05-21-24 LEACH REPORT

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This bingie beef Jerkey podcast of theLeads Report is also presented by Boons Butcher
Shop, one hundred old Bloomfield Pikein Barnestown, fresh meat cut on location
daily and they're family owned and operated, have been since nineteen forty six.
What as we do on Tuesdays?And we'll start off with David Sisk from
Cats Illustrated, get caught up onsome UK basketball news and we'll finish up

(00:23):
with some UK football talk with AdamLuckett from on three Sports KSR. That's
the lineup for today. Wildcat Newsof the Day is a service of Giuseppees
of Lexington. Nick bengeone SEC Coachof the Year. You want to talk
about a no brainer to about ateam that was picked near the bottom of

(00:44):
the SEC East to start the seasonand they share the the SEC championship with
a school record twenty two conference victories, just the second SEC title in eighty
three years of playing Southeastern Conference opponentsKentucky baseball. So just a tremendous year
for Nick and his squad. Wouldthink he would be a leading contender for

(01:07):
national Coach of the Year honors aswell as the SEC tournament gets started.
Today down in Hoover, Alabama,south of Birmingham. First game is Georgia
LSU and Kentucky gets the winner ofthat one today. It'll start at ten
thirty am Eastern and then Kentucky willget the winner of the Georgia LSU game
tomorrow at ten thirty am Eastern time. And as we talked yesterday, Kentucky

(01:36):
figures to try to rest its startersas far as the pitchers, the regular
Friday Saturday Sunday starters who went ThursdayFriday Saturday last week, and Nick on
the Sunday Morning Show talked about notwanting to bring those guys back on short
rest again, so he'll give themall the time that they need and they'll

(02:00):
have to lean on their bullpen atleast at the start of this SEC tournament.
But for Kentucky, they're in aposition they could end up being the
number one overall seed that somebody oneservice has them projected as that for the
NCAA tournament. So they have theluxury of being able to use the SEC
tournament to set everything up for thenext week for the nc DOUBLEA, which

(02:23):
we'll start here at Kentucky Proud Parkin Lexington, individual honors. Nick Lopez
first Team All SEC after hitting threeeighty this season, Ryan Waldschmidt second Team
All Conference he had three to seventy, but versus SEC play he batted four
oh five and in three Wildcats chosento the All Defensive Team. Emilian Petre,

(02:45):
Mitchell Daily, and Mason Moore.All of those individual awards voted on
by the league's coaches. So congratsto coach Bingeon and his players for those
honors well deserve. And it's justfun if you're a Kentucky baseball fan to
have this to be engaged with atthis time of year and to have the

(03:09):
thought that Kentucky could perhaps get toOmaha for the College World Series for the
first time in school history. Soit's going to be just crazy crowds,
I think at Kentucky Proud Park nextweekend, and then if Kentucky can advance,
it'll be, you know, offthe charts the next week when the
Wildcats would actually be the favorite toget to Omaha. Cason Wallace Caseon Wallace

(03:37):
named the NBA's All Rookie Second Teamat a great first year with OKC He
and shed holm grenned his teammate theonly two rookies to play in all eighty
two regular season games, So caseonwith a great first season with OKC.
Unfortunately, they were bounced out ofthe playoffs by another former Wildcat, PJ.

(04:01):
Washington in Dallas. NBA Eastern ConferenceFinals get started tonight with Boston and
the Indiana Pacers. Links to thestories that we talk about each day you
can find them on the bud LightLeach Report page at Tom Leachky dot com.
One of the note I missed FinalD one Baseball poll has Kentucky still
at number two behind Tennessee heading intothe postseason. Coming up our opening segment

(04:28):
presented by Giuseppes of Lexington, andthey have an opportunity for you to sit
in the bar area and listen tothe live jazz music from day you enjoy
a fantastic meal. They have expandedthat bar area now so take advantage of
that. Go to Giuseppes Lexington dotcom or open table to make a reservation.
The full list of wine and bourbonselections. Scott at the Bar makes

(04:53):
a fantastic martini and the food isjust off the charts at Giuseppes of Lexington
just off Nicholasville Road, We're gonnaget to a break come back with David
Sisk from Katz Illustrated. Here onthe lead triport presented by Bob Kat Enterprises
Warter past the top of the hour, we welcome David Sisk into the program
of the Club Blue Nil hotline.You read him at Katzillustrated dot com.

(05:16):
And let's start with Chas Lanier,you man from North Florida who is looking
to find his next college basketball home. And David, he's visiting Kentucky visited
BYU is the is Tennessee next uplater this week. Yeah, I think
he'll probably take all three, soit'll be interesting to see what happens.

(05:42):
But I do think that I thinkthe prevailing tholid is that between Chas Ladier
and Jackson Robertson, they'll get oneof them. I do think maybe Lanier
from some things I've heard, maybeno Pope's priority would be one A.

(06:03):
Then Robinson may be one B.I wouldn't want to done held in my
head on that one, but Ihear some of those things. So we'll
see what happens. But I dothink Kentucky likes the spot that they're in,
and I think they've kind of goneto bad a little bit, got

(06:27):
to from what I understand, thegood NIL package for it, but b
YU they're throwing a lot of moneyup there too, so it'll be interesting
to see how it goes down theend. Robinson is still seemingly very much
the NBA is a possibility, andthen there's also some buzzer bet Kansas trying
to get involved there. Right,yes, but I think it's either going

(06:54):
to be the NBA or it's goingto be Kentucky. And he is right
now being projected right around number fortyfive, forty six. I've seen some
places, so you know we're goingto see now with nil and things like
that, exactly how big of animpact that has, you know, I

(07:14):
commend I'm old enough to remember,which wasn't only about a year or two
ago, when you know, ifa player got could go in a second
round, you know, there waseven a battle there where they would come
back or not because there were noNBA guarantees and if you can get some
guaranteed nil, you know, thenyou have a competition there, you know,

(07:35):
where the NIL of college basketball againstyou know, maybe a ten day
contract or something like that in thein college in the NBA, so or
a two way contract. I saidto you today, a two way contract.
So it'll be interesting to see howall that plays out. But I
think the thing is most people thinkyou'll he'll probably go NBA. But if

(07:59):
not, you know, Kentucky's thefavorite. Uh with Lanier or Robinson?
Both are they both the similar kindof player? Uh? I think in
a way with their size and withtheir scoring ability, they have some of

(08:20):
those similarities. You know, weboth shoot the ball very well. Jackson
Robinson's guy just this phenomenal range.You know, there's there's been a lot
of comparisons of people that have watchedhim. Maybe a little bit to Antonio
Reeves is his range goes out deeper. I mean, I see he could
shoot it from the next county.Uh. But yeah, both of those

(08:41):
guys I think would be seen asmaybe kind of some playmaking perimeter player that
are are a little bit with biggeron the wing spots. And then there's
another young man that's in the mixthat's starting a visit today, Jamie Vincent,
who had committed to Vandy, backedout of that after Jerry Stackhouse was

(09:05):
let go three star forward. What'sthe story on his recruitment for Kentucky,
Well, for Kentucky, some thingsthat I hear is just really it's a
developmental part, maybe a red shirtthis year, and then, like I
said, they're looking at long termdevelopment. So it'll be interesting to see

(09:30):
Kentucky's by far, you know,the best interest that he has as far
as as terms of programs go.But it's probably going to be more of
a long term situation than what hemight have at some of these other schools.
So does he want to do something, maybe go to a place that's

(09:54):
not prestigious and maybe get in quickerand get earlier playing time, you know,
does he want to go to aplace at Kentucky you don't have waited
out? And that's also you know, kind of a case with Mark Pope
where it's going not going to belike Caliperry, where you know, there's
a one and done deal, andI know he as much of it.

(10:15):
I know he had some guys comeback, but I think Pope's going to
be more into development where you're goingto see guys come back three and four
years that which is something we've notseen in you know, over a decade
to have a David Sisk from KatzIllustrated dot Com at coach David sisk on
x or Twitter, you have beendoing a series of deeper dives into the

(10:39):
various guys that have transferred in tothis point. I think it's under the
name of Prospect Reviews. As you'vegone through that all these guys that you've
studied to this point, anybody thatyou think really underappreciated baby by fans.

(11:00):
I don't know about guys that they'veseen first, but I know Andrew Carr
is really a guy that I likeWake Forest. Of everybody that I've looked
at so far, and he'll say, all right, who could really be
type of a difference maker that theybrought in? I think it's him.

(11:20):
I think he could. He canput up some really good numbers for them.
From what I've seen at Wake Forest. He is a good three point
shooter, but he's more around arim. He really defends well around a
bucket. I think people look athim and maybe think that he's a stretched
type of big and if a nesstype, and he's not. He's got

(11:43):
some ruggedness about him. He isthat, but there's more to it than
that. I think he's an insideoutside for that things bring. I think
he brings a lot of stuff tothe table. You guys did a round
table Jeff Drummond and Justin Roland onat Katsill straighted on kerk Chrisa. And

(12:03):
he's a guy that is going tobe one of the seems like bigger personalities
on this group. Yeah, there'sno doubt about it. I remember watching
him two years ago, three yearsago, maybe that far back, when
he was at Arizona and they hadsome battle and he was really a lightning

(12:24):
rod, you know. And thiswas back when uh, you know,
Tennessee had some of those guys insideyou know that uh they would basically would
send in on the second shift onthe hockey team. And yes, yes,
in particularly not naming names, butyes, and he uh, I

(12:45):
mean it looked like with the Bullsor playing the Knicks or somebody. I
mean it was he really really gotunder those guys skins. You know,
he agitates and he he kind ofthrives in that role. Now he can
get carried away with that and hecan end up really getting hot and he's

(13:07):
a really good player and he cancarry you, but he can also kind
of roll and he can shoot youout of a game, so he was
just very emotional when he plays.So Mark Pope his deal is going to
be this kind of I think,to keep him under control. You know
he's a obviously he's a fifth year, but you know he's still he still

(13:30):
can get emotional. So when hecomes in, it's just not like he's
the guy that's that's got all thatunder control, even though he's another on
the talent's there. Pope's just gotto keep him under wraps, his control.
And Mark has been trying to recruithim, I guess at his previous
coaching stops. So he's been onthis young man for a long time.

(13:50):
Yeah, and I think just outin that area too. You know,
Utah and Arizona border states, soyou know they know schools. Uh.
A lot of times, you know, directly or indirectly see a lot of
you guys to hear familiar with.And one thing I've noticed, even though
in Arizona wasn't in the Big twelveat that time, you know, he's

(14:11):
he's recruited a lot of these guysyou know, tell You Go Away and
some other guys that he's played against, you know, bringing guys out of
the Big twelve or guys that he'splayed against previously. You know, Chris
was in the Big twelve last yearat West Virginia, so you know they
got to see each other from therethat he's had previous experience against. I
just you could say, David,thank you for the time. Yeah,

(14:35):
thank you. Always appreciate that.It's David Sis. You can read them
at Cats Illustrated dot com for greatcoverage of the Cat's building, of this
roster and all of the basketball recruitingscene. We'll be right back with Larry
Vatt here on the Leads Report,coming to you from the Clark's Pumping Shop
studio. If you're looking at work, go to my clarksp ns dot com

(14:58):
and start the process of joining theirteam. They're looking to add some depth
and it's a great team to bea part of at Park Shop. We'll
be right back Larry Vont joining theprogram of the club Blue Nil Highline.
You can read him at your sportsedge dot com dot com. Let's start
with UK baseball. Larry's The SECtournament gets underway today. Kentucky plays tomorrow.

(15:20):
You guys had Dick Minchi on onthe Sunday Morning Show this past weekend.
He was talking with you and AnthonyWhite about what they've accomplished this season.
No surprise, he's the SEC coachof the Year and he has built
a team that has a real chanceto get series for the first time.

(15:41):
Certainly know is tom. It's ateam that he put together with the transfer
portal but developing talent that he signedyoung and has had in the program and
brought him along and they have blendedreally well. Quite a Brazilian group.
They don't always beat you with hitting, but normally they do. Sometimes they
beat you with pitching. Sometimes theyjust beat you with base running. And

(16:03):
they just never seem to be nevera short game and there's never a dull
game, it seems like when they'replaying, but they are in great position
out of I mean, it's reallynice, as Nick was talking about,
to go into the SEC tournament andit's not due or die where you can
think about, Okay, how doI want to make sure my pitchers are
rested for NC Double A or freshfor NC Double A and not have to

(16:25):
overwork anybody, because if you loseand don't win the tournament, you're still
okay. You're still going to besolid. Well, different feel than he's
had the past couple of years goingto the tournament, absolutely and that's huge
because now he gets to kind ofset it up to hopefully have everything be
it an optimum situation when they hostthe NCAA Regional the next weekend. That's

(16:48):
exactly because managing the pitching is alot harder in baseball than is in softball,
where if you have one ace youcan throw her out there almost every
game. Baseball you just can't dothat. You have to have sted arms
at the right time of the year. We'll keep talking about this, get
into a couple of other subjects aswell with Larry Vought. When we return,
it's the Leach Report presented by BobcatEnterprises with four locations in Kentucky.

(17:11):
If you're looking to rent or buyheavy equipment like loaders, excavators, forklifts,
tractors, et cetera, or needa new zero turn more, Bobcat
Enterprises Google them to find the locationnearest you. Back with Larry Vaught here
on the Leach Reports presented by BobcatEnterprises. You can read Larry at your
sports edge dot com and at botsviewsdot com. We're tuking Kentucky baseball.

(17:33):
As the SEC tournament starts today.Kentucky plays tomorrow. It's been a you
know, a fun team certainly tofollow to my Kentucky baseball and just interesting
in how they've done this because theythey don't have, you know, like
I said yesterday, LSU had thatyou know, great pitcher last year that's

(17:55):
with the Pirates. Now, youknow, a top draft pick kind of
guy. Tugy didn't have, youknow, any guys that are projected to
be in the top ten of theMajor League Baseball draft. But they just
kind of do everything pretty well.I think I saw them in Texas A
and M the only team like inthe top five of the SEC and batting

(18:18):
average, fielding percentage and I thinkwas e er Yeah. And then they've
been really good at taking extra baseswhen they get a chance to do it.
That's been important for them. Andjust the way that they kind of
play and just always seem to bechallenging the other team. And again,
they're pitching has been kind of inconsistentat times. It's been really good at

(18:41):
times they have struggled. But that'sone of things we talked to Nick about
and he said that the SEC hittersare just so much bigger, stronger,
and faster and keep getting that waythat nobody really has dominant pitching overall in
the SEC anymore because of who youhave to face, well, no matter
who you're playing. So I thinkKentucky has set up well. And I

(19:04):
had a conversation with Keith Madison theother day and something that he pointed out
they hadn't thought that much about,but he thought the fact that Nick wasn't
afraid to play non conference games onthe road, whereas a lot of the
top SEC teams don't do that.He felt that helped really get this team
prepared for SEC play. You alsowill pay off big for them in the

(19:25):
NC Double A play, even thoughthey're not gonna have to go on the
road, and they're going to haveI'm going to anticipate tom huge crowds every
game they play in NC Double A. Oh, I would think so.
And you know, to Key's point, that's probably part of the reason why
they're in a position to maybe bethe number one overall seed. And it's
what somebody I forget who it was, do you won baseball somebody yesterday I
had him projected in that way.Yeah, because they've got more Quad one

(19:48):
wins any other team in the nation. They tied for the SEC championship.
That's a pretty strong resume. Andthey and again, it's just such a
different team that what you thought goingin. It's a team that went rank
in the top twenty five going in. Maybe they should have been, maybe
they shouldn't, But I think theyhave just kind of exceeded expectations. And

(20:11):
I think everybody for a long timekept waiting for him just kind of go
away, and these guys never wentaway, and I don't think they're gonna
go away. Todd with Larry Vaughthere, let's shifters to another guest that
you guys had on the Sunday MorningShow this past weekend, Trent Noah's mom.
What interesting tidbits came out of thatconversation. Yes, Stacey Knowah was

(20:32):
really good. I enjoyed talking toher about Trent's academic work, where he's
one of the class foul Victorians thereat Harlan County, and he comes from
a family of educators, and hewasn't pressured to have to always make good
grades, but he was certainly encouragedto make good grades. And both kind
of like him and Travis Perry isalso a class voul. Victorian took that
academic work very serious, even withtheir time they were spending on their basketball,

(20:57):
which certainly paid off there too.But that was one thing that I
think was pretty interesting. And Ialso think when she talked about there was
no animosity between among her family towardsJohn Caliperi for not recruiting Trent no way,
that they understood different coaches looked fordifferent things and had to have different
fits, and that if he didn'tthink that Trent fit, that was fine.

(21:18):
There are a lot of the coachesthat did, and they understood that.
But now they are really really appreciativeand grateful that Mark Pope thinks he
will fit with him that he's goingto be playing at Kentucky. So I
thought that that was just kind ofinteresting because I think there's a lot of
other folks, maybe from that areaof the state, that were a little
disappointed that John Calipari didn't recruit.Let's go to another story that you have

(21:41):
at votzhus dot com where you talkto I guess would be an AAU level
director in Utah, if that's whatthat's correct, or maybe high school,
but somebody works in the prep levelof h with the you know, rising
stars there and talking about it's someinteresting comments about Mark Pope. Yeah,

(22:03):
it was Shane Hayden, the programdirector at Utah Prep, one of the
schools in Utah and one of theschools that'll be coming into Kentucky several times
to play during this next season aspart of the Bullgray series that the Grind
Session is going to kind of getregoing again in the state of Kentucky.
But talked about that what a goodrelationship their program had with Mark Pope and

(22:26):
that it was at BUYU he invitedtheir team a couple of different times to
come up in scrimmage with his guysand play and then just kind of showed
them around and how he said thatPope may not beat you with going out
and recruiting all top five type ofplayers, but they would beat you with
x's and o's, and how justorganized he was and all the different offensive

(22:49):
sets that his team ran last year, and just how much that he was
impressed with the way he handled everythingon the court on both ends of the
court, and also again kind ofhow beloved he was in the state of
Utah. That's Again, so whenI was out there when all this broke,
kind of surprised me too how manypeople out there just really loved Mark
Pope. I think is no surprisenow when you see how he's handling things,

(23:12):
But I just had no idea thathe was that beloved out there either.
As Shane talked a little bit aboutthat too. Yeah, the depth
of detail in scouting reports was somethingthat I know when Ralph Hacker was doing
the Kentucky Games when Rick was herein the mid nineties or Patino and Ralph

(23:32):
would tell me about just how impressivethe detail was in the scouting reports.
Rick had veteran teams, they couldyou know, a lot, and so
they had just incredibly deep scouting reportson opponents. And so it would be
natural that, you know Mark Popethe way he feels about Rick and having

(23:55):
played for him, that you knowhe would have maybe a similar kind of
a of approach as he became ashe became a head coach. Yeah,
I think some of these guys standfor the same way, especially Alvin Brooks.
I think it is really a detailedtype guy like that too, and
very much into analytics and all likethat. So I would love to have
a chance to sit in and seewhat part of the scouting the court I

(24:18):
could understand understand much of when theywere going over or it might overwhelm me
with how detailed it is. ButI think that will be a little bit
different. And that's one of thethings that Shane talked a little bit about.
It just how prepared Mark Hope wasand everything that he did. So,
I mean, the more people youtalk to about Mark, I think
you can't help but me the moreexcited. Yeah. I think that's the

(24:41):
way a lot of fans certainly arefeeling now as well. One other quick
thing, Larry I wanted to touchon the passing of Guys Strong. At
age ninety three, he played onKentucky's fifty one national championship team. He
coached Kentucky Westland to a national championshipin sixty six. Won an OVC title
with Eastern in seventy two, andI thought I remember this correctly. I

(25:02):
looked it up. There was athree way tie for the OVC title that
year between Eastern Moorhead and Western andthey had a three team playoff in Frankfurt
from which Eastern emerged and they endedup going into the NCAA Tournament and lost
by two to Florida State, theFlorida State team that went on to play
in the national championship game against UCLA. And then guy had a great run

(25:23):
at Clark County High School, winningmultiple tenth Region titles. And I got
to know him when I was workingone season doing games in Montgomery County,
but we did a few Clark Countygames and got to know him at that
time. And what a classy gentlemanand heck of a coach. Yeah he
was, I mean, just anintense competitor, but just a loving carrying

(25:48):
guy. Was very cooperative with mediaat any time that he could help.
I think his players really loved andrespected him. I don't know I've ever
heard anybody say a bad thing aboutguys. They could be kind of tough
at how he pushes his players andto try to get the best out of
them, but his players all reallyresponded to what he did, and he

(26:10):
loved everything about the game of basketball. And I guess it was about three
months ago I had talked to him, and I mean it was pretty sharp,
brought right to the end, andagain, just kind of a legendary
figure. If you're a high schoolbasketball or a college basketball fan in the
state. Absolutely rest in peace,coach guys, Stronk Larry, thank you

(26:30):
much. All right, Tom,get to a break. We'll talk about
Kentucky football at I'm Luckett KSR.We come right back here on the lead
Triport guests coming to you on theClub Blue nil Hotline. If you subscribe,
you can pick which sport you wantto support with one hundred percent of
your member of fees and they supportvarious all the sports really at UK.

(26:51):
Go to clubblunil dot com to signup. Membership packages start as low as
twenty five dollars a month. Allmembers entered into the monthly Club Blue giveaways
to go check out the various levelsat which you can participate at Club Blue
nil dot com, an official partnerof the University of Kentucky. It's the
lead triport radio network. We'll beright back. Cleet report presented by Bob

(27:14):
kat Enterprises and joining us on theClub Blue Nil Hotlines. Adam Luckett from
on three Sports a KSR tough LittleKentucky football. As the countdown continues to
the start of a new season,Adam is there's still a chance Kentucky could
add anybody out of the portal tohelp this season. I think there's still
a chance, but my money wouldbe on that they're probably done at this

(27:37):
point at the year. So itlooks like they closed it out with Aidan
Laros the partner transfer from UT Martin, and it's going to be maybe a
little smaller I think transfer class thanpeople thought. I think they're up to
fourteen thirteen fourteen fifteen guys, sonot a huge transfer Bortter classmen. You're
seeing what some other schools are doing. But I think they're done and I

(27:57):
think all eyes are kind of lookingtowards the season. The punter was a
I think, probably more significant pickupthan some people might realize, right right,
I mean that's probably I mean he'sprobably gonna be a plug and play
starter. There's going to be acompetition with Wilson Barry, but I think
he fits more of their kind oftraditional drop back pun her pro style punter

(28:19):
that they've that they're kind of usingwith j Bullerd now running the special teams.
I mean, he had a hugeyear last year, Tom and he
had a huge game against Georgia.I believe he pinned them inside of the
ten three times there was a hoverand around fifty yards averaging that game as
a punter, so he had abig season, was one of the best
punters in the FCS. And sothat I think that that that's something people

(28:41):
get excited about. That was aweakness for Kentucky last year net punting.
They were in the hundreds ranked netpunting at the end of the year.
If they can get that flipped andget in the top thirty, top twenty
five, that that can make abig difference for the team this year.
He'll either you would think, bethe punter or he'll make Wilson Barry better
as the starter. One of those, right, and it gives you an
option I think on kickoff specialists aswell as which is leg so he could

(29:04):
get the ball on the end zone. That was an issue last year.
Got hurt. Yeah, I hurthim in the Bowl game, Dion Walker
in the defensive line, which washit hard by you know, injuries in
the spring. But uh, they'vegot a guy in Deane Walker's getting a
lot of national attention here in thelast couple of weeks. Yeah, I

(29:25):
think the draft cycle for twenty twentyfive has started now and Dion Walker is
really in the center of that.If you kind of look at it defensive
line, it's kind of a loadedclass there. James Pearce Tennessee and edge
rusher is getting a lot of attention, Mason Graham at Michigan defense tackle getting
a lot of attention, and DeanWalker's right up there with those two.

(29:47):
He's getting a lot of attention,a lot. He's seen it like a
legit COP twenty prospect at this point. Some publications believe he's the top five
prospect. So I think all expectationsfor him right now is that he is
going to be three and done atKentucky and enjoy him and this last year,
and hopefully we see kind of astar studded year for him after a

(30:08):
really really good sophomore season where hewas an All SEC player, And I
expect that hype trained to continue whenwe start to see All SEC preseason teams,
all American preseason teams, He's goingto be on all of those.
In Kentucky seems to have one ofthe better defensive linemen better defensive tackles in
college football, and those guys aren'ttypically easy to find. So what can

(30:29):
you take advantage of that kind oftalent like that when you have it on
your rosters. I think one ofthe bigger questions of the season. Yeah,
Brad White's pest defense, I thinkwas the year where he had Josh
Allen, who was playing at afirst round draft pick level and a guy
who he was, you know,an outside you know, an edge rusher,
but you could you know, hebecame so good and was so he

(30:52):
could handle so much that you coulduse him in a variety of ways.
And I would think, you know, with Walker, you've got a guy
that should you know, command plentyof attention from opposing blockers which freeze up
others, and also a guy thathas, you know, a skill set.
They you know, once or twicedropped him back in coverage last year.
They could get a little creative withhow they deploy him too, right,

(31:15):
Yeah, I mean the gravity playerof that caliber brings is really two
way. First, it's just he'sthe ultimate chess piece. You can use
him in so many different ways andthey can impact the game play in multiple
positions. And then the gravity itbrings on an offensive line, it's like
every week when someone's game plan forKentucky, it's like, whatever we do,
we got to get zero block.If we don't get him blocked,

(31:37):
we're in a world of hurts.So we've got a kind of tailor arts
our approach to getting him blocked.But if he's moving over all over the
place, it makes it a lotharder to do that. And you're right,
like Josh, the reason Kentucky wasgreat was because Josh Allen in twenty
eighteen, the reason they had areally really good defense was because Josh Allen
was great and he was a painin the rear for teams to block.

(31:57):
And when winning time came, hemade a bunch of plays and one it
closed out games for Kentucky that year. Well, you want, I think
one of the things you want tosee from Walker is when when winning time
shows up in the fourth quarter,to see him make some big plays.
We see him make big plays,but you want to see him make big
plays in the fourth quarter, winin high leverage moments. So like when
he's got the Tennessee guy wrapped upfor a tackle for loss on that shovel

(32:21):
pass to finish the play. That'sa play he missed last year. So
you want to see him show growthin that in that aspect, there's no
reason to not think he's not goingto hit that next step because I think
he took big strides even as afresh coming in playing as a freshman even
last year, I thought he gotbetter as the season went on, and
if that trajectory continues, he's goingto be a special festival player next year.

(32:42):
Best case scenario for that defense twowould be for JJ Weaver to pick
up where he left off. Atthe end of last season. It looked
like maybe he was that long awaitedbreakout year. Might be, you know,
he might be set up for itthis year if that happens, if
you had you know, him playingat a you know, really high level
and walk or you got some realissues as the opposing offensive coordinator. Yeah,

(33:05):
I was definitely a disappointing, Ithink campaign for JJ the first eight
time winks in season, but itdid. He was the player we thought
we would see all year. Theretowards the end against Louisville and Clemson,
I thought he played really well.Another guy I'm really watching is Tyrese Fearbrie.
I thought he really popped in thebowl game as kind of a bendy
edge speed pass rusher and that's somethingthe program really hasn't had, and that's

(33:28):
not something that I would say isJJ weavers strength. And so if you
could bring in Fearbree to kind ofbe your edge rusher guy who can bend
the corner, rushing them passer onthird downs off the edge, that could
be a real weapon, I thinkfor Kentucky, and he's a real sneaky
wildcard I think for the team thisyear because we know the attention Walker is
going to get, and then therest of the d line what they can

(33:50):
do. But if you get thatextra burst, that extra zach production pass
rush production from Fearbure, it canmake this defense I think potentially pretty dangerous.
Yeah. I mean, if yougot Walker and maybe Weaver commanding a
lot of extra attention, that opensthe door for a guy like fear Breed
to you know, be a playmaker. You know, that's usually how somebody

(34:13):
kind of comes from under the radar, is with an opportunity presented like that.
Yeah. Absolutely, And then Ithink just the depth of the defensive
line. We don't really know alot about the injuries yet with the one
we do know is Darien Henry Youngis probably not gonna be ready for the
start of the season since he towardsACL towards in the October last year Againstsissippi
State. But just assuming everyone elseis plugged in and ready to go when

(34:37):
the season starts. You know whatyou got on the defensive line, and
you got depth, and you gotbodies to rotate in there and quality players
that could play for other SEC teamsgood defenses, so you have the star
power and then you have the depthin the rotation. Like the d on
paper, the defensive line should reallybe a strength for Kentucky, and you
look at the front seven overall,like Kentucky should have one of the better

(34:58):
front sevens in the SEC, andthey need to cash in on that and
make sure they have one of thebetter defenses in the SEC when you have
that on paper, Adam Lucket,you can read him in on three Sports,
follow at Adam Luck at KSR,on x or Twitter. Thank you
aboutch Adam. Thanks Tom Leach Report. Final segment coming up from the Clark's
Pumping Shop studio. Return, Refreshand Refuel, Stay a Wildcat History,

(35:21):
a service of Kentucky Road Show sportscards and memorabilia on Romedy Road at Lexington
at at Roadshowcards dot Com. HappyBirthday, Josh Allen, We were just
talking about him. Josh celebrating abirthday today. Jamal mcgloure former Kentucky basketball
star. Happy birthday Jamal, andour friend Mark's story from the Lexington Herald
Leader celebrating a birthday today as well. Triple crowd coverage this spring on The

(35:45):
Leach Report, once again presented byClayburne Farm doing the usual unusually well,
sometimes the Sir Barton Steaks on theundercard at Pimlico will produce a Belmont steak
starter or two. Does it looklike that will happen this year? Connections
of the winner, Corporate Power andthe runner up, Gould's Gold trained by
Sug McGahee and Kenny McPeak, respectively, all saying that they are going to

(36:08):
look for other spots and pass onheading to the Belmont Stakes. All right.
SEC tournament starts today and ten thirtyEasterns when Georgia LSU will get it
going. Kentucky gets the winner ofthat game tomorrow morning now in Hoover,
Alabama. So we'll be talking someabout that and more on The Leach Report.

(36:29):
Wednesday edition, presented by Bobcat enterprises. Have a great day, everybody.
Thanks for listening to The Leach Report. Anytime you miss the show,
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Leach Reports at gmail dot com.We'll see you next time on The Leach Report.