Jeremy Jarmon & Morgan Newton breakdown

Jeremy Jarmon & Morgan Newton breakdown Kentucky Football's game against Auburn. 

Presented by District 7 Social 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Behind Kentucky Football, presented by District seven Social.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Thank you for tuning in for another week of BBN
trench talk. This is the Behind Kentucky Football Podcast. I'm
joined again by former QB one Morgan, Newden Morgan. Another
packed stadium against Auburn this past Saturday, however, the Cats
unable just unable to basically just kind of settle in

(00:25):
after a fast start tending nothing, things kind of got
a little wildly. What did you see in Krogerfield on Saturday?

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Yeah, Jeremy, it was a great start. It was a
great start to the game, really good first quarter. But
then after that we lost a lot of lost a
lot of momentum, lost a lot of juice. And I
think that the results on the field were as about
as you know, substandards as we've seen in some time.

Speaker 4 (00:58):
I mean, it was it just we were not.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
Able to sustain any momentum or any drives from about
the second quarter on.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Well, let's let's jump in, let's get to the quarterback position.
I'm sitting here, I got our sheet here, just kind
of looking at looking at Brocks numbers nine for seventeen
with an interception one hundred and twenty yards, a couple
of sacks, Gavin wims at three for ten, one interception,
thirty four yards, one sack. What are just your overall

(01:33):
thoughts on on just quarterback play this past weekend?

Speaker 3 (01:36):
Yeah, you know, I would say as a whole collectively,
it wasn't it was not.

Speaker 4 (01:43):
Very good.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
With that being said, you know, I was shocked, like
it sounds like a lot of people at Brock was
pulled out of the game, and you know, it's got
me speculating, you know, was it all was it planned
all along? Is this something where it was kind of
more performance based? You know, I don't feel like we've
really gotten a clear message from the staff on what

(02:04):
happened there. You know, I can tell you somebody who
started games although you may or may not be playing
up to your satisfaction. It was ten to ten at halftime,
and I thought we right, I thought we were still
in that fight, and so I was a little surprised

(02:25):
to see us go with the different direction, you know, whole,
you know, from a holistic standpoint in the second half.
But either way, that was a decision that the coaches
made and it proved to be sort of underwhelming.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
I think only maybe three possessions for the offense in
the second half. Gavin wimsit with the lion's share of
that got the start in the second half. I think
that uh sounds like it caught you by surprising, like
it caught some of the fan base by surprise. With
that being said, you know, I've had the opportunity to
get out to practice. I've seen Gavin take snaps. I've

(03:03):
seen him put into work all summer. I guess if
there was ever a time where the coaches thought maybe
that Brock was struggling and or Brock was banged up,
whatever the reason is, they felt comfortable browling with Gavin
Wimstt in the second half, he was able to drop
there was a you know, a long drive you get

(03:24):
down into the red zone, unable to come up with points.
But did he do enough Gavin there to continue, in
your opinion, to continue to possibly split reps with with
Brock or do you look to see Brock basically starting
in Knoxville this weekend.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
Yeah, you know, I think it depends on what split reps.
You know what that ends up, what that means for
that staff going forward. I mean, you know, early on
in the year, we saw Gavin come into the game
more in different spots to provide seems like to provide
in the quarterback run game, right And I think, you know,

(04:03):
those that do the sky and report at this point
realize that.

Speaker 4 (04:07):
He comes in the game.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
You know, Kentucky's looking for advantage numbers in the quarterback
run game.

Speaker 4 (04:14):
You know, from my perspective and from my vantage point, you.

Speaker 3 (04:18):
Know, I have I think it's really going to be
I think it's really challenging to evaluate who Brock is
as a player with.

Speaker 4 (04:24):
Some of the inconsistency we've seen up front.

Speaker 3 (04:28):
And I think that's you know, that's something that has
been discussed at nauseum this year, and.

Speaker 4 (04:33):
So you know, I'm interested to see where they go
with direction they go.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
It sounds like even while we're taping this, it's there's
still some uncertainties with who's going to take the Lion's
share of the snaps.

Speaker 4 (04:47):
I can tell you when you go down.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
To Tennessee and they've got one hundred thousand strong, you're
gonna want somebody that's gonna be steady taking snaps from
under center, you know, to try to shock that team
has shocked the world.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
Do you think, do you think the game plan pretty
much stays the same in the sense you try to
possess the football, heap the ball out of the Tennessee
Offensi's hands where they can can kind of chip away.
And you know in years past they were very explosive
where they they didn't need the football. You know. So

(05:24):
when I look at this past week stats, you know,
first downs, that's something that Kentucky they had consistently won
the first down battle Morgan through uh through the first
through the first seven games of the season. And this
is one where I mean Auburn twenty seven first downs
to our thirteen first downs. I mean to double us
up there, uh and obviously go for over three hundred

(05:48):
yards on the ground. I mean, they just they controlled
They controlled the they controlled the game from an offensive perspective.
Did that surprise you that they catch you off guard? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (06:02):
Me, it did some.

Speaker 3 (06:03):
I mean because you know, when you look at the
two teams coming into the matchup, at least on paper,
they seem to be pretty even. And I'm one of
the people that I think that motivation.

Speaker 4 (06:17):
Is a little bit of an overblown.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
Topic and subject, But there was no question when you
look at the two sides of the ball, you know,
on the Auburn sideline on the Kentucky sideline.

Speaker 4 (06:28):
In that game, it seemed it seemed to me that Auburn.

Speaker 3 (06:31):
Had the edge from an energy and motivation perspective, and
that they were they were in control of that game.
You know, one of the things Jeremy, we talked about,
we've talked about in the past weeks. You know, rushes
and completions, right, you know, Auburn forty seven rush attempts,

(06:53):
forty seven and had twenty completions and we had twelve
completions and I think we had twenty seven rushes. Then
completely dominated the game. And that's how you go a
half with three possessions. In the second half, you're not
getting off the field, you're not sustaining possessions offensively. It

(07:20):
was about a bat a football half as this unit
is played. Even when you compare it to South Carolina
and Vanderbilt for both home games.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
You mentioned getting back on the road. You're going to
Knoxville this weekend. You got the crowd element there. Knoxville's
announced it that they've activated their you know, their their
black jerseys, so they're obviously putting a you know, putting
some energy behind the marketing this weekend and a rivalry game.

(07:55):
Did you see did you see something from an offensive
standpoint that we could potentially build on to try to
be competitive there in Knoxville against a really good defense,
especially up front, a group that is very strong and
they're well rested. Morgan, as you know, the difference between
you know, in this league, when you get an extra week,

(08:17):
the game plan, the prep to rest, you know, that
can be a deciding factor as well. Did you see
something that this offense, bush hand, it can build on
going into this this game this week?

Speaker 3 (08:30):
Yeah, I mean I still believe that our running backs
and we'll see who ends up being healthy for the
game on Saturday, but I still believe that when we
commit to the running game, and I'm talking primarily handed.

Speaker 4 (08:44):
To the backs at this point, but when we.

Speaker 3 (08:46):
Hand it to those backs to be recruited, you know,
those guys are still getting five yards. I mean even
in a game against you know, Alburn where we were
not very successful offensively, you know, a guy like Patterson's
getting six yards a rush and then a guy like
will Cox and this is this includes a few red

(09:07):
zone touches. We'll still getting almost four yards to carry.
So I think there's a formula to being competitive in
a game with Tennessee, much like we saw against Ole
miss Right. Very two very similar offensive teams with offensive philosophies.

Speaker 4 (09:28):
You know, high Pole does not value time and.

Speaker 3 (09:30):
Possession, you know, some of those some of those winning stats,
he doesn't value quite as much, and I think that
plays into our hand if we show up. I think,
based on what we saw in the second half of
the Auburn game, the question is is this team gonna
show up?

Speaker 1 (09:46):
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Speaker 2 (10:08):
You know, I've been going through through online looking, you know,
looking at some of the posts, some of the you know,
there's there is a minority in the fan base that
that feels that that this team, that this team potentially
just didn't have a lot of fight. They didn't see
a lot of fight. You go and you look at

(10:29):
the film, I think on the defensive end, I just
think that what I saw Morgan, I saw a really
good running back in joh Quest Hunter that was doing
a really good job of hitting these holes. And when
you you know, I mean, when you're facing elite backs
in this league, you got to get these guys. You
got to be able to bottle them up. I think
defensively up front, I don't think that we were as

(10:50):
aggressive as we needed to be, just in terms of gap,
gap integrity, staying in your gap. I thought that, you know,
there were some opportunities really to bottle up the running
back and we just weren't gap sound and for a
really good linebacker corp that we have, I just felt

(11:12):
like that there were just some inconsistencies that just have
to be fixed. It seemed that Brad White was caught
by surprise with some of the gap, with some of
the gap integrity. I thought that for most of the
game against Vanderbilt, a team that I felt did a
lot from a blocking scheme perspective, I thought there was

(11:34):
a lot of good things there on tape that we
could have potentially built upon, and I was surprised to
see some of our veteran guys just not being as
accountable as they had been in previous weeks. What do
you think the message is from from Brad White to
this defense going into this week?

Speaker 3 (11:52):
Yeah, I think you know, and Brad White and coach Tubs,
they've been doing this a long time. I think they've
got to identify who wants to play and who's going
to come in, who's going to show up, and who's
going to contribute and not just put the jersey on,
but who you know, who's going to come out there
and contribute, is going to fight and look, I'm sure

(12:15):
they have an indication of who those types of people are.
I mean, who those types of players are, and they're
building their plan around them for Saturday. You know, Tennessee,
this is a team that has playoff aspirations, a team
that thinks they could they could play for a national title.

(12:36):
I think they've got that kind of talent and that
type of support.

Speaker 4 (12:40):
And I think that this game is going to represent
that based.

Speaker 3 (12:44):
On the atmosphere and what what this team's going in,
you know to play, So they've got to be ready
to play, and you can't have people you know on
the field that aren't given one hundred percent effort.

Speaker 2 (12:59):
And that's where it just gets tough, because you know
in this league that guys are going to have to
play through you know, bumps and bruises and things that
are nagging them. You want your best guys out there.
But but you're right, Morgan, I mean in this league,
I mean week one, you're not healthy. Right, So by
the time you're getting into week eight, week nine, even

(13:20):
if there has been a bye week, you're still things
are still lingering, things are still bothering you. But ultimately,
the guys up front, they just absolutely have to get
to the quarterback this week. They have to push the pocket.
They have to re establish the line of scrimmage. And
by re established, I don't mean stalemate. I mean penetration.

(13:45):
Push that line of scrimmage back a yard or two,
make make the running backs, make these running backs run
the hump. And these are some of the things that
you saw at times against Auburn. And I tell you
they did a really good job with the other backs.
But Hunter just being a different just being a different

(14:05):
kind of back with his cut back ability, I mean,
he just he set some things up nicely and just
absolutely hurt us in my game in a way that
I haven't seen him back doing a long time. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:18):
I mean, look, it's talented as Hunter is, and look,
there's no doubt he was talented.

Speaker 4 (14:24):
He has some bursts.

Speaker 3 (14:25):
I mean, this is a guy that got to the
second level and made some big plays. And this game
Hunter had I think twelve yards per rush.

Speaker 4 (14:35):
That's you know, that's really impressive. But for this defense
that came into this.

Speaker 2 (14:39):
Year after that ship caliber defense.

Speaker 3 (14:43):
Yeah, with with those expectations and you give up three
hundred and twenty eight yards rushing at home, man, I
don't know. You know, look like you said, high expectations
for this defense, you give up three hundred and twenty
eight yards rushing at home with guys that are going

(15:05):
to play on Sundays on that side of the ball.

Speaker 4 (15:09):
You know, I think those are the kind of conversations
that they're having in this week getting prepared.

Speaker 3 (15:15):
You and I both know Inside Runs is gonna be
gonna have a different level of intensity this week.

Speaker 4 (15:23):
You know, that's just it's just it has to be
one of those types of weeks.

Speaker 2 (15:28):
So Morgan, looking at looking at our receiving Dame ki
a guy who's been getting heavy targets, I think, or
two weeks ago, I think he was sitting at fourteen targets.
This past week he was targeted ten times, four catches
eighty seven yards three yards of yak. Kamari Anderson targeted
two times, two catches for fourteen yards. And then our

(15:52):
other tight end cat has targeted two times, one catch.
Not a lot of catches to go around. You know
a few other guys here. Will Cox would one snag,
Burying Brown five targets, only one catch, Patterson three targets,
one catch, Hardly gil More one target, one catch.

Speaker 3 (16:11):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
You know we had talked about we had talked about
Dingle the week previous, the week prior. Looks like some
of the passes that may have been you know, put
his way, they went to Anderson. Uh this past week,
the young guy giving him an opportunity to to try
to step in and spark this offense. Uh, it's uh,
I tell you, you know, there's not a lot of yak

(16:34):
on some of these on some of these catches. You know,
I feel like we gotta you know, what does that entail?
You know, how do you how do you get our
wide receivers in positions where they can where they can
get some yackyardists.

Speaker 3 (16:45):
Yeah, I think this is where play design and offensive
play calling let us down.

Speaker 4 (16:56):
You know, Bush is really working through things.

Speaker 3 (16:58):
I mean, coming from a place like Boise to Kentucky,
it's a it's a different it's a different job, it's
a different gig.

Speaker 4 (17:04):
You've got different personnel, and I.

Speaker 3 (17:07):
Think it's been there's at times it's been really good.

Speaker 4 (17:10):
At times it hasn't.

Speaker 3 (17:12):
You know, a guy with the talent of Barrier Brent,
we talk about all the time, a guy with a
town of.

Speaker 4 (17:16):
Barry Brown should get more than two touches in a game.

Speaker 2 (17:20):
And you know, a lot of Stoops mentioned Stoops mentioned
that he thought that the defense did a really good
job of covering our guys up.

Speaker 4 (17:30):
Yeah, that's look, what is what's the old ad?

Speaker 3 (17:34):
As we say, our guys are on a scholarship too,
you can't get covered up. It's you know, it's one
of those sort of it's one of those sort of propositions.
You know, you've got to get open, but we've also
got to get them open. And the really good play
callers in this league, the really good play callers in
college find ways to get the ball to to their

(17:57):
to their top threats. They just do and barry On
Brown touching the ball twice in a three hour game
is inexcusable. And I think that Bush and team are
going to have a better plan going into this game.
I think this was one of those weeks where it
was a wake up call for everybody, and I expect

(18:19):
a response.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
Looking at the rushing numbers, Patterson six six carries, Wilcox
seven carries, whims At nine carries. Surprised to see whims it,
uh you know with his nine carries?

Speaker 4 (18:34):
Uh no, No. I mean when you think about a
guy like Gavin.

Speaker 3 (18:36):
Playing a full half, you know, part of the of
what they're going to do with with Gavin is going
to be quarterback around so I you know, you expect
to see some volume from him if he plays extended minutes.
I think there's a there's certainly a conversation to be
had on his effectiveness in that spot. But look, you know,

(19:00):
you know one of the things that we talk about
in the trench talk is, you know, how how did
we arrive to a scenario where Gavin is a guy
that's going to play a half. I think there's some
perspective that Rock didn't play well enough in the first half.

Speaker 4 (19:15):
Obviously the coaches must have had that perspective.

Speaker 3 (19:17):
But when you know, one of the things that we've
talked about is when you put a guy like Gavin
in for a second half, the reality is in practice,
you don't get that much time and we don't get
a lot of reps for your backup quarterback, and so
it's a tough spot. And I'm certain that when Bush

(19:38):
was calling plays in that second half, whatever play shit
he had, that the Gavin plays were about.

Speaker 4 (19:47):
That's that much of it. That's just the.

Speaker 3 (19:49):
Reality of trying to prepare Rock to play a game
and then in the same week try to also have
some options for Gavin.

Speaker 2 (19:58):
How tough is it to be a backup quarterback? Potentially
you're taking limited snaps, maybe taking less snaps than over
the course of the week, not knowing how a game
is going to go, and come out and you're Gavin
and they tell you, hey, you're starting the second half.

(20:18):
You know, what's what's that mindset like for God, maybe
that did not anticipate this or is it his job
to anticipate that this is a possibility.

Speaker 4 (20:27):
Yeah, you know it certainly is his job. He's brought
in here and this.

Speaker 3 (20:31):
I think at this point he knows that he's he's
backup quarterback, the next option, and so he's got to
prepare himself as best as possible. But again preparing the
plays that you prepare for Gavin are likely different than
the plays that you prepare for Brock. So when Brock
is going through, he's getting his six reps in each

(20:54):
period in practice, and you know those periods seven on seven,
well he's in side run, if it's team passed, team blitz,
team defense, those subset of plays that Brock has are
more often and not going to be different than the
ones that Gavin has.

Speaker 4 (21:13):
So Gavin's got to be as prepared as he can be.

Speaker 3 (21:16):
But the reality is, when he's sitting on the sideline
and he's holding his helmet, the plays that he's seeing
Brock run may not all be may not always be
the same place that He's gonna run, and I think.

Speaker 4 (21:29):
That creates another layer of challenge and difficulty.

Speaker 3 (21:34):
You know, the other thing, when you're more in game,
you know you're getting a sense of the environment, You're
getting a sense of what the defense is trying to
do to you. You know, there's certainly a lot of
observation that has to happen, but it's not the same
as being on the field and taking the snaps yourself.
And that was another shocking factor of the of the

(21:58):
change in the exchange for me is sometimes over over
the course of an entire game, those things that Brock
is seeing in the first half, those become opportunities at
times in the second.

Speaker 4 (22:12):
Half when you're playing in those games.

Speaker 2 (22:14):
So is that because naturally things can kind of slow down.
You recognize some of the reads, you start to recognize
maybe some of the movements.

Speaker 3 (22:23):
Yeah, personnel, you get to see the body language of
the corners, you get you get a feel for where
the safeties are, you get to see, okay, which defensive
end is, you know, pinning their ears back. And you know,
there's a lot of things, a lot of information and
data that you can gather over the course of a
half that you know you should be able to use

(22:43):
in the second half.

Speaker 2 (22:45):
Morgan, it was a pleasure. I appreciate you joining us
this week to talk about UH the album review. Look
forward to getting with you to break down the opportunity
at hand here that the Cats have going in to
Knoxville this week. Look forward to having you back on soon.