2025-09-4 - LEACH REPORT

Episode Transcript

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 Boon's Butcher Shop. Good day, everybody,
Welcome in to the Leach Report. We are presented each

(00:24):
day by Bob Kat Enterprises. Coming up today will chat
with Justin Rowland from Cats Illustrated, The Gooseschag Gibbings will
join us, and we'll lead off with Dave Baker from
WKYT and our pregame show host with Cameron Mills and
the UK Basketball Network, and Buzz is going to talk

(00:45):
about this ongoing celebration of Football Week for the connected
to the two fifty lex Commissions celebration of Lexington's two
hundred and fiftieth anniversary, So we will get into that
here in just a bit. Talk about today some of
the top high school players who have played here in Lexington.

(01:08):
So that's what's on tap. Let's jump right into the
Wildcat News of the day. It is a service of
just Sepies of Lexington and it is opening night for
the National Football League Dallas in Philadelphia to play the
defending Super Bowl champion Eagles. It'll be on NBC. I
saw The Athletic had part of their NFL preview the

(01:33):
annual poll of coaches and league executives that they anonymously
weigh in on their votes for various awards, and I
thought it was interesting. The pick for MVP this year
is Joe Burrow of the Bengals, and the player who

(01:53):
got the most votes for the player you'd most like,
the offensive player you'd most like to have on your team,
non quarterback Jamari from the Bengals. So hopefully the Bengals
can marry a little bit of defense with all of
that offense this season and get back into the playoffs.
They will play on Sunday. I think they open up
against the Browns. We'll be talking about a little bit

(02:16):
more of that poll in the Athletic about the upcoming
NFL season on the Leach Report on wl EX coming
up around five point fifty this afternoon here in Lexington
on laxat wild Cats yesterday, it was a defensive interview
day for Brad White and guys on that side of
the ball. Kentucky's defensive coordinator said he was disappointed in

(02:38):
the fourth quarter of the Toledo game, and it was
a learning moment for his guys. Luck how they played
in the first three quarters, but they didn't finish the
way that he wanted them to, giving up a couple
of scores in the fourth quarter to the Rockets won
late in the game that kept Toledo just hanging around.
The big challenge this week, according to coach White, is

(03:01):
the tempo at which ole Miss likes to play. Kentucky
handled it well last season. Think ole Miss scored early
and jumped out to a lead, but then Kentucky hung
in and end up obviously winning the game and they're
allowing only seventeen points. But it is a challenge because
Kentucky likes to rotate in a lot of guys, especially

(03:22):
in the defensive line during a drive, and Brad White
has told his guys this, we you know, you just
have to work hard to get out the field because
there is gonna be stretches where they can't sub you
in and you've just got to fight through it. And again,
Kentucky did that pretty well last season. Ole Miss hit
him for a few big plays, but for the most part,

(03:43):
Kentucky was good down around the goal line too, you know,
real basically inside their own thirty when Ole Miss would
get approaching the goal line. So they need more of
that and we'll see if they can produce it. On
Saturday three Eastern time, Kit got a good bit of
rain here in the Lexington area today. I think there's

(04:05):
another wave coming in on Friday night into Saturday morning
for your tailgating, but I think the plan now is
for it to move out by game time on Saturday
afternoon with it being an SEC game. We get our
first availability report of the season and for the Wildcats,
three names that are on the too deep are listed
on this availability report. Two of them are probable defensive

(04:28):
Annie mcke's Humphrey Grace and cornerback DJ Waller. Abselm, a
backup lineman on the offensive side, is questionable. Among the
other names on the list, Jamarian Wilcox listed as questionable. He,
of course, on indefinite suspension for the violation of team rules.
Links to the stories that we talk about each day,

(04:50):
you can find those on the bud Light Leach Report
page of Tom leach ky dot com. Opening segments presented
by just Steppis of Lexington. A lot of the ingredients
for their sides at Giuseppes are locally sourced and then
the pasta's made right there on site. Steaks are handcut.
They're at Giuseppes fresh seafood shipped in regularly. Check it

(05:11):
out by getting to Open Table and making a reservation today.
The food's fantastic, The ambiance is right there with it.
Sit in the lounge area, enjoy the live jazz music
to accompany your meal. If you haven't done that before.
It's a really special makes for a really special night out.
You want to go back Open Table for Giuseppes of Lexington.
We'll be right back here on the Leach Report, present

(05:31):
it by Bob Kat Enterprises for coming to you from
the Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return, Refresh and Refuel at Clarks.
It is Football Week in Lexington. It's part of the
celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the
City of Lexington and this is Sports month and it's
Football Week and so we've been talking about that and

(05:55):
the folks at Brainbox's Marketing got together with a two
fifty lex commission to come up with some fun events
this week, like a showing of Friday Night Lights with
Billy Bob Thornton at the Kentucky Theater tonight at seven fifteen,
and then various lists that are fun for sports fans
to debate, and today we're going to give you They

(06:19):
picked twenty five players that were thought to be the
best of Lexington High school football over the years. Not
going to be ranked in any particular order, but the
list was compiled from input by former and current coaches
and players, local sports media folks, historians, broadcasters. They waged

(06:42):
team success, NFL legacy, college career, high school greatness, and
players must have played high school football in Lexington to
be considered for this list. We're going to give you
fifteen of the twenty five today and give you the
rest tomorrow. Dave Baker joins me now partner on the
UK Sports that work during basketball season working with Caron Mills.

(07:03):
You c ow KYT TV and as you grew up
in Franklin, Ohio, great football area, came to Georgetown College
with a great football tradition, and then you've been at
KYT ever since covering a lot of these guys we're
going to be talking about. So you've seen some outstanding
talent over the years.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Boy, we really have Tom.

Speaker 3 (07:22):
I mean you and I are our career timelines are
very similar.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
But yeah, I mean just.

Speaker 3 (07:30):
You know some really great football players, those that many
who played at the University of Kentucky and other places
like Georgetown and things like that, and and now many.
The cool thing is that many of those guys that
we saw play have have stayed here in the community
and they are giving back in a variety of different ways,

(07:52):
whether it's in the business world, many of them coaching,
and so it's it's been a fun thing to be a.

Speaker 1 (07:57):
Part of me. Give out the first fifteen names on
this list of the top twenty five Lexington High School
players of all time Byron Ingram, Henry Clay nineteen eighty
Devin Key Briant Station class of twenty sixteen, Xavier Brown
LCA twenty twenty two, Cutter Bowlie still with the Cats,

(08:17):
of course, it came out of LCA in twenty twenty four.
Dominique Hayden also from LCA class of two thousand and nine,
Lucky Jackson from Lafayette twenty fifteen, Walker Parks, great lineman
at Frederick Douglas class of twenty twenty Christiana, one of
the all time leaders and tackles at UK, played at
Henry Clay class of eighty four. Jagger Burton, now the

(08:39):
center for the Cats from Frederick Douglass in twenty twenty,
Cornell Burbage Brian Station class of eighty two. Dougie Allen,
great receiver and kick returner for the Cats from Dunbar
class of ninety seven, Chase Minifield from Henry Clay class
of seven, Shane Boyd Henry Clay class of two thousand,

(08:59):
Frank Laman Bryan Station class in nineteen seventy, Winston Guy,
Lexia Catholic class of two thousand and eight. I was
glad to see him go back and the folks that
voted on this to not forget a guy like Frank
LeMaster when I had a long career with the Eagles
after a great stint at UK, and I was glad
to see him, you know, not forget a guy like that.

Speaker 3 (09:22):
Yeah, absolutely, And there was there were a lot of
people like that. And you know, one of the things
I've always done, Tom and you know, some people have
kind of looked at me.

Speaker 4 (09:32):
Like, what do you mean.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
You know, I've never voted.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
On that on the state wide you know, all state
teams or anything like that, because when you and I
started out, we had very little opportunity to see people
outside of the central Kentucky area.

Speaker 1 (09:48):
So I've always felt the same way. I mean, I
don't get to give those guys a fair shakedown in
Paducah or pike Hool or wherever.

Speaker 3 (09:54):
Yes, I mean, now you can watch Tate, you can
see games that are screamed a online and everything, so
you've got a better shot.

Speaker 1 (10:02):
At doing that.

Speaker 3 (10:02):
But yeah, a lot of those a lot of those
guys we didn't have the chance to see.

Speaker 2 (10:06):
And I mean that's just.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
I don't know who was on the voting committee, but
I agree with you. Somebody liked LA Master going back
and seeing that, I think that's great.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
I mean, other than that, you know, you go back,
you've got.

Speaker 3 (10:19):
LA Master from seventy and then you go back to
eighty eighty.

Speaker 1 (10:24):
So yeah, yeah, so that's good to see. Colonel Burbage
Brian Station class of eighty two. That was a great
Brian Station team. I think they had Mark Logan on
that team too. We were probably Mark Snack tomorrow when
we go through the rest of the list. But you know,
these are individually top high school players. But that surprisingly,

(10:47):
you know when they came in, you know, were they're
in school at the same time with some of the
other guys that are on the list. They made for
great high school teams.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
Oh absolutely.

Speaker 3 (10:55):
I mean I think Eric Shelton came along a little
bit later at Brian Station, but of course you had
GERMANI on those great Bryan Station teams. And Steve Parker
as the coach who has continued to give back to
his community.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
Paris High School, Grethound.

Speaker 4 (11:13):
That's right. How could I forget that?

Speaker 2 (11:15):
But I think Cornell is ji coaching right inn he
over to LCA or.

Speaker 1 (11:19):
Something like that. That sounds right, Yeah, yeah, he's again
guys that are kind of giving back, as you said.

Speaker 3 (11:25):
Yeah, and it's and it's great to see that because
they've got their own kids through school and everything, and
you know, there are a lot of people that do
that and basically you say, Okay, you know they've they've
done their time, but they still love the area, love
the game, and love.

Speaker 2 (11:42):
Kids enough to continue giving back.

Speaker 1 (11:44):
Yesterday we had the list of the top fifteen most
memorable UK home games of all time. They had the
Kentucky win over number one LSU and O seven at
number one. Don't think many people are going to disagree
with that. The ninety seven win over Alabama and the
rushing of the field and all that was next, and
I think probably after that as we can get into

(12:07):
debating the list. One thing I said, I'm betting you'll
agree with me. In nineties, they've got the down at
number thirteen, the Tim Couch debut against Louisville as the
leader of the air raid there at the start of
ninety seven. And I would have had that one higher
just because of the impact the Duce had on Kentucky
football and also high school football across the state.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
Oh, there's no question. I mean athletics in general. I
mean it was a it was a it was a tough.

Speaker 1 (12:36):
Time in Kentucky football.

Speaker 3 (12:38):
You could you could argue that he had a similar
effect with Kentucky football that Jamal Mashburn did.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
Yeah, in bringing.

Speaker 2 (12:47):
Kentucky basketball back.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
Yeah, I mean he was.

Speaker 2 (12:49):
He was one of the he was one of the keys,
and so.

Speaker 3 (12:53):
I think he he not only you know, they not
only brought a different style to play in Kentucky. On
the high school ranks, A number of coaches wanted to
do that anyway. It attracted more kids to the game.
So so yeah, I would agree with you. I think
that the two for me is and uh, you know,

(13:19):
I still hear you and the hair stands up on
the back of the the Alabama game, I had some guys,
I mean, I won't name them, but some of those
guys got some of the gold posts, and I still
got a piece.

Speaker 2 (13:31):
Of the gold post of my on my desk.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
And then the crazy one for me was the Bluegrass America.
Of course, I was doing stuff for for Raycom and
places like that, and uh, you know, so I was
on the field as a sideline report, and I mean
I'm standing, I'm just right outside the coaches box, and
when Lorenzo dumped the stuff on Guy Morris, I actually

(13:56):
got a little backslash and then all of a sudden,
you know, the whole thing happens and the flection and
it's It's one of the wildest.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
Things I've ever seen in my life.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
I remember we had a radio show with Tubby shortly
after that, and he said, we kicked the field goal.
I left and went to my car. I got in
the car. What happened right, Oh, my gosh.

Speaker 3 (14:23):
There's a gal named Amy Faduel who works for Fox
Sports now up in Philadelphia, and she was an intern.

Speaker 2 (14:30):
For us, and she was, you know, my person down
there on.

Speaker 3 (14:34):
The field to you know, help with stuff and help
locate people and things like that.

Speaker 2 (14:39):
And so there was the last time out. I said,
take your stuff, and I said.

Speaker 3 (14:44):
Put it under that little overhang there at the bottom
of the stadium. I said, stay right with me. They're
coming over the top.

Speaker 4 (14:52):
And I said, we'll.

Speaker 3 (14:53):
Take We'll take care of everything, you know. And and
so all of a sudden that happened. That guns that
it did, and then all of a sudden, those people
that had already made it out there, you just saw
them stop.

Speaker 4 (15:07):
And it was it was it was.

Speaker 3 (15:09):
The most surreal thing I had ever seen in my life. Yeah,
and they've still got a shot at me.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
I've still got the tape. You know.

Speaker 3 (15:16):
They have all these cameras and everything on these broadcasts,
and so they put a camera right on me so
they would know when I got to the winning coach.
And so we were planning on getting Guimo. So I'm
down at the right as you look at it from
the press box, like about the right thirty. Yeah, and
Sabans heading the other way to the locker room and

(15:37):
I'm literally like sprinting with this camera and they've got
this shot at me going down the field and.

Speaker 4 (15:43):
I get him about the five and it.

Speaker 3 (15:46):
Was you could still find it on YouTube.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
Just just some great, great memories.

Speaker 1 (15:51):
And that's a good one. Buzz. Thank you much for
the time, Tom, great talking to you, my friend. Season
sounds good quick break and we'll come back and get
into chat with the Goose Jack Gibbins and we'll have
the rest of the list of the top high school
players of all time in Lexington coming up tomorrow. Don't
forget Friday Night Lights. If you're here at Lexington to night,

(16:13):
head down to the Kentucky Theater and you can check
that out at seven point fifteen courtesy of the two
fifty lex Commission and Football Week here in Lexington. We'll
be right back on the Leach Report. It's the Late
Report presented by Bob Kat Enterprises. We welcome in the
Goose Jack Gibbons from the UK Radio network to join

(16:34):
us at Goosegivens on x Goose. I'm going to check
it over and see basketball practice today as they're starting
to do a few practices before they really ramp it up.
I don't know if you've seen anything, but I have
heard good reports on Andrea Yelovich, so that was nice.

Speaker 4 (16:51):
Yeah. I have not been over there, but I like you,
I'm going this afternoon or today, it's going to work
out to get over there. But I'm anxious to see
him as well. I'm anxious to see see all of
them and to see how they're coming together as a team.
I know they haven't had many workouts yet other than

(17:13):
the summer. That learning experience and learning period is over.
Now they can work on really coming together as a unit,
and that's going to be interesting to see.

Speaker 1 (17:27):
Yeah, it is because they've got so many guys that
could be contenders for starting spots on this team. So
it's gonna be quite some intense battles in practice.

Speaker 4 (17:38):
Yeah, and I love it that way. I mean, I
love it when one thing Mark does, which is really neat,
is that you know, there's he lets that first unit,
whoever that is for that particular day, work against the
second unit. I mean, they spend a lot of time
going at each other. It's kind of a throwback to

(17:59):
our days. I had to bang around with James Lee
every day in practice. You know when we weren't on
the same team, but you know, you're fighting for those
minutes and that has to help everybody become better. And
Mark will do that. He'll put those two groups out there,
so that's good.

Speaker 1 (18:17):
As they say, iron sharpens iron. More on that with
the Ghost when we come back. We're halfway home on
the Leach Report for this Thursday. It's the Leech Report
presented each day by Bobcat Enterprises, and we're chatting with
the Ghost Jack Givens about Kentucky men's basketball wild Cats
getting back into some individual work and then some days

(18:41):
they'll have some practice time where they'll go against each
other with the whole squad out there. Everything. It's gonna
be another couple of weeks, I think, before they really
ramp up the practices that lead to the start of
the season. But all of this time getting together is
important in the Goose because you know, you've got so

(19:02):
many new faces every year, and there's a there's a
chemistry that can be built off the court in the
lodge or whatever, but there's also has to be a
chemistry on the court.

Speaker 4 (19:12):
Uh Yeah, and you know you mentioned the practice scheduled
thus far, there there have been a lot of individual
workouts that're probably limited as to the time they can
actually have on the court right now. So uh, sometimes
it's hit and miss what you're going to get. But
I am looking forward to stand this afternoon or today's

(19:35):
practice when all the guys are going to be out
there together. But that that bonding time is really key,
and it's interesting at this time of the year, the
bonding time off of the court might be certainly as important,
but might be even more important than getting together on

(19:59):
the floor. So much stuff on the floor just comes natural,
but those building those relationships off the court because of
a player's background, where they're from, and you know who knows.
But it sometimes it's more difficult to build those relationships
off the floor. A lot of guys don't like to

(20:21):
share a lot, so that bonding time away from the
court is maybe just as important. Right now, there's gonna
be plenty of time, I think for the guys to
come together on the floor. I'm looking forward to that,
as I mentioned a little while ago, But that chemistry
bleeds over into each other off the floor and on

(20:44):
the floor.

Speaker 1 (20:45):
Big Blue Mannes that'll come up in October. It actually
grew out of Midnight Man this which I think Lefty
Grisella at Maryland was the first one to do one,
but Kentucky was the one that really put a stamp
on it with Coach Hall, where practices couldn't start until
by rule October fifteenth, So at midnight twelve oh one,

(21:06):
I guess on October fourteenth. That night Kentucky would have
a practice and it'd be packed at the coliseum. So
in those days you couldn't start until the fifteenth of
October with organized practices. It's different now. But did you
guys play a lot of pickup in the lead up
to those practices in those days or how did you
guys get in terms of learning how to play with

(21:29):
each other?

Speaker 2 (21:30):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (21:31):
Yeah, we never stopped playing pick up. I mean even
during the summer. That was as I mentioned, that was
our primary workout because we couldn't be together on the
court with the coaches. And I remember times when Leonard

(21:51):
Hamilton or Coach Hall, Coach Parsons, they'd show up at
the gym. They couldn't say anything, but they'd show up
at the gym to make sure we were working hard.
And one real I don't know if I should share
this with one real interesting story we had. Of course,

(22:16):
James Lee and James and I most of the time
played against each other because we knew I knew how
hard to push James and James knew how hard to
push me. We learned that after playing together over the years.
But one summer and a good, good, good guy, Bob

(22:37):
Fowler as the soul. Bob came in and he knew
he had to beat James out for minutes. So we
were playing Man and we were just knocking each other around.
Now told Bob, I said, Bob, let me take James
and you take Fred Cowen and all this stuff. And
Bob said, no, no, no, I want James. So we

(22:58):
were playing. We had been beating up on each other,
and James came to me. He said, man, why aren't
you guarding me? I said, well, Bob wants to guard you.
So all of a sudden, Coach Hall, Coach Parsons, Coach
Hamilton walks into the gym over an old alumni coliseum,
walked in to see how hard we were working. They

(23:19):
were just standing there and Bob Sealer was pushing James
and holding him and throwing him to the floor, and
all of a sudden, James got up and he hit
Bob right in the face. I'm talking about just hit him,
broke his nose, and the coaches just turned around and
walked out of the gym. He said, they're working hard enough.

(23:41):
But it was it was a great just example of
how hard we work now. Bob and James they became
best friends. I mean, they just loved each other and
hung out and everything else. But it's kind of like
it is, man. You you get in the gym, you're
going at each other, you're fighting, holding, sweating and throwing

(24:05):
each other to the ground every now and then there's
a scuffle. But after practice, we're eating dinner together, you know.
So that's kind of how it was for us. We
just played, man, We just played, and we played hard,
and we tried to make practices in this summer going
against each other harder than anything we could do in

(24:30):
regular real practices when they started. So that's one of
the stories that you don't tell immediately, but after a
bunch of years you can tell it because you know
it was all in fun. If Bob was here with
us today, he would he would be just laughing about
it like we did after that, after that happened. But

(24:53):
those are are some of the stories and some of
the things you go through in those hot summer days
when when you just trying to get through another practice.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
Yeah, it's it's it's always just an interesting family and
it really is a family dynamic for a team, whatever sport.
It really is. It really is. Tom really is Gas.
Always love the stories like that, Appreciate the time, and
we will catch up next week.

Speaker 4 (25:22):
All right, Tom, thank you, I'll tell you today practice.

Speaker 1 (25:26):
See you over there. Yeah, today there's a big practice day,
basketball practice and heading out the football practice. This is
the Leach Report. We're presented each day by Bobcat Enterprises.
They have four locations around Kentucky, So google Bobcat when
you need to buy or just rent a piece of
heavy equipment for a job. Talking excavators, skid steerloaders, forklifts,

(25:48):
that kind of thing. Or they sell zero turn mores
for your home lawn and you probably get some good
deals at the end of the season. So go to
Bobcat Enterprises, find one of those four locations around Kentucky
and they'll take great care of you. We'll be right
back Justin Rowland on the Lads Report. He's from Cats Illustrating.
He's coming up next. It's the Leads Report. We come

(26:10):
to you each day from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return,
refresh and refuel at Clark's and make sure you get
signed up for their loyalty program so you can get
discounts when you stop in to refuel. Justin Rowland joins
us from Cats Illustrated dot Com on the On three
network and at Roland rivals on X and Justin. Coaches
talk about frequently during a postgame news conference, I'll say, well,

(26:33):
I'm gonna I gotta wait to look a look at
the tape, where they'll sometimes still even say film, you
went back looked at the tape on Kentucky's opening game
against Toledo, and I saw from your X feed yesterday
you found some things maybe you didn't expect to find.

Speaker 4 (26:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (26:50):
Yeah, I mean I think they did a lot of things. Well,
I mean some things stand out, like when you only
commit two or three penalties, and the overall operation on offense,
the short yardage running, the efficiency of your running, these things,
these things point.

Speaker 2 (27:09):
In the right direction.

Speaker 5 (27:11):
I think clearly those three turnovers if account the safety
as a turnover right in the middle of the second
quarter did throw them off in a significant way.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
And there were a couple of the drives.

Speaker 5 (27:21):
When you would have liked to see them get points.
But the pass rush absolutely dominated a game like that.
Tucker Gleeson is an experienced college quarterback and he was
getting pounded consistently from every level of the defense.

Speaker 2 (27:34):
And that's what the hope is for this team.

Speaker 5 (27:37):
That and an improved offensive line, and you know, I
think you can see a path to them.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
Being a quality team.

Speaker 5 (27:43):
Now is it gonna happen. We're gonna find out more
about that this week. But the offensive line, run game,
pass rush are very improved areas, and that's what their foundation.

Speaker 1 (27:52):
Has to be. One thing that I liked about the
pass rush, and this probably starts with Augusta and j
just the nose, is the push they got up the
middle into the face of the quarterbacks.

Speaker 5 (28:06):
Yeah, and that was also in short yard situations. That
was I mean, there were there were moments when maybe
On Gadson got pushed.

Speaker 4 (28:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (28:12):
Yeah. I think Khalil Saunders had had a good game.
Those two guys you mentioned as well. I thought Jared
Smith looked like not a guy that's like, okay, is
he ready to go out there?

Speaker 2 (28:22):
He looked like a guy who's going to be a.

Speaker 5 (28:24):
Really good player for them. And all three of the
edge defenders they've brought in. Sam Green has the power
if he gets his hands inside, you know he's gonna
drive an offensive tackle back.

Speaker 2 (28:36):
And Cam Old is kind of wiry.

Speaker 5 (28:38):
And slippery and able to slip through cracks in the
line and get around the edge.

Speaker 2 (28:42):
And Souls just get so violent around the ball.

Speaker 5 (28:45):
I mean, those guys are very different players, but they
all scored extremely well, and and Brad White was excellent
with the with the corner blitzes. All three nickelbacks got
home too, so it was it was a lot of pressure.

Speaker 1 (28:57):
And Souls is amazing to me what he does that
his size, basically lining up as a defensive end of
those pass rush pack.

Speaker 5 (29:04):
Yeah, yeah, it's one of those deals where he's not
built for the position in the conventional sense, but you
almost wonder if his build is an advantage in some ways.
The guys are used to having more of somebody to
get their hands on, more somebody to walk, but his
I mean, if you think of the checklist of what
makes a great pass rusher. He checks all of those boxes,

(29:27):
and you know, you put them on the field for twenty.

Speaker 2 (29:29):
Snaps and tell him have been his ears.

Speaker 4 (29:31):
Back and get after it.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
He's going to be a very disruptive player.

Speaker 5 (29:34):
And you know, twenty snaps, two strips through another penalty.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
I mean, that was incredible efficiency from him rush of
the passer.

Speaker 1 (29:43):
You mentioned a short yardage success. I think third and
three or less. I was looking at cfbstats dot com.
They were four out of five in those situations and
I liked what they did in short yardage. I'm sure
we'll see this redther goal on two. When you have
the personnel to do something like this, then get a

(30:04):
little creative and do it. And that is to use
Malachai Wood as a line him up as a tight end,
but he's a six offensive lineman, and then they bring
in three other they have three other tight ends, one
on each side, and then Caddisa lined up as a
full back, and your quarterbacks two thirty and Dell's two twenty.
I edited up. When you have that group out there,

(30:25):
it's three and sixty five pounds coming at the defense.
That's hilarious.

Speaker 5 (30:31):
Yeah, because Hunter Boyer is almost attack kind of like yeah,
Malachi would, and Josh Cattis is known for his putting
guys on their back side, So that's a powerful unit.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
You're right, and maybe Dante Daldell at running back. Yeah,
you're right. They didn't get a lot.

Speaker 5 (30:45):
Of yards on those short yardage runs, but they did
consistently convert those plays. And I thought the most important
part of the games low on Saturday was that Kentucky
consistently picked up positive yards on first down and made
it second and four, third and three, whereas Toledo was
consistently getting into second and third and long, and that

(31:07):
made it that much easier for Kentucky's pass rush.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
And you know, what's a passing down.

Speaker 1 (31:11):
And usually that's gonna lead to what we saw, which
was a good number of third down conversions. I think
close to fifty percent for Kentucky and around thirty percent
uh for Toledo, especially when you factory the failures on
fourth down place Tyler Justin Rowland from Katz Illustrated dot
Com here on the Leach Report, Uh, as far as

(31:32):
going back and looking at the tape, you also posted
about some observations on Zach Calzada. So what'd you see there?

Speaker 5 (31:39):
Yeah, yeah, So he made two horrible decisions in a row.
The decision to kind of pump with the arm and
then throw it. They messed up the timing of a
timing throw, and then he kept it in the end.

Speaker 2 (31:53):
Zone and he couldn't do that.

Speaker 5 (31:54):
But I think I think people grouped those two things
together with the fact that like, hey, it's late in
the third quarter in Kentucky only has ten points. There
goes Calzada must have played really poorly. I don't think
he played well, but there were a number of throws
that if they hit, if the receiver makes a play,

(32:15):
the stat line and the box score looks a lot different.
I mean, he put a dot in Josh Katis's hands
near the five yard line. Defender made a great play
to Jarred Away that was on a rollout PFF dot
Tarlie Gilmore's score.

Speaker 2 (32:30):
Because he didn't come up with that long pass in
the end zone that it was kind of tough to
tell if he could have gotten into it. But I
think he could have gotten into it.

Speaker 5 (32:38):
Another one of those tea balls through a pass interference penalty.

Speaker 2 (32:41):
I mean, he put it up basically perfectly.

Speaker 5 (32:42):
Thrown ball to JJ Hester down the sideline that would
have gone for thirty seven yards, and they sent him
the first drive. Maybe could have gotten points on their
first two possessions. I thought he was good on his
timing on the crossing patterns. He could have trusted his
production a little bit more because those guys kept him clean.
And I thought he had a tendancy drift in the
pocket and lob off his back foot as a checkdown

(33:03):
and that's not.

Speaker 2 (33:04):
An ideal checkdown.

Speaker 5 (33:05):
But overall I came away thinking the receivers were maybe
a little bit more of an issue and Kelsado was
a little bit less of an issue.

Speaker 1 (33:12):
Yeah, I mean, it is a different animal. Even though
it wasn't an SEC team, it was a good, you know,
very good MAC team. That's a different level than what
he was facing it Atcarnate Word. So it had been
and since he didn't play in games at Auburn, it
had been four years since he saw you know, a
f BS caliber defense, if you will, And hopefully he

(33:34):
learns from that on some of those things you're talking about.

Speaker 5 (33:37):
That's a very valid, fine distinction to make to because
like Toledo is not incarnate word. Toledo is the MAC
favorite that played consistently solid defense under one of those
consistent coaches in college football last year. And if you
watch the tape he pull a tape from Calzada, incarnate word,
there's not a lot of havoc in the backfield, right,
There's a lot of him getting the snap and having

(33:59):
three four seconds to go through option one, option two,
option three. And that was not the case on Saturday.
So let's see what it goes from week one to
week two.

Speaker 1 (34:07):
What do you think they try to do offensively, if
anything different, to move the ball against a much better defense.

Speaker 2 (34:14):
Yeah, that's a great question.

Speaker 5 (34:15):
I think they're probably going to feel old mess out
in this first quarter and see where.

Speaker 2 (34:20):
They see they're gonna be able to get some action.

Speaker 5 (34:24):
They were stout against Georgia State. I think the only
thing I would criticize the offensive approach for on Saturday
was when it was tended to late in the third
quarter and Kentucky had the ball in Toledo's territory. They're
running the ball well, and they took a couple of
deep shots on second and third long and they came
out of that drive with no points and Toledo got

(34:44):
the ball late in the third quarter with a chance
to tie the game. They could have lost the game
because of that sequence.

Speaker 2 (34:50):
And so when they're running the ball, well, they just
need to stick with the running game. Other than you
can never pass, but be committed to the identity that.

Speaker 5 (34:58):
You're trying to forge for yourself. Stick with those efficient runs.
Even have his four yards five yards, four yards, five yards.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
If that's getting you on the field, you don't have
to get killed.

Speaker 4 (35:06):
Man.

Speaker 1 (35:07):
Yeah, it seems like a very valid point. Justin, thank
you much, Talk to you next week.

Speaker 2 (35:10):
Thanks a lot tom appreciation.

Speaker 1 (35:12):
They have a partnership with Pro Football Focus at cats Illustrated,
so you get some access through Justin and his team
to that content each week, some of the grades and
things that he referenced there. So check it all out
at Catzillustrated dot com on the on three Sports Network.
We're going to take a break and come back and

(35:33):
wrap up this edition of the Leach Report, presented by
bobcat Enterprises. Can you believe it's been about four months
since Cornbread Hemp launched those infused seltzers that have been
so incredibly popular. Well, you can get some of those
Seltzers and there are other products right now, and if

(35:53):
you're a first time customer, put in the code tome
and check out, you'll get an extra twenty percent off
your first order. People love the Seltzers because they taste great, crisp, refreshing, delicious,
only thirty calories of can and it's a lightlift that
helps folks relax after a long day. So check out
the infused Seltzers or the infused gummies, the new cherry

(36:15):
lime chill flavor that they recently introduced, the oils and
the topicals for your aches and pains all made with
Kentucky grown hemp, and it is third party lab tested
for safety and purity. Cornbreadhimp dot com. This is the
Good Life. A La Ross been added to the Ray
Guy Award watch list for the nation's top punter award

(36:36):
that Kentucky's Max Duffy won a few years back. Kentucky
Women's Soccer playing tonight at the Bell at seven thirty
Eastern against Mercyhurst. Kentucky women soccer coming off its first
setback of the season to Illinois last weekend. The stan
Wildcat History is the service of Kentucky Road Show Sports
cards at memorabilia. They're on Romney Road in Lexington and

(36:57):
at roadshowcards dot Com twenty ten. On this day, Joker
Phillips Era began with a win over Louisville and that
was twenty three sixteen at the Cards Home Stadium. Happy
birthdays to Julius Mays transfer on the twenty thirteen team
where we hit a couple of big free throws down

(37:19):
the stretch in the final seconds really to help Kentucky
to a big win. I think it was over Florida
maybe on Senior Day that year. Bo Lanner celebrating a
birthday today and Martavius Nellum's for Kentucky football defensive back
celebrating a birthday today. If you're celebrating having a big dinner,
when the food has been served and the it is

(37:43):
just kind of relaxing. A lot of times it's with
a cup of coffee, and we urge you to make it.
Shuffle Bean Coffee. This is a group of Kentuckians that
formed this company back in twenty ten with a commitment
to making the best coffee possible, starting with the best
coffee beans. And you can read about the process and
order some of their product from Shufflebean dot Us. You
can get it through Amazon or pick it up at

(38:04):
Central Kentucky Meyer Stores and put some hustle in your
shuffle with Shufflebean coffee. The Kentucky High School Basketball Hall
of Fame is honoring their twenty twenty five class of
inductees on Saturday night in Etown at the Historic State Theater.
Go to the Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame's
website and you can find out more about how to
get tickets. We talked about this a few weeks back,

(38:25):
but it'll be a fun event Saturday night at seven
Eastern time into Etown. We will see it tomorrow to
Kentucky Ole miss On The Leach Report, presented by Bob
Kat Enterprises