2025-08-29 - LEACH REPORT

Tom talks with Jeff Piecoro, Christi Thomas, and Jager Burton.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
It is Game Dave. It's the Lee Treport presented by
Bobcat Enterprises, and the new college football season for the
Wildcats will kick off tomorrow against the Toledo Rockets at
Kroger Field, and we will talk about that today. Jeff Pacoro,
my broadcast partner sports director at WTVQ, will join me.
Christy Thomas, one of the hosts of our UK Sports

(00:24):
Network pregame coverage, and I'll get going at ten thirty
Eastern time tomorrow, we'll join us. We'll hear from Kyle Rowland,
beat writer for the Toledo Blade, and also an interview
with Kentucky center Jagger Burton. So that's the lineup. Wildcat
News of the Day presented by just Sepies of Lexington.

(00:45):
Kentucky and Toledo will play for just the second time
when they meet tomorrow. Kentucky won the twenty nineteen opener
thirty eight to twenty four. It's a Toledo team that
has been amazingly consistent. They have a fifth teen year
streak of no losing records since two thousand. They have

(01:07):
fourteen wins over Power four slash Power five opponents, including
two last year. Mississippi State and Pitt. They are the
preseason favorite to win the MAC, and they are. They
did receive thirteen votes in the preseason ap Pole. At
least one player on their defense drafted by the NFL

(01:29):
four years in a row. So this is a very
good program and one that's potentially a contender for that
Group of five playoffs spot, especially since Boise State was
upset last night. So teams in that the best teams
in the group of five, a lot of them probably
got a little lyft last night, knowing that a perennial

(01:51):
power like Boise State dug itself a big hole. Now
both teams. I think if you want to look at
one key stat in this game, I think it would
be running the football. If one side or the other
could get a significant advantage in that stat, that's most
likely going to be your winner. Last eight games last season,
opponents ran for one hundred and ninety one yards a

(02:12):
game against Toledo. I think in the last six for
Kentucky it was two thirty four per game against the Wildcats.
Kentucky was twelfth in the league and rushing last season
in the SEC. Toledo was ninth in the MAC. They
brought in Chip train them from Kentucky to try to
bolster their running game. Kentucky brought in Dante Dowdell from
Nebraska and Seth McGowan from New Mexico State who started

(02:35):
out in Oklahoma, and coach Ja Bolwaer coaches the running
backs as one of special teams, and he talked about
those two running back editions after a practice earlier this week.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
Last year, we had really and truly one guy that
knew everything, that could do everything right, and I had
some young talented freshmen that didn't do everything right. It
wasn't running the right way, and people blamed the line
for stuff, and then it's really my young back that's
going the wrong way or taking wrong steps and all
that stuff. So you know, this is a different situation.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
Now.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
We got veterans that are there that make the right
reads or make take the right steps and pick up
pass pro they're big, they're physical. I look forward to
seeing them on the field in a live setting. So
that's yeah, we can just roll.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
And they'll be working behind a rebuilt offensive line. And
as I said, we're going to be hearing from Jaggar
Burton here in a moment. If you really watch football,
from the standpoint maybe of a former player, and you
study things like the offensive line, then you'll probably be
having your eyes trained on a guy like Jagger Burton

(03:42):
because he's playing center. They tried this experiment a couple
of years ago, didn't work in trouble with the snaps.
But if it works this time, and they seem to
be confident that it will, then that gives them a
very athletic center, and he gives them the chance to
get their best five guys out there on the field,
and that will be a key thing to watch tomorrow.

(04:06):
I think you also want to watch the turnovers. Kentucky
quarterbacks through seventeen interceptions last season, that was the most
in the SEC. Toledo had thirteen interceptions, that was tied
for the most in the MAC. So it's Toledo. A
strength of the Toledo defense is their secondary So what
will Kentucky do throwing the ball with a new quarterback
in Zach Calzada and with a wide receiver corps where

(04:30):
nobody has really separated from that pack of nine yet.
So those are all things that we'll be watching tomorrow
as this game unfolds and see what kinds of tones
might be set for the season. It seems like the
Wildcats have had a bit of a chip on their
shoulder since that four and eight season last year, but

(04:51):
they haven't talked a lot about that. Every once in
a while you'll hear somebody or something comes through where
you can tell they are eager to I think, get
out and try to send a message, make a statement
of sorts. But we see there's a difference between wanting
to do it and actually doing it. And that's what
the challenge is for the Wildcats tomorrow against a good
Toledo team. So we will talk about that as we

(05:12):
move through the broadcast today. Coming up next we'll hear
from Jagger Burton. It's the Leach Report, and our opening
segment each day is presented by Giuseppes of Lexington. A.
Queenland is just around the corner. They've started down at
Kentucky Downs. They'll moved to Churchill for a couple of
weeks and then on the first weekend in October fall

(05:33):
racing comes to Keenland again. And I say that because
a lot of people love to pair a day at
Keeland with a dinner at Giuseppe, So go ahead and
get to open table right now and make your reservations
to make that happen, because it is worth any effort.
You make fantastic food. The pasta's homemade. It is fantastic,
hand cut steaks for seafood. You get it all in

(05:56):
a really special atmosphere at Giuseppes. We'll be right back.
Lakes Reports is presented by Bob Kat Enterprises and we
want to hear next from Kentucky's Starting Center tomorrow Lexington
Douglas High School product Jagger Burt.

Speaker 4 (06:14):
We're hearing good things about us camp.

Speaker 5 (06:16):
How do you feel about it?

Speaker 6 (06:18):
I feel good? You know, fifth one, best one? I
guess no. But seriously, moving back to center again and
having you know, already played it before, it does feel
nice to kind of go back and not have to
be starting completely from scratch and then taking some things
that I've learned the past couple of years and just

(06:39):
moving that into the center position.

Speaker 4 (06:41):
What were the challenges that you faced before that maybe
you had a hard time overcoming that you can deal
with now.

Speaker 5 (06:47):
How are you better?

Speaker 6 (06:48):
I think that just comes with you know, experience and
years of playing, and you know, at the college level,
it's just so different in terms of you know, there's
obviously a bigger there's a lot more people watching you,
you know, a lot more as expected of you as
a student athlete than you know when you come in
from high school, and you've kind of learned that every
year and you get better at handling it. And I

(07:08):
think that's something I mean, I've talked a lot about it,
but that I've really focused on throughout the off season
is getting better on handling that noise and good noise,
bad noise, whatever it is, and just listening to the
noise that matters. So just trying to trust myself, you know, best,
believe in my coaches as much as I can. Stuff
like that, which.

Speaker 4 (07:25):
Has been like is a guy who has to call
some of the signals up front with all these new
faces around.

Speaker 6 (07:30):
Yeah, I think it's been fun, a fun new challenge
that's college football today. I talked about a lot, but
you know, the amount of people that are gonna come
in now in college football and not have any guys
left by the time you know they're on their senior
year is a lot. I think I have like four
or five guys left with me, So I've had a
pretty We've had a pretty good core group but yeah,
just getting to know those guys as fast as possible.

(07:51):
You know, these guys are coming from different parts of
the country, you know, where they've been to college for
two years, one year, four years, however many years it is,
and just getting to know them as fast as possible.
That's why we do things in the offseason where you know,
we have an no line retreat every year, we go
to Gatlinburg together, or you know, we went to ced
hear More last week the whole team, So stuff like
that is really important.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
Now.

Speaker 6 (08:10):
I think just to get to know guys better as
fast as you can, feel I feel a lot more comfortable.
I think a lot of that comes with just confidence
in myself.

Speaker 1 (08:15):
How'd you go about getting confident or comfortable in the
snaps versus when you tried this a couple of years ago.

Speaker 6 (08:22):
I think for me, you know, I just kind of
just had to stop thinking about it as much at
the end of the day. Like the way Coach Wolf
explained it to me when he was talking about moving
back is you're just throwing the ball between your legs.
You can't think about it as like this crazy thing.
It's just like, imagine if you were just trying to
throw the ball backwards between your legs, and I was like,
it sounds crazy, but I was like, dang, that does
makes a lot more sense than trying to just like

(08:43):
like do all these yeah, to do all these you know,
little things, whether it may be you know, stuff with
thumb control all that stuff. It's like, oh, just throw
it between your legs back and make sure it's you know,
in the middle of your stance and it should get there.
And then obviously just a ton of reps. Uh, you know,
just you know, know that I can think that time
me and Zach really got to know each other is
just coming in Saturday, Sunday, whatever it may be, and

(09:05):
just snapping a hundred times and just talking, you know,
just getting to know each other. And I really enjoyed
that time with him, and you know, getting to do
it with Cutter a little bit too. You know, me
and kind of have known each other for a longer
time obviously than me and Zach just both being from here,
but still just you know, asking some deep questions and
getting under the surface level and just really getting to
know guys by while getting better at air craft. You know,
he's taking drops, I'm snapping, So.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
What is it about the skills that you have that
can help you be really good at the tenter?

Speaker 6 (09:33):
I think obviously it feels it feels sometimes better to
just be closer to someone, and sometimes it's worse. You know,
at center, everybody's off the ball a little bit. You're
right on it, so I mean you're kind of you're
kind of face to face. So for running like wide
zone or something, and I have a zero, which is
just a head up nose, I feel really confident I
can always reach that guy. Who do I feel confident
my athleticism And then there's some stuff where, for we're

(09:53):
running inside zone and you got a head up nose,
you got to get two steps in the ground before
that guy gets one or you're gonna get knocked back.
So I think, you know, my skills set has always
been I feel like I've been fast with my feet
and a little bit more athletic on the athletic side,
and I think that kind of plays in the center,
just because you have to have you have to get
your feet in the ground fast, you have to you know,

(10:14):
reach people one on one and just continually trying to
improve at that every day. And uh, you know, coach Frying,
Coach Wolf just giving me all the little tips. You know,
they've coached a bunch of guys, you know, go down
the line obviously with Wolf and even Coach Fry's Michigan
for forever had an outland winter everything. So just talking
to them and picking their brain about how guys they've
had to do it in the past and seeing if

(10:35):
it works for me appreciation work, We'll.

Speaker 4 (10:37):
Treat you guys, went on. Josh City thought it went
a long way toward you just helping that old angus
because you've been here for a long time and most
of these guys haven't. Yeah, you got to have that chemistry.

Speaker 5 (10:48):
How did you feel about it?

Speaker 6 (10:50):
I felt great. I mean that's one of the most
one things. But I've never done We've never done something
like that since I've been here, but just going it
sounds crazy, but just going in the middle of the
woods and like swimming in the pond with your boys,
playing risk Europe and just talking like I don't know,
it's it's the closest I've never felt closer to a
team than after that trip. Just I mean we were

(11:11):
we weren't in rooms with Oligneman, I was with I
was in a room with like JQ Hardaway, Alexafari, like
guys that I don't get to see that much, just
because our schedules are so different. And you know, now
when I see them in the hallway, it's not just
a head nod or what's up, It's like we're gonna
stop and have a conversation for a second. So yeah,
I mean, I feel I think that's one of the
coolest things we've done since I've been here. And it's
definitely been, you know, super helpful into this, you know,

(11:33):
going through this last week camp, getting into the season
of just you know, knowing your brother coach. It talks
about all the time.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
Jagger Burton starting center for the Wildcats and a lot
of eyes will be on him. Tomorrow we'll get to
a break come back talk about that and more with
Jeff Pecoro. It is the lead Report coming to you
for the Clark's Pumping Shop Studio, Return, Refresh and Refuel.
It's the Leach Report, and we welcome in broadcast partner
Jeff Piccorro from the UK Sports Network and Sports directord

(12:01):
wtvq TV. But Golfer today, are you into the round
or you get ready to start.

Speaker 3 (12:09):
Oh no, we're already on what third hole?

Speaker 1 (12:11):
How many underh.

Speaker 3 (12:14):
No, that's not the that's no. I did have two
very good drives in the fairway, So I'm happy with that.

Speaker 1 (12:22):
Well, that's the start and the Cats school. That kind
of segues into the start for the Cats tomorrow. What
are the things that you're going to be most interested
in seeing how they play out tomorrow?

Speaker 3 (12:36):
Running the football. I see how that offensive line has
gelled together in the short time that they've been together.
I think that's the big key for this team. You know, you,
you and I have talked to the coaches and they
want to get back to, you know, the Benny Snells
and Chris Rodriguez era where they're running the ball between
the tackles and do that. The offensive line's got to
be able to move those guys. And this is this

(12:58):
They can't run against this team. It's tough all year
because they out weigh the defensive lineman here thirty pounds
a player across the front. So you know, you and
I have been doing our homework now on Toledo and
they don't have any over three hundred and five pounds.
And you know, Kentucky's offensive line averages six, six, three,
twenty five. So if they can't move these guys, it's

(13:19):
gonna be a long season.

Speaker 1 (13:21):
That is a very good point. And you know Kentucky
last year the running numbers were not good, but that
also fit into their third down numbers. They were at
the bottom of the league and third down right, they
were third and long most of the time. And if
you run the ball well, you're not going to be
in that situation as often. Red zone should be better
if they can run the ball well. So for for

(13:41):
Mark Stoop's teams, it all kind of feeds out front
of the ball. Well.

Speaker 3 (13:45):
Yeah, and you know you mentioned red zone. And the
more I watched dow Dell and look at his film
and stuff, he reminds me a lot of Kajohn Carter,
if you remember from Penn State. He just had such
a knack for getting in the end zone. Another guy
that was really good Sean Alexander when he was at Alabama.
He just had a great knack around the end zone

(14:06):
to finish. Benny was like that, you know, Benny, could
you know? He just put his nose down and grind it.
And I think dal Dell is that kind of a guy.
You know, he goes he's over two twenty, so they're
gonna have thumpers, and I think you hit the nail
on the head. Third and nine is a lot tougher
than third and two, and Kentucky wasn't in third and
two a lot last year.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
I would think one way they could get into trouble.
One thing to really that there's been a big focal
point is turnovers. That could get you into trouble in
a game like this. You have the opportunity you have,
you got your guys overall are bigger and faster, but
the way you get that neutralized is if you are
minus two or minus three and turnovers.

Speaker 3 (14:47):
Yeah, you're exactly right. And look, this is an explosive
team Toledo. You know, for the last ten twelve years,
they can score. They average over thirty points a game.
Last year in the two Power four game, and since
they played Mississippi State and pit they scored forty one
and forty eight. So this is a team that can scores.
So if you give them a short field and then
you give them confidence because they're getting the ball on

(15:09):
an arena field, it's a plus you know, plus forty
five or plus forty yard line. That's where you get
hurt against these guys. You need to make them go
the length of the field. If you're Kentucky, you want
a twelve play drive by Toledo. You don't want a
three or four play drive because that's gonna end up
in a in six or three. You've got to make

(15:29):
them go to the length of the field because your
defense is bigger, stronger, and faster than their offense is.

Speaker 1 (15:34):
And for Kentucky, that's gonna be an interesting thing to
watch tomorrow. I think is who provides the explosive plays
because you're not sure who it's gonna be on paper.

Speaker 3 (15:45):
Right, you know what, tom that's the case I think
on both sides of the ball. You know, remember in
the past, whenever there needed to be a big playoff defense,
Josh Allen made it right. I mean every single game
in a key situation, Josh made an unbelievable play. Pascal
made an unbelievable play. Right. Who is that guy this
year on the defensive side? And that's what. But over

(16:06):
to the offense, who is your Wan Dell? You know
who is your guy that's going to be that big
play guy? Is it? Is it McGowan. Is it one
of the receivers We don't know. Yeah, that's the beauty
of game one.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
You played receiver when you were a wild Cat in
the eighties. Who in this receiver group is is deep?
But there's nobody that at the moment. It sounds like
from what the coaches have said, that has separated from
the pack. If somebody does that tomorrow, who might it be.

Speaker 3 (16:37):
That's a great question. You and I have seen hardly Gilmour,
for instance, make play after play. The two young freshmen,
Cam and Kuizenberry have made really nice plays. The other
guys you're wore possession type receivers. You know, it's going
to be really interesting to see because I don't know,
you know, And maybe finally a tight end does because

(16:58):
the tight end room is really strong. The top three
guys have got great hands and can actually get down
the field really well. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
Willie Rodriguez, I remember early in training camp there was
a video clip that the football program put out with
a spectacular catch that he made. And I you saw
him play a lot up at Cobcath people of Kentucky,
so he's a you know, could be a impact guy
for them. And then Boyer. I've been really impressed how

(17:26):
well he catches the ball. He's a better pass receiver
than we were led to believe.

Speaker 3 (17:31):
Yeah, for guy his size, Tom, I don't think Illinois
you the past receiver, you know, because he goes to sixty.
But he has surprising I don't want to say speed,
but he's he could get down the field, he can.

Speaker 1 (17:44):
Separate, doesn't drop anything either.

Speaker 3 (17:47):
Yeah, and he doesn't drop the football. And when you're
a quarterback, you got to have a guy you can trust.
Remember Jared had Derek Smith, Right, I mean you've got
to have a guy that can catch.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
It all right, hit him straight fo free.

Speaker 3 (18:01):
Thanks Bud.

Speaker 1 (18:02):
Jeff Pacara be of the booth with us Diick Gabriel
down on the sidelines. Tomorrow it's the Leads Report, and
when we come back, we'll hear from Kyle Rowland to
the Toledo Blade. Game Day Eve edition of the Leads
Report coming to you from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return,
Refresh and refuel at Clark's. The Lead Report is now

(18:23):
a nightly TV segment on WLAX here in Lexington. It's
a one minute report mostly on the Cats. Air's around
five point fifty each weekday afternoon. For the segment last night,
I did a zoom interview with Kyle Rowland, who covers
Toledo football for the Toledo Blade. So here's that full
interview with a bit of a scouting report on the Rockets.

(18:45):
Kyle Rowland's Toledo beat writer for the Toledo Blade, getting
votes in the AP poll and thirteen of them preseason
favorite to win the mac's. What's the buzz like there
in the community for the Rockets this season?

Speaker 7 (18:58):
Yeah, I mean, there definitely is a there's hype, a
lot of people talking, you know about the expectations. I've
always kind of explained Toledo and Kentucky fans could maybe
relate to this basketball especially it's kind of like a
mini Ohio state. Like there's a there's a very passionate
fan base. There's like kind of the message board culture.
There's always high expectations. People are angry when they lose games.

(19:23):
They're not satisfied with kind of going nine to three,
eight and four, Like they want to win double digit games,
get to the MAC Championship. So there are high expectations
this year, especially that return a lot of key players.
The incoming running back Chip Train them from Kentucky is
one of the reasons for the excitement surrounding Toledo. So

(19:43):
I think fans, you know, are ready to kind of
get things started and kind of re evaluate. I guess
at about four fifteen four thirty on a Saturday afternoon.

Speaker 1 (19:54):
It seems like the Rockets have a little bit of
a similar profile to Kentucky offensively, in that Kentucky did
not run the ball well last year, had issues with
the offensive line, and that led to poor performance and
third down conversions. So from what I read of some
of your coverage in the Blade, that's those are areas
coach Kandle is really focused on.

Speaker 7 (20:15):
Yeah, no, I mean to a t for sure. I
mean Toledo's run game last year was atrocious. I mean
there's really no other way to say it.

Speaker 5 (20:23):
One of the worst.

Speaker 7 (20:23):
Teams in the country are running the football. Some of
it was because of the line. They had five new
offensive linemen last year. None of them had really played together.
Some of those guys were good, they had injuries. I
don't know, it was just kind of a perfect storm
of a disaster. Like I think the top five offensive
lineman only played together like three games all of last season.

(20:46):
But the biggest issue were the running backs. Just you
know Connor wallins Ax. He's a solid player. You know,
he could be like a good third down option, but
he's just not in every you know down type of
running back. Willie Shaw the other guy last year, had
some injuries, Jock Wes Stewart who's gone now injuries, and

(21:09):
it was more like a you know, a fast kind
of game breaker where every once in a while he'll
have a long run. So now they bring in train
them who you know is a Bell Coal type of
guy who can kind of do it every down. Kenji
Christian another transfer from Virginia Tech in North Carolina. A
a t that they're kind of a two headed monster
that the Toledo thinks can kind of take them back

(21:33):
to the days of Bryant Kobak. Another Kentucky running back,
Kareem Hunt, Terry Swanson. Just a lot of times people
think of Toledo, I think they think of throwing the football,
which they have had success with, but the run game
is always the thing that that really gets Toledo's.

Speaker 5 (21:51):
Offense going it. When they run the ball well, they
win a lot of games. And they throw the football.

Speaker 1 (21:55):
Well, Gleason put up some really nice numbers at the
quarterback position last year. What is special about him at
that position?

Speaker 7 (22:04):
I mean, I think the number one thing with him is,
you know, it doesn't totally get rattled. I mean he
fumbled some last year through some interceptions, so like, I mean,
turnovers were a little bit of a sticking point. But
he just kind of has a little bit of the
it factor. You know, guys like him.

Speaker 5 (22:19):
In the huddle, in the locker room.

Speaker 7 (22:22):
I mean he came in to to uh kind of
spelled to Kwan Finn when he had injuries when Finn
was at Toledo and.

Speaker 5 (22:31):
Was just dynamite. I mean he came off the bench
it was like WHOA.

Speaker 7 (22:34):
So I think, you know, having that entire season as
a starter and an entire offseason and other fall camp,
I think he'll be even better this year. I don't
think there's a ton of concerns for Toledo at quarterback,
and they have a lot of playmakers at wide receiver.
I mean, Junior vand Ross, probably the best wide receiver

(22:55):
in the MAC seems like a guy who will probably
get drafted next year. They got Trayvon Rudolph, who is
all over the career record books at Northern Illinois. I
mean that was kind of a coup, I think for
Toledo to get one of the best receivers in their
own conference to transfer in holy Cross. Tight end Jacob
Peterson is a guy who seems like he could be

(23:17):
a big weapon this season. So it seems like they
have kind of the athletes on offense. It's going to
be all about executing.

Speaker 1 (23:24):
Over on the other side of the ball. It seems
like the secondary is the strength and a lot of
new faces in the front group and the linebacker corps.

Speaker 5 (23:32):
Yeah, definitely secondary, not really any concerns.

Speaker 7 (23:35):
Avery Smith, cornerback, was one of the leading guys in
the country at knocking balls down last season. Emmanuel mcneer
Warren a safety, really really good players, kind of one
of those freak athletes with you know the measurables at
NFL scouts like. But yeah, replacing every single starter in

(23:56):
the front six, front seven. I think linebackers all always
been a little bit at times a weakness for Toledo.
It could possibly be again this season. They have a
guy Chris Dapolonia, who was injured most of last season,
who is kind of going to be the leader of
that group, you know, maybe the quarterback of the defense,
so to speak. There's a lot of trust in him.

(24:18):
He's a really good special teams player two years ago
as a true freshman, and they like a lot of
the intangibles that he brings.

Speaker 5 (24:25):
The D line is interesting. I mean, obviously a lot of.

Speaker 7 (24:28):
New faces, but veterans who didn't necessarily start but played
a lot and produced. I don't think there's a lot
of red flags on the D line. I think they'll
be pretty strong there. There's a history at Toledo of
you know, some strong D line play, so.

Speaker 5 (24:44):
I expect that unit to be well and it has
to be well Saturday for them to win.

Speaker 7 (24:50):
I mean, Toledo has beat a lot of teams, you know,
kind of going back to two thousand, they upset Penn
State that season. In kind of those last twenty five
years since then, they've had a lot of success that against.

Speaker 5 (25:00):
Power Conference opponents.

Speaker 7 (25:02):
The common denominator in all of those games and including
last year Mississippi State and pitt is big time performances.

Speaker 5 (25:10):
Buy the D line in those games.

Speaker 7 (25:12):
And I mean I don't think you can beat a
Kentucky and SEC team without tackles for all off sacks,
force fumbles, things of that nature.

Speaker 1 (25:20):
Scott Roland covers Toledo Sports for the Toledo Blade. Don't
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This is the good life. And again that code is
Labor Day. It's the Leach Report and Radio Network presented
by Bobcat Enterprises. We'll be right back. The Leach Report
is presented by Bobcat Enterprises. Each day they have four
locations across Kentucky and you can find them by doing

(26:25):
a Google search and you get the one that's closest
to you. When you need to buy or rent some
heavy equipment. When you do that, you get great service
from the folks at Bobcat Enterprises. They will have what
you need Bobcats excavators, forklifts, tractors, et cetera. See return
motors for your home lawn too. Check it all out
at Bobcat Enterprises. Heyan Gasden was injured this time a

(26:46):
year ago, but he is in the mix in that
rotation of the defensive front for the Kentucky defense for
the season opener tomorrow, and he said that the Wildcats
are keenly focused on how good their opponent is.

Speaker 8 (27:00):
Take it as we play Georgia. How much energy you
think that's gonna be. That's about how much we're gonna
bring to Toledo. When we get to the we get
to the game, we get to that twelve o'clock whatever,
seven o'clock whatever time they said the game, we're gonna
put the ball on the ground, or we're gonna play
it like everybody the same person.

Speaker 6 (27:17):
They were gonna do what.

Speaker 3 (27:17):
We gotta do.

Speaker 1 (27:18):
Davi and Gatz is there and we welcome in Christy
Thomas from the UK Sports Setwork should be teaming with
Logan Stenberg and a new member of the crew, Ricky Lumpkin,
former Kentucky defensive lineman, joining your team this year. Have
you coached him up, Christy.

Speaker 3 (27:33):
Well, a little bit. Yeah.

Speaker 9 (27:34):
This radio will be a little new for Ricky, but
we have met a couple of times to chat and
he's going to be great. Everybody that I talked to
about Ricky that remembers when he played absolutely loved him
as a player, but also his personality and Ricky has
not changed one bit. He is the same guy. He

(27:55):
is such a great guy with a ton of personality
and I think he's gonna fit in really great. So
I'm really excited to see what he brings to the
table this year.

Speaker 1 (28:03):
That will start tomorrow at ten and thirty a m.
Eastern time to lead into the Kentucky Toledo broadcast. And
you know, it's kind of the perfect setup with your
colleagues there on the pregame show. You have the offensive
lineman and Logan Stenberg and the former defensive lineman and Ricky,
and that will be two of the key areas for

(28:24):
this Kentucky football team that will all be focusing on.

Speaker 9 (28:28):
Oh yeah, what's been fun is to listen to Logan
talk about watching the development of both of these lines
in practice. He's been at a lot of practices over
the fall camp and even over the summer, and so
listening to him talk about what he thinks and how
he's seen the development happen with especially with the offensive line,
has been really intriguing and just to see, you know,

(28:50):
it's bringing together so many new names and faces and
how do you get that done in such a short
amount of time. And that's something that he'll tell you
hen't really relate to because they didn't have to do
that when he was around, right, They had time, they
spent some years together, and they were all really building something.

Speaker 1 (29:08):
Over the years.

Speaker 9 (29:09):
Where whereas now it's how do you bring guys together?
And it's not just the offensive a defensive lines, it's
how do you bring fifty five new people into your
program and really try to mesh them together in a
very short amount of time. So I think that's going
to be outside of a lot of unknowns at lots
of different positions, I'll be really interested to see how

(29:32):
these guys come together and what Mark Stuops was able
to get done in the off season that way.

Speaker 1 (29:37):
Absolutely, and that offensive line. I know at our preseason
network meeting, Logan was talking about how important it was
going to be for those guys to get as many
reps as possible that offensive line, because they haven't had
that you carryover. They get three new guys plus of
the two returnees, one of them at a different position
and Jagger, And the good thing is that they have

(30:00):
stayed healthy in both lines throughout training camp, and they
were hit hard with injuries at the defensive front last
year at this time, and so that it's was a
practice I guess it must have been Tuesday, and I
said the coach Noose, I said, it's nice to see
all the numbers I expect to see out here on
the practice field, and that if they can the more healthy,

(30:24):
the healthier they can stay, the better chance they'll have
to outperform their expectations.

Speaker 9 (30:29):
It's a little unusual, right, I mean, I think this
time of year, we're usually you know, listening to them
talk about how they're trying to replace guys that they
really intended to be in there.

Speaker 3 (30:38):
So Yeah.

Speaker 9 (30:39):
I think for us to get to this point and
not have any real significant injuries that are are going
to be a problem in this opening game, I think
is quite a luxury for them, especially when you're you know,
I think under the circumstances where you're really trying to
figure so many things out, you know. I've had a
lot of people ask me, They're like, you know, what
do you what do you.

Speaker 3 (30:55):
Think we've gotten?

Speaker 9 (30:56):
I'm like, there's no way that we can tell you
what we've got until it up against Toledo on Saturday.
There's just regardless of what you've seen in scrimmages or
practices or whatever, I just don't think there's any way
we can determine that until we get to into the
game tomorrow to know where we are.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
If you think of the players as companies, there's a
lot of unknowns here. So who's going to be the
company who stock shoots up the most on Saturday? In
other words, who are some guys that you'll be looking
to see if they make a big splash.

Speaker 9 (31:32):
I'll be honest with you, Tom and tell you this
is kind of a weird answer, but I hope it's
no one. And what I mean by that is that
I hope that collectively this team plays so well as
a group and as a whole that it's really hard
to pinpoint one person that you've said had the most
spectacular game, right, the one person that you think is

(31:54):
the player of the game. I think that would be
so refreshing for this team and would be thing that
would be so different. There always been those really high
profile guys that we have big expectations of and we
really expect a lot out of. And my hope is
is that you've when you've brought in this many new people,
that they all really come together in such a way

(32:15):
that you go, wow, it could be number one, could
be any number of people that played really well today,
or it's hard for me to pick who played well
because as a group, you think, gosh, just so many
good things happened on both sides of the ball. So really,
that's kind of my hope that we can kind of
consistently sort of say, gosh, I'm not sure who the
player of the game is, but that just says to

(32:36):
me that that means that the team as a whole
collectively really played very well.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
It's gonna be interesting to see how the kicking game
plays out too. I think a La Ross is going
to be really good the place kicking situation. You're following
a guy in Rayner who was so reliable yet Austin
McGinnis a few years ago that way. Mark Stoops raved
about Jacob always leg the strength of his leg frequently

(33:03):
last season, but we just didn't see it. And I
think in the first scrimmage he was six for six.
They said that that's a you know, a question until
you see it. If you're the coach to be able
to trust it, if he has the accuracy that they
can trust, that could be a nice extra weapon. I mean,

(33:24):
you're talking about getting to I asked him the other
day at practice, says that, Jacob, how, what's the farthest
you think you could hit one? He said, well, I
hit from sixty eight on Tuesday, So I mean that's
the fifty yard line. You know you're forty nine, right,
So I mean thinking about being you know realistically maybe
some team the other team's forty five. But the thing

(33:46):
is you're going to give up great field position if
he misses, So you have, as the coach, be able
to trust it. Wouldn't that be fun?

Speaker 3 (33:53):
Though?

Speaker 9 (33:53):
I mean, what a great place for us to be
to be talking about special teams in such a way
that we're like, can you believe what we just saw?
I mean, I think that would be so refreshing and
so fun for this fan base to be able to
look at special teams as really, really reliable in that way.
So that that is so fun to talk about and

(34:14):
think about that possibility for this group. And I'm with you.
I think you know, when when your punter is one
of those people that is being one of the more
talked about players, you know, for a lot of people,
they could say, well that sounds that doesn't sound so great,
and I'm thinking that sounds awesome.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
You know.

Speaker 9 (34:28):
I love the fact that this guy could absolutely change
things with one kick. So I'm looking forward to seeing
how this shakes out.

Speaker 1 (34:36):
And then I think it's guaranteed that one of the
players we'll be talking about, one of the position groups
we'll say is quarterback. I mean, it's just inevitable that
the quarterback, and especially when he when he's new that
good or bad, that's probably one of the top two
or three talking points on Monday.

Speaker 9 (34:55):
Well, and you know, especially a guy that's playing in
his seventh year of football. I mean, you just we're
in a place where you're like, uh, okay, So you know,
I think that that's really unusual as well too. But
I just I like the fact that he's got some experience.
I think he's really really you know, you can tell
that he seems very comfortable, and I loved him one
of the quotes that he had earlier in the week

(35:16):
in his interview, he said somebody was asking him about
doing too much, and he said, no, well, you know,
I get that, but I also kind of know when
I need to be Clark Kent and then I know
when I need to be Superman. So I think that's
very There's a self awareness that I think is so
important as a quarterback to know what you need to
do when and when to really try to go Superman

(35:41):
on everybody. So I think this is I'm excited to
see what he can bring to the table, but I
also am excited to think about the possibility of a
cutter Bowley as well too, and that he could be
and is by all accounts, it sounds like ready to
step into a role like that, and what a luxury
that is for this team.

Speaker 1 (35:58):
Yeah, it was Zach said to friends of mine. We
laughed at the line and Animal House from John Belushi
seven years of college down the drain, but now it's.

Speaker 2 (36:09):
A thing.

Speaker 9 (36:11):
And it's not down the drain. Right, You're like, let's
be taking advantage of all seven years.

Speaker 1 (36:15):
That's right, Christy, thank you much, thanks for having me.
Christy Logustenberg, Christy Thamas, Logan Stenberg, Ricky Lumpkin. That's the
pregame show team starting ten thirty am tomorrow in the
UK Sports Network Quick Break. Can We'll come back and
close out this edition of the Leech Report from the
Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return, refresh and refuel at Clark's

(36:38):
Stay in Wildcat History, presented by Kentucky Roadshow Sports Cards
and Memorabilia. They're on Romedy Road here at Lexington and
at roadshowcards dot Com. This was the day in two
thousand and six that Rich Brooks named Andre Woodson as
the starting quarterback. He beat out Curtis Pulley for the job,
and that turned out to be a pretty smart decision

(36:59):
for Brooks and a happy birthday to Bob Guyett, one
of the stars of the nineteen seventy five NCAA runner
up team at UK last night. In college football, Dan
Key had a touchdown catch one of five catches as
Nebraska beat Cincinnati at in Kansas City twenty to seventeen.
There was an upset on opening night, number twenty five

(37:21):
Boise State losing to South Florida decisively thirty four to seven.
So it opens things up a bit for that group
of five bid in the college football playoff. Tonight, you've
got an SEC team and a future Kentucky opponent, Auburn
in action against Baylor. That's at eight Eastern time on
Fox and saw Rezion Schilders and Brendan Bates. We kind

(37:42):
of expected this what happened. They've been added back to
their practice squads at Dallas and Cleveland, respectively, so hopefully
they will make it into the show soon. And congrats
to UK women's soccer five oh and o. Now after
a six zerol win over per Due Fort Wayne last night.
Volleyball team gets started tomorrow against Lipscomb in the big
match with number one Nebraska on ABC at noon on Sunday.

(38:02):
So good luck to coach Skinner and company. Have a
great weekend everybody. It's the Lead Report presented by Bobcat
Enterprises Best of a show on Labor Day. We'll be
back with Van Heils on Tuesday.