11-25-24 LEACH REPORT

Tom talks with Van Hiles and Brandon Ramsey.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
The Leech Report Radio Network is on the air with
the voice of the Wildcats, Tom Leech. It's the daily
gathering spot for the Big Blue Nation to hear the
latest news and views on the Cats. If you have
a question for Tom, email Leech Report at gmail dot
com or send a tweet to add Tom leech Ky.

(00:22):
Now here's Tom.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
God damn, everybody. Welcome into The Leech Report, presented by
Bobcat Enterprises. As we start Thanksgiving week, we'll have best
of show on Thursday with some interviews from previous shows
some Thanksgiving Day and then on Friday, Black Friday's holiday

(00:46):
for the station, so it's a pre recorded show, but
we'll have all original interviews previewing the Kentucky Louisville game
and Kentucky basketball would be playing that night against State.
So that's the plan for this week. As we go
into our Monday show, the plan is this Brandon Ramsey,

(01:08):
the coach from on three Sports KSR, will join us
to talk Kentucky basketball in the first half of the show,
and then Van Hiles Monday Morning Quarterback in the second
half of the show. Wildcat News of the Day presented
by Joseppes of Lexington tonight doubleheader coaches shows on the
UK Sports Network. It will be Mark Pope's first one

(01:32):
other than the one that we did shortly after he
was hired. So first regular edition of the Mark Pope
Show coming up tonight. Coach Stoops will go first at
six Eastern and then Coach Pope at seven, and then
I think Kenny Brooks shows will start in December. Coach
Stoops will also do his regular Monday news conference today

(01:54):
and I would imagine one of the first questions is
going to be about who will be the starter at
quarterback after Cutter, Bowley came in to start the second
half on Saturday at Texas As Kentucky fell thirty one
to fourteen and was eliminated from Bowl consideration, and Bowley
played really well. He threw for one hundred and sixty

(02:16):
yards in a half and Kentucky ended up with a
season high in terms of what an outstanding Texas defense
is allowed in passing. Kentucky had two hundred and eleven
yards passing, as the most Texas has given up all season.
Cutter had one hundred and sixty of those in one half.
They did throw one interception, but it was late when

(02:36):
like the maybe next to last play of the game,
when they just had one play left, they just drew
up hail Mary and it got picked off down near
the goal line. So really, as coach Stop said after
the game, that was more on him for just taking
a shot there than it wasn't anything Cutter did. He
was just throwing one up and hoping there, so took
good care of the ball, made some really nice throws,

(02:59):
a couple of them erased by penalties. Unfortunately, Kentucky was
not able to score any points while Cutter directed the team,
but that was not certainly all on him. In the
third quarter alone, Kentucky missed a field goal and had
second and goal inside the one. If they get those

(03:21):
ten points, it's a twenty four to twenty four tie
going into the fourth quarter. And then earlier in the
second quarter they had stopped Texas but got a personal
foul penalty that gave the Longhorns another chance, and so
they got seven instead of a likely three. So Kentucky,
it was just missed opportunities. On a day of chaos

(03:42):
in college football, Kentucky had a chance to be a
part of it, even falling behind down at Texas by
seventeen had a chance to put some serious pressure on
the Longhorns and you know, have a shot for maybe
cutter Buali to lead him back. They got down to
the thirty three yard line by the drive of the
fourth quarter, when it was still a ten point game.

(04:02):
Kazucky had the ball on the Texas side of the
fifty on every drive in the second half and didn't
score any points. The only points came on the scoop
and well not really a scoop AND's core, but fumble
return that it initially was ruled as an interception return
for a touchdown by Jiman Dumas Johnson. So Louisville game
this week Governor's Cup and who will be the starting

(04:25):
quarterback will certainly be the big question. Don't know if
we'll get an answer today or we'll have to wait
till later in the week. Congrats to coach Skinner and
Kentucky Volleyball clinched an eighth consecutive SEC title with a
three to zero sweep of Arkansas. They've won eight matches
in a row and obviously, if you're just a casual
volleyball fan, you have to win three sets to win

(04:47):
the match, so that would be the minimum you could
have is twenty four sets for an eight match win streak.
Tucky's had twenty five sets, just an incredible run, and
they now have clinched at least to share the title.
That can win it outright with a win at Missouri.
I think it's on Wednesday. And for a team that

(05:08):
played a brutal schedule and came up short in all
of those big matches, but Playbell just couldn't get the wins.
Now has seemingly benefited from that and is playing superb
volleyball and up to number twelve in the country and
maybe with a chance to make another run in the

(05:29):
NCAA tournament. And then it's a couple other notes. Later on,
I got a few notes on the Kentucky Louisville we'll
talk about when Van joins us to talk about football
in the second half of the show. We'll lead off
with a little basketball discussion. That barrage of threes that
carried Kentucky to an easy win over Jackson State on Friday.

(05:50):
We'll talk about that more with Brandon Ramsey when we
come right back here on the Leach Report. Our opening
segment's always presented by Giuseppes of Lexington and Giuseppes has
gift cards for the holiday season that you can order
online and they'll mail them out to you. But better yet,
go to Open Table and make a reservation to go
have a fantastic meal at Jusepes and pick up those

(06:10):
gift cards while you're there. Perfect gift for somebody that's
hard to buy for. That's a Ja Seppes gift card.
We'll be right back with Brandon Ramsey. Each report presented
by Bobcat Enterprises for locally owned locations around the state.
When you need to buy or rent heavy equipment, that's
the place to go. They have all the things you
need and they'll give you fantastic service after the sale

(06:31):
as well. Bobcat Enterprises just google them and find the
location that is closest to you. Brandon Ramsey writes on
UK basketball for on three Sports and KSR and has
podcasts on college basketball and a lot more. Will tell
you all about that in a minute, but right now
we welcome him to the program on the Club BLUEINIL
dot com hotline to talk Kentucky basketballs. The Wildcats get

(06:55):
set to return to the court tomorrow night against Western.
The steamrolled Jackson State Brandon as expected, I was down
in Texas for football, so listen to most of it,
but just a barrage of three pointers. At this point,
Mark Pope's got his data that he's collecting for his analytics.
Through five games of breaking down the tapes that you do,

(07:18):
what's the what are some of the more interesting nuggets
that you have observed with your data collection?

Speaker 3 (07:26):
Yeah, I think the two sort of main areas right
now where Kentucky is standing out is first in transition.
Kentucky's been dominant in transition game after game, and that
really shined against Jackson State, but it's been true in
each of these games. And I think per Synergy, the
last that I looked at, Kentucky was eleventh in points

(07:51):
per possession offensively in transition, and they also rated very highly.
I think I can the ninety third, ninety fourth percentile
defensively in transition. So I think that's a very good,
you know, place to be where you're able to get
back defensively and keep people from getting easy baskets, but
then offensively you're able to you know, certainly execute and

(08:12):
take advantage of transition situations. And then the other one
and I tweeted about this a couple of days ago.
Just the differential from beyond the arc has been you know,
it's been staggering really with the number of threes Kentucky
is making compared to their opponents. You know that they've
made ten plus in all five games so far, culminating

(08:34):
with seventeen on Friday, But you know that they've been
plus eighteen plus twenty one plus I think thirty three
against Jackson State in terms of points from beyond the arc.
And you know, I'm looking at kin Pom right now.
Kentucky's eleventh in three point percentage, but then they're also
third in three point percentage defense teams are only shooting
twenty two point four percent. Now, some of that's just

(08:57):
three point shooting variants in luck, but some of it's
defense too. And and I think when you're able to
beat people like that in transition and from beyond the arc,
it just like it makes it really hard for the
math to work out for you to not win the game.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
You coached at the colleges. I will so you can
speak to this more than I to me. It's just
really impressive how well this team fits into this system
and plays off each other. Given that none of them
had ever played together before. Is that as amazing as it.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
Looks, it really is? And you start to see, you know,
like I think through the off season and as they
were they were recruiting in the portal, we all kind
of tried to close our eyes and you know, watch
a little bit of BYU and envision how it would
all work together. But like, you can see why each
of these peak pieces were kind of individually picked now

(09:57):
that we have you know, a five games, same sides,
Like you can see why Amari Williams is one of
the first targets because he kind of initiates a lot
of the offense even though he's the five man, Like
he's out there at the top of the key kind
of making things run, and he's obviously dominant on the
defensive glass some of that data that's been talked about
over the last several days. So yeah, it certainly is

(10:19):
impressive to kind of see the proof of concept. But
you know, you can also go back and sort of
tip your hat to Coach Pope and his staff and
be like, all right, yeah, I can see why you
sort of individually selected a lot of these guys to
be your primary targets when they weren't necessarily, you know,
the highest profile transfers in the portal, but you know,

(10:40):
they're the guys that have worked, at least so far
for what Coach Pope wants to do.

Speaker 2 (10:46):
One guy that's I think got a tremendous upside on
this team that's probably not been talked about a lot
is Brandon Garrison. In scoredon double figures yet, but I
thought he was huge in the Duke game in the
minutes that he gave them. But how about this stumber.
How many five men in the country have a seventeen
to four assists to turnover ratio.

Speaker 3 (11:07):
Yeah, it's incredible, And that's exactly you know, the thing
I keep talking about with Brandon Garrison, like he's second
on the team in assists and he's the backup five man,
Like that doesn't normally equate. And that's not to take
anything away from you know, what l Butler's done running
the offense and all that, but like the fact that
Brandon Garrison has seventeen assists Lamont Butler has sixteen is

(11:30):
kind of incredible, you know. And he stuffed the stats
sheet again on Friday, and yeah, he I said it
Before the season, I thought he had as much pro
potential long term as really anybody on this roster, and
I think you're starting to see some of those glimpses
sooner rather than later. He plays so hard, he seems
to have a good understanding on the defensive end of
the floor. He's rebounding the ball pretty well also. But yeah,

(11:53):
then what he can do as a passer coming in,
you know, playing half the game behind the Mary Williams
has really lock some things offensively for this team.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
I with Brandon Ramsey from on three Sports and KSR.
Obviously people could go there and read your breakdown of
the tape and the previews, but where else can they
find your work?

Speaker 4 (12:11):
Brandon?

Speaker 3 (12:13):
Yeah, so I host the Brandon Ramsey College Basketball Show.
We have podcasts every Monday and Friday at then a
live YouTube show Wednesday afternoons at twelve thirty, which is
also on the Brandon Amisey College Basketball Show YouTube channel,
So you can subscribe there wherever you listen to podcasts
or on YouTube. And we have a lot of college
basketball content in general. Obviously here it's Feast week now,

(12:36):
so I'll be talking a lot about that, but we
also kind of hone in on some Kentucky specific stuff
as well. So if you're a college basketball fan of
the Brandon Amisey College Basketball Show or at b Ramsey
KSR on Twitter, we'll keep.

Speaker 2 (12:49):
Our conversation with Brandon go on here in just a minute.
Right now, we need to take a quick break. It's
the Late Report coming to you from the Clark's Pumping
Shop studio. Return, refresh and refuel at Clark's. Make sure
you hit there app downloaded and look for the monthly specials.
And they have a new loyalty rewards program that you
need to sign up for two so you can get
some great deals on gas and more at Clark's Pumping Shop.

(13:10):
We'll be right back.

Speaker 5 (13:11):
It doesn't always have to be you're the leading scorer
of the team. You don't get all the publicity, you're
not plastered all over social media. But that's what makes
this team different, that's what makes us Kentucky. We feel like,
as long as we're all together, it doesn't matter who shines.
But we just want to go out and win a championship.
So that's been our main focus all season.

Speaker 2 (13:31):
Jackson Robinson talking there. He's the guy that I think
most fans and pundits are maybe thinking would certainly be
Kentucky's leading scorer and be their best player, and that
may prove to prove out to be the case. But
at the moment, he's only been the leading scorer once
in five games. They've had four different four different players

(13:53):
lead in scoring over five games. As we continue our
chat with Brandon Ramsey, the coach from on three sports
and KSR, this is a hard team to defend, that
would think, isn't it.

Speaker 3 (14:07):
It absolutely is, because you know exactly what you just
said that you know, this team's had four different leading scorers.
They have, you know, so many different pieces. They come
at you in waves a little bit as well with
you know, we were just talking about Brandon Garrison, but
you know Kirk Risa. I mean, he's a guy that
hasn't played great scoring wise yet, but he had seven
assists and twelve minutes on Friday, and he kind of

(14:28):
changes the pace when he comes into the game. And
it's the omenars teams to always hit a three about
as soon as he checks in. So yeah, that's that.
There's just so many pieces and I think you know
you're mentioning Jackson Robinson. There like, let's face it, he
hasn't played maybe up to the standard we expected so
far this season. But that's also somewhat exciting when you

(14:49):
can think, hey, we're five and oh we have a
win over Duke on a neutral floor and the guy
that everybody expected to be our best player still hasn't
necessarily been that to this point. So just to you know,
just imagine what it's going to look like when Jackson
Robinson gets unleashed and you know, ups his efficiency a
little bit, starts averaging fifteen to sixteen points a game,

(15:11):
which I still think that he has a very good
chance of doing. You know that that just you know,
probably elevates Kentucky's ceiling even a little bit further.

Speaker 2 (15:20):
On paper, does it look like either test this week
will be particularly strenuous, But the next week it's a
road trip to Clemson and then a game in Seattle
against Gonzaga, so it's more closer to that Duke level
of challenge. So what's on the do better list? Do
you think?

Speaker 3 (15:40):
I think that, you know, one of the things that
to the extent have been disappointed in anything, I've been
maybe disappointed not even the right word, but it's surprised
that Kentucky hasn't forced more turnovers right now. They ranked
three hundreds in turnovers forced, which is very surprising when
you have or take away the butler out there, and
how good I think those guys are defensively. I thought

(16:03):
this team would create a little bit more havoc on
the defensive end of the floor, So I would like
to see that improve. Even though this hasn't necessarily been
an issue so far, I still continue to worry a
little bit about the defensive rebounding, mostly just who's going
to step up aside from Amari Williams against the best teams,
guys that have bigger guys. You know, Gonzaga plays two

(16:26):
big men most of the time. Like, are you going
to be able to defensive rebound against teams like that?

Speaker 4 (16:31):
That remains a.

Speaker 3 (16:32):
Little bit of a concern for me. But you know,
a lot of those concerns, you know, get wiped out
a little bit when you're so darn good offensively. So
I you know, I can't sit here and say that
I'm you know, all too worried about playing anybody at
this point in the season.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
Yeah, their level of efficiencies is pretty high right now.
What they're doing offensively, and Mark Pope said he wanted
more threes and he got them against Jackson State. And
I think I've this to him at one point, is
you know he's got I've you know, Noah got his
first bucket on Friday night, Travis, I think Perry got

(17:08):
his first three. Those guys under different circlem if they were,
you know, needed to play more, there would to me
be capable of having a twenty point game. I think
he's got twelve guys on his roster that could have
a twenty point game if they got the minutes in
the shots.

Speaker 4 (17:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (17:25):
Absolutely, I think that you know, we were talking about
having four leading scores in four games. That's something I've
talked about and you know, in different platforms. Is you know,
I'm interested to see when the season's over, how many
different scorers or how many different leading scores this team have.
Like it's not out of the question. You could have
you know, seven, eight, nine different guys, Yeah, lead this
team in scoring on a different night. And I think

(17:47):
that that just speaks to a lot of what we're
talking about, just the versatility and how hard this team
is to guard when on a given night, it could
be you know, just about anybody that plays in the games,
step up and be the guy that that helps you win.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
Been a lot of fun to watch. Brandon Ramsey. It's
at b ramsey KSR on x or Twitter and you
can read his coverage of the Cats and college basketball
in general. Brandon, thank you much. Happy Thanksgiving to you
and your family.

Speaker 3 (18:15):
Yep, Happy Thanksgiving, Tom.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
Thank Brandon Ramsey, regular visitor here to the Lee Triport,
present it by Bobcat Enterprises. He joins us on the
Club Blue Adil dot com hotline. We'll be right back
with Van Hiles. It is the lead Triport coming to
here from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return, Refresh and refuel,
and the Wildcats football heads back out on the field

(18:40):
Saturday to take on the Louisville Cardinals in the battle
for the Governor's Cup. And it'll kick at noon Eastern time.
And the forecast right now looks for a lot of sun,
but not a lot of warmth. High is supposed to
be in the mid thirties, they're saying on Saturday out
at Kroger Field, but Kentucky, it is a chance to

(19:03):
put a nice finish on what has been a disappointing
season for the Wildcats and they can continue their winning
streak in the series with Louisville. Kentucky started the streak
in the twenty eighteen season, so it's eighteen, nineteen, twenty one,
twenty two, twenty three, five years in a row, and

(19:23):
I think six in a row would be the longest
in the modern day version of the Battle for the
Governor's Cup. It is our Shuffle being coffee Monday morning
quarterback edition of the Leach Report, and we welcome into
the program Van Hiles, a former Wildcat and NFL dB
who joins us to talk about Kentucky football on Mondays.

(19:46):
And Van, this was a chaotic Saturday for college football,
all these upsets and crazy results. And as I said
the openick segment, Kentucky had a chance to be a
part of it. Texas, with Kentucky in between Arkansas and
Texas A and M on the Longhorn schedule, I felt,
certainly in that second half was kind of asking to

(20:06):
get beat and Kentucky did not take advantage of it.

Speaker 4 (20:10):
Look, six minutes and forty four seconds left, it was
a fourth and nine Texas and Kentucky time. It should
have been ten seven. Yep, we do a selfish act
and gave them loose out of downs and that was
the game. Uh, Texas scored seventeen points in six minutes

(20:33):
and forty four seconds. That was the game.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
Yeah, you're right, that's that's when the game broke open.
Now in the second half, they changed quarterbacks. Cutter Bowley
comes in, and they got under the Texas side of
the fifty on every drive, and they end up with
no points because they miss a field goal and they
get down inside the one was second down inside the
one and come away with nothing. And you know, I

(21:00):
think that was on the field goal sequence there and
then other some big plays wiped out by penalties. It's
just all all the things that you list, all these
things turning the ball over. I mean, you list all
these things that you can't do if you want to
try to beat a really good team like that, especially
at their place. And you know, Kentucky continues to just

(21:23):
be its own worst enemy. I was looking at the
turnover numbers. They've had six consecutive games with two or
more turnovers. That's how you get losing streaks.

Speaker 4 (21:33):
Yes, uh yeah.

Speaker 6 (21:35):
And and there's a couple of things if if you
if I would have told you that, excuse me, queen
yours was passed for one hundred ninety one yards, you
would have been like, Okay, that's gonna be.

Speaker 4 (21:45):
A close game.

Speaker 2 (21:46):
Yeah. Oh.

Speaker 4 (21:47):
If if you would have said that we would have
scored a touchdown in the first quarter, you'd have been like, oh,
we might be okay. It's that hurt us the all
not being able to capitalize. We had a defensive touchdown,
like all those things would have if I take of
those team in US said we probably got a shot. Oh,

(22:09):
we just couldn't finish. And in this game, not having
d Jack hurt us tremendously. You can't allow a team
like Texts to run the ball for over two in
the yards. You just can't. And if they do, it's
gonna be a problem for you. And and it turned
out to be a big problem for us.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
If you look at the rushing defense numbers for Kentucky,
let me pull them up here real quick. You know,
Florida had a big rushing day, but then Auburn three
twenty six, Tennessee one eighty five, Texas two fifty. All
of that, well, not all of Auburn, but the second
half of Auburn and the Tennessee and the Texas games
all without Derek Jackson, Florida was the only team that

(22:51):
got above one hundred and fifty yards rushing on them
when he was out there. So kind of speaking to
your point.

Speaker 4 (22:57):
Yeah, he's a I'm a he is probably the most
underrated defensive player in the Stupents era. And not have
him out there, who's been in this program for years.
He played behind DeAndre Square like he knows how to
play the game. He's efficient, he's solid, He's not gonna

(23:18):
do anything to put you in a byd. He covers
the other linebackers, you know what, all the time. Not
having him next to Pop has been a problem for
us once he got as you said, the Auburn game,
and he was probably going into the Auburn game if
he came out of halftime. So for him to miss
the key slate of this schedule has really hurt this defense.

(23:39):
And the most important part of this defense is a
center of defense, the nose guard, the two inside linebackers,
and the free safety. If those guys are really good,
solid players, this defense will be outstanding. And not having
him for this extended period of time is a problem
for us because he's so solid.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
About twenty before the top of the we're gonna take
a break and then we'll come back and continue with
Van Hiles and talk a little bit about the quarterback
position for Kentucky heading into this matchup with Louisville Cat
fans this holiday season, Kentucky Eagle and Anaheuser Busch request
that you plan ahead and decide to ride. There is
never an excuse to drink and drive, So enjoy the

(24:18):
holidays with your family and your friends, but remember, decide
to ride and go Cats. From Kentucky Eagle and Anheuser Busch,
we'll be right back.

Speaker 3 (24:27):
We have a great group of guys in that locker
room whose attitude is They all have great attitudes, especially
the young guys.

Speaker 6 (24:34):
We really believe we have something special moving forward, and
so we can.

Speaker 2 (24:38):
We think we can do something here at.

Speaker 3 (24:39):
UK and it's never been done before, and I feel
like every guy in that locker room believes that. Then
we're gonna keep taking the next steps to be that team.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
You want to be. That was true Freshman quarterback Cutter
Bowley after the game, talking to the media, just less
than a year removed from Lexington Christian Academy through for
one hundred and sixty yards at number three Texas most U,
if you project that over a whole game, would be

(25:06):
the most yards anybody's thrown against Texas this season. I'm
told Van Hiles that that on the broadcast on TV
that Jesse Palmer said something to the effect that he
thought the players elevated their their play around the cutter
kind of fed off his game. I saw a note
on KSR where Matthew McConaughey, a big Texas fan there,

(25:28):
went over and sought out Bowl Aid to just give
him a quick word after the game special that was
just report I saw, So, uh, is there something special
there about this young man.

Speaker 4 (25:41):
There? Yeah, I would say, look, there is there is
a what is it announced for paralysis by analysis and
not being being afraid to make a mistake. He's not
afraid to make a mistake. Oh, he's out there throwing
where he thinks he's a host to throw and the

(26:01):
results are the results. And I think you're old not
to throw that because the guy might be too close.
If he feels the guy's open, he's throwing the ball.
I like his his fluidity of his mechanics he's a
great option. But I would say this, the thing I
just heard that really breaked my ears up is just
talking about the locker room and the young guys. Because

(26:24):
my thought is what you just said last with Mitchael
mcconnaey an, we're going to be able to keep him.
And that statement in that locker room interview has me like, Okay,
he's invested, and maybe some players that's in his class
or around his age are invested too. I feel comforted.
I feel confident in what he just said in that

(26:45):
locker room interview because maybe there's some guys who are
locked into being with this program for this year in beyond.

Speaker 2 (26:55):
You see Ja Marian will Cox what he's doing running
the exactly and Willie Rodriguez made some big plays. I love.
I love his game. He looks. I mean, I think
back to what he the playmate on special teams down
at Old Miss that kind of set the tone for
the game where he uh delivered that strike on kickoff coverage.
He's a you know, he's kind of a Randall Cobb type.

(27:16):
He's a football player. He's a football player, and that's
you know, you need to need get guys like Wire
and of those steven soles on defense.

Speaker 4 (27:30):
And if if that, if that group of freshmen, maybe
resting freshmen are still locked in in this situation. Now,
what can happen is a guy like him can really
fortify a group because they trust him and respect him
enough to say, Okay, if he's the guy, we can
get this game turn around. I am you just made

(27:53):
my day and made my week with that interview, because
I didn't hear it.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
There's something about the quarterback position and you you didn't
play in college, but you've played it in your career
in high school and coached it. And with Jared Lorenzo
is probably the best example here, well, him and Tim
Couch Baby, but j Lo in particular, I always sight
because I think when coach Brooks got here, I think

(28:22):
he looked at at Jared and saw, you know this,
here's a guy that's, you know, not in great shape.
How's how's he gonna lead my football team? And so
he was splitting quarterbacks there to start the season. And
I don't know, I think I've ever asked him this,
but I bet you he was thinking, you know, somebody's
gonna beat this guy out. And then and then in
the first game, Jared threw one about sixty yards off

(28:47):
his back foot for a touchdown against Louisville to Keenan Burton,
and I think at that point Richdbrook said, Okay, never mind,
he makes plays. And that's the thing with Jared, his
his leadership was when he stepped in the huddle, the
guys knew they were better and it didn't matter that
he didn't fit the picture of a perfect looking quarterback.
He they knew they were better when he was in

(29:08):
the huddle. And there's something about that to quarterbacks, isn't there.

Speaker 4 (29:12):
It's an it's factor. And the thing that's that's that's
overlooked is that quarterback affects the defensive players too, because
then it pushed you.

Speaker 1 (29:23):
It pushed you at ease.

Speaker 4 (29:24):
It's to say, Okay, if I make a mistake defensively,
I know the guy on the other side of the
ball is gonna cover my back and produce something to
make up for my mistake. You're not playing ass tight
defensively because you know there's a chance that the offense
can score. That factor is huge. It permeates through the

(29:44):
whole locker room. It's unfortunate that this position is he
this much responsibility, but one quarterback can change the entire
locker room. Point point in a big point is KEM
Warden at Universe of Miami ex The Universe of Miami
has not been has not been a great program. Let
they were in the nineties. He comes there, that whole

(30:06):
team changes. We're pretty much the same players, so one
player at that position can change the whole program.

Speaker 2 (30:14):
Start talk a little bit about the Governor's Cup game
on Saturday. Louisville had that awful loss week before last
to Stanford, bounced back by routing Pittsburgh. A couple of
stats here I was looking at that are going to
be interesting. Their trends and but how do they play
versus the historical tread of this series. One of them's

(30:35):
turnovers mentioned at Kentucky's had six consecutive games with two
or more in the last five years when they've had
this winning streak against Louisville, they've turned it over a
total of three times in five games. They won the
turnover marchin four years in a row. The only year
they lost it was twenty eighteen when they had that
great team, and one handily. The other trend line is

(30:58):
points Kentucky has not scored more than twenty against any
powerful opponent they've played this year. The last time the
winning score in the Governor's Cup game was twenty or less,
it was nineteen ninety five. I think you were there.

Speaker 4 (31:12):
I played in that game.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
Yeah, thirteen thirteen.

Speaker 4 (31:19):
Well you had to bring that one up. Oh my goodness,
I remember that one. It's who I would say this,
and I'm I'm pretty comfortable with this, especially in this situation.
I'm a I'm a said in this way. Since we
are not having a bowl game this year, this week

(31:42):
should be kind of treated as a bowl game. Ish,
gotta get these young guys some reps. You gotta get
these young guys some reps in practice because you won't
see them again for another couple of months, which is
not what we are accustomed to in the last few years.
They're gonna have the whole month of December off. Give
Cutter Bowlie the keys to the ship for this week

(32:03):
and see what happens. Because there you gotta give him
extended reps to see what next year is gonna play
with him and Brock. I think whatever happens after that
happens because we haven't scored more than twenty points against
a power forward team anyway, So let's see what happens offensively.
The offense could run more smoothly, not say we're gonna

(32:25):
score more points, but the efficiency on the offense is
gonna give the defense confidence. So I would like to
see that. And this defense has too for this season,
for this one game this season, play their best and
give the offense a chance to be successful. Give them
sharp fields, but this defense has got to find a

(32:46):
way to lock in for the entire game.

Speaker 2 (32:49):
Talk with the Van Hiles on the Club Blue nil
dot com hotline Here on the Leads Report, it's our
shuffle being coffee Monday morning Quarterback show, and we're talking
about the Governor's Cup matchup on Saturday at at Kroger
Field between Kentucky and Louisville and the the Cats. I
would would say this, it's been a obviously disappointing year,

(33:12):
and yet you had a lot of guys that came
back off being injured the week before. You know this
day in time, you know at Burry State had their
leading tackler, will go into the transfer a portal after
ten games. I mean, that kind of stuff happens. So
I think it speaks well for Kentucky staying engaged for

(33:32):
this game even though the bulls off the table in
that the guys are still out there playing. Nobody's you know,
opting out or you know, staying hurt, you know love
it had you know, didn't always play well baby Saturday,
but came back out there after he injured his hand
and kept playing. So that suggests I would think that

(33:55):
those guys are still all in it for their teammates.

Speaker 4 (33:57):
Would you agree, Yeah, that that's the one thing I
know that the head coach is going through some turmoil
with the fan base. The one thing that has happened
for the last they say three years that we've had
Lord and we have not reached expectations, is those guys

(34:18):
have never not played for him. And when you say
individual coach has lost a locker room, he hasn't lost
a locker room. We had a couple of players that
could have left the program, because if they're success with
this program and they stuck with us, that says something
about him and it's connection with the players. So I'm
not shocked by that, but I am shocked by that

(34:40):
because we haven't had this kind of season and this
type of adversity in a long time. But this is
something that those players respect him enough to keep laying
on the line for him. Now, let's see if they
can lay online one more time and keep this streak
and keep our foot on the state of Kentucky. If
they pulled off up the next week, that will show

(35:01):
a lot about how they respect this program and respect
the head coach.

Speaker 2 (35:06):
Van appreciate the time, and we'll get back together next
week and kind of do a post wardum and the
season and look ahead the future and talk about some
of the you know things that It's gonna be a
crazy week next week, I think in terms of, you know,
time for players to signing date. You've got players that'll
leave and players that will be you know, ask to

(35:26):
leave properly and all that will be going on next week.
So crazy time coming up. But for now, Happy Thanksgiving
same to you and you you too. We'll talk next week.
That's Van Hiles always great insight. Corn Brand hamps spreading
the holiday cheer without the hangover this year, skip the
booze and go with the bread by trying their products

(35:48):
like the new Blueberry Breeze, products that give you a
healthier way to enjoy a care free moment just in
time for these holiday parties and family gatherings that are
taking place. But it's not all that corn Bradhampton is
doing for you. Leach Report fans get early access to
their Black Friday sale at cornbreadamp dot com to buy one,
get one free deal until midnight on Cyber Monday, a

(36:09):
week from today. So visit cornbreadamp dot com and enter
this code b og o t O M bogo tom
at checkout for the buy one, get one free deal
from cornbreadhamp dot com. This is the good life. We'll
be right back with our final segment. Talk about Shufflebean
Cooffee for a second. They are based right here in

(36:30):
the Bluegrass. Group of Kentuckians started the company with the
idea of making the best cup of coffee possible, and
they start with the best coffee beans. You can read
about the process at shufflebean dot Us. Beans that come
from this rich volcanic soil in Costa Rica from Rainforest
Alliance certified farms, and they turn it into a fantastic
cup of coffee that you can try for yourself by

(36:53):
ordering through shufflebeant us or Amazon, or go to a
Central Kentucky buyer stores. Look for the green and white
bag of shuffle being coffee. Put some hustle in your
shuffle for Thanksgiving. His day, wild Can History. He is
the service of Kentucky road Show Sports Cards and Memorabilia.
They're on Romney Road here in Lexington and at roadshowcards
dot Com. Some Wildcat Birthdays. Steve lock Mueller, former Kentucky basketballer,

(37:15):
part of the Super Kittens of the early seventies, that
undefeated freshman team, celebrate a birthday today. Read Travis one
year transfer from Stanford. There was a great part of
the UK program back in twenty nineteen and coach Kenny
Payne all celebrating birthdays today. So happy birthday to Kenny,
to Read and Locke. Steve, former ad at Eastern Kentucky.

(37:40):
Congrats to the Colonels and former UK assistant Walt Wells.
They were selected for the FCS playoffs and we'll play
at Villanova this weekend. College basketball Yesterday, big win for Georgia.
They knocked off twenty second ranks Saint John's and coach
Patino sixty six sixty three tipped at eleven am down
on the Bahamas. Really good game and then the number

(38:01):
twenty four Rutgers upset yesterday by Kennesas State seventy nine
seventy seven guests here on the lead report come to you.
Have you the Club blueinil dot com hotline. Club Blues
the official collective partner of UK Athletics and they work
with all the sports and if you contribute, you can
pick the sport that you want to contribute to and
membership packages start as low as twenty five dollars a

(38:22):
month and you get special perks when you're a Club
Blue member, like the meet and greets they've been doing
ahead of home football games where you get to take
your picture or get an autographed with a UK player.
You get to cut to the front of the line
when you're a Club Blue member. So go to Club
blueinil dot com find out how you can participate and
see the great perks that you get for being a
member at Club blueinil dot com. Have a great day.

(38:44):
Everybody will see you tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (38:45):
It's the show. You can listen to the podcast at
Tom Leechsky dot com, WLAP dot com or seven ninety
Louisville dot com and anytime you're out of range of
the stations catch the show via the Ihea Radio app.
If you have any questions for Tom, email Leach Report
at gmail dot com and check out his website at

(39:09):
Tom leach Ky dot com