Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Bingie Beef Turkey Podcast of the Leach Report is
also presented by Boons Butcher Shop, one hundred old Bloomfield
Pike in Barnestown, fresh meat cut on location daily and
they're family owned and operated, have been since nineteen forty six.
Good day, everybody, welcome in do the Leach Report presented
by Bobcat Enterprises as we will talk some Kentucky football
(00:23):
and basketball over the rest of this hour. We'll lead
off with Charles Walker, the former Wildcat wide out, the Goose,
Jack Gibvens, and Justin Rowland from Cats Illustrated. Wildcat News
of the Day is a service of Giuseppes of Lexington.
Start with the availability report for Kentucky football as it
(00:44):
gets set to head down to Texas to meet a
top five Longhorn team on Saturday afternoon. The availability report
is pretty good for Kentucky. JJ Weaver listed as probable,
Khalil Saunders and Courtland four questionable. Dion Walker, Jamon Dumas, Johnson,
(01:04):
Barry and Brown not listed on the report, so they're
good to go. Among those out, DJ Waller to Ryan Nichols,
so pretty thin secondary group for Kentucky. And this is
a Texas team that as an outstanding Corps receivers. Pretty
much all of them came in via the transfer portal.
(01:25):
We'll get deeper into the game tomorrow, but Kentucky from
an availability standport standpoint looks really good, probably as healthy
as they've been in a while overall, and that's obviously
one of the elements needed to have a shot to
do something like they did down at Ole Miss earlier
this season. Kentucky volleyball last night swept Mississippi State, so
(01:53):
the march to another SEC championship continues. Final home match
of the season of the regular season is coming up
on Sunday against Arkansas, and then they'll have a match
with Missouri to finish up the regular season, and Kentucky
is in control of its own destiny as far as
winning another SEC championship. Some rumors floating around yesterday about
(02:16):
Southern miss pursuing Vince Merrow for its head coaching job.
They have already released their head coach like Matt Sjonnes
at KSR put out a post that Vince had taken
his name out of the running.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
There.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
There's also a Division two tight ends Zach Atkins that
posted he is an offer from Kentucky also has offers
from Ole Miss and Pittsburgh among other non Power four
leagues as well. Antonio Reeves with a big night last night,
his best night in the NBA. Happy for him, but
(02:53):
he's with the Pelicans and he put up thirty four
against the Cleveland Cavaliers. And after the game, the Pelicans
coach praised Jody Meeks among others, for the work done
with Reeves. So Antonio Reeves, happy for him to have
a big night here in the NBA and just cement
his role with Pelicans. Links to the stories that we
(03:17):
talk about each day, you can find those on the
Bud Light Leach Report page at Tom leachky dot com.
And links to the stories that we talk about again
tom leachky dot com. We're gonna get to a break,
come back and chat with Charles Walker and talk a
little bit about this matchup with Texas coming up on Saturday.
Opening segment always presented by Giuseppes of Lexington. If you're
(03:40):
looking for a really special night out during the holidays,
maybe after Thanksgiving, after you've done all the cooking, get
everybody together and head out to Giuseppes for a fantastic
meal in the days that follow. Make your reservations through
open table. Check out the menu at Juseppes Lexington dot com.
It is fantastick and so is the ambiance with that
(04:02):
live jazz music. If you sit in the expanded lounge
area at j Sepies, we'll be right back and chat
with Charles Walker. It is The Leech Report Radio Network,
thirteen past the top of the hour. The Leach Report's
presented each day by Bob Kat Enterprises, and we welcome
in Charles Walker, the former Wildcat wide out. As Kentucky
(04:23):
gets set to go down and play the Texas Longhorns. Charles,
Kentucky had lost four in a row, gets into an
open date and they come out of that with a win.
I'll be in against a severely outmatched opponent, but still
stops the losing streak. Now, the availability report looks pretty
good and most of their guys are back, and so.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Probably about the best situation they could hope to have.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
I guess, given the circumstances of the season, for this
matchup right.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
And you know, Tom, it's a big one. This is
this gives us our fifth win and then of course
we host our you know, our rival at home to
hopefully get that six win and get Bowl eligible, which
will be what the seventh or eighth year in a
row would be nice, I think would be nine. And
you know, like you just said, we're healthy. This uh,
(05:15):
this Texas football team is tough. And we're going into
the you know, to the to the layer of the Dragon,
going down to Austin for the first time and you're
gonna know that history eighteen fifty one night since.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
Nineteen fifty one.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
And we've got our players coming off of a win.
I think being healthy.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Is what we needed.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
And and you know what we've seen out of this
Texas team is they kind of resemble us.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Now.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
They've been winning, but they've been you know, they beat
Vanderbilt by three, They absolutely creamed Florida. We've we've seen
a little jacky and hide from them as well.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
They also lost their quarterback late September. Yours and arch
Manning got a couple of starts and then yours is
number look great, but.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Do a little reading.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
I think the feeling there is maybe he's not been
quite as good since he came back from the injury
as he was before. Excuse me, And you know the
thing is you're if you're a Kentucky fan, you're you're
looking for just one little dent in there to give
you some hope. Ultimately, Kentucky's just got to come up
with some kind of effort close to what it it.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Did down at Old Miss to have a shot.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
And they played very well against Georgia and Tennessee as well,
so you certainly plenty of reason to believe that they'll
put up a good fight because they have against the
other three best teams on their schedule. But to me,
I was on a show in Texas this week and
they said, what's the one, you know, key, one biggest
key for Kentucky, And I said, it's got to be
(06:45):
turnovers for Kentucky because I looked at the first five
games of the season, when that was through the Old
Miss game, Kentucky had four turnovers in the first five games.
They have twelve in the next five games. And you know,
when you're you know offensively there, they're obviously not great,
(07:05):
and so when you give the other team the ball
more than two times a game, that just makes it
a whole lot harder.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Yes, of course, And it's the same this week with
with the Texas offense that has weapons everywhere. Oh my god, hecky,
even their big old tight end number eighty five is
probably going to play football on Sundays. You know, like
you said, we're going into Austin, Texas and we're playing
a really good Texas team. But we've hung with three
(07:36):
out of the top you know, top ten AP top
ten teams this year, and this will be our fourth
game against an AP top ten, so that the schedule
hasn't been easy, and I know some of the games
have been frustrating, but you know that this is this
just smells like a game that Coach Stukes and Brad
White have this team ready to play.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
If you're Kentucky, I would think the message this week
something along the lines of, look, when you guys started
the season, you wanted to do things that had not
been done before in a long time, and a lot
of those goals are off the table now, but there's
hardly anybody that believes that you could keep the ball
(08:18):
streak going to do it, you've got to win these
next two games, so you still have a chance to
do something people don't think you can do.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
So you know, that's the sales pitch.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
I would think and and you know, another part of
the sales pitch is listen to you all that this
is a three p thirty game. The whole world is
going to be watching you and Tom we've we have
you know, we have a handful of guys that will
no doubt be playing on Sundays, but we have some
that are on that teetering line and if they can,
you know, corral a good game against a really good
(08:48):
Texas team and then a good game against the u
of L. You know, dare I say, a top ranked
u of L team, and not only do we get
ball eligible, but you know that draft stock increases and
that's big for everybody.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Tabo char Walker, he was a star wide out from
the Wildcats. Also the guy from CBI Insurance joining us
in the Club blue ANDIL dot com hotline.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Did you have?
Speaker 1 (09:09):
I mean, it's gonna be the first time for Kentucky,
as we said, to play in Texas since nineteen fifty one.
I was looking at some of the story, some of
the notes from that game yesterday, and I think there
were forty seven hundred people at the game that day.
There'll be around one hundred thousand at this one on Saturday.
(09:30):
Did you have a favorite stadium to play in when
you were a Wildcat.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
We played at LSU when I was and had We
had a night game and I remember walking out of
the tunnel and they had Mike the Tiger there. You
go to midfield and you see that tiger. I now,
after that first whistle blue, it wasn't necessarily a close game,
So those memories start to fade when you're you know
down heck, I think we lost forty two to three,
(09:57):
But I know everyone remembers the the hit Dorian Baker
had on a I guess it was either Dick or
he had a crack back and he ended up getting,
you know, suspended for the first half of the next game.
But there's definitely stadiums that you know that that stick
with you. I absolutely love playing at Georgia. You know,
you're you're between the hedges and the grass of Sanford
(10:19):
Stadium was you know, like the fair way at Augusta
is what I tell my buddies. It's it's a special conference. Obviously,
we never traveled to play at Austin, Texas, but I'm
sure this stadium is going to be up there, uh
with with with one of the coolest in college football history.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
I think somebody told me Tom Hart posted a note
It'll be the farthest farthest farthest West Kentucky has ever played.
Speaker 5 (10:44):
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Speaker 1 (11:15):
They actually played in Norman, Oklahoma in nineteen eighty two
and this is I guess just a tad farther west.
So one piece of trivia for this matchup. Charles appreciate
the time as always and I won't talk to you before,
so happy Thanksgiving.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Thank you too, Gokat.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
That is Charles Walker joining us via the clublueanil dot
com hotline. Club Blues, the official collective partner of UK
Athletics and NIL is the name of the game right
now in college athletics, schools have to get good at
it and have to raise the funds and fans are
helping out, and if you want to do that, then
(11:52):
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membership packages start as low as twenty five dollars a
month and you get some great perks for.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Being a member.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
There's meet and greets they've been doing with athletes from
other teams ahead of the football games. There will be
another opportunity for that next weekend for the home finale,
and when you're a Club Blue member, you get to
move to the front of the line. Same thing when
they've done some autograph signings, they've done special events around
the state. Did one down a hazard to meet the
(12:22):
coach posts new basketball team back in the summer. Club
blueil dot com you get to be a part of
all of that and along with helping raise the NIL
funds for UK Athletics. We'll be right back and chat
with the goose Jack Gibbons. It is the Leach Report
Radio Network.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Letch Park comes here from the Clarks Pump and Shop studio.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Return, refresh and refuel at Clark's Download The app to
get the monthly specials, and kudos to all of you
who went out and donated blood yesterday. We talked with
Eric Lindsay from the Kentucky Blood Center yesterday about the
Big Blue Crush that's underway, the annual competition between Kentucky
and Tennessee and Uck. He padded its lead yesterday, was
(13:02):
already out in front thanks to a big Tuesday. Kentucky
padded its lead yesterday, but they still need you to
run through the tape so that Kentucky can win the
Big Blue Crush and get the blood supply built up
for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. So please donate if you
can if you have not already done that at Central
(13:24):
at the blood centers all around the state, and you
can go to the website to find out more about that.
I think there's a chance to if you donate, to
sign up to win a couple of tickets to the
uk u of L football game a week from Saturday.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
So Kentucky's trying to beat the Bright Orange and the
Burnt Orange this week. Let's go to the.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Club Blue ini'll dot com hotline Bring on the Goose,
Jack Givens Goose. That was another impressive performance by Mark
Pope's crew.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
I said, look, you know, Lipscomb is not you know, Duke,
but they are the preseason favorite to win their league.
So it's the kind of team. You could see it
in early round NCAA tournament game. They had led everybody
they had played except Arkansas by double digits. They had
a five point lead at one point in the game
on the Hogs. It was never close. On Tuesday night Kentucky,
(14:17):
it was about forty at one point. So that was,
you know, an impressive performance, even though.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
It wasn't to the level of what we saw against Duke.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
Yeah, it's nice, though, Tom, when you can play a
pretty decent team, and lips was, it's good Win didn't
play a team like that and make them look as
though they are not not very good at all. Really, Tom,
And you know, there was some obvious concern by people
that there might be a letdown after the Duke game.
(14:49):
It probably helped some if there was a weekend between games,
so you could get that win, you could celebrate it,
maybe a little longer than you normally would celebrate win,
but still have enough time to come in and really
get focused and get back to work and start to
start looking at the next game. So it was an
(15:11):
impressive win for Kentucky the other night. That team's gonna
win a lot of games. We'll see them. We've been
talking about them late in the year, but certainly Kentucky
took care of business.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
You're not were there to shoot around on Tuesday when
Coach Pope was talking about and he was answering Cameron
Mills question about any concerned about a letdown, and he
talked about his approach and then he brought it up
at the ank or talked about it in the pre
game and in the postgame as well. And the way
that he talked about approaching it was interesting. And it's
(15:46):
also one that I think works well with a veteran
group like he has. I mean, they've got the kind
of experience the like the last couple of teams that
you played on at UK and you know, guys that
have played for a while kind of know the lay
of the land better than a team full of freshmen.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Right. Uh yeah, you know, even with us though Tom
after a big game, uh, coach Halt would would would
talk to us about uh, resting on our Laurels. You know,
you want a big game and uh you know, and
he'll use that mainly in practice. Yeah, you want a
(16:26):
big game. Now you come in here and you don't
want to work, and uh, you're already going to get
upset by the next team. Uh well, that's that's kind
of different from what Mark does. He doesn't even want
to talk about that that last game. He wants to
immediately start thinking about the next game, so that you
(16:46):
think about the next game. And you know, even as
good as we were and as experienced as we were,
Coach Hall used that philosophy that you know you're going,
don't want to have a letdown, don't even think about
that game before and and that's that's a big difference
(17:07):
between what I've heard from most coaches in Mark.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
No, you enjoyed seeing Jackson Robinson come out and get
going early, coming off a game in which he didn't
make a shot against Duke.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
I was just glad he was pursuing shots Tom. I
didn't want him coming out waiting for the offense to
come to him. I wanted to see him come out
and take the offense to list Lipskam and And that's
kind and that's what he did. I mean, that's why
he's going to have to play, because he's going to
be the top guy on the scout and report every night,
(17:38):
because every team understands and we start again. If he
gets going, it seems that everyone gets going. Yeah, it
helps even him. It helps if someone else knocks down
a shot before, as Otega did. I mean, that helps
a guy looking for his offense. But but Jack's gonna
(18:02):
have to He's just gonna have to come and take
over on offense and not wait for it to come
to him.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
We're talking with the Goose, Jack Gibbings.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
If you don't yet have your copy of they call
me Goose, his book that he did with Doug Brunk.
Great time to pick it up for the holidays for
a Christmas gift for somebody. You can get that through
Amazon and all the other booksellers, and follow at Goose
Givens on x and follow Goose on Facebook and you'll
see when he's doing book signings around the holidays.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
We'll come right back continue with Jack in just a moment.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
It is The Leach Report Radio Network, presented by Bob
Kat enterprises second half of the Leach Reports and the
goose Jack givens with us on the club blueenil dot
com hotline. Any book signings coming up here the next
week or so, Goose.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
Well, Tom, I don't have another one scheduled untill I
get we go out to Seattle and I'll have something
going on there. Then I'll have something going on in
New York and we will. We're trying to find a
couple of dates between now and Christmas here more local.
(19:16):
I'm sure we will come up with something here over
the next few days. So certainly by this time next
week we'll have I'll have some information on that.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Get back to.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
The Cats and what they have done through four games
now of the season here on the show, I don't know,
two or three weeks ago, maybe longer, you were talking
about how you thought this team was going to be
better than you expected defensively, and that was one of
the things that the Lipscombe coach talked about Tuesday night,
(19:49):
is how much better he thought Kentucky was defensively than
he was expecting.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
Yeah, And you know, I said the kind of tongue
in cheek in the game the last game talking about
that Duke Win and I was like, man, I'm glad
we won that game, of course, but we can't fly
below the radar. Now everybody. Everybody knows who we are
(20:21):
because of what happened in that game. And part of
the reason is the job we did defensively in that game.
I mean, we both know that there were times in
the Duke game where offensively we were stuck and we
weren't doing anything. We weren't we're just doing enough to
(20:42):
stay close. But we were staying close because the job
our defense did. Same thing in this last game, man.
I mean, I must have said it twenty times during
the game how great individual defensive plays were. And then
team defense with the help and recovery. A guy would
(21:03):
think they're open. I know, the look in the eye
when you think you're open, you're ready to shoot, and
then all of a sudden, the hands in your face,
and it kind of throws the team off balance when
you're as good defensively as Kentucky has been. But here's
the thing, and people that you know, you have to
understand they're not good on defense just because they're good.
(21:24):
They're good on defense because Mark puts a lot of
time working on defense, and I mean those guys and
then the other thing he does, which is really nice
is that the first unit and the second unit spend
a lot of time going against each other and and
and kind of a throwback to the day when when
(21:45):
we play. Yeah, the walk ones are there and they
serve a purpose, but uh, you know, and some of
them are pretty pretty decent players, but they're walk ones
for a reason. At that second unit is who the
first unit should be working against. And that's the way
(22:06):
Mark Pope does it. Of course, they did it like
that when he was here at Kentucky, and he's done
it everywhere he's been. So that's a reason why they're
good defensively. They've worked hard at it every day.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
He mentioned to him the other night that he has
I think twelve guys that could have a twenty point game.
I think, you know, Travis and Trent could do that too,
if under the right circumstances in terms of, you know,
playing in a situation where they were getting a lot
of minutes regularly that they're not getting on this team
because it's so experienced. But the thing is to have
(22:41):
that many guys that can score a lot. It's impressive
how readily it's come together in terms of the sharing
of the basketball and you know, celebrating teammates and all
those kinds of things.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
And again, the.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Lipscomb coach talked about that, and of the assistants I
was chatting with before the game said the same thing
to me that that was maybe the most impressive thing
to him in preparing for the game was just how
quickly he had gotten his all these different players that
could be big scores individually to buy into playing together.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
So well, I think that's a good point come And
the reason the reason they buy in so quickly at
the age they are is because they know they don't
have a lot of time left. So if you don't
buy in with a coach like Mark, you know you're
(23:41):
going to be sitting on the bench because you know
you've got people all the way down the line who
can play and who are willing to do what as
a coach you asked them to do and the and
that's what we have here. Very very fortunate that these
guys had bought in and that they share the basketball
as well as they do. And for the Big Blue Nation,
(24:03):
I mean, look, we love to see our local guys play,
and we like to see our local guys succeed and
for Trent and for Travis, their time is gonna come.
I mean, they will get an opportunity to play. And
when I see those guys, you know, walking around at practice,
(24:24):
shooting whatever, traveling, I just tell them stay ready, you know,
stay ready, because you're gonna get an opportunity. And when
that comes, you have to be able to come in
and perform, just like the guys in front of you perform.
(24:44):
And they are both such great young guys. Man, they
are so good at listening to these older players, and
they are I mean just hanging on to every word
they say. Man, you should you should just see how
Travis interacts, I mean with a guy like Chris. You
(25:09):
should see how those guys, I mean, they hang on
every word. And Trent, man, he just listens to everything
some of these older guys play. And Andrew Carr is
always giving up information. Lamont Butler is always in their
ear encouraging them. Stay focused, young man, You're going to
(25:31):
get a time. I was like that when I was
a freshman. So those two guys are are really really
good with their roles. Of course, they want to play more.
They wouldn't be here if they didn't. But for the
big Blue Nation. I would just say stay patient. These
guys are not one and done kind of guys. And
(25:53):
before they get out of here and stop wearing the
blue and white, they're going to have their opportunity to shine.
Believe me, Jack, thank you much, all right, Tom, thanks man.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
That is the Goose Jack Gibbons again. Follow at Goosegivens
on X and follow on Facebook to keep up with
when he's got book signings scheduled around these parts, which
will be happening before the holidays. Stay a second and
talk about Cornbread Hemp. They are spreading the holiday cheer
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And it's just in time for those family get togethers
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free corn BREDAMP. This is the good Life. We'll be
right back with Justin Rowland from cats Illustrated. It's Report's
presented each day by Bobcat Enterprises for locations around the state.
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great service after the sale as well from our friends
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at Bobcat Enterprises. Just Google search to find the one
that's closest to you. Let's go to the clublueenil dot
com Highline. Bring on Justin Rowland from katz Illustrated dot com.
Let's start with football. Justin Kentucky won at Ole, Miss,
played Georgia and Tennessee tough. So what kind of shot
do you give Kentucky to shock the world on Saturday
(27:49):
at Texas.
Speaker 6 (27:51):
I mean, it's a real, non zero chance to be
competitive in the game. Before the season. My upset pick
of the year is if they're going to win a
huge upset.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
I think it could be Texas.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Oh, that's right.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
If you had them pay you said they'd lose to
South Carolina but win at Texas.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
That's right, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 6 (28:04):
Yeah, that's because Texas has been prone to stubbing its
toe and turning in clunkers, and we didn't know how
they're going to fare first year in the SEC. I
talked to Jason Schummell, who covers Texas for Rivals, and
he says, the talk of the town for everybody is
Texas Texas A and M and sark is talking about it,
and Elco is joking about it, and quinn Ewers is
(28:29):
missing on deep throws and Arkansas is playing with three
high safeties and taking away the deep ball and holding
Texas to twenty points in Vanderbilt employed a similar defensive strategy,
and it's one that Kentucky is very comfortable deploying. And
so you know they're gonna have to deal with the
Texas run game and that Texas secondary really first and foremost.
(28:50):
You just can't expect Kentucky to pass for any success
this weekend. But I do think that they have a
formula to play competitively against them.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Yeah, it's there are a lot of factors that line
up to at least give Kentucky a chance to be
in it in the fourth quarter, which is really all
you hope for, and then see if you can make
a play like they did down at Ole Miss because
Kentucky's gotten healthier, they ended the losing streak and yeah
that was Murray State, but still you get a win,
you get a feel good moment. And then where it's
(29:20):
position for Texas because they went to Arkansas and that's
a big game for the Longhorns, back to the old
Southwest Conference days. And then you know the Texas A
and M game. It's been many years since they've played,
so that's going to be off the charts. So you
couldn't ask to be in a better spot to have
a chance to catch Texas at less than its best.
Speaker 6 (29:41):
I mean, Sark himself is saying it's the most important
game of the year and it's a trap game. So
I mean, if the head coach is identifying all of
these factors and he's with the team on a day
to day basis, he hears when the conversation is all
about the next week's game, it's gonna be tough and
you know this is also going to be senor senior
night there and sometimes there's an emotional hangover layover things
(30:04):
you got to deal with with regards to that. These
are all reasons why Kentucky could be competitive. At the
end of the day, they're still going to have to
find a way to score points against a very good defense.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Yeah, that's the thing we're kind of, you know, talking
ourselves into it.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Could you know where you could have a good game?
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Hopefully that's what you know, you you if you're a
Kentucky fan, that's what you want is just to be
in it in the fourth quarter and have a chance. Now,
finding a way to score is a challenge. This is
a defense that has a second most interceptions in the
league fifteen really good front Collins playing really well up
(30:41):
front for them right now. They have two offensive tackles
that are both being talked about as first round draft picks.
One of them may be in the top three or
four picks. But again, if you're Kentucky, you'll take your
chances with your defense to give you a chance, you know,
Dion Walker against you know, those tackles, that kind of thing.
But it's the comes down to what you were talking
about can you find a way to score, And to me,
(31:03):
that's got to start with you can't turn the ball
over at the rate they've turned it over since since
that win at Old Miss. They've got to get back
to you having a game. To me, the only way
Kentucky's got a shot at this is it's got to
be one or few return hovers.
Speaker 6 (31:19):
Yeah, I agree with you, they can't turn it over.
I think Will Cox and the ground game has to
generate something because if Texas has been susceptible at all
this year, defensively, it's.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Been a little bit to the run game.
Speaker 6 (31:30):
It was out of hand, but Florida got some yards
on them. Their run defense was maybe not a concern
but not an Achilles, but not overwhelming to start the season,
and they have gotten better. I just can't imagine Kentucky
passing for much success in the game with as elite
as their cornerbacks are and as smart as their safeties are.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
And they've got some.
Speaker 6 (31:51):
Young and transfer edge rushers who were up and down
earlier in the season, but have really shown some bursts
and some twitch these last couple of weeks. The fundamental
problem for Kentucky is the same can you block well
enough to even have a shot offensively? And that's that's
gonna be on Hamden and Woolford to get him ready.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Uh, Justin roller of us from Katz Illustrated dot Com
at Roland Rivals on X and you can hear him
here on the club Blue nil dot com hotline. Let's
move past these next two games and that first week
of December, Justin is going to be crazy time, not
just for Kentucky but specifically we'll talk about you know,
(32:31):
Kentucky with player movement and you know signing day comes up,
then you know staff changes are gonna happen quicker than
ever these days because of uh all the player movement
timeline deals. Uh there was a story yesterday about Southern
mist pursuing Vince Marrow. Looks like, uh, nothing's gonna come
(32:54):
of that. But just talk to me a little bit
about what that first week in December is going to be.
Speaker 6 (33:00):
I mean, it's just candidly, there's more moving parts than
ever because this is the most disappointing season that they've had.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
For a while.
Speaker 6 (33:07):
And we know that other schools are already looking at
some of these assistant coaches and thinking, you know, what
maybe if there's a time to poach a coach that
we've had our eye on for a while, this could
be it. And then if that were to happen, what
kind of broader ripple effect could that have in terms
of influencing other people's decisions. What kind of ripple effect
could it mean for the class as they're putting it
together at the eleventh hour that they're recruiting. The high
(33:30):
school class has has stayed pretty solid. Decaden fergus Ferguson
d committed and it presumed he's going to LSU.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
But the high school.
Speaker 6 (33:37):
Class is not really the focus.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Mark Stoops is.
Speaker 6 (33:39):
In a must win now mode and I think he
knows that going into next year. Next year, it's not
about whether you win the press conference on National signing
Day next year is going to be about whether you
win enough games to convince people that you have the
program headed back in the right trajectory. And so the
portal is what it's going to be all about. We've
seen Signetti and we've seen other people boast that they
(34:00):
pretty much rebuilt their roster in one offseason, and that's
gonna be a two way street. You know, they got
some guys coming back on offense that are probably asking themselves,
is this the right fit for me? After the way
things have gone? And they're already gonna have to bring
in three or three starters on the offensive line, which
aren't easy to find. Maybe a running back one out
of the portal. We'll see what happens with the top
(34:22):
two receivers on the team. How much are they going
to have to bring in there? What are they gonna
do at quarterback? I mean, we hear all kinds of things,
but when you're playing musical quarterbacks late in the season,
it's not a given that this is the guy that
you're gonna build around for the next year. So I've
never seen so much uncertainty for Kentucky, especially with the
offense going into an offseason the last few years.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Yeah, and it probably happens unfolds all pretty quickly, didn't
it right?
Speaker 2 (34:48):
Right?
Speaker 6 (34:48):
Yeah, they're gonna have to be ready for it to
start popping off. But they got to have quarterbacks in
mind in case there's movement there. And I'm talking all
three quarterbacks this year gonna have decisions to make. They're
gonna have to have running backs in mind. My belief
is a lot of nil money is going to free
up this offseason, and they're gonna have the ability to
remake the roster in a way that makes it look
(35:09):
very new and unfamiliar, and it's going to be hard
to tell how it's all going to fit together until
the spring maybe starts rolling around.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
That's my view.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
One thing Jeff Facoro has talked about with us on
our broadcast. He said, you know, how about if you're Kentucky. Well,
you know, everybody you know talks about how it is
to get offensive linemen. But most of those schools you're
competing against, you know, the bigger brands whatever, they're trying
to find the quarterback, a receiver or a running back
(35:38):
and then they'll pay an offensive lineman well too well,
he said, how about just take and and basically out
bit and just make that your top priority is to
spend on the offensive line.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
Is that something that could be feasible.
Speaker 6 (35:51):
I've thought about that, and the pushback that I've gotten
is there just aren't that many good offensive linemen in
the portal, and the ones that are are so highly
sought after. I mean, the problem like these guys are
hiding these linemen. If you if you're Ohio State, and
you feel great about your eighth offensive linemen, you're gonna
be retident. You're gonna be reluctant to put him out
(36:12):
there for snaps and to let other people see what
you might have. And so offensive linemen are not going
into the portal the same way that wide receivers are
and it's a shark tank. And that's but there are
small school offensive linemen that are succeeding at the at
the power five level. You just have to have that
moneyball eye for evaluation approach and confidence in your evaluation
(36:36):
to say, you know what, it's better to get this
guy who did a little something good at James Madison
this year than this guy who had four stars coming
out of high school. But it's played fifteen snaps at
Alabama over the past four seasons. You know, that's the
direction they got to look at.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
I think that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
My high school, Bourbon County, they produced a kid named
Dalton Tucker who went ended up at Marshall, didn't have
many offers and ended up in Marshall playing starting for
the Colts. Now is a rookie to find those kinds
of guys.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
That if Kentucky.
Speaker 6 (37:06):
If Kentucky simply committed itself to evaluating and finding the
best players from the MAC every season, and they could
execute that, and that could become their identity, it could
be just as helpful as what they did in Ohio
High School recruiting earlier in stut Senior.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Interesting.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Justin Rowlandkatz Illustrated dot Com and uh at Roland Rivals
and we won't talk before the holiday, So happy Thanksgiving
to you in the treadle.
Speaker 6 (37:29):
Happy holidays, Tom, thanks a lot.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
That's justin Rowland and we're coming up on our final segment.
We'll take a break and get to that when we
come right back here on the Leech Report Radio Network.
Cat fans this holiday season, Kentucky Eagle and Anheuser Busch
want you to plan ahead and decide to ride. There's
never an excuse to drink and drive. Enjoy the holidays
with your family and friends, but remember, decide to ride
(37:51):
and go Cats. We'll be right back Stan wild Cat
History presented by Kentucky road Show, Sports Cards and Memorabilia.
They're on Romney Road in Lexington and you can find
him at roadshowcards dot Com online. Stay in two thousand
and nine, Kentucky went down and won at Georgia thirty
four to twenty seven. Last win down between the hedges
(38:13):
for Kentucky football, and it was Randall Cobb and Derek
Locke leading the way for Kentucky. And I don't think
I've ever seen a scoreboard turned off quicker than when
that game went final. Some birthdays that we didn't get
to yesterday, Louis Dampier belated Happy birthday to one of
(38:37):
the all time great shooters for the Wildcats and for
the Kentucky Colonels in the ABA belated happy birthdays to
Jeremy Jarman and Craig Yeast from Kentucky football and Antonio
Reeves from Kentucky basketball. Kentucky kicker Alex Rayner named to
the Lou Groza Award semifinalists list. So he's had a
(38:58):
fantastic seasons eighteen in a row he's made going back
into last season and then rest in peace. Wesley Cox
so Eric Crawford's column at WDRB dot com about Wesley
Cox passing away last weekend.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
He's a former.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
UFL star and also one of the all time great
high school players in Kentucky. For Louisville Mayo. Back in
the seventies. He had a lot of health problems. Only
sixty nine years old. Was sad to see that news.
That's going to do it for This edition of The
Leach Report, presented by Bobcat enterprises tomorrow's Game Day Eve
and we'll talk with Craig Way, the voice of the Longhorns,
(39:35):
John Clay from the Herald Leader, and also Travis.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
Ford's gonna join us.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
See worked the Kentucky basketball game on Tuesday night and
we'll get his take on that gig and on his
ALBA monitor as well.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
So talk to you tomorrow on The Leach Report Radio Network.
This Bingie Beef Turkey Podcast of the Leach Report is
also presented by Boons Butcher Shop, one hundred old Bloomfield
Pike in Barnestown, fresh meat cut on location daily and
they're family owned and operated, have been since nineteen forty six.
Good day, everybody, welcome in do the Leach Report presented
by Bobcat Enterprises as we will talk some Kentucky football
(00:23):
and basketball over the rest of this hour. We'll lead
off with Charles Walker, the former Wildcat wide out, the Goose,
Jack Gibvens, and Justin Rowland from Cats Illustrated. Wildcat News
of the Day is a service of Giuseppes of Lexington.
Start with the availability report for Kentucky football as it
(00:44):
gets set to head down to Texas to meet a
top five Longhorn team on Saturday afternoon. The availability report
is pretty good for Kentucky. JJ Weaver listed as probable,
Khalil Saunders and Courtland four questionable. Dion Walker, Jamon Dumas, Johnson,
(01:04):
Barry and Brown not listed on the report, so they're
good to go. Among those out, DJ Waller to Ryan Nichols,
so pretty thin secondary group for Kentucky. And this is
a Texas team that as an outstanding Corps receivers. Pretty
much all of them came in via the transfer portal.
(01:25):
We'll get deeper into the game tomorrow, but Kentucky from
an availability standport standpoint looks really good, probably as healthy
as they've been in a while overall, and that's obviously
one of the elements needed to have a shot to
do something like they did down at Ole Miss earlier
this season. Kentucky volleyball last night swept Mississippi State, so
(01:53):
the march to another SEC championship continues. Final home match
of the season of the regular season is coming up
on Sunday against Arkansas, and then they'll have a match
with Missouri to finish up the regular season, and Kentucky
is in control of its own destiny as far as
winning another SEC championship. Some rumors floating around yesterday about
(02:16):
Southern miss pursuing Vince Merrow for its head coaching job.
They have already released their head coach like Matt Sjonnes
at KSR put out a post that Vince had taken
his name out of the running.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
There.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
There's also a Division two tight ends Zach Atkins that
posted he is an offer from Kentucky also has offers
from Ole Miss and Pittsburgh among other non Power four
leagues as well. Antonio Reeves with a big night last night,
his best night in the NBA. Happy for him, but
(02:53):
he's with the Pelicans and he put up thirty four
against the Cleveland Cavaliers. And after the game, the Pelicans
coach praised Jody Meeks among others, for the work done
with Reeves. So Antonio Reeves, happy for him to have
a big night here in the NBA and just cement
his role with Pelicans. Links to the stories that we
(03:17):
talk about each day, you can find those on the
Bud Light Leach Report page at Tom leachky dot com.
And links to the stories that we talk about again
tom leachky dot com. We're gonna get to a break,
come back and chat with Charles Walker and talk a
little bit about this matchup with Texas coming up on Saturday.
Opening segment always presented by Giuseppes of Lexington. If you're
(03:40):
looking for a really special night out during the holidays,
maybe after Thanksgiving, after you've done all the cooking, get
everybody together and head out to Giuseppes for a fantastic
meal in the days that follow. Make your reservations through
open table. Check out the menu at Juseppes Lexington dot com.
It is fantastick and so is the ambiance with that
(04:02):
live jazz music. If you sit in the expanded lounge
area at j Sepies, we'll be right back and chat
with Charles Walker. It is The Leech Report Radio Network,
thirteen past the top of the hour. The Leach Report's
presented each day by Bob Kat Enterprises, and we welcome
in Charles Walker, the former Wildcat wide out. As Kentucky
(04:23):
gets set to go down and play the Texas Longhorns. Charles,
Kentucky had lost four in a row, gets into an
open date and they come out of that with a win.
I'll be in against a severely outmatched opponent, but still
stops the losing streak. Now, the availability report looks pretty
good and most of their guys are back, and so.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Probably about the best situation they could hope to have.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
I guess, given the circumstances of the season, for this
matchup right.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
And you know, Tom, it's a big one. This is
this gives us our fifth win and then of course
we host our you know, our rival at home to
hopefully get that six win and get Bowl eligible, which
will be what the seventh or eighth year in a
row would be nice, I think would be nine. And
you know, like you just said, we're healthy. This uh,
(05:15):
this Texas football team is tough. And we're going into
the you know, to the to the layer of the Dragon,
going down to Austin for the first time and you're
gonna know that history eighteen fifty one night since.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
Nineteen fifty one.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
And we've got our players coming off of a win.
I think being healthy.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Is what we needed.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
And and you know what we've seen out of this
Texas team is they kind of resemble us.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Now.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
They've been winning, but they've been you know, they beat
Vanderbilt by three, They absolutely creamed Florida. We've we've seen
a little jacky and hide from them as well.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
They also lost their quarterback late September. Yours and arch
Manning got a couple of starts and then yours is
number look great, but.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Do a little reading.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
I think the feeling there is maybe he's not been
quite as good since he came back from the injury
as he was before. Excuse me, And you know the
thing is you're if you're a Kentucky fan, you're you're
looking for just one little dent in there to give
you some hope. Ultimately, Kentucky's just got to come up
with some kind of effort close to what it it.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Did down at Old Miss to have a shot.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
And they played very well against Georgia and Tennessee as well,
so you certainly plenty of reason to believe that they'll
put up a good fight because they have against the
other three best teams on their schedule. But to me,
I was on a show in Texas this week and
they said, what's the one, you know, key, one biggest
key for Kentucky, And I said, it's got to be
(06:45):
turnovers for Kentucky because I looked at the first five
games of the season, when that was through the Old
Miss game, Kentucky had four turnovers in the first five games.
They have twelve in the next five games. And you know,
when you're you know offensively there, they're obviously not great,
(07:05):
and so when you give the other team the ball
more than two times a game, that just makes it
a whole lot harder.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Yes, of course, And it's the same this week with
with the Texas offense that has weapons everywhere. Oh my god, hecky,
even their big old tight end number eighty five is
probably going to play football on Sundays. You know, like
you said, we're going into Austin, Texas and we're playing
a really good Texas team. But we've hung with three
(07:36):
out of the top you know, top ten AP top
ten teams this year, and this will be our fourth
game against an AP top ten, so that the schedule
hasn't been easy, and I know some of the games
have been frustrating, but you know that this is this
just smells like a game that Coach Stukes and Brad
White have this team ready to play.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
If you're Kentucky, I would think the message this week
something along the lines of, look, when you guys started
the season, you wanted to do things that had not
been done before in a long time, and a lot
of those goals are off the table now, but there's
hardly anybody that believes that you could keep the ball
(08:18):
streak going to do it, you've got to win these
next two games, so you still have a chance to
do something people don't think you can do.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
So you know, that's the sales pitch.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
I would think and and you know, another part of
the sales pitch is listen to you all that this
is a three p thirty game. The whole world is
going to be watching you and Tom we've we have
you know, we have a handful of guys that will
no doubt be playing on Sundays, but we have some
that are on that teetering line and if they can,
you know, corral a good game against a really good
(08:48):
Texas team and then a good game against the u
of L. You know, dare I say, a top ranked
u of L team, and not only do we get
ball eligible, but you know that draft stock increases and
that's big for everybody.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Tabo char Walker, he was a star wide out from
the Wildcats. Also the guy from CBI Insurance joining us
in the Club blue ANDIL dot com hotline.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Did you have?
Speaker 1 (09:09):
I mean, it's gonna be the first time for Kentucky,
as we said, to play in Texas since nineteen fifty one.
I was looking at some of the story, some of
the notes from that game yesterday, and I think there
were forty seven hundred people at the game that day.
There'll be around one hundred thousand at this one on Saturday.
(09:30):
Did you have a favorite stadium to play in when
you were a Wildcat.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
We played at LSU when I was and had We
had a night game and I remember walking out of
the tunnel and they had Mike the Tiger there. You
go to midfield and you see that tiger. I now,
after that first whistle blue, it wasn't necessarily a close game,
So those memories start to fade when you're you know
down heck, I think we lost forty two to three,
(09:57):
But I know everyone remembers the the hit Dorian Baker
had on a I guess it was either Dick or
he had a crack back and he ended up getting,
you know, suspended for the first half of the next game.
But there's definitely stadiums that you know that that stick
with you. I absolutely love playing at Georgia. You know,
you're you're between the hedges and the grass of Sanford
(10:19):
Stadium was you know, like the fair way at Augusta
is what I tell my buddies. It's it's a special conference. Obviously,
we never traveled to play at Austin, Texas, but I'm
sure this stadium is going to be up there, uh
with with with one of the coolest in college football history.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
I think somebody told me Tom Hart posted a note
It'll be the farthest farthest farthest West Kentucky has ever played.
Speaker 5 (10:44):
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Speaker 1 (11:15):
They actually played in Norman, Oklahoma in nineteen eighty two
and this is I guess just a tad farther west.
So one piece of trivia for this matchup. Charles appreciate
the time as always and I won't talk to you before,
so happy Thanksgiving.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Thank you too, Gokat.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
That is Charles Walker joining us via the clublueanil dot
com hotline. Club Blues, the official collective partner of UK
Athletics and NIL is the name of the game right
now in college athletics, schools have to get good at
it and have to raise the funds and fans are
helping out, and if you want to do that, then
(11:52):
this is the way to do it. Clubblueanil dot com
membership packages start as low as twenty five dollars a
month and you get some great perks for.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Being a member.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
There's meet and greets they've been doing with athletes from
other teams ahead of the football games. There will be
another opportunity for that next weekend for the home finale,
and when you're a Club Blue member, you get to
move to the front of the line. Same thing when
they've done some autograph signings, they've done special events around
the state. Did one down a hazard to meet the
(12:22):
coach posts new basketball team back in the summer. Club
blueil dot com you get to be a part of
all of that and along with helping raise the NIL
funds for UK Athletics. We'll be right back and chat
with the goose Jack Gibbons. It is the Leach Report
Radio Network.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Letch Park comes here from the Clarks Pump and Shop studio.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Return, refresh and refuel at Clark's Download The app to
get the monthly specials, and kudos to all of you
who went out and donated blood yesterday. We talked with
Eric Lindsay from the Kentucky Blood Center yesterday about the
Big Blue Crush that's underway, the annual competition between Kentucky
and Tennessee and Uck. He padded its lead yesterday, was
(13:02):
already out in front thanks to a big Tuesday. Kentucky
padded its lead yesterday, but they still need you to
run through the tape so that Kentucky can win the
Big Blue Crush and get the blood supply built up
for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. So please donate if you
can if you have not already done that at Central
(13:24):
at the blood centers all around the state, and you
can go to the website to find out more about that.
I think there's a chance to if you donate, to
sign up to win a couple of tickets to the
uk u of L football game a week from Saturday.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
So Kentucky's trying to beat the Bright Orange and the
Burnt Orange this week. Let's go to the.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Club Blue ini'll dot com hotline Bring on the Goose,
Jack Givens Goose. That was another impressive performance by Mark
Pope's crew.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
I said, look, you know, Lipscomb is not you know, Duke,
but they are the preseason favorite to win their league.
So it's the kind of team. You could see it
in early round NCAA tournament game. They had led everybody
they had played except Arkansas by double digits. They had
a five point lead at one point in the game
on the Hogs. It was never close. On Tuesday night Kentucky,
(14:17):
it was about forty at one point. So that was,
you know, an impressive performance, even though.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
It wasn't to the level of what we saw against Duke.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
Yeah, it's nice, though, Tom, when you can play a
pretty decent team, and lips was, it's good Win didn't
play a team like that and make them look as
though they are not not very good at all. Really, Tom,
And you know, there was some obvious concern by people
that there might be a letdown after the Duke game.
(14:49):
It probably helped some if there was a weekend between games,
so you could get that win, you could celebrate it,
maybe a little longer than you normally would celebrate win,
but still have enough time to come in and really
get focused and get back to work and start to
start looking at the next game. So it was an
(15:11):
impressive win for Kentucky the other night. That team's gonna
win a lot of games. We'll see them. We've been
talking about them late in the year, but certainly Kentucky
took care of business.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
You're not were there to shoot around on Tuesday when
Coach Pope was talking about and he was answering Cameron
Mills question about any concerned about a letdown, and he
talked about his approach and then he brought it up
at the ank or talked about it in the pre
game and in the postgame as well. And the way
that he talked about approaching it was interesting. And it's
(15:46):
also one that I think works well with a veteran
group like he has. I mean, they've got the kind
of experience the like the last couple of teams that
you played on at UK and you know, guys that
have played for a while kind of know the lay
of the land better than a team full of freshmen.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Right. Uh yeah, you know, even with us though Tom
after a big game, uh, coach Halt would would would
talk to us about uh, resting on our Laurels. You know,
you want a big game and uh you know, and
he'll use that mainly in practice. Yeah, you want a
(16:26):
big game. Now you come in here and you don't
want to work, and uh, you're already going to get
upset by the next team. Uh well, that's that's kind
of different from what Mark does. He doesn't even want
to talk about that that last game. He wants to
immediately start thinking about the next game, so that you
(16:46):
think about the next game. And you know, even as
good as we were and as experienced as we were,
Coach Hall used that philosophy that you know you're going,
don't want to have a letdown, don't even think about
that game before and and that's that's a big difference
(17:07):
between what I've heard from most coaches in Mark.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
No, you enjoyed seeing Jackson Robinson come out and get
going early, coming off a game in which he didn't
make a shot against Duke.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
I was just glad he was pursuing shots Tom. I
didn't want him coming out waiting for the offense to
come to him. I wanted to see him come out
and take the offense to list Lipskam and And that's
kind and that's what he did. I mean, that's why
he's going to have to play, because he's going to
be the top guy on the scout and report every night,
(17:38):
because every team understands and we start again. If he
gets going, it seems that everyone gets going. Yeah, it
helps even him. It helps if someone else knocks down
a shot before, as Otega did. I mean, that helps
a guy looking for his offense. But but Jack's gonna
(18:02):
have to He's just gonna have to come and take
over on offense and not wait for it to come
to him.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
We're talking with the Goose, Jack Gibbings.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
If you don't yet have your copy of they call
me Goose, his book that he did with Doug Brunk.
Great time to pick it up for the holidays for
a Christmas gift for somebody. You can get that through
Amazon and all the other booksellers, and follow at Goose
Givens on x and follow Goose on Facebook and you'll
see when he's doing book signings around the holidays.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
We'll come right back continue with Jack in just a moment.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
It is The Leach Report Radio Network, presented by Bob
Kat enterprises second half of the Leach Reports and the
goose Jack givens with us on the club blueenil dot
com hotline. Any book signings coming up here the next
week or so, Goose.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
Well, Tom, I don't have another one scheduled untill I
get we go out to Seattle and I'll have something
going on there. Then I'll have something going on in
New York and we will. We're trying to find a
couple of dates between now and Christmas here more local.
(19:16):
I'm sure we will come up with something here over
the next few days. So certainly by this time next
week we'll have I'll have some information on that.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Get back to.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
The Cats and what they have done through four games
now of the season here on the show, I don't know,
two or three weeks ago, maybe longer, you were talking
about how you thought this team was going to be
better than you expected defensively, and that was one of
the things that the Lipscombe coach talked about Tuesday night,
(19:49):
is how much better he thought Kentucky was defensively than
he was expecting.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
Yeah, And you know, I said the kind of tongue
in cheek in the game the last game talking about
that Duke Win and I was like, man, I'm glad
we won that game, of course, but we can't fly
below the radar. Now everybody. Everybody knows who we are
(20:21):
because of what happened in that game. And part of
the reason is the job we did defensively in that game.
I mean, we both know that there were times in
the Duke game where offensively we were stuck and we
weren't doing anything. We weren't we're just doing enough to
(20:42):
stay close. But we were staying close because the job
our defense did. Same thing in this last game, man.
I mean, I must have said it twenty times during
the game how great individual defensive plays were. And then
team defense with the help and recovery. A guy would
(21:03):
think they're open. I know, the look in the eye
when you think you're open, you're ready to shoot, and
then all of a sudden, the hands in your face,
and it kind of throws the team off balance when
you're as good defensively as Kentucky has been. But here's
the thing, and people that you know, you have to
understand they're not good on defense just because they're good.
(21:24):
They're good on defense because Mark puts a lot of
time working on defense, and I mean those guys and
then the other thing he does, which is really nice
is that the first unit and the second unit spend
a lot of time going against each other and and
and kind of a throwback to the day when when
(21:45):
we play. Yeah, the walk ones are there and they
serve a purpose, but uh, you know, and some of
them are pretty pretty decent players, but they're walk ones
for a reason. At that second unit is who the
first unit should be working against. And that's the way
(22:06):
Mark Pope does it. Of course, they did it like
that when he was here at Kentucky, and he's done
it everywhere he's been. So that's a reason why they're
good defensively. They've worked hard at it every day.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
He mentioned to him the other night that he has
I think twelve guys that could have a twenty point game.
I think, you know, Travis and Trent could do that too,
if under the right circumstances in terms of, you know,
playing in a situation where they were getting a lot
of minutes regularly that they're not getting on this team
because it's so experienced. But the thing is to have
(22:41):
that many guys that can score a lot. It's impressive
how readily it's come together in terms of the sharing
of the basketball and you know, celebrating teammates and all
those kinds of things.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
And again, the.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Lipscomb coach talked about that, and of the assistants I
was chatting with before the game said the same thing
to me that that was maybe the most impressive thing
to him in preparing for the game was just how
quickly he had gotten his all these different players that
could be big scores individually to buy into playing together.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
So well, I think that's a good point come And
the reason the reason they buy in so quickly at
the age they are is because they know they don't
have a lot of time left. So if you don't
buy in with a coach like Mark, you know you're
(23:41):
going to be sitting on the bench because you know
you've got people all the way down the line who
can play and who are willing to do what as
a coach you asked them to do and the and
that's what we have here. Very very fortunate that these
guys had bought in and that they share the basketball
as well as they do. And for the Big Blue Nation,
(24:03):
I mean, look, we love to see our local guys play,
and we like to see our local guys succeed and
for Trent and for Travis, their time is gonna come.
I mean, they will get an opportunity to play. And
when I see those guys, you know, walking around at practice,
(24:24):
shooting whatever, traveling, I just tell them stay ready, you know,
stay ready, because you're gonna get an opportunity. And when
that comes, you have to be able to come in
and perform, just like the guys in front of you perform.
(24:44):
And they are both such great young guys. Man, they
are so good at listening to these older players, and
they are I mean just hanging on to every word
they say. Man, you should you should just see how
Travis interacts, I mean with a guy like Chris. You
(25:09):
should see how those guys, I mean, they hang on
every word. And Trent, man, he just listens to everything
some of these older guys play. And Andrew Carr is
always giving up information. Lamont Butler is always in their
ear encouraging them. Stay focused, young man, You're going to
(25:31):
get a time. I was like that when I was
a freshman. So those two guys are are really really
good with their roles. Of course, they want to play more.
They wouldn't be here if they didn't. But for the
big Blue Nation. I would just say stay patient. These
guys are not one and done kind of guys. And
(25:53):
before they get out of here and stop wearing the
blue and white, they're going to have their opportunity to shine.
Believe me, Jack, thank you much, all right, Tom, thanks man.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
That is the Goose Jack Gibbons again. Follow at Goosegivens
on X and follow on Facebook to keep up with
when he's got book signings scheduled around these parts, which
will be happening before the holidays. Stay a second and
talk about Cornbread Hemp. They are spreading the holiday cheer
without the hangover.
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This season.
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for a healthier way to enjoy a care free moment.
And it's just in time for those family get togethers
and holiday parties. But that's not all Cornbread Hemp is
doing to celebrate the season. For Leach Report listeners, you
(26:44):
get early access to their Black Friday sale, Buy one,
get one free deal from now through Cyber Monday. Midnight
on Cyber Monday, what you do is go to Cornbreadhemp
dot com and enter the code b O g O
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(27:06):
free corn BREDAMP. This is the good Life. We'll be
right back with Justin Rowland from cats Illustrated. It's Report's
presented each day by Bobcat Enterprises for locations around the state.
When you need to buy or rent heavy equipment, Bobcat's
a place to go. They'll take good care of you,
great service after the sale as well from our friends
(27:28):
at Bobcat Enterprises. Just Google search to find the one
that's closest to you. Let's go to the clublueenil dot
com Highline. Bring on Justin Rowland from katz Illustrated dot com.
Let's start with football. Justin Kentucky won at Ole, Miss,
played Georgia and Tennessee tough. So what kind of shot
do you give Kentucky to shock the world on Saturday
(27:49):
at Texas.
Speaker 6 (27:51):
I mean, it's a real, non zero chance to be
competitive in the game. Before the season. My upset pick
of the year is if they're going to win a
huge upset.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
I think it could be Texas.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Oh, that's right.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
If you had them pay you said they'd lose to
South Carolina but win at Texas.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
That's right, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 6 (28:04):
Yeah, that's because Texas has been prone to stubbing its
toe and turning in clunkers, and we didn't know how
they're going to fare first year in the SEC. I
talked to Jason Schummell, who covers Texas for Rivals, and
he says, the talk of the town for everybody is
Texas Texas A and M and sark is talking about it,
and Elco is joking about it, and quinn Ewers is
(28:29):
missing on deep throws and Arkansas is playing with three
high safeties and taking away the deep ball and holding
Texas to twenty points in Vanderbilt employed a similar defensive strategy,
and it's one that Kentucky is very comfortable deploying. And
so you know they're gonna have to deal with the
Texas run game and that Texas secondary really first and foremost.
(28:50):
You just can't expect Kentucky to pass for any success
this weekend. But I do think that they have a
formula to play competitively against them.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Yeah, it's there are a lot of factors that line
up to at least give Kentucky a chance to be
in it in the fourth quarter, which is really all
you hope for, and then see if you can make
a play like they did down at Ole Miss because
Kentucky's gotten healthier, they ended the losing streak and yeah
that was Murray State, but still you get a win,
you get a feel good moment. And then where it's
(29:20):
position for Texas because they went to Arkansas and that's
a big game for the Longhorns, back to the old
Southwest Conference days. And then you know the Texas A
and M game. It's been many years since they've played,
so that's going to be off the charts. So you
couldn't ask to be in a better spot to have
a chance to catch Texas at less than its best.
Speaker 6 (29:41):
I mean, Sark himself is saying it's the most important
game of the year and it's a trap game. So
I mean, if the head coach is identifying all of
these factors and he's with the team on a day
to day basis, he hears when the conversation is all
about the next week's game, it's gonna be tough and
you know this is also going to be senor senior
night there and sometimes there's an emotional hangover layover things
(30:04):
you got to deal with with regards to that. These
are all reasons why Kentucky could be competitive. At the
end of the day, they're still going to have to
find a way to score points against a very good defense.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Yeah, that's the thing we're kind of, you know, talking
ourselves into it.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Could you know where you could have a good game?
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Hopefully that's what you know, you you if you're a
Kentucky fan, that's what you want is just to be
in it in the fourth quarter and have a chance. Now,
finding a way to score is a challenge. This is
a defense that has a second most interceptions in the
league fifteen really good front Collins playing really well up
(30:41):
front for them right now. They have two offensive tackles
that are both being talked about as first round draft picks.
One of them may be in the top three or
four picks. But again, if you're Kentucky, you'll take your
chances with your defense to give you a chance, you know,
Dion Walker against you know, those tackles, that kind of thing.
But it's the comes down to what you were talking
about can you find a way to score, And to me,
(31:03):
that's got to start with you can't turn the ball
over at the rate they've turned it over since since
that win at Old Miss. They've got to get back
to you having a game. To me, the only way
Kentucky's got a shot at this is it's got to
be one or few return hovers.
Speaker 6 (31:19):
Yeah, I agree with you, they can't turn it over.
I think Will Cox and the ground game has to
generate something because if Texas has been susceptible at all
this year, defensively, it's.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Been a little bit to the run game.
Speaker 6 (31:30):
It was out of hand, but Florida got some yards
on them. Their run defense was maybe not a concern
but not an Achilles, but not overwhelming to start the season,
and they have gotten better. I just can't imagine Kentucky
passing for much success in the game with as elite
as their cornerbacks are and as smart as their safeties are.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
And they've got some.
Speaker 6 (31:51):
Young and transfer edge rushers who were up and down
earlier in the season, but have really shown some bursts
and some twitch these last couple of weeks. The fundamental
problem for Kentucky is the same can you block well
enough to even have a shot offensively? And that's that's
gonna be on Hamden and Woolford to get him ready.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Uh, Justin roller of us from Katz Illustrated dot Com
at Roland Rivals on X and you can hear him
here on the club Blue nil dot com hotline. Let's
move past these next two games and that first week
of December, Justin is going to be crazy time, not
just for Kentucky but specifically we'll talk about you know,
(32:31):
Kentucky with player movement and you know signing day comes up,
then you know staff changes are gonna happen quicker than
ever these days because of uh all the player movement
timeline deals. Uh there was a story yesterday about Southern
mist pursuing Vince Marrow. Looks like, uh, nothing's gonna come
(32:54):
of that. But just talk to me a little bit
about what that first week in December is going to be.
Speaker 6 (33:00):
I mean, it's just candidly, there's more moving parts than
ever because this is the most disappointing season that they've had.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
For a while.
Speaker 6 (33:07):
And we know that other schools are already looking at
some of these assistant coaches and thinking, you know, what
maybe if there's a time to poach a coach that
we've had our eye on for a while, this could
be it. And then if that were to happen, what
kind of broader ripple effect could that have in terms
of influencing other people's decisions. What kind of ripple effect
could it mean for the class as they're putting it
together at the eleventh hour that they're recruiting. The high
(33:30):
school class has has stayed pretty solid. Decaden fergus Ferguson
d committed and it presumed he's going to LSU.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
But the high school.
Speaker 6 (33:37):
Class is not really the focus.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Mark Stoops is.
Speaker 6 (33:39):
In a must win now mode and I think he
knows that going into next year. Next year, it's not
about whether you win the press conference on National signing
Day next year is going to be about whether you
win enough games to convince people that you have the
program headed back in the right trajectory. And so the
portal is what it's going to be all about. We've
seen Signetti and we've seen other people boast that they
(34:00):
pretty much rebuilt their roster in one offseason, and that's
gonna be a two way street. You know, they got
some guys coming back on offense that are probably asking themselves,
is this the right fit for me? After the way
things have gone? And they're already gonna have to bring
in three or three starters on the offensive line, which
aren't easy to find. Maybe a running back one out
of the portal. We'll see what happens with the top
(34:22):
two receivers on the team. How much are they going
to have to bring in there? What are they gonna
do at quarterback? I mean, we hear all kinds of things,
but when you're playing musical quarterbacks late in the season,
it's not a given that this is the guy that
you're gonna build around for the next year. So I've
never seen so much uncertainty for Kentucky, especially with the
offense going into an offseason the last few years.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Yeah, and it probably happens unfolds all pretty quickly, didn't
it right?
Speaker 2 (34:48):
Right?
Speaker 6 (34:48):
Yeah, they're gonna have to be ready for it to
start popping off. But they got to have quarterbacks in
mind in case there's movement there. And I'm talking all
three quarterbacks this year gonna have decisions to make. They're
gonna have to have running backs in mind. My belief
is a lot of nil money is going to free
up this offseason, and they're gonna have the ability to
remake the roster in a way that makes it look
(35:09):
very new and unfamiliar, and it's going to be hard
to tell how it's all going to fit together until
the spring maybe starts rolling around.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
That's my view.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
One thing Jeff Facoro has talked about with us on
our broadcast. He said, you know, how about if you're Kentucky. Well,
you know, everybody you know talks about how it is
to get offensive linemen. But most of those schools you're
competing against, you know, the bigger brands whatever, they're trying
to find the quarterback, a receiver or a running back
(35:38):
and then they'll pay an offensive lineman well too well,
he said, how about just take and and basically out
bit and just make that your top priority is to
spend on the offensive line.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
Is that something that could be feasible.
Speaker 6 (35:51):
I've thought about that, and the pushback that I've gotten
is there just aren't that many good offensive linemen in
the portal, and the ones that are are so highly
sought after. I mean, the problem like these guys are
hiding these linemen. If you if you're Ohio State, and
you feel great about your eighth offensive linemen, you're gonna
be retident. You're gonna be reluctant to put him out
(36:12):
there for snaps and to let other people see what
you might have. And so offensive linemen are not going
into the portal the same way that wide receivers are
and it's a shark tank. And that's but there are
small school offensive linemen that are succeeding at the at
the power five level. You just have to have that
moneyball eye for evaluation approach and confidence in your evaluation
(36:36):
to say, you know what, it's better to get this
guy who did a little something good at James Madison
this year than this guy who had four stars coming
out of high school. But it's played fifteen snaps at
Alabama over the past four seasons. You know, that's the
direction they got to look at.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
I think that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
My high school, Bourbon County, they produced a kid named
Dalton Tucker who went ended up at Marshall, didn't have
many offers and ended up in Marshall playing starting for
the Colts. Now is a rookie to find those kinds
of guys.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
That if Kentucky.
Speaker 6 (37:06):
If Kentucky simply committed itself to evaluating and finding the
best players from the MAC every season, and they could
execute that, and that could become their identity, it could
be just as helpful as what they did in Ohio
High School recruiting earlier in stut Senior.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Interesting.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Justin Rowlandkatz Illustrated dot Com and uh at Roland Rivals
and we won't talk before the holiday, So happy Thanksgiving
to you in the treadle.
Speaker 6 (37:29):
Happy holidays, Tom, thanks a lot.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
That's justin Rowland and we're coming up on our final segment.
We'll take a break and get to that when we
come right back here on the Leech Report Radio Network.
Cat fans this holiday season, Kentucky Eagle and Anheuser Busch
want you to plan ahead and decide to ride. There's
never an excuse to drink and drive. Enjoy the holidays
with your family and friends, but remember, decide to ride
(37:51):
and go Cats. We'll be right back Stan wild Cat
History presented by Kentucky road Show, Sports Cards and Memorabilia.
They're on Romney Road in Lexington and you can find
him at roadshowcards dot Com online. Stay in two thousand
and nine, Kentucky went down and won at Georgia thirty
four to twenty seven. Last win down between the hedges
(38:13):
for Kentucky football, and it was Randall Cobb and Derek
Locke leading the way for Kentucky. And I don't think
I've ever seen a scoreboard turned off quicker than when
that game went final. Some birthdays that we didn't get
to yesterday, Louis Dampier belated Happy birthday to one of
(38:37):
the all time great shooters for the Wildcats and for
the Kentucky Colonels in the ABA belated happy birthdays to
Jeremy Jarman and Craig Yeast from Kentucky football and Antonio
Reeves from Kentucky basketball. Kentucky kicker Alex Rayner named to
the Lou Groza Award semifinalists list. So he's had a
(38:58):
fantastic seasons eighteen in a row he's made going back
into last season and then rest in peace. Wesley Cox
so Eric Crawford's column at WDRB dot com about Wesley
Cox passing away last weekend.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
He's a former.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
UFL star and also one of the all time great
high school players in Kentucky. For Louisville Mayo. Back in
the seventies. He had a lot of health problems. Only
sixty nine years old. Was sad to see that news.
That's going to do it for This edition of The
Leach Report, presented by Bobcat enterprises tomorrow's Game Day Eve
and we'll talk with Craig Way, the voice of the Longhorns,
(39:35):
John Clay from the Herald Leader, and also Travis.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
Ford's gonna join us.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
See worked the Kentucky basketball game on Tuesday night and
we'll get his take on that gig and on his
ALBA monitor as well.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
So talk to you tomorrow on The Leach Report Radio Network.
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