2026-01-05- LEACH REPORT

Tom talks with Ben Roberts and Jon Hale.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good day, everybody, Welcome in. It is the Leach Report
as we start the first full week of shows here
in twenty twenty six. Our show's presented each day by
Bobcat Enterprises. We have the beat writers on today from
the Herald Leader. Ben Roberts covers Kentucky men's basketball. He'll
join us in the first half of the show John Hale,
who covers Kentucky football in the second half. As the

(00:22):
transfer portal for football opened up over the weekend, so
a lot of news out of there. So let's jump
right into the Wildcat News of the Day, a service
of Giuseppes of Lexington, and start with the downer down
in Tuscaloosa, where number fourteen Alabama beat the Cats eighty
nine to seventy four on a barrage of three point baskets,

(00:42):
fifteen of them for Alabama to just four for Kentucky.
So that is quite a disparity to have to try
to overcome in any game, and most of it came
in the first half when the separation came. Kentucky actually
jumped out to five to zero lead, but then Alabama
ran off nine straight and just got a bunch of

(01:06):
way too open threes. I was telling Shannon the lead
up to the show, this game reminded me some of
the Louisville loss back in November, which was the last
true road game Kentucky had played. And in that game,
Louisville got a bunch of open looks early as Kentucky

(01:26):
didn't defend the three well, whether it's you know, getting
through screens or playing it the way they planned, or
communication or all of that. And then and plus the
points came way too easily at the rim. And then
by the time they improved at it, they were digging
out of a big hole. Another thing they were able
to do in that Louisville game was make twelve threes,

(01:46):
and Louisville made thirteen. So if if you get out
scored at the three point line by I don't know
three four baskets, you can find other ways to make
that up. A disparity of eleven baskets on threes is
a lot to try to make up. One way Kentucky
was hoping to try to do that was with its boardwork,

(02:06):
defensive rebounding, but even more so offensive rebounding because in
the three losses. We talked about this on Friday Alabama
had been hammered on the boards, had given up a
lot of offensive rebounds and Kentucky had I think ten
offensive rebounds, but Alabama had had twelve. Excuse me, Alabama
had fourteen. So you know, the defensive rebounding let the

(02:30):
Cats down as well as the offensive rebounding was they
didn't max that outpe limited the lack of physicality in
that area, which was very important to what Kentucky's plan
was to try to get the wins. So regroup back
for two home games this week against Missouri and against
Mississippi State on Saturday, both of which had wins. As

(02:53):
the conference play started on Saturday, we will jump to
Kentucky women's basketball with a big win yesterday. They defeated
Missouri seventy four to fifty two, so they start conference
play at two to zero. Tony Morgan continuing her hot
streak from that last second bucket to beat LSU. She

(03:13):
had eighteen points and fourteen assists yesterday and the Kentucky
win over missoo. The bad news was that tiani Keyes,
been playing so well since coming back from injury, dislocated
an elbow in a scramble for a loose ball so
hopefully she will not be on the DL for too long.
And then football Transfer Portal news the pursuit of quarterbacks

(03:35):
the big story. Sam Levitt visited Kentucky. The former Arizona
State signal caller was here over the weekend. According to
various reports, he canceled a trip to Texas Tech, but
reports now say he is going to visit LSU. He
is also coveted reportedly by Miami and Oregon might even

(03:56):
get in the mix if more decides to declare for
the NFL Draft. Then Kentucky also learned that Cutter Bowlie,
the QB who started last season for the Wildcats, is
has committed to Arizona State. And we'll get into some
more of the names on the transfer portal a little

(04:16):
bit later in the show with John Hale joins us.
Right now, we want to get to the first break
and get some extra time with Ben Roberts from the
Lexington Herald Leader Kentucky Sports dot Com. Opening segments presented
by Giuseppes of Lexington. Get to open table and make
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(04:37):
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(04:58):
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Bobcat Enterprises and Roberts joins Us covers Kentucky men's basketball
for the Lexington Herald Leader at Kentucky Sports dot com

(05:20):
and was there in Tuscaloosa. I can't say court side anymore, Ben,
None of us are or court side anymore.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
No, although the seats for Alabama are probably they're among
the best in the league. Mark's story pointed out before
the game, it might be one of the only spots
where we actually sit.

Speaker 3 (05:38):
Lower than you guys do.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
I noticed you were kind of bid way up in
the middle, but I think that's also a pretty good seat.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
You kind of get to see the whole court on. Yeah,
you can't.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
I was telling our guys before the game. When I
first started doing broadcasts and doing play by play in
my hometown in Paris at Bourbon County, we were at
the top of the lower bowl like that. Now the
bowls a little higher, but still it is. You know,
the vantage point is fine you can you can't see
uh everything, and whether you want to or not on

(06:09):
the day like that, if you're working on the Kentucky side,
I said to Shannon before we started our broadcast, I'll
see if you have the same take that. This reminded
me a lot of the look of the lost to
Louisville in that that game started with Kentucky not defending,
you know, picking rolls well and Louisville getting a lot
of open looks for threes and knocking them down and

(06:29):
building a big lead. And the difference was Kentucky was
able to make threes that night and make a run
at it, and the disparity in in threes was huge
in this game. And Kentucky still got to within nine,
but that was they never really seriously threatened to Alabama
after falling into that big hole.

Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah, no, I agree, and yeah, you never really got
you know, in the Louisville game, I remember, I think
I think they were down four when Jalen went to
the line from Believa one and one and messed.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
The front end.

Speaker 4 (06:58):
And you know, at that point you're.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
Thinking, and oh, they might really pull this thing off.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
Uh, there was never you know, it seemed like the
second half of the Bama game it was more, you know,
they might make this respectable, or they might make this
score a little closer than the actual game indicates. I
don't think anybody ever really thought that they were gonna
come back.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
And yeah, I mean, when you.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
Lose three pointers by thirty three points, you're not going
to win many, if any games.

Speaker 3 (07:27):
And obviously that's what happens Saturday.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
You know, they came I think at it to ten.
I want to say about a third of the way
into the second half, came out of a time out
in Alabama immediately gets a couple of easy buckets. That's
where you know, and then they got it to nine.
I think earlier, same thing Alabama. Uh, you know, once
you get it, you have a chance. I mean, you're
it's it's a challenge to climb that hill and make

(07:49):
the comeback. But you've you've got the other team a
little bit at least on the ropes, and then when
you let them kind of get out of that situation easily,
kind of just re establishes their confidence.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
Yeah. I mean, you can't make mistakes when you get
down in a hole like that. And I remember the
you know.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
Jasper kind of had that pass backwards passing the half
court that le Baron picked.

Speaker 3 (08:15):
Off and got an easy bucket on the other end
and right around at the same time.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
It looked like I don't really know if it was
a miscommunication, the ball just went straight through Otegis. Yeah
a kickout, yeah, yeah, when Jayden kicked it back out
to him and I don't know if he didn't know
it was coming or what, but it was a fine
pass and it just scored you right out of his hands,
out of bounds. And you just can't do stuff like
that when he's trying to come back from If you
fall in a twenty one point hole and you get

(08:42):
a little momentum. I mean, you cannot make simple, simple mistakes.

Speaker 3 (08:46):
Like that, and you know they did and.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
It you know, that for me was the point where
they just squandered any opportunity.

Speaker 3 (08:54):
I know they got it down to nine after that,
but you know they weren't. They weren't coming back after.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
Those You're later story at Kentucky sports dot com. It
hits on I think what is probably the hottest topic
for the fan base, and that's the starting lineup. You know,
they did start off five to zero, and I was
looking at a clip this morning and it was think
Alabama ran off nine straight, but then at Kentucky gets

(09:18):
I think a three point play, So it's nine to
eight and you have Low and a quaintance and Otega
and I think Beg and Cam on the floor.

Speaker 3 (09:28):
So other than.

Speaker 1 (09:30):
Beg and you would have had diabate in terms of
the five that the fans I think probably wanted to see.
They were out there at that point it was nine
to eight. But it is the hot topic right now.
And you know, sometimes coaches, I don't know if they
want to acknowledge the word superstitious, but they seem to
not want to change when they're winning at Kentucky had
one four in a row. Do you think we see
the change now that they lost one?

Speaker 2 (09:52):
Yeah, I mean, I certainly it's a it's a dilemma
for Mark Pope, and I certainly understand where he's coming
from with not wanting to start Ja Lens.

Speaker 3 (10:02):
But you know.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
It, even when the even if the score is tied,
even if even maybe even if you're ahead. It just
the way that this roster is constructed, especially, it just
never seems like they're they're kind of in a flow
lineup wise. I think that second half against Saint John's
is really the only time we've seen that.

Speaker 3 (10:21):
And it's not really just Jalen.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
You know, obviously jayde Quaints is one of your top
five players. So you know, it's one thing if you're
bringing one guy off the bench is kind of a
spark who would normal normally start in this case, you're
bringing too and it you know, those first few minutes
of these big games recently, it just seems like they're
kind of you're kind of holding on like those first
few minutes, Uh, they're kind of just hoping.

Speaker 3 (10:45):
They don't get in a hole, which I think I.

Speaker 2 (10:48):
Think fans feel that certainly, and I think that's a
bad way to start games.

Speaker 3 (10:53):
Just from a ViBe's perspective.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
You don't want to be out there just just kind
of scraping by and hoping you can get to the
first TV time out in a somewhat fifty to fifty fashion.
So yeah, I mean, at the same time, you understand
you want to protect him, but he's playing twenty seven minutes.
You know he's not Marcus said, he's not on a
minute's restriction. He's on a contact restriction, which which is

(11:17):
obviously tough to manage, and you don't want him playing tired.
But you know, this team, I think especially you need
your best guys out there at the beginning of games.
And obviously Jalen Low does stuff on this team that
literally nobody else can talk with.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
Ben Roberts from The Harol Leader will take a quick
break and come back and continue this discussion in just
a moment on the Leach Report presented, but Bob Cant
enterprises twenty three past the top of the hour back
with Ben Roberts, who covers Kentucky men's basketball for The
Harold Leader. We're talking about starting lineups as far as
whatever five is out there, Mike Pratt used to have

(11:55):
a line that said two can't carry three. Three can
carry two.

Speaker 3 (12:01):
In other words, you had to have three.

Speaker 1 (12:02):
Guys that could get your points and then you know
you could they could carry the rest of the group.
Kentucky had Away with twenty two and Low with twenty one,
and then you drop off down to the next highest
score was seven for Denzel Aberdeen, six for Diabate. So
and normally Mark Pope's teams do have better balance than that.

(12:24):
That's something They've got to get some guys going with
their offensive games, don't they.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
Yeah, they do, And I mean a lot of that's,
you know, gonna fall on Jalns because because he is
really the only one.

Speaker 3 (12:36):
Who can who can shake up a defense like that.

Speaker 2 (12:38):
But the nine assist really, I think was the I mean,
other than the getting out scored by eleven three pointers
on the perimeter. Was was the story Saturday, and it
was just a continuation in NATO. It's called it out
after the game, you know, talking about their assist rate
in general is pretty good, but then when you dive

(12:58):
into it and actually look, and obviously we've all seen
it because we've been watching the games. They're getting a
lot of those against Cupcakes and and you know, they're
not moving the ball well and creating good opportunities against
these good teams. And that's been a problem all season long,
and and Saturday was was maybe the best example of that.
They just cannot generate uh, you know, open looks uh.

(13:21):
And it's better when Jalen's out there, but it's it
is really bad and really hard to watch when when
he's not. I you know, I don't know what the
answer is. It's clear that this team is not going
to look anything like last year's team as far as
ball movement and creation and and you know, the making
plays for teammates that the Pope has talked about all season. Uh,

(13:45):
but they've got to have some guys step up. They
they've got to get some more movement on and off
the ball.

Speaker 3 (13:51):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (13:51):
You know that just the passing around to pass around
with with you know, seemingly no positive outcomes. That's that's
not gonna fly for the rest of the conference schedule.
They've they've got a few games coming up that you know,
I think they really need and obviously need to win
and maybe can bring some better opportunities.

Speaker 3 (14:12):
But it's it's been tough so far.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
Goose talks on our broadcasts about, uh, too much dribbling,
and that's what contributes to the nine assists. What I mean,
they're not clearly not playing the same way with you know,
five out and you know Mary Williams at the top
of the key initiating offense, those kind of the things
that we saw last year. It's a different kind of team,
but you can still generate movement in whatever system you're playing.

(14:38):
So how do they go about getting better at that
and in the best.

Speaker 3 (14:42):
I don't know, Yeah, you can't.

Speaker 2 (14:45):
They haven't done it so far. And you know, the cutting,
which has been just a hallmark of Pope going back
to Byu, especially that you know his the last couple
of years there, Uh, you just haven't seen that, you haven't.
There's a lot of standing around off the ball. There's
not a lot of cutting there. When when there is,
it doesn't it's it's not sharp. It doesn't seem to have,

(15:08):
you know, the same kind of outcome that it has in.

Speaker 3 (15:10):
The past for him.

Speaker 2 (15:13):
You know, there were situations even when Jalen's in the game.
There was a specific possession Saturday where he kind of
dribbled around and then put up kind of an off
balance mid range shot and modiabatte I wasn't watching him
and maybe he was open somewhere else, but he was
clearly frustrated.

Speaker 3 (15:29):
They kind of had it out on the court and
then it get on the pitch. So the frustration is
clearly there for everybody.

Speaker 2 (15:37):
You know, they're the only guys that can fix it,
and I don't know how.

Speaker 3 (15:41):
They fix it. I don't know. There's got to be
an answer.

Speaker 2 (15:45):
The lineup construction is not great, and we've covered that
over the last few weeks. But you know, they've got
good players. There are good pieces there, so there are
answers to be found, but they crarently haven't found it yet.

Speaker 1 (15:58):
They have I think four of the next six at home.
And this is a Missouri team that comes off a
nice win against Florida on Saturday to start league play,
and they had had a couple of bad losses. They
had the best teams that they played. They had gotten

(16:19):
clobbered by Illinois, and they were beaten twenty by Kansas,
lost at Notre Dame. Those are their three losses. But
they've had some key guys out of their lineup that
came back for the Florida game.

Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah, yeah, and that.

Speaker 4 (16:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:31):
They they followed what was maybe the worst game by
Seeking this season with what was certainly their best game
coming off that huge loss to Illinois, and then after
the Christmas break beating FDA on Saturday, which was the
biggest upset I think of the of the weekend, at
least in the SEC. You know, they're tough to figure
out that. You know, it looked like they were headed

(16:52):
toward They've been so up and down over the last
few years. Looked like they were headed toward another really
down year. And then they come out and do that.
But they've got you know, folks will remember Anthony Robinson
and Mark Mitchell.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
They've got them back. Uh, two of the you know,
the best SEC players over the past year or two. Uh.

Speaker 2 (17:15):
They Florida is also a tough, tough one to figure out.
Everybody thought I thought they had the best starting five
in the country owner of the season. Their backcourt has
not lift up to expectations. They're shooting the ball horribly
and did not shoot it again, Uh, did not shoot
it well against Saturday. I you know, bottom line is
this is one that Kentucky's gotta win. And I still

(17:37):
think Missouri finishes in that kind of bottom quarter ish
of the league once it's all said and done. This
season certainly the bottom half. So you know, these next
three games, they haven't really had teams like this yet.
They've they've played their cupcakes, they've played a lot of
really really good teams, and now they're playing three, you know,

(17:57):
pretty good teams in the grand scheme of things nationally,
and they've got to pick up ones here.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
Yeah, you look at it from an NCAA tournament perspective,
it's been either ones and twos or fifteen's.

Speaker 3 (18:08):
And sixtys exactly.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
Yeah, there's gonna be you know, some six to eights
or nine's coming up here, Ben, Thank you much.

Speaker 3 (18:17):
Yep, thanks a lot of Tom.

Speaker 1 (18:18):
It's the Late Report. We'll be right back. It's the
Late Report coming to you from the Clarks Pumping Shop studio. Return,
Refresh and Refuel at Clark's and you can sign up
for their loyalty program too and get some great deals.
Much for their new TV spot coming out soon. I

(18:39):
participated in that with Malachi and Jasper and Brandon, so
we'll be eager to see how that one turns out.
For Clark's pumping shop. We're trying to land John Hale
talk about the transfer portal for Kentucky football. While we
do that, let me get through a few more of
the names, because it just focused on the quarterbacks there

(19:02):
in the opening segment. And Kentucky has picked up several commitments,
all of them on the defensive side right now. Tavian
Wallace from Arkansas, linebacker committing over the weekend. And his
brother Trevin was an outstanding player here and Kentucky tried
hard to recruit Tavon, didn't land him, but now get

(19:24):
him on the second chance cornerback Hassan Sykes from Western Carolina,
lengthy corner, he has committed to Kentucky. Antonio o'berry from
Gardner Webb and edge rusher, and you're thinking, well, Gardner Webb,
Western Carolina, these are guys that had a lot of
had several offers from other Power Conference schools, So these

(19:46):
were guys that have been highly sought after in the portal.
And then defensive lineman Amad bro from LSU where he
was the defensive freshman of the Year for the Tigers
in twenty twenty four, has two seasons left six three,
two eight for him, so all of those are incoming.
Plus Sam Green, the outside linebacker who played so well

(20:07):
before he was injured in the Auburn game. He has
committed to a return to Kentucky, So with so many
guys leaving along with the coaching change, that was a
big plus to keep Sam Green. I think I mentioned
Cutter Bowls picked Arizona State. DJ Waller is headed to Louisville,
cam Dooley announcing he's going into the portal. Reports are

(20:31):
saying that he's likely to land at Florida, where Brad
White is the new DC, so he would be playing
for the same defensive coordinator and Jamrion Walker. Will Cox,
the runner running back who had legal issues didn't play
this past season. He has entered the portal as well.
John Hale joins US now from the Lexington Herald Leader

(20:51):
Kentucky sports dot com, where he covers Kentucky football and
has a story up about the opening weekend of the
transfer portal. Did I see it, write John, like four
thousand names in the portal?

Speaker 4 (21:05):
Yeah, take it a lot. I don't know if it's
quite that many. I haven't seen this bling number, but
it's certainly in the two or three thousand range. I
think it's just insane. I mean, it's condensing it to
one window. I don't know has helped anybody in the
way that they thought it's going to do. It's made
it more hectic, especially with these playoff teams still still
playing at the moment. But I do not envy the
person whose job it is to cope that list and

(21:27):
try and find some diamonds in the rough.

Speaker 1 (21:29):
Yeah, especially in the in the age of AI generated
stuff on social media where you can get fooled, so
you have to check and double check and triple check
on anything you pick up. Let's talk quarterbacks. First, Cutter
Bowlly going to Arizona State. Do you what was your
take on how this one played out for Cutter?

Speaker 3 (21:52):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (21:52):
I thought it was very interesting that anytime that will
Stein has done a public interview about Kentucky since he
got the job, he was complimenting Cutter when theyver asked
about it, But he was never like he never clearly
wanted the message out there that they were like begging
Cutter to stay, which felt like the vibe all of
last season when Mark Steups was still here, Like the
whole hope was that they were going to build around

(22:13):
Cutter boldly, and they didn't have to go out and
get a transfer quarterback in will Stein.

Speaker 5 (22:16):
Whether it was.

Speaker 4 (22:16):
Leverage, whether it was his own evaluation, whatever, never did that.
They I know Jose Loan his press conference made it
clear when I asked him they needed to add another quarterback,
just for another body in the room. And so I imagine
it was a scenario where they put an evaluation on Cutter.

Speaker 5 (22:31):
I think they liked him. I think they wanted him to.

Speaker 4 (22:32):
Stay, all things being equal, But whatever evaluation they put
on him, Arizona State clearly gave him a higher number,
and they knew they needed to add another quarterback anyway.
So I think it was just a scenario where the
numbers just didn't work out. Whether Kentuck that works for
kentuckting the long run obviously had a lot to do
with who they get to replace him, And if they
get Sam Levit, I don't think anybody's going to question that.

(22:54):
If Sam Webbitt goes to LSU today or tomorrow, then
I think the pressure ramps up on the new staff
quite a bit.

Speaker 1 (23:01):
Yeah, Levitt's one of the hottest names for quarterbacks in
the portal and so he spends the weekend at Kentucky
and there was obviously a hope that he would commit
at least here, and then Texas Tech was supposedly his
next stop, and then they landed their quarterback and I
think the kid from Cincinnati. And then now LSU's emerging

(23:22):
and seeing Miami and Oregon also coming in. So at
this point, what are you hearing about Levitt?

Speaker 4 (23:29):
Yeah, I mean, I don't think you can be super
confident if you're a Kentucky fan today, because I mean,
when the news broke Friday he was visiting Kentucky, I
think it certainly shocked a lot of people around the country.
And you get excited as a Kentucky fan thinking about, Okay,
maybe will Stein can do the same thing you did
at Oregon and get the top quarterbacks to come here.
But like when you're the number one or number two
RT player in the portal looking in on which site

(23:50):
you're looking at, like you're going to take your time
and make the.

Speaker 3 (23:52):
Best decision for you.

Speaker 4 (23:52):
There was probably not a realistic scenario where he was
gonna come and commit, you know, on the spot, to Kentucky.
The Texas Tech stuff certainly added to the drama and
now I'll see what Lsu does. Maybe you know, there's
murmurs obviously with all missus quarterback Chambliss, Like, what is
he going to do? Is he going to get a
waiver for an extra year? Is he going to stay
at all this? If he does, is going to follow
link Kevin Lsu? Like all of these quarterback dominoes are interconnected.

(24:15):
I don't think it's time to like completely give up
on it. Kentucky fans probably remember that Devin Leary visited
here as the top rank quarter back in the portal
and then left and made a visit to Auburn and
then still signed with the Kentucky So it can work
out that way. But it's going to be tense waiting
for this, and we'll stign and his staff have to
do their due diligence to find, you know, some second

(24:36):
options in case Levitt does go to one of these
powerhouse programs.

Speaker 1 (24:40):
The hope was that the house settlement that we heard
so much about last summer would bring some of the
long awaited I think guardrails is a phrase that's used
a lot to all of this nil transfer portal structure
of college sports. It doesn't look like that's happening yet.
And Carson Beck supposedly got the four million to go

(25:03):
to Miami and that's worked out well for Miami. So
any guess of what the top of the market is
for a quarterback.

Speaker 4 (25:11):
Now, Yeah, I mean the report for sorsby the Cincinnati
quarterback Texas Tech last night was close to five million,
and I think a couple of sites have ten number one,
and a couple sites have eleven number one. So I
think it's certainly around that same number that the Carson
Beck got last year. It does not seem like there's
any scenario where it's gone down. I mean, I do
think we're still in this transition period because everybody's football rosters,

(25:32):
especially last season, were funded before the house settlement went
in pre July first, because they gave them all those
you know, pay for play and I had collective deals
ahead of time, so they didn't have to go through
the clearinghouse. A lot of schools I think have basically
their entire revenue sharing budget for twenty twenty five still
available because they were paying all those guys beforehand. So
that does increase the number. We'll see if this, you know,

(25:54):
if it evens out next year, I think everybody's skeptical
about that with the guarantees we saw in the coaching parrousel,
you know, thirty million dollars, rosters and stuff. But for now,
it does not seem like the numbers have gone down
at the top of the market at all.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
You can see why Diego Pavia has continued to fight
for additional eligibility. Is his lawsuit Is it still a thing?

Speaker 3 (26:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (26:16):
The reforce that I've read is it's still going. He's
still pushing it, but he is planning to go to
the draft. I mean, I assume if he, depending on
what evaluations to get, maybe he'll try harder to stay.
But just for the sake of the precedent, he wants
to continue to push that. And there are certainly other
junior college players, former junior college guys who are trying
to use that precedent to.

Speaker 3 (26:34):
Get extra eligibility and see what happens.

Speaker 5 (26:36):
I mean.

Speaker 4 (26:38):
The other part of this is these injury waivers, like
nobody knows for sure who's giving them who's not.

Speaker 5 (26:42):
It seems like they're just still hanging them out like candy.

Speaker 4 (26:44):
Like Landon Watson, a guy who was a Kentucky linebacker
last year, should not have any old buildy left, but
even the portal and committed to Kansas this weekend, so
maybe he has an injury situation. One of the ed
rusher Kentucky got from Gardner Web yesterday should not have
any eligibility left based on what you're looking at his clock.
But there was a season that he started a Division
two school, tiff And University, and ye played by two

(27:05):
games of sophomore year. So maybe there's not a lot
of media reporting about tiff And football out there to know,
but it does seem like guys are still getting waivers,
and I think a lot of it is that popy
of lawsuits that the NBA just doesn't want to get
sued and those that they're not winning many of these cases,
so they're just letting guys get the waivers as they can.

Speaker 1 (27:22):
That's seventeen away from the top of the hour, chat
with John Hale from The Harold Leader where he covers
Kentucky football at Kentucky sports dot com, and we'll be
right back our shows presented by Bobcat enterprises back with
John Hale from The Lexington Harold Leader Kentucky Sports dot
Com talking about the Kentucky football the transfer portal.

Speaker 3 (27:42):
John.

Speaker 1 (27:42):
I don't know if you've seen this story by Bruce
Fellman at The Athletic came out yesterday. Interesting read talking
about just the changing landscape of college football and Hallie
and Ile has impacted this. I think a lot of
this is in the context of what Indiana's done the
last couple of seasons and this one in particular, but
just talking about how the talent is more spread out.

(28:04):
Cole Kuberlic makes the point the SEC network analyst about
looking at He cites Georgia as an example and how
it used to be the third and four string guys
were good enough to start other places, but they were
waiting their turn at Georgia. And the thing is they're
not waiting their turn anymore, right.

Speaker 4 (28:25):
Yeah, It definitely seems like that has helped programs of
the historically of the tier that Kentucky is in, and
why I think will Stein was so confident when he
got here that they can do what Indiana did, that
they can do what Vanderbilt did this year. Like those
kind of stories happened before, but they did not happen
as regularly. And the other part of that story was
that the SEC's dominance has kind of gone away.

Speaker 5 (28:47):
That's not as.

Speaker 4 (28:47):
Stretch where they're going to win thirteen out of nineteen
national championships or whatever it was for a twenty year period.
There they are in a spot where their full record
was terrible this year. Some of that has to do
with opt outs and guys moving on. That's everywhere too,
and so that in and of itself probably helps Kentucky
a little bit too, because when you see Indiana, you

(29:07):
might say, oh, they had an easy Big ten schedule,
especially last year, but a little bit this year too.

Speaker 5 (29:12):
Kentucky's never going to get that schedule in the SEC.

Speaker 4 (29:14):
Well maybe if the SEC is not quite as deep
and dominant, you can you can see a path for
Kentucky to having those kind of seasons too. But you
got to have the right coach, You've got to have
the right roster build. And that's why this two week
period right now where they're trying to build this is
so important.

Speaker 1 (29:29):
Is the quarterback the piece that would allow the rest
of the offensive pieces to fall in line. Because you
look at most of their commitments right now, most drifts,
not all are on the defensive side.

Speaker 4 (29:43):
Yeah, I think that's certainly a big part of it,
and certainly at.

Speaker 5 (29:46):
The top of the market.

Speaker 4 (29:47):
A guy like DeAndre Moore, the wide receiver from Texas
who was in over the weekend as one of the
top receivers in the portal. I think he went to
Ohio State on Sunday and is playing a visit to
Colorado in the next couple of days. Like that's a
guy who probably wants to know who your quarterback is,
whether it's Sam Levitt or somebody else. I do think
that will Stein and his offense and what they've done there,

(30:07):
they're they're prolific enough that they're going to find some
of those receivers and running backs who are, like you know.

Speaker 5 (30:12):
From smaller schools, or.

Speaker 4 (30:14):
A backup guy who hasn't played a lot, who has
a lot of talent, and they can make that work
regardless of the quarterback. But if we're talking top of
the market, like a true number one go to receiver,
that guy wants to know who's going to.

Speaker 5 (30:25):
Be throwing him the ball.

Speaker 4 (30:25):
And so I think that is the first domino that
has to play out and see where they go from there.

Speaker 1 (30:30):
Yeah, because when you know, the the NFL guys are
starting with the quarterback too, and they're looking at the
tape of the quarterback and you know, probably helped one
Dale Robinson when people were looking at Will Levis and
they saw, you know, just how good one Dale was
even though he was undersized, and he's shown that that
didn't matter.

Speaker 5 (30:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (30:48):
Absolutely, it's it's just such a huge part of this
and you know all of these guys are making this decision,
Like the money is part of it right now, but
the other part of it is like getting to the
NFL and figuring out how they can do it. That's
going to be the message that Will nine Sales and
Joe Sloan sells to these recruits, whether they're in high
school or in the portal, like, look what we did
at Organ, we did lshu and turning guys in the
NFL players. We can do that at Kentucky too, and

(31:09):
that's going to certainly help them get those under the
radar guys, some of these smaller school ride receivers and
running backs. But at the top level that's important too,
and that piece of it.

Speaker 5 (31:19):
Is going to be here.

Speaker 4 (31:19):
I think they're hosting a quarterback from you on according
to reports in the next couple of days. You would
not expect him to be the starter, but they need
multiple bodies. They only have one quarterback on the roster
right now, and that's a hard spot to commit to
as a receiver if you don't know what the situation
at that position is going to be.

Speaker 1 (31:35):
Look, the money always matters, and it's not just in sports,
it's you know, every walk of life. But the lowest
bids not always the best, and the highest is not
always the best. And it seems to be the part
of the challenge in terms of and you have to
do this quickly, especially as a new coach putting a
roster together, is identifying the guys who for some it's like,

(31:56):
what's the money and then I'll worry about the fit.
You'd probably prefer to have the guy that wants to
get a fair price but is most worried about the
fit and you know how what he sees he can accomplish.

Speaker 4 (32:08):
Yeah, And I'm fascinated mostly to see what they do
in the offensive line. I mean, they've got to replace
their entire starting five there. And they're just so little
film on Kentucky's backups in terms of games because they
didn't rotate very much last year. So a you got
to figure out based on what rare practice film they have,
like can Malachi Wood and ab As Elm and you
know Evan Wibberley. Can those guys step up and be
starters next year? And if not, you got to go

(32:29):
out and find five new offensive linemen to start with.

Speaker 5 (32:32):
And like you probably aren't going to be able to.

Speaker 4 (32:34):
Get SEC starters at every position who have SEC experience
just based on your budget. So can you find some
guys who you think fit your system, who are from
smaller schools like that the staff did last year? Can
you find some some I mean, all of the LSU
offensive linemen are basically rumored to be visiting Kentucky, but
that Joe Sloan knows those guys, and that's such a
huge part of it. The offensive line is not quite

(32:54):
as expensive as quarterbacks, but it's it's up there, especially tackled,
And so the money part of this fitting the budget,
finding the fit. They're going to have to find some
guys who are cheaper and are under the radar, but
they think can be really good players. And that's I
think going to determine how good they are next year.

Speaker 1 (33:10):
None of those guys you mentioned, I don't believe have
entered the portal right for Leo in the offensive line,
guys that you know are on the twos on the
depth chart, right.

Speaker 4 (33:19):
Yeah, they're all right now coming back. And then they
added Jordan Ox, the junior college transfer on signy Day
in December, who was a guy who had experience at
Northwestern as a freshman, so theoretically he might be able
to contribute to I certainly think it's a spot where
they know that those those twos, the guys we didn't
see play much last year, are going to have to
be depth if nothing else, and so they need to

(33:40):
keep those guys that can't afford to lose many or
any of them.

Speaker 5 (33:44):
So I think it is a good sign that they've
stuck around.

Speaker 4 (33:46):
Right now, and then we'll just see what positions they
need to go out there and prioritize that they think
they have to get a their starter.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
But again kind of I think the key piece is
if you can land the quarterback and you know with
with you know, if you're Will stein Imus and Joe
Sloan to me, even if the news is bad, you
want to get the news as soon as you can
on levit.

Speaker 3 (34:08):
Right, Yeah, that's that's probably the worst case for good
news obviously.

Speaker 4 (34:12):
Yeah, if if LSU is holding off on you know,
Chambliss or somebody else and so he's waiting to see them,
or if Oregon's waiting on Dante more in his draft decision,
he's waiting on an Oregon. Like this drags out for
another four or five days, how many of those other
quarterbacks are going.

Speaker 5 (34:27):
To be off the board?

Speaker 4 (34:28):
I mean pretty quickly, Like we saw you know, ten,
eleven to twelve of them already commit to new.

Speaker 5 (34:33):
Places this weekend.

Speaker 4 (34:34):
And so like the top quarterbacks and on the board
are not sticking around very long. And so yeah, you
want Levitt to be the guy, but if he's not,
I do think we're going to find out really quickly
what will Stein thinks in terms of valuation. It's important
to note, though, the three guys he got it Oregon,
Bo Nicks, Dylan Gabriel, Dante Moore, none of those guys

(34:54):
were the top quarterback in the portal when they signed them,
and they all turned into NFL draft picks and you know,
Heisman Opie finalists and all those kind of things. So
he has a track record of finding, you know, a
player who on portal signing day or whatever, might get
the most not be the most exciting name, but turning
into really good players. I think k Tucky vans would
remember that. But those guys are for tools right now too,

(35:15):
so they got to figure it out.

Speaker 1 (35:17):
Yeah, and this all happens quickly. What's the deadline on
the back end? We know the portal has opened, what's
the back end for it closing.

Speaker 4 (35:24):
Yeah, so the last day it's open is the sixteenth.
They can players can still commit after that, you just
have to be in the portal of sixteenth. The issue though,
is that's the same day that's the ad drop deadline
for Kentucky spring semester. So if you want to be
here to participate in spring practice, which obviously everybody wants
to do that if you're changing schools, it's basically the
same day that Kentucky's going to have to have guys enrolled.

(35:46):
So it's really a two week sprint. They got to
have everything done. There's no spring window after spring practice
anymore to go and evaluate the final holes you have.

Speaker 3 (35:54):
On the roster.

Speaker 5 (35:55):
It's all going to be done here in two weeks.

Speaker 1 (35:57):
Yes, Like when they got Seth McGaw in the second
window left year.

Speaker 4 (36:01):
Yeah, that was a spot where they went through spring
practice and they had four running backs and they decided
they needed another guy, and clearly that.

Speaker 5 (36:07):
Was a huge piece for them. That's not going to
be the case this year.

Speaker 1 (36:10):
You can see John's work and follow along on the
portal at Kentucky sports dot com and in the pages
of the Lexington Herold Leader. Thank you John, Thanks Tom.
It is the Leach Report and one last break, We'll
be right back. Our show is presented by Bobcat Enterprises.
It is the Leach Report, and we are coming to

(36:31):
hear from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return, Refresh, and refuel.
Wild Cat History and Birthdays presented by Kentucky road Show
Sports Cards and Memorabilia on Romney Road in Lexington and
at roadshowcards dot com. Happy birthday, Tyler ulis Man. What
a competitor. He was one of the all time great
point guards for the Cats. Celebrating a birthday today. Isaac

(36:53):
Coumphreys celebrating a birthday played his best game in his
last game in that NCAA Elite eight loss to North
Carolina one. Dale Robinson mentioned him earlier. He's celebrating a
birthday today and our two Spinnter, one of the all
time great running backs for the Cats. So a good
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(37:16):
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(37:38):
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it for this edition of the Leech Report. One ranked
on Rank. Matchup in college basketball tonight that's in the
Big Ten Southern col at Michigan State. Nebraska is still undefeated.

(38:02):
They're playing tonight on the road against Ohio State and
they're fourteen to oh beat Michigan State on the weekend
on Friday Night, See you tomorrow on the Late Report.