12-5-24 Leach Report

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Good day, everybody. Welcome in to the Leech Report, coming
to you from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio here in
Lexington on a chilly Thursday, one quick show here in
Lexington and then on the road to Seattle with Kentucky
men's basketball. So they're heading out there tonight, practice in

(00:22):
Seattle on Friday, play Gonzaga on Saturday night. And we
are gonna talk a little Kentucky basketball today with a
goose Jack Gibbons. We'll talk Kentucky football and the National
Signing Day and the transfer portal, and Justin Rowland joins
us from Cats Illustrated. We're gonna lead off with UK
volleyball coach Craig Skinner as they begin playing the NCAA
tournament tonight at Historic Memorial Coliseum. So that's the guest lineup.

(00:47):
Let's jump into the Wildcat News of the Day, presented
by Joseepies of Lexington. We will start on the football side,
a busy day on the transfer portal with the exit
sign The portal officially opens up on Monday, so I
would think if not between now and then, certainly on Monday,

(01:09):
we'll start to see who's coming in but going out yesterday.
The big name was Dane Key, Kentucky's leading receiver, son
of a former Wildcat player. One season left, and there
was some speculation Dan might go to the NFL. I
think he's probably making the right I think he is
making the right decision to get one more year of

(01:31):
college football. Unfortunately won't be here, but I think there
are some big names that are pursuing him, so he
will have one year somewhere else. Three other guys on
the offensive side transferring out yesterday tight end Komari Anderson
courtland Ford, who was injured for much of the season,

(01:54):
was playing in a reserve role late. He had transferred
in from Southern cal a couple of years ago. Tanner
La Mass who was down in the depth chart at
tight end. On the defensive side, nose tackle Keishawn Silver
is moving on. And Tommy Zeismer, who was a little
used reserve from Boyle County, but a guy that he

(02:15):
was just behind a lot of veteran players. I think
there's certainly upside there, but somebody else will try to
tap into that. And Jay aunt Brown, a linebacker who
played a little in a reserve role once Derick Jackson
was injured. But he wasn't playing a lot until then.
At Walker Heinbach, who's the backup long stepper. So that's
the list from yesterday. Would suspect there might be more

(02:40):
coming in the coming days, but pretty soon you'll start
to see the ones who are coming in as the
Kentucky football roster gets reshaped. Part of that is the
signing class yesterday. As far as I know, it's still
at twenty. They're looking to finish it off with the
addition of I think the expectation is it's the wide
receiver DJ Miller, but that would be the twenty first signee.

(03:04):
We already knew they'd lost running back Marquise Davis to Missouri,
Tucker Caatis to Clemson. Otherwise the class held together assuming
they get Miller. So Mark Stoop's message yesterday was, quote,
nobody panic. We're going to have a better football team.
He and Vince Marrow talked to the media yesterday. If

(03:26):
you're looking at guys in the freshman class that could
be contributors, impact guys in their first season, Martell's carter
in the secondary from Paduca Tilman, I think it's one
of those mckel Skinner at tight end. In part because
that room's gotten a little thinner, and he's obviously very talented.

(03:47):
And Willie Rodriguez played as a freshman, so Skinner could
certainly get in the mix. Darren Stray, an offensive tackle
six to seven, three hundred plus from Michigan. He'll be
enrolling early with several other of these prospects. And you
know from what the coaches have said public a what

(04:07):
you hear, he's a guy that they're very very high on,
have been for a long time. And that's one that
especially because again because of need, might get a shot. Well,
I think guys like that will get a shot to
show if they're ready to help. Land and Young was
able to play as a true freshman. But it's never

(04:28):
where the situation you want to be in Chip train them.
Coach Doop said, wants to return. So that was a
little bit of news out of the signing day news
conference yesterday. I've mentioned Kentucky basketball heading out to Seattle
to take on Gonzaga. Mark Pope on the radio show
last night talked about if the Clemson game was like

(04:52):
a second round or a Sweet sixteen game in the
NCAA tournament, this will be like a Final four similar
to Clemson, Gonzaga is in terms of being very physical.
They're big, thick guys. Five of their top six from
the team that won in rupp Arena last year eighty
nine eighty five are back and so it will be

(05:13):
a difficult challenge for Kentucky in the way that in
many of the ways that Clemson was, But Kentucky should
be better for having gone through the Clemson experience and
we'll see how they improve at attacking that physical play.
A couple of other notes from Coach Pope will we'll
maybe discuss a couple of these with Goose when he

(05:35):
comes on. But Coach Pope talked about how his coaching
approach has changed over the years just yet out of
his show. It's some interesting stuff. One thing we started
doing last night that will continue with when he throws
out some terms that everybody may not be as familiar with.
One last night we talked about was a monster, which

(05:57):
is their term for double teaming a lowe. But if
you haven't heard that term before, you wonder what it is.
So we'll try to The Coaching Show is a format
where it's a longer form and folks, can you call
in or write in with their questions about those terms.
So we'll try to explore some of that stuff on
the Coaches Show in the weeks to come. But I

(06:19):
think it's been a very interesting endeavor so far. Links
to the stories that we talk about you can find
them on the bud Light Leach Report page at Tom
Leechky dot com. It's the Leach Report presented by Bobcat Enterprises.
Coming up, we're gonna chat with Craig Skinner about Kentucky
volleyball in the NCAA Tournament. Our opening segment always presented
by Gjuseppes of Lexington. And if you are looking for

(06:41):
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(07:03):
We'll be right back with Coach Skinner. It is the
Leads Report Radio Network for a Thursday. Cat fans this
holiday season, Kentucky Eagle and Anheuser Busch want you to
plan ahead and to decide to ride. Never an excuse
to drink and drive and enjoy the holidays with your
family and friends, but remember, decide to ride and go.
Cats from Kentucky Eagle and Anheuser Busch joining us on

(07:24):
the club blueinil dot com. Hoghline coach Craig Skinner got
a bit of a busy day today with the first
round match in the NCAA Tournament against Cleveland State coming
up at seven thirty tonight as historic Memorial Connilseum. Tickets
still available for that one. Coach, congratulations on an outstanding
season and give us a little scouting report on Cleveland State.

Speaker 2 (07:49):
Well, the Vikings are gonna play hard, and you know
their blue collar team all the way they've the coach
has been there twenty five years, sustained success, and you
know they'll they'll come out us. They got three really
good pen attackers and to bring the heat, so our
defense has got to step up and get some stops.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
You have another SEC player of the Year and Brooklyn Delay.
How just tell us little bit about how her season. Uh,
when does she evolved from a first year star into
a veteran and how she has evolved for you as
a player and a leader.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
You know, it's funny there are a lot of people
that you know, we're second guessing the coach's picks for
her to be Player of the Year and thought, you know,
a kid from Florida, you know, should have got it.
But you know, the reason, you know, Brooklyn is so
valuable is because she impacts the game in multiple different ways.
And she's a great attacker points score, which everybody sees,
but you know, her serve is something that makes people

(08:48):
jump out of their seats, you know. But it's it's
the little things like serve, reception and blocking that that
Arena's prevalent on the stat sheet, but as super important
for success and can sitstant success because if you can
serve receive, it just prevents teams from scoring.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
So, I mean, she's just.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
Really worked hard at evolving every part of her game,
not just getting the straight down kill and an ace.
It's it's been cool to see because she's just never satisfied.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
Back in the day and we've talked about this over
the course of the season, but now that you've come
all the way through it and are into the NCAA tournament.
That would be interesting to get your take on it.
I think about a guy like Denny Crumb when he
got the Louisville men's basketball program rolling in the seventies,
and this was before there was seeding. You know, it

(09:38):
didn't really matter if you lost more games than you wanted,
because if you were playing a really tough schedule, it
really got you ready for the postseason. And that was
Denny's approach. They'd play anybody anywhere and then you know
they take maybe they take some losses along the way,

(09:59):
but they were really good in March, and you this
season kind of had play anybody anywhere. And some of
that your your league, obviously, but outside the league, you
had choices to make and your kids came through that obviously,
uh not too badly scarred. So having gone through that,

(10:20):
how did you I don't know if like it is
the right word to the right word to phrase the question,
but what were your thoughts having gone through that gauntlet
now and how it has prepared you for this time?

Speaker 2 (10:33):
Yeah, I mean as a young coach and a you know,
young program back in the day, I mean, no way
I would schedule that hard because you're just trying to
establish yourself and get wins and try and you know,
prove to your players and prove to you know, your
fans and the league that you can have a successful team.
But now you know, you just have to prepare for
the long game and prepare to compete for a national championship.

(10:55):
And you know, we were young in some positions early,
and so you know, we knew we would probably struggle
at times. But you know, there's there's no way to
get your players to feel what pressure is like unless
they're in the middle of it. And you know, it's
like golfers will say, there there's there's golf pressure, there's
tournament pressure, and then there's championship pressure, and they're all different.

(11:16):
And so unless you've felt that, unless you've experienced it,
you don't know how you're going to respond in those moments.
And uh so, you know, our philosophy is we got
to see what we have, We got to see what
we're gonna be able to work on, and you know,
to get us to the point where we can compete
with the best teams of the country. Because this is
the last year of the COVID year seniors and last

(11:38):
year kind of the fifth year players that you're going
to see, and we haven't had as many of those players,
but there's a lot of programs that have.

Speaker 1 (11:44):
So next year is.

Speaker 2 (11:45):
Going to be real tell tale of how programs have
gotten through that time period. And you know, I like
where we are, and I think scheduling is a big
part of getting our young players at those opportunities. And
you know, the programs are gonna have to reboot regroup
because they're gonna lose a lot of fifty years COVID
seniors and I'm just glad we've we are where we are.

(12:07):
There's obviously some rocky times, but you know, certainly wouldn't
do it any differently.

Speaker 1 (12:12):
Of your some of your players, who are some of
the ones that have through that gone what made the
most improvement for you and are making the biggest impact
for you now at this time of year.

Speaker 2 (12:25):
Well, the mainstays are people like Emmi Grom and Eleanor Bevin.
They've been through all the battles being seniors and they've
played in all those matches. The three kind of people
that have really helped us, you know, overcome some things
and improved our statistics and metrics. On the floor are
the two freshmen retro freshman middles Brooke Baltimore and Jordan Daily.

(12:47):
Brooke was all freshman team and Jordan should have. She
was second in the league and attack percentage. And then
Megan Wilson on the right side. She's really come on
strong in the last month. And so the threat of
those three along with Brooklyn Delay, Aaron lamber Or as
a thick pen and then our defensive core of Tuzzel
One Bevin, I think give us a lot of balance,

(13:08):
and if those three people are on it makes us
really hard to defend.

Speaker 1 (13:12):
Coach, I know you're busy. Appreciate you jumping on with us.
Good luck on getting two over the next couple of
days and moving on.

Speaker 2 (13:18):
Thanks Tom, appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (13:19):
Cleveland State, Kentucky Tonight, seventh thirty Eastern at Historic Memorial Colosseum.
Still a few tickets left and they need a big
crowd to root them on. Tonight, Western Kentucky Minnesota is
the early part of the double header there at the Cottoseum.
We're gonna get to break the ghost Jack Gibbons coming
up next. It's the late report and we are presented

(13:41):
by Bobcat Enterprises. They have four locations around the state.
So when you need to buy or just rent loaders
and excavators, a forklift, attractors, all kinds of heavy equipment,
they'll have what you need and they give you a
fantastic service after the sale as well. It's not just
Wildcat Country in Kentucky, it's also Bobcat Country. We'll be
right back twenty six past the top of the hour.

(14:02):
Guests here on the Leech Report come to you of
either Club Blueenisle dot com hotline, and we welcome in
the Ghosts Jack Givans, a broadcast partner in the UK
Sports Network. We're gonna set ahead to Seattle later today
for Kentucky's game on Saturday night against Gonzaga and Goose.
The challenge will be pretty similar, similar in a lot
of ways anyway, in size and bulk to what Clemson provided.

(14:26):
What's Kentucky need to learn from the experience on Tuesday
to take down the Zags on Saturday.

Speaker 3 (14:35):
Well, of course, the physicality of the game was somewhat
of of an issue, especially in the paint, where Clemson
just kind of dominated Kentucky. When it comes to rebounding
the basketball, and scoring in the paint, those kind of areas.
Although Kentucky scored more in the paint, they didn't get

(14:57):
what they had been getting, especially in the last few
games when they've had trouble making shots. So I think that,
of course, is a big thing. But Tom I thought
maybe even a bigger situation that Kentucky had to deal
with was the fact that Clemson had a guard back

(15:22):
there in the back court, making it more difficult for
Lamont Butler to get the ball in the inbounds and
get the ball up the floor. I mean, Kentucky wants
to run, obviously, and get as many opportunities as they can,
get the ball up the floor as quickly as they can,
all of that kind of stuff, but the fact is

(15:45):
they had trouble getting the ball in to the point
guard to bring the ball up the floor. That allowed
the rest of the defense, particularly those bigs who are
not as quick, but if you get them in a
half court game, they're going to be very very effective.
So Kentucky, I think even bigger, is going to have
to figure out a way to get the ball in

(16:07):
bounds that up the floor.

Speaker 1 (16:12):
We lose Goose prapped out there for a second. Tell
you what rix see if you can reconnect with Jack
when so we dropped the call, So let me tell
you in the interim here we'll get Jack back and
pick up on that. The volleyball matches today, you can
see them on ESPN Plus. Every Buddy Dick Gabriel will

(16:34):
be on the call along with Stephanie Nimer. It's both
matches today and then the two winners who will be
playing tomorrow, all at the cadisee of four point thirty
and seven thirty Eastern time today and that is on
ESPN Plus. So you can follow the volleyball that way
as we chat with the Goose Jack Gibbons here on

(16:56):
the Leech Report. Don't forget Jack's book they call me Goose,
that he did with Doug Brounk. It is available as
a great Christmas present and you can pick that up
through all the booksellers and follow at Goose Givens on
x on Twitter and follow on Facebook and you see
when the signings are coming up. As do we have

(17:18):
Jack back with us, tell you what looks like we're
working through that issue. Let me give you a few
scores from last night and then we'll get to the
bottom of the hour break and regroup. Duke beat Auburn
last night eighty four to seventy eight. Auburn jumped out
to a thirteen to two lead. In this game, Duke
came back, took control, Auburn made a run I think

(17:39):
got back ahead. Duke ended up winning at eighty four
to seventy eight. Last night in the acc SEC Challenge,
Alabama over Carolina in Chapel Hill ninety four to seventy nine.
Florida beat Virginia. Mississippi State routed number eighteen Pittsburgh by
thirty three, and number one Kansas went down at Creighton
seventy six sixty three. We'll be right back on the

(17:59):
Leach Report paketure for it presented by Bob Katt Enterprises,
and we've got the phone issue worked out. We got
the goose back. Jack Gibbons joining us here on this
Thursday edition of the Leach Report. You were before we
lost your goose. You were talking about Clemson pressing Kentucky
and they didn't press to turn them over, It just

(18:20):
pressed to slow them down. So how does Kentucky counter
that when when they see it again?

Speaker 3 (18:26):
Well, you might leave a big back there in the
back cord, someone who can maybe set a screen where
Lemon can catch the ball on the run going the
other direction, as opposed to having to come back and
catch the ball towards the baseline. Coming towards the baseline,
den have to turn and bring it up. I think

(18:48):
that's one thing. But the real key for Kentucky just
rebounding the basketball. Man. I mean, the times they did
rebound the ball and get it cleanly and they were
able to get in transition, they were really good. I
mean they were very effective that way. But if you
don't get the rebound, or if you allow them to

(19:10):
slap it around, slap it around, slap it around a
little bit, didn come up with it, that fast break
opportunity is gone. So I want to see a better
job rebound in the basketball.

Speaker 1 (19:23):
Mark talked about a couple of aspects of the game
from a coaching strategy standpoint on the show last night.
One he was asked about did they consider going smaller,
and he said, because the end of the first half,
Kentucky had gone on front I think by five, and

(19:45):
Butler was playing with two fouls, so they got him
out and they went a little smaller, and he talked
about how they just got dominated on the boards in
the first half, and he said he was quote scarred
by that when they went small, and that's why he
was not inclined to do it in the second half.

(20:07):
That led him to a little bit of a discussion about,
you know, kind of what's going on in a coach's
brain because he's, excuse me, still getting over this call.
He's got the analytics in his brain that are telling
him things. He saw what he saw at there, but
he also knows sometimes he's got to, you know, push

(20:28):
himself out of his biases or comfort zone, whatever the
term is there and maybe go back to that. So
it was just interesting to hear what was you know,
how he was bouncing this back and forth in his
own head. Also talked about that with Kobe Brea, and
he said he wanted to keep either Butler or Oway,
if not both, but certainly at least one of them

(20:48):
on the court, and that's how they ended up kind
of not playing Kobe a lot in the second half.
But he said one thing they might do is slide
Jackson Robinson over at a point at times where they
could then get Kobe and maybe O way all out
on the floor together. So it's just interesting to kind
of hear him bouncing a lot of those things around
in his own head like fans do.

Speaker 3 (21:08):
Yeah, what's really interesting, Tom is when you you still
have to consider the fact that Mark Pope is learning
about these guys every day more and more. And you
know how this analytics works. It takes, it takes games,
it takes a lot of minutes, it takes UH. You know,

(21:30):
situations with UH where you have various lineups on the
floor and see how they respond in those situations. So
you know, Mark's still learning this team and all of
that stuff is going to get easier for him to
UH to deal with as he learns more and more
about these guys and how they are as a unit.

(21:53):
But it would have been very difficult to go a
whole lot smaller than they did against and because man,
those big dudes in the paint were just making it
so difficult when they got matched up with smaller people.

Speaker 1 (22:10):
And they're going to face some of that challenge in
this game. I was looking at the box score from
last year's game at rop Aerena. Gazaga has got five
of their top six guys back, e K and Huff,
the two guys at the five spot that just killed
Kentucky combined for thirty five points the two of them.
They're both back, The two guards are back, and Emhart's

(22:32):
playing really well for them right now. So it's gonna
be a tough challenge. But I think, I mean eager
to see how Kentucky responds to some of the similar
challenges having gone through it, because you know this from
being around the game. It's one thing to, you know,
put your guys through the paces in practice or in

(22:54):
games where they have a significant advantage in talent. It's
another to kind of get your approach tested under the
most extreme stress, which is somebody that's got these ways
to counter what you do and has comparable talent. And
that's what they faced at Clemson, that's what they'll face
at Gonzaga. And you know, sometimes you find out that

(23:16):
guys revert or maybe aren't fully embracing the whole plan.
And Mark talked a little bit about this after the game,
to trust their plan, and you know, these guys haven't
been together and haven't been put under stress until this
game the other night. Really a little bit of a
doke game, but this was one where it wasn't going
as well, and so they that should be a good

(23:38):
learning experience, shouldn't it.

Speaker 3 (23:40):
Yeah, yeah, you always have to learn. And you know,
you didn't want to lose that game, of course, but
you did want material that you could walk out of
the game so you can take it back and and
and talk to you guys about it. And so that
was provided in the Clemson games for sure. Now, you know,

(24:04):
as you compare those bigs to our bigs now and
the bigs we had had last year, I do think
are bigs, especially a Mari uh is a lot more physical,
are able to be more physical than uh Bradshaw and
Z last year when it comes to trying to and

(24:24):
I'm not sure if we even had Z in that
that game, but but you you you just have a
more physical guys. They learned a lesson in this last game,
Uh Brandon and and and Mari. I mean they just
did so yeah, they'll be better because of that. But

(24:46):
you would you would like to be able to chance
to have a chance to show you got better not
having to deal with Gonzaga, if you know what I mean,
Because those boys are good, their experienced, and they're going
to try to beat down Kentucky just like they did
last year, and just like we saw in the Clemson game.

Speaker 1 (25:06):
And you can, you know, learn from a game like
this even if you don't win. But I was kind
of talking about that with Mark last night and he
didn't want to hear about the not winning part. And
these guys are the same way is you know, you can,
you know, get learned some valuable lessons even if you

(25:27):
don't win in this difficult matchup you've got coming up.
But if you can get it, you put that one
with the Duke game two like that go a long
way to helping you out on selection Sunday.

Speaker 3 (25:39):
Yeah, you know you're You're absolutely right, Tom, But I
also like to look I mean, you can look back
at every game Kentucky's played this year, including the Duke
game going into the Clemson game, and it was a
question mark what you had to do to beat Kentucky.
I mean, because they found so many different ways to

(26:00):
win the game. And going into that Clemson game, they
had to make a choice do we give this up
or take this away? I mean, how do we play them?
So yeah, that side is positive that you have stuff
to learn. The negative side of that. The other side
of that not so much negative, but the other side

(26:21):
of that is that you expose certain things when you
lose a ballgame. So now as Gonzaga starts to prepare
for Kentucky, they can say, man, if we can just
slow them down, and the way to slow them down
is to put our guards back there in the back
court and make them work harder to get the ball
in bounds and get up the floor. Or they can

(26:41):
say we just pound the offensive glass. I mean, they're
defensive rebounding was exposed in that game. So for Kentucky,
it's going to be what adjustments do they make to
kind of combat the issues Maybe that the the loss

(27:03):
showed the next opponent and the next opponent and the
next opponent. So I'm looking for an improvement in the
way they played. They'll learn from that and hopefully they'll
take care of some of the issues they had in
that game.

Speaker 1 (27:15):
Yeah, because the sooner you learn the lesson, the less
you'll see of it.

Speaker 3 (27:18):
Right, that's my point exactly, Tom, Thanks for yeah. I mean,
I mean yeah, I mean if you if they think
and then all of a sudden they say, well, shoot,
Leabont didn't have any trouble and we put our guards
back there in the back court. So now what are
we going to do? So yeah, that's that's the lesson
for sure.

Speaker 1 (27:38):
Goose, get packed up. I'll see at the airport a
little later the day I got to.

Speaker 3 (27:43):
Get unpacked from from our clean script to get packed again.

Speaker 1 (27:47):
Man, I haven't done that yet either. Thank you, Goose.
Don't forget to pick up your copy of they call
me Goose through Amazon or all the other booksellers, and
then if you want to get it signed, follow at
Goose Givens on x or Twitter and on Facebook and
you'll see where the upcoming book signings are. We're get
to a break come back with Justin Rowland Lates Report

(28:10):
presented by Bob Kat Enterprises. We'll be right back, guess
so other Lynch Report comes to you on the Club
Blue nil dot com hotline. Club Blues the official collective
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(29:16):
Katz Illustrated dot com and the Rivals Network. It's at Roland,
Rivals on x just let's start with the signing day
and the new class and Kentucky, where did they finish
in the Rivals ranking and what's your assessment of what
they did?

Speaker 4 (29:32):
And last I checked, I think they were around twenty
to twenty three, twenty four in the rankings, and that's
going to change some but I mean, I think that's
a good showing. Just in the rankings, stoops started pulling
top thirty five classes and This is when they used
to be top sixty and it's kind of moved up
to regularly in the top twenty five now. I guess
the only questions would be is the offensive line group

(29:57):
strong enough? I like some of the pieces there to
Darren Stray from Michigan's really promising prospect, and Jade and
Clark from Ohio they think has come back strong from
his injury and might be one of the more underrated
players in the class. But really, when you think about
the program, you look at the program, it was really
much about the offensive line and is it going to

(30:18):
be good enough there?

Speaker 1 (30:18):
We'll just have to wait and see.

Speaker 4 (30:19):
But it's over. It's not an overnight fix. But you
know everybody's thinking when now. So there's a lot of
things to say.

Speaker 1 (30:26):
Twenty signings in this class where they still expected to
get the twenty first with DJ Miller.

Speaker 4 (30:33):
Well last I mean, originally I heard that even though
Daquille Schortz was going to Nebraska that they still expected
him to sign with Kentucky. But when the first day
of the signing period comes and goes, people obviously start
to worry. So I think that's something that they're definitely
watching closely.

Speaker 1 (30:47):
At the very least at the wide receiver position will
segue into the transfer portal. Dame Key, they lose yesterday,
and you know it's a certainly a big name, you're
leading receiver and a guy who you know grew up
here and this dad played for UK. But this is
also the reality of uh, you know where college sports

(31:09):
is now, where you know, when you have signees like
this and if you if you're right in you're recruiting
and you do a good job with your development, you
could still lose them to the Yankees or the Dodgers. Basically, right,
that's right, I think Uh.

Speaker 4 (31:27):
At the end of the day, the case that they
made to Dan Key was that even if the offense
was in a bad spot, even if it was a
terrible place for most people to showcase yourself, you were
still one of the three or four most targeted players
in the SEC. And they've seen you saw what happened

(31:48):
when Jeff Bidett left Kentucky where he was like the
number one deep threat, over the top threat to go
to Oklahoma and the production really fell off. And that's
not necessarily going to happen, but I'm sure that's where
they want at his head. Even if the offense is struggling,
you're a wide receiver one in the SEC here. If
you go to Georgia, if you get to Tennessee, or

(32:09):
if you go someplace like that, then you're probably going
to be in a different position there. But yeah, he
made some incredible, contested, big time catches this year, proved
himself to be an NFL prospect, and the offense was
really broken, so it's not not totally.

Speaker 1 (32:24):
Surprising Georgia's a like or possible landing spot. I won't
say likely. That's one name I've heard. Assume you have too, right.

Speaker 4 (32:31):
Yeah, I've heard Georgia last night, I heard Tennessee. I've
heard that he had interest in LSU even coming out
of high school.

Speaker 3 (32:38):
That will have appeal.

Speaker 4 (32:39):
So he's going to have some serious options.

Speaker 1 (32:41):
To look at. Noeubt and South It was kind of
at the end of his recruitm I think it was
Kentucky and South Carolina.

Speaker 4 (32:47):
That's right, Yep, that could factor in as well.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
Mark said at on the last postgame radio show last Saturday.
He cited South Carolina as an example of a team
that didn't go to a bowl game last season come
back and go nine and three, and so we're talking
a little bit about this with Gabe and Pick on
the radio show last night that okay, what does that
look like if you're going to try to pull that off?
Soccer and I went out and got a five star

(33:10):
edge rusher, and they had a five or a five
star recruit as an edge rusher and a guy who was,
you know, a five star talent and Canard that transferred
in from Georgia Tech. So they really beefed up the
had it creating ability of their defense, got some new
faces and shored up their offensive line, got to transfer
running back from Arkansas, and they put all that improved

(33:33):
product around a red shirt freshman quarterback who got hot
as the season went on and was, you know, a
really good second half of the year. So that's the
script they want to follow. How do they go about
doing that?

Speaker 4 (33:47):
I mean, my opinion is that Stoops. We know who
Stoops is and what kind of coachy is and how
he likes to win. And so we spent a lot
of time last couple of years talking about.

Speaker 1 (33:58):
The passing game and a.

Speaker 4 (33:59):
Lot of flashy receivers from the transfer portal, but this
is not really amounted to much of anything right. The
passing game success in the latter half of the Stoops
era had a lot to do with two NFL players,
Will Levis and Mondale Robinson. And so Mark Stoops has
to fix the offensive line. That has to be priority one,
two and three. He's got to go into the season

(34:20):
with a running back that can be in every down back.
I truly believe that they have to bring in more
of a Mark Stoop style running back from early in
the era, and they're gonna have to play play solid defense,
but they're gonna have to really retool that front seven.
So I mean, there's a lot of questions. What direction
they're going to go at quarterback? You know, are these
other players going to leave? Is a coaching carousel going

(34:42):
to keep turning? But I feel like instead of getting
caught up in the they got to have this kind
of flashy offense or these receivers of this that build
the team that Mark Stoops's best fit to coach. And
that's that's what they got to get towards go back.

Speaker 1 (34:58):
And look maybe at twenty sixteen, the season they got it,
the ball rolling in the right direction and you had
a three headed monster at running back, Boom and Jojo
and Benny as a freshman, and you had a quarterback
who could throw the deep ball well, and they had
an offensive line that could give them time. But you know,
land and Young was pressed into service. I think that

(35:19):
year is a true freshman at one of the tackle
spots he held up. Okay, so maybe it got like stray,
could you know, help you out there. The portal you
didn't have in sixteen you have now if you make
the right decisions, you can make some serious headway, can't you.

Speaker 4 (35:34):
Yeah, Yeah, here's the problem. I mean, it's really hard
to fix the offensive line once it's broken, and they
could be needing to recruit upwards of three new starters
yeah to the system, as well as maybe some quality debt.
So that's a lot of things that has to go right,
and so your evals need to be strong. What I've
heard consistently is you can't just earmark more money for
the offensive line expect to get one of these flashy guys,

(35:55):
this up and comer, this red just freshman from Georgia
who had a great season. But it's like a border
line starter. Next year, those guys are you're not gonna
get them. They're gonna go to a school that has
more money than you. But there are group of five
Ivy League SCS offensive lineman out there that, if you
evaluate them correctly, can be upgrades and quality players in
the SEC. A lot of Ivy League guys out there.

(36:17):
Now you can't. You don't get five years up there.
So a lot of guys like to get the prestigious
degree and then you bounce out to the SEC or
to the Big ten, and you try to prove yourself
on the field. That's the You might get one starting
offensive lineman from a from a power conference school, but
they're gonna have to hit on evaluations from lower level
group of five caliber offensive linemen.

Speaker 3 (36:39):
The season is going to hinge on that.

Speaker 1 (36:40):
In my mind, Yeah, Sam's sounds very logical approach. Justin
thank you, Thanks a lot, Tom, Justin Rowland Katzillustrated dot Com.
We're heading to a break come back with our final segment,
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(37:00):
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(37:21):
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