2025-10-24 - LEACH REPORT

Tom talks with Evan Miyakowa, Kent Spencer, and Mike Keith. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good day, everybody. Welcome into the Leach Reports presented by
Bobcat Enterprises. And it is game Day and it'll be
followed by another game day tomorrow the Kentucky Men open
the basketball season. I guess unofficially it's an exhibition game,
but it'll be against the number one team in the country. Tonight,

(00:20):
we'll have the call on the UK Radio Network. Pregame
will start at four point thirty from down at rapp
Arena with Dave Baker and Cameron Mills and Andrew Cappus.
So make sure you're tuned in for that and ready
to go for the Cats and the Boilermakers of Purdue.
And then tomorrow Kentucky and Tennessee redo their gridiron rivalry
and we'll talk about all of that today. We'll start

(00:41):
on the basketball side with evanma Kala from evanmia dot
com website that Coach Pope has frequently cited for its
data that he likes to get. We'll lead off with
Evan Cat Spencer from WHASTV in Louisville and Mike Keith,
the Voice of the Falls Wildcat. News of the Day

(01:01):
presented by just Sepies of Lexington and Mark Pope yesterday,
said it will be a great data collection moment tonight
for his team to play the number one Purdue Boilermakers.
He said they'll Wildcats, will do everything to win, but
also not leave anything on the table in terms of
learning about themselves. He updated the recovery of Jalen Lowe

(01:25):
from the shoulder injuries suffered a week ago. Probably no
live contact for another week, says coach Pope, but that
the recovery is going really well and Lowe is pain free.
Look for Denzel Aberdeen to get the start at the
point and Jasper Johnson Colin Chandler to also get some
work there as well. Kentucky and Tennessee play at seven

(01:50):
forty five Eastern tomorrow on the football field at Kroger Field.
Last four games in Lexington in the series decided by
a total of sixteen points. DJ Waller out. According to
the latest availability report, Troy Stillado had already been listed
as out wide receiver, who got his first catch of

(02:11):
the season last week. SETH mcgawan still listed as questionable,
but Joshkatis Willie Rodriguez are no longer listed on the
availability report. Tennessee's Arion Carter still listed as questionable. Their
starting linebackers. The number one tackler in the SEC also
backup tight in Ethan Davis is on the questionable list.
Full of balls. They have a couple of defensive backs out,

(02:34):
but they've been dealing with that for a while now.
And the big story yesterday in sports was the federal
investigation into a gambling scandal involving allegations with the current
NBA coach or coaches and players, Terry Rogier, the one

(02:55):
time Louisville Cardinal, arrested, Portland coach Chauncey Bill, an assistant
coach with the Cleveland Calves. And there was a name
with a Kentucky connection, de Niro Laster, was a football
player for the Wildcats in twenty sixteen twenty seventeen. John
Hale at the story at Kentucky Sports dot com that

(03:17):
Laster has been one of those arrested in this as well,
and the allegation is that he worked with Rogier. So
that is the biggest national sports story right now that
everybody's talking about. Links to the stories we're talking about
you can find on the Bud light Leach Report page
at Tom Leachky dot com. We'll come back and hear

(03:39):
from Evan Meacwa. Leach Report Opening segment presented by Giuseppes
of Lexington. Think about gift cards for the holidays. Giuseppes
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(04:00):
you want to go buy the restaurant. It's just off
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It is the Leads Report and we're presented by Bobcat Enterprises.
Be right back. It's the Leach Report present up by
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(04:20):
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It's not the first game, but it is our first
look against outside competition at Mark Pope's second Kentucky team,
and not just any competition. Preseason Number one Perdue coming

(04:42):
in for the exhibition game at six Eastern time tonight
at RUPP. So let's talk a little bit about that
matchup with Evanmyakawa. Evanmiya dot com is his website. If
you're into analytics, so is he, and he is exceptional
at it. Evan, let's start by talking about Kentucky's upon
for this exhibition opener. Perdue. You dot evanmia dot com

(05:06):
a lot of different analytical things, but one in particular
is player ratings. And you have the point guard for
Purdue rated as the number one player in college basketball.
And I saw a headline from an SI story on
your rankings that I don't know if that was the
writer's quote or yours, that it's not even close from
one to the rest, right.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
Yeah, that's correct. Basically, I make preseason projections for every
single player in Division one based on all of their
stats that they've done in previous years, recruiting profiles, all
this stuff, and when you look at every single player
in Division one in terms of their predicted impact this
year produce Braden Smith comes number one, and the gap
between him and number two is absolutely massive. So it's

(05:47):
pretty uncommon to have someone this far ahead already going
into a season.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
What is it about his game that leads to that disparity.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
Well, I think as a traditional like college point guard,
he literally does every things so well. He's able to score,
he's a really efficient three point shooter, He's one of
the best playmaking guards in the entire country, arguably the best.
His defense is also really good. And then when you
take into account that he's coming into his senior year,
he was already so dominant last year as a junior

(06:17):
against you freshman and sophomores and even players older than him.
This year, that advantage he's going to have in terms
of age and experience is going to be even bigger.
So I just really think he's going to give a
problem for pretty much everyone that he's going to face.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
With Kentucky's emphasis on as it built its roster, on
improving its defense, even though they won't have Jalen Lowe
most likely for this first game, the fact that they'll
have Denzel Aberdeen perhaps at the point on Smith, or
at least a part of this matchup seems to me
to be an interesting and first a good first test

(06:53):
for how much Kentucky's defense has improved.

Speaker 3 (06:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
Absolutely, I mean, I think getting tested by Braden Smith,
the best point guard in the country in my opinion,
in a preseason game, is absolutely going to be a
great test. It's going to really tell them a lot
about where they're at in terms of able to really
stop teams at the point of attack. Purdue, I think
it's going to be the best offense we're going to
see in the entire country this year. So you know,

(07:17):
better than any SEC opponent potentially that Kentucky's going to
face Purdue is going to be really stiff tests. Obviously
just preseason, so both teams probably won't be clicking at
full gear. But this is going to be a really,
really great test and a great exercise for Kentucky to
kind of get a lot of these kinks out early
and figure out, Hey, how are we going to defend
against the very best teams of the country.

Speaker 1 (07:36):
Let stuck a little bit and be provincial here for
our audience to talk about the Wildcats, And I think
last I saw you had them in your preseason poll
at number ten. Correct.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yes, that's correct.

Speaker 1 (07:47):
What is it that you like about this Kentucky team
without having seen them play yet, obviously, and what are
your questions?

Speaker 2 (07:54):
Well, I think the roster that Mark Pope has put
together this year is going to be an improvement over
what they had last year, which was already a very
successful year. I think when you look specifically at the
top five or six guys on this roster, there are
just so many able guards, forward, centers who are really physical,
who are gonna be very athletic and are really going

(08:15):
to help each other out well in that way offensively
and defensively. I think defensively especially, there's just a lot
of physicality, there's a lot of athleticism. Jaden Quaintan's the
transfer from Arizona State who's hopefully going to be healthy
some point in the near future. He has one of
the best projected defensive ratings in the entire country. You
thrown Mope Diabate, who's a really high impact player on

(08:37):
offense and defense, oh take it oh way, obviously a
very standout defender. So I think, especially on the defensive end,
there's going to be a lot to look forward to
and I think that will definitely be an upgrade over
last year.

Speaker 1 (08:47):
Earlier this year you had Kentucky's transfer class ranked number
two overall in college basketball. What is it that's particularly
impressive or appealing about in this collection of new guys
that Pope has brought in.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
Well, I think in this portal age, right, any team
can have any number of players they bring in through
the portal, and last year we saw Kentucky pretty much
retool their entire roster in the transfer portal. Well, when
I do my transfer class rankings, I'm looking at both
how many guys did you bring in, but also what
are the quality of those players? And I think the
quality aspect is really where Kentucky has done really well

(09:21):
this year. I mean you look at Modabat, Jaden Quainton's,
Jilan Low, Cam Williams, like Jenzel Aberdeen. All of these
guys either have really high potential that they are still
to reach or really quality proven experience already in college.
And so just the level of each one of those
guys and to get as many of them as this

(09:43):
Kentucky team has gotten this year to then also add
in your returners in Otega Away Brandon Garrison and others.
It's pretty rare for a team to get that many
high quality transfers, and so the analytics really like them
from that perspective, and I think they've done just as
good of a job as anybody in terms of not
just getting lots of players in the portal, but getting
lots of really really good players at the portal.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
Toil with Evan ba Kawa. It's Evan mea E v
A n m iya dot com to click into all
of the analytical discussions that he gets into at his side.
What are the questions for you about this Kentucky team
from an analytics standpoint.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
Well, I think my metrics are going to be a
little bit lower on Kentucky than maybe what you'll see
in some of the other human rankings, ap pull, et cetera.
You know, I think a lot of team people think
this team has top five potential, and I think, certainly
in terms of their roster, they're absolutely capable of that.
I do think offensively, I talked already about the defensive

(10:44):
strengths of this team. I think offensively is where I
have a little bit more question marks. Nationally, I have
Kentucky's offense rank sixteenth in the country, so that'd be
just outside the top fifteen in terms of their predicted
offensive efficiency as a team. I think they have a
lot of really talented players, but they're obviously have a
lot of roster turnover, and your only really main like
continuing offensive threat from last year is otakea away. You're

(11:07):
gonna obviously have a lot of other new talented players
playing with him. But I do think that it's not
a given that this team will click offensively from the jump.
Last year we saw Kentucky have a entirely new roster,
and especially in the early portion of the season, they
really looked good. So if Mark Pope is able to
do that again in saying okay, we're we're not really
going to struggle with chemistry earlier, it's going to be

(11:29):
fluid from day one, then you know, wipe these concerns away.
But you know, I think it could take a little
bit of time for this team to gel, and so
you know, we'll see how it goes on that end.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
One of the articles that clicked on your site talked
about the gap between high major teams and the rest
of college basketball widening. Why do you think that.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
Is, well, I think the transfer portal, which makes it
really easy for players to go to any school they
want in any given year, and then the NIOW money,
which is really, you know, largely concentrated in the big
high major conferences like the SEC, Big Ten, etc. Is
really just kind of making it kind of hard for
any good low major or mid major players to pass
down better offers that are coming from these high major schools.

(12:11):
Especially in college basketball. It's been kind of interesting because,
as it's been noted a lot recently, the parody in
college football with nil seems to be up. There's a
lot of schools that you're not necessarily having the top
five or top ten schools every single year, whereas in
college basketball, especially in these power conferences, we're just seeing
such a concentration. And when you look at the top

(12:32):
five leagues in college basketball, SEC, Big Ten, Big twelve, ACC,
Big East, and the average team ranking, the average talent
that they have on their teams compared to all the
other conferences, there's just a massive, massive gap going into
the year between them and the rest of the country.
I think it's probably the largest gap we've ever seen,
and certainly kind of shows how the transfer portal and name,
image and likeness. The fact that players can get paid

(12:54):
has really kind of led to this sort of talent
accumulation at the very very top.

Speaker 1 (12:58):
So Evan Bakala Mia dot com is where you can
find his work and really interesting discussions you can get
into as a college basketball fan with all of these metrics.
Thank you so much for your time.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
Absolutely glad to be here.

Speaker 1 (13:12):
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This is the good life. We'll be right back twenty
five past the top of the hour. Come it to
you from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio, Return, Refresh and Refuel.
Joined by Ken Spencer WHASTV In Louisville and tonight Kentucky

(14:20):
men's basketball against number one per Due. There were you
are kent Louisville Cardinals are taking on Kangents, just a
normal Friday night in October. Right, Oh, do we lose
Cam's I think we lost him. We'll get him right back.
While we're doing that, let me remind you of a
note that came down yesterday. Kentucky's volleyball match against Tennessee

(14:41):
on November the ninth. I would assume this is because
of how well Kentucky's playing. It's been moved to ESPN
two and we'll now start at five o'clock. So you're
a Kentucky volleyball fan, note that change, and you should
be note that change on your calendar. ESPN two, November ninth,
Kentucky and tennis the five pm while Kats are playing

(15:02):
at Mississippi State tonight and then at Alabama on Sunday.
All right, Ken Spencer back with the staff from WHA
S TV. I was just saying, before we lost the
connection kent that you got Kentucky. I guess number one
per due tonight and men's basketball louisvill there where you
are against kans It's just a normal Friday night in October.

Speaker 4 (15:21):
You know, this is usually dedicated to high school football.
We're throwing a ton of resources at college basketball tonight
because it's it's actually what everybody is talking about, and
it's it's a lot of fun. We're still gonna get
our high school football in, of course, but man, when
you've got these two teams playing the caliber opponents that
they're playing for something that doesn't mean anything but feels

(15:46):
like it means so much, it's really really cool because honestly,
I mean the fact that this is the first time
that we've seen both teams against competition just in general,
you know, quality competition. You know, we're gonna find out,
We're gonna start to find out a lot about both
programs who have high expectations coming into the year.

Speaker 1 (16:06):
What are you most interested to find out about Kentucky?

Speaker 3 (16:12):
Just how just what it's gonna look like?

Speaker 4 (16:14):
I mean, I think, to be honest, when you see
a big blue manus or you you see even you know,
Pro Day or even blue white scrimmage, you know, I think.

Speaker 3 (16:27):
When you watch those kind of things, it's it's still.

Speaker 4 (16:30):
Not playing against another team, and it's not you know,
really selling out for everything that you've got. So I'm
I'm interested in all of it, right like I'm interested
in Okay, no Jayler Lowe, what's the point guard.

Speaker 3 (16:41):
Situation gonna look like?

Speaker 4 (16:43):
I think, honestly, Tom, they're in a much better spot
this year to handle no point guard than they were
last year without a La Butler. Even though Jackson Robinson
did a good job, he still wasn't you know, a
true point guard.

Speaker 3 (16:56):
And they may not have a true point guard.

Speaker 4 (16:59):
But I also think, you know, as far as some
programs out there, because Kentucky's point guards aren't expected to
dribble the ball and the offense.

Speaker 3 (17:09):
Completely run through them.

Speaker 4 (17:11):
I think they're in a better position to be able
to handle an injury at least early on in the season,
if it's just for a couple of weeks, even than.

Speaker 3 (17:21):
They were last year.

Speaker 4 (17:22):
I think Denzel Aberdeen, you know, and Mark Pope kind
of talked about this yesterday that he's going to be
you know, he's very confident in his ability to kind
of run the show for them if need be. And
so yeah, I mean, just honestly, like everybody, I'm interested
to see what everybody looks like playing together.

Speaker 1 (17:43):
It's Ken Spencer WHGSTV in Louisville, and we will continue
the conversation when we come right back. We are halfway
home on this edition of The Leach Report. It's presented
each and every day by bobcat Enterprises and coming up
in the second half, have more with Kent and also
by Keith the Voice of the Tennessee Evolves to preview

(18:04):
the football match up tomorrow night out of Kroger Field.
It's the Lakes Report Radio Network. We'll be right back.

Speaker 3 (18:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (18:10):
It's just kind of the theme all around and not
a cave. You just can't cave. You just got to
keep fighting, and I thought, there's a lot of guys
on the team that's willing to lay everything on the
line to win again. And I feel like a lot
of guys did that tonight, and I just really feel
for those guys for coming up short.

Speaker 1 (18:27):
It was Cutter Bowley after the loss to Texas last
Saturday night. Kat's get another chance for a signature win
tomorrow night against Tennessee. Ken Spencer's with us from WHAS
TV as We'll Shiftkers to talk a little Kentucky football
here for a few minutes. A brutal beat last Saturday.
So I think the most interesting storyline is, you know,

(18:52):
how how does Kentucky keep one from turning into two
in terms of this two week span shake off a
missed opportunity last week? What do you see right now
in where Kentucky football is and what it could do
in the second half of the season.

Speaker 3 (19:12):
You know, it's a it's a great question.

Speaker 4 (19:14):
The one thing that I think that you know, gives
you some positives about you know, last week and even
probably even before last week, you know, is the improvement
of Cutter Bully. And you know, I think they I
think they got a dude back there like I really
do do. I think at times he still can make

(19:36):
some better decisions that are to rest, absolutely, but so.

Speaker 3 (19:39):
Can a lot of quarterbacks.

Speaker 4 (19:41):
But he has the arm strength, the ability to go
thirty one of thirty nine against that Texas defense. And
not only that, I think he showed some real moxie
with how he played in moments and selling out and
the things that he was trying to do to help
his team win. That those kind of plays that he

(20:02):
made last week, Tom are the kind of plays that
rally the troops right like are are the kind of
plays you know, your defense sees that and they get
inspired by that kind of stuff because you know, in
practice and in camp, you know, those guys wear a
different color jersey.

Speaker 3 (20:19):
You're not you're not allowed to touch.

Speaker 4 (20:21):
Them, you know, they you know, a lot of people
don't think quarterbacks are tough. When you have a quarterback
playing like that and playing tough like that, it can
it can truly inspire your teammates.

Speaker 3 (20:32):
So I think that that is, you know, that's something that.

Speaker 4 (20:36):
Obviously has has been really good. I think the defense
took a step in the in the right direction against Texas.
Uh kind of keeping the Longhorns offense at at Bay,
even though arch Manning I think really struggled throwing the
football that day. But I think the defense took a step,
and they're gonna have to take an even bigger step
this week against this Tennessee offense. Since Josh Heipel has

(20:57):
been at Tennessee, the balls are averaging. I want to
say it's thirty seven and a half points a game
against Kentucky. So it's been tough to stop that offense.
It's a big challenge for him this week. If they can,
if they can continue to play some complimentary football, then
did they they have a chance.

Speaker 3 (21:15):
They're giving themselves chances. It's just at some point you
got to finish the job.

Speaker 1 (21:20):
I think you make a great point about Bowllie. Excuse
me because.

Speaker 3 (21:27):
I didn't know.

Speaker 4 (21:28):
I didn't know my point was going to make you
so emotional.

Speaker 1 (21:30):
Yes, that's what it was. I was really shaken up.
I think back to a couple of Kentucky quarterbacks. Steven Johnson.
If you looked at his stats, you wouldn't have thought
Kentucky did a whole lot of winning. But he was
just such a tremendous leader and maybe one of the
toughest guys that's ever played that position to play at
about one hundred and seventy pounds in the sec through

(21:52):
his body ran again. The last time Kentucky beat Tennessee
here is when he had hurt and then went into
the locker room and everybody thought he was done. And
here he comes running back out and he ends up
diving on his injured shoulder into the end zone for
the winning touchdown. And then I think in another way,
Jared Lorenza as a leader and two different coaches, coach

(22:15):
Morris coach Brooks, tried to go another direction because guy
that wasn't getting them shelf in shape couldn't be your leader.
But I always say when that Jared led by the
fact that when he stepped into the huddle, everybody knew
they were better and had a chance. And you know
that's I think you make a great point about what
you know, how it can lift not only the offense

(22:36):
but the defense. When we saw some receivers Hardy Gilbert
making a couple of great catches, you didn't see a
lot of those wow catches until the last couple of weeks.

Speaker 4 (22:44):
No, absolutely, And you know what, like, let's take it
a step furthers. Mcgawan was taken to the hospital on
his golf cart to go get checked out, and he
couldn't get back to the stadium fast enough when he
was given the all clear, and he got.

Speaker 3 (23:00):
Right back in the game. And to be honest with you, like.

Speaker 4 (23:03):
If you just watched the game, you couldn't tell that
he needed to go to the hospital with the way
that he was wanting, with the way that he was playing,
I mean he was he was playing with a reckless
abandon And if you play smart and you're playing with
the reckless abandon and think about this, like, do you
think that offensive line knows all of this stuff right?

(23:25):
And do you think that that offensive line isn't a
little even extra motivated to help those guys out and
give them some protection, to give them some run lanes.

Speaker 3 (23:34):
I guarantee you they are.

Speaker 4 (23:36):
Like, if that dude's gonna give that kind of effort,
is he, If he's going to care that much, that's
what I have to either match it or even exceed it,
if that's possible.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
Exactly right, No, it's I remember Dallas Owen's Great Kentucky
dB one time talking about they really started to come
together and get to their peak in the mid seventies
when he said everybody was more acot mountable to the
guy next to them than even to the coaches. So
that's that's what ye know. If this were twenty fifteen

(24:09):
instead of twenty twenty five, you'd look at Kentucky in
the second half of the season, they're going to play
one interim coach and maybe half another one against a
Hauborn Tennessee Tech so and then you know Vandy, Louisville,
Tennessee or the others, but those are you'd look at it.
You'd be a lot more optimistic then than Kentucky fans

(24:32):
I think are now. It's just you know, a lot
more water's gone under the bridge.

Speaker 4 (24:37):
Yeah, and you know it's you know sometimes it's and
to be honest with you, I mean, this is every
everything at Kentucky right now, like backster against the wall,
Like everybody's coaching for something, right and everybody's playing for something,
And you better be motivated and you better want to
finish strong because as you know, and look, Mark Stoops
has even said it, you know, the last couple of

(24:59):
seasons like, look, I'm forcing people to make decisions and
that goes with everybody, like everybody is being.

Speaker 3 (25:05):
Evaluated for the future.

Speaker 4 (25:08):
And that's one of the that's maybe one of the
biggest reasons I think that like nobody's just going to
lay over and quit on this.

Speaker 3 (25:17):
That they're going to dig in. We'll see now if
that's going to be enough to get.

Speaker 4 (25:22):
Some wins and make this season much better than it
has been so far.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
The you could look at the Texas matchup and see,
I think a scenario that gave Kentucky a chance because
the Longhorns weren't a juggernaut offensively. With what Tennessee does offensively,
that's the biggest challenge I think when you look at
the matchup on paper and try to come up with
a scenario for Kentucky to win off a very encouraging performance,

(25:52):
you can think that the Kentucky defense can hold its own.
Tennessee's quarterback has thrown the second most interceptions in the league,
so maybe you get a little help up there, but
they've have to find a way, one would think, to
get past that two touchdown mark offensively and get into
I don't know what would be the minimum score that
Kentucky could have and get a win against Tennessee. Would

(26:13):
you think could they do it with twenty four?

Speaker 3 (26:17):
You know, I was gonna stay twenty eight. I think
you gotta. I think you almost have to be able
to put up twenty eight to beat Tennessee.

Speaker 4 (26:25):
And we haven't really seen that, you know, with with
Kentucky and the Power five games. So they're gonna have
to find something that they and continue to find something
that they haven't been able to show so far this season.

Speaker 3 (26:39):
So I'm gonna stick with twenty eight.

Speaker 4 (26:41):
And then on the defensive side of the ball, let
me say this, Tom, You've got to be able to
get pressure and rattle Tennessee with your front four. You can't,
you know, because of the way that they spread you out,
because of the way that they do that. Your front
four has to be able to get the pressure because
you're gonna need help on the back yet because if

(27:03):
you if you have to blitz and you don't get home,
you know, there's gonna be guys wearing orange running wide open.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
Absolutely, And that's the thing with Tennessee is, you know,
even with some very good Kentucky defenses in the last
several years, they've the vaults still fund a way, it's
Kentucky and a lot of other people to hit those
huge explosive plays that that certainly can be demoralizing. Uh,
you know, it's a kind of game where it's a

(27:31):
little bit like when Kentucky. I think the Tennessee probably
gets more explosives maybe than the air raid did. I
don't know to check the numbers on that, but anyway,
those kinds of offenses, you you really annoy them if
you can limit the big plays and you can limit
their time on the field. So that's obviously a lot

(27:52):
easier said than done.

Speaker 4 (27:54):
Yeah, and and and you know, on on the on
the flip ed you want to you want to do
to Tennessee what teams have kind of done against this
Kentucky offense, right Like against Texas, it was it was
you know, they were going down the field, but it
felt like it took forever.

Speaker 3 (28:11):
For them to get down the field. And so what
Kentucky's offense is looking for is they're looking for the
big plays.

Speaker 4 (28:19):
If Tennessee is going to march down the field, you
want to make them, you know, you want to make
them go fifteen sixteen plays if need be. And then
that opens the door for Aguilar to maybe make a
mistake and to make the wrong pass and the force
the ball and get an interception, right, Like, those are
the kind of things that you're that you're really hoping

(28:40):
for if you're Kentucky to be able, if they're going
to get it, you better really make them work for it.
And on the flip side, you need to find a
way to create some explosive plays on offense.

Speaker 3 (28:52):
I will say this about Kentucky's receivers. You know they
you hate.

Speaker 4 (28:56):
We haven't seen the drops this year that that we've
seen in a couple of years that have kind of
plagued this group.

Speaker 3 (29:03):
I think they've been pretty sure handed.

Speaker 4 (29:05):
You just got to find a way to get those
guys the ball in some space.

Speaker 1 (29:10):
At WHAS eleven, kent On X and WHASTV there in Louisville.

Speaker 4 (29:16):
Thank you, Cant, thank you, Tom, appreciate it, Buddy.

Speaker 1 (29:19):
Heading to a break, we'll come back and connect with
Mike Keith, he's the radio voice for the Tennessee Balls,
and we'll get a little deeper into the matchup for
Kentucky football tomorrow night. It is the Leech Report and
we're presented by Bobcat Enterprises. It's the Leger repart from
the Clark's Pumping Shop studio, Return, refresh and refuel. So

(29:40):
in nineteen eighty nine I started doing the Scoreboard Show
on the UK Radio Network and one of the things
it would do is call around the league and get
highlights to put on the Scoreboard show for football and basketball.
And Mike Keith was doing that same job with the
Ball Network down in Tennessee, and so we would talk

(30:03):
every Saturday and trade information and reports and got to
be friends without every meeting for about ten years, I think, Mike,
and that's right. I think this is correct. Correct, correct
me if I'm wrong with that. I think around nineteen
ninety nine you came up to a game in Lexington, Kentucky,

(30:24):
Tennessee game and actually we've met in person. Is before
you were headed off to do the Titans for many years.
So now you're back as the voice of the Balls.
Is this your first time at Kroger Field since then?

Speaker 6 (30:36):
It is? It will be and looking forward to being there. Yeah,
you brought up some good memories. The other thing we
used to have to do too, for all of your
younger listeners. We used to have to call the phone
on the floor at basketball arenas to get score updates
and we would trade those. I would say, yeah, I

(30:57):
just called Georgia and old men is ahead forty two
to forty one or whatever, because you know, everything otherwise
was just on the AP or UPI wire because there
were no computers. So yeah, that's that's exactly. And and
you had friends at different places. Scott Strickland, who is

(31:18):
now the athletic director at Florida, was a student SID
at Mississippi State, and he would he would call back
and forth with things too, for their scoreboards. So it
was quite an elaborate little network we had. We we
all worked together and helped one another, and it was
it was a very good time to grow up in
the business. And now getting to show up there tomorrow night,

(31:42):
that's also very exciting. I'm thrilled to be coming back.

Speaker 1 (31:46):
I know you are thrilled to be in that role
and enjoying it very much and always helps. As I've
said many times, Kavi Ledford told me, you sound better
when they win, and som hmm. All's more often than
not are making you sound good.

Speaker 6 (32:01):
They're doing a good job. It's been an interesting season
because when Niko Iamaliava left abruptly in spring practice, we
didn't exactly know where Tennessee was going to go, and
we certainly didn't know where they were going to go
at quarterback. But you know, suddenly, Tom, you go from

(32:21):
probably one of the ten to fifteen best returning quarterbacks
in college football who's taken every important snap in spring practice,
to what do we do? And so the Joey Aguilar
situation has turned out very well. He's played really solid
football for Tennessee. Tennessee has played forty eight freshmen this

(32:46):
year red shirt and true, twenty seven of them true.
And you know, they basically have made a commitment that
they're going to be a school that still relies heavily
on recruiting and then fills in with the transfers, but
it's still gonna be about development. And so that's gone well.

(33:11):
Could have won both games that they lost had they
played better, certainly Georgia more than Alabama. But you know, overall,
to be in this position probably about as good a
situation as you would have hoped on April the twelfth,
when you didn't have any idea what you had.

Speaker 1 (33:31):
People think Tennessee and they think about coach Typel's offense
playing so fast and hitting all those big pass plays,
but the run game is a big part of what
they do. Samson was great last year for them. Last
two games, DeShawn Bishop as rushed for one against Arkansas,
won twenty three against Alabama, and did it on twenty

(33:54):
eight combined carries. He's averaging over nine yards almost ten
yards of carry. What's clicked in there.

Speaker 6 (34:02):
He's found the path. And what I mean by that
is I'm on with Ramon Foster, who played in the
offensive line at Tennessee and then played for the Pittsburgh
Steelers in their offensive line for eleven years and Tennessee's
playing Mississippi State on September twenty seventh, and he was
not happy with the backs following the path. He said,

(34:22):
you know, if they will stay with it, if they'll
just be a little patient and ride it, then there
will be something there. And ironically, in the fourth quarter
and overtime in Starkville, that's exactly what DeShawn Bishop did
and he has just continued that. Tom He's shown great patients,

(34:42):
He's made the right cuts, he's accelerated at the right point.
He's kind of a low center of gravity, kind of
a hard guy to tackle. He's faster than you think,
and I think he has sort of found that groove,
like what we see with players in a variet of sports, right.
I mean, you see a guy who starts hitting the

(35:04):
golf ball just exactly the way he wants, or the
jump shot or the baseball player, whatever, you just find it.
And right now Deshaun Bishop has found it. For Tennessee,
the question will be, and we don't know the answer
to this. Tennessee has rotated three backs all year. Are
they to the point now where Bishop becomes the lead

(35:26):
like Sampson was, or do they continue that rotation with
Star Thomas and Peyton Lewis Bet a minute.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
Let's hear Mike on defense. Tennessee's numbers are not good
and where they rank in total defense and things like
that in the league. But they're on the field more
than anybody else because of how fast they play offensively,
So they're going to give up some more yards because
of that. So do they have any serious issues on defense?

Speaker 6 (35:51):
Feaster Famine Tom. They led the league in sacks for
the majority of the years. They've scored four times on defense,
that made a lot of big plays, and yet they've
given up big plays. They've given up third downs, They've
had a hard time getting off the field in red
zone situations, enforcing field goal tries. It's been the most

(36:14):
confounding element of this Tennessee football team this year. At
certain moments fabulous, at other moments not so much.

Speaker 1 (36:22):
Mike Keith, thank you much. See tomorrow.

Speaker 6 (36:25):
All right, tom Thanks, it's the Leech Report.

Speaker 1 (36:27):
And we have one segment left and we will get
to that when we will come, when we come right back.
One of our great partners here on the Leech Report
is shuffle Bean Coffee. They have been for more than
a decade. It's a group of Kentuckians that got together
to form the company and it is or it was
with a commitment to being the best. They like to

(36:48):
say they follow the process or the quality of shuffle
Being coffee from seed to cup. And you can taste
that commitment to excellence for yourself by going to Central
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the company's website Shufflebean dot us. You can get the
coffee there and put some hustle in your shuffle today

(37:12):
with Shufflebean Coffee This day in Wildcat History is presented
by Kentucky Roadshow, Sports Cards and Memorabilia on Romney Road
in Lexington at a Roadshow cards dot Com. You wonder
what greatness might be in store at the University of
Kentucky for Malachimarno. And why do I say that? Because
it is his birthday and he shares that birthday with

(37:34):
the all time leaning score Kentucky men's basketball, or the
birthday weekend, I should say dan Issel's is tomorrow, so
right there next to dan Issel. And he's also born
on the same day as Braxton Kelly, who had the
tackle when Kentucky upset number one LSU back in two
thousand and seven. Talk to Coach Pope about Malachi yesterday

(37:56):
as we were taping the pregame is Resider and chatting
after we finished, and said, did you realize he is
as good a passer as he is from watching practices?
And he said, that's actually what first drew him to
Malachi was his ability as a passer. So we'll get
to see that and more in action tonight when Kentucky
takes on number one Perdue. Looking forward to seeing Coach
Pope's second Kentucky team on the court against a great opponent.

(38:19):
Tonight coverage we'll start at four thirty eastern, tip six
o'clock at Rapparena, and then tomorrow Kentucky and Tennessee on
the football field. Seven forty five is the kickoff time.
There last homegrown quarterback to beat the balls, well, it
was Bill Ransdell from Etown High School. He beat Tennessee
in nineteen eighty four. Kentucky's got a homegrown quarterback right

(38:41):
now and cutter Bowli and maybe it was a good omen.
Bill Ransdell was at the radio show back on Monday night.
I don't know. We'll see have a great day everybody,
and we will see you on Monday here on the
Leech Report.