Wildcat Whip with Tom Leach, Jeff Piecoro & Dick Gabriel pre Florida

Wildcat Whip with Tom Leach, Jeff Piecoro & Dick Gabriel

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Wildcat Whip de Gabriel, Tom Leys, Jeff
picarl here to talk Kentucky football as the Wildcats getting
ready for the Florida.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Gators Saturday night.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
It's Kentucky Florida, and yeah, if you're a Kentucky.

Speaker 3 (00:14):
Fan, you got to hope it's nasty.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
I mean, Jeff, you go back to the days when
Frank Cursey used to flip flop the side of the
field and put the Gators in the shade.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
Of the press box, and it had an effect, and man,
they hated it.

Speaker 4 (00:26):
This is just the second time since nineteen eighty eight
that Florida has played at Kentucky in November. The last one, yeah,
it was the twenty twenty season. Ever it was backed
up because of COVID. Yeah, but other than that, this
is just a second time. It's amazing.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Was that you say eighty eight? Yes?

Speaker 3 (00:46):
Okay, because eighty six was the game Kentucky won by
forcing a fumble late.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
But then they flip flopped the schedule, Tom, and it
seemed like Kentucky was always opening with Florida.

Speaker 4 (00:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Conference play Pad Duley, longtime columnists from the Gainsville area,
on my radio show Thursday morning, and he I was
talking about the Gators hadn't been here in November, and
he said, yet, Jeremy Foley got that changed, and it
was when Spurrier came and they said. Jeremy Foley argued

(01:19):
for that that it was unfair for the Gators to
have to play up here in November. Every even though.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
Even though and you and I have covered and you
have too, you've played down there.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
It's so hot in human you can't breathe.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah, so it's it's it's okay for Kentucky Dowt have
to play in September in Florida, but not okay for
Florida to play here. What they should do is play
you down there in September, play here in November.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
That sounds good to me, or just meet in the
middle in play in October. But it is what it is.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
Is Mark Tuoms like to say, now, the question is
which Florida do we see? Which DJ Lagway do we see.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
You're not going to see the Florida. You've been seeing
a wide receiver. That's true.

Speaker 4 (01:57):
I can't at Tom. You look at that list and
it's amazing. I mean, both of the Wilson's that we
talk about that. You know, the one's Wilson, a third
Eugene and which they called Trey, and then the other
one is Dallas. Wilson are both out. Then they've got
another receiver Spirito. Who's who's out. Their leading receiver, Brown
is I think questionable. Brown is is Vernell Brown. The

(02:18):
third is questionable. So that's their basically their top three receivers.
And they have start of it. Who came in from
u C l A. Who's gonna have to be their
their number one guy now? And but the those freshmen
are really good. The Wilson's and didn't look I gave there,
I'm gonna be on the field.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
They've got a great running back in baw who had
his breakout game against Kentucky last year. So one would think,
much like last week, kind of went into that thinking
Auburn struggling at quarterback, their top receiver was banged up,
even though he played that they'd lean on the running game.
And you think that Florida would certainly do that this week.

(02:55):
But you know, if they look at the Tennessee game,
they'll want to throw it all the time. But if
they look at last week's game, they'll want to keep
their quarterback from being a sitting duck. Boys, that's the key.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
And you think back to last week. You refer to
their best receiver, Coleman. They hit him in the first
pass of the game, goes for six yards, and I thought, okay,
that's the blueprint, and then he just kind of melted away.
Some of that was because a great deal of it,
I would think because of Kentucky's pressure.

Speaker 3 (03:23):
Cobb had some good runs their best running back.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
But didn't really hurt them.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
No, that's that's my point.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Pretty soon he kind of or that element kind of
melted away. It just says so much about the Kentucky defense.
And if I told either one of you guys, hey, tonight,
Kentucky's gonna get ten points.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
You start packing up your gear ahead of time. But
that speaks well. And again it's an Auburn team with
a terrible low line. We know that.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
But Kentucky did what it has to do. So my
question is was it What does it have to do?
What will it be able to do defensively against Florida
and Lagway despite the personnel loss.

Speaker 4 (03:56):
I think you try to load the box and don't
let him run the football. You said he had a
breakout game, a breakout he had a Heisman trophy. Gave
you five touchdowns again, yeah, ball, that's what I mean, dude,
five rushing touchdowns against Kentucky last year. So to me,
I load up the box that say beat us. So

(04:18):
the guy he was talking about, the number one receiver,
has got a bad shoulder. Don't think that the UK players.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Don't know that.

Speaker 4 (04:25):
If you know a guy's got a bad show, you
jam him at the line of scrimmage because that's the
one time you're able to get up on them and
hit them. As long as they're in front of you,
you can jam. That's why Kentucky's had a problem getting
off the line of scrimmage because other teams are very handsy,
getting right up in their face. That's what you have
to do to this guy. Jam him up in that shoulder,
make him, make him know we know what's wrong with you.

(04:47):
If a guy's got a bad ankle, you go low
when you hit him. If a guy's got bad ribs,
you go hide.

Speaker 3 (04:52):
When you hear times, you say, hey, how's that shoulder?

Speaker 1 (04:54):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 4 (04:55):
You let him know all day, Bubba, we're coming all day.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
Talked a lot about defense. Kentucky's offense against that Auburn
defense at times move the ball Florida as athletes, but
statistically at least and I think, given the eyeball test,
isn't quite as good defensively. So what do you expect
you'll see from Kentucky?

Speaker 2 (05:15):
You know what, I don't know. I think Seth I
thought his legs were looked back to September form going
into that game last week, and he broke out once
and got one nice long run there off tackle to
the right, But otherwise it was just really hard to
run the ball against that Auburn defense. Florida on statistically
isn't that level defensively, but they're good. So you've got

(05:42):
Cutter at home, your wide receivers have started to make plays. Yeah,
I know. Bush him to talk to us about the
fact that when he said, when I've got a quarterback
starting to make plays what they call off schedule or
being able to kind of freelance and make plays, think
about the what he second touched he threw to DJ
Miller against Tennessee. He said, according to Bush, gives him

(06:04):
more confidence to be a little more aggressive in the
play call. As that game was playing, out. You tended
to the way the game was going. You were so
good defensively and dominating a field position, you didn't want
to give that back to them. So I kind of
think they'll maybe be a little more aggressive because maybe
Florida's defense isn't as good as Auburns. And you're at home,

(06:25):
and although say they haven't won an SEC game in
a while, I think that's a talking point for the
guys this week to get that SEC home win and
it would be two in a row and that hadn't
happened since September of twenty three. So a lot of things.
Big opportunity game in Kentucky.

Speaker 4 (06:41):
Kentucky runs the ball really well between the tackles and
even more so between the guards between the twenties, right,
I mean, that's usually they start inside and bounce to
the outside. The one thing Florida does have is they're
pretty stout.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
In the middle.

Speaker 4 (06:55):
They've got some pretty big nose guard and defensive tackle,
which you're going to be over the center there. I
expect them to attack at the tackle positions a little
to the outside. Now, the one thing you you really
probably can yeah, no, I'm saying, at your offensive tackle
you run off the tackle. They've got This is Florida

(07:15):
and they've got great speed, great lateral speed. You try
to keep it inside the tight end box when you're
running the football, get into the line, then break to
the outside north south. Yes, and I think again the
quick passing game, Tom, I think that's that has really
been cutters, bread and butter white stop.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
Kendrick Laws really about a nice groove right now with
how they're utilizing him, and he at the Miller's I
thought Cam was really good last week. He's that slant.
There's that kind of a connection developing with him and
that slant cutter. Tight ends I think are healthier probably
than they were last week. So uh, they are in

(07:56):
a as good a spot as you could hope to
be in given what the matchup looks like, how beat
up Florida is at at the key position. Kentucky, Kentucky
make it Waller back in the secondary. He's probable on
the availability report. So now Kentucky just needs to go
out and seize the opportunity.

Speaker 3 (08:13):
You mentioned Kendrick Law.

Speaker 1 (08:15):
John Hale had a nice piece on him this week,
basically looking at what he did or wasn't really allowed
to do at Alabama, and it wasn't a situation where
he just wasn't good enough. They were just stacked at
wide receiver, and so he was the perfect portal candidate.
A guy with all kinds of talent, just looking for
an opportunity, landed at a place where they really needed him.

Speaker 3 (08:37):
Jeff, and you are a receiver, you know when.

Speaker 1 (08:39):
You can get in early, make that connection with a quarterback,
which he's done with Cutter Bowling.

Speaker 3 (08:45):
Now you see what kind of weapon he can be, right.

Speaker 4 (08:47):
And you know, you look at a team like Old
Miss South Carolina, what do they do. They throw those
short five six yard passes and they'll throw fifteen twenty
of those a game. And if they break three many
of them, if you break a tackle, then you get
that big chunk play. That's what Kentucky's looking for. With
all they got against Tennessee. There were three guys out there.
He got a good block in front of him, slipped

(09:09):
the tackle and they couldn't catch him. And we're talking Tennessee.
What's seventy yards for a touchdown. But it's interesting to
see how teams are built. Georgia, for instance, they'll run
fifteen screen passes in a game, Tennessee's gonna throw the
ball along in every pass. So I think this niche
the Kentucky has is this short to medium passing game.
Keep it up. He's really good at that. I think
he's comfortable doing that, and every once in a while

(09:30):
you take it. Take a shot.

Speaker 1 (09:32):
Dep Daniels hurt Kentucky a little bit at Auburn with
his legs and they eventually slowed that down. But again
week offensive line. But I go back to the South
Carolina game Tom where Sellers is a really good mobile quarterback.
He throws fairly well on the run. Jeff has pointed
out that when they made arch Manning throw on the movie,
he wasn't nearly as effective Sellers is.

Speaker 3 (09:53):
I don't know about Lagway.

Speaker 1 (09:54):
He missed on a pass they could have won the
Georgia game for him. But that is always a concerned
a mobile quarterback, especially in the latter stages of.

Speaker 2 (10:05):
The game, especially also when their wide receiver position is
hurt by industry that maybe you're looking for for creative
ways to come up with some offense and they haven't
run him maybe as much as people thought that they
might kind of hopefully, Yeah, I think he finished the
season strong last year, and I think the thought was,
let's make sure we don't get him hurt. He's our

(10:26):
best chance to win, and they haven't utilized him as
much as a runner. You know, maybe they do now.
Interesting to see where Florida is and we're not around
and we don't know. But I mean this was kind
of like a Texas game for them, where they were
coming off an open date and they were healthy and
fired their best shot and they looked good game and
nearly pulled it off. Yeah, and then you know, how

(10:48):
do you come off that views to make you angry
or are you deflated?

Speaker 3 (10:52):
Now, let's point out Florida beat Texas.

Speaker 4 (10:54):
Yeah, at the point, the one thing that has been
Florida's mo O forever, even all the way back when
I played before that is they're one of those teams
that likes to come out like Mike Tyson and yeah,
throw the big hook, you know, or the or the
you know, that big right hand. And if you can
stay in there with them and whether that first slavo

(11:17):
that they're gonna fire at you, then you got a
great chance because then they tend to think, dang, we
can't just go out here and beat the heck out
of these guys. They're gonna they're gonna stand up and
fight back. It's always been there.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
I remember one of those November games here in the eighties,
Remember West Chandler, a long NFL career. They run a
post pattern and it's open and like Gilbour was last week,
and they hit him right in the hands and he
dropped it. Ah, it was cold, and coach Kirsey had
moved him to the shady side, and that kind of
set the tone for the whole day in Kentucky, just
kicked their butt all over the field.

Speaker 1 (11:50):
Yeah, well, you got a Kentucky team coming off a
much needed win. And we have talked all year, at
least I have on my show. I think you have two,
and Jeff, you have talked about it on the air
with us, that this Kentucky team had not folded its tent,
you know, and I think it showed it. And you know,
of course we're fortunate enough to be there last week
watching that celebration. I mean, you'd have thought they wanted to,

(12:11):
as he said, championship. Just the relief that comes was
winning that game. Jeff, what does that do mentally for
a team emotionally for a team. Now you've got that
skid behind you.

Speaker 3 (12:21):
Forget about it. You know what you and you're not
only that, but you're rewarded for your efforts.

Speaker 1 (12:26):
They played so well as Thompson against Texas, there was
no reward, played well against Ole miss no reward.

Speaker 2 (12:32):
Now they get.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
Rewarded and on the road, all you've got is themselves
and that's sad. They celebrated, but now they can use
that as a springboard, I would think.

Speaker 4 (12:40):
I think as a player, the coolest thing to come
out of that was seeing how your coach was so
emotionally drained after the game. Yeah, and because it's been
all over twitters, all the TV stations used to it
that night and the next day, you know, he was
basically drawn to tears. On national telemon he said, you're
trying to give me to cry, and you know that

(13:00):
just shows you. Look, Mark Hasset quit on this team.
I know a lot of people that are very very
close to this team, and he liked this team going
into the season. You know, one break and you know
they're they're really their record is flipped. You know, they're
five and three. But I think that he's invested in
that showed them and nobody's really quit on this team.

(13:21):
They they fought, they fought at Tennessee, but when they
were down big.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
They still tried.

Speaker 4 (13:26):
And that's yeah, that's where I team, right, that's where
I get a gauge on a team, Like like I
said with Florida, if you get up on them, they
have a tendency to quit. And that's what you've got
to do.

Speaker 2 (13:39):
What I was listing in on one of the interviews
after practice yesterday with David Gusta and uh, he was
talking about the win and how you know how great
it was and he said and he just had a
big smile and he said, well, it's just great energy
and practice is just so fun this week and the
great energy, and you could just tell it was a
release to you point, to get the reward, not to

(14:03):
just have played well but come up short.

Speaker 4 (14:05):
Tom So Tuesday, you know, obviously is offensive day when
the media gets to speak to the offense, and Wednesday's
defensive day. Well on Tuesday, I guess Joshua Bron had
something so he couldn't he couldn't be there. Susan Lax
sent out a thing yesterday on defensive Day and she said,
Josh was so upset that you're disappointed to talk to

(14:28):
the media that he will be available at yesterday's And
we get that a.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
Lot from from players and coaches, especially how they just
can't They really upset.

Speaker 1 (14:38):
A lot of them don't want it to a lot
of them are like, oh, they try to slip into
the field house.

Speaker 3 (14:42):
But and Broun's a great interview. Guess like most old
line the well.

Speaker 4 (14:46):
Plus he's what twenty three years old.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
Now sixth year Yeah, he's one of the elder statesmen
on this team. But that tells you how important that
win was. Uh So, I guess it's like any game, guys, right,
play clean, minimal turnovers and look, Kentucky survived a couple
of turnovers last week.

Speaker 3 (15:05):
Force some some turns.

Speaker 2 (15:07):
You got a shot, right, Yeah, And Lagway's throwing eighteen
interceptions in two years. It's almost one to one turnovers
to I t's for him. And you know they're still
looking for the defense to recover its first funnel. So
they recovered one, but can the game got a game ball? Yes,
that's right. So now it's it's time for the defense
maybe to make up for lost time and recover a couple.

Speaker 4 (15:29):
I think you have to look at it this way.
You've got a quarterback in Lagway who reminds you a
lot of sellers, not quite as thick from the waist down,
but a big guy. I mean he's six four, uh,
you know, can run, can throw, but he's had shoulder
problems and I think that's why he hasn't run as much.
They're trying, you know, he didn't throw it all in spring,
so they just try to keep him, you know, keep

(15:50):
it as fresh as possible. At running the football, you're
gonna get hit and you're gonna get hit around the
shoulders too. So I think when he breaks free, as
soon as he sees someone coming, he gets down. That's
why he hasn't had those big long runs this year.
I think he's run like forty three.

Speaker 2 (16:03):
Times that if I'm trying to remember from.

Speaker 4 (16:05):
My notes, he only has like seventy yards because of
sass accent as well, so not the threat that he
was before because of those injured.

Speaker 1 (16:13):
That'll do it for the Wildcare to whip for Tom Hite,
Cheffercarl Dicabriel, So long, everybody