Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue and sider Dick Gabriel with
Speaker 1: you on a Monday edition of our program twelve days
Speaker 1: away from College Football East from Kentucky Football. There are
Speaker 1: some games this week, including the Dublin Ireland Game, Georgia
Speaker 1: Tech and Florida State. But the Wildcats open up, as
Speaker 1: you know, on the thirty first against Southern Miss at
Speaker 1: Kroger Field, a game you will hear right here on
Speaker 1: six thirty wlap. Tom Leech, Jefpichory, yours truly with all
Speaker 1: the action, including our pregame crew. So we're looking forward
Speaker 1: to obviously do every football season, but I was looking
Speaker 1: forward to seeing the Wildcats Saturday. I actually went to
Speaker 1: the scrimmage, and I don't go to all of them,
Speaker 1: but I ask for permission because it's closed to the media,
Speaker 1: and while I am yes on the UK Network, I
Speaker 1: also talk to you guys every weeknight. Now. Jeff Picorro,
Speaker 1: sports director at Channel thirty six, also has to balance
Speaker 1: being a member of the UK Network and a media
Speaker 1: member and Tom Leach, of course with a radio show
Speaker 1: on this very state. So basically what we do is
Speaker 1: agree to keep everything we see in this scrimmage or
Speaker 1: to practice, it may not be open to the public.
Speaker 1: We keep it off the record, quote unquote, So I
Speaker 1: would like to tell you more about what I saw,
Speaker 1: but I have agreed not to. I will tell you
Speaker 1: this that Mark Stoops talked about it, and we noticed it,
Speaker 1: of course in the practice that the starter's got some work,
Speaker 1: but they looked a lot at the twos and the
Speaker 1: threes as they're looking to build depth, obviously, and that
Speaker 1: was one of the first things Stoops talked about when
Speaker 1: he spoke with us after the scrimmage.
Speaker 2: You know last week when I spoke to you, I said,
Speaker 2: I thought we got out of this scrimmage unscathed, and
Speaker 2: that didn't really happen. There's a few things that popped
Speaker 2: up on us after that. Two guys that have some
Speaker 2: significant time missed that were important to us. But other
Speaker 2: than that, just pumps and bruises. Few days, some guys
Speaker 2: that missed a little bit of time. This week with
Speaker 2: this scrimmage, we did a lot of work with the
Speaker 2: younger guys. We feel like there's some young talent that
Speaker 2: needs to just play football, and we did that and
Speaker 2: got the ones some good work as well.
Speaker 1: And Stoots later said that they as far as he
Speaker 1: knew at that moment. This was, you know, twenty minutes
Speaker 1: after the scrimmage, no injuries to report, No serious injuries
Speaker 1: after that scrimmage, So I'll be's always good news. Obviously,
Speaker 1: everybody always wants to know about the quarterbacks, and Brock
Speaker 1: Vandergriff likely will be the starter. But Stoops talked about
Speaker 1: the fact that and it's interesting given the fact they've
Speaker 1: had issues through the years about quarterback depth not a
Speaker 1: problem this year, as you know, with Vandergriff transferring in,
Speaker 1: bo Allen comes back, Gavin Wimsy transfers in from Rutgers,
Speaker 1: and Cutter Bully signs apparently the quarterback of the future.
Speaker 1: So Stoops likes the quarterback room a lot.
Speaker 2: Absolutely no knock to anybody that's been here for but
Speaker 2: like as a group, I mean, the four guys that
Speaker 2: we have, I have so much confidence in. It's a
Speaker 2: really good group. And that's really helpful because as you know,
Speaker 2: things have happened in the past, and as you know
Speaker 2: with the portal, sometimes when you have guys, other guys leave.
Speaker 3: And it leaves you thin.
Speaker 2: And I feel like we were in a really good
Speaker 2: situation with the quarterback room. I really do and I
Speaker 2: just told them that that I have confidence in all
Speaker 2: of them. We don't want anybody to get hurt, but
Speaker 2: it lets you have the confidence to let the guys
Speaker 2: go play and just just go play the game. And
Speaker 2: we all know the game is physical and things happen
Speaker 2: and we don't want that to anybody. But I really
Speaker 2: do feel good about the depth, and I feel like
Speaker 2: all four guys could play.
Speaker 1: And again, I wish I could tell you more about
Speaker 1: what I saw on the scrimmage, but I will say this,
Speaker 1: first of all, I'm not entirely sure what I'm seeing
Speaker 1: because I'm not an expert. A lot of former players
Speaker 1: there and they are, but they all look pretty good
Speaker 1: to me, all the quarterbacks. I stopped trying to judge
Speaker 1: how well the team executes in practice when it comes
Speaker 1: to the passing game and things like that for two reasons.
Speaker 1: Number One, as Stoops has pointed out, is it because
Speaker 1: the offense is playing well or the defense is not,
Speaker 1: or vice versa. Is the defense dominating or is the
Speaker 1: offense screwing up? So there's that. But I've talked about
Speaker 1: this before the season, going into what turned out to
Speaker 1: be how mummies last year at Kentucky the summer, I
Speaker 1: should say, went to a lot of practices. They looked great,
Speaker 1: but what were they doing throwing the ball around either
Speaker 1: against just token defense or air And of course in
Speaker 1: the air raid with the guys they had it was
Speaker 1: Jared Lorenzen and some really good receivers never dropped the ball.
Speaker 1: They looked great. Then he went out and won two games.
Speaker 1: And I'll never forget when people were so excited as
Speaker 1: well they should have been about the air raid with
Speaker 1: Tim kouch I said, remember now when it's not working,
Speaker 1: this offense is dreadful because nobody wants to see the
Speaker 1: ball skittering along the ground or receivers obviously dropping passes.
Speaker 1: And that's what happened Mummy's last year. And you all
Speaker 1: the fans, for the most part, at least the most
Speaker 1: vocal fans, couldn't wait to get rid of them. They've
Speaker 1: gone to two ball games back to back. But then
Speaker 1: they laid that big egg and Mummy actually got fired
Speaker 1: because of NCA improprieties. But they were terrible that year,
Speaker 1: so I quit trying to figure it out. I'll leave
Speaker 1: that to the experts. Speaking of experts, a lot of
Speaker 1: people thought Mitchell Trubisky would flop in the NFL, which
Speaker 1: he has so far. He is on what his third
Speaker 1: team now drafted by the Bears, played four years that
Speaker 1: didn't work out, then Buffalo for a season as Josh
Speaker 1: Allen's back up, two years in Pittsburgh where he started
Speaker 1: for a little while, but that didn't work out. Now
Speaker 1: he's back in Buffalo trying to win a roster spot,
Speaker 1: and last night threw a pick against those same Steelers
Speaker 1: and announcer Bob Popp piano from Pittsburgh. They're a little
Speaker 1: shade his way.
Speaker 3: Neither team has crossed the fifty yard line. Trubisky now
Speaker 3: over the middle, looking deep and it's going to be picked.
Speaker 1: Off right there.
Speaker 3: That's Miles killerber raising for the Steelers, Killer Brow, who's one.
Speaker 1: Of the best.
Speaker 3: Well here so far, neither team has crossed the fifty
Speaker 3: yard line. Trubisky now over the middle, looking deep, and
Speaker 3: it's going to be picked off right there. That's Miles
Speaker 3: Killiberg raising for the Steelers, Killer Brow, who's one of
Speaker 3: the best his special teams, trying to make an a
Speaker 3: for himself in the safety position. An overthrown by Trubisky.
Speaker 3: Not sure what happened, but Miles, Killerbrow says, thank you
Speaker 3: very much. The interception and drafts Now the Steelers can
Speaker 3: get things going on offense. We've seen a lot of
Speaker 3: that with Trubisky and Pittsburgh over the year. Is one
Speaker 3: of the reasons why he's no longer here. But clearly
Speaker 3: an overthrown at. Killerbrew has to be extremely happy.
Speaker 1: Ouch, But such is the life of an NFL quarterback.
Speaker 1: He was drafted basically on half the season he played
Speaker 1: at North Carolina. Best of luck to him. I will
Speaker 1: say Ray Davis a good game. I didn't get to watch.
Speaker 1: Don't know if he started the game, not that it matters,
Speaker 1: but he led the Bills in carries with eight actually
Speaker 1: tied with Frank Gore Junior, but led the Bills with
Speaker 1: fifty eight yards. That's more than seven yards per carry.
Speaker 1: The only thing that surprised me is according to the
Speaker 1: box score, he did not catch a pass. I don't
Speaker 1: know if they targeted him or not, but he did
Speaker 1: not catch a pass. And I expect him to do
Speaker 1: that for the Bills. But you know he can carry
Speaker 1: the ball. You know he's a willing blocker, and you
Speaker 1: know he's playing for a good team with one of
Speaker 1: the best quarterbacks in the National Football League, So you
Speaker 1: got to like his chances not just to make the team,
Speaker 1: but to produce for the Buffalo Bills. When we come back,
Speaker 1: just how highly rated is Tyler Bill, Kentucky's incoming freshman shortstop.
Speaker 1: It might surprise you here on the Big bullon Siders
Speaker 1: six thirty wlap Welcome back to the Big Blullonsider. Coming
Speaker 1: up in a few minutes, lots of football chatter are
Speaker 1: going to hear from Van Hiles, the former Kentucky defensive back.
Speaker 1: You hear him now and then on Sunday Morning Sports
Speaker 1: Talk with Anthony White, one of our favorite football chattering guests,
Speaker 1: of course, the former dB for the Wildcats, now living
Speaker 1: in Louisiana, but he breaks down UK video on Twitter
Speaker 1: or ex or whatever you want to call it on
Speaker 1: driving with Styles, So great way to learn football. As
Speaker 1: Aaron gershad of the cast pause, he was there when
Speaker 1: we chatted with Mark Tuobs and the players on Saturday,
Speaker 1: and he of course covers football, baseball, basketball for the
Speaker 1: Cat's Pause online and in the pages of the Cats Balls.
Speaker 1: A little bit later on as well, we'll hear from
Speaker 1: Kentucky track and field coach Loney green back from Paris
Speaker 1: where he witnessed just a tremendous performance by UK current
Speaker 1: and former athletes over there, and we'll talk with him
Speaker 1: and hear from him and some of the athletes about
Speaker 1: their experience at the Olympics. Earlier this afternoon, it was
Speaker 1: UK's volleyball media day and because we pre record, I
Speaker 1: couldn't turn that around for tonight's show. We'll have a
Speaker 1: whole lot about UK volleyball on tomorrow night show, and
Speaker 1: of course I'll get a chance to do some of
Speaker 1: their games on SEC Plus the streaming channel. But Kentucky
Speaker 1: very popular, so a majority of the Wildcat games will
Speaker 1: be on the non linear channel. You'll be able to
Speaker 1: see them on the SEC network. As Kentucky will try
Speaker 1: for an eighth consecutive SEC championship, is going to be
Speaker 1: a lot tougher now, with of course Texas and Oklahoma
Speaker 1: in the SEC now. But the Wildcats are good. How
Speaker 1: good are they well? On the SEC Volleyball Preview show
Speaker 1: over the weekend, Missy Whitmore, one of the volleyball analysts
Speaker 1: for the network, likes the chances of this team, which
Speaker 1: is standing on the shoulders, as she points out of
Speaker 1: the national title team from three years ago.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm really excited to see what the flavor is
Speaker 4: of the Wildcats this year. Because we talked about that
Speaker 4: national championship. Well, that group of players has filtered through
Speaker 4: now and so this group has an opportunity to really
Speaker 4: create an identity for themselves. And traditionally, the identity of
Speaker 4: Kentucky has been all about building on great libroplay and
Speaker 4: great setters. And Kentucky has both of those things this season.
Speaker 4: And you add to that Brooklyn Delay a young star
Speaker 4: in this game, and I think the recipe for success
Speaker 4: is there, and if anyone can do it, it's Craig Skinner.
Speaker 4: Brick By Brick, he has built that program.
Speaker 1: That's Missy. Whatmore of the sec Neil work And as
Speaker 1: I said, we'll have much more about the volleyball Wildcats
Speaker 1: tomorrow right here on the Big Blue Insider while we're
Speaker 1: talking UK sports. In this segment, interesting meme or whatever
Speaker 1: you want to call it, graphic on Instagram Prep Baseball Publishing.
Speaker 1: It's back to school top one hundred class of twenty
Speaker 1: four prospects headed to college baseball, and it probably comes
Speaker 1: as no surprise that a kid named William Schmidt is
Speaker 1: number one, and he's heading for LSU. Number two on
Speaker 1: that list, Tyler Bell, the Kentucky shortstop, turned down big
Speaker 1: money from professional baseball. He wants to play at Kentucky
Speaker 1: for I think he can play two years before he's
Speaker 1: drafted because of his age. That's a huge get for
Speaker 1: Nick Minjione and his program. Because who's next? Charlie Bates
Speaker 1: going to stand for the next kids going to Tennessee.
Speaker 1: Here's a surprise though, The fifth number five kid on
Speaker 1: the list is named Anderson French. He's going to Virginia Tech.
Speaker 1: You don't hear about Virginia Tech much when you hear
Speaker 1: about college baseball. But the usual powers are scattered throughout
Speaker 1: this ranking. They listed the top twenty five. Lots of
Speaker 1: SEC kids, but Kentucky's Tyler Bell rated the number two
Speaker 1: high school prospect heading for college baseball by Prep Baseball's website. So,
Speaker 1: like I said, what a great get for Nick minjeon
Speaker 1: And before long he'll be working and practicing. Fall baseball
Speaker 1: is vital, the practices, the inner squad games. They can
Speaker 1: every now and then bring in another team and scrimmage
Speaker 1: and whenever we talked with Kentucky's best teams, under menji
Speaker 1: on the regional title teams. There are teams that had
Speaker 1: any kind of success, And when they talked about preparing
Speaker 1: for the season and we would say did you have
Speaker 1: any idea you'd be this good? They always go back
Speaker 1: to the fall. Yeah, we knew back in the fall
Speaker 1: that we had talent. We knew back in the fall
Speaker 1: that we had the kind of desire and the kids
Speaker 1: it would take to put together a good team. So
Speaker 1: fall baseball is vital, and this year it will include
Speaker 1: Tyler Bell among others for the Wildcats. Pretty good get
Speaker 1: for Nick Minjiem. While we're on baseball, the Reds with
Speaker 1: a pickup and if you're a Reds fan still holding
Speaker 1: out hope that your team might just do something this year,
Speaker 1: the Reds claimed Ahmed Rosario off waivers. The Dodgers let
Speaker 1: him go. This guy's hitting three TOZH five and the
Speaker 1: Dodgers designated him for assignment, meaning they were setting him down.
Speaker 1: But the Reds and that also means that somebody else
Speaker 1: can pick him up, and the Reds grabbed him off waivers.
Speaker 1: He only played like seven or eight games in LA
Speaker 1: and did well. They had traded with the Tampa Bay
Speaker 1: Race to get him just before the deadline as insurance
Speaker 1: against injuries. The Dodgers did, but Mookie Bets is back,
Speaker 1: he is healthy, and so they really had no need.
Speaker 1: Didn't have enough room on the roster for Rosario hitting
Speaker 1: three zero five, as I said, couple of homers, he's
Speaker 1: driven to twenty eight runs, and if it's his batting
Speaker 1: average stays up around in there, that would be a
Speaker 1: career high. So he's playing extremely well and can play
Speaker 1: three of the four infield positions. Has played right field
Speaker 1: as well this year for the Dodgers and the Rays,
Speaker 1: and now he's a Cincinnati read, he could take over
Speaker 1: at third base. If you're a Reds fan, you're a
Speaker 1: little frustrated. I'm guessing with Noel vi Marte one pint
Speaker 1: eighty one average, three homers, twelve runs, bat it in,
Speaker 1: and he ain't getting it done right now. So Rosario
Speaker 1: might be the guy who can help spark a playoff
Speaker 1: run for the Reds. But they're in fourth place right
Speaker 1: now in the NL Central. They got to get hot
Speaker 1: to finish up their sixteen sixty three right now. But
Speaker 1: my Cardinals are taking the gas right now, so I
Speaker 1: don't think we'll have to worry about them much longer.
Speaker 1: It's all the Reds would a pretty good pickup. One
Speaker 1: other Baseball Notes saw this on the interweb over the weekend.
Speaker 1: John Cruck, the former Big leaguer rather rotn very colorful,
Speaker 1: heck of a power hitter in his day, and part
Speaker 1: of the Philadelphia Phillies broadcast crew. Funny colorful knows the game,
Speaker 1: but evidently doesn't know geography very well, or let's just
Speaker 1: say a sense of direction. When he's in various ballparks,
Speaker 1: including the home ballpark in Philly, he gets lost, He
Speaker 1: gets turned around and gets lost, and every now and
Speaker 1: then the broadcasters call the game from the stands, and
Speaker 1: you know, if you've been in some of these huge ballparks,
Speaker 1: it's kind of easy to see. Although if you know
Speaker 1: what section here your crew is in, we're in section
Speaker 1: one fifteen today. Just look for the signs. But apparently Kruk,
Speaker 1: who is sixty three years old, has a senior moment
Speaker 1: now and then and gets lost in the ballpark, so
Speaker 1: they make him carry an air tag. That's right, the
Speaker 1: broadcaster carries an air tag. That Another broadcaster, Ben Davis,
Speaker 1: the Playboo plane man. God, I'm sorry, Tom McCarthy can
Speaker 1: use to find him even when they're in Citizens Bank
Speaker 1: Park in Philly, and I've been in that park, great ballpark,
Speaker 1: but John Cruk apparently gets lost and sometimes McCarthy has
Speaker 1: to reach out by phone and talk him in. It's
Speaker 1: not a bad idea, really, If you've got an air
Speaker 1: tag in your luggage or whatever, you know how all
Speaker 1: those things work, but they have to tag a broadcast partner.
Speaker 1: I've never had to do that with Doug Flynn, although
Speaker 1: quite frankly, as forgetful as I can be, he might
Speaker 1: have to do it for me. Shifting over to college football,
Speaker 1: if you like college game day, you might be a
Speaker 1: Pat McAfee fan, but you might not. Apparently the Athletic
Speaker 1: and a survey it did showed that forty eight point
Speaker 1: nine percent of the viewer surveyed indicated they didn't really
Speaker 1: like him that much. Only thirty percent said that they
Speaker 1: liked him for his new approach, the fact that he's
Speaker 1: unique some new blood, new traditions to the show, and
Speaker 1: McAfee doesn't mind lashing out at fans who lash out
Speaker 1: at him. That's a losing proposition either way. Really, the
Speaker 1: Internet's always going to have the last word. McAfee's words
Speaker 1: will have a great impact because he's on television, But
Speaker 1: I find it interesting that he was not more widely
Speaker 1: accepted by critics, and unfortun he has used terms like rat, loser,
Speaker 1: puppet went confronted with negative feedback. But he'll be back
Speaker 1: and it'll be as colorful as ever. So if you're
Speaker 1: a college game day fan, be ready for it all
Speaker 1: right when we come back. Van Hius, former Kentucky d back.
Speaker 1: A little later, Aaron Gershin on the Cats Balls, you're
Speaker 1: on six thirty w LA join out in our celebrity
Speaker 1: hotline by one of my favorite guests, Van Hiuse, former
Speaker 1: Kentucky defensive back who of course visits with us and
Speaker 1: teaches us about football. Always good to learn from Van.
Speaker 1: And you got to be getting excited now, coach. A
Speaker 1: couple of weeks.
Speaker 5: Away, Yeah, it's man. A couple weeks away. Next week
Speaker 5: we get some games, just to chew on, some actual
Speaker 5: live games, and that really means something that affects the record.
Speaker 5: It's going to be cool next week. Not a lot
Speaker 5: of great games, but but games nonetheless, and yes, in
Speaker 5: two weeks we'll be able to see the blue and
Speaker 5: white finally in and coming wealth that that'll be awesome
Speaker 5: to steal on team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but you're right. There are games a couple of
Speaker 1: games next week, including Georgia Tech playing Florida State in Dublin.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine what that might be like? You never
Speaker 1: got the opportunity. I got a chance to go over
Speaker 1: to London when the basketball team played over there, but
Speaker 1: man to haul two footballs. Oh and by the way,
Speaker 1: I covered a game in Tokyo back in the eighties. Oh,
Speaker 1: Houston played SMU over there, so that's got to be
Speaker 1: a real trip.
Speaker 5: Yeah. No, I actually played in Islan. My what did
Speaker 5: the second preseason game with the Bears? We played the Steelers? Yeah,
Speaker 5: played with coach Archer was coaching the Stills at the time.
Speaker 5: I actually played over there one. It's interesting. I would
Speaker 5: say this. It was tough the way we did it,
Speaker 5: getting over there a little early because the time difference
Speaker 5: is that it affects you as an NFL, as a
Speaker 5: football player, you a creach of habit. I would say this.
Speaker 5: Lovely Smith did it the right way. Actually did it
Speaker 5: like a normal week. He did not go out there
Speaker 5: two or three days. I hit a schedule. He did
Speaker 5: it on Uh. They left Friday night, Saturday game Sunday
Speaker 5: and they played well. So yeah, it's it's it's a
Speaker 5: great place to go to. I think if these teams
Speaker 5: like treated like a normal game, I think the results
Speaker 5: will be a little better.
Speaker 1: You get a chance to look around at all, do
Speaker 1: any sight seeing, have any fun in Ireland?
Speaker 5: Yeah, we actually did well. That's now that's the advantage
Speaker 5: of going early. I played golf there. Uh, since I'm
Speaker 5: not a drinkers with a pub to where we're not
Speaker 5: my my was my cup of tea. But yeah, we
Speaker 5: played some golf there and that was awesome.
Speaker 1: That's great. Well you mentioned uh and you showed your
Speaker 1: agent how Commonwealth Stadium. It's not, of course Kroger Field,
Speaker 1: but would always be Commonwealth to you. No disrespect to
Speaker 1: the fine folks at Kroger, but that's where you played.
Speaker 1: You played the Commonwealth. Uh. But let me start with
Speaker 1: the defense. I know that you're you're in Louisiana, but
Speaker 1: you keep up as best you can, and it looks like, man,
Speaker 1: that the defense will be the strength of the team.
Speaker 1: That's got to excite you.
Speaker 5: Yes, you you can't win with a porous defense. I
Speaker 5: think we'll figure that out. After coach Curry left and
Speaker 5: they brought and have money with a great offense, but
Speaker 5: the defense just and hold up. You have to have
Speaker 5: at least a service serviceable defense, and this defense might
Speaker 5: be might be the best defense in the Stoop's era,
Speaker 5: and that's exciting to think about with some of the
Speaker 5: defense that he's had since twenty eighteen. So I think
Speaker 5: there's a lot of potential, there's a lot of depth,
Speaker 5: There's there's some worrisome areas maybe potentially, and can we
Speaker 5: find a second corner? Can we stay healthy on the
Speaker 5: defensive line. Those two things are all things that are
Speaker 5: really concerning to me, because I think the pass rush
Speaker 5: is gonna come and we might have to be a
Speaker 5: little creative with it, but I think that's going to
Speaker 5: happen this year. But finding two more because the theme
Speaker 5: that hurt us last year if you look back at
Speaker 5: the tape, is when we lost Andrew Phillis in or
Speaker 5: Max the corners that did not step up to their
Speaker 5: level and we saw some issues. So we can find
Speaker 5: two more corners. I think this defense is going to
Speaker 5: be exceptionally elite.
Speaker 1: Before we start talking about personnel on the field, let's
Speaker 1: talk about the personnel on the sideline, specifically the defensive
Speaker 1: coordinator Brad White. You mentioned your time in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Here's the guy who came from the NFL, and is
Speaker 1: it chances that you know Van to leave get some
Speaker 1: more money down there where you are. Lsu wanted him
Speaker 1: exactly what impresses you about him?
Speaker 5: To me? The thing that impresses me about him is
Speaker 5: the same thing that impressed me with Eddie Grant is
Speaker 5: that they don't try to force a round peg into
Speaker 5: a square hole. They try to marph. Well, both of
Speaker 5: them marph their their scheme to what they had in
Speaker 5: the room with them. The talent level that what those
Speaker 5: guys could have. Though there are some things that fans
Speaker 5: get upset about, why we don't do this, why we
Speaker 5: don't do that. Well, here's the bill. When you practice
Speaker 5: Monday through Friday, and if the guys can't handle it,
Speaker 5: he's not gonna call it on Saturdays. Will play more man.
Speaker 5: If you look at Charenton, Valentine and Kevin Josephs years
Speaker 5: they have played more Man, but then when we didn't
Speaker 5: have them, we'll played more zone. You have to play.
Speaker 5: You have to create a scheme that maximize the talent
Speaker 5: and ability of your players. I think that's one of
Speaker 5: the great things that coach White does for the defense.
Speaker 1: And he is a guy who's not afraid to blitz
Speaker 1: a corner every now and then. But I think he
Speaker 1: reads the room pretty well, don't you.
Speaker 5: I think so too. I mean, if you just look
Speaker 5: at the track record, we've had great defenses. That's up.
Speaker 5: I mean you want to say last year was the disappointment.
Speaker 5: I mean, everybody should be disappointment last year, but that's
Speaker 5: anomaly for the time he's been to DC, and there
Speaker 5: are some issues that happened with injuries and things like that.
Speaker 5: And if you want to me, the only thing that
Speaker 5: you can maybe dean coach White on is the recruiting
Speaker 5: of top level guys on the defense consistently, and maybe
Speaker 5: that's the one thing they can ding them on. But
Speaker 5: now with the portal, you don't have to have as
Speaker 5: great a high school evaluation because now you just grab
Speaker 5: a guy out of port if a guy doesn't work out.
Speaker 1: Well, let's talk a little bit about about that cornerback spot,
Speaker 1: and you mentioned the lack of depth. They it looks
Speaker 1: like got some help. We'll find out soon. DJ Walder
Speaker 1: trans in transfers in from Michigan. Looks like he'll be
Speaker 1: one of the starters opposite Maxwell Harriston. But Ken Janssen done,
Speaker 1: He'll have to rotate through Zarwoni and so we'll.
Speaker 5: Hard Yeah, yes, we got done hardaway. I've heard Nicholas
Speaker 5: is doing great things. I'm waiting to hear some good
Speaker 5: things about Addison. If those guys come along, I mean,
Speaker 5: they're there. I just named what real four more extra
Speaker 5: guys outside of Wallace, So now there's some depth on
Speaker 5: that back end that we didn't have last year. And
Speaker 5: all you got to do is like, hit on one
Speaker 5: or two of them. You if you confident the Waller,
Speaker 5: We definitely confident the Wax I mean and Max I
Speaker 5: gotta do it. Hit on one of those three or
Speaker 5: four guys that we just mentioned, and now you've got
Speaker 5: a very good cornerback room.
Speaker 1: You got to like the safety room as well. Though
Speaker 1: Jordan love It's back. You remember he had a pick
Speaker 1: at the end of the Louiso game and Zion Childers,
Speaker 1: a veteran ty Bryant looked really good last year as
Speaker 1: a freshman, and Mark Stoops was heaping praise on him
Speaker 1: after the scrimmage Saturday.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and we got a story from Alabama, so I
Speaker 5: think that room is exceptionally deep. I need those guys
Speaker 5: to be more consistent because it's very hard playing safety
Speaker 5: because you are the last man of defense, and when
Speaker 5: you make a mistake, it really it really hurts the
Speaker 5: defense because now at least the touchdowns instead of been
Speaker 5: a long play and you have an offense force to
Speaker 5: go over downstairs first and ten instead of six points
Speaker 5: on the board. I think those guys need to be
Speaker 5: more consistent, and I think if they're more consistent down
Speaker 5: the teams we have to do like they have there
Speaker 5: in the past, where they have to snap the ball
Speaker 5: continually to score points, and usually offense they have to
Speaker 5: snap the ball out. Eventually they're going to make a
Speaker 5: mistake in college. I think that's what we've done prior
Speaker 5: to last year, more more than not.
Speaker 1: Talking to Van Hiuse, former Kentucky defensive back, we talk
Speaker 1: football was manned as often as we can and he
Speaker 1: of course is looking forward to the opener coming up
Speaker 1: with Southern miss And as we wrap up our conversation
Speaker 1: on defense the front seven, you know, it's hard to
Speaker 1: remember expectations being higher when you've got a Dion Walker
Speaker 1: backed up by an Octavius Oxen Dine. They did have
Speaker 1: an injury and nose tackle, but they do have some
Speaker 1: depth there Van and you know the linebackers pick up
Speaker 1: Dumas Johnson from Georgia. So I'll tell you what if
Speaker 1: you're if you're Kentucky, you got to feel pretty good
Speaker 1: about the defense, don't you.
Speaker 5: I think this defense is going to be great because
Speaker 5: one thing about DV you have to be able to
Speaker 5: stop the run, and we should be able to stop
Speaker 5: the run this year with all the guys that you
Speaker 5: have mentioned. We got a former All American and Pop
Speaker 5: Dumas as a linebacker next to probably one of the
Speaker 5: most solid guys as linebackers since since Square with d Jack.
Speaker 5: I think the middle of this defense is going to
Speaker 5: be solid, especially if Silver keeps progressing like I've heard
Speaker 5: he's progressing. You have to be strong up the middle
Speaker 5: of the three four defense. I think if Silver can
Speaker 5: can the demand a double team is going to open
Speaker 5: up so many things for everybody else. And so I
Speaker 5: think the run game is going to be something we're
Speaker 5: going to have. It's going to be a strong suit
Speaker 5: for all defense, which is going to help us getting
Speaker 5: to second and long and third and long. Now that's
Speaker 5: when the second dey can can have an easier time
Speaker 5: when it's third and eight compared to men third and five.
Speaker 1: And Silver is your starting those tackle Deon Walker actually
Speaker 1: listen to d tackle. You got to think that if
Speaker 1: Silver's double team, somebody's going to have their hands full
Speaker 1: one on one with Dion Walker exactly.
Speaker 5: So if you think about it, Silver should be the
Speaker 5: one who has us has a one on one with
Speaker 5: the center, and he's having a natural advantage, so he's
Speaker 5: going to have to eat while Deon is getting double
Speaker 5: and if he does a good job pushing the pocket
Speaker 5: up the middle making running backs bounced, then teams are
Speaker 5: gonna have to make a choice. We can we double
Speaker 5: de On it do we have to double the guy
Speaker 5: who's going to create an immediate problem with the guy
Speaker 5: off the middle. So that's a great thing, and that
Speaker 5: makes Fonders and Ripped the job easier on the other
Speaker 5: side because now they are a single team and when
Speaker 5: they when team out to pass that they should get
Speaker 5: a lot of pass rushing and hopefully pressures.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was about to say it's pressure, it's hurries.
Speaker 1: You love sacks, obviously, you love picks hurries. That's what
Speaker 1: forces mistakes. I mean, you know you love to see.
Speaker 5: Those Hurry's usually lead to interception. And I have stories
Speaker 5: about that where Chris Warre got a sack and I
Speaker 5: was right there waiting for interception. So hurry's brees bre
Speaker 5: in a. Interceptions really changed games. Facts are great for
Speaker 5: the fans and for the players, but interceptions can flip
Speaker 5: the momentum of a game in a constance old quarterback
Speaker 5: in one play. So purris for a cornerback and for
Speaker 5: safety are much more important than the facts.
Speaker 1: Chris Ford sacked a lot of people though, so you know,
Speaker 1: yes he did. It's just the way things happen. We're
Speaker 1: talking to Van Hius Swimer, Kentucky defensive back. We'll come
Speaker 1: back and talk more Kentucky football after the break here
Speaker 1: on the Big Booing Sider six thirty wlap Welcome back.
Speaker 1: We're talking with Van Hiuse Swimer, Kentucky defensive back, looking
Speaker 1: forward to the Wildcats opener with Southern Miss. And I
Speaker 1: don't know what it is about Southern Miss, Van, but
Speaker 1: it just seems like, well, I do know, I think
Speaker 1: those kids down there in Hattiesburg believe that they're everybody
Speaker 1: as good as the SEC. They want to prove themselves
Speaker 1: and they've given Kentucky a tough time through the years exactly.
Speaker 5: And in Southern miss during my time in the nineteen hundred,
Speaker 5: so I almost went the Southern Miss. That's actually the
Speaker 5: place I was going to go. Wow, for Southern miss
Speaker 5: didn't have a mechanical engineering program. So coach Coach Bauers
Speaker 5: and I can't remember the coach after him, did a
Speaker 5: great job of recruiting that Mississippi area and getting the
Speaker 5: guys that were I guess looked over a little bit.
Speaker 5: And they did have a chip on their shoulders. I
Speaker 5: know when I went on a visit, big chip on
Speaker 5: their shoulders because they felt like they could play the SEC.
Speaker 5: They have little issues now, but yes, that was a
Speaker 5: for those Mississippi guys that was big because I don't
Speaker 5: remember missis the state had Jackie Chryl, had Walt Harris
Speaker 5: a year. They were really doing well in some of
Speaker 5: those and they wouldn't totally recruit Mississippi like they should have. So, yeah,
Speaker 5: those those guys back then, man, they really had a
Speaker 5: big chip on their shoulders.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and people forget to saying Southern miss is a
Speaker 1: D one program. It's not just the state for Mississippi
Speaker 1: State and Ole Miss. And there are so many jucos
Speaker 1: in the state of Mississippi.
Speaker 5: Right, Yes, yes, Heines College is a big one, and
Speaker 5: there's more. But yeah, those you you have, and some
Speaker 5: of that that eastern part of Louisia also they can
Speaker 5: pick off from. So they have a hot bit of
Speaker 5: talent when the right coach is there, and when Southern
Speaker 5: Mists can find the right coach in that program or
Speaker 5: get back to what it should be.
Speaker 1: Well to talk a little bit about the offense, Brock
Speaker 1: Vandergriff coming out of this last discrimmage apparently is the starter.
Speaker 1: But I'm curious about Gavin Wimsy. He is listed as
Speaker 1: the backup. He has listed as the number two QB,
Speaker 1: and of course I'm sure they'll have a specific package
Speaker 1: for him to run the football. He can throw it
Speaker 1: a little bit, man, But what do you make of
Speaker 1: the fact that Bush Hampden is wide open apparently to
Speaker 1: rotating his qbs a little bit, not alternating them. But
Speaker 1: he's not afraid, apparently to run whims it in there
Speaker 1: and run the football.
Speaker 5: I think for one thing we think about it, especially
Speaker 5: the first couple of games, you give the opposing defensive
Speaker 5: coordinators something extra to have to prepare for it, chew
Speaker 5: on and that means his young kids have to put
Speaker 5: air for something, which means more data, more information, more studying.
Speaker 5: So that just that's just getting getting another carry out
Speaker 5: for these dcs they have to prepare for now. Also,
Speaker 5: we don't want to get brocked banged up early, so
Speaker 5: I can see on third and short situations maybe we
Speaker 5: can run quarterback power read and quarterback r pos and
Speaker 5: quarterback read option like those are options that we can
Speaker 5: have and take Brock out the game and not have
Speaker 5: to deal with all that palty earlier in the season,
Speaker 5: kind of like how we did Will Levis in twenty
Speaker 5: twenty one. We didn't really start running Will Leves until after,
Speaker 5: I guess during the LSU game. So I think that
Speaker 5: can that can take less wear and tear off of Brock,
Speaker 5: get him confident for the for the stretch runt of
Speaker 5: season while using a guy who can run the ball
Speaker 5: very well and can pass it when needed as a
Speaker 5: change up on the goal lines and third and short situations.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about running back because chip train and I
Speaker 1: saw him on campus the other day with his hand
Speaker 1: heavily taped, heavily wrapped, and he's going to miss at
Speaker 1: least two games, I believe, which means Demi Sumo Kongbey
Speaker 1: is Krnbay is the starter. He is six foot two ten,
Speaker 1: that's not small by any means, but training him's five
Speaker 1: eleven to twenty seven. Just a different kind of running back,
Speaker 1: different style. Now Demi's got the speed, he can catch
Speaker 1: the ball. Can he succeed in then sec? Do you think.
Speaker 5: He's a D one running back? So I think he
Speaker 5: can definitely be successful. I think that his specialty and
Speaker 5: his niche is acted more of a third down back.
Speaker 5: I think eventually you will see more Patterson and Willcox
Speaker 5: getting more of the lion's share or the or the
Speaker 5: true toast of the ball. I think Demi's gonna be
Speaker 5: that guy who's gonna be able to pick up blitz this,
Speaker 5: run great routes, run the ball when needed. But I
Speaker 5: think at the end of the day that those two
Speaker 5: young guys are gonna probably get more more more attempts
Speaker 5: rushing the ball than than maybe Demmy. I'm not sure.
Speaker 5: That's just my guess. Uh. Those two other guys have
Speaker 5: a little more juice, in my opinion, than Demi, and
Speaker 5: I think that can be a game changer for the golfhin.
Speaker 1: Neither one of them is a big power back, though,
Speaker 1: so I'll be curious to see how the plays are
Speaker 1: called with any one of those guys in the backfield
Speaker 1: until Chip does get back. I don't know about you,
Speaker 1: but I firmly believe that Dane Key and Barrion Brown
Speaker 1: are sitting on big seasons, if for northern reason the
Speaker 1: new offense Brock vandergrit, but I also think this being
Speaker 1: their junior seasons van that I think they'll probably not
Speaker 1: that they weren't working hard last year, but I think
Speaker 1: that they based on my conversations with them on media Day,
Speaker 1: for whatever that's worth, I think they're going to really
Speaker 1: knuckle down this year and play more like veterans. What
Speaker 1: do you think?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think there's a couple of things in play.
Speaker 5: I think there's the obvious obvish maturity issue thing that's
Speaker 5: gonna they're maturing. To me, they're just juniors if you
Speaker 5: really think about it. Yeah, the most important thing is
Speaker 5: getting coach short. I think he's going to the ability
Speaker 5: to really teach them how to be a wide receiver
Speaker 5: with the experience and being a wide receiver makes a
Speaker 5: big difference. Then the other thing is they're going to
Speaker 5: have slot receivers in Macklin and failure that would be
Speaker 5: able to open a field up for them a little
Speaker 5: bit more. You cannot double team them. We have a
Speaker 5: slot receiver as potentially as good as those two guys are,
Speaker 5: So I think that's going to also open a field
Speaker 5: up for him too, with two really good slot receivers
Speaker 5: that can go to work on linebackers or safety. If
Speaker 5: that happens, now that game will open up for those
Speaker 5: two guys on the outside.
Speaker 1: Macklin the guy a proven commodity from North Texas. And yeah,
Speaker 1: if he gets off the line of shimming you pointed out,
Speaker 1: you know, like Wandlle could get off the line, tab
Speaker 1: and Robinson could get off the line. As the slot back,
Speaker 1: he has got such a chance to do damage because
Speaker 1: the defense cannot look away from Key or Brown at all,
Speaker 1: can it?
Speaker 5: Right? And that's the thing. Once he wants he s
Speaker 5: that he's that that calboy player. Now the defense can'ke
Speaker 5: double on the outside. Now they got to play more
Speaker 5: of a straight up defense because they got to take
Speaker 5: take it into account the slot receiver, and I think
Speaker 5: that's that to me, is a difference with his offense.
Speaker 5: We haven't had a slot receiver like that since one
Speaker 5: Dale and that just opened up everything for everybody. The
Speaker 5: tight end when josh I Lee was was healthy, opened
Speaker 5: things up for him. I think if we can get
Speaker 5: some some some production out of that position, it opens
Speaker 5: up everything for everybody.
Speaker 1: The old line may be starting two different transfers. You
Speaker 1: got Farmers, a kid who came in from Florida. You
Speaker 1: got Gerald Minci who came in from Tennessee. What did
Speaker 1: you think of the way the old line performed last year?
Speaker 1: What do you expect this year?
Speaker 5: The O line performers last year was kind of like
Speaker 5: the defense. It was a disappointment. I don't think we
Speaker 5: need to get back to the era of John Slom
Speaker 5: in a big blue wall. We just need to get
Speaker 5: to the to the new era just being fishing and
Speaker 5: doing your job. And I think this this old line
Speaker 5: has a chance because they have more depth to be
Speaker 5: able to be. All they needed to be is an
Speaker 5: average SEC line, which is pretty good for the for
Speaker 5: the other conferences, just the average through your job. Opening lines,
Speaker 5: protect block as much as you can, and I think
Speaker 5: that's that's when we are better than last year. Last year,
Speaker 5: it just it just didn't work out. And I don't know,
Speaker 5: I can't put my finger on exactly why, but it
Speaker 5: just didn't work out last year. I hopefully we're getting
Speaker 5: coach Wolf's back and getting a new voice with Bush
Speaker 5: that that will help that old line play up to
Speaker 5: their caliber too.
Speaker 1: Well. They had their moments and they produced to help
Speaker 1: produce them one thousand yard running back in Ray Davis.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think they need to take it. I'm
Speaker 1: think you're right, they need to take another step forward.
Speaker 1: Speaking of Ray Davis, uh, just looking back on him,
Speaker 1: the special season he had and nobody, I don't think
Speaker 1: anybody really expected ready to come in and do what
Speaker 1: he did. I think expected it. But it's going to
Speaker 1: be interesting to see when you look around and you
Speaker 1: don't see him carrying the ball that was That was
Speaker 1: a loss that might be bigger than we think, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean.
Speaker 5: It's definitely a loss that I think impacts this team
Speaker 5: this year more than I would expect it to impact
Speaker 5: this team this year. If you really think about it. Honestly,
Speaker 5: we might not have used Ray as much as we
Speaker 5: should have. Now. I don't know if that was he
Speaker 5: couldn't take on that pounding and all that for all
Speaker 5: those attempts, But for me, as a season went along,
Speaker 5: he was underutilized. And I don't think we have a
Speaker 5: runner back this year kind of like Ray that can
Speaker 5: be the be the guy who took the ball twenty
Speaker 5: five times a game. We're gonna have to do it
Speaker 5: by committee. And I wish we had Ray Davis another
Speaker 5: year because I think bush would have used them in
Speaker 5: that capacity. So yeah, he's a big loss for us.
Speaker 5: That more than what I anticipated at the beginning of
Speaker 5: last year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he would have been fun to watch and Bushmen's offense,
Speaker 1: but that's college football, man. As you all know, players
Speaker 1: come and go, they move on, and you got to
Speaker 1: play with what you got. Van Hiles, former uk D back,
Speaker 1: love talking football. We shall talk again, by the way.
Speaker 1: You can hear Van on his podcast. And I know
Speaker 1: you're a favorite of the Sunday Morning Sports Talk, aren't you.
Speaker 5: I don't know about favorite, but but my co host
Speaker 5: on the Locker four one one is a host on
Speaker 5: Sunday Morning sports Talk so so he kind of puts
Speaker 5: me on there. Anthony. I yeah, Anti twight now on Wednesdays.
Speaker 5: Now give me some standard time the Locker four one one.
Speaker 1: That's right. You can find Van's Van on Twitter at
Speaker 1: v Style seventeen and he is a co host of
Speaker 1: The Locker four one one. Thank you, sir, And we'll
Speaker 1: talk again after the opener.
Speaker 6: I hope, of course anytime.
Speaker 1: Not only will we talk with Van after the opener,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna find out what he cooks for his game
Speaker 1: day feast. Back with that Renumber two Aaron Gershawan and
Speaker 1: UK Track and Field on the Big Going Sider six thirty.
Speaker 1: Welcome back I Renumber two in joining us on our
Speaker 1: celebrity hotline is Aaron Gershan to the cats Balls. He
Speaker 1: joins us every Monday, and Aaron, this time next week
Speaker 1: we'll be live on the State Wide Show because Mark
Speaker 1: Stupa's first show is next Monday. Man, it's right on
Speaker 1: top of us.
Speaker 7: Crazy it flies by, and I'm looking forward to that.
Speaker 7: We always have a lot of fun in there. Me
Speaker 7: and Billy Roli jump Monday Night. You kind of missed
Speaker 7: it during the off season, so it'll be fun to
Speaker 7: get back in there with you guys next week.
Speaker 1: You were there when Mark Stoops and the players spoke
Speaker 1: after the scrimmage, and of course I got a chance
Speaker 1: to peek at the scrimmage. You can't really talk about it,
Speaker 1: but what were your comments. What was your take on
Speaker 1: Mark Stoops's comments after he basically said we came out healthy.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think first thing first, Usually we all joke
Speaker 7: around before these and usually one of the Saturday scrimmages
Speaker 7: in Paul Camp he's happy, you know, content, whatever word
Speaker 7: you want to use, and the other one he's all
Speaker 7: pissed off and hated how it went. That wasn't the
Speaker 7: case this year. I mean, he was simply, I think
Speaker 7: a little more upbeat after the first one when he
Speaker 7: didn't realize some of the injuries that may have taken place.
Speaker 7: And you know, this one again he was it seemed
Speaker 7: like he was content and happy with how you know,
Speaker 7: the team looked, how they scrimmaged.
Speaker 5: It was.
Speaker 7: I know, you can't say much, but from what he
Speaker 7: described it was mostly young guys, a lot of the
Speaker 7: starters just had better days.
Speaker 6: Off or whatever.
Speaker 7: So you know, he seemed pretty pretty encouraged with the
Speaker 7: way things went. That the starters at least offensively had
Speaker 7: a thirteen pleg drive, which got some you know, some
Speaker 7: good cars show in per se, just get used to
Speaker 7: that game field those long drives and do that ahead
Speaker 7: of the season. So you know, that was all good,
Speaker 7: but definitely, you know, he was concerned with how no
Speaker 7: injuries that popped up at that time from this scrimmage,
Speaker 7: but he was definitely concerned about the ones that popped
Speaker 7: up the week before, whether a big ship trad Himho's
Speaker 7: going to miss time hardly Gilmore who's going to miss
Speaker 7: probably the majority of the season, which could be you know,
Speaker 7: if Kentucky stays healthy at receiver, could be a blessing
Speaker 7: for the program that you get a red shirt on
Speaker 7: that kid, but you know, you'd never want to see it.
Speaker 7: At the same time, and then you know, there were
Speaker 7: some guys who were noticeable that came in and clearly
Speaker 7: didn't practice. Couldn't really tell if they were injured or not,
Speaker 7: but guys who were wearing pads and guys who weren't,
Speaker 7: so you kind of assume, and seems like Josh Tattis.
Speaker 6: Hasn't got back out there yet this fall camp.
Speaker 7: So yeah, definitely some injured concerns, but seemed like he
Speaker 7: was happy with the work that the team put into.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it sounded like the theme of Saturday scrimmage
Speaker 1: regardless was building depth. And we've talked for years about
Speaker 1: That's that's been probably the number one reason for success
Speaker 1: with Mark Stoops and as recruiters. It's obviously identifying talent,
Speaker 1: developing that talent, and building numbers. So when you get
Speaker 1: it's not unlike the NFL exhibition games, right.
Speaker 7: No, exactly. You want to have as many bodies that
Speaker 7: you feel comfortable with. God forbid, there's an injury as possible,
Speaker 7: and I think the last two years, especially you know,
Speaker 7: on the offensive line, I mean quarterback obviously in twenty
Speaker 7: two when Eleves went down for a game and didn't
Speaker 7: playing the Bowl corner that year, like it pops up
Speaker 7: and you got to have guys who can you can
Speaker 7: thrust in there. Because football is such a physical, demanding
Speaker 7: sport and guys get hurt every week. It's almost a
Speaker 7: surprise when you come out of the game without n
Speaker 7: injur So definitely, it seemed like that was kind of
Speaker 7: the point of the practice, Like, Hey, our point of
Speaker 7: the scrima Chay, we got beat up the week before.
Speaker 7: Much of our ones aren't going to be in there.
Speaker 7: Let's see what these other guys got and let's build
Speaker 7: their confidence. God forbid, they have to go in and
Speaker 7: play in the game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And somebody asked, and I don't remember who, about quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: and I played the sound by a little earlier Aaron.
Speaker 1: But he went in depth, no pun, intended about the
Speaker 1: quarterback room and how excited he is to have a
Speaker 1: number of talented guys.
Speaker 7: Yeah, he basically said, without saying it verbatim, that it
Speaker 7: was the deepest quarterback room he's had since he's got here.
Speaker 7: And you know that that makes sense to me for sure.
Speaker 7: I mean, Rock Vandergrifs was a former near five star
Speaker 7: recruit that you have a lot of faith in. The
Speaker 7: beer starter Gavin Weinstet has nineteen starts in the Big Ten.
Speaker 7: And then you know Rollins played football and cutter Bowlie's
Speaker 7: the top quarterback prospect, you know, coming out of high school.
Speaker 7: A lot of the marquee programs really wanted him. I mean,
Speaker 7: Tennessee gave Kentucky a hell the time and Philliam Cohen
Speaker 7: got back, so definitely he felt that way. He made
Speaker 7: it clear he even said something I forget exactly what
Speaker 7: the line was, but like, nothing against anyone that's been
Speaker 7: here in the past, but you know, this is one
Speaker 7: of the first times where we have an injury, I
Speaker 7: feel comfortable who would come in. Yeah, And the other
Speaker 7: thing that he said that caught my attention with that
Speaker 7: is since that's the case, it's going to let guys
Speaker 7: in that quarterback room play more freely. So that's going
Speaker 7: to mean when Rock Vandergriff and the bucket starts to collapse,
Speaker 7: they're gonna let him run where they did say. I
Speaker 7: don't know if that was a Skangerrillo thing or what,
Speaker 7: but that handicaps Will Levis in twenty twenty two with
Speaker 7: it Leary, they just didn't have that element in the game.
Speaker 7: So that's definitely gonna make the comeback. And we all
Speaker 7: know when Gavin Winstat's end, it's not gonna be surprised
Speaker 7: that he's running the ball.
Speaker 6: So some encouraging stuff there for sure.
Speaker 1: Now I remember Scangarrillo specifically saying yes that he would
Speaker 1: not allow Levis to run the ball because he felt
Speaker 1: like he wanted to protect him physically, and that's an NFA.
Speaker 1: You know, he had that's an nfling. But you know
Speaker 1: he never s. Gangarello, as we all know, never made
Speaker 1: the adjustment to the college game the way he might have.
Speaker 1: And that also means not just long winded verbiage when
Speaker 1: it came to calling plays, but allowing a quarterback who
Speaker 1: oftentimes is bigger and more athletic than the defenders chasing
Speaker 1: him down and ain't gonna happen in the NFL. Brother,
Speaker 1: but we saw it happen, and you see it every
Speaker 1: week in college right absolutely.
Speaker 7: I mean, well, Levice is in twenty twenty one, Rantel
Speaker 7: was four hundred yards and had a full rushing touchdown
Speaker 7: game at Louisville. Is a great that was such a
Speaker 7: strength of his game. Over Line ran over linebackers, hurled
Speaker 7: the guys, I mean, and we see it with him
Speaker 7: in the NFL.
Speaker 6: I mean there was a play.
Speaker 7: I don't encourage it here, but in the preseason he
Speaker 7: took a big hit on a run against the forty
Speaker 7: nine ers two weeks ago, and all these Titan fans
Speaker 7: are like, we love it, but please stop right now,
Speaker 7: it's for the regular season.
Speaker 6: But no, I mean it was.
Speaker 7: It was strict from him, and I'll disagree with it.
Speaker 7: I get it, I get why he did it. I'll
Speaker 7: disagree with that decision. I think it cost Kentucky some games,
Speaker 7: but that's in the past. Neither hero door there. And
Speaker 7: the good thing is I don't think that's gonna be
Speaker 7: a problem this year. I mean, not only with what
Speaker 7: Mark Steusch get said there. Obviously you had two quarterbacks
Speaker 7: and Vander Griffin and and Winstead who that's a big
Speaker 7: part of their game. And you bringing an offensive coordinator
Speaker 7: that you look at his track record and he always
Speaker 7: had a quarterback that can run.
Speaker 6: I mean he unlocked.
Speaker 7: I mean I wouldn't say he unlocked, but he definitely
Speaker 7: helps unlocked Brady Cook's legs at Missouri. I mean you
Speaker 7: look at the three games he called plays there, and
Speaker 7: Cook ran for over three hundred yards in those games
Speaker 7: and that includes whatever sack. So it had one game
Speaker 7: where he ran for over one hundred. So he did
Speaker 7: it last year with the quarterback at Beligia State, he
Speaker 7: had the sound awkinsas so they're going to run the
Speaker 7: quarterback and that's you know.
Speaker 6: That's big.
Speaker 7: Kentucky's best offenses under Mark steuss have had quarterbacks that
Speaker 7: can move in the pocket.
Speaker 1: Speaking of depth move out of the pocket. I do
Speaker 1: wonder about running back because you know, we all that
Speaker 1: of power game Kentucky head with Benny, with Chris Rodriguez,
Speaker 1: even with Ray Davis, who wasn't the biggest guy but
Speaker 1: he ran big. I'm just not sure about Demi Sumo
Speaker 1: Karnbay when it's third and one and a half or
Speaker 1: you know, at the goal line and the guys behind
Speaker 1: him were freshmen and they're not that big either. Aaron,
Speaker 1: what are your thoughts on running back?
Speaker 7: Yeah, chick trainum is a huge blow. Hopefully you can
Speaker 7: get him back asap, but yeah, it's a wait and
Speaker 7: see Moses. I mean, look, Sumocarmbay last year, I think
Speaker 7: Ray Davis played. I thought they were gonna they were
Speaker 7: gonna platune a little more going into the year. Ray
Speaker 7: Davis ran away with the chop like what are you
Speaker 7: gonna do? He was outstanding. He couldn't keep him off
Speaker 7: the field. So you know, that limited what we got
Speaker 7: to see from sum O'carbay last year at NC State.
Speaker 7: The year before, he was banged up, but he played
Speaker 7: a bit and he did average five and a half
Speaker 7: yards per carry, but a lot of that was outside
Speaker 7: zones that I didn't see too much where he just
Speaker 7: ran it up the gut and I was able to
Speaker 7: get those gritty yards. So you know it's going to
Speaker 7: be a let's see, let's see what he's got week
Speaker 7: one and two when he's gonna get it. It's very
Speaker 7: similar to me. It's not fair because Chris Rodriguez was
Speaker 7: coming back and Chip Trandon's not Chris Rodriguez, but similar
Speaker 7: to how they started the twenty two season right where
Speaker 7: Sea Rod was suspended and it was just all right,
Speaker 7: someone in that running back room he got.
Speaker 6: To step up.
Speaker 7: I mean Cavasse Smoke ended up at the starter early.
Speaker 7: Lavelle Wright spelled them, Jason McClain spelled them. No one
Speaker 7: really got it done. So you hoped this time, with
Speaker 7: the offensive line being better, honestly, and the quarterbacks adding
Speaker 7: an element in the run game, that one of those
Speaker 7: guys can emerge, and I think Simil Karba is the
Speaker 7: guy they're going to lean toward first. And if it
Speaker 7: doesn't work out, you know, Jamarion Wilcox and Jason Patterson
Speaker 7: two fresh and ury next man up.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, and the notion that Schimocarnbay can catch the
Speaker 1: ball out of the backfield. That's that excitesment help and
Speaker 1: I think we'll see that from this offense.
Speaker 7: Yeah, they're gonna have to get very creative now that
Speaker 7: they don't have that bruiser running back that they're used
Speaker 7: to having. So and I think that will And you know,
Speaker 7: back at the football luncheon before camp started and we
Speaker 7: knew Charinum was gonna get hurt, I mean, bush Hampton
Speaker 7: said they brought in Gavin Winstat to supplement some.
Speaker 6: Of the runs.
Speaker 7: So they're gonna get really creative. I'm actually really excited
Speaker 7: to see exactly what the game plan there is. But
Speaker 7: they also got to go execute such plan because the schedule.
Speaker 7: It's not like last year where we had a preseason, right,
Speaker 7: they basically had a preseason slate the first three four games.
Speaker 7: If you want to throw a van in there. This year,
Speaker 7: I mean, Southern miss obviously should beat them, but we
Speaker 7: all know the bad the bad karva or not that karma,
Speaker 7: the bad history in that matchup, whether it was the
Speaker 7: loss in sixteen or close game down in Hattiesburg in seventeen,
Speaker 7: and then you jump right into the sec place. They
Speaker 7: got to figure it out quick.
Speaker 1: Aaron Gershan, our guest Daron and beat Righter for the
Speaker 1: cash Plows, and we'll come back with more football t
Speaker 1: for Aaron here in a minute. On the Big Bloon
Speaker 1: Sider six thirty Wlap Welcome back to the Big blueon Sider.
Speaker 1: We're chatting with Aaron Gershwan. He is the beat writer
Speaker 1: for the Cats pause Baseball, football, basketball covers at All
Speaker 1: and of course has some good work in the football yearbook.
Speaker 1: If you haven't picked it up yet, you need to
Speaker 1: prep yourself for the upcoming season with the Cats Paws
Speaker 1: Football Yearbook. We talked so much offense in the first segment,
Speaker 1: and everybody knows defense should be the strength of this team.
Speaker 1: There are some question marks I just had Van Hiles
Speaker 1: on talking about. We mentioned depth quite often in that
Speaker 1: first segment. Depth at cornerback could be an issue. Maybe
Speaker 1: they've got it. It's unproven right now though.
Speaker 6: Right Hey, you get that Van on All show. He's
Speaker 6: so good.
Speaker 7: Oh yeah, I just want to give him quick shout
Speaker 7: out there. But yeah, no, it definitely is and I
Speaker 7: did think it was interesting. Maybe it's just trying to
Speaker 7: hype his guys up or whatever. That Max Harrison said
Speaker 7: it was the best cornerback room he's been in here.
Speaker 6: You know, to be seen.
Speaker 7: I know last year they weren't great outside of Max
Speaker 7: twenty two, Carrington and Kedrin were pretty darn lockdown as starters,
Speaker 7: so I'd argue he was in a better room that
Speaker 7: year on paper at least, So maybe he's onto something
Speaker 7: we'll see. But yeah, definitely. And I had heard Jensen Dunn,
Speaker 7: who had a great spring and I'm not sure exactly
Speaker 7: how it's translated or not in the fall, didn't practice Saturday,
Speaker 7: So that's one to watch. Heard that not from you,
Speaker 7: don't worry if I goot new in trouble, but I've
Speaker 7: heard it from other people that were at the scrimmage
Speaker 7: that told me. So they hopefully he's okay and can
Speaker 7: get him in there because I think he is a
Speaker 7: chance to. I thought he played really well at the
Speaker 7: end of the year against Louisville. At the end of
Speaker 7: the game, he made some really key plays.
Speaker 6: He played. He was the best TV for.
Speaker 7: Them in the cleansing game when Max and Phillips got hurt.
Speaker 7: So that's the guy I want to see you get
Speaker 7: a shot. I think he has a chance. I'm not
Speaker 7: thinking he can be right away, but a chance to
Speaker 7: kind of do what Phillips did, which is when they
Speaker 7: have two corners on the field, he'll play outside and
Speaker 7: when they have three, move into the spot and they
Speaker 7: bring in someone else. Last year was Jordan Robinson who's
Speaker 7: now gone obviously, but maybe it's JQ Hardaway DJ Waller
Speaker 7: to be seen who that is. I think he might
Speaker 7: have a chance to play that type of role for them.
Speaker 7: But yeah, and other than that, you know, need one
Speaker 7: of those two long guys to step up in Hardaway
Speaker 7: and Waller. Those are your prototypical six to three long, lengthy,
Speaker 7: speedy corners that Mark Sukes loves and has had success
Speaker 7: within the past. The Chris Westry Bronnie Johnson Body touched
Speaker 7: on Derek Batty as well. If one of those guys
Speaker 7: can step up and be a solid number two corner
Speaker 7: across from Max, I think that just the defense's ceiling
Speaker 7: raises just a little bit more, a lot more, honestly,
Speaker 7: because I think I think they're gonna be better at safety.
Speaker 7: I think that room just got banged up last year
Speaker 7: and Ty Bryan played well, but he's a freshman. There
Speaker 7: were freshmen mistakes in there. Jordan Lovett was in and
Speaker 7: now Zion Childers kind of had a May year. He
Speaker 7: was banged up a little too, and then Jalen Geiger
Speaker 7: obviously didn't play much with injury. So you know, this
Speaker 7: year you got Jordan love It healthy, He has Zigon
Speaker 7: Children's healthy and seems like he can move in and
Speaker 7: play in box corner two if you need him to.
Speaker 7: You have Christian story added to kind of replaced guy
Speaker 7: here and hopefully keep him healthy. And then he has
Speaker 7: Ti Ryan back for another year, a guy that Mark
Speaker 7: Souso incredibly high on. Ye he doesn't really give out
Speaker 7: that type of praise anymore. That's the guy he can't
Speaker 7: help it with every time he talks about. So I
Speaker 7: really like the safety rohim. I obviously love the defensive
Speaker 7: line and the middle linebackers if and what JJ can
Speaker 7: do it outside backer if he's healthy. So it's really
Speaker 7: I think those two guys are kind of the X
Speaker 7: factors on that defense. Uh.
Speaker 6: One of the two long guys.
Speaker 1: You know what might be another X factor? I should say,
Speaker 1: who is Alexafari? They move him from d bat to
Speaker 1: what they call star it's a linebacker spot and are
Speaker 1: sort of a monster man. I guess she depends on
Speaker 1: any want to describe it, but that guy Aaron, it
Speaker 1: just seemed like he was always around the ball.
Speaker 6: You know he is.
Speaker 7: He is always around the ball, even as a freshman
Speaker 7: in twenty two. So they, yeah, it's gonna be really interesting.
Speaker 7: I don't have it in front of me, but I
Speaker 7: did write something about his versatility earlier this camp and
Speaker 7: was able to find the snack counts of where he
Speaker 7: was on the field, mostly safety, played a little bit,
Speaker 7: inside back, or played a slot corner. So yeah, he's
Speaker 7: definitely a guy that can move around a ton, And
Speaker 7: I just wonder if it's going to come down to
Speaker 7: where they need him, right if they struggle in slot
Speaker 7: in the slot, are they going to move him there
Speaker 7: and feel comfortable if Pop Johnson or d Eric get
Speaker 7: hurt and David Raider is not who you want filling
Speaker 7: in those reps? Is he just going to play there
Speaker 7: or if they need a blow or is he going
Speaker 7: to be the guy they stick in there? So he's
Speaker 7: just such a he's such an intriguing player because think
Speaker 7: you said he's always around the ball. He's extremely versatile,
Speaker 7: but with some of the death they have more so
Speaker 7: in the linebacker room and outside back or even I
Speaker 7: think tyer reesair various health. He's on pace to kind
Speaker 7: of break out a little bit this year. It's just
Speaker 7: like there's like nowhere exactly you can pinpoint and say
Speaker 7: you're playing right there. And I think that picture for
Speaker 7: him will be more clear next year, going into his
Speaker 7: senior year, because you're gonna lose the Erica and Pop
Speaker 7: and you could probably just blame at Mike or play
Speaker 7: at a week sidebacker. But uh, they gotta find They
Speaker 7: gotta finn rest for that guy because he's an impact
Speaker 7: maker and has been really since.
Speaker 6: They won't.
Speaker 1: Jamon Dumas Johnson is a unique story. And by speaking
Speaker 1: of unique, you guys want to be called Pop anymore?
Speaker 1: Which man, you know, when you're when you're quote unquote
Speaker 1: building your brand, seems like that would be a plus.
Speaker 1: But we all abide by his wishes. Uh. But Aaron,
Speaker 1: you know, I've covered football since they pumped up the
Speaker 1: first ball. I can never recall, and transfers are much
Speaker 1: more prevalent now as you as you know. But a
Speaker 1: guy was an All American two years ago transferring within
Speaker 1: the league. I don't know if that happened on the
Speaker 1: Georgia Bulldogs.
Speaker 7: Yeah, from the from the Georgia Bulldogs from Vanderbilt. So yeah, no,
Speaker 7: it's a very he's a very, very intriguing player and
Speaker 7: intriguing person The personality has been, Uh he's unique. He's
Speaker 7: unique to say the least. But uh yeah, I mean
Speaker 7: you said it two times, our first team All American,
Speaker 7: two time National Championship starting mike linebacker for an undefeated
Speaker 7: national championship team. And really he just got you kind
Speaker 7: of got Wally pipped out of a job, if you will,
Speaker 7: Like last year, he gets hurt and they're too. It's Georgia,
Speaker 7: so there's always going to be. If you think Kentucky
Speaker 7: has death, Georgia has four times more. Just just how
Speaker 7: they are to everybody. And you know they're two inside backers,
Speaker 7: are they?
Speaker 6: I think they had two. I think they might have
Speaker 6: had to either two.
Speaker 7: Injuries at inside backer or I forget what it was,
Speaker 7: but I know they had two guys waiting in the
Speaker 7: wings and both of them shines, and the plane was
Speaker 7: kind of just kind of let them play this year,
Speaker 7: and and ums Johnson was kind of the odd man out,
Speaker 7: so he hits the portal and a huge win for Kentucky.
Speaker 7: I mean they were battling atron in Florida State. So
Speaker 7: he is probably the most intriguing piece of this defense
Speaker 7: because his ceiling is extremely high.
Speaker 6: You just got to keep him healthy and see how
Speaker 6: he fit.
Speaker 1: No, I couldn't agree more. And I do believe he's
Speaker 1: the most intriguing. I mean, Dion Walker is going to
Speaker 1: make you know the headlines. He'll be drafted. Probably he's
Speaker 1: just the best one. Yeah, exactly. But just having a
Speaker 1: guy next to the Eric Jackson who played next to
Speaker 1: his buddy Trevin Wallace for so long, and JJ Weaver
Speaker 1: who came back because he knew last year wasn't the
Speaker 1: year he wanted to have. I'm curious to see, you
Speaker 1: know what his focus is this year.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm sorry you cut out there. Who's the player?
Speaker 1: JJ Weaver?
Speaker 7: J Yeah, sorry cut out for two seconds. But yeah, JJ,
Speaker 7: it's all health with him. In my opinion, it really is.
Speaker 7: I think when he's healthy and he's right, he's dominant.
Speaker 7: We saw it in twenty twenty one, saw it towards
Speaker 7: the end of last season. I thought he really like
Speaker 7: we all know what he did in the Louisville game,
Speaker 7: but I think he had two sacks in the clemsing
Speaker 7: game as well. So he finished the season like on
Speaker 7: an incredibly high note. And for him, it's it's staying
Speaker 7: healthy and consistent. And you know he's he's six five,
Speaker 7: two forty five whatever he is now, he's got the body.
Speaker 6: We all know, he's.
Speaker 7: Got all the experience in the world. It's just staying
Speaker 7: healthy and just more the mental side of all, Right,
Speaker 7: next play, if you screw up. I think sometimes when
Speaker 7: he has a play that whether he misses a sack,
Speaker 7: whether he gets beaten one on one, it kind of
Speaker 7: deflates him for the whole game if he can just
Speaker 7: stay with it when he makes a mistake. That guy's
Speaker 7: as talented as anyone on this defense, and he's been
Speaker 7: around the block longer than anyone. So I think if
Speaker 7: those things happen for him, he's gonna end up leading
Speaker 7: the team in sacks like he has the last three years.
Speaker 7: It's just our two years at least, uh two of
Speaker 7: the last three, twenty one and last year. So uh
Speaker 7: just just got to put it together for a full
Speaker 7: year because when that guy's right, he's he's a different thinker.
Speaker 1: To me. The biggest question as a unit is quarterback hurries.
Speaker 1: How much can this defensive produce, this defensive unit produce.
Speaker 1: And I've talked a lot about hurries, Aaron, I've talked
Speaker 1: about it with you as well. Those are the plays
Speaker 1: that forced quarterbacks into making mistakes. You've got lineman starting
Speaker 1: with Dion Walker, and you've got guys who can come
Speaker 1: off the edge. If they can get that done for
Speaker 1: Brad White who likes to once in a while blitz
Speaker 1: from the edge with a corner, and this this defense
Speaker 1: could wreak some havoc.
Speaker 7: Yeah, and I thought the passwords finished really strong, and
Speaker 7: that was even something that our last season that is Yeah,
Speaker 7: that was even something that Dion Walker mentioned after the
Speaker 7: game when they lost against Clenson. I mean, they had
Speaker 7: eight sacks in that game and Clemson's offensive line was
Speaker 7: all the starters, like no one up at out. So
Speaker 7: the team that I think going into that game was
Speaker 7: near the bottom of sacks allowed in the country. So
Speaker 7: you know, they proved they can do it. Louisville offensive
Speaker 7: line had a great year last year too, and Kentucky
Speaker 7: dominated them, So you got to go do it. An
Speaker 7: SBC play obviously, I know it's a little different, a
Speaker 7: lot different, but they have the experience between Weaver, Walker,
Speaker 7: oxtendne if Man, if they can get there's some There
Speaker 7: was White with Brad. White was talking a little bit
Speaker 7: like we see slashes of that guy that we saw
Speaker 7: against LSU, Like they can model that up and have
Speaker 7: that for six or seven games. I mean that that
Speaker 7: guy's a monster too. So it's all about at the
Speaker 7: end of the day, health inconsistency. I think there's just
Speaker 7: been a lack of consistency in the past.
Speaker 1: Rush.
Speaker 7: There's been games where they've been dominant, in games where
Speaker 7: they just can't win.
Speaker 6: They're one on ones, or they just miss sacks.
Speaker 7: That are right there to have, like they did against
Speaker 7: South Carolina that cost them the game. So very very
Speaker 7: talented room. They just got to go do it, or
Speaker 7: talented group, I should say, gotta go do it.
Speaker 1: Aaron Gershwan of the Cast Pause a Gershan ninety nine
Speaker 1: is where you find him on Twitter or x and
Speaker 1: you find him in the pages of the Cast Pause
Speaker 1: and the Cast Pause Yearbook. You need to pick that
Speaker 1: up if you have already. Aaron, thank you. We will
Speaker 1: see you at practice all right. Up next. Olympic gold
Speaker 1: medalist Messi Russell, the former Kentucky Wildcat, and UK coach
Speaker 1: Lonnie Green, who was in Paris watching UK athletes win
Speaker 1: medal after medal. That's next on the Big Goo Insider
Speaker 1: six point thirty. Talk about to the Big Blo Insider
Speaker 1: earlier today, we got a chance to dive into campus
Speaker 1: traffic and here from olympians. Yeah, moving in the day,
Speaker 1: still happening. It started over the weekend, but shout out
Speaker 1: to UK campus police. They did a great job of
Speaker 1: funneling traffic in and out like they do every year,
Speaker 1: and we were able to get over to the Jim
Speaker 1: Green Track and Field facility named after the great Jim Green,
Speaker 1: the great sprinter, my buddy, who is one of the
Speaker 1: guys people really need to know about when it comes
Speaker 1: to the history of UK sports. So we got a chance,
Speaker 1: as I said, to talk Olympics with Massi Russell, Olympic
Speaker 1: cham in the one hundred meter hurdles, and Devin Charlton,
Speaker 1: a volunteer coach at UK two time Olympic finalist in
Speaker 1: the hundred hurdles she is from the Bahamas, and UK
Speaker 1: head coach Lonnie Green. So it was fun given all
Speaker 1: the success that Kentucky athletes had over in Paris, and
Speaker 1: got a chance to fire a lot of different kinds
Speaker 1: of questions at the athletes and the coach, and somebody
Speaker 1: asked Messiah Russell about the fact that, you know, you
Speaker 1: step into the starting blocks as an Olympian, you have
Speaker 1: trained all your life, and sometime in the next ten
Speaker 1: to twelve seconds, you're going to know are you an
Speaker 1: Olympic medalist? Are you a gold medalist? But she said,
Speaker 1: it's not like that. You don't think about all the
Speaker 1: hard work and all the years and years of preparation
Speaker 1: it took to get there. You think about that after
Speaker 1: the fact.
Speaker 8: So after it's all said and done, yes, And it's
Speaker 8: like I had a lot of losses that I had
Speaker 8: to go through, a lot of tears, a lot of
Speaker 8: long nights like that, you know, ended up coming to
Speaker 8: this moment, but you're not really well. For me, I
Speaker 8: wasn't really thinking about it until like afterwards, because for me,
Speaker 8: I like to stay in the moment and just kind of,
Speaker 8: you know, get the job done while I'm there. But
Speaker 8: when you do think about like the big picture, it
Speaker 8: is like we work our whole entire lives for these
Speaker 8: small amount of seconds. So that's why you just have
Speaker 8: to make sure that you are doing the right things.
Speaker 8: You are taking those lessons for what they are, because
Speaker 8: once you're in that moment an opportunity, you have to
Speaker 8: take advantage of it. And that's just where my mind was.
Speaker 1: And the head coach, Lonnie Green kind of chimed in
Speaker 1: by saying, you know, you see the end result, you
Speaker 1: see the smiles and the metals, but you need to
Speaker 1: go back and think about how hard these kids work
Speaker 1: just to get there.
Speaker 9: It was good to see the hard work, you know,
Speaker 9: actually pay off, see it come to fuition for these
Speaker 9: young people.
Speaker 1: You know, I think when.
Speaker 9: People see the finished product, they they make it look
Speaker 9: so easy, but in reality, there's a whole lot of work,
Speaker 9: the whole lot of time they put into it. You know,
Speaker 9: for these babies. You know, you're looking at training for
Speaker 9: four years just to run for twelve seconds. You know,
Speaker 9: that's a lot. That's a commitment.
Speaker 1: Russell at one point talked about the tough times, the
Speaker 1: sleepless nights, the tears, and I followed up on that
Speaker 1: because I said, you know, we do see the end
Speaker 1: results the photos tv uh, you know, biting the metal,
Speaker 1: all that stuff, but we never think fans media about
Speaker 1: tough times and I asked her to take us through
Speaker 1: some of that, take us behind the curtain on what
Speaker 1: the tough times are like, and she talked about the
Speaker 1: fact that obviously you can't win every time, and it
Speaker 1: becomes a real mental game, a mental.
Speaker 8: Battle, like you have to go through those failures, you
Speaker 8: have to go through those tough times, those uncomfortable moments.
Speaker 8: Because last year when I used to run, I mean
Speaker 8: I broke the Cocleusive record indoor, I told Coach Green,
Speaker 8: like after I started to overthink everything, like surprisingly, I'm like,
Speaker 8: how did I do that? What do I need to do?
Speaker 8: What do I need to fix? How do I get
Speaker 8: back to that? So like when I ran to SECS,
Speaker 8: it was like I kind of found it again and
Speaker 8: then I won, and then I was like all right,
Speaker 8: I was like living in fear of not performing to that.
Speaker 8: So that's when I came up short at n C
Speaker 8: Doublea's and then I broke the Cleegesic record again outdoor.
Speaker 8: I had the talent, I had the capability, but it
Speaker 8: didn't show up when it needed to because I didn't believe.
Speaker 8: I was living in fear of what if I'm not
Speaker 8: this athlete again, rather than just like being in the
Speaker 8: moment and just allowing what God has for me, like wherever,
Speaker 8: like I said, wherever the chips falls, where it falls.
Speaker 8: I can't force or create anything that wasn't there. So
Speaker 8: I'm just glad that I went through those opportunities to
Speaker 8: come second place and to lose and to come up short.
Speaker 8: You know, I mean it was it was heartbreaking when
Speaker 8: you know that you have the fastest cleechure time ever
Speaker 8: but you don't put it together on that day. So
Speaker 8: I mean, I'm an Olympic Goo medalist now, and I
Speaker 8: mean I had to go through those losses to be
Speaker 8: having this conversation with you, So I mean, I'm blessed
Speaker 8: and thankful for it, even though it was uncomfortable.
Speaker 2: At the time.
Speaker 1: Obviously, as a veteran coach, he was successful at Purdue
Speaker 1: before coming to Kentucky. Lonnie Green has worked with so
Speaker 1: many great athletes, and it's not all about patting him
Speaker 1: on the back after they win. He said, he has
Speaker 1: had to put his arm around a lot of athletes
Speaker 1: through the tough times.
Speaker 9: If she would permit me to tell a story of
Speaker 9: the NCAA Championship indors, you know, and she lost the
Speaker 9: meat she lost to meet by like two one hundreds
Speaker 9: of a second, and then she went into the bathroom.
Speaker 9: I had to send Devin to go get I said, Devin,
Speaker 9: go get her, because I couldn't follow him, you know
Speaker 9: what I mean. And when she was done, I looked
Speaker 9: out and saw you done, and so you done? You're done?
Speaker 9: Are you done? I said, you can't. You can't call
Speaker 9: that back. You can't un ring that bell. Now we
Speaker 9: gotta get ready for the next event, you know what
Speaker 9: I mean. And she said to me, court me if
Speaker 9: I'm wrong, correct me, if I'm wrong. I just want
Speaker 9: to cry because I didn't lose. I just want to
Speaker 9: cry it. So, okay, cry and pick it up, pick
Speaker 9: it back up.
Speaker 5: But we still got a mind. Really, we got running.
Speaker 9: She was a part of the relay, you know. So
Speaker 9: it's just I think it's just it's it's just the
Speaker 9: rigors of competition. It's just the things you go through
Speaker 9: when you're competing, you know, the ups and downs, you know.
Speaker 9: I think that's one of the reasons. I think you
Speaker 9: see people shed a tear when they on the on
Speaker 9: the on the metal stand, you know what I mean,
Speaker 9: Because in that moment when they when they're recognized for
Speaker 9: what they've accomplished. It all just comes flooding back in
Speaker 9: and like jingle bells. I gave up all of this,
Speaker 9: you know, all of everything I've given up for this
Speaker 9: moment right here now it's actually reality.
Speaker 1: UK athletes, current and former, when it came to collecting
Speaker 1: medals in Paris did better than most countries in the world.
Speaker 1: It was amazing. UK athletes kept racking them up. And
Speaker 1: Ronnie Green, of course a guy who goes out to
Speaker 1: recruit athletes. He talked about the fact that he didn't
Speaker 1: have to fire off many text messages. Recruits were texting
Speaker 1: him about perhaps competing at UK. He was loving it.
Speaker 9: I guess that mixed bag, you know, because you know
Speaker 9: you always want, you want, you want all your babies
Speaker 9: to perform exceedingly well. But just to know that, you know,
Speaker 9: you had Sidney mcloughlinstead of world's record, to know that
Speaker 9: Jasmine being the Olympic champion, the former Olympic champion, was
Speaker 9: a bronze medalist up in the side win the hundred hurdles,
Speaker 9: and then to have Daniel Roberts get silver, who ran
Speaker 9: for me here when I ran when I under my
Speaker 9: tenure in the men's once ten hurdles. You know that's
Speaker 9: you know some schools call themselves hurdle you I would,
Speaker 9: I would surmise. The Lord knows, I'm not the type
Speaker 9: of guy to get get prideful or anything like.
Speaker 5: That, but I would.
Speaker 9: I would say we could votes that we are the
Speaker 9: University of Kentucky is.
Speaker 1: Hurdle you Assia Russell class of twenty twenty three, but
Speaker 1: still considers yourself a wildcat happy for all Kentucky athletes
Speaker 1: in Paris.
Speaker 8: I think it was more of a thought afterwards, just
Speaker 8: to see how great Kentucky's legacy is and has been,
Speaker 8: and I'm glad that I'm still holding that throne super strong.
Speaker 8: It just means a lot, like the fact that I
Speaker 8: won this Olympics, and then Jasmine won the last Olympics,
Speaker 8: and then Sydney won both this year and in twenty
Speaker 8: twenty Slash twenty twenty one. So it's just a great
Speaker 8: honor to be able to continue to hold that legacy
Speaker 8: so strong.
Speaker 1: As Messiah Russell, she was the first UK athlete who
Speaker 1: really jumped on nil had a gazillion followers and I
Speaker 1: talked to her about that. She said she was just
Speaker 1: happy to take all her followers on this journey with her,
Speaker 1: So a lot of smiles from her, from her teammates,
Speaker 1: current and former, and from the head coach. One final
Speaker 1: look at the medals, and it seemed like every time
Speaker 1: you turned on the TV or looked at the internet
Speaker 1: or whatever, they were talking about another Kentucky athlete, UK
Speaker 1: athlete with the medal Eleven Wildcats with thirteen medals, nine gold,
Speaker 1: two silver, and two bronze. If you use the formula
Speaker 1: for the medal table where the medals count as one
Speaker 1: no matter how many athletes run a single team, Kentucky
Speaker 1: would have ten medals, six goal, two silver, and two bronze.
Speaker 1: But if they were on the national medals table, like
Speaker 1: I said, the ten total would rank twenty first and
Speaker 1: six goals would rank fourteenth in the world. So just
Speaker 1: an incredible contribution to the USA's world leading medal count
Speaker 1: of one hundred and forty goals. I'm sorry, forty goals,
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty six total medals. Seven Wildcats responsible
Speaker 1: for six goals team medals counting is one medal. Of course,
Speaker 1: you had one goal for the three Cats on the
Speaker 1: US men's basketball team. Bam Adebayo Devin Booker, Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: and one medal for the two or on the women's
Speaker 1: four by four hundred Sidney McLaughlin, Lebron and Alexa's Holmes.
Speaker 1: Five Cats winning six medals in track and field, foreign basketball,
Speaker 1: one medaled in volleyball, and one league keeper who actually
Speaker 1: competed at Notre Dame but she's in the UK MED
Speaker 1: school actually won two goals in fencing. Believe it or not,
Speaker 1: SEC competitors at the Olympics, UK second on the SEC
Speaker 1: medal table does not count lee keepers two goals. UK
Speaker 1: and the SEC schools don't compete in fencing at the
Speaker 1: varsity level. Twenty four UK student athletes, alumni and coaches
Speaker 1: represented nine different countries across six sports at the Olympic
Speaker 1: Games earlier this month. Just incredible what they have done
Speaker 1: there and the program they have now. And by the way,
Speaker 1: today was the first chance I had to go to
Speaker 1: the Jim Green Track facility. It's fantastic. I was out
Speaker 1: of town when they dedicated it and I hated the
Speaker 1: fact that I missed it. But now you'll see even
Speaker 1: more pictures up of all the Olympians I mentioned. Hopefully
Speaker 1: put up leaue keeper's picture. But Sidney McLaughlin with the
Speaker 1: gold and the hurdles and the relay Messih Russell with
Speaker 1: the golden one hundred hurdles. Daniel Roberts gets silver in
Speaker 1: the one ten hurdles. Avery Skinner, the former volleyball wildcat,
Speaker 1: gets silver with Team USA. Jasmine Camacho Quinn got the
Speaker 1: bronze for Puerto Rico. She carried a flag for her
Speaker 1: home country. Ryan Howard gets a bronze four three on
Speaker 1: three basketball. Very cool and I enjoyed the Olympics. I've
Speaker 1: always wanted to cover one. Annie Green said this was
Speaker 1: his fifth. I don't know. LA's four years away. Who knows.
Speaker 1: We'll come back and talk college football. Who belongs in
Speaker 1: the playoff? Yep, the discussions are already underway. You're on
Speaker 1: the Big bulld Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome Back, final
Speaker 1: segment of our show. I mentioned college football begins this
Speaker 1: week and it's actually Thursday. There are four top twenty
Speaker 1: five teams in action on Thursday night. Western Carolina's at
Speaker 1: nc State number twenty two, Murray State future Kentucky opponent
Speaker 1: at number eleven Missouri. So Marktopson Company will study that
Speaker 1: one hard Lyndon wood Is at number twenty four Kansas
Speaker 1: and Southern Utah at number thirteen. Utah sixteenth ranked. Oklahoma
Speaker 1: now of the SEC, plays Friday night against Temple at home.
Speaker 1: That's a seven o'clock start, then the noonkick on Saturday
Speaker 1: with Georgia and Clemson. Georgia rank number one, Clemson ranked
Speaker 1: number fourteen. I was listening to one of the college
Speaker 1: football talk shows on the radio earlier today and I
Speaker 1: heard Chris Childers and Rick Neuheisel talking on Serious XM Radio,
Speaker 1: and they were discussing the college football Playoff. And all
Speaker 1: you can do right now, of course, is talk about it.
Speaker 1: But that's what the powers to be love about the
Speaker 1: college football Playoff because it generates interest, it generates discussion,
Speaker 1: and when people such as I or you or these
Speaker 1: guys are talking about college football, they're not talking about
Speaker 1: the NFL, and trust me, this all comes into play.
Speaker 1: But new Heisel got into a topic about who belongs
Speaker 1: in the playoff, and he started snipping around the edges
Speaker 1: of an argument that I have made for years. And
Speaker 1: I was one of those guys who didn't lose my
Speaker 1: mind over the BCS. You should never vote. I think
Speaker 1: a College champion they ought to play, but two teams
Speaker 1: were playing, and then four teams were playing, and now
Speaker 1: twelve teams are going to play. I always felt like
Speaker 1: when they had two teams playing, there should have been
Speaker 1: an additional game, in other words, a final four. So
Speaker 1: I guess additionally Thember three games because I felt like
Speaker 1: there was always an argument over some team that was
Speaker 1: left out, and then again after the four teams, the
Speaker 1: fifth team was going to complain, which was inevitable, but
Speaker 1: it didn't seem like that happened very often. But my
Speaker 1: contention was and still is, that no matter how many
Speaker 1: teams you take, there will be teams complaining about not
Speaker 1: getting in. And people believed, honestly that twelve teams would
Speaker 1: minimize that. My response is, no, that will double or
Speaker 1: triple the amount of teams complaining. And here's why you
Speaker 1: speak to new Heisl's point. He asked Childers, should a
Speaker 1: team from the SEC or the Big Ten, arguably the
Speaker 1: two toughest conferences, get into the playoff with only nine wins,
Speaker 1: and Childers said yes, and new Heizels jumped on that
Speaker 1: and said, well, that means the committee is totally giving
Speaker 1: in to the two power conferences, which he said they
Speaker 1: did not do with the fourteen playoff, And of course
Speaker 1: my reaction was immediate, so was Childers, although he had
Speaker 1: new Heidel's ear and I clearly did not. He said,
Speaker 1: but look at the two conferences now, and he rattled
Speaker 1: off all the teams that have joined the Big Ten,
Speaker 1: far more than have joined the SEC, but the two
Speaker 1: that did make it a brutally tough conference, Oklahoma and Texas.
Speaker 1: But look at all those teams from the West that
Speaker 1: came east and joined the Big Ten. If you win
Speaker 1: nine games in the Big Ten, are you kidding me?
Speaker 1: You absolutely should at least be considered, not automatically taken.
Speaker 1: Of course, you can't do that. You win nine games
Speaker 1: in the SEC unless you've got, thanks to the computer,
Speaker 1: a powder puff schedule in the league and some teams
Speaker 1: fall apart. Yeah, you belong, But my point is new
Speaker 1: Heisl is already complaining, and he won't be the only one.
Speaker 1: There'll be some team out there that's eleven and one
Speaker 1: and it's left out because a nine and three SEC
Speaker 1: team or a nine and three Big Ten team will
Speaker 1: go in. Team A will have the prettier record, Team
Speaker 1: B will have the tougher road. It's gonna happen. It's
Speaker 1: bound to happen, so just keep that in mind. You
Speaker 1: may not have heard it here first, but I've been
Speaker 1: beating this drum for a long time and I bring
Speaker 1: it up only because I get so tired of it.
Speaker 1: That's going to happen, Trust me on that. Thanks to
Speaker 1: my guests Aaron Gershan and Van Hile's congrats to the
Speaker 1: UK Track program. That's it. Goodnight from the garage. In Lexingon,
Speaker 1: life moves pretty fast.
Speaker 3: You don't stop and look around once in a while.
Speaker 8: You could miss it.
Speaker 2: Oh,