Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue and Sider Dick Gabriel with
Speaker 1: you on a Friday as we wrap up the week.
Speaker 1: And if you haven't been able to surmise already, my
Speaker 1: sniffles have turned into a cold, So just bear with
Speaker 1: me on this and we'll get through the show tonight.
Speaker 1: There's a lot to like though, in my opinion, because
Speaker 1: let's start with the back half of the show. Coming
Speaker 1: up in our number two. My man Jeremy Jarmon's going
Speaker 1: to join me, and I haven't had a chance to
Speaker 1: talk to Jeremy on the show. We talk all the
Speaker 1: time via text your email, but we haven't talked football,
Speaker 1: and we're going to do that tonight. We're going to
Speaker 1: take up the entire second half of the show talking
Speaker 1: about not as much last season, but what to expect
Speaker 1: in the spring, what he wants to see, the transfers
Speaker 1: coming in the portal, what is going on with Mark
Speaker 1: Pope's program. So we'll get Jeremy Jarmon's thoughts on that
Speaker 1: coming up in our number two. A little bit later
Speaker 1: on in this hour, Evan Byers will join us. He
Speaker 1: is a veteran left handed pitcher for the baseball Wildcats.
Speaker 1: They begin one week week from today. The UK softball
Speaker 1: team season already underway, and again we pre record my apologies,
Speaker 1: so check the interweb if you'd like to know how
Speaker 1: Rachel Lawson's team did earlier today. They opened up at
Speaker 1: ten am with Pittsburgh down in Clearwater, Florida. Followed up
Speaker 1: with a game against Notre Dame in Clearwater. So two
Speaker 1: games today for the UK women. They play Morgan State
Speaker 1: and Southern Miss tomorrow. First came at noon, next game
Speaker 1: at three o'clock. I don't think there's any TV on
Speaker 1: any of this, but go to UK Athletics dot com
Speaker 1: and follow along statistically. Then on Sunday the Wildcats play
Speaker 1: softball against eighth rank Duke down in Clearwater. So busy,
Speaker 1: busy weekend for Rachel Lawson's ball club. But again Evan
Speaker 1: Byer's coming up at the bottom of the hour. And
Speaker 1: we're also going to talk about the controversy, the conspiracy,
Speaker 1: the NFL and the Super Ball coming up in our
Speaker 1: next segment. But right now we'll talk about those basketball Cats.
Speaker 1: They take on South Carolina tomorrow. They'll hear that game
Speaker 1: right here on six point thirty wlap Mark Pope talked
Speaker 1: to the media yesterday, and one of the topics there's
Speaker 1: obviously more than one, was body language. And if you
Speaker 1: watch the game, even if you weren't there, if you
Speaker 1: just watched it on TV, I think you'll agree. Man,
Speaker 1: the body language for the Wildcats, even before they fell
Speaker 1: behind by a million points, just wasn't very good. And
Speaker 1: Pope talked about how they've addressed that. In fact, the
Speaker 1: way they addressed it, I think was really interesting.
Speaker 2: The most important thing that we can do to deal
Speaker 2: with frustration or worry or doubt or failure setbacks is
Speaker 2: we can keep getting in a huddle where we are
Speaker 2: actually looking at each other, because that's where you find
Speaker 2: trust and faith and energy and enthusiasm and care and
Speaker 2: love and all those things that actually are energy givers.
Speaker 2: And that's probably the thing that we're leaning into the most.
Speaker 2: We talked about that for a long time this morning
Speaker 2: in our film session that did right now, we're going
Speaker 2: to find these answers in each other, and that's really important,
Speaker 2: and it's really true. It's actually true in that's well,
Speaker 2: it's true in life.
Speaker 1: I'd honestly never thought of it that way, but yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, if you're down, you're feeling bad, you're not
Speaker 1: going to lock eyes with anybody, and if you're up,
Speaker 1: you're gonna want to share all that. So yeah, that's
Speaker 1: that's a great way to look at it. I think,
Speaker 1: I don't know. Pope kind of does things differently. As
Speaker 1: we all know, we're learning that he also spreads the
Speaker 1: minutes out in a way that some people wonder about.
Speaker 1: For instance, Amari Williams is playing really well right now.
Speaker 1: He averages twenty one minutes a game. Oh Way averages
Speaker 1: twenty eight or twenty nine. It's kind of reminiscent of
Speaker 1: Patinos ninety sixteen, the team that that Mark Pope played on.
Speaker 1: But he doesn't spread the minutes out for the same reason.
Speaker 1: I mean, oh Way averages twenty eight minutes Lamont Butler
Speaker 1: when he's playing twenty six, Kobe Brad twenty four with Patino,
Speaker 1: it was because he had so much talent. With Pope,
Speaker 1: it's because he wants guys as well rested through the
Speaker 1: game as they possibly can be, because they are so
Speaker 1: up tempo, they lean so much on energetic offense that
Speaker 1: he wants everybody he doesn't want to see fatigue out there.
Speaker 1: And it's something he's actually he said he's wrestling with
Speaker 1: it right now.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's a real argument that he had, and
Speaker 2: we kind of go back and forth with ourselves, like
Speaker 2: right now, we're trying to stretch exactly the opposite way
Speaker 2: of what are suggesting. We think we have, you know,
Speaker 2: good young players, and so we'd like to expand their
Speaker 2: minutes so we can, you know, so we can have
Speaker 2: more intensity energy on the court more consistently from different guys.
Speaker 2: But time is going to tell whether that's actually a
Speaker 2: winning strategy or not.
Speaker 1: So I'll be curious to see if he spreads the
Speaker 1: minutes any differently tomorrow against the South Carolina, which he
Speaker 1: said is capable of coming in here and winning.
Speaker 2: You see, in this league, there's some teams that really
Speaker 2: struggle and then all of a sudden they are winning,
Speaker 2: and some teams that are winning, all of a sudden
Speaker 2: they struggle.
Speaker 3: And it's because it's close.
Speaker 2: Because there's a lot of good teams in this league,
Speaker 2: and they're certainly one of them. They have superstar talent,
Speaker 2: they have they're really well coached, they got toughness and discipline,
Speaker 2: and so they're and they've you know, they had every
Speaker 2: good team in this league on the ropes. They had
Speaker 2: Auburn on the ropes, they had Florida on the ropes,
Speaker 2: they had you know, everybody on the rope. So a
Speaker 2: good team will coached just like every single team in
Speaker 2: this league.
Speaker 1: Noon tip off here on six thirty WLAP network coverage
Speaker 1: at nine thirty. I'm sorry, a local coverage of nine thirty.
Speaker 1: Network coverage begins at ten thirty here on your number
Speaker 1: one spot for sports. The MVP of the National Football
Speaker 1: League is Josh Allen. Not the Kentucky Josh Allen, of course,
Speaker 1: but the Buffalo Josh Allen. Backlash because Lamar Jackson didn't win,
Speaker 1: and I would have voted for Lamar Jackson. I'm okay
Speaker 1: with Josh Allen winning it, but who voted Jackson fourth place?
Speaker 1: He had won fourth place ballot. Allen got twenty seven
Speaker 1: first place votes, Jackson got twenty three, but somebody voted
Speaker 1: Jackson fourth. I don't get that. And Allen's the first
Speaker 1: player since John Elway in eighty seven to win the
Speaker 1: MVP without also being a First Team All Pro. Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson was the first Team All Pro. But Josh Allen
Speaker 1: wins the MVP. You know, the guy who cheated Shoheotani
Speaker 1: out of his money or got caught trying to defraud him.
Speaker 1: Sentenced to nearly five years in prison, fifty seven months
Speaker 1: he will do some serious time, three years of supervised release,
Speaker 1: and restitution of more than eighteen million to Otani and
Speaker 1: the ir Yes mitz Ohara he paid. Mitzuhara spoke briefly
Speaker 1: at the sentencing, apologized to Atani, his family, the Dodgers,
Speaker 1: and the US government. Ryan Day got paid. Becomes the
Speaker 1: second highest paid coach in college football. Agreed to a
Speaker 1: new seven year contract pays him twelve and a half
Speaker 1: million annually through twenty thirty one. And if you don't
Speaker 1: already know, the highest paid coach in college football, Kirby
Speaker 1: Smart thirteen point two million per year. Dabo Swiney is
Speaker 1: third at eleven and a half million over a ten
Speaker 1: year deal. Steve Sarkisian makes ten point nine million at
Speaker 1: Texas and Kaylin de Boor at Alabama makes ten point
Speaker 1: twenty five million per year coaching the Crimson Tides. So
Speaker 1: a lot of guys getting paid big time bucks and
Speaker 1: a big time upset last night. If you can call
Speaker 1: it that, I think you can and winmen's basketball Yukon
Speaker 1: Tennessee became such a great rivalry with Pat Summit versus
Speaker 1: Gino Arima. The balls kind of taking a dip, the
Speaker 1: Lady Balls did, but they look like they're coming back.
Speaker 1: It's the first win in the rivalry matchup since twenty
Speaker 1: oh seven. Tennessee beats Yukon in Knoxville eighty to seventy six.
Speaker 1: Kentucky plays Tennessee a little bit later on this season.
Speaker 1: Did you catch the NFL Awards show last night when
Speaker 1: they announced the MVP winners and the offensive and defensive
Speaker 1: players and the rookies and all that stuff. Well, you
Speaker 1: know what made the headlines, don't you. Snoop Dogg, who
Speaker 1: hosted the event, in his opening monologue, it only went
Speaker 1: about six six and a half minutes, but then he
Speaker 1: got a lot of laughs. The biggest laugh came at
Speaker 1: the expense of Bill Belichick in his seventies, who dates
Speaker 1: a woman who I think is twenty four. Her name
Speaker 1: is Jordan Hudson. Lovely woman, and it turns a lot
Speaker 1: of heads and it got a big laugh thanks to
Speaker 1: Snoop Dogg last night.
Speaker 3: I remember back when the Cowboys was good, I remember
Speaker 3: back when the Chiefs was bad, and I remember.
Speaker 1: What was it Bill Belichick's girlfriend wasn't even born yet,
Speaker 1: and naturally the camera goes right to Belichick and right
Speaker 1: to his lady friend, and he laughed and smiled. She
Speaker 1: looked a little bit taken aback, but you know, you've
Speaker 1: you've kind of signed on to the boys club. It
Speaker 1: wasn't I didn't think it was rude. And I got
Speaker 1: to think somebody at some point has teased her a
Speaker 1: little bit, or she's heard or read the good natured
Speaker 1: ribbing or whatever. But this was national TV, so it
Speaker 1: wasn't a bad line by Snoop Dogg, and they caught
Speaker 1: her by surprise. Up next, we'll talk about who's going
Speaker 1: into the NFL Hall of Fame. There's a lot connection
Speaker 1: and there are Kentucky connections to the Super Bowl beyond
Speaker 1: Darien Cannard. A little later, Evan Byers here on six
Speaker 1: point thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 1: Coming up in a few minutes away from Evan Buyer's
Speaker 1: Kentucky left hander looking ahead to the upcoming season. They'll
Speaker 1: have to listen to me working through this cold I
Speaker 1: have now going into Super Bowl weekend, and a little
Speaker 1: bit of a Super Bowl chatter a lot actually about referees,
Speaker 1: and you know about it. We talked about it here
Speaker 1: on the show. Everybody thinks the NFL is fixed, and
Speaker 1: the referees are doing this and that, and games are rigged,
Speaker 1: and the refs favor the Chiefs and all that. Personally,
Speaker 1: I don't, but I understand why some people think that.
Speaker 1: But the first of all, believe in the NFL's rigged.
Speaker 1: Believe what you want, but you would just have to
Speaker 1: have too many people involved any conspiracy like that. Now
Speaker 1: do the Chiefs get calls? Maybe they do subconsciously, but honestly,
Speaker 1: and I've talked about this before, good teams seem to
Speaker 1: get calls because their players are better than bad teams.
Speaker 1: That makes sense, and the better the player, the fewer
Speaker 1: the infractions. If at one d back, if defensive back
Speaker 1: A is better than defensive back B inherently better, he's
Speaker 1: not gonna have to interfere as much as the other
Speaker 1: guy in order to compete. If you've got a superior
Speaker 1: offensive lineman and you're comparing him to another old lineman
Speaker 1: who isn't as good, the guy who isn't as good
Speaker 1: is gonna have to hold more because you're not as
Speaker 1: good as the first guy. That's the way it works
Speaker 1: in sports quite often, but a lot of people aren't
Speaker 1: gonna believe that anyway. Mike Perrara will work the broadcast
Speaker 1: for Fox Sports. He was the first former official ever
Speaker 1: to do. This was a great role that the TV press.
Speaker 1: They started pressing former referees into these roles. Some have
Speaker 1: been good, so I'm not I think Perrara is still
Speaker 1: the best. And earlier today on Fox News he talked
Speaker 1: about all the talk about conspiracies and refs favoring one
Speaker 1: team over the other, and he basically obviously agrees with
Speaker 1: the commissioner.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think I would say what Roger
Speaker 4: Goodell said, which I try not to use harsh words.
Speaker 4: I understand why they think that, because the numbers point
Speaker 4: that direction and the if he calls seem to have
Speaker 4: gone the chief's way.
Speaker 3: But to think that.
Speaker 4: There's intent is really ridiculous. And that's the term that
Speaker 4: Roger used. It's people that don't really understand officiating that
Speaker 4: are making these thoughts.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 4: Kansas City is a great team of a great quarterback,
Speaker 4: great coach, great team period. They teach penalty prevention. Their
Speaker 4: numbers of false starts are less those types of things.
Speaker 4: The officials are out just to manage the game, and
Speaker 4: they have to make decisions in one twenty sixth of
Speaker 4: a second, and so they don't have time to factor
Speaker 4: in who made the foul, what color the team is,
Speaker 4: and so really it's it's really I understand the concern,
Speaker 4: but it's really won't affect the way they officiate this weekend.
Speaker 5: So as a football fan, somebody watches every Saturday and Sunday,
Speaker 5: this is something I would want to ask, you know,
Speaker 5: I think a lot of the audience would be curious
Speaker 5: about as well, Mike, And it'll be curious how it
Speaker 5: plays out on Sunday. In a Super Bowl, there are
Speaker 5: some crews that seem ready to throw a flag throughout
Speaker 5: the game looking for infractions, and we can see the
Speaker 5: total in the game of the number of flags thrown.
Speaker 5: There are other crews that seem to adopt to let
Speaker 5: them play mindset, and you can see they're letting more go.
Speaker 5: You could call holding on every play in the NFL. Yes,
Speaker 5: how do you know what crew you're getting? In? Wired
Speaker 5: crews different when it comes to their readiness to throw
Speaker 5: the flag.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and you're right, you can almost call holding on
Speaker 4: every play, and guess what, we'd have a four and
Speaker 4: a half hour game, you know, and everybody would hate
Speaker 4: the game of football. So you have to really choose
Speaker 4: advantage versus disadvantage and make your decision there. You know,
Speaker 4: this is different too, because teams do prepare for crews,
Speaker 4: but this is not a crew. This is an all
Speaker 4: star cruise. So they've come from seven different crews, so
Speaker 4: it's kind of impossible to judge where they might lean. Look,
Speaker 4: the parody in terms of number of a Foles called
Speaker 4: is closer this year than I think I've ever seen
Speaker 4: it before. But you have different you know, he had
Speaker 4: one hundred and twenty eight people. They don't have the
Speaker 4: same judgment, and so you know.
Speaker 3: It's hard. It's hard to teach.
Speaker 4: Consistency or to expect consistency all the way through. But
Speaker 4: all I care is, you know what is that they
Speaker 4: called in the fourth quarter the same way they call
Speaker 4: the game in the first court.
Speaker 3: And I think we can agree.
Speaker 5: Here's what we hope we don't notice them in this
Speaker 5: Super Bowl.
Speaker 4: You know what, I hope I hope you don't hear
Speaker 4: from me.
Speaker 3: I hope you don't see me.
Speaker 4: If I don't mumble a word, then that means there's
Speaker 4: not a controverty.
Speaker 1: That's Mike Pereira on Fox News and he'll be working
Speaker 1: the broadcast for Fox Sports. And yeah, if they don't
Speaker 1: hear from him at all, it's been a good day.
Speaker 1: And I give it to him. He has on more
Speaker 1: than one occasion openly criticized referees. You know, he doesn't
Speaker 1: automatically say, yeah, that was the proper thing, or maybe
Speaker 1: he called it because of this way. There have been times,
Speaker 1: several times this year I've heard him say I wouldn't
Speaker 1: have called that, or I can't believe they called that,
Speaker 1: or they shouldn't have called that in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: to his point earlier, because they didn't call it in the
Speaker 1: first quarter. So I give him a lot of credit
Speaker 1: for that. And by the way, and I've talked about
Speaker 1: this before, people get frustrated with basketball officials for calling
Speaker 1: things late that they didn't call early. My brother's a referee,
Speaker 1: and I asked him once, I said, why do you
Speaker 1: guys call fouls late that you let go early? He said,
Speaker 1: because we spent most of the game saying get your
Speaker 1: hands off him. And so they've tried to use discretion
Speaker 1: early before the by the end of the game, when
Speaker 1: the game's on the line, if you got a guy
Speaker 1: being held, they're going to call a foul, and to
Speaker 1: not call a foul is them affecting the game. We
Speaker 1: don't want referees to affect the game. We don't want
Speaker 1: them to have a say and how yeah, well, if
Speaker 1: you don't call an obvious foul, that's affecting the game.
Speaker 1: But anyway, back to football, I just hope none of
Speaker 1: that stuff comes and then we don't have to talk
Speaker 1: about this again. On Monday, people are angry about the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame voting, especially Giants fans. And I talk
Speaker 1: with Aaron Gershaan, a Giants fan, on Monday night, or
Speaker 1: rather on Wednesday, I think, on the State Wide show,
Speaker 1: and I said, Eli Manning belongs in. I don't know
Speaker 1: that i'd vote him on the first ballot because there
Speaker 1: are other guys who belong in there, but Manning, Adam Vinettieri,
Speaker 1: the incredible kicker in Terrell Suggs all snubbed by the voting,
Speaker 1: And of course people are up in arms about it.
Speaker 1: And as I said, I realized Eli never won an MVP,
Speaker 1: he never got a vote and was only voted to
Speaker 1: the Pro Bowl four times. But as Aaron pointed out,
Speaker 1: look who else was playing quarterback while Eli was playing quarterback?
Speaker 1: Not to mention his brother, but Drew Brees a lot
Speaker 1: of really good Tom Brady. Manning beat Brady twice in
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. Anybody else done that?
Speaker 3: Nope.
Speaker 1: But as I said to Aaron, I would vote Eli
Speaker 1: Manning simply because of what he did in the fourth
Speaker 1: quarter of more than twenty games, more than twenty fourth
Speaker 1: quarter comebacks. He led for the Giants, not a traditionally
Speaker 1: of late strong franchise. So that's why I would take
Speaker 1: him again. I don't know that I would have taken
Speaker 1: him on this ballot, but I do believe he belongs,
Speaker 1: and so does Vinitieri. Come on, Adam Vinettieri is the
Speaker 1: only guy who has won two Super Bowls with kicks,
Speaker 1: and that's not all he's done. If you follow the NFL,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm talking about. He was money twenty
Speaker 1: four years. Adam Vinattieri was phenomenal. He held the NFL
Speaker 1: records for most field goal makes and attempts in NFL history.
Speaker 1: He's the best, and you know how kickers are vital.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's got to go in maybe next year,
Speaker 1: but he's got to go in. And here's the other thing.
Speaker 1: Terrell Suggs doesn't go in. He is eighth all time
Speaker 1: in sacks courier sacks. Okay, Jared Allen does go in,
Speaker 1: He's twelfth all time, So explain that to me. I
Speaker 1: was happy with Sterling Sharp going in. Former packer Jared
Speaker 1: Allen didn't have strong feelings. He's great, Eric Allen great.
Speaker 1: Antonio Gates goes in and belongs in tight end. Here's
Speaker 1: what's cool about that. I got to watch Kent State
Speaker 1: in the twenty oh two Elite eight here in the
Speaker 1: Lexington and Antonio Gates was the center on that team.
Speaker 1: They pulled a couple of upsets, got to the Elite
Speaker 1: eight in rupp Arena went thirty and six that year
Speaker 1: Understan Heath, which led him to some a couple of
Speaker 1: other good jobs that he couldn't hold. Arkansas one of them.
Speaker 1: But Antonio Gates was the six five six, sixth center
Speaker 1: in the mold of Truck Hayes, so he knew he
Speaker 1: wasn't going to the NBA. But a lot of people said, man,
Speaker 1: that guy could be a great tight end, and wouldn't
Speaker 1: you know that's what happened. But the upset Oklahoma State.
Speaker 1: They upset the two seed Alabama. Then here in lexing
Speaker 1: In the upset number three Pittsburgh and lost to Indiana
Speaker 1: in that game. It sent Indiana to the Final four.
Speaker 1: Indiana had just upset Duke a couple nights prior, so
Speaker 1: either way you're going to have kind of a Cinderella.
Speaker 1: Would have been better if it had been Kent State,
Speaker 1: but Indiana knocked off Kent State, thus ending Antonio Gates's
Speaker 1: college basketball career. He turned to football, and wouldn't you know,
Speaker 1: now he's a Hall of Famer. I think that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1: All right, Up next, Evan Buyers of the Kentucky baseball team.
Speaker 1: A little bit later on, Jeremy Jarman talks a lot
Speaker 1: of football with us here on the Big Blue Insiders.
Speaker 1: So come back to the Big Blue Insider, joining us
Speaker 1: now as a veteran of Kentucky baseball and Evan Byer's
Speaker 1: left handed pitcher from Nicholasville. Evan, I remember when you signed,
Speaker 1: I remember when you got here, and I remember, think
Speaker 1: that's cool. I got a local kid, and you know
Speaker 1: he had a nice high school career. I sure hope
Speaker 1: he gets to contribute, and you've done a lot more
Speaker 1: than that. Tell me about going into your red shirt
Speaker 1: senior season and what it's meant to you to develop
Speaker 1: into a guy who has contributed in so many ways
Speaker 1: both on and off the field.
Speaker 6: Yeah, sir, No, it's been an honor to play for Kentucky,
Speaker 6: just like my hometown school and always kind of dreamed
Speaker 6: of being a Wildcat, And it's been cool just to
Speaker 6: see my development over the past five years, you know,
Speaker 6: coming in my red shirt freshman year, coming in with
Speaker 6: Tommy John it was kind of hard to be able
Speaker 6: to like see if I belong here or not, just
Speaker 6: because I wasn't able to contribute, But it was cool
Speaker 6: just kind of seeing how things, you know, went in
Speaker 6: college baseball my freshman year, to learn a lot by
Speaker 6: just watching other guys play and seeing what they do
Speaker 6: and then developing into the picture I am today. Kind
Speaker 6: of changed a little bit of my pitching to philosophy.
Speaker 6: Coach Rozelle helped me to find like a little bit
Speaker 6: of a lower slot on some of my pitches, and
Speaker 6: I think it's kind of helped me out a lot.
Speaker 6: And so seeing my gross here with all the coaches
Speaker 6: meaning to help to develop me into what I am
Speaker 6: today is really cool and I'm super thankful for the
Speaker 6: opportunity to be here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you kind of got off to a little bit
Speaker 1: of a slow start, as you said, what most kids do.
Speaker 1: But the next thing you know, it was a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago and you're pitching in twenty four games.
Speaker 1: Your era was like one point six or something. I mean,
Speaker 1: can you pinpoint anything at that point in your career.
Speaker 1: You made the second most appearances on the team that year.
Speaker 1: What really set that season up for you? Because you've
Speaker 1: been rolling ever since?
Speaker 6: Yes, sir, I mean I kind of got to attribute
Speaker 6: it to my love slot, you know, pitches with coming
Speaker 6: in there, being able to selp the zone and throw strikes.
Speaker 6: I think Coacherzee just harps on that coming in there
Speaker 6: and being able to throw multiple pitches for a strike.
Speaker 6: And when you built the strike zone, you get a
Speaker 6: lot more opportunities to come into some big moments. And
Speaker 6: coach Zelle said, like, I'm a I can throw from
Speaker 6: you know, high slot and a low slot. So it's
Speaker 6: very unique and not many people I've seen that, and
Speaker 6: so just kind of trying to make yourself unique to
Speaker 6: get more of an opportunity is what has really helped me,
Speaker 6: and just working on my low slot stuff this off season.
Speaker 6: Kind of got away from it a little bit last year.
Speaker 6: Kind of finding the group this off season, I think
Speaker 6: is going to help me out a lot and so
Speaker 6: set me up for success this next season.
Speaker 1: I've heard Nick Benngione talk about arm slaught alp before
Speaker 1: our listeners. Explain what you're talking about there and how
Speaker 1: it can really be beneficial if you can, you know,
Speaker 1: as you said, mix.
Speaker 6: Things up, yes, sir, So I throw from where my
Speaker 6: hand placement is like a lot overhead, kind of get
Speaker 6: your normal throwing motion, and then my low slides have
Speaker 6: more of a submarine look, so where I'm throwing it
Speaker 6: and releasing it from a lot lower point kind of
Speaker 6: closer to the ground. And basically what helps me out
Speaker 6: is that I got three pitches over top, I got
Speaker 6: a fasketball changed up on a slider, and I have
Speaker 6: three pitches from my lower slot kind of underneath mind
Speaker 6: shoulder action. So at any point I kind of have
Speaker 6: six different pitches to go to because they all move
Speaker 6: a little bit differently from my upslot to my low slot.
Speaker 6: So it's kind of cool by saying like, hey, like
Speaker 6: I only have three pitches kind of technically right, but
Speaker 6: when you think about it, I have six different options
Speaker 6: to go to and so it just kind of gives
Speaker 6: a hitter to think about a lot to be coming.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you mentioned Dan Roselle and this much I
Speaker 1: know about him. Two things. Number one, you always know
Speaker 1: where you stand with him as a pitcher, right, And
Speaker 1: number two is his mantra is throw strikes. And that
Speaker 1: seems like you think, well duh from a pitching coach,
Speaker 1: But it's not that easy, is it. I mean you've
Speaker 1: got to constantly pound that zone, especially in the sec.
Speaker 6: Yes, certain enough for sure. Like for me, I'm not
Speaker 6: going to go up there and overpowered. I'm not going
Speaker 6: to throw up in the mid nineties nineties.
Speaker 3: That's just not me.
Speaker 6: So one thing that I had to make myself different
Speaker 6: is that I had to be different, but I also
Speaker 6: had to throw strikes and hit my spot. We always
Speaker 6: preach ack entuckuy that it's location, movement velocity, So we
Speaker 6: focus on the location the most in the movement, and
Speaker 6: then at last is the velocity. So like the velocity
Speaker 6: is almost like to carry on top, you know, but
Speaker 6: we really focus on hitting that location. And I mean,
Speaker 6: if you don't throw strikes in this league, you're not
Speaker 6: going to fitch. There's no point. So for all the
Speaker 6: listeners out there that want of you a college baseball player,
Speaker 6: focus on throwing strike, yeah, and then focus on your
Speaker 6: movement and then your velocity.
Speaker 1: We always talk up in the booths, Doug Flynn and
Speaker 1: Darren Hedrick and Coach Madison and I. We always talk
Speaker 1: about soft throwing lefties and how confounding they can be,
Speaker 1: and you're not. You've got good velocity. So I wouldn't
Speaker 1: say you're a soft throwing lefty, but you are one
Speaker 1: of those lefties who can, like you said, move the
Speaker 1: ball around and even against right handed hitters that can
Speaker 1: be confounding. Tell me a little bit about learning to
Speaker 1: pitch that way, yes, sir.
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 6: For like when I came in, you know, everybody wants
Speaker 6: to throw hard. Everybody wants to be that power pitcher
Speaker 6: and blow you away. So I kind of struggled with
Speaker 6: that at the beginning. I'm struggling to be somebody who
Speaker 6: I wasn't. I wanted to go in here and gain
Speaker 6: blocks and throw hard. But kind of like my sophomore year,
Speaker 6: I didn't get like as many innings as I wanted
Speaker 6: to see my red shirt freshman year, right, So, you know,
Speaker 6: talking to coach Rozelle and he's like, hey, we got
Speaker 6: to make you different. And so then I had to
Speaker 6: really trust Coach rozel and just be comfortable with who
Speaker 6: I am as a pitcher and not try to be
Speaker 6: anybody that I'm not, because whenever you start trying to
Speaker 6: be somebody that you aren't is when you get away
Speaker 6: from all the basics. And we just got to trust
Speaker 6: that you're good is good enough.
Speaker 1: We're talking to Evan Byers, Kentucky left handed pitchers. The
Speaker 1: Wildcats open up next week and Evan will be one
Speaker 1: of the if not the key left hand or out
Speaker 1: of the bullpen. Was it difficult, Evan to make that
Speaker 1: change when you know you kind of had to take
Speaker 1: a look inside. You had what four appearances in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two, so you had to make changes, and you
Speaker 1: know you've been you were pitching a certain way all
Speaker 1: your life, but you realized that you needed to change
Speaker 1: the way you were doing business. How tough was that?
Speaker 6: It was a little tough to just try to get
Speaker 6: the mechanics right in the beginning, but I was willing
Speaker 6: to change. I mean, obviously I didn't get the opportunities
Speaker 6: that I wanted that red shirt freshman year, and I
Speaker 6: was willing to do whatever it took to get into
Speaker 6: the lineup to help the team. Yeah, and so when
Speaker 6: you ever, you hear kind of like your backs up
Speaker 6: against the wall. Like my back was up against the
Speaker 6: wall at that moment, you know, after four ings my
Speaker 6: red shirt freshman year, like possibility of me not even
Speaker 6: making the team that next year. You know, there's always
Speaker 6: a possibility when you're playing in these big times schools
Speaker 6: in anywhere. So it was kind of an easy change
Speaker 6: for me in that aspect where it's like, okay, like
Speaker 6: if this is what you want, this has helped me
Speaker 6: get the innings and help me help the team. I'm
Speaker 6: willing to change and it worked.
Speaker 1: When did it When did it become exciting for you?
Speaker 1: When did you say to yourself, Hey, this is this
Speaker 1: is okay?
Speaker 6: Yeah, It's kind of like when I was working a
Speaker 6: little bit in the fall, when I was working on it,
Speaker 6: I was getting some ugly swings and people were like,
Speaker 6: I've never really seen that before. So it's kind of
Speaker 6: cool because you know, just being able to be unique
Speaker 6: and be something that's not really seeing a whole out
Speaker 6: there in college baseball. There's some some guys do it,
Speaker 6: but it's not very common. So to be as unique
Speaker 6: as I am is something that I kind of strive for.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're right about that. I mean we see it's
Speaker 1: the SEC and you know every weekend guys come in
Speaker 1: and you know they're they're throwing upper nineties and even
Speaker 1: touching you know, three figures and uh. And then when
Speaker 1: you bring in a guy like Evan Byers who can
Speaker 1: confound batters, I mean, you know, and you know what
Speaker 1: you're doing out there as well. You've got a plan
Speaker 1: when you when you get to the mound, don't you.
Speaker 6: Yes, there, Yeah, I know kind of have my my
Speaker 6: go to pitches to a right handed batter and to
Speaker 6: left handed batter, And we've been kind of working on
Speaker 6: a little bit of adding some different things because after
Speaker 6: you pitched four years from the SEC, some people pick
Speaker 6: up on some tendency. So being able to kind of
Speaker 6: mix in things and get more comfortable with certain pitches
Speaker 6: against different batters is what's going to, I think help
Speaker 6: me this season. I'm just super excited to get everybody
Speaker 6: together and everybody see the new team, So it's going
Speaker 6: to be exciting.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: When we talk to you guys the last couple of
Speaker 1: years that have been so successful, and every one of
Speaker 1: you mentions the fall. I knew we were going to
Speaker 1: be good after the fall and that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: And Nick said on media day he was really concerned,
Speaker 1: you know, with so many new faces, but by the
Speaker 1: end of fall he felt a lot better. How did
Speaker 1: you feel at the end of fall this year, Evan.
Speaker 6: Yeah, like the first you know, a few weeks of
Speaker 6: the fall kind of coming around, everybody's learning how we
Speaker 6: do things here at Kentucky because we don't have a
Speaker 6: whole lot of returners, and so a lot of returners
Speaker 6: like me, Jackson Novy and Devin Birds really just try
Speaker 6: to focus on teaching everybody what what our program looks like.
Speaker 6: And that's not even like playing wise, like just the
Speaker 6: team culture about the team first mentality being good teammates.
Speaker 6: And so there was a lot of pressure on us
Speaker 6: returners that we are trying to just let this culture
Speaker 6: leed over into the next year. By the at the
Speaker 6: end of the fall, you can see people buying in
Speaker 6: about how to be a good teammate and then buying
Speaker 6: into the small ball culture that we are here at
Speaker 6: Kentucky by focusing on base running and bunting, and by
Speaker 6: no means we'll be perfect by the end of the fall.
Speaker 6: We're still struggling, you know, to lay down buns to
Speaker 6: get the base running correct. But right now we're seeing
Speaker 6: huge strides in it in the small ball area because
Speaker 6: that's what we do here. That's what makes us different,
Speaker 6: that's what makes us put pressure on other teams.
Speaker 1: Mar with u k left hand or Evan Buyers after
Speaker 1: the break here on the Big Blue Siders six thirty WLAP,
Speaker 1: we're talking to Evan Buyers. Evan a left handed pitcher
Speaker 1: with the University of Kentucky from Nicholasville, a red shirt senior,
Speaker 1: and he can't wait to get started. Obviously, when you
Speaker 1: talk about Kentucky and you say small ball, I know
Speaker 1: that Nick ben Gione likes to say, we do whatever
Speaker 1: it takes. It's not just predicated on small ball. And
Speaker 1: really he read off some of the stats from just
Speaker 1: SEC games. Last year. You guys were fourth in home runs,
Speaker 1: so you can you can win any number of ways.
Speaker 1: What's that like when you're out there in a bullpen,
Speaker 1: or you're still on the bench before you go down
Speaker 1: to the bullpen, watching your team manufacture various and sundry
Speaker 1: ways to beat the other guys.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's super exciting because we can see our guys
Speaker 6: just having fun doing like stuff that we do good,
Speaker 6: and you can see the other team just get so
Speaker 6: frustrated on how we manufacture our runs, whether it be
Speaker 6: a home run or we're laying down a bunch to
Speaker 6: put pressure on the third basement, or we're laying the
Speaker 6: threat of the bunch bringing the third basement in and
Speaker 6: then us getting a double down the lone because they're
Speaker 6: so far in because of the bunch. It's frustrated for
Speaker 6: their teams to play us because they think that we
Speaker 6: have like a million ways to score on them. And
Speaker 6: it's true, like we talk about having all the basic
Speaker 6: tools of offense about they running to strike down, discipline, bunteam,
Speaker 6: hitting for situationally just hitting for power. So we kind
Speaker 6: of like to say that we have all those aspects
Speaker 6: of offense in our toolboat. And so when you have
Speaker 6: defenses trying to think about what could possibly be going
Speaker 6: on in this scenario, it speeds up their mind and
Speaker 6: then one thing another might lead to an error or
Speaker 6: a pass ball. So just the pressure of having those
Speaker 6: skills in your tool belt kind of makes it exciting
Speaker 6: to watch on the bench to see the other defense
Speaker 6: kind of like gets sped up a little bit.
Speaker 1: And obviously the community loves it. The crowds have been
Speaker 1: getting bigger and bigger, And we talked about the fact
Speaker 1: that you know, you grew up wanting to be a
Speaker 1: Wildcat from Nicholas Will. You've played at LCA, and I'm
Speaker 1: sure you came to a lot of Kentucky games when
Speaker 1: you were when you were a kid, What did it
Speaker 1: mean to you to see the stadium? I mean, you
Speaker 1: guys have been breaking records with crowds for the last
Speaker 1: couple three years.
Speaker 6: No, it's honestly such a cool thing to see, kind
Speaker 6: of a full circle moment. Went to the regional back
Speaker 6: in twenty seventeen at the Cliff right and was there
Speaker 6: to see that big crowd, And then a full circle
Speaker 6: moment about two years ago when we hosted a regional,
Speaker 6: and then last year we host a regional and a
Speaker 6: super to see these crowds and BB in to show out.
Speaker 6: It's just kind of cool to see how much they
Speaker 6: care about Kentucky baseball. We've seen crowds grow from small
Speaker 6: crowds back here in twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two
Speaker 6: to just huge crowds here in twenty three and twenty four,
Speaker 6: And it's amazing to see how much the fan base
Speaker 6: cares about baseball. You know, we have a big basketball school,
Speaker 6: big football school, but when you see the VbN show
Speaker 6: out to baseball, it just makes you proud to be
Speaker 6: a wild gut.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And the bullpen and the dugout are so vital. I
Speaker 1: guess it's the bullpen before you guys go down to
Speaker 1: the pan from the middle of the game on or whatever.
Speaker 1: But we know how much stock Nick puts in body
Speaker 1: language and being involved and invested in the game. What
Speaker 1: is it like being a part of a team where
Speaker 1: the head coach worries as much about what's going on
Speaker 1: during the game off the field as he does what's
Speaker 1: going on on the field.
Speaker 6: No, I think it's it's awesome. It really just helps
Speaker 6: the guys that maybe not play a whole lot or
Speaker 6: like bullpens pictures, like myself, is that we have value
Speaker 6: in the dugout. Coach benje always harps on two things,
Speaker 6: How you help the team when you're playing, and how
Speaker 6: to helps the team when outside of how and run
Speaker 6: you're playing right, So no matter what, even when you
Speaker 6: aren't playing, like you have a purpose in the dugout,
Speaker 6: you can help the team by bringing energy by just
Speaker 6: cheering guys on, motivating them, picking them up. So it's
Speaker 6: just really cool because it gives you a sense of
Speaker 6: purpose in the dougout and it's super fun when everybody
Speaker 6: just gets super excited, like just with all your buddies
Speaker 6: ain't out in the dugout and just playing baseball and
Speaker 6: having fun. So at the end of the day, it's
Speaker 6: a game we're love to have fun and it's a
Speaker 6: huge aspect to our game to keep our energy up.
Speaker 1: You guys, doll delivered a College World Series appearance to
Speaker 1: the Big Blue Nation. I know how much that meant
Speaker 1: to you. You went three scoreless against Texas A and
Speaker 1: m out in Omaha. That obviously was a thrill for you.
Speaker 1: You wanted to play longer, You guys wanted to stay
Speaker 1: out there longer. But and again you've only got what
Speaker 1: I think fifteen guys back from last year. But what
Speaker 1: did that mean to you, guys? To get that experience
Speaker 1: as you hit it, you got to do it all
Speaker 1: over again, I know, but that's got to just be
Speaker 1: invaluable for your confidence knowing that it can happen.
Speaker 6: Yes, sir, it was cool to bring the first Super
Speaker 6: Regional championship to the DBN, to be able to kind
Speaker 6: of as our names out in the history books, just
Speaker 6: to prove that we can do what it takes to
Speaker 6: get there. And you know, learning how you know, how
Speaker 6: it all went down last season, we kind of know
Speaker 6: what it takes to get there, and that's kind of comforting. Honestly,
Speaker 6: gives us confidence that we know what it takes to win.
Speaker 6: So all we got to do is carried over to
Speaker 6: this year, and so if we just continue to do
Speaker 6: what we focus on as a team and continue to
Speaker 6: do what we do best, it gives me confidence that
Speaker 6: we can make it back there this year. Obviously, you know,
Speaker 6: you never know if things are going to pan out
Speaker 6: in the first few weeks, but I think that we'll
Speaker 6: once we hit our sad, I think it'll be hard
Speaker 6: to stop us. I'm excited to see all the new
Speaker 6: guys just kind of carrying over the culture that we
Speaker 6: started last year, and it's going to be different, you know. Yeah,
Speaker 6: not everything's going to be the same. We have different
Speaker 6: guys on the team, but we're built for a high
Speaker 6: explosive offense kind of just to be stealing bases and bunting,
Speaker 6: you know, hitting those home runs. We need them. But
Speaker 6: I think it's built kind of similar to the offense
Speaker 6: that we have last year. So I'm excited to see
Speaker 6: us finally all work together as a unit and actually
Speaker 6: play a team that you know isn't ourselves.
Speaker 1: Well, and that offense is fun to watch and explosive,
Speaker 1: But you guys used one of the nation's best defenses
Speaker 1: last year and really over the last year or three years,
Speaker 1: And obvious, say with Pete at second base and Grant Smith,
Speaker 1: uh and prior to him, Ryan River at shortstop, when
Speaker 1: you go out there having to pitch the first time
Speaker 1: this year, they're not going to be behind you, obviously,
Speaker 1: and you won't have Waldy running down baseballs and left
Speaker 1: and Nolan and center. So tell me about your confidence
Speaker 1: in this year's defense with all these new faces.
Speaker 6: Right, Yeah, I mean we've I've been blessed since I've
Speaker 6: been here to have an amazing defense behind me, and
Speaker 6: I can be confident again this year. We have some
Speaker 6: some good guys up the middle, like Luke Lawrence and
Speaker 6: Tyler Bell, Patrick Frere at third base, or Ethan Handle
Speaker 6: and the Dylan Kons of their first base or whoever
Speaker 6: it may be. I'm pretty confident in then. Like, obviously
Speaker 6: they're a little bit younger than the guys that we've
Speaker 6: had in the past, right, you know that with when
Speaker 6: you're young, like you're gonna make mistakes, and we all
Speaker 6: know that. But we always talk about when some of
Speaker 6: the might make an air behind you, like they usually
Speaker 6: look at you and say, hey, get me another one.
Speaker 6: I'm ready for the other one. But they've been really
Speaker 6: good about being vocal in the in the infield when
Speaker 6: I'm pitching scrimmages, and I really like that, but like, hey,
Speaker 6: go to the next guy or get us in the
Speaker 6: dugout took us some run. So the encouragement and vocal
Speaker 6: leadership that I've seen us share and like developed that
Speaker 6: communication from the start of the faults and now has
Speaker 6: been a huge growth. And communication is key and I
Speaker 6: truly believe that. So I'm excited to see the defense work.
Speaker 6: There's a lot of guys out there that you'll see
Speaker 6: they will make great plays and hopefully make all the
Speaker 6: routine plays. Yeah, yeah, but it'll be it'll be good
Speaker 6: to see how they all start to connect, drove.
Speaker 1: The season, dominate the routine play well. Finally, I'm curious
Speaker 1: to see what happens in the Dugout dance numbers, music props,
Speaker 1: whatever you guys have. It's got to happen naturally organically.
Speaker 6: Right, Yes, sir, there's a there's a little bit of
Speaker 6: brainstorm and that goes on behind the scenes, but yeah,
Speaker 6: it's definitely gonna happen naturally. I don't think we can
Speaker 6: use all the same stuff we used last year. Wouldn't
Speaker 6: be you know, unique. So usually we have a meeting
Speaker 6: with all the pictures and Trevor Fidz kind of headed
Speaker 6: up as a doug Out Mafia, which is our director
Speaker 6: of player development, and we kind of just start brainstorming
Speaker 6: the things that we want to do. And I have
Speaker 6: a feeling that'll probably be in the next few days
Speaker 6: since our first game is next Friday, so we'll be
Speaker 6: cooking up some good ideas for the DBN to get involved,
Speaker 6: and you'll see some carry over a little bit of
Speaker 6: the same stuff from last year, but We're definitely gonna
Speaker 6: have to do stuff this year as well.
Speaker 1: And you need a new dugout captain, right. I mean
Speaker 1: it was Ryan Hagen now last year, but he's gone, so.
Speaker 6: Yeah, not sure, not sure who that's gonna be. Yeah,
Speaker 6: coach you Minche might nominate somebody. It might just happen organically.
Speaker 6: We'll see how it happened.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, I do thank you for your time
Speaker 1: in best of lu like have a great season.
Speaker 6: Thank you. I really appreciate it and I appreciate you
Speaker 6: having me on tonight.
Speaker 1: At UK left hander Evan Bayer's up next to nour
Speaker 1: number two. Jeremy Jarman of the UK Sports Network, we
Speaker 1: will go deep on Kentucky football here on six thirty
Speaker 1: w lap.
Speaker 7: Any such tact, taking anything, do anything any.
Speaker 8: Welcome back to the Big Blue and sider joining us
Speaker 8: now one of my favorite people, one of my favorite guests,
Speaker 8: and a buddy of mine who is part of our
Speaker 8: UK radio new recoverage of Kentucky football.
Speaker 9: Mister Jeremy Jarman.
Speaker 8: Are you enjoying your off season, sir, with your youngster
Speaker 8: and keeping an eye on the basketball team as well
Speaker 8: as his football team.
Speaker 3: Hey Man, the off season has been great. Can't complain
Speaker 3: good holidays. Did some ice skating with young JJ and Ah.
Speaker 3: He likes being in motion man ice skating, roller skating,
Speaker 3: keeping him keeping him busy. There, wife's good and round
Speaker 3: balls looking great. It's been that's been pretty good. Man.
Speaker 3: How about you?
Speaker 8: You and I talk all the time via text and
Speaker 8: calls whatever, But I believe this is the first time
Speaker 8: I've had you on the air since the season was over,
Speaker 8: and since then, as you know, the portal door has
Speaker 8: been spinning in both directions. Uh, let's talk first, Jeremy
Speaker 8: about the guys in general who have come through, including
Speaker 8: new faces on that old line. As I as I've
Speaker 8: kind of turned the season over, you and I have
Speaker 8: talked about this. So many things happened this It's just
Speaker 8: a strange year. But in terms of lack of success
Speaker 8: over the last three years, in my opinion, I still
Speaker 8: think it comes back to an offensive line that never
Speaker 8: really has found itself.
Speaker 9: Do you see it that way?
Speaker 3: I do see it that way.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 3: These guys, however, individually and coming from you know the
Speaker 3: places they're coming from. These guys have all had success.
Speaker 3: Now you know this hasn't been success on the sec level,
Speaker 3: But that is not an indicator of future success. You know,
Speaker 3: I've been on teams with a lot of guys that
Speaker 3: that didn't play football in the SEC. This is just
Speaker 3: going to come down to, you know, how good of
Speaker 3: a job Eric Wolferd can do pulling these guys together,
Speaker 3: keeping them focused. Uh, these guys, certainly, each one of them,
Speaker 3: I'm sure comes in with different deficiencies. Are they willing
Speaker 3: to get in the weight room, are willing to get
Speaker 3: in the film room? H and become better football players,
Speaker 3: become better leaders and ultimately hold each other accountable.
Speaker 8: You spend your career in college, I assume high school
Speaker 8: as well, and the pros kind of attacking offensive lineman,
Speaker 8: and you talk about deficiencies and everybody has.
Speaker 9: Them, whether they're mental or physical.
Speaker 8: What cand of coach do to try to facilitate a
Speaker 8: group of guys working together as one?
Speaker 3: That was one of the questions I asked Mark going
Speaker 3: into last season. You know, around this time last year,
Speaker 3: was you know, what do you do with so many
Speaker 3: new young faces, Like what's the you know, what's your
Speaker 3: what's your theory, what's your you know, what's your subscription model?
Speaker 3: To figure that out and ultimately, you know, your off
Speaker 3: season when you talk about some of the accountability games
Speaker 3: and things that take place in the off season where
Speaker 3: you divide guys into groups of eight to ten uh,
Speaker 3: and ultimately you just kind of have gold oriented boards
Speaker 3: that guys are able to get points. So just accountability systems,
Speaker 3: you know, that's one of the things. I think some
Speaker 3: of the other stuff is things that are just off
Speaker 3: the field. You know, what kinds of things are you
Speaker 3: encouraging these guys to do amongst themselves to build brotherhood
Speaker 3: and build it quickly but authentically. What kind of challenges
Speaker 3: are you throwing at these guys when they are in
Speaker 3: the weight room to you know, to kind of create
Speaker 3: that sense of camaraderie. I'll tell you you and I've
Speaker 3: talked with Corey Peters and some other former guys over
Speaker 3: the course of the last few weeks, and you know,
Speaker 3: I had a lot of respect for our strength coach,
Speaker 3: Mark Hill, who's now athletic director, but I disliked him
Speaker 3: a lot of days, you know, as as a student athlete.
Speaker 3: And you know, and I still laugh about some of
Speaker 3: that stuff today, you know when I see him, But
Speaker 3: the relationship is real. You should not enjoy. You should
Speaker 3: not like your strength coach while you're an athlete not
Speaker 3: playing football, you shouldn't and and you know, and those
Speaker 3: are the kind of things that I want to see
Speaker 3: and hear come out I think over the course. So
Speaker 3: these these next few months gave I want I want
Speaker 3: to hear stories about how the strength coach is really
Speaker 3: pushing these guys to their absolute genetic mask and challenging them.
Speaker 8: And by the way, Jeremy's referring to the Mark Ollers too,
Speaker 8: to the Mark the one with the CE who's the
Speaker 8: assistant or deputy, a d whatever you want to call it.
Speaker 8: And now Kentucky's strength and conditioning coach is another Mark Hill.
Speaker 8: So you're kind of hoping these guys developed this intense disregard,
Speaker 8: let's say, for him and for coach Edmund.
Speaker 3: For sure, you're offensive line and your defensive line. On
Speaker 3: game base, they have to be absolute, nasty, monocal individuals
Speaker 3: who just enjoy havoc and wreaking havoc and putting their
Speaker 3: hands on people. And that mindset, that mindset like that
Speaker 3: can be built, that can be manufactured, and it has
Speaker 3: to be manufactured, not necessarily in practice. That's where you
Speaker 3: kind of sharpened those that mindset is manufactured in the
Speaker 3: weight room. You know that's mental, you know, throwing weight around,
Speaker 3: moving weight six o'clock in the morning, eight o'clock in
Speaker 3: the morning, just because that's the task at hand, and
Speaker 3: part of that is it's mental. You know, you gotta
Speaker 3: find you got to tap into things that happened to
Speaker 3: you over the course of your college career to get
Speaker 3: through some of those. For me, Gabe, the embarrassment of
Speaker 3: losing the LSU as a redshirt sophomore, those are uncomfortable
Speaker 3: moments that I had to tap into on days that
Speaker 3: I just quite honestly didn't want to train, didn't want
Speaker 3: to work, didn't want a job, didn't want to eat right.
Speaker 3: But those uncomfortable memories are have to be what fuels
Speaker 3: you to be a better player and want to be
Speaker 3: a better teammate.
Speaker 8: That blowout loss down at LSU that had you wondering
Speaker 8: if you were on the right career path on the
Speaker 8: flight home, You've told me that.
Speaker 9: Story many times. And when rich Brooks got home, he
Speaker 9: thought he was on his way out.
Speaker 8: I thought he was gonna have to sell his house.
Speaker 8: But that was really the beginning of the turnaround. I
Speaker 8: think so you're right, And you know, as you talk
Speaker 8: about what happens in the weight room, I think back
Speaker 8: to all the video clips I've seen from Kentucky and
Speaker 8: other schools on social media where somebody is moving an
Speaker 8: enormous amount of weight for the first time, or setting
Speaker 8: a weight room record, or just doing something incredible, and
Speaker 8: he's surrounded by a couple dozen of his teammates cheering
Speaker 8: him on. It might be one rep, it might be
Speaker 8: you know, going for a record number of reps, and
Speaker 8: these guys are screaming like banshees and they celebrate like
Speaker 8: they've just won a big game when it's over. People
Speaker 8: like me, I mean, I tried my best in the
Speaker 8: weight room, but I was never a part of anything
Speaker 8: like that. What do we need to understand about a
Speaker 8: moment like that and what it means to a football team?
Speaker 9: You almost just answered that.
Speaker 3: I think the thing that's not spoken about spoken about
Speaker 3: a lot of those situations is is that here you
Speaker 3: have a guy that is getting ready to potentially break
Speaker 3: a personal record. So the mindset that you have to
Speaker 3: be in right to be willing to to to be
Speaker 3: willing to put yourself in that situation because you can
Speaker 3: get injured weightlifting, right, you know, and also the mental element.
Speaker 3: You got to be in the right mindset to say,
Speaker 3: you know what, I'm going for PR today, personal record, Yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm going for PR today. And to have your teammates
Speaker 3: that are there with you, that are pushing you through.
Speaker 3: I think everybody in the weight room in those moments
Speaker 3: they understand the significance of that because you know, there's
Speaker 3: a mental element. There's a big mental element. Yeah, you
Speaker 3: know you throw that extra five pounds on what difference
Speaker 3: does that extra five pounds make? Well, you know there's
Speaker 3: a mental right. You got to bust through that. You
Speaker 3: got to bust through that wall of where you thought
Speaker 3: for so long that this was this was my this
Speaker 3: was my ceiling. Right, five pounds less, that was good enough.
Speaker 3: But now you're trying to you're trying to beat that,
Speaker 3: and you know that's what that's about. And to be
Speaker 3: surrounded by your brothers or your sisters, you know, in
Speaker 3: moments like that really special. And I remember being in
Speaker 3: those situations, not the ones that I was a part of,
Speaker 3: like per se because the weight's on my back, but
Speaker 3: I remember days Mayron Pryor, I mean, just such a
Speaker 3: strong individual days where we surrounded guys like that in
Speaker 3: the weight room, you know, Micah Johnson, some of the
Speaker 3: guys you know that were extremely strong, or some of
Speaker 3: the guys that were going for vertical vertical leap wrecords
Speaker 3: that have been working and training for those things just
Speaker 3: as important too. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 8: Jeremy Jarman is my guest from the UK Radio Network Day,
Speaker 8: former All Conference.
Speaker 9: Defensive end for the Wildcats.
Speaker 8: We'll talk more football on the other side of the
Speaker 8: break here on six thirty w LAP come back. We're
Speaker 8: talking with Jeremy Jarman of the UK Sports Network. Hey,
Speaker 8: and Logan Stenberg, Christy Thomas anchor our pregame coverage, and
Speaker 8: then you hear Jeremy all over social media, including the
Speaker 8: Big Blue Insider throughout the year and the UK Sports
Speaker 8: Network websites. We were talking earlier about the offensive line
Speaker 8: and I go back and I'm looking at the Big
Speaker 8: Blue Wall and I've talked before with you about how
Speaker 8: it kind of evolved, and really I think it began
Speaker 8: when Drake Jackson took over at center. Because Bunchie Stallings
Speaker 8: was struggling a bit with long snaps. They moved Bunchie
Speaker 8: over to O guard he becomes an All American, Drake
Speaker 8: becomes an All Conference performer. You got Big George Asapo
Speaker 8: a j on that line. You have just incredible talent there.
Speaker 9: But those are guys who developed over a number of
Speaker 9: years now.
Speaker 8: And you and I talked before about how Kentucky with
Speaker 8: the portal is selected or recruited through need. But it's
Speaker 8: a different process now. You know, you don't have guys
Speaker 8: who are maybe in their third year finally getting a
Speaker 8: chance to start. But those first two years when they
Speaker 8: were part of the process were so vital in becoming
Speaker 8: a fabric, part of the fabric of the team. Is
Speaker 8: it possible, Is it fair for us, Jeremy to expect
Speaker 8: a big blue wall kind of response.
Speaker 9: Or I don't know, I don't know what the word is.
Speaker 9: I'm looking for big blue wall.
Speaker 3: Kind of like a resurgence.
Speaker 8: Yeah, when you're building through the portal as much as
Speaker 8: you are recruiting.
Speaker 3: I mean, at the end of the day, they make
Speaker 3: a long yes, no, no, no, it's not unreasonable. I
Speaker 3: think it's very reasonable, you know, to expect these guys
Speaker 3: to transition into this league. They're leveling up, they think
Speaker 3: that they can play in the SEC. They need to
Speaker 3: come with the mindset that they're here to prove it.
Speaker 3: You know. Now it's their job to come here and
Speaker 3: to turn this around and get the moment I'm going.
Speaker 3: You know, the only guy probably on the list that's
Speaker 3: that that we know, without a with without a shadow
Speaker 3: of a doubt, is going to be able to perform
Speaker 3: at this level is Josh Braun. You know, the lineman
Speaker 3: coming from Arkansas formaw let's to see Lineman. Yeah, everybody
Speaker 3: else they check the boxes, size, strength, performance on the tape,
Speaker 3: but it's not until you know, really till September where
Speaker 3: you really know. And even with that, you can't just
Speaker 3: go off for the first body of work because we
Speaker 3: know that longevity, durability that those things have to be there.
Speaker 3: It's not you know, it's not just one game, it's
Speaker 3: you know, it's twelve games in a row game, so
Speaker 3: you got to be durable, uh in the process too.
Speaker 8: Yeah, and you know you got to say healthy non
Speaker 8: conference versus conference play is big. So it's it's a
Speaker 8: great mystery and it's going to play out right in
Speaker 8: front of us. And now there will maybe well there
Speaker 8: will definitely be a new Opening Day QB, whether it's
Speaker 8: cutter Bully or the kid who transferred in or you know,
Speaker 8: we'll know by August obviously, but his success, whichever one
Speaker 8: it is, will depend entirely on that big blue wall.
Speaker 8: That's why I think we're always going to wonder about
Speaker 8: Brock Vandergriff because if you go back Jeremy and look
Speaker 8: at some of his clips from his first three or
Speaker 8: four games, including Ole Miss, he looks like a different
Speaker 8: guy than we saw down the stretch. And not all
Speaker 8: of that's on him, is it?
Speaker 3: It's not all on him. I was concerned about some
Speaker 3: of the shots he took in the Southern Miss game
Speaker 3: in a short and a shortened game, and I think
Speaker 3: I think Brock Vandergriff came to Lexington and gave us
Speaker 3: everything that he had, and you know, there were some
Speaker 3: hits that he took in that game where you know,
Speaker 3: I'm wondering if if it was him or you know,
Speaker 3: or if it was the expectations that had him feeling
Speaker 3: the need to try to run through you know, linebackers,
Speaker 3: and you know, in open field, at the end of
Speaker 3: the day, you're a quarterback and nobody's expecting I shouldn't
Speaker 3: say nobody, but I'm not expecting, you know, Kentucky quarterback
Speaker 3: to be running over linebackers, therefore trying to run over
Speaker 3: linebackers unless it's like a fourth to one situation game
Speaker 3: on the line. I just didn't like some of the
Speaker 3: shots that he took early. I think it compromised him
Speaker 3: and his his mobility and his ability to throw the
Speaker 3: football in the weeks that came after Southern Miss and
Speaker 3: it was just basically it was a it was a seesaw,
Speaker 3: it was a spiral that it most certainly was uncomfortable
Speaker 3: for him for the remainder of the season.
Speaker 8: I wondered if he was trying to match some of
Speaker 8: those spectacular plays that Will Levis made putting his shoulder
Speaker 8: into the chest of a linebacker and that was Will's
Speaker 8: rep But he only did it Jeremy a couple of times.
Speaker 8: He hurtled one guy, but for this, and this was
Speaker 8: a guy who was bigger than vandergriff was. But I
Speaker 8: did wonder that did go through my mind, And there
Speaker 8: were times I'm staying in my mind, get down, get
Speaker 8: down slide.
Speaker 9: But he was going head first, and that was.
Speaker 3: The mo o on him. When you go back and
Speaker 3: you look at what his teammates at Georgia were saying
Speaker 3: that they said he wasn't a guy that shoed away
Speaker 3: from contact. But you know, ultimately, ultimately as the quarterback,
Speaker 3: you have to stay healthy. You got to. You gotta
Speaker 3: be serviceable for the coaches and for your team, and
Speaker 3: you can't. You can't go out there and be something
Speaker 3: that you're not. And that would be the advice that
Speaker 3: I have forzout Zach Calzada coming back into the SEC
Speaker 3: this season. Don't try and be something you're not. Get
Speaker 3: the yards as you can get, slide, dive, whatever you
Speaker 3: need to do, but stay on the field for your
Speaker 3: team and pick and choose those pick and choose those
Speaker 3: moments where you know you show your toughness.
Speaker 8: I talked to our colleague Jeffikoro more than once about this. Uh,
Speaker 8: you mentioned Zach coming in and I've talked about Cutter Bowley.
Speaker 8: Were you surprised given the fact that the staff turned
Speaker 8: the cutter and almost really had to you by the
Speaker 8: end of the year as the starter.
Speaker 9: But went out and got a guy who.
Speaker 8: It looks like he has starting QB written all over him.
Speaker 8: The guy who came through the portal. He didn't come
Speaker 8: here to sit, but he knows he's got to win
Speaker 8: the job, just as Levis did, just as Brock did.
Speaker 8: Were you surprised Kentucky made it a point to go
Speaker 8: I didn't get a guy with starting QB credentials.
Speaker 3: No I'm not. And they owed it to the team
Speaker 3: to go out and get a guy that can come
Speaker 3: in and compete for the starting quarterback job, a guy
Speaker 3: that's got experienced throwing the ball, being dual threat and mobile.
Speaker 3: I think that his skill set in Calzada, I think
Speaker 3: it's very complementary to a team, you know, this team
Speaker 3: where there's still going to be some question marks. Gay,
Speaker 3: we've seen college football and we've seen how it has evolved.
Speaker 3: Now the NFL is following suit. You gotta have you
Speaker 3: got to have a guy on your roster that is
Speaker 3: dual threat. If he's not dual threat, well he better
Speaker 3: be I mean just absolutely an incredible pocket passer. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 3: he's got to be laser sharp. He's got to have
Speaker 3: quick reads. He's got to be willing to get the
Speaker 3: ball out of his hands because you know, he's got
Speaker 3: a scheme, a system of comprehension of the blitz schemes,
Speaker 3: rotations that allow him to process the place quickly where
Speaker 3: he can get the ball out before he gets hit.
Speaker 3: And uh, you know, so going into this season seeing
Speaker 3: these two guys with different skill sets compete, that that's
Speaker 3: what this is about. And we know what the data shows.
Speaker 3: The data shows that whoever's name the starter, that they're
Speaker 3: probably not going to be a starter for at least
Speaker 3: one one or two games or or or or more
Speaker 3: just because you get banged up. That's that's the nature
Speaker 3: of this league.
Speaker 8: Yeah, look at Georgia end of the year, whether it's
Speaker 8: with Carson Beck on the bench. Yeah, you know, and
Speaker 8: some think that's what costs Georgia in the postseason. Everybody's
Speaker 8: blessed like Texas with two guys who could start anywhere
Speaker 8: in the country.
Speaker 9: So, uh but no, you're right.
Speaker 8: I mean, you know, and name of a team that
Speaker 8: goes through a season with a quarterback unscathed, and of
Speaker 8: course whoever's the quarterback will be looking at a different
Speaker 8: for the most part, set of receivers. You got a
Speaker 8: couple guys back, some young guys who are going to
Speaker 8: get an opportunity, but others who have come through the portal.
Speaker 8: I kind of think we've all expected Brian Brown to
Speaker 8: move on. I guess we shouldn't be surprised that Dane
Speaker 8: moved on because he needs to go someplace where he
Speaker 8: can really showcase.
Speaker 9: His skills for the NFL, and that was questionable whether
Speaker 9: he be able.
Speaker 1: To do that here.
Speaker 3: Well, it should have been here, It should have been here.
Speaker 8: Uh and to a point it was, I think, but
Speaker 8: not to the point where you know, we all thought, oh,
Speaker 8: this guy, we thought maybe after I think his first year,
Speaker 8: we wondered what he declare after his third year. But
Speaker 8: I think this new room of receivers in the receivers coach,
Speaker 8: who I know you like a lot, I think the
Speaker 8: balance could end up being a real weapon for the wildcatch.
Speaker 3: Do you Yeah, yeah, it can be. And there's there's
Speaker 3: just you know, there's just there's question marks. And you
Speaker 3: mentioned Dane, and to lose a player of his caliber,
Speaker 3: skill set, being a legacy guy, that just can't happen.
Speaker 3: You know, just very disappointed there. I think that for
Speaker 3: him to continue to grow as a player, I think
Speaker 3: that he needed he needed, uh, you know, stronger performances
Speaker 3: from guys in the wide receiver room as well, guys
Speaker 3: that had the ability to play outside play inside and
Speaker 3: ultimately we got to a point, Gabe, where we had
Speaker 3: games where he was being targeted. Yeah, twelve to fifteen
Speaker 3: times a game.
Speaker 9: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah. And I mean they're just dropping, you know, linebackers
Speaker 3: right into the you know, right right right into the
Speaker 3: under the route. Yeah, you know, in breaking routes and
Speaker 3: stops and curls. Just frustrating. You know, they literally no
Speaker 3: pundit now actually pun intended. They keyed on him, Yeah,
Speaker 3: and they forced other players to try to show that
Speaker 3: they could step up and make some plays. And you
Speaker 3: saw Macklin succeed in some instances down the stretch. Tennessee
Speaker 3: being one of those games when he got a chance
Speaker 3: to get back out on the outside where you know,
Speaker 3: maybe he should have been all year.
Speaker 8: Well, miss made it a point to not only key
Speaker 8: on him, double team him. They interfered with him, and
Speaker 8: he still made big plays. Down in Oxford. We're talking
Speaker 8: to Jeremy Jerman of the UK Sports Network. More to
Speaker 8: come here on six thirty WLAP Welcome Back. We're talking
Speaker 8: with Jeremy Jarman of the UK Sports Network, former Kentucky
Speaker 8: defensive end and now you hear him with Logan Senberg
Speaker 8: and Christy Thomas anchoring our pregame covers. We talked a
Speaker 8: lot about the offense, didn't talk about running backs, But
Speaker 8: I need to.
Speaker 9: Get you over to the defense.
Speaker 8: It's a side where the Wildcats had an okay season
Speaker 8: last year. But I think you and I agree, he
Speaker 8: should have been better personnel moving on from all levels,
Speaker 8: the line, linebackers, Harriston moves on. He's getting some review
Speaker 8: rave reviews now in some of the all star situations.
Speaker 8: The real deal he is, the real deal he is,
Speaker 8: and it's a shame we didn't get to see him
Speaker 8: at his best is last year.
Speaker 3: Here.
Speaker 8: So does the defense and I know how you feel
Speaker 8: about Brad White, but does the defense take a step
Speaker 8: backward this year? And again some guys that come through
Speaker 8: the portal, But it's kind of a mystery right now.
Speaker 1: I think.
Speaker 3: On paper, the defense looks like it's ready to take
Speaker 3: a step back, if not a couple steps back. However,
Speaker 3: the thing about Brad White is that he's shown that
Speaker 3: he can do a lot with a little. He's a
Speaker 3: good chef and he's very creative of how to get
Speaker 3: how to get desirable results, you know, in difficult circumstances.
Speaker 3: It's going to be interesting to see, you know, you know,
Speaker 3: down the stretch. There's times gave where I would have
Speaker 3: liked to have seen more pressure. There's times where I
Speaker 3: look back at last season and I say, you know,
Speaker 3: maybe this team when when I look at how how
Speaker 3: how good this defensive line group was, maybe there's times
Speaker 3: where we should have had four d tackles across the
Speaker 3: across the front at times. Yeah, And you know, you
Speaker 3: can't go back and redo, but I'll be curious in
Speaker 3: the spring with practices and going into the fall to
Speaker 3: see if Brad evolves and maybe gets a little bit
Speaker 3: more aggressive, maybe transitions and puts you know, four hands
Speaker 3: down across the defensive line at times versus the outside
Speaker 3: linebacker edge rush position where it has not been productive
Speaker 3: or as productive as I know that he would like
Speaker 3: over the last few years. And you see us, You
Speaker 3: see two young edged guys basically get into the portal.
Speaker 3: We graduate JJ Weaver and there's a lot of there's
Speaker 3: a lot of room for growth at the edge rush position.
Speaker 3: In his defense, you.
Speaker 8: Lose a talent like Dion Walker, you know, and everybody
Speaker 8: knew from his freshman year on how great he was.
Speaker 9: And he was a guy who allowed some of the
Speaker 9: guys around him to eat.
Speaker 8: I don't know if that happened as much this year
Speaker 8: as you expected or the experts expected.
Speaker 9: But saying goodbye to somebody like that ain't easy, is it.
Speaker 3: It's not easy saying goodbye to Keyshawn Silver, who was
Speaker 3: really good at the nose this year. That was not easy.
Speaker 3: Losing Trevon Ripke, guy with a lot of experienced guy
Speaker 3: that I thought extremely highly of, Octavius Oxen Dye. I mean,
Speaker 3: you just you lose so much beef up front and experience, yeah,
Speaker 3: and experience there that it's man, it is. It's They're
Speaker 3: in a tough spot, they really are. They have to
Speaker 3: get the transfers. They got to get the young players,
Speaker 3: They got to get them ready to play.
Speaker 8: You know, we talked about Hairston, and I keep reminding
Speaker 8: myself that there have been years. One in particular was
Speaker 8: the year after Kentucky had four d backs wind up
Speaker 8: in NFL camps and we all wondered, what in the
Speaker 8: you know, what are they gonna do? How are they
Speaker 8: gonna And they were fine the next year because they
Speaker 8: had developed, recruited, developed, coached.
Speaker 9: The guys and built depth.
Speaker 8: And I do think that's something while they weren't haven't
Speaker 8: been able to do that with the O line, I
Speaker 8: think they have been able to do that. Jeremy with
Speaker 8: a d BacT, which is a tribute to whoever's been
Speaker 8: a D backs coach through the years, and Brad White
Speaker 8: and Mark Stoops because you know how he feels about
Speaker 8: kind of pitching in and helping with D backs.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I think at the cornerback position, I
Speaker 3: think Chris Collins has done an excellent job of coaching
Speaker 3: that group. That guy, that guy is a he's an
Speaker 3: up and coming star at the position. The year that
Speaker 3: Tarryan Nichols. Uh, the emergence of JQ Hardaway at those
Speaker 3: positions legitimized him. And you know in this defense, I
Speaker 3: thought Tarryan was was excellent at times. Matchup at Old
Speaker 3: Miss against all the first team All America. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 3: taller than him by two to three inches, thought he
Speaker 3: competed extremely well. They're huge PBu there in a big
Speaker 3: play situation in the second half. Uh, there's a lot
Speaker 3: to like. There's a lot to like there at the
Speaker 3: cornerback position. You know, you bump back inside and you
Speaker 3: look at the you know, you look at the linebackers
Speaker 3: and you know there's some tough losses there to overcome. Yeah,
Speaker 3: the kind of losses that could make it hard on
Speaker 3: the back back in for the corners and the safeties.
Speaker 8: You talked about how offenses now need quarterbacks who can
Speaker 8: run it in throw it, and you know it's interesting.
Speaker 8: Generally things trickle down, as you know, you played in
Speaker 8: the NFL, but now that dual threat QB stuff looks
Speaker 8: like it's moving up. You know, whether the pros are
Speaker 8: borrowing more from the college game when it comes to
Speaker 8: the playoff. I mean, look at the qbs in the
Speaker 8: Super Bowl coming up and Jalen Hurts, who's not quite
Speaker 8: the runner that Patrick Mahomes, but they're crafty. Right. How
Speaker 8: of defenses had to adjust and become more I don't know, intricate,
Speaker 8: if you will, more complex.
Speaker 9: To handle this kind of offense.
Speaker 3: I think it's just the incorporation of more speed off
Speaker 3: the edge. You're seeing teams get really smart about how
Speaker 3: they're coming off the edge, who they're coming off of
Speaker 3: it with. You know what I'm saying, I'm seeing hybrid
Speaker 3: safeties now coming off the edge as as an offensive
Speaker 3: line as often to tackle your kick slide has to
Speaker 3: be perfect. With a guy that's potentially a ten yard split,
Speaker 3: he's you know, the safety's four four four five guy,
Speaker 3: you know, his ten yard split may be you know,
Speaker 3: one four. Your kickslide has to be perfect, you know.
Speaker 3: So I think these teams doing a good job of
Speaker 3: trying to counter some of you know, counter some of
Speaker 3: the things that they're seeing with you more blitzes, more
Speaker 3: chips from the tight ends, more quick game.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 3: And when I look at us last year, I'm certain
Speaker 3: that one of the things that really hindered, really hindered
Speaker 3: Bush Hamden is the lack of mobility of our offensive
Speaker 3: line last year. A lack of mobility, and we needed
Speaker 3: those guys to be able to get out in space
Speaker 3: for quick hitting screens. And when you can't hit teams
Speaker 3: that are aggressive pass rushers with screens gave, that's difficult
Speaker 3: for an offensive coordinator. So I'm hopeful that with this
Speaker 3: incoming group of offensive linemen that these guys are having
Speaker 3: the kind of off season that they need to have,
Speaker 3: being able to get out in space, wait underneath their
Speaker 3: knees and their toes, able to catch contact with smaller
Speaker 3: defenders to aid in an offense that Bush Hampdon is
Speaker 3: going to deploy this fall.
Speaker 8: We'll come back and finish up with Jeremy Jarman in
Speaker 8: just a minute here on six thirty WLAP.
Speaker 1: Welcome back.
Speaker 8: We're talking with Jeremy Jerman of the UK Sports Network
Speaker 8: and we've kind of gone through offense and defense quickly,
Speaker 8: and we will do this through spring in summer. But
Speaker 8: haven't had a chance to talk to double JS since
Speaker 8: the season ended here on the air. We talk all
Speaker 8: the time via text and phone calls, but I've talked
Speaker 8: a little bit through the weeks following the season in
Speaker 8: Jeremy about Mark Stoops and what he came here to
Speaker 8: do and how he pledged the day he was hired
Speaker 8: to do it, and that was hard work recruiting and
Speaker 8: he said more than what's no shortcuts, but evaluate, recruit, sign, develop,
Speaker 8: in other words, coach kids into becoming SEC players, you know,
Speaker 8: multiple kids, And that's exactly how he got this program
Speaker 8: to a tend win situation on more than one occasion
Speaker 8: and had us talking about man one more win and
Speaker 8: maybe they're in the SEC title game.
Speaker 9: That kind of thing.
Speaker 8: With the portal in the NIL, he's clearly not happy
Speaker 8: and I think it's unfortunate. He can't really coach, and
Speaker 8: most coaches can't the way they want to coach, you
Speaker 8: know what I mean.
Speaker 9: And by that I mean develop a program. But you
Speaker 9: got to adjust, don't you.
Speaker 3: You got to adjust, and you got to be authentic.
Speaker 3: And I think that that's the thing about Mark that
Speaker 3: I've always I've always liked this and with them and
Speaker 3: and his staff, these Youngstown guys, is that they're authentic guys.
Speaker 3: And at the end of the day, at the end
Speaker 3: of the day, these players, your former players, they will
Speaker 3: continue to helping age you and recruiting if you just
Speaker 3: if you're just honest, upfront with the kids and the parents,
Speaker 3: you ask for consent to push them hard, coach them hard,
Speaker 3: love on them when they need to be loved on,
Speaker 3: and grind them when they need to be grinded, and
Speaker 3: and and and and everybody can look back at the
Speaker 3: memories that were that were made, uh, And I think
Speaker 3: that that's what it is. This is this is a
Speaker 3: situation that I know Mark can dig himself out of
Speaker 3: if he wants to, if he wants to dig in.
Speaker 3: You know, had a chance to be at the table
Speaker 3: with him when he first came in and I saw
Speaker 3: how he put the frank and the beans on the
Speaker 3: table and was willing to do whatever it took to
Speaker 3: get Kentucky football torrelevance. And he did that and he
Speaker 3: deserves the opportunity to to do that again. To hell
Speaker 3: the fan base. I know that we're in a tough situation,
Speaker 3: but this is how we're gonna get out of it.
Speaker 3: You know, this is how we got it. I think
Speaker 3: that our fan base is is smarter than what you know,
Speaker 3: people like you and I, former players, media people give
Speaker 3: them credit for. You know, I get online and I
Speaker 3: see the posts and comments, and I can't interact with
Speaker 3: a lot of them. I don't think that our bosses would,
Speaker 3: you know, would would appreciate would But we have a
Speaker 3: very intelligent fan base that deserves the truth. They deserve transparency,
Speaker 3: and I'm hopeful that Mark will give them that in
Speaker 3: terms of just saying, hey, this is how we're gonna
Speaker 3: do this thing. And with that, the recruits that are
Speaker 3: coming in the expectation has got to be, hey, I'm
Speaker 3: bringing you in here to compete. This is and ay,
Speaker 3: hey I get you ready next year, I'll get you
Speaker 3: ready into you We're gonna redshirt you. No, this is
Speaker 3: mom Dad. I expect you to be up here, have
Speaker 3: lodging this fault, you know, every week every weekend for
Speaker 3: home games, because I'm expecting your son to be on
Speaker 3: the football field helping us win games. And if he
Speaker 3: can graduate and get here in January or you know, great,
Speaker 3: but you know, if he can't get here to June
Speaker 3: and July, then we'll get him. We'll get him ready.
Speaker 8: Then Ohio State spent an enormous amount of money and
Speaker 8: one a national championship. Uh. Most people believe a led
Speaker 8: to be led to see. Uh, it may have, but
Speaker 8: you've got to wonder is that the answer?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 9: Can you fix this problem by throwing more money at it?
Speaker 8: And if that's the answer, there are not a lot
Speaker 8: of schools that can that can compete like that, you
Speaker 8: know what I mean.
Speaker 3: I'm adamant that you can't buy your way into heaven
Speaker 3: and you know, but but it can help, you know,
Speaker 3: if you're blessing you're you're in a football rich state
Speaker 3: like like the state of Ohio, with the kind of
Speaker 3: boosters that they have. Those kids that go to Ohio State,
Speaker 3: they know what the they know what the assignment is,
Speaker 3: and you know, they have a culture that demands excellence.
Speaker 3: So I just think what coach days. I think he's
Speaker 3: an outstanding coach. I know that there's probably ten to
Speaker 3: twenty percent of Ohio State fan base right now. They
Speaker 3: may still disagree with that despite this post recent national championship.
Speaker 3: But he's a good ball coach and he knows what
Speaker 3: he's doing. And so you gotta have enough resources to
Speaker 3: be able to get to get the right prototype, the
Speaker 3: right physeeke onto campus. But once they get the campus,
Speaker 3: I mean there's not a ton of separation between athletes
Speaker 3: from school to school, like when you talk about this
Speaker 3: first dring versus this first dring. We take the weight room,
Speaker 3: we go out and we do in recess. I remember
Speaker 3: in first grade through fifth grade, we go out and
Speaker 3: we do phield day, and we do the bag jump
Speaker 3: and we do the Listen. These guys are pretty comparable
Speaker 3: across the board strength. You know, short shuttle et cetera.
Speaker 3: Shuttle and you got a few outliers. You got a
Speaker 3: few avatars that fall outside of that. But I mean
Speaker 3: this is when I look at the losses and things.
Speaker 3: These losses aren't because we had a guy that was
Speaker 3: too slow or man, we needed a guy to have
Speaker 3: a higher vertical. It wasn't that. This is discipline, This
Speaker 3: is guys needing to lock in and be engaged. This
Speaker 3: isn't this isn't a this isn't a talent. You know,
Speaker 3: last season the four and eight, it wasn't talent deficiency.
Speaker 3: You're not going to sell me on that, and I'm
Speaker 3: not going to push that narrative execution, execution from the top,
Speaker 3: from the top down. You know, are the guys ready
Speaker 3: to play? Are they confident? Do they have the ability
Speaker 3: to recognize the changes that the coordinators are throwing at them.
Speaker 3: I saw guys where it appeared that some guys froze
Speaker 3: in some moments. You know, maybe some moments were too
Speaker 3: big for guys. Guys couldn't adapt to pre snap movement.
Speaker 3: But now, this this wasn't a talent This wasn't a
Speaker 3: talent deficient football team. I mean, this team's got a
Speaker 3: lot of pros on it, and we're gonna see that
Speaker 3: here in the coming months as these guys get drafted.
Speaker 8: I have less than two minutes left. What are you
Speaker 8: going to be looking for here in the spring? I
Speaker 8: know it's probably a long laundry list or is it now?
Speaker 3: For me, it's pretty simple. I want to see which
Speaker 3: young players are going to make plays this spring. That
Speaker 3: to me, that's all I'm focused on. I think everything
Speaker 3: else I think with the transfer guys, I think that
Speaker 3: that will take care of itself. I want to see
Speaker 3: the red shirt freshmen, the sophomores that have taken a
Speaker 3: jump and are ready to make an impact this fall.
Speaker 3: I want to see that list. That's the only list
Speaker 3: I want to see.
Speaker 9: I would love to see a blue white game, wouldn't
Speaker 9: Would that help?
Speaker 8: I got to think, I mean the fan we would
Speaker 8: help the fan base, but would that help us everybody
Speaker 8: figure out who those guys are?
Speaker 3: I think it would help everybody, And I think it
Speaker 3: would help the players because now you're able to You're
Speaker 3: you're able to create this this you know, this pseudo
Speaker 3: game day atmosphere and and and and simulate what could
Speaker 3: be perceived as pressure for some young guys. And I
Speaker 3: like any time you get a chance to do that.
Speaker 8: Yeah, here is Jeremy Jermy. He is a vital part
Speaker 8: of our coverage of Kentucky football. He and Logan Stenburg
Speaker 8: Christy Thomas set the table force on game Day with
Speaker 8: pregame coverage of the Wildcat football games each and every fall,
Speaker 8: and we're looking forward to it. It's going to be
Speaker 8: here before long. Double Jays will see you with practice.
Speaker 3: I hope sounds good, Gabe. I appreciate it. You're definitely
Speaker 3: gonna see me out there.
Speaker 1: And I can't wait. Hope you enjoyed this hour we
Speaker 1: spend with Jeremy talking football. We haven't had a chance
Speaker 1: to talk much with Jeremy Jarman as the offseason war on,
Speaker 1: so we thought we would get caught up. And since
Speaker 1: I recorded that, as you can tell, I have come
Speaker 1: down with a little bit of a cold just in
Speaker 1: time for the weekend. But I'll still enjoy the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl and I wanted to share this with you about
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. You always look for Kentucky connections, at
Speaker 1: least I do. And we talked about Darien Canard who
Speaker 1: now plays for the Eagles, and if you hadn't heard already,
Speaker 1: he won two with the Chiefs as a backup. Now
Speaker 1: he's a backup with the Eagles, so if the Eagles
Speaker 1: win the Super Bowl, he will win his third consecutive
Speaker 1: Super Bowl ring. And they keep talking about Ken Norton
Speaker 1: junior is the only guy who's done it, which is
Speaker 1: true Super Bowls. That is, the Packers won three straight titles.
Speaker 1: But Ken Norton Junior, you know, played for the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: Cowboys then sides with the Niners and they beat the
Speaker 1: Cowboys in the Super Bowl. So Canard can win his
Speaker 1: third ring if the Eagles win it. But there are
Speaker 1: other Kentucky connections to this Super Bowl, believe it or not.
Speaker 1: You've got Ethan Driscoll, who is from Louisville, went to
Speaker 1: Holy Cross High School, played his college football at Marshall
Speaker 1: and was undrafted, but fought his way into the NFL
Speaker 1: and now he's with the Chiefs, so he could win
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl ring. Mackai Becton played at u of
Speaker 1: L for three years. He was a really good blocker
Speaker 1: at u of L, good old lineman, first team All
Speaker 1: Conference starting guard for the Eagles. So the Louisville Cardinals
Speaker 1: have a starter on the Eagles O line. But you've
Speaker 1: also got Jason Michael on the Eagles coaching staff. He's
Speaker 1: the tight ends coach. He was the starting QB on
Speaker 1: Western Kentucky's ONEAA national championship team back in twenty oh two.
Speaker 1: But you got one more, Bobby King. I had never
Speaker 1: heard of this guy. He went to Trinity High School,
Speaker 1: my school, and I had to dig and find out
Speaker 1: where he went to college. He went to Texas L
Speaker 1: Paso and played there. He is the Eagles inside linebackers coach.
Speaker 1: And get this, that job became available when Dj Elliott,
Speaker 1: Kentucky's former defensive coordinator left the Eagles. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: done nothing but college football up until that point. He
Speaker 1: was a Temple as the de coordinator and outside linebackers coach.
Speaker 1: So he just moves across town takes a job with
Speaker 1: the Eagles last year in twenty twenty three, I should say,
Speaker 1: as inside linebackers coach under Nick Sirianni. Then he leaves
Speaker 1: in December of twenty four to become the NC State
Speaker 1: de coordinator and linebackers coach, and that opens up the
Speaker 1: spot for Bobby King, the former trendy shannows. Now you
Speaker 1: have it all right, enjoy the Super Bowl. Everybody, have
Speaker 1: a great weekend. That said good night from the garage
Speaker 1: and Lexington.
Speaker 3: We read it must be going.
Speaker 9: Thank you for a memorable afternoon.
Speaker 7: Usually one must go to a bowling alley to meet
Speaker 7: a woman of your stat.
Speaker 10: Child such tact to.
Speaker 7: Back outsta.
Speaker 3: To the.
Speaker 7: Tip and then too