can all speculate and do those things, but at
Speaker 5: the end of the day, got an opportunity, you know, man,
Speaker 5: dream came true, get drafted and uh, and I think
Speaker 5: he's gonna go make the most of that. And just
Speaker 5: like Max, I think his best football is in front
Speaker 5: of him.
Speaker 1: I love the video clips when they were showing Dion
Speaker 1: and they had that hit that he put on down
Speaker 1: at Florida a couple of years ago when he stoned
Speaker 1: the running back in the backfield. That was That was
Speaker 1: like his coming out party, wasn't it. He signaled to
Speaker 1: the sec Hello, I'm Deon Walker, and this is what
Speaker 1: you can expect.
Speaker 5: Yeah he did, he did. He said, yes, I'm a
Speaker 5: very big human.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 5: That's really athletic. That's also got some power behind that athleticism.
Speaker 5: And so I'm here to stay. And he did that.
Speaker 5: And he's an anchor for us in the middle, you know,
Speaker 5: three years here and really appreciative for sacrifice and you know, man,
Speaker 5: the hard work that he put in, and excited to
Speaker 5: see him continue to do that at the next level
Speaker 5: and continue to elevate and grow.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 5: That's part of it.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 5: The process, man continuing to grow in it. Sometimes it's uncomfortable, right,
Speaker 5: Sometimes it doesn't look how we always envisioned it. But
Speaker 5: the opportunity, the opportunity man continue to grow and continue
Speaker 5: to do that. I think, uh he will take full
Speaker 5: advantage of that.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, oh yeah. And and plus, as we mentioned earlier,
Speaker 1: he doesn't have to carry the load on the D
Speaker 1: line as you know, if you were a first round pick,
Speaker 1: which would have been nice. But uh, he can kind
Speaker 1: of learn at a different pace, can he. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's gotta he's got to work hard, but he doesn't
Speaker 1: have to go in there and and and you know,
Speaker 1: be a superstar on day one.
Speaker 5: Man. I think you know, again, I think the program
Speaker 5: that he was drafted to fit, you know, just like
Speaker 5: you know, White Joe's University of Kentucky. I think I
Speaker 5: think a lot of those things. You know, we can't
Speaker 5: line them up any the way we want to, right.
Speaker 5: The good lawyers got our plan and we just got
Speaker 5: to trust it. Man. But we look at it, man holistically,
Speaker 5: you know, you mentioned a great point. But holistically, man,
Speaker 5: I think it's a great fit. Sure, uh, you know,
Speaker 5: for them to go go in there and be really
Speaker 5: successful and you know, again make the most of it.
Speaker 1: Well you're a southern guy. Uh can you imagine playing
Speaker 1: in that weather up there? And fans love it. When
Speaker 1: you talk about a new stadium and do we need
Speaker 1: a dome, they're like, no, you know, they love the
Speaker 1: weather up there. But uh, your kids are gonna have
Speaker 1: to make that adjustment. Rate made it, but I guess
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to do it as well.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's a little bit colder, just a little bit.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 5: We both both of them are from you know, from Michigan, minister,
Speaker 5: you know, a little bit further north as well, and
Speaker 5: so you know they're both custom playing weather all the
Speaker 5: way through youth league, you know, and we have some
Speaker 5: weather games here, you know, a couple of snow games,
Speaker 5: you know what I mean. And so you know, uh,
Speaker 5: when you're out there that WANs pumping.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 5: You know, you you tend to kind of forget about it.
Speaker 5: Now when you get over to the sideline, you know,
Speaker 5: it might be a little bit of a reminder because
Speaker 5: you're not out there running around.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Man, they got heated benches in the Yeah, yeah, they
Speaker 1: got it. I hear old school, Uh, Kentucky playing We
Speaker 1: never had those heaters on our sideline.
Speaker 5: You know that's right.
Speaker 1: I'm sure too, But.
Speaker 5: Kentucky, honestly, I didn't mean to cut you off. I
Speaker 5: think it's harder for the coaching, you know in the
Speaker 5: cold weather, man, you know what I mean. You know,
Speaker 5: I'll just messing with you know, we don't get the
Speaker 5: pads on running we did out there standing cold, you know,
Speaker 5: so you gotta you know. But but but now I'm
Speaker 5: just messing. I think those guys will do well. I
Speaker 5: think a lot of pieces play into the fit, you know,
Speaker 5: and so I know NFL teams, man, they spend a
Speaker 5: lot of time and a lot of resources, you know,
Speaker 5: digging back and pulling back those layers saying you know, hey, man,
Speaker 5: what's the what's the backdrop behind just the you know,
Speaker 5: the film that will help them be successful. I think,
Speaker 5: you know, some of that played into the part, hey,
Speaker 5: where they're from originally?
Speaker 1: You know, well before I let you go, you also
Speaker 1: coached Carrington Valentine a place for my Green Bay Packers.
Speaker 1: I heard from Have you heard from him lately? What's
Speaker 1: the word on him?
Speaker 5: Yeah? I was actually dming with a CV a couple
Speaker 5: of weeks back. You know, after you know, after we
Speaker 5: had our pro date, after got our pro date, and
Speaker 5: so kind of leading up into the draft process, checking
Speaker 5: in with him, and he's doing he's doing well, continuing
Speaker 5: to enjoy grow. You know. Uh, you know coach Angeley
Speaker 5: who was here for a while, he's actually a dB
Speaker 5: coach you know at Green Bay, and so we had
Speaker 5: a chance to talk throughout the draft process, you know,
Speaker 5: of course about Max, but also just you know house
Speaker 5: caringson doing it. He's doing well, and they're excited about
Speaker 5: you know, this upcoming season for him, and so I'm
Speaker 5: excited for him as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we drafted for offense for a change up in
Speaker 1: Green Bay.
Speaker 5: But yeah, and that was a pretty cool moment.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was surprised. Yeah, first first wide receiver drafted
Speaker 1: O two. Obviously we root for Carrington and I am
Speaker 1: a shareholder, so I'm an owner, so I need to
Speaker 1: keep tracking things like that. So yeah, you're talking to
Speaker 1: the NFL owner coach you need to Yes, yes, thanks
Speaker 1: for your time and I hope to see you soon.
Speaker 1: But I appreciate all the knowledge. Oh yes, sir, thank
Speaker 1: you can go and up next to Nick Mnjeones show
Speaker 1: here on six thirty w l A.
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