2025-09-25 - LEACH REPORT

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This podcast of the Leech 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 Boone's Butcher Shop. Hello, everybody,
good day, Welcome into our Leech Report for a Thursday

(00:20):
presented by Bobcat Enterprises. Thanks to Dick Gabriel for panshitting yesterday.
And went to the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame dinner
on Tuesday night. Got to see and hear from Tayshawn
Prince and Randall Cobb to Wildcat legends that were inducted,
and they both were very good. You could tell how
it was a meaningful event for them and their speeches.

(00:44):
And then a high school classmate of mine, Nora Martin Ross,
was inducted as well as she's a champion trap shooter.
And then Carol Linkey from University Louisville Gymnastics pioneers athlete,
and so that was the lineup and it was an

(01:04):
impressive group and it was fun to be there and
I had a great table. It was with Doug at Ogle,
Flynn Tubby Smith and Rob Bromley. And then Donnie Mulliken,
a friend of ours from Tubby Stay, So we had
a great time. Anyway, I stayed down and did some

(01:26):
Keenland fall meat work at Churchill Downs yesterday. So appreciate
Dick Gabriel filling in back at it today. And we're
going to get to hear from Andrew Carr who was
in town earlier this summer visiting his sister and he
got to spend a week around the Kentucky men's basketball team,
so we'll get some observations from Andrew. He's out in

(01:46):
Portland now going to be playing for the Trailblazers G
League affiliate this season, and it was so we taped
the interview since we're going to ask him to get
up that early to come on live with us, So
we'll have that coming up up here. In just a minute,
the goose Jack Gibbons will join us and Justin Rowland
from Katz Illustrated wild Cat News of the Day, a

(02:06):
service of Giuseppes of Lexington. First availability report for the
week is out for SEC games for Kentucky. The biggest
news on there was DJ Waller still listed as doubtful.
You think everybody was hoping that he would be back,
so doesn't sound like that will be the case. There'll

(02:26):
be an updated report guests later today and certainly tomorrow
and up until close to game time, so sometimes guys
can get an improved report, and hopefully that'll happen for DJ,
but for now he's listed as doubtful. South Carolina has
some issues. Two of their offensive line starters are listed

(02:48):
as doubtful and then a defensive line rotation guide not
listed as a starter on their too jeep Gabriel can't
to Reamo right brownload Dindy there it is transferred from Texas.
A and M listed as doubtful as well for the
game Cocks, so they have some injury issues in their

(03:08):
offensive line even when healthy, has been struggling this season.
The acc SEC challenge for men's basketball start times were
announced yesterday, not good for Kentucky fans. The Kentucky North
Carolina game will be a nine to thirty tip and
if you don't have tickets to see it, you probably
won't see the start of it because it's on ESPN

(03:31):
after Florida and Duke, which starts at seven thirty, and
the chances of that ending by nine to thirty are
probably about as low as you can get without being zero,
So that will be a late one for Kentucky and
Carolina in early December. And Kentucky Volleyball when it's sec opener.
Yesterday beat South Carolina in a sweep three nothing, so

(03:53):
Coach Skinner and company off to a good starting conference play.
They'll be back at home tomorrow night to take on Georgia.
Links to the or is that we talk about each
day you can find those on the bud Light Leach
Report page at Tom Leechky dot com. Back to hear
from Andrew Carr when we return. It's the Leech Report
opening segment presented by Giuseppes of Lexington. You can get
to open table right now. Make a reservation for Giuseppes.

(04:15):
If you can still find one after a day at Keeland,
then make it. If not, plant it around a UK
event or just some special occasion or just when you
want to go out and have a great meal with
friends and family. Giuseppes is the place to go here
in Lexington. Fine Italian homemade pasta, but they also have
handcut steaks and fresh seafood that shipped in every day.

(04:36):
You can see them. Menu items at Giuseppes Lexington dot
com and they have full wine and bourbon selections too,
just in a really special atmosphere with the live jazz
music in the lounge area. If you sit there check
it all out at Giuseppes. We'll be right back with
Andrew Carr. Leach Report's presented each day by Bobcat Enterprises.
They have four locations around the States, so google Bobcat

(04:57):
when you need to buy or rent some heavy equipment
for up excavators, skid steer loaders, whatever it might be,
a new zero turn more for your home lawn. They
have it all at Bobcat Enterprises and fantastic service after
the sale. Andrew Carr is in Portland now pursuing his
pro basketball career, but earlier this summer he spent a
week in Lexington, so caught up to him to tape

(05:20):
an interview about what he saw while he worked out
with the new edition of the Wildcats. First, just what
were some of your thoughts from seeing Coach Pope's second
team together.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, it was awesome to be back for ended up
being able to be back in Lexington for a full
week and got to be around the guys a decent amount.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
Practice environment was super competitive a lot of the guys.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
It was really cool just to see how physical, how
much they want to compete against each other. Really, that
was one of the main things that stood out to
me specifically.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
Was just an early fall practice, which is, you.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
Know, when I was able to watch, you really only
have four hours on the court every week, and so
really kind of limited time to compete against each other.
You know, you get able to in the summer a
decent amount, and obviously once the twenty hour weeks start,
you really pick it up a little bit, but you know,
you only got probably half an hour to an hour,

(06:21):
you know, to really get after it, and so it
was really cool to see you know, them get after
it be super physical. I think the team this year
is gonna bring a different brand of basketball than you
kind of saw last year, but in a lot of
positive ways. Super physical, a great defensive team, and so
we're excited. I'm super excited to watch and keep calling.

(06:44):
But I just i'd say the identity of the team,
you know, I felt like last year we were in
an older team, super experience. Obviously, a lot of fifth years,
a lot of guys who have played a lot of
college basketball, and just from even just being around the guys,
you got a lot of you got a young energy
about the team. You got a bit of a like

(07:06):
goofiness and fun and and you know that's just kind
of the way that they are on and off the
court a little bit. And so they got they definitely
got some swagger and and so that's always fun to watch,
and you know, kind of touched on defensively and physicality wise.
I think it definitely took a step up in that

(07:27):
department for this next year. So definitely gonna be a
little bit different identity wise, but uh, super excited to
see how it all works out.

Speaker 1 (07:36):
Anybody in particular that caught your eye, it's like, oh,
he's better than I thought, or he's got something I
didn't really realize he had.

Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah, you know, I don't know if it was necessarily
better than I had thought, but certainly was super impressed
with Denzel Aberdeen and just kind of the way that
he was able to ratchet up the intensity, you know,
and I was well sching is team that he was
on had a lot of success and a couple of

(08:04):
those days and so it was really impressed with him offensively,
the way he was shooting the ball, trying to play
with with pace, trying to play as fast as possible,
and I thought he did a really good job and
he really stood out to me.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
I think the conventional wisdom is that Coach Pope really
put an emphasis on getting better defensively and getting a
group maybe the physical being a part of that. Do
you think you we'll see a significantly improved defensive level
of performance out of this group.

Speaker 3 (08:36):
Definitely would agree there.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
I think just the versatility, you know, especially you know,
you get JQ back in the mix, and you really
have people who can switch one through five BG super
comfortable doing that. I could see JQ being comfortable doing that.
Moe is obviously a super versatile defender as well. If

(08:58):
he's playing the four, five, whatever, he's able to really
add a kind of different look than we had last year.
And so I'm, you know, super excited to be able
to see what they do there, and it gives them
just a lot of different opportunities to take punches, to
take swings at teams defensively, whether it's in the pick

(09:20):
and roll or other areas trapping things, and just a
bit more athletic, a bit more aggressive defensively, and so
I think you guys will be ready to see that.
Try and get some steal some blocks, get on on transition,
and get some easy offense that way. So definitely improved
for sure defensively, not that we were too bad, but

(09:44):
you know, definitely step in the right direction defensively.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
The point guard is always such an important piece for
any team. And with what maybe you who had read
or heard about Jalen Lowe versus being there for a
week and seeing him in action, Uh, what were your
takeaways about his game?

Speaker 3 (10:03):
Yeah, he's a great He's a great leader.

Speaker 2 (10:05):
First of all, I thought it was really cool just
to see how much he just commands excellence from everybody
and holds people accountable. He's not afraid to, uh you know,
step on some toes and and call people out about things.
And I think that's what you need in the leader.
And so I was really impressed with that. But then
also just on the court, just the way he's operating

(10:28):
in the pick and roll and got to play against him,
and my time at Wake Forest and then also in
the the G League camp this past year when he
was going through the draft process, so I had some
experience with him, and he's just you know, he's definitely
a headache to deal with.

Speaker 3 (10:44):
He makes tough shots.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
And you know, you try to force force him into
u taking contested shots, and you know, you got to
live with that, but he can continues to prove that
he can make them. And so it was just, you know,
certainly the impress us with some of the stuff off
the court, but he does a really great job and
just commanding a team and and really being able to

(11:08):
add a lot to a team on the court as well.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
If you're in college basketball, you hear about the Kentucky
program and and the Big Blue Nation and all of that.
What was it like to live it for a year
for you?

Speaker 3 (11:22):
Yeah, it was. It was unbelievable. For me. My experience
was you know, a ten out of ten.

Speaker 4 (11:29):
It was.

Speaker 3 (11:29):
It was unbelievable for me. And just being able.

Speaker 2 (11:33):
To, you know, play at two other schools and then
now continuing to play.

Speaker 3 (11:38):
There's there's really nothing like it.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
And I think the some of the biggest things that
stand out, just like the standard of excellence, the expectations
you know that that come with wearing Kentucky and being
a Kentucky basketball player are are like no other, and
so for me, it's it's really cool to be able

(12:01):
to now continue and carry that around. I'm always a
Kentucky basketball player, so we're always be on a different
standard and a different level, and so that doesn't just
go away. And everybody who's played there feels the same
way about that, and you know, so it really just
changes you as a person and you're different and you're

(12:23):
act different after you go there.

Speaker 1 (12:24):
Well, you helped Kentucky do some special things last season.
Another member of your family is helping another program on
the UK campus do some great things. Your sister's playing
for a volleyball team's top ten in the nation. What
is she telling you about how that's going and how
she's enjoying her time as a Wildcat.

Speaker 3 (12:44):
Yeah, it was really cool for us.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
She got to come the second semester last year, even
though this is her first year playing, so she was
on campus in the spring, got to come to some
games and spend some time together at the end of
our season. But it's just been so much fun to
be able to watch her continue to grow and develop.

Speaker 3 (13:06):
She's a little bit more of a late bloomer for
her in in her.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
Development, and she just has so much potential and works
so hard so as an older brother trying to look
after care for just hear and how how happy she
is and how much fun she's having with the team
this season. It really means a lot, you know, And
and credit to the volleyball team and they are super

(13:32):
talented and and you know, looking to have a build
on a great non conference season that they've had so far,
and as they had, they're about to head into two
conference plays.

Speaker 3 (13:45):
You know, just recently got one against U L.

Speaker 2 (13:48):
So always always love that, you know, when you can,
when you can take down Losville.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
What about your professional basketball aspirations? Where's that stand right now?
What's coming up?

Speaker 3 (14:00):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (14:00):
Actually out here in Portland now, just moved in and
and it's then a lot of I don't know if
a lot of people, the normal regular public probably don't
know exactly what an Exhibit ten contract is.

Speaker 3 (14:15):
It's a little bit different.

Speaker 2 (14:17):
But I'll end up being with the G League team
this year and gearing up for training camp right now
with the team, and I'll start in a couple of
weeks here and then get to be with the Rip
City Remix this year, which is the G League team
for the Trailblazers, and uh so that'll end up starting

(14:37):
in the beginning of November here, so super excited about that,
and and just continuing to work hard and you know,
try and work the way into a two way or
or our standard deal as well. So you know, just
trying to continue to work hard to be able to
get that.

Speaker 1 (14:57):
Good luck with that. Thank you, Thank you for doing
this by the way, of.

Speaker 3 (15:01):
Course, of course, of course it's always a.

Speaker 2 (15:03):
Lot of fun and any chance you get to hype
up Lizzie, I'd love to be able to do, so
good for you.

Speaker 1 (15:13):
Good brother. Andrew Carr joining us here on the Leach
Report from the Clarks Pumping Shop studio. Return, Refresh and
refuel at Clark's. We'll be right back coming up about
twenty seven past the top of the hour on this
Thursday edition of the Leach Report. We welcome in the
Goose Jack Givens to the program. And Goose it is,

(15:34):
let's see twenty seventh or the twenty sixth is tomorrow,
so that means it's four weeks till the first exhibition game.
We'll be working down at Repparina, so getting close you like.

Speaker 4 (15:49):
Me, are counting the days I'm really excited about getting started,
and it's hard to believe that it's almost here and
go by quickly to get to that point. So very
excited about it.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
I'm looking forward to them playing the teams they're playing
in the exhibition games, particularly the first one against Purdue,
and the fact that you know this started I guess
a few years ago where they allowed teams to do it,
but they couldn't publicize it, they couldn't have anybody in
there and didn't make any sense. So now we'll be
able to see Kentucky go up against one of the

(16:27):
one of the other best teams in the country. Doesn't
count the one win lost column, but it will give
you a good indication of worres things stand, at least
on the twenty fourth of October.

Speaker 4 (16:39):
Yeah, and it's good for us, and it's good for
Purdue also. I mean, I think a game like that,
both teams kind of benefit from it, regardless of what happens.
I know what Mark Pope, he will be trying a
lot of different combinations, just seeing how how how different
groups look together. And I'm saying that's simply because that's

(17:00):
what he's done a lot of in practice. So I
would imagine that's how he's going to play. I think
some of it will come more clear to him the
guys who really need to be out there at certain
periods of the game. That's gonna evolve as they get
more and more into practice, which they're doing now. So yeah,

(17:20):
I'm really really looking forward to it.

Speaker 1 (17:23):
I heard that Andrew Carr there in the interview and
he made an observation by jay Lo Lowe, which is
in line with something coach Popitz said in an interview
earlier this summer that he's not afraid to I think
it was Andrew's free step on toes if he needs
to as a leader. And you played, you know, with
two really strong point guards and Larry Johnson and Kyle Macy.

Speaker 4 (17:43):
Yeah, and I think I always think it's good if
that kind of leadership comes from your point guard position.
Now doesn't always happen that way, but I think it's
good because that guy is the one that we all
listen to anyway, because he's making sure where where we

(18:04):
need to be on the floor on any given moment.
So I like it when it comes from that point
guard spot and that guy takes over the leadership and
with with with low I mean, it's interesting leadership in.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
There that we'll pick up on that we come back.
Got to get to a break. We'll be right back
on the Leach Report. Leach Report presented by Bob Kat Enterprises,
and we are chatting with the Goose Jack Gibvns. You
were talking about Jaylen Lowe and just the leadership from
the point guard position and how important that is.

Speaker 4 (18:40):
Yeah, and the last point I was going to make
about that Thomas actually he has uh taken that role
since day one because from what I understand, back in
the summer when they started first started training, their first test,
if I would say, make sure that to see what

(19:02):
kind of condition they were in, they had a program
they had to go through and were supposed to be
prepared for. And guess what, only one guy make it
made it And guess who that one guy was. It
was Jalen Lowe. So right from day one he had
he was leading by example and that's what you want

(19:23):
from that point guard.

Speaker 1 (19:24):
That's a great story because yeah, it's one thing to
talk the talk, but then to be able to go
out and do things like that that send the message
that you know, I want to be your leader and
I'm showing you that.

Speaker 4 (19:39):
Yeah, yeah, oh that speaks a lot louder than any
kind of words he could have said to him at
that point. I mean, everybody saw it, so they said, Okay,
we got to get to where Jalen is. And that's,
like I say, that's what you want from that point. Guard.

Speaker 1 (19:54):
You know from his media session that he did this summer,
he was so good in that and they were organizing
those with the various players throughout the summer. He's gonna
be one that you will enjoy visiting with in the
postgame segments when it comes to him.

Speaker 4 (20:13):
Yeah, there are a few guys I'm really really looking
forward to being able to spend some time with now
once we start traveling and practice gets more serious and
you and I in there three four days a week
as evolves all the time. Those guys that get to
know us better. But I'm looking forward to trying to

(20:37):
help our fans, the folks who listen in learn more
about these players as well. There's some interesting characters on
this team, and and yeah, certainly Jayden is one. I
mean he it comes natural for some guys. Some guys
obviously it doesn't, but he's one that it kind of

(20:58):
comes natural for him. And when when it comes natural,
you're able to get into more stuff with those guys,
and uh take it a little bit further out from
just the basketball part, although that's the part that we'll
focus on more. But but he's one, uh mole is
one that I'm looking forward to, uh spending a little

(21:21):
time with. I'm looking forward to uh hearing some stories
from Yellowvick. I mean, there are a lot of guys
who who I can't wait to interview and then and
then you know, to see how some of our guys
who we've had, how they've grown. I mean, uh, Colin Chandler,
you know, he's a year older, a year wiser, and

(21:44):
he's playing some really good basketball. It's gonna be good
to hear how these guys, the guys that we know
and love from from previous years, see how they've grown
up a little bit.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
Yeah, that's uh interesting because uh now guys are covered
a lot more than they used to be as they
were coming up through you know, high school, in AAU
prep school, whatever. But still you do see them evolve
over the time that they're here at UK sometimes even
if it's just the one year. But I just imagine

(22:18):
I was watching Tayshaun's speech at the Hall of Fame
the other night and just, you know, very poised and uh,
you know, Gig spoke from the heart, and I was
thinking back, you know, how how quiet he was as
a freshman, and uh, you know it emerged as a
much stronger interview over the time, you know, the four

(22:39):
years that he was here, back in the day when
players did that. Uh, what was that like for you
coming out of high school? I mean, you've been high
school basketball is a big deal here in Kentucky, so
you know, you and James, you'd been covered because your
teams were so good in high school. But still to
come into a place like Kentucky where it's just kind
of you know, the all consuming more so now just

(23:02):
because there's so many other more people covering it. But
what was that like to adjust to for you?

Speaker 4 (23:07):
Yeah? I don't have to look very far Tom to
understand what you're talking about right there. Man, When I
was at Brine Station and coming into UK, if I
could have gotten by with an interview of two or
three words, I would have found a way to do it. Man.

(23:28):
I mean, if DG. Fitzworth or one of those writers
back from those days would have asked me a question
about how's basketball going, or Dick Gabriel would have come
up to me from the student paper and tried to
put a camera in front of my face. Man, I
would have gone in the first closet I could find

(23:50):
and hide out. So for me to go from where
I was to where I am now, certainly when it
comes to being able to handle that kind of stuff,
it's I'm two different, totally different people. And that's one
of the things. I mean, it's really one of the
things that as a broadcaster myself and interviewing players that

(24:16):
I love to see change. I remember my first interview
with Amari Amari Williams last year, and he came out
after the game and I remember how hard I had
to work to find the questions too, And I say

(24:37):
hard work. Don't get me wrong, I'm on out, but
you know what I mean, You've been there to get
a player to feel comfortable enough to I say, man,
you had a double double and he said, yeah, you know,
I had fifteen points and ken rebounds and that was
a good night. Get him from that point to where

(24:58):
he was later in the year where he would say, yeah,
I did, but man, I should have had five more
rebounds and I feel bad because I missed this shot
and I should have dunked that one. And you know,
then they go into it and they really you can
tell now this is the interview I wanted, because now
he feels comfortable with me more than anything, he feel

(25:21):
feels comfortable within himself. And I love to see how
players grow like that. And like you say, sometimes you
can you can get that from a player in the
course of a season. And it's my challenge. I'll take
it as a challenge to get these guys to feel
comfortable enough with me to share to the listeners, share

(25:44):
with the listeners everything they possibly can about what their
game is about. And I think I see that with
players all the time.

Speaker 1 (25:56):
And nowadays it can help pull a little holding money
in their pocket, as they say, because you know, uh, client,
that advertiser might be out there and hearing an interview
with somebody that oh wow, he's a you know, he's
handles himself really well. He would be good, you know,
representative for my company, and you know those kind of

(26:16):
deals we're at there for players now.

Speaker 4 (26:19):
Yeah, and and Lamont Butler, you know he he mentioned
that to me, uh when he got an n I
l deal I think with with Clark's pumping pumping shop.
He said, man, uh this these people called me. They
said they heard my interview after the game, and they yeah,

(26:41):
and they liked how I how how I handled the
interview and how I sounded. And uh Rick Clark, who's
a good Rick who is a good buddy of mine.
Uh Rick Clark. He came up to me once and said, Man,
keep having these guys on. It gives us an opportunity
to learn a whole lot about these guys. And so yeah,

(27:02):
that kind of stuff happens, and that's just a byproduct.
I never, of course, never think about that when I'm
when I'm trying to interview a player, especially and that
one with Lamont might have been after a loss, and
you know a lot of guys don't don't like to
come out after a loss. But man, it really shows

(27:23):
that you're able to handle adversity, or you can be
in a tough situation and still find a little bit
of light at the end of the tunnel. So yeah,
that happens. That happens sometimes that's just a byproduct if
guys just being themselves and letting people get to know
them well.

Speaker 1 (27:42):
Good good for Rick for recognizing that and that's an
interesting story. Appreciate you sharing it, Goose. Thank you much.
We will talk next week.

Speaker 4 (27:51):
Have good weekend, all right, Tom, have a good one.

Speaker 1 (27:54):
That's the Ghost Jack Evans, and we will be courtside
for Kentucky basketball here before long. Next up, justin rolling
from Cats Illustrated. It is the Late Tree Report. We're
presented by Bobcat Enterprises. Fourteen away from the top of
the hour Leach Report. As many great partners. One of
them is shuffle Being Coffee. Group of Kentuckians got together

(28:17):
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(28:39):
hustle in your shuffle today with Kentucky based shuffle Bean
Coffee justin Rowland joining us from Cats illustrated on the
On three Sports network, justin what was your reaction to
the three permanent opponents for Kentucky and how it shook
out for the rest of the league.

Speaker 5 (28:55):
Yeah, it was very interesting because you know, they could
have gone a number of directions with that, could have
seen them given Kentucky, Georgia and Vanderbilt and then maybe
Tennessee or something like that. But I think it came
out pretty well for Kentucky. You know it just based
on the last couple of decades, that's the relevant kind
of sample to look at Florida, Tennessee and South Carolina.

Speaker 1 (29:15):
You know, at least one.

Speaker 5 (29:16):
Of those teams is usually gonna be good, but you
haven't usually had two of them as great. So when
you look around the league and you see Auburn drawing
Alabama and Georgia by nature of their historic rivalries, or
you see some of the games the newer institutions in
the league were served with, I think Kentucky came out
pretty well. There's not that game against Vanderbilt or Mississippi State,

(29:40):
but right now, you'd consider Tennessee a middle of the
pack SEC program, and you consider Florida and South Carolina
a little below middle of the pack. So I think
that's pretty positive for me.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
And it's just it's always going to be very difficult.
It's some years you might catch a breaking you don't know,
you know right now looking out down the road. You
know Alabama is in the post Nick saban Era. You
know there Nick saban Era. They weren't the Alabama that
they were under saban So could they go back to

(30:11):
that time? But you know, next year looks pretty tough
with Alabama and LSU, you know, to current top ten
teams they're on the schedule. There's gonna be some years where,
you know, it works out where it's more challenging the most.
There will be some years where you catch maybe a
couple of your opponents in downcycles, you hope.

Speaker 3 (30:27):
Right right.

Speaker 5 (30:28):
And my theory is that downcycles for programs are not
going to last as long as they sometimes lasted in
the past. It's tough for me to see in Nebraska
having this kind of like precipitous fall off to where
it's like something totally different than it was. I think
college football is going to cycle more towards the NFL
where you're hiring and firing coaches more like NFL coaches

(30:51):
based on just what is the trajectory and the status
of my program right now, Get away from you know,
these hamstringing long term congress where you have a vision
of who's going to be the next Frank Beamer at
my school, Who's going to be the next Kirk Farrance
at my school, the next Barry Alvarez. These thirty year tenures,
I think are going to become relics, just with the

(31:11):
level of turnover in college football right now. So maybe
Tennessee is a very tough opponent one year, but they
make a bad decision on quarterback and they're at six
and sixteen the next I think that's the world we're
kind of trending towards.

Speaker 1 (31:23):
The coaching contracts are are going to change soon or
will it take a little time to make the adjustment?
Don how that works versus what it is in the NFL.

Speaker 5 (31:33):
I mean, I think once the focus shifts to some
of the situations that are out there, athletic directors are
going to want to have a more lean, kind of
kind of able to change and move on the fly
kind of thing, because I mean, you think about all
that the extra money that schools are having to account
for with all the extra scholarships and all the revenue

(31:56):
sharing and everything. It's just not the best honeyball approach
to tie up such a large share of your athletic
department revenue in a coach and maybe keeping him happy
and off limits to other schools in the future. There's
just too much else that you have to spend on
for that to be the priority.

Speaker 1 (32:15):
I think Kentucky South Carolina on Saturday night, big opportunity
game for the Wildcats. If they get this, one gets
much easier to envision the path to a ball game,
doesn't it.

Speaker 5 (32:28):
Yeah, that's right, you know they come out of this.
I mean you could easily imagine Kentucky. Maybe not easily
for some people, but you could imagine Kentucky running the
ball fifty times for two hundred and twenty yards and
eating up thirty six minutes time of possession, playing ahead
by seven to ten points against a South Carolina team
that is explosive but has not been able to have

(32:50):
a clean operation and consistently move the sticks or consistently
run the ball. So I actually like the way the
game sets up for Kentucky. It's just they've themselves in
the foot before halftime and in situation so many times
you almost have to wait to see him do it.

Speaker 1 (33:06):
On paper, there's a lot of things to like for Kentucky.
The way Missouri ran the ball, the struggles with the
offensive line for South Carolina, because that defensive line position
group has been very solid right now for Kentucky. And
you got Humphrey Grace probably as healthy as he's been
since the first game.

Speaker 3 (33:26):
That's right.

Speaker 5 (33:26):
Yeah, I mean Kentucky did a great job with the
portal and the defensive line. Brought in two high impact
Trance like real impact players they brought in on the
defensive line. And you know, Sellers had that injury and
was knocked out against Vanderbilt, and he's got a very
bright future. And the way that Shane Beemer treats quarterbacks,
I'm not sure that they're going to just unleash him

(33:47):
and have him take a bunch of hits just because
they've lost a couple of games in a row. I'm
not sure it's going to be that full throttle. And
if Sellers is having to throw the ball a lot
and they just can't run it. In spite of the
struggles in the secondary, I think that's better for Kentucky
than the old missmatchup South Carolina is not as much right,
We're going to hit you for a five yard out

(34:07):
and you got to tackle us on the outside. It's
more of the eyes where the safeties are looking as
things break down in the backfield. And I think it's
a pretty good matchup for Kentucky if they can have
the poise we'd cutter at quarterback to just execute situations,
not turn the ball over and play pretty clean.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
Yeah, turnovers have really hurt Kentucky in this series. Punch
up the stat here. I was looking at this and
doing some prep for the game, and in this streak
where South Carolina has gained the upper hand since twenty twenty,
Kentucky has not won the turnover margin stat in any
of those games. And cumulatively in those four games, Kentucky

(34:48):
has ten turnovers in South Carolina has three. And you know,
you don't want to be in a you know, a
negative situation. Yeah, a lot, you know, a lot of
potension obviously and rightly is going to be on And
how does a redshirt freshman quarterback handle that environment sec
road game and that particular one, because it can get
crazy there right right.

Speaker 5 (35:08):
The matchup does set up a lot better I think
for Kentucky, and that the offensive line has played much
better this year. They gave up three sacks against Ole Miss,
but the line is top twenty in the country in
sacks and tackles for loss allowed, strong yards per carry,
good enough time to throw. Last year it was a
horrible matchup where the weakness for Kentucky was blocking and

(35:28):
South Carolina just got after it like nobody else. So
they need to stay in front of the chains.

Speaker 4 (35:36):
They need to.

Speaker 5 (35:37):
Have more second and sixes and second and fives than
second and eight and second and thirteens. And as long
as that is going okay, I think that's a good
bell weather for the game flow as far as Kentucky goes.

Speaker 1 (35:49):
A quick note here, we're bout out of ten, but
I saw in your feed on x at Roland Rivals
you noted some interesting stats as it pertains to Auburn's
basketball coaching change with Bruce Belle Sun taken over.

Speaker 4 (36:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (36:05):
Yeah, well, I mean I found deep buried in a
sports journal that maybe a few professors have read. In
twenty twenty one, there was a study the coaches that
were hired with an element of nepotism, and you can
define that however, you want an element of nepotism one
fifteen percent less over five year integral intervals than the

(36:25):
many coaches who are not hired as a result of that,
And that's a statistically significant number. Fifteen percent over five
years is a huge I think that's the difference between
winning sixty five percent of your games and having something
named after you in the different and winning fifty percent
of your games and not having a job after three years.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
Yeah, Justin Rowland, thank you much.

Speaker 3 (36:44):
Thanks Tom.

Speaker 1 (36:44):
It is the Leads Report. You can see Justin and
his team's coverage at Catzillustrated dot com. We'll come back
with our final segment of the Leach Report in just
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chance in the show. Congrats to him. That'll do it
for us. We'll see you tomorrow on the Lead Report,
presented by Bob Kat Enterprises