August 4, 2025 • 38 mins
Tom talks with Mark Story, Jeff Drummond and more.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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 good Day.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Everybody, welcome in. It's the Leech Report, presented by Bobcat Enterprises.
Hopefully you had a nice weekend if you were a
Kentucky football fan, maybe you made your way out to
a fanday looked like they had a nice turnout for
that event. Fantastic weather. So we'll talk a good bit
of Kentucky football today with our two guests, Jeff Drummond
(00:48):
will join us from Katzillustrated dot com and Mark Story,
columnist for the Lexington Herald Leader in Kentucky Sports dot Com.
Friday was media Day Saturday Fan Day, so you had
a lot of content out of the Kentucky football program.
One thing to watch out of practice today out of
(01:11):
the post practice news, Kendrick Law wide receiver transferred from Alabama.
It did not go through the open practices they had
on Friday and Saturday. But Mark Stoops, when he talked
to the reporters after the fan day on Saturday, said
he expects it's nothing major with Kendrick and he expects
him to be actually back on the field today. He's
(01:33):
a player that Bush Hampdon a week ago at the
kickoff Luncheon mentioned as a guy that they would lean
on heavily in the passing game at that wide receiver position,
also as a returner. So watch for that today and
then then we'll get into some of the other important
storylines for what they call training camp, and that leads
(01:55):
up to about the middle of the week before the
first game, and then they move into games prep mode
at that time. Otega Oway Sawn note where he was
in Vegas last week for a camp that is run
by Chris Paul and Jason Tatum. It's invitation only for
perimeter players. Paul works with the point guard Statum with
some of the other perimeter guys. Every NBA team had
(02:18):
scouts there, so it's a great opportunity for Otaga to
get seen. He from all reports, has put in the
work to get himself on the path to get where
he wants to be in terms of a professional basketball
position at the end of this upcoming season. But nothing
like leading your team to a really strong year to
(02:43):
turn a few more heads in your direction from the NBA.
It always seems if you know somebody's team has done well,
that there's a little bit of a rising tide that
lifts up the players. So hopefully all of that happens
for Otaga and I saw a note from ESPN dot com.
They have a panel of NBA experts that did some
(03:06):
predictions on various things and the most interesting player for
the upcoming season among the second year players those in
this year's draft class, but the previous year's draft class.
Reied Shepherd named the most interesting guy by their panel
of experts for his second year with the Rockets, and
(03:27):
it certainly looks like everything you read hear out of
Houston that they will be looking for him to play
a much more prominent role in his second season. They
sent him down member to the G League briefly last year,
and he scored like fifty points, so he was kind
of wasting his time there because he was so dominant.
(03:47):
So it was just a lot of limited action and
waiting his turn with the Rockets, and it sounds like
he won't have to wait so long this coming season.
Wish read the best of Luck in year two of
his NBA journey. Links to the stories that we talk
about each day. You can find those on the bud
Light Leach Report page at Tom Leachky dot com. Our
(04:11):
opening segment of Wildcat News is presented by Joseppies of Lexington.
A few years ago, they expanded their lounge area because
it was so popular to sit and enjoy the fantastic
food at Giuseppes with the jazz music from Dave Hall
and it is something that you don't find anywhere else
and it is really special. Makes it a unique dining
(04:32):
experience at Giuseppe. So get to open table and set
up a day or night to get there with the
special people in your life. Links to the stories again
bud Light Leach Report page at Tom Leachky dot com.
Jeff Drummond from Katz Illustrated coming up when we return
and this is the Leach Report Sport to you. If
that's the top of the hour. Leach Report comes to
(04:54):
you from the Clark's Pumping Shops Studios. Return, refresh and
refuel at Clark's and sign up with their loyalty programs
so you can get discounts when you fill up or
on items in their stores. Jeff Rovin joins US has
been covering the Cats for a while now at Cats
Illustrated dot com, and Jeff, you and your media colleagues
(05:16):
got an abundance of football content on Friday and Saturday
chances to see the Cats go through a couple of
public practices. What were some of your takeaways from what
you saw and heard?
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Well, Tom, I've really liked what I saw in a
lot of ways from those two opportunities, in terms of
how they've incorporated so many of these new faces.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Into the team.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Almost fifty new players I think on this roster, and
they seem to have hit the ground running pretty quickly.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
A couple of smooth practices For this early in camp.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Usually you see a lot of thloppy play, and you
know the coaches correcting a lot of things. At this point,
you didn't see too much of that. This looked more
like a team that was, you know, maybe two or
three weeks in the camp rather than two or three days.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
They will do two scrimmages, always have two scrimmages in
August on back to back Saturdays. The first one be
this Saturday and then another one the next week, I
would assume, And those are closed to the public, but
there's always little info that leaks out of those. But
those are you know, significant because they kind of give
(06:39):
the coaches an idea to lock in on a depth chart.
You know, they can go into those scrimmages. Certainly if
somebody's got to start, somebody's got to be with the twos,
et cetera. But you know, Benny Snell was a guy
who moved up to where he was running with the
ones over the course of a couple of those scrimmages
back in his freshman season, So that kind of thing
can can happen. I think those sessions are going to
(07:01):
be particularly interesting to see what comes out of those
in terms of what the coaches have to say.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Yeah, really looking forward to that because there are some
position groups, particularly like the running backs, interested to see
how that shakes out. I feel like they've got at
least four guys that they really like there, and you
can make a case for all of those guys getting.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
A lot of staffs. And the wide receiver.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Group has you know, some new faces there and some
guys who really need to step up if they're going
to take a step forward this season in the second
year with bush Hand And you know, Jimory Macklin is
the veteran who's back with that group of Fred Ferrier,
but we need to see a whole lot more from
some of the new guys like Hester and Law.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
And DJ Millery, young guy. I know they have a
lot of hopes for.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Quentin Berry, a local you know, from from here in
the area Boyle County, made a ton of plays and
in both of these first two practices that we got
to see, he just keeps popping up. A small guy.
I know he's listed at five to ten, he looks
looks even smaller than that out there on the field,
(08:21):
but just seems to have a real feel for the
game and instinctile. So I'm excited to see what he
could do with the bide receivers as well.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
You know, Harley Gilmore is coming back. He was a
guy this time a year ago as a freshman they
were very high on and then he got injured and
didn't get back with the team until the latter part
of the season, but made you know a little bit
of a splash when he did, and it looked like
he was gone. Now he's back, But at that wide
receiver position in particular that group, I know Bush Hampden
(08:51):
was talking at Kendrick Law, who was not in the
open practices you guys saw on Friday and Saturday, but
talking up Kendrick as a guy that would be a
big part of their passing game. But I would think
at that wide receiver position, these first couple of weeks
are going to be a big opportunity time for somebody
(09:12):
to make a statement if they can with their play.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Yeah, I believe that could be the case.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
And what we saw on Saturday is a guy that
I had almost kind of written off because we had
heard so much more from most of.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
The other players at that spot.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
But Stellatto, the transfer from Clemson coming down. He made
a ton of plays on Saturday, and tough catches working
across the middle, contested catches that Mark Stoop's always talked
about on those fifty to fifty balls when you're covered,
but she still come down with it. He's another guy
(09:52):
I'm really interested in in. After seeing them have a
couple of practices.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
I think when they go through couple of these scrimmages
that and it gives the coaches an extended look at
that offensive line. I think everybody, Jeff seems to be
of one thought that maybe the single most important position
group in terms of getting improvement is the old line
for this Kentucky football team to have a chance to
be better than people think.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Right, Yeah, I don't think there's any doubt about that.
There kind of the engine that's going to make all
of this.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Work this season.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
I feel like they brought in people at those spots
to get the job done. I really like the profile
of all those guys from where they came from. Nothing
but good things people had to say about them. Some
of them were amongst the most sought afric guys in
the portal at their positions. But we need to see
(10:51):
it come together here. You know, they always talk about
the old line being, you know, the most important spot
for cohesion, and getting that going into the season I
think is going to be a top priority for the staff.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
What'd you think of what you saw from the two
quarterbacks that will be battling for the top spot.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
It's been a little getting missed in the two practices
that we saw, and I'm going to give some of
the credit there in terms of missing to the defense
and the defensive backs looking real good when I saw them,
but some really positive things. Calzada's got a big arm,
seems to have a feel for the game. You know,
(11:35):
that experience shows through for where he's played so much football.
But Cutter Bowlie has kind of been the buzz from
you know, my media colleagues and the fans of Mike
who got to go to the you know, fanday practice.
Cutter has made a ton of plays and made a
lot of growth. You can tell that he's a much
better player than he was last season. And I came
(11:58):
away with the impression even though you know, we haven't
seen these guys in in full paths and full go yet,
but he seemed like a guy that if anything were
to happen with Calazona early or maybe he doesn't perform
to expectations, I don't think they would hesitate to give
Cutter a look, and I think they can go out
(12:19):
and win with him, provided the other guys surrounding him
play well.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Which out with Jeff dropping from cats Illustrated dot Com
and we will be right back here on this Monday
edition of The Leach report presented by Bobcat Enterprises. It's
twenty four past the top of the hour on this Monday.
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(13:28):
This is the good life. We're chatting with Jeff Drummond
from Katzillustrated dot Com. I'm talking mostly about the offensive
side of Kentucky football, Jeff. There are a lot more
familiar names and familiar places on the defensive side, some
new faces in the front. But what's the biggest what
(13:50):
are the biggest questions you have about the defensive side
of the ball as Kentucky goes through training camp?
Speaker 3 (13:57):
You know, right now for me, Tom to be those
inside linebackers and maybe the linebacking group as a whole,
although I think they do have some some more answers
on the outside right now that may be inside, but it's.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
A really lean group. In that inside.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Linebacker group, they don't they don't partake aly loook like
inside linebackers at a lot of spots.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Guys like Alex h.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Dever Ranger, two of the big names that are expected
to play a big role in there.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
I think they're going to really.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Need a guy like Landon Watson transfer from Marshall, to
come in and play a big role with his body type.
You know, I think he's about six two two forty.
He's one that looks like an inside backer and to
hold up in the SEC. Over the course of the
season against the type of running backs and running game
you'll see in this league.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
I think he's going to have to figure big into.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
The equation, and maybe a little bit of the guy
that's grew first down linebacker when you're thinking they're going
to run, will beef your guy, and then maybe you
could go with a lighter guy as you move through
the progression of a series.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Could be Yeah, I'll be interested to see how they
shuffle those guys and some new guys like Antwine Smith,
who is a sophomore.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
I believe now and played a little bit.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Last season, mostly in specialty situations, and Grant Godfrey.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
They got a little bit of a peak at him
last season. Two.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
A couple of guys that will probably have to factor in.
Because you like the running backs, I think the inside
linebackers are one of those spots that it really shows
up as you progress into week seven. In the week
in the SEC, they take a pounding and they need
to play a lot of guys at those spots.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
A couple of interesting things that Brad White has said
for that side of the ball. Number one is that
he's stressed more than once how impressed he was with
the freshman class on his side of the ball last
year and how some of those guys in their second
year could make maybe more of an impact than might
appear on paper. And then he also talked about a
(16:12):
little bit of a different approach where they won't have
guys you like a you know, Deane Walker or DeAndre Square,
just you know guy names and throwing out here of
guys that would you'd you want on the field for
as many snaps as you could get them out there.
That it kind of sounds like they're going to be
playing more guys fewer snaps this season on that side.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
I got that vibe from him too, And I think
the days of seeing you know guys out there for
seventy plus snaps on this Kentucky Kentucky defense that getting
worn down over the course season is probably going to
be diminished a little bit by the kind of depth
they have over there.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Alex Safari is going to be an interesting guy to
me because I told he's up to about two thirty now.
And I always remember thinking when DeAndre Square was going
to be an inside starting inside linebackers because he going
to be big enough in this league, and he was,
you know, he more than answered the call. And so
(17:17):
Alex is a guy that you you think, we've always
looked at him and he'd you know, make a play
and you'd think, you know, there's a lot more there
and we've still only just seen flashes to this point.
Maybe this is where he'll blossom.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
To be his breakout and in a lot of ways
that his body type out there you mentioned square kind
of reminds me a lot of Wesley Woodyard too.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Yeah, at that point had that frame and he he
came in.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
I think they were kind of expecting him to be
a safety originally, and he matured and put on a
little bit of weight. He just had those instincts in
toughness to play on inside and be able to cut
it and not only here but at the next level,
which says a lot about him. So I think Alex
(18:06):
on his best day, if he can maximize that talent
that he has and stay healthy to be kind of
in that you know, Wesley Woodyard cost.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Jeff interesting thoughts. Appreciate it. We'll be talking more as
we get closer to the start of the season. Thank
you for the time. All right, Thanks Tom, that's Jeff
dropping from Katz Illustrated dot Com. We are coming up
on the heartbreak at the bottom of the hour on
this Monday edition of The Leach Report, presented by Bobcat Enterprises.
Mark story joins us. Next, It's the Lads Report from
(18:39):
the Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return Refresh and refuel at
Clark's as we welcome Mark's story to the program from
the Lexington Herald Leader Kentucky Sports dot com. Mark was
watching online the media day session on Friday. I think
it was your question that to Mitch Barnhardt. They got
(19:00):
the Kentucky a d explaining a little bit about the
financial side of college sports now and there's a lot
of questions about the distribution of resources, et cetera. What
was your take on what you heard from Mitch se
on Friday.
Speaker 5 (19:17):
Well, the the interesting thing that I had asked him specifically,
Oklahoma had announced which sports it was sharing revenue with,
and they had announced six sports, football, men's basketball, baseball,
women's basketball, softball, and gymnastics. So I had used that
to just preface the question, you know, how many sports
well Kentucky share revenue with and and he said it
(19:40):
six football, men's basketball, baseball, women's basketball, softball, and volleyball,
So I thought that was interesting information to get. You know, obviously,
the UK, you know, has not wanted to reveal the
percentages in terms of, you know, what it's spending on
its various sports. You know, I sort of understand that
from their perspective. But on the other hand, I think, frankly,
(20:02):
I think the fans deserve to know that. I think
to some extent, how you evaluate your coaches somewhat depends on,
you know, what their budgets are. If your coach is,
you know, working with a significantly less smaller budget than
the other schools in the conference, you need to factor
that intacular value as a jobbying, you know. But I mean,
this is a complicated situation and it's changing rapidly, and
(20:24):
you know, I don't think, you know, I don't think
we're at the end of this. I don't think this
House settlement structure. I think there are a lot of
questions on whether it's going to you know, stand up.
So you know, I think we're I think we're not
at the end of this.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
And you have the executive order for the President and
bills that have made it farther along in Congress than
any have previously, and I guess that's what college administrators
still want, is something even beyond the executive order, is
something that's put into into law about how some of
the questions will be addressed.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
Right, Yeah, I don't. I think the executive order, I
think there would be if that actually, you know, if
people try to enforce that, I think there are going
to be pretty significant legal questions, that anti trust questions
about that. You know, I have long been opposed. I
just didn't want the I didn't want the athletes to
(21:20):
be declared employees because I thought I thought that sort
of changed the fundamental nature of this. But I've come
to think, you know, that may be the only real
solution to this, because then you can collective bargain. And
there seems to be a big push. The House Settlement
is sort of a de facto salary cap, but I
don't think you can cap salaries without the consent of
the people whose salaries are being capped. So I, you know,
(21:42):
I think there I think probably the end of this,
they're going to have to declare at least some of
the athletes you know, employees. But that's complicated too, because
once you do that, you know, the scholarship is that
then income and you know you're gonna have to pay
are they gonna have to pay taxes on that? And
then a lot of works they're not going to be
making a lot there's not going to be a lot
of revenue sharing, so the athletes may not have the
(22:05):
money to pay the taxes on their scholarship. So all
these things are there. This is a complex situation.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
We're all learning as we go on. This maybe true
heck for some of the administrators as well, But as
I understand it, correct me if I'm wrong that you
you know, a program for a school from one year
to the next could give you know, a certain amount
of money to you or split the revenue up however
they wanted in a certain year, But that doesn't mean
(22:33):
that's locked in even from one semester to the next,
or certainly one year to the next. And you know,
if the nil budget is suddenly a lot better for
a particular sport, maybe they don't need as much money
from the revenue sharing. I'm assuming that's how it.
Speaker 5 (22:47):
Could run, right right that That is my understanding as well.
And the one thing that I know, each school I
think is different, and you know, I think Mitch Barnhardt
is knowledge that there was an attempt by the SEE
to just set uniform you know, percentages across the conference,
and I think Kentucky and South Carolina pushed back on that,
(23:07):
and Mitch basically just said, I think that should be
an institutional decision. And you know, one thing that I
think is interesting in regards Kentucky specifically, I would assume
that the position for players to attract you know, nil,
you know traditional NIL deals outside you know, the revenue share.
So in that sense, you know, for all the guttle
(23:30):
butt about how much Kentucky's revenue share is for men's basketball,
I would think they ought to be in position maybe
not to have to share as much revenue because the
players can make money in the marketplace.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Yeah, I mean they may be investing a large number
in basketball, but it may not be as much for
that revenue share as people might might have expected. If
there's a lot coming in with the NIL and the
position that the College Sports Commission that now oversees a
lot of this in the NIL space, Their initial position,
it looked like, was trying to basically get rid of
(24:02):
collectives and that did not play well, and so they
have now had to backtrack on that a little bit,
so that is going to I would assume, increase the
budget of NIL and kind of make the the job
of talking settling on what is market value a lot
more challenging.
Speaker 5 (24:23):
Yeah, that that the I don't think there's any question
that there was an attempt right out of the House
settlement to try to basically shut down the collectives, and
I don't again, I think there's going to be big
legal problems with that, And as you said, the new
College Sports Commission is somewhat back down on that, you know,
(24:43):
having to run your in you know, you have this
Deloitte affiliated you know, body whose job it is now
is to determine what is quote unquote legitimate NIL deals.
To me, there's a lot of questions there. Obviously, the
market you know, and advertising. You know, you're appearing in commercials.
(25:04):
The Los Angeles market is a whole lot bigger than
the lexing In market. So does that mean USC and UCLA,
you know, they can offer you far you know, their
their athletes will be able to make far more money
doing commercials than the athletes and constructing your athletes at
Tennessee or wherever. That in smaller markets. I just, you know,
I just think there's a lot of questions about this,
(25:26):
which I think I keep saying. I find this infinitely fascinating.
I know a lot of people are sort of put
off by quote unquote business in sports. I think it's
really interesting and there will never be another time in
our lives and then the college sports that will be
as interesting as this.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Yeah, it's you know, it's it's at a time kind
of like when something comes in, like you know, like
the Internet for example, that just changes the whole landscape
in a very short window of time, and then everybody
kind of have to figure it out of what what
all can we do with this? And it kind of
(26:05):
feels like, you know, we're in one of those you know,
uh defining times, certainly for college sports.
Speaker 5 (26:11):
Yeah, that's a good analogy. Exactly the changes have disrupted
the existing business model, so to speak, which is exactly
what the Internet did, and that that was a good analogy.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
All Right, We're going to get to a break and
then we'll get back with our chat with Mark's story
from the Lexington Herold Leader. Get a little bit more
into the upcoming football season, maybe a little basketball as
well from Mark's Story of the Lexington Herald Leader, Kentucky
Sports dot Com. It's at markc Story on x dot com.
We'll be right back. It's reports presented each day by
Bob Kat Enterprises with four locations around Kentucky. When you
(26:47):
need to buy or rent some heavy equipment for a
job like a tractor, excavator, forklift, et cetera, they'll have
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So whether it's buy or rent, google Bobcat Enterprises you'll
find one of the four locations in Kentucky that's closest
to you. Mark Stories with us from the Lexington Herald Leader,
Kentucky Sports dot Com. It was Media Day on Friday.
(27:10):
We were talking about the session with Mitch Barnhart. But
then you guys got to hear from the coordinators, heard
from Mark Stoops earlier in the week. Then you got
a chance to go ahead and talk to players, and
you did your story from media day on a transferred
defensive lineman David Gusta from Washington State. What was the
appeal of that particular story for you to go that way?
Speaker 5 (27:31):
Well, I think they're from just the buzz and if
you look at kind of you know, when he entered
the portal, he was one of the most highly regarded
defensive interior defensive linemen in the portal. So I think
he's a really important player for Kentucky. And I can say,
having spoken to him as a member of the media,
we need him to be a really good player because
(27:52):
he's a good talker and is an interesting guy. So
he's somebody that we want to have a lot of
reason to talk to.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Get shaj Pete on the other side of the ball
as an offensive lineman. He is an interesting dude. They
have some guys that you know, Ty Bryant, Jamori Macklin
or you know, guys that you know, after the Louisville
game last year, talked about, you know, did some some
serious comments about needing your team, needing more accountability, some
of those things that apparently has happened between then and now.
(28:24):
So there are a lot of good talkers, so to speak,
in this group.
Speaker 5 (28:27):
It seems, you know, it's interesting. You know, it's obviously
not ideal, you know, going into the thirteenth year of
a coaching tenure to essentially have a fifty new players,
but I think that needed to happen I mean, I think,
you know, we can, you know, speculate on why, but
I think the culture had just sort of gotten off
(28:48):
track in that program, and I think they needed to
turn it over. And it does seem like just based
on antidotes in this you know, the proof is in
the pudding. We'll see what happens on the field. It
does seem like that has changed for the better, that
there is more accountability in the program now, and I
think if that is true, I think if you're doing
(29:08):
this kind of the little thing the right way, I
think that will show up in how you play on Saturdays.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
You know, I've talked about this before. I think we're
in agreement on some of the things that need to
be in the script if Kentucky's going to write something
that is better than the experts are expecting for the
upcoming season. And it's things like cutting down on penalties
that you know, if you have an ass aggressive penalties
(29:37):
or finding live with some of those, but just the
penalties that are just maddening that you know, turn third
and one into third and six, or move you from
inside the five to inside the ten and the red
zone and those kinds of penalties. Also you know, turnovers.
Kentucky has not fared well in the plus minus in
that particular stat for a while, and those are things
(30:00):
that they have a chance to have some degree of
control over and if those I have to think those
would be significantly improved stats. If this team is able
to do things that people don't expecting them to do.
Speaker 5 (30:14):
Yeah, I don't think there's any question about that. And
you know, I think they just need to look like
kind of when when when this program started on the ascent,
which you know, at least in terms of the record,
was in twenty sixteen, and this was a hard nosed,
you know, discipline football operation and that's what it needs
to be. And it got away from that. I mean
(30:35):
it was basically the last three years. You know. I
of one of the things I do in the summer
to preview for football, I go back and read the
just what we had written out of games, you know,
and just the constant theme was, you know, sloppy play,
too many mistakes and that was you know, just in
a lot of those game reports. Well that's what needs
to change, you know, if that changes. You know, obviously
(30:58):
the schedule is difficult. You know, they could be a
lot better and it may or may not impact the
bottom line. They just need to play better football and
you know, let the chips fall.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
In that run starting in sixteen with the first Bowl
trip for coach Stoops and company. I haven't looked up
these numbers, but I have this feeling and I'll see
if you agree with me, that they were really good
in a lot of close games. That was certainly true
in sixteen, you know, games like Mississippi State in Louisville
(31:29):
where they got big wins for that season. But as
things kind of got away from them in these last
three years. Last year in particular, it seemed like they
were not as nearly as good in close games, and
there were numerous issues of the things that we're just
talking about with like you know, penalties that just they
(31:49):
didn't handle adversity well and they didn't handle you know,
the stress of a close game maybe as well in
these last three years. And if they've truly made some
of the changes that they've talked about, those are show
up as improved statistics.
Speaker 5 (32:02):
Yeah, I would agree with that. And at Kentucky, you
know you're gonna play, You're going to be in close games.
I mean, that's just the nature of the league you're in,
and you know you've got to you know, you've got
to you've got to be able to win those I mean,
those are going to be the difference between you know,
a good season and a bad season and and and yeah,
you know they if you go back and look at
the Rich Brooks the four the four year ball streak,
(32:26):
which included the end Joker Phillips first year now in Kentucky,
won or like fourteen games in which they either trailed
or were tied in the fourth quarter. And that number
is similar for the the first five years or the
first really the first six years of the Mark Stoops
ball streak. They won a lot of games that you know,
(32:46):
were decided in the fourth quarter. And that's what you've
got to do to succeed at Kentucky because even when
you're good, you know you're playing in a very difficult
conference and you're going to be in close games. You've
got to play in such a way that you win
if if at least your share, and probably you need
to win a little more than your share to do
the things the fans want to see done.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Talk with Mark's story from The Herald Leader in Kentucky
Sports dot Com. On the basketball side, You've had a
lot of opportunities this summer to hear from the various
members of the team, a couple of times to hear
from coach Pope. What anything in particular that has struck
you from what you've.
Speaker 5 (33:24):
Heard, I'm just really interested in this team in the
roster construction. It seems to me like they almost recruited
to fix last year's problems. I think they're going to
be a lot better defensively. I think they'll probably rebound
it better. I think there's probably a little more ability
to drive and get it to the basket from multiple positions.
(33:45):
You know, I don't know that there's as much just
I guess what I would say refined offensive skill on
the roster as there was last year's in terms of
guys who've proven they're really good outside shooters, are really
good passers. Now, I think what you mark Pope is
so such a good offensive coach and runs a high
level offensive system. You had at least two guys last
year that did not come to Kentucky known as really
(34:07):
good offensive players in Otaga Away and Lamat Butler, who
had really good offensive years. So you're hoping that you've
improved defensively and in rebounding and areas like that, and
your system, you know, will allow guys to thrive offensively.
So I'm I think this. I'm really interested to see
how this team develops.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
This team and Mark always talks about still not quite
last season did not get quite where he wanted in
terms of the volume of threes. I think with more
players who can beat their man off the dribble, that
creates more opportunities to break down a defense and kick
it out for a three. If they're better defensively, maybe
they get in transition a little few more opportunities and
(34:49):
to throw it ahead to get open threes. And the
depth that they have, you know, I think there's there's
it's there's more quality. Depth in terms terms of how
the minutes will break down. They should be able to
keep fresh legs out there, so all of those things
would be conducive to getting up a few more threes.
Speaker 5 (35:07):
I would think, yeah, that that too is interesting. Just
because the defenses are good now and everybody shoots so
many threes. I think defenses have gotten better at denying that.
And you know, I'm kind of an insomniac, so I
watched a lot of b YU when Mark was coaching
out there, and they really didn't do a lot of
driving off the dribble. They just moved the ball. So,
(35:29):
you know it, I think it's an adjustment he's made you.
I think, you know, Otega obviously drove the ball a lot,
Lamont drove the ball some. I think he's sort of
refined what he's doing a little bit because he's a
you know, I think can attract a different level of
athlete at Kentucky.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
And going up maybe game in and game out against
a different level of athlete than maybe they were at
other stops.
Speaker 5 (35:51):
Right right, well, certainly before they got into the big
twelve at YU.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Yeah, Mark story from the Lexi to the Herald Leader
Kentucky Sports. That's where you can go to read his
coverage of the Cats.
Speaker 5 (36:03):
Thank you for the time, sir, Thanks Tom, appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Lates Report Radio Network presented each day by Bobcat Enterprises,
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Get by the store if you can see the amazing
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(36:28):
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And I heard Mike Prad Daniels will both talk about,
you know, how devastating that news was when they heard
(36:50):
it because and even supposedly coach Rupp said, well, there
goes the national championship or something, because you know, they
lost one of their best players I think a time
in between lou Al Sender later career, Gil Jabbar and
Bill Walton for UCLA. And so, you know, the opportunity
(37:11):
was certainly there in that seventy season for Kentucky to
maybe get another title, get to a Final four for Issel,
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(37:34):
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(37:54):
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in New York City forced Darren Rippy senior or Junior
to reschedule his official recruiting visit to Kentucky on Friday,
So don't have a date yet for when they're going
to reschedule that. See where a player at four stars
seven footer in the twenty twenty sixth class. RAF and
(38:16):
Dion has set an official visit for late September to
Kentucky men's basketball And note where Tennessee's making a run
at a Kentucky tight end commit from Michigan Lincoln Watkins
because the balls had one of their tight end commits,
decommit and go to another school. See you tomorrow. On
the late tripport presented by Bob Kat Enterprises
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 good Day.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Everybody, welcome in. It's the Leech Report, presented by Bobcat Enterprises.
Hopefully you had a nice weekend if you were a
Kentucky football fan, maybe you made your way out to
a fanday looked like they had a nice turnout for
that event. Fantastic weather. So we'll talk a good bit
of Kentucky football today with our two guests, Jeff Drummond
(00:48):
will join us from Katzillustrated dot com and Mark Story,
columnist for the Lexington Herald Leader in Kentucky Sports dot Com.
Friday was media Day Saturday Fan Day, so you had
a lot of content out of the Kentucky football program.
One thing to watch out of practice today out of
(01:11):
the post practice news, Kendrick Law wide receiver transferred from Alabama.
It did not go through the open practices they had
on Friday and Saturday. But Mark Stoops, when he talked
to the reporters after the fan day on Saturday, said
he expects it's nothing major with Kendrick and he expects
him to be actually back on the field today. He's
(01:33):
a player that Bush Hampdon a week ago at the
kickoff Luncheon mentioned as a guy that they would lean
on heavily in the passing game at that wide receiver position,
also as a returner. So watch for that today and
then then we'll get into some of the other important
storylines for what they call training camp, and that leads
(01:55):
up to about the middle of the week before the
first game, and then they move into games prep mode
at that time. Otega Oway Sawn note where he was
in Vegas last week for a camp that is run
by Chris Paul and Jason Tatum. It's invitation only for
perimeter players. Paul works with the point guard Statum with
some of the other perimeter guys. Every NBA team had
(02:18):
scouts there, so it's a great opportunity for Otaga to
get seen. He from all reports, has put in the
work to get himself on the path to get where
he wants to be in terms of a professional basketball
position at the end of this upcoming season. But nothing
like leading your team to a really strong year to
(02:43):
turn a few more heads in your direction from the NBA.
It always seems if you know somebody's team has done well,
that there's a little bit of a rising tide that
lifts up the players. So hopefully all of that happens
for Otaga and I saw a note from ESPN dot com.
They have a panel of NBA experts that did some
(03:06):
predictions on various things and the most interesting player for
the upcoming season among the second year players those in
this year's draft class, but the previous year's draft class.
Reied Shepherd named the most interesting guy by their panel
of experts for his second year with the Rockets, and
(03:27):
it certainly looks like everything you read hear out of
Houston that they will be looking for him to play
a much more prominent role in his second season. They
sent him down member to the G League briefly last year,
and he scored like fifty points, so he was kind
of wasting his time there because he was so dominant.
(03:47):
So it was just a lot of limited action and
waiting his turn with the Rockets, and it sounds like
he won't have to wait so long this coming season.
Wish read the best of Luck in year two of
his NBA journey. Links to the stories that we talk
about each day. You can find those on the bud
Light Leach Report page at Tom Leachky dot com. Our
(04:11):
opening segment of Wildcat News is presented by Joseppies of Lexington.
A few years ago, they expanded their lounge area because
it was so popular to sit and enjoy the fantastic
food at Giuseppes with the jazz music from Dave Hall
and it is something that you don't find anywhere else
and it is really special. Makes it a unique dining
(04:32):
experience at Giuseppe. So get to open table and set
up a day or night to get there with the
special people in your life. Links to the stories again
bud Light Leach Report page at Tom Leachky dot com.
Jeff Drummond from Katz Illustrated coming up when we return
and this is the Leach Report Sport to you. If
that's the top of the hour. Leach Report comes to
(04:54):
you from the Clark's Pumping Shops Studios. Return, refresh and
refuel at Clark's and sign up with their loyalty programs
so you can get discounts when you fill up or
on items in their stores. Jeff Rovin joins US has
been covering the Cats for a while now at Cats
Illustrated dot com, and Jeff, you and your media colleagues
(05:16):
got an abundance of football content on Friday and Saturday
chances to see the Cats go through a couple of
public practices. What were some of your takeaways from what
you saw and heard?
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Well, Tom, I've really liked what I saw in a
lot of ways from those two opportunities, in terms of
how they've incorporated so many of these new faces.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Into the team.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Almost fifty new players I think on this roster, and
they seem to have hit the ground running pretty quickly.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
A couple of smooth practices For this early in camp.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Usually you see a lot of thloppy play, and you
know the coaches correcting a lot of things. At this point,
you didn't see too much of that. This looked more
like a team that was, you know, maybe two or
three weeks in the camp rather than two or three days.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
They will do two scrimmages, always have two scrimmages in
August on back to back Saturdays. The first one be
this Saturday and then another one the next week, I
would assume, And those are closed to the public, but
there's always little info that leaks out of those. But
those are you know, significant because they kind of give
(06:39):
the coaches an idea to lock in on a depth chart.
You know, they can go into those scrimmages. Certainly if
somebody's got to start, somebody's got to be with the twos,
et cetera. But you know, Benny Snell was a guy
who moved up to where he was running with the
ones over the course of a couple of those scrimmages
back in his freshman season, So that kind of thing
can can happen. I think those sessions are going to
(07:01):
be particularly interesting to see what comes out of those
in terms of what the coaches have to say.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Yeah, really looking forward to that because there are some
position groups, particularly like the running backs, interested to see
how that shakes out. I feel like they've got at
least four guys that they really like there, and you
can make a case for all of those guys getting.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
A lot of staffs. And the wide receiver.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Group has you know, some new faces there and some
guys who really need to step up if they're going
to take a step forward this season in the second
year with bush Hand And you know, Jimory Macklin is
the veteran who's back with that group of Fred Ferrier,
but we need to see a whole lot more from
some of the new guys like Hester and Law.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
And DJ Millery, young guy. I know they have a
lot of hopes for.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Quentin Berry, a local you know, from from here in
the area Boyle County, made a ton of plays and
in both of these first two practices that we got
to see, he just keeps popping up. A small guy.
I know he's listed at five to ten, he looks
looks even smaller than that out there on the field,
(08:21):
but just seems to have a real feel for the
game and instinctile. So I'm excited to see what he
could do with the bide receivers as well.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
You know, Harley Gilmore is coming back. He was a
guy this time a year ago as a freshman they
were very high on and then he got injured and
didn't get back with the team until the latter part
of the season, but made you know a little bit
of a splash when he did, and it looked like
he was gone. Now he's back, But at that wide
receiver position in particular that group, I know Bush Hampden
(08:51):
was talking at Kendrick Law, who was not in the
open practices you guys saw on Friday and Saturday, but
talking up Kendrick as a guy that would be a
big part of their passing game. But I would think
at that wide receiver position, these first couple of weeks
are going to be a big opportunity time for somebody
(09:12):
to make a statement if they can with their play.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Yeah, I believe that could be the case.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
And what we saw on Saturday is a guy that
I had almost kind of written off because we had
heard so much more from most of.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
The other players at that spot.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
But Stellatto, the transfer from Clemson coming down. He made
a ton of plays on Saturday, and tough catches working
across the middle, contested catches that Mark Stoop's always talked
about on those fifty to fifty balls when you're covered,
but she still come down with it. He's another guy
(09:52):
I'm really interested in in. After seeing them have a
couple of practices.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
I think when they go through couple of these scrimmages
that and it gives the coaches an extended look at
that offensive line. I think everybody, Jeff seems to be
of one thought that maybe the single most important position
group in terms of getting improvement is the old line
for this Kentucky football team to have a chance to
be better than people think.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Right, Yeah, I don't think there's any doubt about that.
There kind of the engine that's going to make all
of this.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Work this season.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
I feel like they brought in people at those spots
to get the job done. I really like the profile
of all those guys from where they came from. Nothing
but good things people had to say about them. Some
of them were amongst the most sought afric guys in
the portal at their positions. But we need to see
(10:51):
it come together here. You know, they always talk about
the old line being, you know, the most important spot
for cohesion, and getting that going into the season I
think is going to be a top priority for the staff.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
What'd you think of what you saw from the two
quarterbacks that will be battling for the top spot.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
It's been a little getting missed in the two practices
that we saw, and I'm going to give some of
the credit there in terms of missing to the defense
and the defensive backs looking real good when I saw them,
but some really positive things. Calzada's got a big arm,
seems to have a feel for the game. You know,
(11:35):
that experience shows through for where he's played so much football.
But Cutter Bowlie has kind of been the buzz from
you know, my media colleagues and the fans of Mike
who got to go to the you know, fanday practice.
Cutter has made a ton of plays and made a
lot of growth. You can tell that he's a much
better player than he was last season. And I came
(11:58):
away with the impression even though you know, we haven't
seen these guys in in full paths and full go yet,
but he seemed like a guy that if anything were
to happen with Calazona early or maybe he doesn't perform
to expectations, I don't think they would hesitate to give
Cutter a look, and I think they can go out
(12:19):
and win with him, provided the other guys surrounding him
play well.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Which out with Jeff dropping from cats Illustrated dot Com
and we will be right back here on this Monday
edition of The Leach report presented by Bobcat Enterprises. It's
twenty four past the top of the hour on this Monday.
I want to remind you about our friends at Cornbreadhamp
dot com and their new infused seltzers that are a
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(13:28):
This is the good life. We're chatting with Jeff Drummond
from Katzillustrated dot Com. I'm talking mostly about the offensive
side of Kentucky football, Jeff. There are a lot more
familiar names and familiar places on the defensive side, some
new faces in the front. But what's the biggest what
(13:50):
are the biggest questions you have about the defensive side
of the ball as Kentucky goes through training camp?
Speaker 3 (13:57):
You know, right now for me, Tom to be those
inside linebackers and maybe the linebacking group as a whole,
although I think they do have some some more answers
on the outside right now that may be inside, but it's.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
A really lean group. In that inside.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Linebacker group, they don't they don't partake aly loook like
inside linebackers at a lot of spots.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Guys like Alex h.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Dever Ranger, two of the big names that are expected
to play a big role in there.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
I think they're going to really.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Need a guy like Landon Watson transfer from Marshall, to
come in and play a big role with his body type.
You know, I think he's about six two two forty.
He's one that looks like an inside backer and to
hold up in the SEC. Over the course of the
season against the type of running backs and running game
you'll see in this league.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
I think he's going to have to figure big into.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
The equation, and maybe a little bit of the guy
that's grew first down linebacker when you're thinking they're going
to run, will beef your guy, and then maybe you
could go with a lighter guy as you move through
the progression of a series.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Could be Yeah, I'll be interested to see how they
shuffle those guys and some new guys like Antwine Smith,
who is a sophomore.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
I believe now and played a little bit.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Last season, mostly in specialty situations, and Grant Godfrey.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
They got a little bit of a peak at him
last season. Two.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
A couple of guys that will probably have to factor in.
Because you like the running backs, I think the inside
linebackers are one of those spots that it really shows
up as you progress into week seven. In the week
in the SEC, they take a pounding and they need
to play a lot of guys at those spots.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
A couple of interesting things that Brad White has said
for that side of the ball. Number one is that
he's stressed more than once how impressed he was with
the freshman class on his side of the ball last
year and how some of those guys in their second
year could make maybe more of an impact than might
appear on paper. And then he also talked about a
(16:12):
little bit of a different approach where they won't have
guys you like a you know, Deane Walker or DeAndre Square,
just you know guy names and throwing out here of
guys that would you'd you want on the field for
as many snaps as you could get them out there.
That it kind of sounds like they're going to be
playing more guys fewer snaps this season on that side.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
I got that vibe from him too, And I think
the days of seeing you know guys out there for
seventy plus snaps on this Kentucky Kentucky defense that getting
worn down over the course season is probably going to
be diminished a little bit by the kind of depth
they have over there.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Alex Safari is going to be an interesting guy to
me because I told he's up to about two thirty now.
And I always remember thinking when DeAndre Square was going
to be an inside starting inside linebackers because he going
to be big enough in this league, and he was,
you know, he more than answered the call. And so
(17:17):
Alex is a guy that you you think, we've always
looked at him and he'd you know, make a play
and you'd think, you know, there's a lot more there
and we've still only just seen flashes to this point.
Maybe this is where he'll blossom.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
To be his breakout and in a lot of ways
that his body type out there you mentioned square kind
of reminds me a lot of Wesley Woodyard too.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Yeah, at that point had that frame and he he
came in.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
I think they were kind of expecting him to be
a safety originally, and he matured and put on a
little bit of weight. He just had those instincts in
toughness to play on inside and be able to cut
it and not only here but at the next level,
which says a lot about him. So I think Alex
(18:06):
on his best day, if he can maximize that talent
that he has and stay healthy to be kind of
in that you know, Wesley Woodyard cost.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Jeff interesting thoughts. Appreciate it. We'll be talking more as
we get closer to the start of the season. Thank
you for the time. All right, Thanks Tom, that's Jeff
dropping from Katz Illustrated dot Com. We are coming up
on the heartbreak at the bottom of the hour on
this Monday edition of The Leach Report, presented by Bobcat Enterprises.
Mark story joins us. Next, It's the Lads Report from
(18:39):
the Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return Refresh and refuel at
Clark's as we welcome Mark's story to the program from
the Lexington Herald Leader Kentucky Sports dot com. Mark was
watching online the media day session on Friday. I think
it was your question that to Mitch Barnhardt. They got
(19:00):
the Kentucky a d explaining a little bit about the
financial side of college sports now and there's a lot
of questions about the distribution of resources, et cetera. What
was your take on what you heard from Mitch se
on Friday.
Speaker 5 (19:17):
Well, the the interesting thing that I had asked him specifically,
Oklahoma had announced which sports it was sharing revenue with,
and they had announced six sports, football, men's basketball, baseball,
women's basketball, softball, and gymnastics. So I had used that
to just preface the question, you know, how many sports
well Kentucky share revenue with and and he said it
(19:40):
six football, men's basketball, baseball, women's basketball, softball, and volleyball,
So I thought that was interesting information to get. You know, obviously,
the UK, you know, has not wanted to reveal the
percentages in terms of, you know, what it's spending on
its various sports. You know, I sort of understand that
from their perspective. But on the other hand, I think, frankly,
(20:02):
I think the fans deserve to know that. I think
to some extent, how you evaluate your coaches somewhat depends on,
you know, what their budgets are. If your coach is,
you know, working with a significantly less smaller budget than
the other schools in the conference, you need to factor
that intacular value as a jobbying, you know. But I mean,
this is a complicated situation and it's changing rapidly, and
(20:24):
you know, I don't think, you know, I don't think
we're at the end of this. I don't think this
House settlement structure. I think there are a lot of
questions on whether it's going to you know, stand up.
So you know, I think we're I think we're not
at the end of this.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
And you have the executive order for the President and
bills that have made it farther along in Congress than
any have previously, and I guess that's what college administrators
still want, is something even beyond the executive order, is
something that's put into into law about how some of
the questions will be addressed.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
Right, Yeah, I don't. I think the executive order, I
think there would be if that actually, you know, if
people try to enforce that, I think there are going
to be pretty significant legal questions, that anti trust questions
about that. You know, I have long been opposed. I
just didn't want the I didn't want the athletes to
(21:20):
be declared employees because I thought I thought that sort
of changed the fundamental nature of this. But I've come
to think, you know, that may be the only real
solution to this, because then you can collective bargain. And
there seems to be a big push. The House Settlement
is sort of a de facto salary cap, but I
don't think you can cap salaries without the consent of
the people whose salaries are being capped. So I, you know,
(21:42):
I think there I think probably the end of this,
they're going to have to declare at least some of
the athletes you know, employees. But that's complicated too, because
once you do that, you know, the scholarship is that
then income and you know you're gonna have to pay
are they gonna have to pay taxes on that? And
then a lot of works they're not going to be
making a lot there's not going to be a lot
of revenue sharing, so the athletes may not have the
(22:05):
money to pay the taxes on their scholarship. So all
these things are there. This is a complex situation.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
We're all learning as we go on. This maybe true
heck for some of the administrators as well, But as
I understand it, correct me if I'm wrong that you
you know, a program for a school from one year
to the next could give you know, a certain amount
of money to you or split the revenue up however
they wanted in a certain year, But that doesn't mean
(22:33):
that's locked in even from one semester to the next,
or certainly one year to the next. And you know,
if the nil budget is suddenly a lot better for
a particular sport, maybe they don't need as much money
from the revenue sharing. I'm assuming that's how it.
Speaker 5 (22:47):
Could run, right right that That is my understanding as well.
And the one thing that I know, each school I
think is different, and you know, I think Mitch Barnhardt
is knowledge that there was an attempt by the SEE
to just set uniform you know, percentages across the conference,
and I think Kentucky and South Carolina pushed back on that,
(23:07):
and Mitch basically just said, I think that should be
an institutional decision. And you know, one thing that I
think is interesting in regards Kentucky specifically, I would assume
that the position for players to attract you know, nil,
you know traditional NIL deals outside you know, the revenue share.
So in that sense, you know, for all the guttle
(23:30):
butt about how much Kentucky's revenue share is for men's basketball,
I would think they ought to be in position maybe
not to have to share as much revenue because the
players can make money in the marketplace.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Yeah, I mean they may be investing a large number
in basketball, but it may not be as much for
that revenue share as people might might have expected. If
there's a lot coming in with the NIL and the
position that the College Sports Commission that now oversees a
lot of this in the NIL space, Their initial position,
it looked like, was trying to basically get rid of
(24:02):
collectives and that did not play well, and so they
have now had to backtrack on that a little bit,
so that is going to I would assume, increase the
budget of NIL and kind of make the the job
of talking settling on what is market value a lot
more challenging.
Speaker 5 (24:23):
Yeah, that that the I don't think there's any question
that there was an attempt right out of the House
settlement to try to basically shut down the collectives, and
I don't again, I think there's going to be big
legal problems with that, And as you said, the new
College Sports Commission is somewhat back down on that, you know,
(24:43):
having to run your in you know, you have this
Deloitte affiliated you know, body whose job it is now
is to determine what is quote unquote legitimate NIL deals.
To me, there's a lot of questions there. Obviously, the
market you know, and advertising. You know, you're appearing in commercials.
(25:04):
The Los Angeles market is a whole lot bigger than
the lexing In market. So does that mean USC and UCLA,
you know, they can offer you far you know, their
their athletes will be able to make far more money
doing commercials than the athletes and constructing your athletes at
Tennessee or wherever. That in smaller markets. I just, you know,
I just think there's a lot of questions about this,
(25:26):
which I think I keep saying. I find this infinitely fascinating.
I know a lot of people are sort of put
off by quote unquote business in sports. I think it's
really interesting and there will never be another time in
our lives and then the college sports that will be
as interesting as this.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Yeah, it's you know, it's it's at a time kind
of like when something comes in, like you know, like
the Internet for example, that just changes the whole landscape
in a very short window of time, and then everybody
kind of have to figure it out of what what
all can we do with this? And it kind of
(26:05):
feels like, you know, we're in one of those you know,
uh defining times, certainly for college sports.
Speaker 5 (26:11):
Yeah, that's a good analogy. Exactly the changes have disrupted
the existing business model, so to speak, which is exactly
what the Internet did, and that that was a good analogy.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
All Right, We're going to get to a break and
then we'll get back with our chat with Mark's story
from the Lexington Herold Leader. Get a little bit more
into the upcoming football season, maybe a little basketball as
well from Mark's Story of the Lexington Herald Leader, Kentucky
Sports dot Com. It's at markc Story on x dot com.
We'll be right back. It's reports presented each day by
Bob Kat Enterprises with four locations around Kentucky. When you
(26:47):
need to buy or rent some heavy equipment for a
job like a tractor, excavator, forklift, et cetera, they'll have
it and they give you great service after the deal's done.
So whether it's buy or rent, google Bobcat Enterprises you'll
find one of the four locations in Kentucky that's closest
to you. Mark Stories with us from the Lexington Herald Leader,
Kentucky Sports dot Com. It was Media Day on Friday.
(27:10):
We were talking about the session with Mitch Barnhart. But
then you guys got to hear from the coordinators, heard
from Mark Stoops earlier in the week. Then you got
a chance to go ahead and talk to players, and
you did your story from media day on a transferred
defensive lineman David Gusta from Washington State. What was the
appeal of that particular story for you to go that way?
Speaker 5 (27:31):
Well, I think they're from just the buzz and if
you look at kind of you know, when he entered
the portal, he was one of the most highly regarded
defensive interior defensive linemen in the portal. So I think
he's a really important player for Kentucky. And I can say,
having spoken to him as a member of the media,
we need him to be a really good player because
(27:52):
he's a good talker and is an interesting guy. So
he's somebody that we want to have a lot of
reason to talk to.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Get shaj Pete on the other side of the ball
as an offensive lineman. He is an interesting dude. They
have some guys that you know, Ty Bryant, Jamori Macklin
or you know, guys that you know, after the Louisville
game last year, talked about, you know, did some some
serious comments about needing your team, needing more accountability, some
of those things that apparently has happened between then and now.
(28:24):
So there are a lot of good talkers, so to speak,
in this group.
Speaker 5 (28:27):
It seems, you know, it's interesting. You know, it's obviously
not ideal, you know, going into the thirteenth year of
a coaching tenure to essentially have a fifty new players,
but I think that needed to happen I mean, I think,
you know, we can, you know, speculate on why, but
I think the culture had just sort of gotten off
(28:48):
track in that program, and I think they needed to
turn it over. And it does seem like just based
on antidotes in this you know, the proof is in
the pudding. We'll see what happens on the field. It
does seem like that has changed for the better, that
there is more accountability in the program now, and I
think if that is true, I think if you're doing
(29:08):
this kind of the little thing the right way, I
think that will show up in how you play on Saturdays.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
You know, I've talked about this before. I think we're
in agreement on some of the things that need to
be in the script if Kentucky's going to write something
that is better than the experts are expecting for the
upcoming season. And it's things like cutting down on penalties
that you know, if you have an ass aggressive penalties
(29:37):
or finding live with some of those, but just the
penalties that are just maddening that you know, turn third
and one into third and six, or move you from
inside the five to inside the ten and the red
zone and those kinds of penalties. Also you know, turnovers.
Kentucky has not fared well in the plus minus in
that particular stat for a while, and those are things
(30:00):
that they have a chance to have some degree of
control over and if those I have to think those
would be significantly improved stats. If this team is able
to do things that people don't expecting them to do.
Speaker 5 (30:14):
Yeah, I don't think there's any question about that. And
you know, I think they just need to look like
kind of when when when this program started on the ascent,
which you know, at least in terms of the record,
was in twenty sixteen, and this was a hard nosed,
you know, discipline football operation and that's what it needs
to be. And it got away from that. I mean
(30:35):
it was basically the last three years. You know. I
of one of the things I do in the summer
to preview for football, I go back and read the
just what we had written out of games, you know,
and just the constant theme was, you know, sloppy play,
too many mistakes and that was you know, just in
a lot of those game reports. Well that's what needs
to change, you know, if that changes. You know, obviously
(30:58):
the schedule is difficult. You know, they could be a
lot better and it may or may not impact the
bottom line. They just need to play better football and
you know, let the chips fall.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
In that run starting in sixteen with the first Bowl
trip for coach Stoops and company. I haven't looked up
these numbers, but I have this feeling and I'll see
if you agree with me, that they were really good
in a lot of close games. That was certainly true
in sixteen, you know, games like Mississippi State in Louisville
(31:29):
where they got big wins for that season. But as
things kind of got away from them in these last
three years. Last year in particular, it seemed like they
were not as nearly as good in close games, and
there were numerous issues of the things that we're just
talking about with like you know, penalties that just they
(31:49):
didn't handle adversity well and they didn't handle you know,
the stress of a close game maybe as well in
these last three years. And if they've truly made some
of the changes that they've talked about, those are show
up as improved statistics.
Speaker 5 (32:02):
Yeah, I would agree with that. And at Kentucky, you
know you're gonna play, You're going to be in close games.
I mean, that's just the nature of the league you're in,
and you know you've got to you know, you've got
to you've got to be able to win those I mean,
those are going to be the difference between you know,
a good season and a bad season and and and yeah,
you know they if you go back and look at
the Rich Brooks the four the four year ball streak,
(32:26):
which included the end Joker Phillips first year now in Kentucky,
won or like fourteen games in which they either trailed
or were tied in the fourth quarter. And that number
is similar for the the first five years or the
first really the first six years of the Mark Stoops
ball streak. They won a lot of games that you know,
(32:46):
were decided in the fourth quarter. And that's what you've
got to do to succeed at Kentucky because even when
you're good, you know you're playing in a very difficult
conference and you're going to be in close games. You've
got to play in such a way that you win
if if at least your share, and probably you need
to win a little more than your share to do
the things the fans want to see done.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Talk with Mark's story from The Herald Leader in Kentucky
Sports dot Com. On the basketball side, You've had a
lot of opportunities this summer to hear from the various
members of the team, a couple of times to hear
from coach Pope. What anything in particular that has struck
you from what you've.
Speaker 5 (33:24):
Heard, I'm just really interested in this team in the
roster construction. It seems to me like they almost recruited
to fix last year's problems. I think they're going to
be a lot better defensively. I think they'll probably rebound
it better. I think there's probably a little more ability
to drive and get it to the basket from multiple positions.
(33:45):
You know, I don't know that there's as much just
I guess what I would say refined offensive skill on
the roster as there was last year's in terms of
guys who've proven they're really good outside shooters, are really
good passers. Now, I think what you mark Pope is
so such a good offensive coach and runs a high
level offensive system. You had at least two guys last
year that did not come to Kentucky known as really
(34:07):
good offensive players in Otaga Away and Lamat Butler, who
had really good offensive years. So you're hoping that you've
improved defensively and in rebounding and areas like that, and
your system, you know, will allow guys to thrive offensively.
So I'm I think this. I'm really interested to see
how this team develops.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
This team and Mark always talks about still not quite
last season did not get quite where he wanted in
terms of the volume of threes. I think with more
players who can beat their man off the dribble, that
creates more opportunities to break down a defense and kick
it out for a three. If they're better defensively, maybe
they get in transition a little few more opportunities and
(34:49):
to throw it ahead to get open threes. And the
depth that they have, you know, I think there's there's
it's there's more quality. Depth in terms terms of how
the minutes will break down. They should be able to
keep fresh legs out there, so all of those things
would be conducive to getting up a few more threes.
Speaker 5 (35:07):
I would think, yeah, that that too is interesting. Just
because the defenses are good now and everybody shoots so
many threes. I think defenses have gotten better at denying that.
And you know, I'm kind of an insomniac, so I
watched a lot of b YU when Mark was coaching
out there, and they really didn't do a lot of
driving off the dribble. They just moved the ball. So,
(35:29):
you know it, I think it's an adjustment he's made you.
I think, you know, Otega obviously drove the ball a lot,
Lamont drove the ball some. I think he's sort of
refined what he's doing a little bit because he's a
you know, I think can attract a different level of
athlete at Kentucky.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
And going up maybe game in and game out against
a different level of athlete than maybe they were at
other stops.
Speaker 5 (35:51):
Right right, well, certainly before they got into the big
twelve at YU.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Yeah, Mark story from the Lexi to the Herald Leader
Kentucky Sports. That's where you can go to read his
coverage of the Cats.
Speaker 5 (36:03):
Thank you for the time, sir, Thanks Tom, appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Lates Report Radio Network presented each day by Bobcat Enterprises,
and we'll be right back stand wild Cat History presented
by Kentucky road Show Sports Cards and Memorabilia. They're on
Romney Road here in Lexington and at roadshowcards dot Com.
Get by the store if you can see the amazing
collection of memorabilia that Jimmy and his team or they're
(36:28):
adding to it every week. And I think they're back
from the big national card shows, so they're backuping at
him this week there on Romedy Road. Anyway, this day
in nineteen sixty nine was a bad day for Kentucky
basketball because Mike Casey broke his leg in a car accident.
And I heard Mike Prad Daniels will both talk about,
you know, how devastating that news was when they heard
(36:50):
it because and even supposedly coach Rupp said, well, there
goes the national championship or something, because you know, they
lost one of their best players I think a time
in between lou Al Sender later career, Gil Jabbar and
Bill Walton for UCLA. And so, you know, the opportunity
(37:11):
was certainly there in that seventy season for Kentucky to
maybe get another title, get to a Final four for Issel,
Pratt and Casey. But Mike Casey had to finish up
the following season in seventy one because of what happened
on this day in nineteen sixty nine. And this was
the day that our dear friend Mike Pratt was Born.
Shuffle Being Coffee's a longtime partner of the Leads Report.
(37:34):
Group of Kentuckians got together to form this company and
it is a company with a tremendous commitment to excellence.
They like to say it goes from seed to cup
with their coffee. You can read about that and get
some product over at Shufflebean dot Us. You can get
coffee from Amazon, or you can get Shuffle Being Coffee
at Central Kentucky Meyer Stores. Put some hustle in your
(37:54):
shuffle with the official coffee of raupp Arena in the
KFC Young Center. That is Shuffle Being Coffee. But whether
in New York City forced Darren Rippy senior or Junior
to reschedule his official recruiting visit to Kentucky on Friday,
So don't have a date yet for when they're going
to reschedule that. See where a player at four stars
seven footer in the twenty twenty sixth class. RAF and
(38:16):
Dion has set an official visit for late September to
Kentucky men's basketball And note where Tennessee's making a run
at a Kentucky tight end commit from Michigan Lincoln Watkins
because the balls had one of their tight end commits,
decommit and go to another school. See you tomorrow. On
the late tripport presented by Bob Kat Enterprises
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