October 11, 2024 • 17 mins
Wildcat Whip with Tom Leach, Jeff Piecoro & Dick Gabriel pre Vandy.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Behind Kentucky Football, presented by District seven Social
Welcome to the.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Wildcat Whip at Gabriel, Tom Leach, Jeff mccorrel.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
We will be on the call if.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
The Wildcat's taken on the Vanderbilt Commodore Saturday night. Let's
talk about Commodorees and cats, and we've all talked about
it alway, you guys on TV and radio and the
radio shows, and looking back at both the games. That
made this one of the most interesting games in the
country is.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
The way both teams.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
Won their respective upsets. And Jeff, I'll start with you
on this because you and I.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Talk about stats at halftime and after the game. We
often throw away time and position because often it doesn't matter.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
It was everything in both of these upsets.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
And nearly identical.
Speaker 5 (00:47):
Yeah, it was amazing Tom that Kentucky had the ball
for forty minutes spaces he thirty nine and forty seconds
whatever it was.
Speaker 6 (00:56):
That's an amazing stat right there.
Speaker 5 (00:58):
And they got first down after first after first a
double ole missus first downs. And then the thing that
blew my mind when you're looking at the Vanderbilt game
wasn't the fact they won. I mean, because like we
always say, the law physics say you're gonna win one
of these games every once in a while. This was
a game, but it was how they won and that
they put forty up against really good Alabama team and
(01:20):
it wasn't a fluke.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Yeah, they had twenty six first downs. I want to say, hit.
Speaker 7 (01:26):
Some explosive place. Kentucky hit the big pass to Barry
and Brown. But Bush Hampton talk this week about in
the next phase of the season they want to get
better at creating more explosive plays because it's hard to
keep the ball for a long time when you have
to keep executing on third down, but you're not getting
big chunks of yardage now there. If you just look
(01:46):
at their third down numbers, it wasn't great at Old Miss,
but they had three out of three on fourth down.
And I always say they need to change that stat
and call it effective third down conversion and you add
if it's you know, you add in the fourth down number,
and that gives you a much more accurate picture, sure,
because you know if you miss on third, damas you
make it on fourth, you still keep the ball.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
You know.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
I thought one of the key plays and we saw
Kentucky and Vanderbilt do almost the exact same thing.
Speaker 6 (02:11):
Fourth down.
Speaker 5 (02:13):
Kentucky goes and throws it deep. Fourth down, Vandy does
the same thing. Theirs ended up in a touchdown. It
was what fifty five yards something like that touchdown pass.
But I'll tell you what. Diego Pavia is an interesting character.
Six foot one hundred or two hundred pounds, so he's
basically my size a little, you know, I'm a little
(02:33):
heavier than he is, but he's I was trying to think.
Speaker 6 (02:37):
Who can I compare him with?
Speaker 5 (02:38):
Now I'm thinking the only one that comes to mind,
because he gets out of so many problems is Johnny Manzel.
Speaker 7 (02:43):
Yes, I think only with common sense. Bran White compared
him to Baker Mayfield too.
Speaker 6 (02:48):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's another good Yeah.
Speaker 7 (02:50):
Here's an interesting anatomy of an upset bandy over Alabama,
the orchestrated by the.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
This Doug Flutiesque.
Speaker 6 (03:03):
Quarterback New Mexico State.
Speaker 7 (03:05):
Started at a junior college in New Mexico. Nobody wanted
him two offers, I think. So he makes it to
the national Junior College I guess Division two national championship
game and they're playing a team called from Iowa West
Western and there's a quarterback on the other side that
Jerry Kill, the coach in New Mexico State, was also
recruiting and had made the decision that's who he was
(03:27):
going to offer. Kill and his staff are watching the
championship game at Hooters and they decided where, and Pavi's
team wins, and they decide to offer Pavia instead, and
he goes to Mexico State and he ends up at
Vanderbilt and they beat Alabama.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I love recruiting stories like that. That's the way Kentucky
got Louis Dampier. You know, one of the recruiters was
up in Indiana stopped for directions, Who are you looking
at well, so and so?
Speaker 4 (03:55):
Oh, you got to go look at his Dampier kid.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
And then he did same thing with Jim Andrews, Joe
b stop for gas or whatever, and who you're looking at?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
A look at so and so? Well is Jim Andrews
kids pretty good?
Speaker 5 (04:07):
You know that happens a lot in football, because look,
you just don't have enough personnel to scour the whole nation.
So you say, oh, this guy supposedly a four star,
five star whatever, so you go watch him and You're like, well,
there's two or three other guys on the field that
are as good, if not better than that guy, and
it's a bonus, you know. You and I we always
go back to some of the games we've seen in
(04:28):
high school and I say, that guy can play. That
guy can play, and it's amazing. They're all after that guy.
Speaker 6 (04:34):
But that guy's the one that teams out to be
you see it.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
I ha more in football because in basketball you can
get them all together.
Speaker 6 (04:39):
Correct, Yeah, they can't.
Speaker 7 (04:41):
You know, occasionally you get a read shepherd that way
outperforms rankings. But in football, look at souls who should
be back I think this week and has been a dynamic.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
Player for them.
Speaker 7 (04:53):
Three star guy wasn't really talked much, talked about that
much in the recruiting class. He looks like he's got
tremendous upside, don't you.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
I think that the exact same position is what I'm
losing my mind. Alan Josh Josh Josh was a two.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Or three star flip through the crack and he's.
Speaker 5 (05:13):
A guy that Look, there's a lot of guys that
you've seen what I look for, especially in high school guys,
and I'm by no means recruiters I look at the
frame of their body, a guy like Malachi. When I
look at Malachi, I'm thinking, Okay, they can put thirty
or forty pounds on it because he's skinny, because he's
been playing basketball too, and now when he starts going
(05:34):
into the weight room instead of playing basketball.
Speaker 6 (05:37):
Landing Young was another.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Guy Taylor a few years ago. His defensive livel.
Speaker 6 (05:41):
But Landing was what I get at.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
He was a wrestler, so he was cutting weight and
then when he put it on, he becomes a three
hundred and ten pound monster who's still playing.
Speaker 6 (05:51):
In the NFL.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
You know, you go back to Soldier said something interesting.
He was a three star that was kind of flying
under the radar. Isn't that interesting that that's where we
are now.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Because it wasn't that long ago Kentucky.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
Get a three star and people would throw.
Speaker 7 (06:04):
The top of the recruit exactly right, not that their
soul's clearly a nice player.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Wesley Woodyard was an over the three star, So that
says a lot about where Kentucky is. Obviously with recruiting,
I think it's a big plus for the Wildcats, and
I'm sure there's plusses for Vandy that Kentucky's coming off
a game defensively where they had to focus so much
on Jackson Dart, a quarterback who can extend.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Plays with his feet.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
It may not be quite.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
As creative as Diego Pavia, but a guy that the
d line they had to be so disciplined Tom, and.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Did you know he hit some big plays.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
But they're coming off that one right into another kind
of problem child in Diego.
Speaker 7 (06:48):
And probably gonna have to do it a little shorthanded
in the secondary. The first availability report came out Wednesday
night and to Ryan, Nichols was doubtful on the air,
and Harston's out. He played well, he did, I mean,
and so now who's who's the third guy?
Speaker 4 (07:00):
You know?
Speaker 7 (07:01):
You know Hardaway and Waller played great. Nichols did too,
and now he's maybe unavailable. So if so, who's next up?
Speaker 5 (07:09):
I kind of feeling that if if you're in a
pinch in that situation, Tom, that they can use just
two corners because you really have three safeties.
Speaker 6 (07:19):
Yeah, that are really good, and you can move.
Speaker 5 (07:22):
Zion or Tie inside to cover that that tight end.
Speaker 7 (07:26):
Probably Chance and Dunn is the third corner now, and
who's been more of a hybrid correct safety.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
But yeah in Afari can always cover a tight end.
Speaker 6 (07:36):
Yeah, back too. So it's a point.
Speaker 5 (07:37):
You've got a couple guys that are kind of freakish
in their abilities at their set position, but really in
that back seven, there's three or four guys that you
can really be really interchanging.
Speaker 7 (07:48):
I think Brad White is so good when he has
veteran guys that have that kind of versatility and he
can get creative. We saw it when Josh Allen's here
and uh, you know, looking for where they put Dion
in different and what they can do with a far
a guy like Afari and Childress who can play deeper
in the secondary or is comfortable.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Up close to the line too.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
Way before John Caliperi came out with we just want
these tall guys that he can play this, this and
this and this. Bob Huggins when I was doing U
see basketball games, Bob said, I want guys that because
he played almost like Arkansas, but Nolan richardson eighty four feet,
I mean they picked up, they pressed the whole game.
He goes, I want guys that are interchangeable. Guy that
(08:31):
he's a three, but he can play five yeah, yes,
and now you're seeing this in football where you know
what he might you might be listed as a linebacker
like an Afari, but he can play strong safety, he
can play that monster nickelback. And you're getting more and
more of these guys every year that you just call
him an athlete and what the coaches say. I want
(08:51):
to get my eleven best athletes on the field at
the same time.
Speaker 6 (08:57):
The exact same guy.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
It's like a defensive end.
Speaker 6 (09:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
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Speaker 2 (09:21):
E didn't say Zion's name much against Ole Miss I'm
not sure you know what was going into the defense
and just incredible against Georgia. Yeah, but yeah, he's a
guy plays the run well and can cover. So but
all those guys, we're talking a lot about the back
for the back seven thanks to those guys up front. Yeah,
and I'm hearing I've used this word all week on
(09:42):
my show, but I'm hearing the national heads use the
word elite when they talk about the Kentucky d line,
and I think they're getting there obviously.
Speaker 6 (09:50):
And they're not.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
If you look at stats.
Speaker 7 (09:54):
You don't see especially for Dion because he's getting blocked
and held, but he's created eating opportunities for other people.
And you listened to I mean Lane kiffen Kimber exactly
what he said, but he was like something about it
goes to the along the lines. So that's a dude
in there, and you know, you seeing he's top ten
draft pick projected, so people that you know, know what
(10:14):
they're looking at, know how well he's playing.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
But Dick to your point, you think back through the
years and you think of that great teams in the seventies,
and it was always Jim Kovach had twelve tackles, you know,
the next week Kovach had this many, or or a
Blanton had this many, you know, tackles for the loss.
Speaker 6 (10:37):
Now you've got.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
Really ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen guys that are really good.
It doesn't have to beat Jim Kovatch every week.
Speaker 6 (10:44):
It could be Doumas Johnson.
Speaker 5 (10:46):
It could be Deeric, it could be one of the
four guys in the secondary that play great, and that's
something they haven't had in the past.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
And to invoke another name from back then that we
always do his art still.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Because he might not have that goudiest numbers.
Speaker 6 (11:00):
Why because they all ran the other way, thank you, right.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Into the waiting army and dam Blanton and Bud Deal
and those guys.
Speaker 5 (11:07):
They remember Kentucky's defense back then was funneled to those
guys in the middle.
Speaker 6 (11:12):
They wanted to funnel everything to the co batches of
the world.
Speaker 7 (11:15):
I think it's gonna be interesting in this game and
the ones that are in the coming weeks for this defense,
because they had that subpar performance against South Carolina, but
they have been lights out pretty much otherwise. And that's
say for a few plays in that game. I think
back to the best defense in my lifetime was that
(11:37):
seventy seven I think. But they really it was kind
of in that middle part of the year when they
really found their form, and you know they and I
look at the guy like Dumas Johnson, who I think
from watching it and listening to Brad White, seems to
be kind of you know, getting really comfortable in this
defense and playing well. Dion and Ripke, front Oxen down,
(12:00):
all these guys were talking about that. I think this
defense maybe start to starts to get a little bit
of the good kind of swagger here and in these
next few weeks. And you know what they did to
shut down, you know, an ole miss offense. It's different
kind of challenge here. But and Andy's average like thirty
eight games.
Speaker 5 (12:15):
Yeah, well, here's the biggest thing to me. And when
you break down the schedule, I think everybody would have
said they're gonna be three and two after those five games.
Some people said four and one. But to me, it's
these next three games are the difference in this team
going to a really good Bowl and a so so
Bowl because they got a chance to win. It's a
fifty to fifty proposition in the next three games. Then
(12:36):
the final three games, you're going to be an underdog
in every one of those games. Texas at Texas, Tennessee
at Tennessee, Louisvill's a toss up. They kind of had
some hard times here in the last couple of weeks,
but you know, these are the three games you're gonna
have to make Hey, you want to be six and
two going into those final three games.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
We talked a lot about the defense, and we could
talk all day about it because it has played well
and to be fair played okay against South Carolina had
breakdowns because of communications issues, and boy, that's going to
be vital Saturday night.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
At the defense, the communications. But they did it so
well against Ole Miss.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
If they pick up where they left off, I think
they'll be okay. What I think is really fun to
watch two things on this offense. Been on a couple
of shows this week from Nashville. What a surprise you,
I said, Demi sumocarnby moving the pile. Yeah, that's surprise
number one. Is that surprised you?
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Guys? You want to more practices and scrimmages that I did.
Speaker 7 (13:34):
But you know, now much much more effective runner between
the tackles than I thought he would be. I thought
they'd end up, you know, he'd get you know, ten
eleven carries would train and went down and you know,
maybe Patterson, will Cox and you know a heavier dose
of Whimsat, who we saw a good bit of in
the Old Miss game.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
Here was half the Carris at the goal line.
Speaker 7 (13:55):
Yeah, that's right, Yeah, cast up any in the right
place at the right time. But you know, I think
Demmy's run so well that they haven't maybe had to use.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
Wimset as much.
Speaker 7 (14:09):
And you know wimst's close to train him in terms
of body type. But yes, to answer your question, Uh,
Demmy's been very impressive and really has gotten effective at
picking up blitzers. He did that on the Yeah, fourth
and seven play the Brown, he picked up a blitzer.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
Yeah. But you know, we haven't even said his name yet.
But I really like the way that Rock has it.
Every game you see him taking a step forward. He's
he's seeing more. The one thing that he still has
to do is throw the ball away.
Speaker 6 (14:39):
He still has. He has two problems.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
One holds them all too long because that that inner
clock that every quarterback has, and I get that from
he hadn't played in three years.
Speaker 6 (14:49):
He really hadn't played.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
But the other thing he has to get in his
head is one Mississippi, two, Mississippi, three, Mississippi.
Speaker 6 (14:57):
Get the hell out of there, and then so much
on the move. Just throw it away.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
But he cannot take those minuses, especially in these fifty
to fifty games. And then when you get to the
Texas and Tennessee's and can't take minus plays.
Speaker 7 (15:10):
And if you're not hitting big chunk of yardage plays,
that makes that right neat rush.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
Yet now it's second at ten or second in fourteen
or fifteen when he gets.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Set and sometimes there's a tight end out there lurking
as we wrap this up.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
Uh, I'll throw this in you, mister wide receiver. How
much are you loving.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
What you see out to Dane Key, who's become such
a weapon that Ole Miss chose to double him in
single cover Barry and Brown and it cost him the game.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
His size and strength and speed has been fantastic. But
I saw a story and I don't know if it's true.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Now.
Speaker 5 (15:43):
I was gonna ask before they played Vanderbilt last year,
I heard that he went into the Vanderbilt Did you
have you heard this that he actually went into their
uh their dressing area and yeah, because I don't know
what to call it there, it's not a locker room,
the ten or whatever, and went up to the dB
and said you better before the game.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Well, remember he got in trouble for Pat and the
goal and.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
They headed that and he said he went up to
the guy, said you better be ready. You better strap
that off because I'm coming after your blank Dame and
walked out and they said, and then he catches the
pass and smacks me on the head, gets the penalty,
but he said it just I was done.
Speaker 6 (16:23):
When he came to the were like all the.
Speaker 5 (16:25):
Dbs were like, holy crap, that was day Ke in
our locker room telling us you better be ready.
Speaker 6 (16:32):
I got to get that confirmed. But I heard that story, like, man,
if he did that, he.
Speaker 7 (16:36):
Said, he just saw this in the preseason and was
interested if it would you know, carry over if it
was you know, legit right.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
The wist way he carries himself is like a pro.
Speaker 6 (16:47):
Yes, yeah, he you know Barryon.
Speaker 5 (16:50):
Barryon is almost like a dog where he's going to
get up there and he's not going back down from anybody.
He's going to tell you how he feels. Whereas Dame
is more that James Bond type man.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
He's he's a little a little Jim Brown in there.
Speaker 6 (17:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (17:04):
Yeah, he's just really good and backs up what he says.
Speaker 6 (17:08):
You know, that's what's cool.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
The way he's playing. Yeah, how to do it?
Speaker 2 (17:12):
For this edition of The Wildcat Whip, Tom Lee Jeffercoro,
hope you enjoyed the game.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Everybody in tunis in
Speaker 4 (17:18):
On the UK Sports Network
Welcome to Behind Kentucky Football, presented by District seven Social
Welcome to the.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Wildcat Whip at Gabriel, Tom Leach, Jeff mccorrel.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
We will be on the call if.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
The Wildcat's taken on the Vanderbilt Commodore Saturday night. Let's
talk about Commodorees and cats, and we've all talked about
it alway, you guys on TV and radio and the
radio shows, and looking back at both the games. That
made this one of the most interesting games in the
country is.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
The way both teams.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
Won their respective upsets. And Jeff, I'll start with you
on this because you and I.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Talk about stats at halftime and after the game. We
often throw away time and position because often it doesn't matter.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
It was everything in both of these upsets.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
And nearly identical.
Speaker 5 (00:47):
Yeah, it was amazing Tom that Kentucky had the ball
for forty minutes spaces he thirty nine and forty seconds
whatever it was.
Speaker 6 (00:56):
That's an amazing stat right there.
Speaker 5 (00:58):
And they got first down after first after first a
double ole missus first downs. And then the thing that
blew my mind when you're looking at the Vanderbilt game
wasn't the fact they won. I mean, because like we
always say, the law physics say you're gonna win one
of these games every once in a while. This was
a game, but it was how they won and that
they put forty up against really good Alabama team and
(01:20):
it wasn't a fluke.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Yeah, they had twenty six first downs. I want to say, hit.
Speaker 7 (01:26):
Some explosive place. Kentucky hit the big pass to Barry
and Brown. But Bush Hampton talk this week about in
the next phase of the season they want to get
better at creating more explosive plays because it's hard to
keep the ball for a long time when you have
to keep executing on third down, but you're not getting
big chunks of yardage now there. If you just look
(01:46):
at their third down numbers, it wasn't great at Old Miss,
but they had three out of three on fourth down.
And I always say they need to change that stat
and call it effective third down conversion and you add
if it's you know, you add in the fourth down number,
and that gives you a much more accurate picture, sure,
because you know if you miss on third, damas you
make it on fourth, you still keep the ball.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
You know.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
I thought one of the key plays and we saw
Kentucky and Vanderbilt do almost the exact same thing.
Speaker 6 (02:11):
Fourth down.
Speaker 5 (02:13):
Kentucky goes and throws it deep. Fourth down, Vandy does
the same thing. Theirs ended up in a touchdown. It
was what fifty five yards something like that touchdown pass.
But I'll tell you what. Diego Pavia is an interesting character.
Six foot one hundred or two hundred pounds, so he's
basically my size a little, you know, I'm a little
(02:33):
heavier than he is, but he's I was trying to think.
Speaker 6 (02:37):
Who can I compare him with?
Speaker 5 (02:38):
Now I'm thinking the only one that comes to mind,
because he gets out of so many problems is Johnny Manzel.
Speaker 7 (02:43):
Yes, I think only with common sense. Bran White compared
him to Baker Mayfield too.
Speaker 6 (02:48):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's another good Yeah.
Speaker 7 (02:50):
Here's an interesting anatomy of an upset bandy over Alabama,
the orchestrated by the.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
This Doug Flutiesque.
Speaker 6 (03:03):
Quarterback New Mexico State.
Speaker 7 (03:05):
Started at a junior college in New Mexico. Nobody wanted
him two offers, I think. So he makes it to
the national Junior College I guess Division two national championship
game and they're playing a team called from Iowa West
Western and there's a quarterback on the other side that
Jerry Kill, the coach in New Mexico State, was also
recruiting and had made the decision that's who he was
(03:27):
going to offer. Kill and his staff are watching the
championship game at Hooters and they decided where, and Pavi's
team wins, and they decide to offer Pavia instead, and
he goes to Mexico State and he ends up at
Vanderbilt and they beat Alabama.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I love recruiting stories like that. That's the way Kentucky
got Louis Dampier. You know, one of the recruiters was
up in Indiana stopped for directions, Who are you looking
at well, so and so?
Speaker 4 (03:55):
Oh, you got to go look at his Dampier kid.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
And then he did same thing with Jim Andrews, Joe
b stop for gas or whatever, and who you're looking at?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
A look at so and so? Well is Jim Andrews
kids pretty good?
Speaker 5 (04:07):
You know that happens a lot in football, because look,
you just don't have enough personnel to scour the whole nation.
So you say, oh, this guy supposedly a four star,
five star whatever, so you go watch him and You're like, well,
there's two or three other guys on the field that
are as good, if not better than that guy, and
it's a bonus, you know. You and I we always
go back to some of the games we've seen in
(04:28):
high school and I say, that guy can play. That
guy can play, and it's amazing. They're all after that guy.
Speaker 6 (04:34):
But that guy's the one that teams out to be
you see it.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
I ha more in football because in basketball you can
get them all together.
Speaker 6 (04:39):
Correct, Yeah, they can't.
Speaker 7 (04:41):
You know, occasionally you get a read shepherd that way
outperforms rankings. But in football, look at souls who should
be back I think this week and has been a dynamic.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
Player for them.
Speaker 7 (04:53):
Three star guy wasn't really talked much, talked about that
much in the recruiting class. He looks like he's got
tremendous upside, don't you.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
I think that the exact same position is what I'm
losing my mind. Alan Josh Josh Josh was a two.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Or three star flip through the crack and he's.
Speaker 5 (05:13):
A guy that Look, there's a lot of guys that
you've seen what I look for, especially in high school guys,
and I'm by no means recruiters I look at the
frame of their body, a guy like Malachi. When I
look at Malachi, I'm thinking, Okay, they can put thirty
or forty pounds on it because he's skinny, because he's
been playing basketball too, and now when he starts going
(05:34):
into the weight room instead of playing basketball.
Speaker 6 (05:37):
Landing Young was another.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Guy Taylor a few years ago. His defensive livel.
Speaker 6 (05:41):
But Landing was what I get at.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
He was a wrestler, so he was cutting weight and
then when he put it on, he becomes a three
hundred and ten pound monster who's still playing.
Speaker 6 (05:51):
In the NFL.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
You know, you go back to Soldier said something interesting.
He was a three star that was kind of flying
under the radar. Isn't that interesting that that's where we
are now.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Because it wasn't that long ago Kentucky.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
Get a three star and people would throw.
Speaker 7 (06:04):
The top of the recruit exactly right, not that their
soul's clearly a nice player.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Wesley Woodyard was an over the three star, So that
says a lot about where Kentucky is. Obviously with recruiting,
I think it's a big plus for the Wildcats, and
I'm sure there's plusses for Vandy that Kentucky's coming off
a game defensively where they had to focus so much
on Jackson Dart, a quarterback who can extend.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Plays with his feet.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
It may not be quite.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
As creative as Diego Pavia, but a guy that the
d line they had to be so disciplined Tom, and.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Did you know he hit some big plays.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
But they're coming off that one right into another kind
of problem child in Diego.
Speaker 7 (06:48):
And probably gonna have to do it a little shorthanded
in the secondary. The first availability report came out Wednesday
night and to Ryan, Nichols was doubtful on the air,
and Harston's out. He played well, he did, I mean,
and so now who's who's the third guy?
Speaker 4 (07:00):
You know?
Speaker 7 (07:01):
You know Hardaway and Waller played great. Nichols did too,
and now he's maybe unavailable. So if so, who's next up?
Speaker 5 (07:09):
I kind of feeling that if if you're in a
pinch in that situation, Tom, that they can use just
two corners because you really have three safeties.
Speaker 6 (07:19):
Yeah, that are really good, and you can move.
Speaker 5 (07:22):
Zion or Tie inside to cover that that tight end.
Speaker 7 (07:26):
Probably Chance and Dunn is the third corner now, and
who's been more of a hybrid correct safety.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
But yeah in Afari can always cover a tight end.
Speaker 6 (07:36):
Yeah, back too. So it's a point.
Speaker 5 (07:37):
You've got a couple guys that are kind of freakish
in their abilities at their set position, but really in
that back seven, there's three or four guys that you
can really be really interchanging.
Speaker 7 (07:48):
I think Brad White is so good when he has
veteran guys that have that kind of versatility and he
can get creative. We saw it when Josh Allen's here
and uh, you know, looking for where they put Dion
in different and what they can do with a far
a guy like Afari and Childress who can play deeper
in the secondary or is comfortable.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Up close to the line too.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
Way before John Caliperi came out with we just want
these tall guys that he can play this, this and
this and this. Bob Huggins when I was doing U
see basketball games, Bob said, I want guys that because
he played almost like Arkansas, but Nolan richardson eighty four feet,
I mean they picked up, they pressed the whole game.
He goes, I want guys that are interchangeable. Guy that
(08:31):
he's a three, but he can play five yeah, yes,
and now you're seeing this in football where you know
what he might you might be listed as a linebacker
like an Afari, but he can play strong safety, he
can play that monster nickelback. And you're getting more and
more of these guys every year that you just call
him an athlete and what the coaches say. I want
(08:51):
to get my eleven best athletes on the field at
the same time.
Speaker 6 (08:57):
The exact same guy.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
It's like a defensive end.
Speaker 6 (09:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
This podcast is presented by District seven Social located in
the heart of the Distillery District in Lexington. D seven
is not just a place to eat, but also a
social hall, a gathering spot and a source of entertainment
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They'll be saving a seat for you.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
E didn't say Zion's name much against Ole Miss I'm
not sure you know what was going into the defense
and just incredible against Georgia. Yeah, but yeah, he's a
guy plays the run well and can cover. So but
all those guys, we're talking a lot about the back
for the back seven thanks to those guys up front. Yeah,
and I'm hearing I've used this word all week on
(09:42):
my show, but I'm hearing the national heads use the
word elite when they talk about the Kentucky d line,
and I think they're getting there obviously.
Speaker 6 (09:50):
And they're not.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
If you look at stats.
Speaker 7 (09:54):
You don't see especially for Dion because he's getting blocked
and held, but he's created eating opportunities for other people.
And you listened to I mean Lane kiffen Kimber exactly
what he said, but he was like something about it
goes to the along the lines. So that's a dude
in there, and you know, you seeing he's top ten
draft pick projected, so people that you know, know what
(10:14):
they're looking at, know how well he's playing.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
But Dick to your point, you think back through the
years and you think of that great teams in the seventies,
and it was always Jim Kovach had twelve tackles, you know,
the next week Kovach had this many, or or a
Blanton had this many, you know, tackles for the loss.
Speaker 6 (10:37):
Now you've got.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
Really ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen guys that are really good.
It doesn't have to beat Jim Kovatch every week.
Speaker 6 (10:44):
It could be Doumas Johnson.
Speaker 5 (10:46):
It could be Deeric, it could be one of the
four guys in the secondary that play great, and that's
something they haven't had in the past.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
And to invoke another name from back then that we
always do his art still.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Because he might not have that goudiest numbers.
Speaker 6 (11:00):
Why because they all ran the other way, thank you, right.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Into the waiting army and dam Blanton and Bud Deal
and those guys.
Speaker 5 (11:07):
They remember Kentucky's defense back then was funneled to those
guys in the middle.
Speaker 6 (11:12):
They wanted to funnel everything to the co batches of
the world.
Speaker 7 (11:15):
I think it's gonna be interesting in this game and
the ones that are in the coming weeks for this defense,
because they had that subpar performance against South Carolina, but
they have been lights out pretty much otherwise. And that's
say for a few plays in that game. I think
back to the best defense in my lifetime was that
(11:37):
seventy seven I think. But they really it was kind
of in that middle part of the year when they
really found their form, and you know they and I
look at the guy like Dumas Johnson, who I think
from watching it and listening to Brad White, seems to
be kind of you know, getting really comfortable in this
defense and playing well. Dion and Ripke, front Oxen down,
(12:00):
all these guys were talking about that. I think this
defense maybe start to starts to get a little bit
of the good kind of swagger here and in these
next few weeks. And you know what they did to
shut down, you know, an ole miss offense. It's different
kind of challenge here. But and Andy's average like thirty
eight games.
Speaker 5 (12:15):
Yeah, well, here's the biggest thing to me. And when
you break down the schedule, I think everybody would have
said they're gonna be three and two after those five games.
Some people said four and one. But to me, it's
these next three games are the difference in this team
going to a really good Bowl and a so so
Bowl because they got a chance to win. It's a
fifty to fifty proposition in the next three games. Then
(12:36):
the final three games, you're going to be an underdog
in every one of those games. Texas at Texas, Tennessee
at Tennessee, Louisvill's a toss up. They kind of had
some hard times here in the last couple of weeks,
but you know, these are the three games you're gonna
have to make Hey, you want to be six and
two going into those final three games.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
We talked a lot about the defense, and we could
talk all day about it because it has played well
and to be fair played okay against South Carolina had
breakdowns because of communications issues, and boy, that's going to
be vital Saturday night.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
At the defense, the communications. But they did it so
well against Ole Miss.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
If they pick up where they left off, I think
they'll be okay. What I think is really fun to
watch two things on this offense. Been on a couple
of shows this week from Nashville. What a surprise you,
I said, Demi sumocarnby moving the pile. Yeah, that's surprise
number one. Is that surprised you?
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Guys? You want to more practices and scrimmages that I did.
Speaker 7 (13:34):
But you know, now much much more effective runner between
the tackles than I thought he would be. I thought
they'd end up, you know, he'd get you know, ten
eleven carries would train and went down and you know,
maybe Patterson, will Cox and you know a heavier dose
of Whimsat, who we saw a good bit of in
the Old Miss game.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
Here was half the Carris at the goal line.
Speaker 7 (13:55):
Yeah, that's right, Yeah, cast up any in the right
place at the right time. But you know, I think
Demmy's run so well that they haven't maybe had to use.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
Wimset as much.
Speaker 7 (14:09):
And you know wimst's close to train him in terms
of body type. But yes, to answer your question, Uh,
Demmy's been very impressive and really has gotten effective at
picking up blitzers. He did that on the Yeah, fourth
and seven play the Brown, he picked up a blitzer.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
Yeah. But you know, we haven't even said his name yet.
But I really like the way that Rock has it.
Every game you see him taking a step forward. He's
he's seeing more. The one thing that he still has
to do is throw the ball away.
Speaker 6 (14:39):
He still has. He has two problems.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
One holds them all too long because that that inner
clock that every quarterback has, and I get that from
he hadn't played in three years.
Speaker 6 (14:49):
He really hadn't played.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
But the other thing he has to get in his
head is one Mississippi, two, Mississippi, three, Mississippi.
Speaker 6 (14:57):
Get the hell out of there, and then so much
on the move. Just throw it away.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
But he cannot take those minuses, especially in these fifty
to fifty games. And then when you get to the
Texas and Tennessee's and can't take minus plays.
Speaker 7 (15:10):
And if you're not hitting big chunk of yardage plays,
that makes that right neat rush.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
Yet now it's second at ten or second in fourteen
or fifteen when he gets.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Set and sometimes there's a tight end out there lurking
as we wrap this up.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
Uh, I'll throw this in you, mister wide receiver. How
much are you loving.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
What you see out to Dane Key, who's become such
a weapon that Ole Miss chose to double him in
single cover Barry and Brown and it cost him the game.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
His size and strength and speed has been fantastic. But
I saw a story and I don't know if it's true.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Now.
Speaker 5 (15:43):
I was gonna ask before they played Vanderbilt last year,
I heard that he went into the Vanderbilt Did you
have you heard this that he actually went into their
uh their dressing area and yeah, because I don't know
what to call it there, it's not a locker room,
the ten or whatever, and went up to the dB
and said you better before the game.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Well, remember he got in trouble for Pat and the
goal and.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
They headed that and he said he went up to
the guy, said you better be ready. You better strap
that off because I'm coming after your blank Dame and
walked out and they said, and then he catches the
pass and smacks me on the head, gets the penalty,
but he said it just I was done.
Speaker 6 (16:23):
When he came to the were like all the.
Speaker 5 (16:25):
Dbs were like, holy crap, that was day Ke in
our locker room telling us you better be ready.
Speaker 6 (16:32):
I got to get that confirmed. But I heard that story, like, man,
if he did that, he.
Speaker 7 (16:36):
Said, he just saw this in the preseason and was
interested if it would you know, carry over if it
was you know, legit right.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
The wist way he carries himself is like a pro.
Speaker 6 (16:47):
Yes, yeah, he you know Barryon.
Speaker 5 (16:50):
Barryon is almost like a dog where he's going to
get up there and he's not going back down from anybody.
He's going to tell you how he feels. Whereas Dame
is more that James Bond type man.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
He's he's a little a little Jim Brown in there.
Speaker 6 (17:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (17:04):
Yeah, he's just really good and backs up what he says.
Speaker 6 (17:08):
You know, that's what's cool.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
The way he's playing. Yeah, how to do it?
Speaker 2 (17:12):
For this edition of The Wildcat Whip, Tom Lee Jeffercoro,
hope you enjoyed the game.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Everybody in tunis in
Speaker 4 (17:18):
On the UK Sports Network
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