2025-10-20 - LEACH REPORT

Tom talks with Van Hiles and Larry Vaught.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
God Day. Everybody, welcome into the Leach Report presented by
Bobcat Enterprises. And it was a both fun but then
a so disappointing night at Kroger Field for Kentucky football
and the fans to play so well against a ranked

(00:24):
Texas team and then to come up basically a foot
short with the fourth down stop in overtime and then
Texas wins it on a field goal. So we will
talk a lot about that with Van Hiles when the
shuffle being Coffee Monday Morning Quarterback Show kicks in with
a former Wildcat d beat. However, we will lead off
with Larry Vought with a little news for Kentucky men's

(00:46):
basketball as we segue into Wildcat News of the Day
presented by Jo Seppis of Lexington, and we'll start with
the football. Texas of course over Kentucky sixteen to thirteen
in overtime and the defense played by as wide a
margin as you want to suggest it's best game of
the season. You kind of had to think that they

(01:10):
were going to get better because of Brad White's track
record with the defenses here at Kentucky. I don't know
that anybody expected to get that much better. That soon.
And we remember we played the interview with ty Bryant
last week. I don't know when that was on Thursday
or Friday. It was Thursday, after the practice on Wednesday,

(01:32):
and he talked about how much energy there had been
in practice and how the guys talked collectively and they
were going to get back to just having fun and
attacking and playing the way that they know they're supposed
to play. Well, it's one thing to say that, it's
another thing to do it, and they did it. Played

(01:55):
inspired football on that side, completely shut down Texas's offense
and they give you some numbers on that in a second,
and gave Kentucky a tremendous chance to win the game.
And then offensively, Kentucky moved the ball well. They didn't
produce points and often enough when they got on the

(02:16):
other side of the fifty. But Cutter Bowley continues to
improve week to week. We thought maybe he had his
best game in the loss to Georgia. I think this
was clearly his best game. They've talked about him being
more decisive. I think you saw that in this game.
So we'll talk about all of that with Van Hiles.
But just a couple of numbers here. Kentucky defense held
Texas to one hundred and seventy nine total yards and

(02:38):
eight first downs, and the last time a Kentucky defense
did that against a ranked opponent was the nineteen seventy
six Peach Bowl when North Carolina had one hundred and
eight yards and five first downs. Cutter Bowley completed almost
eighty percent of his passes. I think it was seventy
nine point four. That was the best completion rate for

(02:58):
a Kentucky quarterback in a single game since Dusty Bonner
in nineteen ninety nine. So we'll talk about a lot
of the football points with Van when he joins us
a little later on shift over to Kentucky basketball. They
had the Blue White scribbage on Friday night, and in
a play in that scribbage session, Jalen Lowe injured his

(03:20):
right shoulder, and obviously he was in a lot of pain,
and there was a lot of concern that this could
be something serious. Larry Vaught reporting yesterday that the source
that he has that he trusts and he'll talk to
us about this in a minute, has said that it's
not nearly as serious as they first thought, and Jalen

(03:41):
should be able to make a speedy recovery. Kentucky volleyball
took five sets to dispatch Florida yesterday at Historic Memorial Coliseum.
After the Gators one sets, two and three, Kentucky was
able to rally to stay perfect in the SEC and
their next match is Friday night, back on the road
at Mississippi State and from the SEC. Billy Napier fired

(04:06):
as the coach at Florida and Auburn's lost four straight.
Hugh Freeze getting a lot of job security questions. His
team is at Arkansas this week. If Auburn were to
lose at Arkansas, I wouldn't be surprised if Kentucky is
facing coaches in successive weeks that have been replaced. It's

(04:27):
gonna be After this week against Tennessee, Kentucky will go
to Auburn and then Florida will come Here links to
the stories that we talk about each day. You can
find those on the bud Light Leach Report page at
Tom Leachky dot com. Head to a break Back with
Larry Vaughts. It is the Leach Report. Our opening segment
presented by Giuseppes of Lexington Gift Cards. If you're looking

(04:47):
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bottle and take it home, so check that out next

(05:08):
time you're at Juseepies. We'll be right back. Welcome back
into the Leech Report. We come to you from the
Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return, Refresh and refuel at Clark's.
And we're going to start the show today with Larry Vott,
who had I think what Kentucky basketball fans will say
us some news that makes them feel better. This was

(05:33):
in relation to the shoulder injury that Jalen Lowe suffered
in the Blue White scrimmage on Friday night at the Coliseum,
and Larry, I'm sure there was concern about the fans,
especially after the issues that the point guard Lamont Butler
dealt with last year with his shoulder. But you had
some good news from your reporting that you talked about

(05:53):
on the Sunday Morning Sports Talk show yesterday. So that's
why we moved you up in the order to talk
about it today. So what did you hear?

Speaker 2 (06:00):
I'm not used to get moved up in order, so
I appreciate that. But I was out of a high
school football game Friday night. I usually don't bother with
my phone during the game. That would have got over.
I looked in here's a hall of these text messages
about Kentucky seasons over. Jayleen Love's out, He's never go
And I thought, what in the world. So when I
got home Friday night and had a chance to kind
of see what had happened. So Saturday, I've tried to

(06:21):
reach out to a few people that I knew that
I thought might have an idea. And there's one person
that I trust an awful lot told me that the
good news was that the MRI came back negative, that
the shoulder did not completely pop out. It was not
a total dislocation, and in fact, it might have been
related somewhat to a folly it had in June. But

(06:46):
as far as being a season ending type thing, no,
As far as being something that would keep you out
all the way to sec play, no, unless something else happened.
In the next little bit, why he's trying to rehab. Yes,
it's possible he might wear a brace on his shoulder
like Lamont Butler did last year, but it just would

(07:07):
be to kind of provide a little extra time for healing.
But shouldn't be something that would restrain him very much,
and all because it would be on his right shoulder
and not his left, where his shooting hand and ball
handling hand primary r So that shouldn't be a big issue.
Know nothing about any kind of surgery for scene or
anything like that. And the person I talked to who said,

(07:31):
could he possibly be ready all the way by the
by the time even that the scrimmage would purdue. Maybe,
but even if he was, it'd be pretty unlikely that
you would play him in and take a chance. That
the better scenario might be just let him sit up
both exhibition games with then he's cut two and a
half weeks before you even start your first regular season game,

(07:51):
and then just don't do anything to take any chance
with that shoulder and anything. But again, it really wasn't
anything that he said. Hadn't happened to him the same
type things in practice, and it hadn't came out I
guess it's just the way the line and the way
worked out there just kind of popped out, and I
think scared everybody a lot, including Jalen. From what I
was told that he was really down and worried until

(08:14):
the test results came back Saturday, and then he kind
of perked up immediately and said, Okay, let's do what
we've got to do to give me back out here.

Speaker 3 (08:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:21):
I'm sure it was unsettling for him because he things
have seemingly gone so well for him since he made
the decision to come here. All the you know, reports
about a practice about him have just been wonderful, and
the teammates talking about him, and then when he did
you know, the media session back in the summer, he

(08:43):
was just such a hit with how comfortable he was,
you know, in his new role here at Kentucky. So
I'm sure that kind of news would be very comforting
to him.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah. Yeah, So I think all in all is about
as good a report as you could have wished for. Normally,
I'm not one to print something just kind of quoting
a source, but the person that talked to me didn't
mind telling me the information, just didn't want to have
their name associated with it. But it's somebody that I
trust enough that I think it's ninety nine point nine

(09:15):
nine percent accurate. And that's that's why I did it.
And now i've kind of, as I talked about it
on Sunday morning, maybe they can kind of turn this
into a positive because now when they've got a couple
of exhibition games, let's find out for sure who's going
to be our back up point guard now, because we're
going to need to And to me, it's a lot
better than finding out then than if you suddenly have
something happen first week in January when you're starting SEC

(09:36):
play and you have to go through it all then.
And besides, Jalen can't play forty minutes a game, so
somebody's about to play a little bit of point guard anyway. Now,
you just give some of these guys a chance and
some exhibition games maybe to let marketing staff kind of
figure out what here's going to be option one, here's
option two, and here's option three.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah, that's actually a good point. What do you think
they'll do at that position?

Speaker 2 (10:02):
If I was just guessing, I would think maybe Denzel
Aberdeen would be the guy they would try first, and
then Jasper. I think Jasper would welcome the opportunity to
play point guard because I think he welcome the opportunity
to play center if he told him met So, I
think he thinks he could play wherever you need, and
he can do what you need. That's part of what
makes him the player that he is. But if I

(10:22):
remember correctly, when Florida had some injury issues, there a
couple of things last season, Denzel played some point guard
for them and had a couple of really good.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
Games started I think three or four games.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
Yeah, I think maybe even five, I wanting to say,
and had his best scoring and everything of the season.
Then so and maybe that's why they were so upset
about losing this year. Made the help that he was
going to be their point guard this season. So I
would think just based on his experience, he would be
the guy you would turn to first with Jasper as
he's back up, and then maybe take a look at
Colin and Chandler.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
There also some you are close with the Jasper's family,
know them well. All Jasper's when he came over here
to my studio and recorded a spot for one of
his clients, and when I was talking to him just briefly.
He just looked thicker. I guess is maybe the best word.

(11:16):
And I think about you know, Rob dillighan when we
saw him up in Toronto in the summer, and he
looked like he was not quite ready physically for what
he was going to face, but by the time the
season rolled around that he was. Is it accurate to
think that Jasper is more physically strong than he was
earlier this summer.

Speaker 2 (11:38):
I think he's far physically stronger than he was this
time a year ago. The year at Overtime Elite, they
worked on a lot of things with him about getting stronger.
I think here at Kentucky they've worked with you on
both getting bigger and stronger, and he's taken to that
very well. He's the only Johnson I know, the chef
to encourage to eat. The rest of the family that

(12:02):
is not ever an issue for But Jasper's one who's
He's not terribly really a picky eater. He just doesn't
eat a lot of what he didn't really like. What
he likes, he eats a lot of, but he's just
not one that eats like a like most of the
members of his family. But I think he's really worked
on that this summer, on eating more to help him
build more muscle. I know his grandmother's talked a lot

(12:24):
about making pancakes for him, and she told me all
the time that he only eats three, and I thought, well,
that's not much. I eat three, that's more. I got
to talk to her, well, a pancake in the Johnson
House is the size of a plate, so three pancakes
of the Johns House is probably a little different than
what you and I would have at our house. Tom So,
I think he's been very conscious that he knew that's

(12:44):
one thing he had to do. And I think he
would still like to add a little more weight and
strength going forward, and I think he will. But I
know Jasper thinks he's certainly physically strong enough to play
this year, and the players that I've talked to about
it and coaches all seem to think he is.

Speaker 1 (13:00):
To let me get a quick thought or two on
football before we let you go, that was certainly an
encouraging performance. Frustrating on one hand because to my way
of thinking, they were a foot away from just a
tremendous marquee win. Because I think if they get the
touchdown in overtime. I don't think Texas was scoring a
touchdown on the Kentucky defense that night in that situation,

(13:26):
So it's frustrating on that account. If they can continue
to play that way defensively, if Cutter can continue to develop,
both of which I think could happen, then they do
have the whole second half of the season left.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
Yeah, I think this week with Tennessee the game will
be very, very important because I think the fan base
that was teetering is still teetering and wanting to lean
kind of jumping back on Boward. But they with a win,
definitely that would have happened. But now they've seen it.
Almost four hundred yards of offense, they saw a defense
shut down a team that looked really good the week

(14:03):
before against Oklahoma, which is almost a top ten team now.
And I think if you go and play really well
against Tennessee and somehow won that game or else I
think eat, if you just played really well and hung
in there again, it would give people hope. But I
think most fans are going to want to see it
one more time. But I'm just looking again Sunday at

(14:23):
the stats and the numbers. When you look at those numbers,
you just think Kentucky had to won that game, like
thirty five to seven. That wasn't even that, There was
no way it was even close. It was just a
total domination. But it kind of reminds me sometimes I
go to soccer match and see one team take forty
shots and one take two, and the team that takes
two shots win one to Oh. That's kind of how

(14:44):
you felt like it was. Their two point returns just
changed the whole game for Texas, And it's just a
shame that Kentucky played that well and didn't win, because
they certainly had their opportunities. But again, it was if
there's such things that encouraging loss, that was one of them.

Speaker 3 (14:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (14:59):
I mean, if they don't get those two punt returns,
I don't know if Texas would have had much more
than maybe a field goal in the game. They won.
One punt return set them up at the five and
the other one set them up at the forty two
that led to the field goal. I think they had
you know, one first down in the whole second half
before or two I guess in the whole second half.

Speaker 2 (15:19):
Yeah, I don't think I don't think Texas would have
scored a touchdowns. They played all night other than the
punt returns. For the Kentucky defense was even better than
I think what I thought it might be this year.
I thought it was going to be a lot better
than what it had been. But the way it played
Saturday night just so free and reckless and just went
after people and didn't miss the tackles we've seen them

(15:40):
missing other than on the two punt returns.

Speaker 1 (15:43):
Yeah, yeah, all true. Larry, appreciate the time, and we
will see on Friday at Reparena.

Speaker 3 (15:49):
I guess thank you right.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
Sounds good to Herrymon joining us here on the Leach Reports.
Take a second to talk about shuffle Bean coffee that
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(16:10):
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today with Shuffleban Coffee. We'll be right back. It is

(16:32):
the Leach Reports and we are coming to you from
the Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return, Refresh and refuel at Clark's.
Joined now by Van Hius for the Shuffle Being Coffee
Monday Morning Quarterback edition of The Leach Report. We've got
a short segment here before we get to the heartbreak
at the bottom of the hour. Van, So let me
just do a little public service. I saw what are
your posts yesterday and jeff Or was venting about this

(16:53):
during the game. The Kentucky's trying to go hurry up
after a big play and Texas is allowed to substitute.
I think it happened twice. Turns out Mark Stews told
us after the game we were talking to him about it.
If the play goes out of bounds the one you
posted did, I think it was to Lug made a
catch and went out of bounds. If the player goes
out of bounds, it's different, and they are because it

(17:15):
happens into the sideline that the opposing team can't be
for sure. If there's going to be a substitution or
not because the play ended into the sideline, so they
are allowed to substitute.

Speaker 3 (17:25):
See that that's not accurate because I posted something after
that where Tennessee guy went out of bounds last year
into their sideline and we got thirteen mili on a
field or the twelve millionfield at least last year. So
for me, it's the consistency. For me. Also, you have
enough rest there to understand if there is a guy

(17:49):
who's off and not only enough rest, they are on
a headset so they can talk to each other and say, hey,
same guys back on the field, let's.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
Go fairpoint, We'll get to the break. We'll come right back.
With Van Hiles. It is the Leach Report Radio Network,
second half of the Shuffleing Coffee Monday morning quarterback edition
of The Leach Report, and Van Hiles is here the
former Wildcat dB and it is at V Style seventeen
on X where you can see his cutups after the

(18:21):
games to analyze what was done well and what wasn't
done well. And just in an overview, Van, what were
your takeaways from the Kentucky lost to Texas?

Speaker 3 (18:37):
I would say this everything on Saturday was about as
good as you can get. I didn't expect that amount
of fan support, and it was, at least from the
television side, it looked like it was rocking and rolling
for the majority of the game. Yep. The defense played
about as well as they could play against a good

(18:59):
off The offense played the best I ever expected them
to play against that defense. People have to understand that
that defense only gave a fourteen points against Ohio State
and six points last week against Oklahoma. That is an
elite level defense and for us to do what we
did today on Saturday was unexpected from me. So that

(19:24):
was not much that could have been done better on
two sides of the ball. Now the other side, the
team that's supposed to be special was not special, and
punt and punt return teams were. I mean, that's the
reason why, not the sole reason, But that was a
big disappointment. Special teams were not special. And that's the

(19:46):
difference in the game.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
What happened on the two punt returns. Was it similar
in both issues?

Speaker 3 (19:54):
You Well, first you had the the point guy not
make the tackle. Second thing is our distribution of lane
responsibilities were horrible. And when your point guy misses and
the other guys are not in the appropriate lane, and
you have a really good perf returner. And this other
thing is it's like when we had Derrick Abnue, when

(20:16):
you're on a prep return team and you know if
I could hold my block for half a second longer
that he might score. That's what Texas permi return team believed.
If I could just strain a half a second more
and give my guy one more second, he might score.
And that's what they did.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
And then there was a time Jeff talked about this
on the air where Kentucky had a long punt down
landed inside the five and here was nobody there to
catch it, unfortunately, and it was hot.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
No no, no, no, no, there was someone there to
catch it, and there were two people there to catch it.
It's and since you brought that up, the difference is
the difference Texas had the same situation. Texas down the ball.
I think twice we had a situation.

Speaker 1 (21:08):
The guy had six punts inside.

Speaker 3 (21:09):
The twenty I think two inside to ten, and we
had the same situation and didn't help our punter, our
punter laying the ball on the four yard line. We
had two guys. There was more word about the punt
returner instead of locating the ball. The ball bounced literally
three to four yards on the right side of one
of our punting guys, and it bounce into the end zone.

(21:32):
If you get that one, we don't know. If we
go three and out, we get the ball in a
fifty yard line, that's another chance for at least a
field goal.

Speaker 1 (21:42):
The issues that you saw with assignment on some of
those things, it was just the opposite on the defensive
side of the ball, it seemed. And you could speak
to this, I mean, the Texas tried some trick plays
during the game. Kentucky was to be ready for every
one of them. Guys it seemed like were locked in

(22:04):
on assignments and then played like the way what it
felt like to me was with a violent purpose.

Speaker 3 (22:17):
This you cannot play. Honestly, there is a such thing
as a perfect game. We all aspire to be that way.
It's not going to happen. We only really gave up
two big plays in my estimation, alcohol big plays fifteen
or more runs, twenty fifteen more yard run, twenty five

(22:39):
more yard pass. We only gave up one of each.
And to play that will be sense to hold them
to under thirty five percent on third down. So we
got off the field to get a situation where we
had a sudden change in an interception and we didn't
give up points like all those things matter. And as

(23:00):
a defensive coordinator, even though me as a coach that
I know Brad Whiteness coaching staff, they only see the
negative plays. There were not many negative plays last on Saturday,
and that's something that you can build on for next week.
And you know that your guys play winning football on
Saturday when they only give up two big plays, one

(23:21):
each on each aspect of the big plays. That's remarkable
against a team that's a ranked team with a good
quarterback is that they only gave up two big plays.
That is remarkable for defense.

Speaker 1 (23:33):
Yeah, Texas kind of came off what goes twenty three
to six win over a Oklahoma team that that was
their first loss. That was who Texas did the.

Speaker 3 (23:43):
Week before, which is probably the best defensive conference Oklahoma.
You can each week is different. Oklahoma Texas the two
best teams defensive wise in conference, and for them to
beat them like they did says that their offensive We're
starting to find a little bit of rhythm and we
shut that down completely. They could not do anything really

(24:07):
on Stata against this defense.

Speaker 1 (24:09):
We're talking aou Van Hiles Shuffle being Coffee Monday Morning
Quarterback Edition to The Leacher Report, and we'll take a
quick break and then come back and talk about some
of the other issues in that game and the key plays.
It's at V Style seventeen. You can follow him and
then on Wednesday Nights to nine, it's the Locker podcast
that Van and Anthony White do together. You can see

(24:31):
it on YouTube and all the other podcast platforms to
make sure you check that out. We'll be right back
here on The Leach Report presented by Bobcat Enterprises. It's
The Leacher Report and our Shuffle being Coffee Monday Morning
Quarterback Edition with Van Hiles, the former Wildcat and NFLDB

(24:52):
at V Style seventeen on x let's shift over to
we're talking about the defense and very much positive Cutter
Bowlies play. I think clearly was a positive and we'll
talk about that. But let's go to what there's been
a hot topic for fans. Van and at the end
of overtime, Kentucky gets the ball first after losing the toss,

(25:15):
So they're looking at fourth and less than one to
get a touchdown, and I would I would contend to
if Kentucky gets a touchdown, I only Texas was getting
one against that defense that night. So would you have
gone for it there or taken the field goal and

(25:35):
realize you're going to be going to a second overtime?

Speaker 3 (25:39):
Yea oh, I'm trying to say this without get getting
sec only. It is no way you do not keep
that field goal. And there's many reasons why in my opinion.
First is you had the fourth down on the first
drive you didn't convert. If you look that last week
game against Oklahoma, this defense is very stringent. You're not

(26:03):
running up the middle, and honestly, they have they have
one elite defensive end and number one and they got
a decent defensive end on the other side away from them,
so you're not gonna really run outside on them either.
Their their run game on defense is elite. That's why
they're against the exactly. That's one of their top two

(26:23):
defense in the conference. So here's the other thing for
me on that situation is you were first in the
first overtime, which means you're gonna be second in the
next overtime. So now you get to see what Texas
does in the next overtime. That dictates how you want
to end the game. With being first, you cannot get

(26:45):
zero points. They get the ball in twenty five yard line,
so you cannot get out of that drive with zero.
You kick the field goal. Your defense has given up
nothing all games, so you know that they're gonna kick
another field goal more than likely. So the great thing
about is you get the second opportunity the next overtime.
So then in that situation, let's say Texas kicks the

(27:06):
field gonna make it. Now it's a whole different feeling
win a if we score, we definitely win. Like if
we put seven on the board, we definitely win. Here's
the other thing. As an oc, I call it differently
because now I know that if we score, we win,
because I don't want to throw it interception in that game,

(27:27):
in the first one, because now we're really behind the
eight ball. But in the next overtime, if you know
your second you gave up three, now I can do
what everybody want to score. I can put it in
my best two point play. That's the thing that I
don't understand why you went for there against that defense.
If it was a fifty seven and fifty seven game
by again Tennessee, where you know how defense is not

(27:49):
gonna hold them to a field goal. They're gonna probably score. Okay,
we need to put seven on the board because they're
gonna put seven on the board. That was not the
case this game. You do not go for it on
fourth down. You kick the fial goal.

Speaker 1 (28:01):
There is a less than probably here in all of
this discussion, whichever side of it you're on. That is
important for all coaches, probably especially for young ones. Last
year against Georgia, Kentucky had the ball around the forty
with I don't know what was it, about two or
three minutes left, maybe a little more than that, but
had all their timeouts.

Speaker 3 (28:22):
So the.

Speaker 1 (28:24):
Conservative well, I don't know if the conservatives are right
word the probably the correct football decision I think for
most football people was not to try to convert fourth
in seven or eight I think it was, but was
to punt it, use your timeouts, make them punt it
back to you in a good spot, and then try
to win the game there and then here. You know,

(28:46):
you make the point that you make there. The bottom
line is if you don't win, you were wrong. And
so the thing about that is that gives you freedom
to do what you think you should do. Whatever that is.

Speaker 3 (29:02):
Yes, there's look, there's there's no ever right answer in
football policy. There's that's a better best answer and for me,
the best answer in that situation. And here's the thing,
the game dictates your decisions. In my opinion, if we

(29:22):
were an offense that scored thirty plus points on that
defense and you feel like you have a great play
that you can call up, yes you go forward. But
this at least we always scored one touchdown. Well, it's
not like we were doing spectacular things against that great defense.
And then the other thing is when your defense is

(29:44):
playing well. Now, if if Texas was getting the ball
in a fifty yard line then I feel a little differently.
But with them getting the ball of twenty five yard line,
they actually went backwards and still was able to keep
a field goal. So there's no way win in that situation.

Speaker 1 (30:02):
Let's talk a little bit about Cutter Bowley's performance. I
think we made the argument that he probably had his
best game in defeat against Georgia because he made some
progress off that rough night at South Carolina. This looked
like a big time quarterback on Saturday. To me. He
was very decisive in the things that he did, made

(30:25):
good throws, and this kind of speaks to something this
next point that you've talked about here on the show.
Some of the plays he made in that game led
to guys making catches we haven't seen him make, and
defenders not trying to do too much and maybe thinking
they had to, you know, try to make a play
to win the game and score on defense and all

(30:46):
those kinds of things. Are you seeing that too.

Speaker 3 (30:50):
It's the comfort level is he's starting to get comfortable,
not only in the plays because now he is seeing
his second and third option better and processing quicker. Also
he's more comfortable in what he's seeing on the other
side of the ball, And that is the more important thing.

(31:11):
Is when you see when you have played long enough
and he has not played long enough for yet, not
even close. When you have played long enough against several teams,
you start to understand what a defense can do to
you and how we can attack. There were several passes
crossing routes, shallow routes as we call it, where he
was patient under the rest but he knew where the

(31:32):
open guy was going to eventually come, and he was
patient enough to get the ball there. That's progress, and
that is I know it's gonna be hard on fans
to believe this, but I want fans to understand. Preseason,
these three games in October, most people had us zero
and three. But the great thing about it is we

(31:53):
are getting better at the right time, and if we
can move this game and keep progressing, the back half
of the schedule is still sec schedule, but the back half,
after these three games we had in the middle, is
a chance for us to do something special. I'm not
saying it's gonna happen, but I said at the beginning

(32:15):
of the season, if we've been won after the first
four games, we can win seven games. We'll unfortunately two
and two, so there's a chance for us, in my opinion,
still win six. So there's a chance. I'm not saying
it's a great chance now, but each week in this
conference is week to week. Texas played Oklahoma like that
was that best game of the year, then they come

(32:37):
here and we shut them down. You never know what's
gonna happen week to week, and we have to find
a way to be consistent on the offensive side, and
if we're consistent, there's a chance for us to win
some games on this back half.

Speaker 1 (32:51):
Well, they played Tennessee here this week, and then they
play at Auburn and Florida here, and those of those
teams is going to have already has a new coach coming,
and the other one might depending on what happens this
weekend in Arkansas.

Speaker 3 (33:06):
I would say this, we all know Auburn think that
they are better than what they are as a program.
If all these other programs are fine coaches, and I
guarantee you the Boosters have identified their net coach. If,
like you said, if they continue to lose, they are
going to get trigger happy because they are scared that
their guy that they won't might get picked up by

(33:29):
one of these teams that have an opening already. So
if Arburn lows next week, there is high likelihood that
they are going to get rid of Hugh Freeze.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
Back to the Kentucky game this past Saturday, DJ Miller,
true freshman, gets his first chance to play, and on
the game time drive, it's third and one and they
go to him to make a tough catch. That was impressive.
I thought even though it was a short game.

Speaker 3 (33:53):
I would say this Cutter is more comfortable with some
of the younger guys because those are the guys he
practiced with while Kazada was getting the number one reps.
So I'm not sure the call was specifically to him,
but I know Cutter is probably more comfortable with his roommates,

(34:15):
the tight End, which you told me Man's speaking of
the week before. So the tight is a roommates, He's
comfortable with them, and he's comfortable with the young guys
because that's why he throw. He threw the majority of
his balls during fall Campa during the summer, so that's
not shocking to me. Because of that reason.

Speaker 1 (34:32):
I think you would certainly be buying stock and Cutter
Bowli right now you think it's going up. I would
jump on a bunch of the CJ Works stock as well, right.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
And that's the thing about what is what is exciting
potentially about the future is there are some guys from
young guys that are showing their their work and this
program and showing that we have done a good job
not only in the portal but also in high school recruiting.
With some of these guys that are showing up to

(35:05):
play on Saturday and big games. There's a chance with patients.
I know there's no patience, but with patients that we
are trending in the right direction. Unfortunately is after four
and eight season, but we're trending in the right direction
with some of these young kids. And if we can,
everything with the program starts with the quarterback, and I

(35:25):
think we're seeing that Cutter is the right quarterback to
influence some of these high school guys and potentially nil
Porter guys to come to Kentucky because when you have
a quarterback now only a good quarterback, well quarterback, we're
a little swagger. It makes a difference with these eighteen
year old kids.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
Van Hiles ad V Style seventeen on x and at
Wednesday nights at nine, The Locker on YouTube and other
podcast platforms with Anthony White and right here every Monday.
Thank you, Van No it is the Leads Report. We
are presented by Bobcat Enterprises and we will be right
back this stand wild Cat History nineteen ninety Randy Holler,

(36:05):
an outstanding linebacker for Kentucky and Jerry Clayburn set a
school record with twenty nine tackles. Unfortunately, in a loss
at Tiger Stadium at LSU. Happy Birthday Kyle Wilcher, member
of the twenty twelve National Championship team for Kentucky Min's
basketball Historical Notes for the Cats, presented by Kentucky Road
Show Sports Cards and Memorabilia on Romedy Road in Lexington

(36:28):
and at Roadjocards dot com. Vanderbilt is number ten in
the New AP Poll. Last time that Vanderbilt was ranked
that high was nineteen forty seven for the NBA. I
was sad to see Lamont Butler's been waived by the Hawks.
Hopefully maybe he'll end up with something like G League

(36:52):
deal with them or hook on with somebody else. Because
we talked about last week the nice play that he
made in the of a preseason game. I think there
are things he could he could find a role with
the NBA team, so hopefully he will. Bruce Pearl has
signed on to do games for CBS and also some
studio work. So it was a thought that he was

(37:15):
getting out of coaching at Auburn to maybe get into politics,
but looks like maybe it was more a decision to
allow his son to move into the job and get
his chance, and so Bruce is going to be doing
studio and games, and he's done that before after he
was let go at Tennessee. Did that for I want

(37:37):
to say, a couple of years. Tennessee's been installed as
an early eight and a half point favorite for the
matchup on Saturday night against Kentucky. The game will kick
at seven forty five Eastern time. We'll find out the
kickoff time for Kentucky and Auburn on November first, sometime
later today. And as I mentioned, the Tigers are playing

(37:59):
out at Arkansas this week. Lost in double overtime to
Missouri on Saturday, but Tennessee got thumped by Bama down
in Tuscaloosa on Saturday night. We'll see tomorrow. It's the
Leads Report, presented by Bobcat Enterprises