2025-08-07 - LEACH REPORT

Tom talks with Jack Givens, Justin Rowland, and more.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello there, Welcome in.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
It is the Leach Report, presented by Bobcat Enterprises for
a Thursday.

Speaker 1 (00:07):
The seventh of August, and coming up over.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
The course of the rest of this hour, will chat
with Justin Rowland from Cats Illustrated. I think he was
speaking in Louisville yesterday to a group of football fans,
and we'll talk about that and more. The goose Jack
Gibbons join us and Kevin Cook, who has a book
out about Memorial Caisseum and all of the history there,

(00:31):
and we'll chat with him about that at an event
that is coming up in connection with that book. Wildcat
News of the day always the service of Giuseppees of Lexington, Right.
I guess the big news yesterday for Wildcat fans was
the release of the men's basketball schedule for SEC games.
We don't have times yet, but we do have dates

(00:52):
and SEC play for the Wildcats will begin on the
road on January third, as they will take on Alabama,
Mohamed Diabat heading back to play against his former teammates,
and then Kentucky's Rota. They rotate through home and homes
one year to the next with everybody, but you play

(01:13):
three home and homes for Kentucky. It's always Tennessee and Vandy,
and then there's one other one that rotates in and
it's Florida. This year that Kentucky will play two times.
On Valentine's Day or night, Kentucky will be down in Gainesville.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
And the interesting about that.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Is it's at the end of a bye week for Kentucky,
so they don't have a midweek game. They play Tennessee
at home on the seventh of February and then have
a week before they play down at Florida, and then
the rematch with the Gators will come on the regular
season finale in March the seventh and ropp Arena and

(01:49):
Florida and Kentucky could well be fighting it out for
the SEC title this winter, so those would be significant matchups.
I think everybody that is a Kentucky fan probably looks
for that Arkansas game two because of the John Caliperry factor,
and Kentucky will go play in Fayetteville this year on
January thirty first, just once against the Hogs. There are

(02:10):
three more non conference games to be added, and right
now the first non exhibition game is the Louisville game
on November the eleventh, So one would think one or
two of those additional non conference games would come in
the week preceding the matchup with the Cards, because right
now Kentucky would if you didn't have those three non

(02:31):
conference games, Kentucky be opening up against Louisville and then
playing the Champions Classic.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
The next week.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
So I would imagine we'll see one or two of
those non conference games in there, and then they'll have
to add one more somewhere else. So that should get
done here before too long, and I think they, I
would imagine, wait for this SEC info to come in
and then they can probably pretty quickly finalize the rest

(02:56):
of it, and then we'll hopefully get times before too long,
and then we'll have everything set for the upcoming basketball season,
which the Big Blue Nation is certainly eagerly anticipating for
year two of Mark Pope. The Bengals play their preseason
opener tonight. They will play in Philadelphia against the Eagles,

(03:18):
and wouldn't expect the Bengals starters to play a whole lot,
but it is football, kind of fake football, but it
is football, and if you need a little bit of
a fix until the real thing gets here, which will
be two weeks from Saturday is when I think, I
think that's right. We'll get games in what they call

(03:42):
Week zero. Not much, but there's usually one or two
interesting matchups in that opening weekend, and you wonder if
eventually they'll grow that into basically just being the opening
of the season. But the opener for everybody else will
be when Kentucky opens up against Toledo on the third,
so it's three weeks from Saturday. ESPN has acquired the

(04:04):
rights to the NFL Network, and that also means the
red Zone. Roger Goodell was on Sports Center last night,
said there will be no changes to the red Zone channel,
which is very popular. He also suggested that ESPN might
look at doing a college red zone, which could be fun.
I think it would be fun for college basketball too

(04:26):
if they added something like that, maybe just as much
as it is for football, and that would maybe give
you a little bit of a feel for In the
early days of ESPN, they had the opportunity to do
the opening rounds of the NCAA Men's basketball Tournament, and

(04:47):
I still think that was the best job of jumping
around from game to game to get exciting finishes. So
college red zone for football would certainly move the needle
the most in terms of dollars, but I wonder if
they could so maybe do something like that for college
basketball as well, So we'll see.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
Of course, you don't.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
You have a situation where ESPN doesn't have the rights
to all of the games, so I don't know how
there'd be significant issues working through that anyway. Links to
the stories that we talk about each day, you can
find them on the bud Light Leach Report page at
Tom leachk why dot com. We'll come back and talk
about the new book on historic Memorial Coliseum from Kevin Cook.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
When do we come back?

Speaker 2 (05:27):
It is the Leech Report, and we are presented in
our opening segment each day by Giuseppes for the Wildcat News,
and they are located just off Nicholasville Road out past
Manor War here in Lexington. If you're celebrating some kind
of special occasion, birthday, anniversary, you just want to get
together with family or some good friends, get everybody around

(05:48):
the table and enjoy a fantastic meal and a really
special atmosphere. Get to open table, set up a plan
to get to Giuseppes one night. Soon it's the Leach
Report Radio Network. Where's that by Bob Kat Enterprises. We'll
be right back. Nice Report comes to you each day
from the Clerk's pumpin Shop studio, Return, Refresh and Refuel

(06:10):
at Clark's and they have a loyalty rewards program that
you need to get signed up for if you are
not already in it, because you'll get discounts on those
refuels and items in their stores.

Speaker 1 (06:20):
Kevin Cook joins us now.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
He's the author of a new book about historic Memorial
Coliseum and a special event coming up on what Monday
night associated with that particular book, right, Kevin.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yes, thank you for having me. Yes, there is a
book signing at the coliseum Monday night and there will
be a number of UK former players that will be
signing the book there. It's hosted by the UK Alumni
Association and they're actually the proceeds are from the books
are going to student scholarships.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
Wonderful and it is an impressive list of folks that
are going to be there for the signing.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
Well right now, there's fifteen and it's from the sixties
through the nineties, so I really appreciate these people being there.
I think you'll be excited about who was there, even
a couple that you may not realize, although they were
very well known athletes, didn't know they were associated with
UK basketball.

Speaker 1 (07:21):
And then.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
Ralph Hacker, who called games there with k Would. Tom
Hammond covered games there for LAX and I'm guessing called
some for Jefferson Pilot or one of the sec that
works too.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
Yes, yeah, so yeah, the a couple of broadcasters you mentioned,
Hacker and Tom Hammond, players like Jim Andrews, Dicky Beale,
Mike Flynn, Jack Goose Gibbons, Kenny sky Walker, Larry Stamper.
There's more. I don't mean to leave folks out, but
a lot of fan favorites and they're eager to to

(08:00):
meet the Big Blue Nation.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
Tell us about the book.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
Well, the book is kind of an outgrowth of a
previous book I did, which was a history of all
of the UK basketball arenas. Memorial Coliseum in particular stood
out because a lot of you know, older fans remembered that. Obviously,
the men's team moved into UPP Arena in seventy six,
so a lot of the younger fans may not know

(08:26):
the men there. Although women's athletics are going very strong,
there in basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, and stunt But you know, still,
I would say a lot of the old fans of
the men's team still look at Memorial Coliseum as the
arena where the excitement, the level of crowd, noise, anticipation

(08:48):
was just at a level that I think has not
been equaled anywhere else in college basketball. So it's really
an ode to that building. It's also an honoring of
the fact that it is a memorial originally two almost
ten thousand Kentuckians who died in World War Two, and
it's been rededicated through the Vietnam well, starting with the

(09:11):
Korean War and the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, so
it includes names of remembrance of Kentuckians who have died
for their country all the way up to the present.

Speaker 2 (09:20):
Yeah, they've really done an amazing job with the renovation
and incorporating that element into it as well.

Speaker 3 (09:27):
Yes, there are a number of remembrances names on pillars outside.
Those names used to be on handwritten calligrapheed large sheets
of paper in these alcoves and the concourses. Over time,
those were really deteriorating, so they've moved those to the
UK Archives for storage and preservations, but those names are

(09:48):
still there. There were and still are bronze stars that
had the names of those who died who were associated
with UK, either staff or students, and those bronze stars
are now mounted high up in the lobby. And then
there's a chiseled poem which was well known, probably more

(10:10):
well known at the time of the dedication of the
Colisseum in nineteen fifty. It's called for the Fallen but
that remembers Wardead in general, and that's chiseled in stone
at the entrance on Avenue of Champions.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
Dyle Kevin Cook about his book on historic Royal Coliseum
and a special book signing event with Kevin and a
bunch of former UK players and other media folks associated
with UK that's coming up at the Coliseum on Monday.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
What time.

Speaker 3 (10:43):
It starts at five point thirty. The Alumni Association does
acid folks pre registers so they have a head count.
There's a ten dollars ticket fee and then the books
are You can pre order a book Fairbay to signs.
That's at forty dollars and that's the cover. But again
the proceeds are going to UK student scholarships from the

(11:05):
Alumni Association.

Speaker 2 (11:07):
Goose Givens joined us on Thursdays, and it was last
week or the week before. We were talking a little
bit about reminiscing about what was at the time thought
would would be the final game for Kentucky basketball in
that building, final you know game that wasn't an exhibition
or something. And turns out they played an n IT
game in two thousand and nine there. But the game

(11:30):
against Mississippi State that looked like it was going to
be the you know, could Kentucky win their final game
in Memorial Conliseum and looked like they were going to
lose it and they made this amazing comeback and won
the game in overtime. That's, you know, one special memory.
But folks that went to games there have have have
their own. There were some legendary games in the boys

(11:50):
Sweet sixteen that were played there. Like I told you
when you you came on with us and did the
book on all of the arenas. Yeah, that one always
has been special to me because growing up as a
Kentucky fan college basketball fan, got a chance to go
two or three times a year maybe with a friend
who had tickets, and it was always such a treat

(12:11):
and man, that place just I don't know whether it
was the flat roof, that ceiling that held things the
sound in, but it just seemed like the loudest place
ever when the cats would come down that ramp onto
the court.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
Yes, and there's even you know, in UK archives you
can hear old radio broadcasts from Clard Sullivan and you
can hear that noise and it's just striking really and
that's what really gave me a taste. And I try
to translate that this is it's an illustrated history, so
every page is basically one or two large pictures with
explanatory text, so trying to call out those, you know,

(12:49):
really major moments, but also some sort of quirky things.
I think you see a picture like what is that?
You see like a movie Starlet standing between Cliff Hagen
and Frank Ramsey. It call Sam what was that? Now
It's turned out to be a B movie Starlett who
was making the rounds for a movie and it was
playing in livesnt enough of time, so it's a bit
of that in there. So that kind of plays into

(13:11):
the fact that it's not just an arena, it's also
you know, a stage and auditorium, the gathering place as
well as you know, an arena for sporting events.

Speaker 2 (13:21):
Just really a special place with a lot of history,
some amazing concerts there in the seventies, sixties and late
sixties and seventies as well, So it's gonna be fun
to see it. The event is this coming Monday, August
the eleventh ath Colisseum. And what's the website where folks

(13:41):
can pree register.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
The website is UK alumni dot net forward slash Memorial book.
That'll that'll get.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
Him in, Kevin, Thank you very much, good luck with it.

Speaker 3 (13:55):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 4 (13:56):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (13:57):
That is Kevin Cook.

Speaker 2 (13:57):
It is the Leads Report presented by Bob Cat Enterprises,
and the Goose Jack Gibbings joins us when we come
right back story six past the top of the hour,
look to report for a Thursday. We welcome in the
Goose Jack Gibbons. We're talking with Kevin Cook about his
memorial Colosseum book. You're gonna be part of the signing
on Monday. Goose and I think it was last week
or week before we were reminiscing about that final game

(14:19):
in the coliseum. Also want to turn the clock back
to something else that was just a kind of a
cool thing. When you were at Brian's Station and your
buddy James Lee was at Henry Clay. You guys had
grown up playing together then were rivals at the high schools,
and the games were so big that the high school

(14:39):
gyms couldn't hold them, and you guys would I think
legend has it filled the coliseum when it held twelve
thousand for your games during the regular season, right.

Speaker 4 (14:50):
Yeah, yeah, that Those are great, great memories, Tom, And
I'm glad you brought that up because I did want
to talk about that when you you know, with this
event that's coming up Monday, and of course it's all
about the University of Kentucky stuff college games. We had

(15:10):
some of the most unbelievable games in Memorial Coliseum back
in those days. Henry Clay would play brin Station, Tates
Creek and Lafayette would play against each other, and you
have these doubleheaders on those nights and we would when
we would play those games, and believe it or not,

(15:34):
those games went a long way and helping me to
decide to come to the University of Kentucky. The atmosphere
in that building was so amazing and so much fun
to be a part of. And then the crowd, I
mean it would be of course high school basketball fans.
I mean, folks used to come out to games at

(15:57):
that time an unbelievable numbers, but most of the crowd
was University of Kentucky fans. And you know, going into
my senior year, I hadn't made up my mind. And
fact is, and I talked about it in my book.
Did you know I thought at that time I was

(16:20):
going to be a Tennessee volunteer because that was my
I know, I know, that was my second choice as
a college I wanted to go to. The only visit
I took in high school to a major university was
down to Knoxville with Ray Mears and Stu Aberdeen and
the Tennessee Volunteers. So I was pretty heavily. I kind

(16:45):
of knew I was going to go to the University
of Kentucky, but it wasn't competition and tough decision, But
those games in Memorial Coliseum helped to convince me that
the University of Kentucky was where I where I needed
to play my college basketball. So those high school games
that you mentioned, man, they were so much fun and

(17:08):
the first time any of us had played in front
of those kind of crowds.

Speaker 2 (17:13):
That is interesting because it was just, you know, amazing
turnout for for high school basketball game. And there'd been
you know, I think Rex came there and played once
with Apollo, maybe against Henry Clay, and there were other
memorable high school games, but that was kind of I
think the other than that. You know, they played Sweet
sixteen games there, but to play regular season double headers

(17:34):
like you're talking about, that was just a you know,
amazing for high school basketball and a great testament to
the passion for basketball in Kentucky. Goose were coming up
on the bottom of the aarro'll fit. We'll continue with
that and just a little bit and reminisce a little
bit more about that, and then talk a little bit
about the current Cats as well.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
When we come back. It is the Leach Report for
a Thursday.

Speaker 2 (17:52):
We're presented by Bobcat Enterprises with four locations around Kentucky.
So google Bobcat when you need to buy or rent
some heavy equipment job and they will have what you
need and they will give you fantastic service after the
deal's done.

Speaker 1 (18:05):
It Bob Kat enterprises back with the goose.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
Jack Gibbons and we're talking about Kentucky basketball right now,
from his high school days when they would play these
double headers at Memorial Coliseum and draw amazing crowds. You've
punched up something off of newspapers. Dot com go was
trying to find out little bit about manye of the
game stories from those days. But what I what popped

(18:29):
up here was the city standings going into the district tournament.
Brian Station was twenty four and three, averaging eighty seven
points a game. Henry Clay was twenty four and three,
averaging eighty six points a game. Jack Gibbons led the
city and scoring at twenty five point two. James Lee
was second at twenty five point zero. So this pretty
strong rivalry you guys had and in friendship.

Speaker 4 (18:51):
Oh man, well, just thinking about those numbers, Tom, just
bring back so many men. We had some really really
good teams at Bryn Station and James had those kind
of teams at Henry Clay and I don't want to

(19:12):
start naming names of the players who were in Lexington
at the time, but our guards at Brin Station, Buck Clay, Cooley, Clay,
Norman Jackson, Anthony Jackson. Our guards. For a lot of
teams we played, they were so good defensively and so quick.

(19:37):
Teams could not get the ball up the floor against
our press. And yeah, I averaged twenty five or something,
But man, I mean there were times we would have
teams down because of mainly because of our guards. We
would have teams down so big that the starters, most

(20:01):
of us, wouldn't even play in the second half. We
would Coach Barlow just would not play us in the
second half. We were up maybe sixty five to twenty
two or something like that, and we would have to
sit the final quarter and most of the third quarter.
So we had some great teams and James did the

(20:23):
same thing. So when you think about averaging twenty five
points a game without a three point line and James
averaging twenty five a game, knowing that most of the
time we didn't play more than half of the game.
I met a guy on the golf course Monday. Doug

(20:46):
Flynn had an event at Champions, and a guy came
up to me and said, man, I really want you
to know I really enjoyed playing against you. And we
talked a little while and he said, oh, by the
way I was at Richmond Madison and I'm very proud

(21:06):
to say I held you to thirty two points and
you only played two and a half quarters. And I said,
I said that. He said, man, that was just amazing.
And yeah, there was so many just thinking about those
those games, so many great memories of high school basketball
and Lexington at that time.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
You mentioned that those games in the coliseum helped to
convince you to sign with Kentucky. Did you and James,
I mean you came in together. There was a cool
moment of there's video that announcement ceremony for the two
of you, big wide ties in those days. But did

(21:50):
you guys talk about that before Kentucky approached you about
signing both of you or did you guys talk about
wanting to go to the same school or anything like that.

Speaker 4 (22:00):
Well, yes, we did talk about it. You know, James
and I uh went. We grew up in the same
neighbor relatively the same neighborhood. James's father was a pastor
at the church that I attended, Reverend Lee and Liberty
Baptist Church. We we went to church together. So we

(22:21):
grew up together, played baseball against each other as as younger,
younger guys before we went on into uh play playing
basketball as the main sport. Both James and I thought
we would be baseball players, you know, because we loved
playing baseball. But yeah, we we started to talk about

(22:43):
it a little bit, not a whole lot, and it
wasn't something that was definitely gonna happen. Interestingly enough, James's
second choice would probably have been the University of louisboll
As My second choice was the University of Tennessee, So
we would have gone to a couple of rival schools

(23:04):
at that time. But we did talk about it. I
remember the night before we signed to play at the
University of Kentucky. We had made our minds up at
that time, and they took us out to Cliff Haagen's
steakhouse out there on Winchester Road. You've been there, you
know what I'm talking about, and they brought this Ribbi steak,

(23:29):
I mean, they were famous for Ribbi steaks, and they
brought this side of beef out there. Man, it covered
the plate, I mean, it was unbelievable, and a baked
potato that was even bigger, it seemed. And we sat
there and our families were there and we had an
opportunity to for me at least have the first really

(23:52):
good steak steak that wasn't from Ponderosa Steakhouse. We had
a really good steak for the first time in my life.
And I thought, man, uh, if if going to UK
is anything like this, uh, this is this is it.
And it was the first time. And you mentioned those ties, okay,
And I tell this story. It's not true, but I

(24:14):
tell this story. Uh. You know, eating at cliff Hagen's
Steakhouse was like the first time I had been in
a restaurant that had uh that had a cloth tablecloth.

Speaker 1 (24:27):
You know.

Speaker 4 (24:27):
It wasn't a napkin, a paper napkin. It was the
real deal. And and it was a white uh, one
of these big napkins.

Speaker 5 (24:36):
Man.

Speaker 4 (24:36):
And I tell people because they make fun of me
for wearing that tie, and I said, bed, I stole that, Uh,
I stole that nap napkin from cliff Hagen's. That I
brought that thing home and I tied it into a
tie and I wore it on my you know. It
was at the time, it was the best meal I've had, man, Well,
not the best, because my mom and my grandmother's cooking

(24:58):
was the best I had. But the best mill I
had outside of the house was that steak at cliff
Hagen Steakhouse. So I tell people I stole that napkin
and tied it into a tie.

Speaker 1 (25:10):
Great stories.

Speaker 2 (25:11):
Before we let you go, let me get a quick
thought on this. I think today maybe the last of
the summer practices for coach Popen Company, and then they'll
take a little break and then resume in September as
classes are going to start at UK. What do you
think they got accomplished with these summer workouts.

Speaker 4 (25:31):
Well, I went yesterday Tom and I got a final
look at him, because I don't think I'm going to
go today. I might, but I went over yesterday and
I saw just what I was hoping to see, and
that is a much much better team. I'm talking about team,
not individual, but a much better team then I saw

(25:54):
really early in the summer when the guys first got started.
I mean they were trying to figure each other. Well,
as you do, you go through that, trying to figure
out Mark's terminology, stuff that they're supposed to be doing.
And it's always fun watching Mark's practice because they the
coaches will stop play right in the middle of practice

(26:18):
and they'll ask a guy, so when I say this,
what does that mean to you? And that guy, Brandon Garrison,
he might have to say, well, here's what it means,
and I have to do this and and and they'll say, yeah,
but what about if this happens and the guys are
going to the second option and you know, and they'll say, now,
on defense, when I say get in the gap and recover,

(26:39):
what does that mean? And the guys have to go
through that? And they and it was like a clinic
yesterday on terminology, Marx terminology and what he wants from
the place. So and they were running it. They were
going full speed, so they were in much better condition
than they were when they showed up. So all of

(27:01):
those things that I wanted to see I got to see.
So this is going to be a really good team.
I'll say it again. I think we're gonna be really
really good Defensively, We're going to do some stuff and
they're still trying to figure each other out. Don't get
me wrong, but that just leads to me believing that

(27:22):
that's gonna be even more improvement on this team. So
I was very impressed and I saw exactly what I
wanted to see in that practice yesterday.

Speaker 1 (27:33):
Good stuff goes.

Speaker 4 (27:33):
Thank you much, all right, Tom, thanks so much.

Speaker 2 (27:36):
Some of those stories Jack talked about you can read
about in more detail in They Call Me Goose, the
book he did with Doug Brook that is available.

Speaker 1 (27:46):
Out there if.

Speaker 2 (27:47):
You haven't picked one up yet, or you know somebody
that would love to get a chance to read that
that They Call Me Goose with Jack Gibbs and Doug
Brounk will be right back with Justin Rowland on the
Leech Report presented by Bob cat Ederprises. It is the
Late Tripport and we welcome Justin Roland to the program
from Katz Illustrated dot Com. Saw in your feed on

(28:08):
x Justin that you spoke to the Louisville Quarterback Club
this week.

Speaker 1 (28:12):
Great group.

Speaker 5 (28:12):
Yeah, yeah, that was a great group. I know you've
you've spoken to him in the past, and they've had
a ton of great speakers. With football season right here
and fifty new players, there were no shortage of questions.
But it was great to get to know some of
those guys. Great backgrounds and they love UK.

Speaker 2 (28:28):
And but there's a lot of U of l fans
there too. So you have a cross section of people
that just love sports and that particular group it's focused
on football and it's a it's an outstanding group that
gets together I guess weekly, but they always get some
interesting guests. So congrats to you on on doing that

(28:51):
and well anything particularly noteworthy or surprising that you got
in a question.

Speaker 5 (28:59):
And Mark Krebs is doing a great job with that group.
It's a fun way to talk football, I would say, nil,
and even realignment and just where is the sport going
and how is UK managing it? Navigating it was generally
something that people were interested in. There was less interest
in Vince Morrow than I would have guessed that. You know,

(29:19):
I think the crowd was more heavily UK since it
was me yesterday. But I think people were asking just
who are some of the players on the roster this
year that are going to be the most important players
for UK and that kind of speaks to just you know,
I think familiarity is just going to be an issue
for a lot of fans going into the season because

(29:40):
you're getting used to a lot of transfers and people
that you have never heard of until a few months ago.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
Yeah, I think one guy that I can guarantee you
will be a topic of conversation on the Monday after
the first game. Well, we all gather on shows like
this is going to be the quarterback that's just natural
out good or bad. But beyond Zach and maybe Cutter,

(30:06):
what are who are the other guys you think people
would would be talking about after the first game?

Speaker 1 (30:11):
Is your hunch?

Speaker 5 (30:13):
I mean, other than the quarterbacks, other positions.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
Position, or just the individuals. Yeah, more and more individuals
and positions. It's gonna be whoever's the quarterback? They're gonna
be talking about that obviously because such an uncertainty.

Speaker 1 (30:26):
But what else?

Speaker 5 (30:27):
I think Seth McAllen is somebody that is going to
be really interesting to see. I mean, given the role
that he's gonna have and how how good the running
game needs to be, that's gonna be huge. I mean,
for Kentucky to have a chance at making this season interesting,
they have to be able to run the ball well.
If they run the ball well, then they can force

(30:49):
opponents to play the kind of game that they're comfortable playing,
and that'll give them a shot or maybe even an
advantage in some of a few of these games that
look like long shots on paper going into the season,
like Auburn or South Carolina or Florida or Tennessee where
ar Louisville with their quarterback situation. Tennessee, if they can
run the ball well, they have a chance in those

(31:11):
games and that could totally reshape what is possible for
the season. So they have to be able to run
at mcgallen, and I think it's gonna be really important.

Speaker 1 (31:18):
He's the name that comes up consistently.

Speaker 2 (31:21):
If you talk you have a chance to talk to
anybody that you know knows somebody on the staff or
on the team, or you'll watch practices or whatever. You'll
get different names, but that is the one that most
consistently gets mentioned.

Speaker 1 (31:33):
I think yeah.

Speaker 5 (31:35):
I mean he he flashed the potential last year in
New Mexico State. The usage was interesting. You know, when
Kentucky had Wilcox in the game last year, they gave
him the ball. He ran the ball. That's just what
they trusted him to do. When mcgallen was in the game,
it was a bunch of stuff. I mean it was
a lot of He was targeted a lot in the
passing game, a lot of rushing attempts, he ran outside

(31:58):
a lot like Wilcox, but in between the tackles as well.
And I mean, I feel like we know what Willcox is,
we pretty much know what Patterson is, we know what
dwbd all is expected to be. And McGowan is the variable.
You know, if he can be a guy that rushes
for twelve hundred yards, then yeah, you could have a
very different season. Maybe they have a Ray Davis kind

(32:19):
of season. Then it wouldn't be shocking to see Kentucky
push for six or seven wins. But that is a
long that is a long shot.

Speaker 4 (32:25):
But that's that's.

Speaker 5 (32:26):
Where the hope is.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
Ray was a great catcher of the ball out of
the backfield in addition to running it. There've been, you know,
others like that through the years. Anthony White's one of
the all time best in terms of you know, cat,
successful runner and receiver planing that air raid system. But
McGowan's a guy that certainly showed that. Law is a

(32:49):
guy that transfer from Alabama that Bush Hampton talked up
at the kickoff luncheon. He's a guy that they could
you know, he's a wide receiver but also a kick returner.
He's going to be a versatile guy for them.

Speaker 5 (33:00):
Yeah, I think for Law it's going to be about
how how do they design plays for him? How do
they what do they draw up for him to get
him the ball and set him up to succeed. The
one thing that I believe Hamden did add at the
end was he's want to continue to become a more
consistent route runner, and so that probably impacts the number

(33:22):
of targets that are going to be going his way,
but from jet sweeps and wildcat snaps and any number
of ways, and if they could get the ball in
his hand eight to ten times, it's going to give
them a chance to make something big happen.

Speaker 2 (33:36):
Do you get the sense that there's a pretty good
level of confidence among the coaches that in terms of
the level of improvement they'll see in the offensive and defensive.

Speaker 5 (33:47):
Lines, Yes, well, I think I think there's still an
element of the unknown. The takeaway that I came that
I had from the spring was, I guess what the
overall impression was. The offensive line is definitely better. Is
it going to be good enough to let them have

(34:07):
the kind of season that everybody wants? And so that's
the question mark, I would say everybody seemed to think
it was improved, but it needs to kick it up
another level, even another level. So I will say it
seemed like Stoop's was pretty pleased and optimistic when he
spoke several days ago. I mean, they go eight deep
right now. It sounds like I wouldn't expect that to grow,

(34:29):
you know, with the true freshman Darren Stray is the
fourth tackle they're working on, and it's asking a lot
of some guys that haven't done a lot before. Abs
Elm and Malachi Wood needs belts back when he was
really young last year. But I do think the piece
room placed is a question for me. Are they going
to be able to push defensive lines in the SEC
off the ball and blow up and holes. It's going

(34:51):
to be that kind of offensive line when strength gains
had been one of the questions in the offseason. I
think it'll protect better, but is this lying in a
block the run better. It seems like they were able
to run it in the spring, they said, but we'll
just have to see.

Speaker 2 (35:05):
And you know, it's a good Toledo team out of
the MAC that they opened with. And then if you
have an SEC team, it's very highly regarded at all.
Missing week two, so they will get tested. Well, we'll
get some answers in those first two weeks, no doubt.

Speaker 5 (35:19):
Everybody. Everybody I talked to says don't overlook the Toledo game.
And you know a lot of people are saying that
the line will reflect that the movement. I would say
Stoop says a great track record in these games in
recent years. I mean, as long as they come out
and don't fall behind by a couple of scores early,
you got to like their chances at being the deeper

(35:40):
team in that game. But you know, the offense is
the huge variable. I've always had kind of a certain
level of trust that Brad White is going to put
a quality product on the season, even with so much turnover.
Question it inside linebacker. I guess the one thing I
would say about the defense is he said that run
defense is an is an ongoing concern till they prove

(36:00):
that it's not. And with a couple of inside linebackers
that are really really kind of naturally out of position.
But Afari stepped up last year. I do you think that.
I mean, if they can't stop the run, then nothing
else matters. They have to be able to stop the run.
I mean those guys inside have to be good.

Speaker 2 (36:17):
Justin rowlincatzi Illustrated dot com and on the ON three network.

Speaker 1 (36:21):
Thank you, Thanks a.

Speaker 2 (36:22):
Lot, be right back on the lead Triport radio network
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(36:43):
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(37:04):
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Speaker 6 (37:11):
Shufflebean Coffee is the official coffee of rapp Arena and
the KFCM Center make it the official coffee for your
home too by picking some up today at a central
Kentucky Myers store, or order it through Amazon, or go
to Shufflebeing dot us and you can get some product
there and you can also find out about the company
because it is based here in Kentucky.

Speaker 2 (37:29):
Group of Kentuckians formed shuffle Bean Coffee with a commitment
to making an outstanding cup of coffee that starts with
the very best of coffee beans. So put some hustle
in your shuffle and try a Shufflebean Coffee. Happy birthday
Sidney McLachlin Labroni, who had another big win over the
weekend on the Track. James Blackman and Keon Brooks, former

(37:51):
Kentucky basketball stars, also celebrating birthdays today. Wildcat History Notes
and Birthdays presented by Kentucky Roadshows, sports car Cards and Memorabilia.
They are on Romedy Road and you can find them
at roadshowcards dot com. Jake Feldhouse, remember Mark Story wrote
about Darren's son back in the basketball season.

Speaker 1 (38:13):
He is committed to play at Belmont.

Speaker 2 (38:15):
The son of Darren Feldhouse, the grandson of Alan Feldhouse Senior,
both former Wildcat greats.

Speaker 1 (38:20):
We will see it tomorrow on the Leach Report,