Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This podcast of the Leach Report is presented by Boone's
Butcher Shop in Barnestown at one hundred Old Bloomfield Pike,
family owned and operated since nineteen forty six, with fresh
meat cut on site daily. Boons Butcher Shot god Day. Everybody,
welcome into the Leach Report, presented by Bobcat Enterprises. We
(00:23):
are inside of two weeks now until the first Kentucky
football game against Toledo on August thirtieth. Now we'll get
a little taste of real college football this weekend with
the week zero games. I think there's a big twelve matchup.
I believe it's Kansas State Iowa State, So it's football
(00:44):
that counts. We'll start this weekend on a small scale
and everybody will jump into the pool the next week
and we will talk a good bit of Kentucky football. Today.
John Hale covers it for the Herald Leader and Jeff
Drummond covers it for Cats Illustrated, and we'll get there
thoughts from what they heard after the second scrimmage of
training camp on Saturday, and then Richard Skinner will join
(01:06):
us from Channel twelve up in Cincinnati. The Bengals are
playing on ESPN tonight in a preseason game against the Commanders,
So we'll talk about the Bengals a little bit with Richard.
So that's the lineup for today Wildcat News of the
Day presented by just Sepis of Lexington, and we will
start with Mark Stoops talking about that second scrimmage for
his guys on Saturday out at Kroger Field. He saw
(01:30):
improved tackling, he said, he quotes the quote, feels better
about our run game, even though Dante Daldell and Seth
McGowan did not take part again, McGowan was seen walking
into the training facility with a boot on his leg
and his foot and Stoops said that McGowan's out, but
(01:53):
hopefully we'll return today or tomorrow. Doesn't think it's anything serious.
So let's hear a little bit from Mark Stoops. After
the scrimmage on the Saturday, get.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
To this point of camp and you're glad to walk
off that practice field with getting a bunch of work
done and keeping people healthy. And we did that, so
that that's a good thing. I don't think there was
any major injury out there. We got quite a few
situations done. Again today we had to continue just to
put the ball down and play and play football with
(02:23):
everybody off to the side and all the communication, all
the substitution, and you know, relatively clean. It got sloppy
later with some twos and threes, with some pre snap
penalties and things of that nature, but overall clean, We're
getting better. We have two weeks to continue to really
(02:45):
work hard and push and try to get things detailed,
so you know, it's a work in progress, but I'm
happy with where we're at.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
The UK Football social media account released a few highlight plays.
One of them was a spectacular catch for a touchdown
in the back corner of the end zone by Kendrick
Law and the other was a leaping grab by tight
end Willie Rodriguez. So I know fans will be thrilled
if they end up throwing to the tight end more
this season, and Willie's a guy that has a big
(03:18):
upside certainly at that position. Stoop's also praised running backs
Jason Patterson and Jamarian Wilcox. They're getting a lot of
work with de La McGowan not participating in the two scrimmages,
and he thought both of them looked good, so they
have good depth at the running back position. We'll talk
about all of this with John Hale when he joins
US shortly and Andrea Yelovich has arrived. Kentucky basketball roster
(03:43):
is all in the United States now. There's a picture
of him at a tennis match in Cincinnati with coach Pope.
I pictures of his arrival at Bluegrass Airport. He'll wear
number four and his teammates will be returning to campus
later this week, so the getting to know you process
can begin, and he'll have to go through some testing
(04:07):
and things, and then practices. I don't think ramp back
up until mid September, so that's when he can start
fully integrating into Mark Pope's system. But you'll have an opportunity,
through just individual work and probably studying tape, et cetera,
to get familiar with what he'll be asked to do
in the system. So everybody always is worried until everybody
(04:31):
is there. You're like a parent worried about your kids
getting home. So everybody's with the team now that is
expected to be with the team, and we look forward
to a lot of fun with that group this season
for Kentucky men's basketball. Links to the stories that we
talk about each day. You can find those on the
bud Light Leach tripword page at Tom leachky dot com.
Our opening segment's presented by just Sepies of Lexington. Keenland
(04:55):
is just around the corner. Actually, they're gonna start selling
tickets tomorrow for the Keenland Fall Meat. And something that
needs to go hand in hand with making your plans
to get to Keenland is what are you gonna do
after the races? Well, how about Giseppes go ahead and
get something on the books now by going to open
table because it is going to fill up for the
Keenland Race. Meat probably already is starting to fill up,
(05:16):
So get a slot reserved so you and your group
can finish off a day at Keenland with a fantastic
meal at Giuseppes, maybe around a UK football game night before,
night after, or whatever it might be. Giuseppes is a
perfect place for those big events. They have a fantastic
menu and a really special ambiance with the live jazz
(05:37):
music if you sit in the lounge area check it
out at Giuseppes. Will be right back with John Hale
from the Hair Leader. It Reports Presentatives today by Bobcat Enterprises.
They have four locations around Kentucky. So google Bobcat when
you need to buy a rent some heavy equipment for
job excavators, tractors, forklifts, getst your loaders, et cetera, new
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location nearest you and they'll take great care of you.
Let us bring in John Hale from the Lexington Herald
Leader Kentucky sports dot Com. John, is this coming Sunday
when you guys do the big annual blowout on Kentucky
football preseason preview?
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Yeah, it looks a little different than it used too,
because we only print three days a week now, But
this is the A one story on Sunday's paper should
be Kentucky Football with a couple of sidebars in there
and mark stories columns. So this is this is what
it looks like this days.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yeah, back in the back in the day, as they say,
you'd just called a tab, you'd pull out the tab
there on the Sunday paper. It was always you know,
as a football fan, you always were eager to see that.
And you see the preseason prediction and articles about the season,
et cetera. So a little different. The interest is still there,
just delivery is a different, little different.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Yeah, it's all still there. It's just mostly online now,
but we do it is one of those things where
the weird print deadlines still kind of work in our favor.
So we always try and make that Sunday paper before
the season opener. Now the front page story UK football,
and this year obviously it's about Mark Stoops and you know,
is he really on the hot seat? What kind of
pressure is he under this year after a disappointing season?
(07:18):
And I'm finishing that up today.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
It was inevitable that there's gonna be a little growing
sense of optimism despite the you know, predictions of folks
outside the UK fan base for maybe a season similar
to last season. What do you sense among fans about
how secure they are and maybe some improved or some
(07:43):
increased optimism.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Yeah, I definitely have felt that, And you know, I
don't know that I've seen anybody who's suddenly predicting them to,
you know, go to the playoffs for win eight or
nine games or whatever. But it does feel like at
least some of the fan base has gotten to this
point where maybe they're not thrilled still with the way
it's gone the last three years, certainly not thrilled with
what happened last year. Maybe even a few of them,
(08:05):
you know, are in that camp that wants to change
at the coaching spot. But you get closer to football,
and you know, the weather's been hot, but you know,
you might have one of those early fall days and
you think, well, no matter what, it's still football, and
you know, and that's what they love. And so I
think that's when that optimism comes and says, you know,
I'm going to be excited about it regardless. Now we're
going to see what happens. And and you know, in
(08:27):
camp you're going against yourselves, and when you hear about
young guys standing out or transfers looking good, it's easy
to buy into some of those narratives. I don't think
we actually know anything more about this team than we did,
you know, three weeks ago. But certainly this is the
time of year that if you're going to find some optimism,
there's there's reasons to do it.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Today's the annual kickoff luncheon in Louisville that the Alumni
Association puts on always have a big turnout for that
and once again their host to get at Churchill downs
in that first turn club. And it's maybe a good
betaphor because could Ucky needs to break sharply from the
gate in this season, and they have a chance to
(09:05):
do that in the first two weeks if they play well,
you know, Toledo's the best team in the max posedly,
and then ole Miss a conference foe in week two.
If you play well, win those two games, you make
a statement.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Absolutely. I mean, it's a situation where I don't think
that beating Toledo is going to move the needle in
a fan base very much because most people probably aren't
paying attention to how good that program actually is. But
in that locker room it will certainly, I think, give
them a confidence boost if they can do that, and
then we know that they know, for as bad as
last season went, that win at ole Miss was one
(09:42):
of the best wins and Mark Stoops senior year, so
they have some confidence going into that too. It's big
for on the field. Obviously, the schedule is really hard,
so if we're talking about getting to a ball or
even you know, being better than that, those two games
are hugely important. But it is also big for just
the momentum outside the pro because if you start slow
this season and let's say you're, you know, two and
(10:05):
three or something like that after five games, and you
could still be demonstrably better than last year. But if
basketball seasons get ready to start and you have not
given fans a reason to check in after what happened
a year ago, it doesn't matter, I think in the
second half if you build some of that momentum, because
people are going to have tuned out, so they really
need to start fast for a variety of reasons.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Talking with John Hale from the Lexington Harold Leader in
the Kentucky Sports dot Com about Kentucky football and South
Carolina at the end of the first month is a
team that kind of set the course in a negative
direction last season by you know, there was so much
hype for that game and then South Carolina just blew
them out of the water and Kentucky started down the
(10:44):
path to four and eight, and so you get a
chance to, you know, to make another statement there for
all the new players that have come in and all
the talk about what they've done to rededicate themselves and
rebuild the culture and all of that that's where a
lot of that you get to underline all of that
kind of talk if you do something significant in September, I.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Think, right, yeah, absolutely, that's it's a situation where I
think a lot of fans, even the ones who are
giving them the bit of doubt, are going to have
to say, well, let's see what let's see improve it.
I mean, there's all sorts of years. I mean, that's
probably where even though last year was obviously the worst
of this three year stretch, but that it also hurts
them that the two years before that, while they still
went to Bowl games, they still won seven games. Like
(11:28):
the hype was so high going into those years in
the summer and they failed to live up to it.
That's when a lot of people are going to this
optimism we're talking about that that might build in August naturally,
are going to tune that out and say, I've been
burned too many times. You got to go out and
improve it. And so that first month the schedule sets
up in a way that they're going to have opportunities
to go out and say, like, these things we've been
talking about all winter and summer and spring, like they're
(11:50):
legitimate improvements in this era where you can rebuild an
entire roster. It doesn't have to be a multi year
rebuilding process. You can come back and be good right away.
Like those are the chances they have, and the other
side of that is if they don't, then the negativity
will just increase exponentially.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
JAB with John Hale, Lexington Harold Leader about Kentucky football
will continue doing that here in just a moment. It
is the Leads Report coming to you from the Clark's
Pumping Shop Studios, Return, refresh and refuel at Clark's. John
Hale's with us from the Lexington Harold Leader in Kentucky
Sports dot Com. And John, you know that there's so
(12:31):
much talk about the offensive line leading into the season.
They invested a lot of nil funds and bringing in
folks there to get it back on the right track
to being something akin to the big Blue Wall days.
And it is really interesting how that particular position group
(12:52):
tracks with the trend of Kentucky football. And there's more
to it than just one thing. But you look from
eighteen to twenty one, Kentucky won ten games twice, won
eight one five, so that's thirty three wins over four seasons.
I would have to go back and look at the fifties.
That's possibly the best stretch of four years at Kentucky
(13:15):
football history. Had six guys drafted into the NFL at
the offensive line in those days, and they were able to,
you know, be a team that was good on third
down and was good you know, in the in the
red zone. And then you look at the last three years,
they were in the twelfth or worst in rushing offense
every year. Last year and two years ago they were
(13:38):
last in third down conversions, next to last in red
zone conversions. All of that feeds back into the the
O line, and you know, the third down conversions in particular,
feeds into having too many third and longs because you've
gave up sacks and tackles for loss.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Yeah, how they had it like the worst of both
worlds last year where they were not efficient, so they
were in too many third longs, and then when they
did get in third and shorts, they didn't and everybody
in those situations knew or they're going to run it.
They weren't very successful in those either, and so you
can't you can't win many games doing that. You can't
have a good offense. So I do think if we're
talking about optimism, like the way this team is built
(14:15):
and the confidence they clearly have in those two transfer
running backs they added and Seth Mcowan and Dante Daldell
because they have barely played them in the two preseason
scrimmages from all indication so far, that shows you they
just don't want to risk getting them hurt before the season.
Like that confidence, I think you can look at this
and say, maybe Zat Calzatis, Stephen Johnson, maybe the offensive
line is good enough to be that twenty sixteen level
(14:37):
to where they weren't quite at the huge heyday of
the Big Blue Ball, but it was building in that
direction and they had the power run game with Anny
Smell emerging as a freshman that year. Like that's the
path for this team to get to a bowl, to
be you know, six or seven wins good. And I
think what the additions they made at the offensive line. Obviously,
guys like you know, Shias Pete and Alex Volschlager are
(14:59):
gonna have to prove that they can play at this
level after succeeding at smaller schools, but they have the
body type, they have some more depth there than we've
seen in a few years now. All indications have been
positive so far. Like I have heard plenty of questions
about other groups, but that surprisingly in preseason is not
a group that you know, the people that I've heard
who have seen them in scrimmages and seen them in
practice more than we have, have walked away really doubting about.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yeah, Kentucky is is not a team that And you
if you go back and how many times you you know,
if you ring a bell every time you had heard
Mark Stoops say, you know, we're not good and must
pass situations over the last you know, three years, probably
last two in particular. They had left us three years ago.
But this is the same kind of team they've They've
(15:44):
got to stay out of those, you know, situations where
the defense can load up on them. And that means,
you know, being able to run the ball effectively early
in the series and being able to convert third and shorts,
fourth and shorts. And you look back at the last
looked at the last three years. We've talked about that
time period a lot Kentucky quarterbacks collectively through more interceptions
(16:08):
than any other quarterbacks in the SEC over those three years.
That's the kind of thing that can't continue.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Yeah, absolutely, they just they just don't have that margin
for air error. And even when they were really good,
Mark Steuts was talking about that all the time, that
like that's why they in those ten win seasons, they
a couple of times both those ears, they went out
and lost the teams that were not very good. You
think about Tennessee in twenty eighteen, certainly some games in
twenty twenty one that that happened. That's because their margin
for aer is just not that big, and so they
(16:35):
can't be having those self inflicted mistakes and hope to
come out in a conference this harbor with the scheduled stuff.
It just can't happen, and so they have to be
more efficient. It was interesting a week ago after their
first preseason scrimmage, we talked to Zat Calzada and somebody
asked him, like, what are you really focused on? And
he brought that up himself. He said, like being a
game manager, which you know sometimes can be like an
(16:56):
insult for a quarterback, but he clearly knows that's what
he has to do, like to not go hunting for
big plays because those will those opportunities will present themselves
but if you're trying to force them, that's when you
get behind the chase and you have those third and lungs,
which is a situation they are just not built to
succeed in and haven't been really at all over the
Mark Soups tenure, but certainly right now when you're trying
(17:16):
to rebuild it.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
That's an interesting point with Calzada. He's over the time
of his college career. Did the math yesterday. He's played
four full seasons and he has only averaged one interception
for every forty one attempts, So he's not been a
big interception guy, playing it at different places. That's who
he needs to continue to be. I mean, guys with
(17:39):
big arms like that tend to want to take a
few chances.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Absolutely, and that's what we've heard the reviews of him
is that his arm strengths as strong as anybody in
the country may be at quarterback, but it's going to
be that intermediate, the short and intermediate passing game and
making sure that he's accurate there, that he's not throwing
it too hard. We know that was a storyline when
Levis was here too, that occasionally he would zip, you know,
five or ten yards into too hard for a guy
to catch, Like, he's got to make sure that he
(18:04):
is making those plays and not making bad decisions. He
can't be like maybe his playing style is a Brett
Favre kind of quarterback, but he can't be that for
this team. You can't trade it's a good play for
a mistake. It's not gonna work. Thank you, John, thanks
for having me.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
We'll be right back on the Leach Report. It is
the Leach Report, presented each day by Bob Kat Enterprises.
And on Saturday, after the scrimmage, coach Doups talked, but
so did a couple of players, including an offensive lineman,
Josh Brau, the transfer from Arkansas, and he talked about
(18:37):
something we were just chatting about with John Hale. When
it comes to mindset for Kentucky's offensive.
Speaker 5 (18:44):
Line, people always say games in the SEC are one
of the trenches, and if you want to win the game,
you have to convert on third and short and stay
out of the fourth and short. But once you're in
fourth and short, I mean it's it's it's live or die.
And so I think it plays in our favorite Just
if you look at our offensive line, how we're built.
I think that's gonna be a point of emphasis for
us for to be successful in the third and short
(19:05):
and hopefully stay out of the third and medium's third
and lungs.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
So that was Josh Braun as we welcome in Jeff
Drummond from Cats Illustrated on the on three Sports Network
and Jeff, you at the races. Horse trainers win more
races with fast horses and you get better third down
conversion percentages when you don't have as many third and
lungs to have to convert. So that's kind of the
(19:30):
mission the season for Kentucky offense, right.
Speaker 6 (19:34):
Yeah, that would go a long way, Tom towards getting
this offense pointed back in the right direction. Is kind
of staying ahead of the chains, so to speak, and
getting back to that old mindset that Kentucky had and
you know twenty eighteen to about twenty twenty one, where
(19:56):
if they could get to third and two or less,
you were very confident that they were going to convert
and keep those drives moving.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
The interview with Josh Broddy got into some interesting stuff
about board games actually, of all things, not video games,
not Fortnite, the basketball guys about a decade ago, you know,
bonded over Fortnite. The Josh was they just went on
(20:26):
their retreat a couple of for a couple of days
last week, and he was talking about they got into
playing risk and found out several of the guys involved
risk involved I love playing risk. And he also talked
about playing chess, and I guess sounds like Shaj Pete
is one of the guys that introduced this. He brought
(20:48):
in chess and Josh was saying, you know, they played together.
Calzada joined them, which I thought was noteworthy. So that
was kind of an interesting storyline that came out of
this Saturday. Do we still have Jeff? Yeah, see if
you can reconnect with him, Rick, and we'll get Jeff
(21:13):
back on the line here. While we're waiting, there's a
note from the NFL network that I saw that speaking
of Kentucky offensive lineman Luke Fordner, Apparently it's going to
be traded to New Orleans for a defensive lineman and
that would reunite him with a former Kentucky teammate. Land
and Young with the Saints, and of course one are
the guys battling for the QB job. There's a former
(21:35):
Louisville Cardinals, So a lot of Kentucky State of Kentucky
influences there in New Orleans this coming season. If Luke
does indeed end up down in the Bayou as the
NFL season is fast approaching, we'll talk about that actually
with the Richard Skinner from a Bengals perspective coming up
here in just a bit. We have Jeff reconnected. There
(21:57):
we go, Jeff, you're with us?
Speaker 7 (21:59):
Hey, hey, talk Sorry about that calls. It dropped out
of nowhere.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
I mean, don't know what happened anywhere. I was talking
about the board games that Josh Braun talked about with
you guys after the scrimmage on Saturday, how they've gotten
into playing risk as an offensive line group and also
playing chess, and how Kyle Zada joined them for that.
Speaker 7 (22:19):
Yeah, I was My job.
Speaker 6 (22:21):
About dropped when I heard Josh Braun talk about them
playing risk at their make retreat that they told because
you just assumed these days that twenty something year old
kids are playing video games or something on their devices.
But when he said that they were playing risk, that
(22:43):
was kind of a throwback to my youth, And even
more fascinating for.
Speaker 7 (22:48):
Me was that Shea's Pete was the guy that brought
the game. Such an interesting newcomer to this team.
Speaker 6 (22:57):
I thought, you know, for for an on line to
get together, sit down and play risk, it really kind
of indicates to me, I think that this is going
to be a pretty smart group of guys, because that
takes some some strategy and and and some intelligence to
(23:18):
play that game well and to enjoy doing it. I
think it might be an indication that these guys are
really thoughtful in their their strategy up front at the
line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
I mean, it is amazing in this age that a
game like chess is suddenly getting a lot of buzz.
Be it Mark Pope talking about, you know, playing with
Colin Chandler or Jaden Quainton's or the offensive lineman and
maybe working at a little Calzada and strength coach ed
to uh play a little chess in the facility there
(23:53):
at UK. Who would have thought that was coming.
Speaker 7 (23:57):
I never would have seen that coming either.
Speaker 6 (23:59):
They kind of make me a little I feel a
little bad at these press conferences in both sports because
I never could pick up chess.
Speaker 7 (24:08):
I don't know about you, but that was a little
bit too too sophisticated.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
For me, we had a I think this is maybe
middle school, had a teacher that got some of us
involved in it, and you know, I got passionate about
it for you know, I don't know, a few months
or something, and then moved on to probably something less challenging,
but it is certainly a challenging game. Josh talked about
(24:36):
how you know you're sitting across the board from somebody
and you learn a little bit how they think, which
was interesting. I did an interview with Babe Perilli years ago,
the late Babe Perirelli was a star quarterback here in
the fifties before going on to the pros, and he
talked about how he and Bear Bryant would meet at
lunch and play this board game, and it was Bryant's
(25:01):
way to kind of get an insight into how parially
thought quarterbacks called their own plays in those days. And
you know, he got some insight into how PARIALI thought
as a quarterback through this board game that they played,
where you matched up offensive play versus defensive plays. So
it is a really interesting thing as far as how
it can pertain to sports.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
Yeah, it is, and it's kind of an indicator for
me that all the stories that we've heard leading up
to this season about this team being closer and have
an embetter locker room, and even though we're talking about.
Speaker 7 (25:39):
Games here, I think it also goes to speak.
Speaker 6 (25:43):
About kind of a more businesslike approach, being on the
same page.
Speaker 7 (25:50):
All those things I think look good right now. You know,
they haven't been hit with that adversity yet in a game,
and that's what we'll surely find out. You know what
this team is all about.
Speaker 6 (26:03):
But you couldn't be any happier with the stories that
they're telling here in Fall Camp.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Talk with Jeff Drummond from CAATs Illustrated. You follow him
on x slash Twitter at j drum uk and if
you do, you would have seen some posts about a
former Kentucky baseball player that is tearing it up right now,
right Jeff.
Speaker 6 (26:23):
Yeah, Ryan Waldschmidt is really on a roll right now,
and it might not be too long until we hear
about him coming up and making a splash at the
major league level.
Speaker 7 (26:34):
And you know, for people watching the UK, that's that's
not a big surprise.
Speaker 6 (26:39):
We saw his talent shine through here, but I think
the speed at which it has occurred. May be a
little surprising for me and look forward to seeing him
get some maybe's maybe it's not at the end of
this season.
Speaker 7 (26:56):
It started next year.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
He is playing for a team in Class to A
called the Amarillo sod Poodles. I have no idea what
that's all about.
Speaker 7 (27:08):
Fantastic name. That makes me want to see what the
hat looks.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Like now exactly, Yes, Jeff, thank you so much for
the time.
Speaker 7 (27:16):
All right, thank you, Tom.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
That is Jay drum Jeff Drummond at Jay drum UK
on X. By the way, John Hale with us in
the first half of the show. If you want to
follow him, it's at John j o n at John
Hale underscore HL. We'll be right back with Richard Skinner
from Cincinnati. Talk a little bit about the Bengals, maybe
a little about the Reds too. Here on the Leads
(27:39):
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cup of coffee they say it goes from seed to cup,
so it starts with the best coffee beans. You can
(28:01):
go to Shufflebean dot Us read about the company, order
some product there. You can get it through Amazon or
pick it up at Central Kentucky Meyers stores. Put some
hustle in your shuffle with shuffle Bean Coffee. Richard Skinner
joins us from Channel twelve in Cincinnati at Local twelve
Skinny on X. As the Bengals get set to play
in a preseason game. They're second one tonight on ESPN
(28:22):
against the Commanders, and I saw a note about maybe
the Bengals exploring a trade for Hendrickson. Is that something
that will get a serious look.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
Look, they gave him the opportunity back in March and
April to try to work a trade out. And you
know team that the Bengals wanted a first round pick
then was before the draft, at least the first round pick,
if not more. Teams balked at that. This time around,
they're going to want a replacement level player and a
couple of draft picks in exchange. I just don't see
it happen. I think this is more Trey's side realizing
(28:57):
they're running out of leverage points in the in the
demand for a contract extension. You know, he told us
back in May kind of he came into town during
OTAs and so I'm not gonna play on my current contract.
Well then he held out of training camp for the
first five days, and I think realize at that point
he's been fined two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. So
he came and did the new famous hold in. So
he's been at camp but hasn't practiced. And Mike Brown
(29:21):
made a point back to the media day on July
twenty third, and this is gonna sound out. I mean
it's as a matter of fact, I mean, Trey's under
contract for this year, so he really doesn't have much leverage.
He can keep, you know, taking his shoe and pounded
it on the table. But I just don't see anything
working out. I mean, if the Bengals can work out
of trade, that may be the best for both parties.
But at the end of the day, I think it's
(29:41):
going to be very.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Tough to do at an offense. Last season led by
Joe Burrow, it's certainly good enough and Chase to win
the UH to win a Super Bowl, but their defense
let them down. How much improvement on that side is
realistic to expect slash hope for if you're a Bengals fan.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
All right, So those are of us that cover the
team on a daily basis. We wrote and talked and
did podcasts for like the first two or three weeks
of training camp. While the defense looks energized and looks different,
it looks way better. And then the first two series
against the Eagles, and it wasn't Jalen Hurts, and it
wasn't sa Kwon Barkley, it wasn't Devonte Smith, it wasn't
a J. Brown, was Tanner McKee and a bunch of
backups that looked like the same defense as last year,
(30:22):
and that was that was. Unfortunately they didn't have their
top two corners, Cam Tailler Britain Dax still play in
that preseason opener. They're gonna both play tonight. Cam was
dealing with a little bit of leg issues and Dax
is coming back from knee surgery. So we'll see if
those two guys help things look different. I do think
it will be a better defense with or without Trey Hendrickson,
I really do. And it doesn't have to like jump
into the top ten if it can just get to
(30:43):
eighteen or twentieth in the league. To the point you
made earlier, that offense, I think it's even better than
it was last year. I think Chase Brown, the running
back is going to have a monster year. You know,
they're multi faceted tight end that they signed Noah Fan
to go along with Mikeasiki and obviously the other weapons
and Joe Brow to pull the trigger. So yeah, that
defense doesn't have to you know, get into top ten,
(31:03):
but it just it needs to get a little bit
better because they lost a lot of close games in
large part because of that defense last year.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Yeah, there's some exciting quarterbacks that need that Super Bowl
win on their resume or at least, you know, super
Bowl appearance. But Burrow's had one of those, the Super
Bowl win. You know, Josh Allen with the Bills and
certainly Joe Burrow was Cincinnati. I mean, he is as
as good as anybody in the league. But you're from
(31:30):
the legacy standpoint. You got to get the big ring,
don't you.
Speaker 7 (31:34):
Oh, there's no question.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
I mean that's you know, he's a generational talent, but
you are measured by Super Bowls. It wasn't you know.
And I were in the era where Dan Marino was great,
and Dan Marino was always great. But Dan got to
one super Bowl never got back again. I don't know
if it totally harmed his legacy. I mean, he's all
the famer, but that's what you're measured by a lot
of times if you talk about elite quarterbacks. Tot Mahomes
is an elite quarterback because of that, Tom Brady because
(31:56):
of all the Super Bowls he got to. Jalen Hurts
is maybe entering that territory and you don't think of
him in that regard, but you know, Lamar Jackson's not
been to a super Bowl, Josh All has not been
to a super Bowl, Joe Burrow has not won a
super Bowl. And those are some of the upper echelon quarterbacks.
But the separator is not only get to one, but
when one. I think that's been the expectation here is
you have a generational talented quarterback. You shouldn't just get
(32:17):
to a super Bowl in his time frame, in his window,
you should win a super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
Yeah. I think that's certainly the expectation for Bengal fans
because you know, he is as good as anybody in
the game right now, you're around you know them, covering
them regularly, and you've seen a lot of great quarterbacks
just covering sports. What is it about Burrow that are
the characteristics that make him special?
Speaker 4 (32:44):
These three things. One is he just processes things so quickly.
I mean he can see coverages and know exactly where
he wants to go with the football. Two, he's just
deadly accurate. I mean he makes He's made some thows
in camp and Jamar Chase has made some catches in
camp where you go, well, the dam picture the offensive corner.
One day was walking through the locker room. I stopped
and I said, Dan, I catch by Jamar and that
ball from Joe. I said, holy blank, he goes, Buddy,
(33:06):
I say that two or three times of practice. I'm like,
you probably do. And so I mean those things in
his competitiveness. I mean he he threw a touchdown the
other day in practice when the defense was actually having
a really good day, and he gave a shout out
to Tanner Huts and the tight end like they just
scored winning touchdown in the Super Bowl, when it was
just simply an eleven on eleven session in practice, he competes,
(33:28):
and I think all those things would make him a
leader you want. When you watch him, you don't go
Pat Howitzer, Wow, that's a gunslinger. It's just he just
processes and is so darn accurate that sometimes he makes
it look really simple and it's not really simple.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Sitting in the office yesterday getting a little work done,
listening to the Reds, and when they gave up the
go ahead home run in the top of the ninth
of the Brewers, I said, I can't do this again.
I turned it off. They won, they came back last.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
Time. I laughed out loud. I was I was watching
it to it. I'm just gonna sit here thinking they
can't blow this. Not not this start for Andrew Abbott,
and not the way this week's gone and the home
run is that. I just I literally I laughed. I thought, Wow,
what a weekend. You blow an eight one lead on
Friday night and lose, You blow a lead late on
Saturday and losing extra innings, and you're gonna blow up
a one nothing lead here in the ninth and yet
(34:17):
then they somehow come back and tie it and win it.
And it was important for so many reasons. I mean
just I think from a sheer confidence standpoint because they're
going out on a nine game road trip three tonight
starting tonight in Anaheim, then a day off on Thursday,
and then three at the Diamondbacks and then three at
the Dodgers. I mean, if you'd have gone into that
road trip with you know, getting swept at home by Milwaukee,
(34:38):
I just don't know where your psyche would be as
a team.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
It's one of the more amazing stats. They their only
team the headn't been swept and it is it, it
really is.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
I mean, they haven't had long winning streaks, but I
think one of the reasons they've kind of hung around
is because of what you just They just haven't gotten
swept and they come down to can't remember with the
number is six or seven times where they had to
win that last game of a series. Keep that streak alive.
And it really is kind of an amazing streak this year,
it is very.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Much so it's a crazy stat. Richard appreciate the time
as always at at Local twelve Skinny on X that's
Richard Skinner, Channel twelve and Cincinnati will be right back
to close out this edition of The Leech Report. Presented
by Bobcat Enterprises. Let's talk about corn bread hemp because folks,
it is hot out there and they have the perfect
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(36:09):
check it out at cornbreadhimp dot com. This is the
Good Life. Women Soccer Kentucky whipped up on West Georgia
seven mil yesterday, so two victories to start the season.
This Day in Wildcat History presented by Kentucky Road Shows
sports cards and memorabilia. They are on Romney Road in
(36:30):
Lexington and you can find them at roadshowcards dot com.
Just a couple of Wildcat birthdays. Kenny Walker one of
the all time greats for Kentucky men's basketball Top five
score and Kenny sky Walker is still a great ambassador
for UK. Ring into Kenny recently at the It was
(36:51):
at the book signing for the Memorial Colisseum book by
Kevin Cook. So happy birthday to Sky and Willie Coley
Stein celebrating a birthday. Will He's back in Lexion now
played with the TBT the last couple of years. One
of the all time great defensive players in the history
of Kentucky basketball. First Team All American in twenty fifteen,
So happy birthday to Willie. And Amari Williams has sided
(37:14):
a two way deal with Boston. So I did well
enough in the Summer league to turn a few heads.
Happy for a Maria. It means he's guaranteed to get
some work up in the Big Show and hopefully leads
to a long career for Amari Williams. Reminder to check
out the Leech Report on w l EX here in
Lexington around five fifty every Monday through Friday and the
(37:38):
five point thirty portion of their newscast, it's a one
minute report on UK Sports. Going to be talking more
about some of these numbers with respect to the importance
of running the football and improving that area for Kentucky
this season. So catch that on l e X. If
you're not in the market, you can find it online
and it's around five to fifty every afternoon. That will
(38:01):
do it for us on the Leech Report, presented by
Bob kat Enterprises. Have a great day, We'll see you tomorrow.
This podcast of the Leach Report is presented by Boone's
Butcher Shop in Barnestown at one hundred Old Bloomfield Pike,
family owned and operated since nineteen forty six, with fresh
meat cut on site daily. Boons Butcher Shot god Day. Everybody,
welcome into the Leach Report, presented by Bobcat Enterprises. We
(00:23):
are inside of two weeks now until the first Kentucky
football game against Toledo on August thirtieth. Now we'll get
a little taste of real college football this weekend with
the week zero games. I think there's a big twelve matchup.
I believe it's Kansas State Iowa State, So it's football
(00:44):
that counts. We'll start this weekend on a small scale
and everybody will jump into the pool the next week
and we will talk a good bit of Kentucky football. Today.
John Hale covers it for the Herald Leader and Jeff
Drummond covers it for Cats Illustrated, and we'll get there
thoughts from what they heard after the second scrimmage of
training camp on Saturday, and then Richard Skinner will join
(01:06):
us from Channel twelve up in Cincinnati. The Bengals are
playing on ESPN tonight in a preseason game against the Commanders,
So we'll talk about the Bengals a little bit with Richard.
So that's the lineup for today Wildcat News of the
Day presented by just Sepis of Lexington, and we will
start with Mark Stoops talking about that second scrimmage for
his guys on Saturday out at Kroger Field. He saw
(01:30):
improved tackling, he said, he quotes the quote, feels better
about our run game, even though Dante Daldell and Seth
McGowan did not take part again, McGowan was seen walking
into the training facility with a boot on his leg
and his foot and Stoops said that McGowan's out, but
(01:53):
hopefully we'll return today or tomorrow. Doesn't think it's anything serious.
So let's hear a little bit from Mark Stoops. After
the scrimmage on the Saturday, get.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
To this point of camp and you're glad to walk
off that practice field with getting a bunch of work
done and keeping people healthy. And we did that, so
that that's a good thing. I don't think there was
any major injury out there. We got quite a few
situations done. Again today we had to continue just to
put the ball down and play and play football with
(02:23):
everybody off to the side and all the communication, all
the substitution, and you know, relatively clean. It got sloppy
later with some twos and threes, with some pre snap
penalties and things of that nature, but overall clean, We're
getting better. We have two weeks to continue to really
(02:45):
work hard and push and try to get things detailed,
so you know, it's a work in progress, but I'm
happy with where we're at.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
The UK Football social media account released a few highlight plays.
One of them was a spectacular catch for a touchdown
in the back corner of the end zone by Kendrick
Law and the other was a leaping grab by tight
end Willie Rodriguez. So I know fans will be thrilled
if they end up throwing to the tight end more
this season, and Willie's a guy that has a big
(03:18):
upside certainly at that position. Stoop's also praised running backs
Jason Patterson and Jamarian Wilcox. They're getting a lot of
work with de La McGowan not participating in the two scrimmages,
and he thought both of them looked good, so they
have good depth at the running back position. We'll talk
about all of this with John Hale when he joins
US shortly and Andrea Yelovich has arrived. Kentucky basketball roster
(03:43):
is all in the United States now. There's a picture
of him at a tennis match in Cincinnati with coach Pope.
I pictures of his arrival at Bluegrass Airport. He'll wear
number four and his teammates will be returning to campus
later this week, so the getting to know you process
can begin, and he'll have to go through some testing
(04:07):
and things, and then practices. I don't think ramp back
up until mid September, so that's when he can start
fully integrating into Mark Pope's system. But you'll have an opportunity,
through just individual work and probably studying tape, et cetera,
to get familiar with what he'll be asked to do
in the system. So everybody always is worried until everybody
(04:31):
is there. You're like a parent worried about your kids
getting home. So everybody's with the team now that is
expected to be with the team, and we look forward
to a lot of fun with that group this season
for Kentucky men's basketball. Links to the stories that we
talk about each day. You can find those on the
bud Light Leach tripword page at Tom leachky dot com.
Our opening segment's presented by just Sepies of Lexington. Keenland
(04:55):
is just around the corner. Actually, they're gonna start selling
tickets tomorrow for the Keenland Fall Meat. And something that
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to get to Keenland is what are you gonna do
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Keenland Race. Meat probably already is starting to fill up,
(05:16):
So get a slot reserved so you and your group
can finish off a day at Keenland with a fantastic
meal at Giuseppes, maybe around a UK football game night before,
night after, or whatever it might be. Giuseppes is a
perfect place for those big events. They have a fantastic
menu and a really special ambiance with the live jazz
(05:37):
music if you sit in the lounge area check it
out at Giuseppes. Will be right back with John Hale
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Let us bring in John Hale from the Lexington Herald
Leader Kentucky sports dot Com. John, is this coming Sunday
when you guys do the big annual blowout on Kentucky
football preseason preview?
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Yeah, it looks a little different than it used too,
because we only print three days a week now, But
this is the A one story on Sunday's paper should
be Kentucky Football with a couple of sidebars in there
and mark stories columns. So this is this is what
it looks like this days.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yeah, back in the back in the day, as they say,
you'd just called a tab, you'd pull out the tab
there on the Sunday paper. It was always you know,
as a football fan, you always were eager to see that.
And you see the preseason prediction and articles about the season,
et cetera. So a little different. The interest is still there,
just delivery is a different, little different.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Yeah, it's all still there. It's just mostly online now,
but we do it is one of those things where
the weird print deadlines still kind of work in our favor.
So we always try and make that Sunday paper before
the season opener. Now the front page story UK football,
and this year obviously it's about Mark Stoops and you know,
is he really on the hot seat? What kind of
pressure is he under this year after a disappointing season?
(07:18):
And I'm finishing that up today.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
It was inevitable that there's gonna be a little growing
sense of optimism despite the you know, predictions of folks
outside the UK fan base for maybe a season similar
to last season. What do you sense among fans about
how secure they are and maybe some improved or some
(07:43):
increased optimism.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Yeah, I definitely have felt that, And you know, I
don't know that I've seen anybody who's suddenly predicting them to,
you know, go to the playoffs for win eight or
nine games or whatever. But it does feel like at
least some of the fan base has gotten to this
point where maybe they're not thrilled still with the way
it's gone the last three years, certainly not thrilled with
what happened last year. Maybe even a few of them,
(08:05):
you know, are in that camp that wants to change
at the coaching spot. But you get closer to football,
and you know, the weather's been hot, but you know,
you might have one of those early fall days and
you think, well, no matter what, it's still football, and
you know, and that's what they love. And so I
think that's when that optimism comes and says, you know,
I'm going to be excited about it regardless. Now we're
going to see what happens. And and you know, in
(08:27):
camp you're going against yourselves, and when you hear about
young guys standing out or transfers looking good, it's easy
to buy into some of those narratives. I don't think
we actually know anything more about this team than we did,
you know, three weeks ago. But certainly this is the
time of year that if you're going to find some optimism,
there's there's reasons to do it.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Today's the annual kickoff luncheon in Louisville that the Alumni
Association puts on always have a big turnout for that
and once again their host to get at Churchill downs
in that first turn club. And it's maybe a good
betaphor because could Ucky needs to break sharply from the
gate in this season, and they have a chance to
(09:05):
do that in the first two weeks if they play well,
you know, Toledo's the best team in the max posedly,
and then ole Miss a conference foe in week two.
If you play well, win those two games, you make
a statement.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Absolutely. I mean, it's a situation where I don't think
that beating Toledo is going to move the needle in
a fan base very much because most people probably aren't
paying attention to how good that program actually is. But
in that locker room it will certainly, I think, give
them a confidence boost if they can do that, and
then we know that they know, for as bad as
last season went, that win at ole Miss was one
(09:42):
of the best wins and Mark Stoops senior year, so
they have some confidence going into that too. It's big
for on the field. Obviously, the schedule is really hard,
so if we're talking about getting to a ball or
even you know, being better than that, those two games
are hugely important. But it is also big for just
the momentum outside the pro because if you start slow
this season and let's say you're, you know, two and
(10:05):
three or something like that after five games, and you
could still be demonstrably better than last year. But if
basketball seasons get ready to start and you have not
given fans a reason to check in after what happened
a year ago, it doesn't matter, I think in the
second half if you build some of that momentum, because
people are going to have tuned out, so they really
need to start fast for a variety of reasons.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Talking with John Hale from the Lexington Harold Leader in
the Kentucky Sports dot Com about Kentucky football and South
Carolina at the end of the first month is a
team that kind of set the course in a negative
direction last season by you know, there was so much
hype for that game and then South Carolina just blew
them out of the water and Kentucky started down the
(10:44):
path to four and eight, and so you get a
chance to, you know, to make another statement there for
all the new players that have come in and all
the talk about what they've done to rededicate themselves and
rebuild the culture and all of that that's where a
lot of that you get to underline all of that
kind of talk if you do something significant in September, I.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Think, right, yeah, absolutely, that's it's a situation where I
think a lot of fans, even the ones who are
giving them the bit of doubt, are going to have
to say, well, let's see what let's see improve it.
I mean, there's all sorts of years. I mean, that's
probably where even though last year was obviously the worst
of this three year stretch, but that it also hurts
them that the two years before that, while they still
went to Bowl games, they still won seven games. Like
(11:28):
the hype was so high going into those years in
the summer and they failed to live up to it.
That's when a lot of people are going to this
optimism we're talking about that that might build in August naturally,
are going to tune that out and say, I've been
burned too many times. You got to go out and
improve it. And so that first month the schedule sets
up in a way that they're going to have opportunities
to go out and say, like, these things we've been
talking about all winter and summer and spring, like they're
(11:50):
legitimate improvements in this era where you can rebuild an
entire roster. It doesn't have to be a multi year
rebuilding process. You can come back and be good right away.
Like those are the chances they have, and the other
side of that is if they don't, then the negativity
will just increase exponentially.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
JAB with John Hale, Lexington Harold Leader about Kentucky football
will continue doing that here in just a moment. It
is the Leads Report coming to you from the Clark's
Pumping Shop Studios, Return, refresh and refuel at Clark's. John
Hale's with us from the Lexington Harold Leader in Kentucky
Sports dot Com. And John, you know that there's so
(12:31):
much talk about the offensive line leading into the season.
They invested a lot of nil funds and bringing in
folks there to get it back on the right track
to being something akin to the big Blue Wall days.
And it is really interesting how that particular position group
(12:52):
tracks with the trend of Kentucky football. And there's more
to it than just one thing. But you look from
eighteen to twenty one, Kentucky won ten games twice, won
eight one five, so that's thirty three wins over four seasons.
I would have to go back and look at the fifties.
That's possibly the best stretch of four years at Kentucky
(13:15):
football history. Had six guys drafted into the NFL at
the offensive line in those days, and they were able to,
you know, be a team that was good on third
down and was good you know, in the in the
red zone. And then you look at the last three years,
they were in the twelfth or worst in rushing offense
every year. Last year and two years ago they were
(13:38):
last in third down conversions, next to last in red
zone conversions. All of that feeds back into the the
O line, and you know, the third down conversions in particular,
feeds into having too many third and longs because you've
gave up sacks and tackles for loss.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Yeah, how they had it like the worst of both
worlds last year where they were not efficient, so they
were in too many third longs, and then when they
did get in third and shorts, they didn't and everybody
in those situations knew or they're going to run it.
They weren't very successful in those either, and so you
can't you can't win many games doing that. You can't
have a good offense. So I do think if we're
talking about optimism, like the way this team is built
(14:15):
and the confidence they clearly have in those two transfer
running backs they added and Seth Mcowan and Dante Daldell
because they have barely played them in the two preseason
scrimmages from all indication so far, that shows you they
just don't want to risk getting them hurt before the season.
Like that confidence, I think you can look at this
and say, maybe Zat Calzatis, Stephen Johnson, maybe the offensive
line is good enough to be that twenty sixteen level
(14:37):
to where they weren't quite at the huge heyday of
the Big Blue Ball, but it was building in that
direction and they had the power run game with Anny
Smell emerging as a freshman that year. Like that's the
path for this team to get to a bowl, to
be you know, six or seven wins good. And I
think what the additions they made at the offensive line. Obviously,
guys like you know, Shias Pete and Alex Volschlager are
(14:59):
gonna have to prove that they can play at this
level after succeeding at smaller schools, but they have the
body type, they have some more depth there than we've
seen in a few years now. All indications have been
positive so far. Like I have heard plenty of questions
about other groups, but that surprisingly in preseason is not
a group that you know, the people that I've heard
who have seen them in scrimmages and seen them in
practice more than we have, have walked away really doubting about.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yeah, Kentucky is is not a team that And you
if you go back and how many times you you know,
if you ring a bell every time you had heard
Mark Stoops say, you know, we're not good and must
pass situations over the last you know, three years, probably
last two in particular. They had left us three years ago.
But this is the same kind of team they've They've
(15:44):
got to stay out of those, you know, situations where
the defense can load up on them. And that means,
you know, being able to run the ball effectively early
in the series and being able to convert third and shorts,
fourth and shorts. And you look back at the last
looked at the last three years. We've talked about that
time period a lot Kentucky quarterbacks collectively through more interceptions
(16:08):
than any other quarterbacks in the SEC over those three years.
That's the kind of thing that can't continue.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Yeah, absolutely, they just they just don't have that margin
for air error. And even when they were really good,
Mark Steuts was talking about that all the time, that
like that's why they in those ten win seasons, they
a couple of times both those ears, they went out
and lost the teams that were not very good. You
think about Tennessee in twenty eighteen, certainly some games in
twenty twenty one that that happened. That's because their margin
for aer is just not that big, and so they
(16:35):
can't be having those self inflicted mistakes and hope to
come out in a conference this harbor with the scheduled stuff.
It just can't happen, and so they have to be
more efficient. It was interesting a week ago after their
first preseason scrimmage, we talked to Zat Calzada and somebody
asked him, like, what are you really focused on? And
he brought that up himself. He said, like being a
game manager, which you know sometimes can be like an
(16:56):
insult for a quarterback, but he clearly knows that's what
he has to do, like to not go hunting for
big plays because those will those opportunities will present themselves
but if you're trying to force them, that's when you
get behind the chase and you have those third and lungs,
which is a situation they are just not built to
succeed in and haven't been really at all over the
Mark Soups tenure, but certainly right now when you're trying
(17:16):
to rebuild it.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
That's an interesting point with Calzada. He's over the time
of his college career. Did the math yesterday. He's played
four full seasons and he has only averaged one interception
for every forty one attempts, So he's not been a
big interception guy, playing it at different places. That's who
he needs to continue to be. I mean, guys with
(17:39):
big arms like that tend to want to take a
few chances.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Absolutely, and that's what we've heard the reviews of him
is that his arm strengths as strong as anybody in
the country may be at quarterback, but it's going to
be that intermediate, the short and intermediate passing game and
making sure that he's accurate there, that he's not throwing
it too hard. We know that was a storyline when
Levis was here too, that occasionally he would zip, you know,
five or ten yards into too hard for a guy
to catch, Like, he's got to make sure that he
(18:04):
is making those plays and not making bad decisions. He
can't be like maybe his playing style is a Brett
Favre kind of quarterback, but he can't be that for
this team. You can't trade it's a good play for
a mistake. It's not gonna work. Thank you, John, thanks
for having me.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
We'll be right back on the Leach Report. It is
the Leach Report, presented each day by Bob Kat Enterprises.
And on Saturday, after the scrimmage, coach Doups talked, but
so did a couple of players, including an offensive lineman,
Josh Brau, the transfer from Arkansas, and he talked about
(18:37):
something we were just chatting about with John Hale. When
it comes to mindset for Kentucky's offensive.
Speaker 5 (18:44):
Line, people always say games in the SEC are one
of the trenches, and if you want to win the game,
you have to convert on third and short and stay
out of the fourth and short. But once you're in
fourth and short, I mean it's it's it's live or die.
And so I think it plays in our favorite Just
if you look at our offensive line, how we're built.
I think that's gonna be a point of emphasis for
us for to be successful in the third and short
(19:05):
and hopefully stay out of the third and medium's third
and lungs.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
So that was Josh Braun as we welcome in Jeff
Drummond from Cats Illustrated on the on three Sports Network
and Jeff, you at the races. Horse trainers win more
races with fast horses and you get better third down
conversion percentages when you don't have as many third and
lungs to have to convert. So that's kind of the
(19:30):
mission the season for Kentucky offense, right.
Speaker 6 (19:34):
Yeah, that would go a long way, Tom towards getting
this offense pointed back in the right direction. Is kind
of staying ahead of the chains, so to speak, and
getting back to that old mindset that Kentucky had and
you know twenty eighteen to about twenty twenty one, where
(19:56):
if they could get to third and two or less,
you were very confident that they were going to convert
and keep those drives moving.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
The interview with Josh Broddy got into some interesting stuff
about board games actually, of all things, not video games,
not Fortnite, the basketball guys about a decade ago, you know,
bonded over Fortnite. The Josh was they just went on
(20:26):
their retreat a couple of for a couple of days
last week, and he was talking about they got into
playing risk and found out several of the guys involved
risk involved I love playing risk. And he also talked
about playing chess, and I guess sounds like Shaj Pete
is one of the guys that introduced this. He brought
(20:48):
in chess and Josh was saying, you know, they played together.
Calzada joined them, which I thought was noteworthy. So that
was kind of an interesting storyline that came out of
this Saturday. Do we still have Jeff? Yeah, see if
you can reconnect with him, Rick, and we'll get Jeff
(21:13):
back on the line here. While we're waiting, there's a
note from the NFL network that I saw that speaking
of Kentucky offensive lineman Luke Fordner, Apparently it's going to
be traded to New Orleans for a defensive lineman and
that would reunite him with a former Kentucky teammate. Land
and Young with the Saints, and of course one are
the guys battling for the QB job. There's a former
(21:35):
Louisville Cardinals, So a lot of Kentucky State of Kentucky
influences there in New Orleans this coming season. If Luke
does indeed end up down in the Bayou as the
NFL season is fast approaching, we'll talk about that actually
with the Richard Skinner from a Bengals perspective coming up
here in just a bit. We have Jeff reconnected. There
(21:57):
we go, Jeff, you're with us?
Speaker 7 (21:59):
Hey, hey, talk Sorry about that calls. It dropped out
of nowhere.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
I mean, don't know what happened anywhere. I was talking
about the board games that Josh Braun talked about with
you guys after the scrimmage on Saturday, how they've gotten
into playing risk as an offensive line group and also
playing chess, and how Kyle Zada joined them for that.
Speaker 7 (22:19):
Yeah, I was My job.
Speaker 6 (22:21):
About dropped when I heard Josh Braun talk about them
playing risk at their make retreat that they told because
you just assumed these days that twenty something year old
kids are playing video games or something on their devices.
But when he said that they were playing risk, that
(22:43):
was kind of a throwback to my youth, And even
more fascinating for.
Speaker 7 (22:48):
Me was that Shea's Pete was the guy that brought
the game. Such an interesting newcomer to this team.
Speaker 6 (22:57):
I thought, you know, for for an on line to
get together, sit down and play risk, it really kind
of indicates to me, I think that this is going
to be a pretty smart group of guys, because that
takes some some strategy and and and some intelligence to
(23:18):
play that game well and to enjoy doing it. I
think it might be an indication that these guys are
really thoughtful in their their strategy up front at the
line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
I mean, it is amazing in this age that a
game like chess is suddenly getting a lot of buzz.
Be it Mark Pope talking about, you know, playing with
Colin Chandler or Jaden Quainton's or the offensive lineman and
maybe working at a little Calzada and strength coach ed
to uh play a little chess in the facility there
(23:53):
at UK. Who would have thought that was coming.
Speaker 7 (23:57):
I never would have seen that coming either.
Speaker 6 (23:59):
They kind of make me a little I feel a
little bad at these press conferences in both sports because
I never could pick up chess.
Speaker 7 (24:08):
I don't know about you, but that was a little
bit too too sophisticated.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
For me, we had a I think this is maybe
middle school, had a teacher that got some of us
involved in it, and you know, I got passionate about
it for you know, I don't know, a few months
or something, and then moved on to probably something less challenging,
but it is certainly a challenging game. Josh talked about
(24:36):
how you know you're sitting across the board from somebody
and you learn a little bit how they think, which
was interesting. I did an interview with Babe Perilli years ago,
the late Babe Perirelli was a star quarterback here in
the fifties before going on to the pros, and he
talked about how he and Bear Bryant would meet at
lunch and play this board game, and it was Bryant's
(25:01):
way to kind of get an insight into how parially
thought quarterbacks called their own plays in those days. And
you know, he got some insight into how PARIALI thought
as a quarterback through this board game that they played,
where you matched up offensive play versus defensive plays. So
it is a really interesting thing as far as how
it can pertain to sports.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
Yeah, it is, and it's kind of an indicator for
me that all the stories that we've heard leading up
to this season about this team being closer and have
an embetter locker room, and even though we're talking about.
Speaker 7 (25:39):
Games here, I think it also goes to speak.
Speaker 6 (25:43):
About kind of a more businesslike approach, being on the
same page.
Speaker 7 (25:50):
All those things I think look good right now. You know,
they haven't been hit with that adversity yet in a game,
and that's what we'll surely find out. You know what
this team is all about.
Speaker 6 (26:03):
But you couldn't be any happier with the stories that
they're telling here in Fall Camp.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Talk with Jeff Drummond from CAATs Illustrated. You follow him
on x slash Twitter at j drum uk and if
you do, you would have seen some posts about a
former Kentucky baseball player that is tearing it up right now,
right Jeff.
Speaker 6 (26:23):
Yeah, Ryan Waldschmidt is really on a roll right now,
and it might not be too long until we hear
about him coming up and making a splash at the
major league level.
Speaker 7 (26:34):
And you know, for people watching the UK, that's that's
not a big surprise.
Speaker 6 (26:39):
We saw his talent shine through here, but I think
the speed at which it has occurred. May be a
little surprising for me and look forward to seeing him
get some maybe's maybe it's not at the end of
this season.
Speaker 7 (26:56):
It started next year.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
He is playing for a team in Class to A
called the Amarillo sod Poodles. I have no idea what
that's all about.
Speaker 7 (27:08):
Fantastic name. That makes me want to see what the
hat looks.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Like now exactly, Yes, Jeff, thank you so much for
the time.
Speaker 7 (27:16):
All right, thank you, Tom.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
That is Jay drum Jeff Drummond at Jay drum UK
on X. By the way, John Hale with us in
the first half of the show. If you want to
follow him, it's at John j o n at John
Hale underscore HL. We'll be right back with Richard Skinner
from Cincinnati. Talk a little bit about the Bengals, maybe
a little about the Reds too. Here on the Leads
(27:39):
Report Radio Network presented by Bob Can Enterprises. Cheffle Bean
Coffee is one of the great partners of The Leads Report.
They be with us for over a decade. Down a
group of Kentuckians got together to form the company back
in twenty twelve with a commitment to making the best
cup of coffee they say it goes from seed to cup,
so it starts with the best coffee beans. You can
(28:01):
go to Shufflebean dot Us read about the company, order
some product there. You can get it through Amazon or
pick it up at Central Kentucky Meyers stores. Put some
hustle in your shuffle with shuffle Bean Coffee. Richard Skinner
joins us from Channel twelve in Cincinnati at Local twelve
Skinny on X. As the Bengals get set to play
in a preseason game. They're second one tonight on ESPN
(28:22):
against the Commanders, and I saw a note about maybe
the Bengals exploring a trade for Hendrickson. Is that something
that will get a serious look.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
Look, they gave him the opportunity back in March and
April to try to work a trade out. And you
know team that the Bengals wanted a first round pick
then was before the draft, at least the first round pick,
if not more. Teams balked at that. This time around,
they're going to want a replacement level player and a
couple of draft picks in exchange. I just don't see
it happen. I think this is more Trey's side realizing
(28:57):
they're running out of leverage points in the in the
demand for a contract extension. You know, he told us
back in May kind of he came into town during
OTAs and so I'm not gonna play on my current contract.
Well then he held out of training camp for the
first five days, and I think realize at that point
he's been fined two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. So
he came and did the new famous hold in. So
he's been at camp but hasn't practiced. And Mike Brown
(29:21):
made a point back to the media day on July
twenty third, and this is gonna sound out. I mean
it's as a matter of fact, I mean, Trey's under
contract for this year, so he really doesn't have much leverage.
He can keep, you know, taking his shoe and pounded
it on the table. But I just don't see anything
working out. I mean, if the Bengals can work out
of trade, that may be the best for both parties.
But at the end of the day, I think it's
(29:41):
going to be very.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Tough to do at an offense. Last season led by
Joe Burrow, it's certainly good enough and Chase to win
the UH to win a Super Bowl, but their defense
let them down. How much improvement on that side is
realistic to expect slash hope for if you're a Bengals fan.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
All right, So those are of us that cover the
team on a daily basis. We wrote and talked and
did podcasts for like the first two or three weeks
of training camp. While the defense looks energized and looks different,
it looks way better. And then the first two series
against the Eagles, and it wasn't Jalen Hurts, and it
wasn't sa Kwon Barkley, it wasn't Devonte Smith, it wasn't
a J. Brown, was Tanner McKee and a bunch of
backups that looked like the same defense as last year,
(30:22):
and that was that was. Unfortunately they didn't have their
top two corners, Cam Tailler Britain Dax still play in
that preseason opener. They're gonna both play tonight. Cam was
dealing with a little bit of leg issues and Dax
is coming back from knee surgery. So we'll see if
those two guys help things look different. I do think
it will be a better defense with or without Trey Hendrickson,
I really do. And it doesn't have to like jump
into the top ten if it can just get to
(30:43):
eighteen or twentieth in the league. To the point you
made earlier, that offense, I think it's even better than
it was last year. I think Chase Brown, the running
back is going to have a monster year. You know,
they're multi faceted tight end that they signed Noah Fan
to go along with Mikeasiki and obviously the other weapons
and Joe Brow to pull the trigger. So yeah, that
defense doesn't have to you know, get into top ten,
(31:03):
but it just it needs to get a little bit
better because they lost a lot of close games in
large part because of that defense last year.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Yeah, there's some exciting quarterbacks that need that Super Bowl
win on their resume or at least, you know, super
Bowl appearance. But Burrow's had one of those, the Super
Bowl win. You know, Josh Allen with the Bills and
certainly Joe Burrow was Cincinnati. I mean, he is as
as good as anybody in the league. But you're from
(31:30):
the legacy standpoint. You got to get the big ring,
don't you.
Speaker 7 (31:34):
Oh, there's no question.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
I mean that's you know, he's a generational talent, but
you are measured by Super Bowls. It wasn't you know.
And I were in the era where Dan Marino was great,
and Dan Marino was always great. But Dan got to
one super Bowl never got back again. I don't know
if it totally harmed his legacy. I mean, he's all
the famer, but that's what you're measured by a lot
of times if you talk about elite quarterbacks. Tot Mahomes
is an elite quarterback because of that, Tom Brady because
(31:56):
of all the Super Bowls he got to. Jalen Hurts
is maybe entering that territory and you don't think of
him in that regard, but you know, Lamar Jackson's not
been to a super Bowl, Josh All has not been
to a super Bowl, Joe Burrow has not won a
super Bowl. And those are some of the upper echelon quarterbacks.
But the separator is not only get to one, but
when one. I think that's been the expectation here is
you have a generational talented quarterback. You shouldn't just get
(32:17):
to a super Bowl in his time frame, in his window,
you should win a super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
Yeah. I think that's certainly the expectation for Bengal fans
because you know, he is as good as anybody in
the game right now, you're around you know them, covering
them regularly, and you've seen a lot of great quarterbacks
just covering sports. What is it about Burrow that are
the characteristics that make him special?
Speaker 4 (32:44):
These three things. One is he just processes things so quickly.
I mean he can see coverages and know exactly where
he wants to go with the football. Two, he's just
deadly accurate. I mean he makes He's made some thows
in camp and Jamar Chase has made some catches in
camp where you go, well, the dam picture the offensive corner.
One day was walking through the locker room. I stopped
and I said, Dan, I catch by Jamar and that
ball from Joe. I said, holy blank, he goes, Buddy,
(33:06):
I say that two or three times of practice. I'm like,
you probably do. And so I mean those things in
his competitiveness. I mean he he threw a touchdown the
other day in practice when the defense was actually having
a really good day, and he gave a shout out
to Tanner Huts and the tight end like they just
scored winning touchdown in the Super Bowl, when it was
just simply an eleven on eleven session in practice, he competes,
(33:28):
and I think all those things would make him a
leader you want. When you watch him, you don't go
Pat Howitzer, Wow, that's a gunslinger. It's just he just
processes and is so darn accurate that sometimes he makes
it look really simple and it's not really simple.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Sitting in the office yesterday getting a little work done,
listening to the Reds, and when they gave up the
go ahead home run in the top of the ninth
of the Brewers, I said, I can't do this again.
I turned it off. They won, they came back last.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
Time. I laughed out loud. I was I was watching
it to it. I'm just gonna sit here thinking they
can't blow this. Not not this start for Andrew Abbott,
and not the way this week's gone and the home
run is that. I just I literally I laughed. I thought, Wow,
what a weekend. You blow an eight one lead on
Friday night and lose, You blow a lead late on
Saturday and losing extra innings, and you're gonna blow up
a one nothing lead here in the ninth and yet
(34:17):
then they somehow come back and tie it and win it.
And it was important for so many reasons. I mean
just I think from a sheer confidence standpoint because they're
going out on a nine game road trip three tonight
starting tonight in Anaheim, then a day off on Thursday,
and then three at the Diamondbacks and then three at
the Dodgers. I mean, if you'd have gone into that
road trip with you know, getting swept at home by Milwaukee,
(34:38):
I just don't know where your psyche would be as
a team.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
It's one of the more amazing stats. They their only
team the headn't been swept and it is it, it
really is.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
I mean, they haven't had long winning streaks, but I
think one of the reasons they've kind of hung around
is because of what you just They just haven't gotten
swept and they come down to can't remember with the
number is six or seven times where they had to
win that last game of a series. Keep that streak alive.
And it really is kind of an amazing streak this year,
it is very.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Much so it's a crazy stat. Richard appreciate the time
as always at at Local twelve Skinny on X that's
Richard Skinner, Channel twelve and Cincinnati will be right back
to close out this edition of The Leech Report. Presented
by Bobcat Enterprises. Let's talk about corn bread hemp because folks,
it is hot out there and they have the perfect
(35:25):
way to help you cool down. It's their new infused Seltzers,
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(36:09):
check it out at cornbreadhimp dot com. This is the
Good Life. Women Soccer Kentucky whipped up on West Georgia
seven mil yesterday, so two victories to start the season.
This Day in Wildcat History presented by Kentucky Road Shows
sports cards and memorabilia. They are on Romney Road in
(36:30):
Lexington and you can find them at roadshowcards dot com.
Just a couple of Wildcat birthdays. Kenny Walker one of
the all time greats for Kentucky men's basketball Top five
score and Kenny sky Walker is still a great ambassador
for UK. Ring into Kenny recently at the It was
(36:51):
at the book signing for the Memorial Colisseum book by
Kevin Cook. So happy birthday to Sky and Willie Coley
Stein celebrating a birthday. Will He's back in Lexion now
played with the TBT the last couple of years. One
of the all time great defensive players in the history
of Kentucky basketball. First Team All American in twenty fifteen,
So happy birthday to Willie. And Amari Williams has sided
(37:14):
a two way deal with Boston. So I did well
enough in the Summer league to turn a few heads.
Happy for a Maria. It means he's guaranteed to get
some work up in the Big Show and hopefully leads
to a long career for Amari Williams. Reminder to check
out the Leech Report on w l EX here in
Lexington around five fifty every Monday through Friday and the
(37:38):
five point thirty portion of their newscast, it's a one
minute report on UK Sports. Going to be talking more
about some of these numbers with respect to the importance
of running the football and improving that area for Kentucky
this season. So catch that on l e X. If
you're not in the market, you can find it online
and it's around five to fifty every afternoon. That will
(38:01):
do it for us on the Leech Report, presented by
Bob kat Enterprises. Have a great day, We'll see you tomorrow.
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