2025-08-04 - BBI - Big Blue Insider with Dick Gabriel

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Big Blue Insider. Dick Cabro with you
on a Monday edition of our program, twenty six days
away from Kentucky Football, So it says the calendarvia Corey Price.
He is our UK network statistician. He's the guy who
loves to crunch numbers and posts a photo of a
UK player every day corresponding to the number of days away.
And of course twenty six. You got to choose Benny Snell,

(00:23):
which he did, and I will tell you it is
that Vince Merrow, you remember him. Whenever he would talk
to us about Benny Snell, he wouldn't say Benny or Snell.
He would just say twenty six. You know when twenty
six does this, when they see twenty six, that kind
of thing. So I will always appreciate Benny for that.
In the photo that Corey used, I don't know who

(00:43):
took it, but it was from that Citrus Bowl, that
touchdown run that helped since the game and gave Benny
the new UK record for touchdowns score rushing touchdowns scored.
You think about the great running backs, Moe Williams was fantastic,
Benny's Chris Rodriguez, Sunny Collins, I think is still the
best that UK ever had. He was just phenomenal and

(01:07):
the perfect running back for the offense. UK was running
back then, which of course was a big reason why
they ran it, but anyhow, they It's amazing how many
really talented running backs Kentucky has had, and Benny Snell
one of the all time greats. And in fact, this
past week a few days ago, and I retweeted it,
somebody was posted a video clip of Benny Snell scoring

(01:30):
four touchdowns one night against Mississippi State in a crucial win,
one of those swing game wins. Good Mississippi's date team,
and I remember how good that defense was, and Benny
just crushed it. And I don't mean goal line plunges,
I mean long runs. They were so much fun. It
was here at home. I looked it up at the

(01:53):
end of the year because I thought Kentucky statistically had
led the conference and defense know Chucky was second overall.
That was the Josh Heinz Allen team. Benny Snell scored
four against a defense that that season gave up a
total of eight rushing touchdowns. Now, part of that was

(02:16):
because State was a little susceptible to the past but
that was only because people threw the ball so much
because they couldn't run the ball on Mississippi State. But
that night, the big Blue wall just ripped them to
shreds and Benny had a big time. So the eight
touchdowns given up that year by Mississippi State the best
statistically defense in the sec half of them they surrendered

(02:41):
in one night against Benny Snell and the Wildcats. So
that's what gets you excited. That in a lot of
other stuff, And in fact, I got a chance to
go to practice for two days. They let the media
in on Friday, and then of course we all saw
practice on Saturday. Mark Stoops actually talked to was He
wasn't planning on speaking to us, but I guess, well,

(03:03):
he was in a good mood. You'll hear it. You'll
hear some of his comments. But yeah, he'll tell you
when he's unhappy with his team. He's done that more
than once generally early in the spring or summer. He was,
I don't want to say happy, but he felt good
about what he had seen over the last couple of
days and he told his why. So we'll hear that

(03:24):
in just a moment. Also, tonight we're going to hear
from Walt Wells and the EKU Colonels were from Walt
in a minute and more from the Colonels in aur
number two. They had their media day yesterday. They have
been picked to finish third in the A Sun. They
had a good season last year, got to the playoffs,
couldn't win a game. They got really got hosed honestly

(03:44):
in the playoffs. But Eku hasn't won a playoff game.
I think since like nineteen ninety four. They've been in
the playoffs. There was a long period where they didn't
even make it. But a team that used to dominate
in the playoffs hasn't won a first round playoff game
in forever. So maybe this is the year. But a
lot of the talent from last year is gone. They've

(04:06):
had some guys come through the portal to Richmond. They've
had some guys move up on the depth chart. They
do have talent. We don't yet know who the quarterback is.
I'm not even going to talk about the quarterback of
the KU because apparently it's a four man race, primarily
a two guy race, but there are four vying for
the position. Walt Wells listed them, but you know, basically said,

(04:27):
nobody has a leg up right now, but it's early
in what they call camp. But the Colonels had a
lot of guys named it a preseason all conference teams,
So the voters recognize the fact the EKU has guys
coming back who made significant contributions last year. And we'll

(04:47):
hear more from Walt Wells coming up in just a minute,
as well as Mark Stoops. I did want to mention
a couple of things, primarily from the US Track and
Field US Track Association championshi out in Eugene, Oregon. That
is the heartbeat of US Track and Field. The facilities
out there at the University of Oregon are tremendous, so

(05:09):
that's where they have them every year. The Olympic Trials
and all that. But a couple of wildcats again made
their respect to Mark Sidney McLaughlan. Levone won her second
US title in the four hundred meter flat on Saturday
in forty eight point nine, so now that puts her
in the World Championships later this summer. She is a

(05:32):
four time Olympic gold medalist and the world record hold
hold her in the four hundred hurdles, and she's been
focusing on the flat race this season, beat Isabella Whitaker
byero point three seconds and now is six and oh
lifetime in the four hundred meter finals. She also won

(05:54):
the national title in twenty three. I'm sorry twenty twenty
three but couldn't run in the Worlds because of an injury.
This marked the twenty five year old third time that
she has cracked the forty nine second mark in the
four hundred and was her best time of the season.
Not quite her personal best, not quite the American record

(06:16):
still held by signer Richard Dross back in twenty oh six,
but maybe she breaks those records in Tokyo in September.
And remember that's where Sydney won her first Olympic hurdles
title four years ago. Marma Wildcats. She was only here
for a year, one and done, and this was after
she appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a

(06:39):
rising star, a high schooler high school track star on
the cover of SI and got it done at Kentucky
and one of her teammates, another former Wildcat, Massey Russell,
repeated as the US champ in the one hundred meter

(07:00):
hurdles and another former wild Kay Kenny Harrison ran fourth
in that race. Russell is just dominant. She won by
nine hundredths of a second over Gray Stark. And you know,
I think about Russell when I think about all this

(07:22):
talk about nil money, because I remember when Mitch Barnart
began to speak about it publicly, and everybody thinks when
you're thinking nil football and basketball naturally. He pointed out
that the first UK athlete to really get busy with name,

(07:44):
image and likeness was Russell. I mean, she had five
hundred thousand people following her and made it work to
her advantage. After she and larn ran in the Olympics,
we had a chance to talk to Massi she came
election and it's amazing to me. Sidney's a little taller,
got those long legs. Had a chance to chat with

(08:06):
her during the UK football game a couple of years ago.
Russell is just tiny but so strong, so physically strong,
and just flies through the air. So congrats two to
two former Wildcats and three including Harrison. All right back

(08:26):
to football. Mark Stoops talked to the media after the
open practice on fan Day and as we said, was
in a pretty good mood.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
You guys saw two good practices so I thought we
made some strides today offensively, just a little greater sense
of urgency, a little better you know, attention to detail,
and just functioned a little better. So it's still early,
but good first week. It does look like you guys
are more in rhythm or further along that fan dated

(08:54):
in high expression. I think with the opportunities that we've
done in the summer, you know, we've taking good advantage
of that. The guys have worked really hard, coaches have
put in a lot of times, so we're further along.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
How much are a good thing you saw you could
attribute to the fact that a lot of the new
guys you brought in it played a lot of football.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
Yeah, that's a big piece of it. These guys have
played a lot of ball. As I've mentioned, they've worked
really hard through this summer, and so I feel like
on both sides of the ball, in and special teams,
we're further along.

Speaker 3 (09:23):
Mark, yesterday Bush said the run game starts with Dad
All and McGowan, and yesterday mcowan really seemed like you
did well in to day Dadelle did what's your thoughts
on them?

Speaker 4 (09:31):
In the way the lines?

Speaker 2 (09:32):
Procriston, Yeah, I mean we have to be right. I
think you know that we have to be physical. We
have to be able to run the football. We're working hard.
I think we're making big improvement. I mentioned the offensive line.
It starts there. I think I know we're very big
and stronger. We're working on that depth and the backs
are really good players.

Speaker 5 (09:51):
Well the coaching moments have you all been able to
get out of this first week of practice?

Speaker 2 (09:57):
Every day?

Speaker 6 (09:58):
You know?

Speaker 2 (09:58):
With us, it's you know, I think you guys could
hear it when you're out here. You hear the coaching
agreement line up this way that way. I mean every
play it's like a science project, right, and they have
to football IQ is so important for us and we
have to be able to keep it forward or stay
ahead of it. And that's something that we're also doing
this this camp. We're spending extra time at night just

(10:21):
working on two minutes third down, you know, specialty, blitz is,
you name it, Just trying to work on all of
that to get better and to get ahead.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
Mark, what's your assessment of Jagger and his retransition to center.

Speaker 2 (10:34):
Jagger has just been you know, awesome. You know, he
wants to help this football team anyway he can. He's
been very unselfish. I think, you know, for for his future.
You know, being able to play both is super important
for him, and he's worked really hard at it, very conscientious.
He's busting his butt. I mean, he he's a guy
that you know before practice and certainly afterwards my office

(10:58):
looks over it, but you know, for forty minutes later,
he's out there snapping and working on things. So he's
really working hard.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
Mark Stoops following his team's practice on Saturday, they were
back at it again today. He did mention the Kendrick
Law did not practice on Fan Day, but nothing major,
just a wide receiver who didn't say what the injury was,
but he said he should be back at full force
by today, by earlier today practice and they're pretty healthy

(11:27):
the Wildcats, as we mentioned, Walt Wells spoke to the media,
so did his players. Well here from the players coming
up and nour number two. But Walt Wells talked to
us about the fact that last year's slogan, last year's
keyword was finish, make plays at the end of the game.
Now they bumped that to the word dominate.

Speaker 7 (11:46):
Everybody wants to think dominate means just bully a guy,
and you know, sometimes that's it, but that's not what
I'm looking for. I'm looking for you to dominate your
mind and dominate your activities.

Speaker 8 (11:56):
That's what we're talking about. You know.

Speaker 7 (11:58):
Are you thinking about Eku and how we can have
success and are you dominating your mindset to do that?
Are you dominating your mindset to push through Now it's
cool out here now, but those first two days it
was hot. Or you're going to dominate pushing through practice
and not just getting through practice, but dominating practice, you
know those things. You know, we've had a not bad cramping,

(12:22):
but a couple cramping. Are you dominating your nutrition and
how you prepare your body at night and get your
rest and get your sleep so that you can come
back the next day and perform.

Speaker 1 (12:31):
Sure enough, his players talked about dominate, but the word
that they brought up consistently was consistency. I asked Walt
about that, and we'll hear the players talk about it
as well, But that as much as domination, you can't
dominate if you're not consistent, and that's something they all
talked about. We'll hear more coming up in nour number two.
On the other side of the break the Speedway Classic

(12:56):
at the Bristol speed Weather Baseball game rain delay. The
Brave ended up winning the game the next day on Sunday,
but a lot of the talking heads couldn't get over
Elie Dellacruz. And if you're a Reds fan, you know
what I'm talking about. He might be the most exciting
player in baseball. We'll hear about that. On the other
side of the break. Bottom of the hour, Van Hiles,

(13:16):
the ex cat who breaks down UK football in the interweb.
Our number two Jeff Piicorrel here on six thirty WLAP
Welcome back to the Big Bloon Sider. Coming up in
a few minutes, Van Hiles. At the bottom of the hour,
we'll talk about Kentucky football, looking ahead to the upcoming
season and what should be going on right now and
what they call summer camp. And of course Van the

(13:38):
former UK defensive back who got all the way to
the NFL was brief, but he did play for the
Chicago Bears for a while. Now lives in Louisiana but
breaks down UK football on the Internet. And also, of
course Jeff Picorrol from the UK Radio Network will join
us in our number two, and we will hear more
from the EKU Colonels wal Wells and several of his
players who met with the media yesterday. I mentioned the

(14:01):
Speedway Classic in Bristol which was swamped by rain on Saturday,
and then they finished up with the Braves beating the Reds.
But of course one of the focal points of this
match anytime the Reds play, is Elie Delacruz. He is
an insanely talented shortstop burst upon the scene. Was known

(14:22):
as much for his incredible fielding plays and bass running
and hitting as his strikeouts, but he cut down way
down on the strikeouts with off season work, and during
a downtime on the telecast, the guys on the Major
League Baseball broadcast set raved about him. And I'm talking
about a rod Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Big Poppy

(14:44):
on the anchor desk as well, and I have a
couple of comments for you. The three of them talk
about Dela Cruz, and then Derek Jeter chimes in with
something we all know about the fact that Dela Cruz
plays in the Midwest for a smaller market team. All
or every team now is seen nationally, but he's talking

(15:04):
about national with the Capitol and he played Jeter did
in New York. Obviously, if you're on the East Coast,
more media coverage West Coast oftentimes more media coverage. Not
the same in Cincinnati. But these guys fully impressed with
Elie Dela Cruz starting for a Rod.

Speaker 9 (15:24):
Every element you appreciate about NASCAR, you appreciate it about
Dela Cruz. The speed, the power, the range. And you know,
KB every thirty or forty years, whether it's a Bo
Jackson or Ken Griffy, there's some players that come along
and you know this fellas the whispers stars in the
clubhouse of how great somebody is, how unique they are.

(15:44):
But he's got the body of Strawberry, the throwing arm
with Shawn Dunstan, and he runs like Deon Sanders and Derek.
This is my favorite thing is we talk about this
all the time.

Speaker 10 (15:52):
He's twenty three years old.

Speaker 9 (15:54):
And he went back into off Stine Dominican Republic. He
didn't rest in his laurels. What he did is he
worked in his swing and he's cut a struck strikeout
rape by thirty five percent.

Speaker 10 (16:03):
That shows me he cares.

Speaker 1 (16:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (16:05):
I mean, look, I was talking with Barry Larkin, who
is the greatest shortstop in Cincinnati Rent's history, and he
was raving about him. You know how talented he is,
the adjustments that he makes, he continues to get better
year in a year out. Look, the telltale sign I
think of a great player is you turn on the
TV and you push mute and then they're still gonna

(16:26):
stand out.

Speaker 1 (16:27):
And Elliot de Lacruz is that guy. For sins, that
absolutely guy.

Speaker 12 (16:30):
I mean when you think about the fun part of
the game, you think about sizes, speed and power, and
this big unit right here put it all together, and
I mean, this is the kid that is so much
fun to watch. You don't see his name out there
so much because he's not playing a big market. If
he's the guy that played for the Yankees, for the Diget,

(16:51):
even the Red Sucks, he'd be on TV every day.
And the most important thing, he's a great kid.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
And they went on to expound about that, but he
came back to what I was talking earlier about market
size and how people just don't know that much about him,
and Derek Jeter pointed out, there is a simple solution, well,
making it happen isn't so simple. But if and when
it does, then the nation will learn a heck of
a lot more about Dela Cruz the Cincinnati Rens.

Speaker 11 (17:20):
Whether it's this year, next year, they need to get
into the postseason so the rest of the baseball world
can watch him because he's fun to watch, and like
you said, a lot of people don't know about him.
He's as sort of flying under the radar. He's someone
that everyone needs to see.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
There it is. And if you're a Reds fan, you're
nodding your head or shaking your fist at the radio
or whatever because your team just doesn't quite seem to
be able to compete to either get into the playoffs
or make it sustain run in the playoffs. And yes,
you can complain about major market versus smaller market, but
you know, the Kansas City Royals have been there and

(17:56):
they've gotten all the way to the World Series and
won it. And that is a simil I can't tell
you in terms of population, but it's a Midwest market.
It has good but not great media covers, but they
put teams together, they go out and compete and win.
And I have a hard time believe in the Reds
don't have enough money to get out there and compete.

(18:18):
But that's just the way they do business. How about
my Saint Louis Cardinals. That's a Midwest market, that's a
Midwest team. And not this year, but many many years,
my guys have been in it. My guys have been
able to win it. So up next, Van Hiles, and
it's Jeff Bacorral and we talk to EKU football as
well on the other side of the break on six
thirty WLAP welcome back, joining us now one of our

(18:40):
favorite guests, and if you like Kentucky football, is one
of your favorites as well. Van Hiles, former Kentucky d back,
coaches football now in his home state of Louisiana, but
breaks down UK football on the internet. It is summer
camp time.

Speaker 6 (18:55):
Van.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
We talked last time a month or two ago about
you know, going into summer camp. But does a guy
like you do you still get that twinge around the
time August rolls around. I would imagine back in the
day when you were playing, it was two days, wasn't it.

Speaker 5 (19:11):
Yes, lightly, these kuople never understand what it was like
back in the day. Yeah, two days for sure. Yeah,
it is It's like when you get old and your
knees started start aching and you know it's going to rain. Yeah,
it's kind of the same thing when you start getting
aggressive and mean a little bit and tired of everybody
around you. It's like when you in practice ty seeing

(19:33):
everybody hitting the same people all the time, and it's
like it's getting close to the football team. Yes, I
definitely know when it's football season.

Speaker 1 (19:40):
I'm sure you've been coming the internet looking for video
clips and long ago I stopped trying to tell people
how they look. You know, what do I know? But
I will tell you this, and you've you've read about them.
You've seen a lot of them. These offensive lineman Van
they're bigger. I don't know that have they got to
be better? But man, there's some sides on that old line,
isn't there.

Speaker 5 (20:01):
Yeah, I've heard. I mean we got six eight and
sixty six three plus. Yes, I you know that's what
Wolfe liked. He likes bigger guys and athletic guys. So
if we have what he wants and what his forte,
I think you're gonna see a little bit different performance

(20:21):
I feel on Saturday.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
The other thing as well is you know, you've got
that I worry about or wonder about. Is it's a
unit and everybody knows because there's been so much chatter
about the old line through the years. Five guys acting
as one. But but chemistry is so vital, and you've
got a wonder van about this expedited process. You know,

(20:43):
they don't have two and three years to learn each other,
They've got months to learn each other. How great a
concern is that for you?

Speaker 5 (20:52):
You know it. You can look at it both ways.
Here's here's the way I look at it, because I
tend to lean on the positive side. Yeah, is that Yes,
they all knew, but most of these guys have reps.
So reps are reps. When you play a line, and
you have played two to three years, you've probably seen
every front and every possibility, possible way that the defensive

(21:15):
line can attack you. Now, the thing is that can
we merge those those thought processes from three to four
different schools? And if you can because you have reps,
I'll come in here confidently knowing that I can handle it,
and the guy next to me has the same mentality,
I think you have a quicker chance of creating that
chemistry because these guys have played on a line there

(21:37):
first two to three years in college, so they have
the experience. Now, if you had freshmen, or I'm a freshmen,
you had guys who are first year starters, and I
say the tackle and a guard of first year starters,
then our word a lot because neither one of you
guys have played with in a live game with with
with w's and l's on the line and you just practice.

(21:57):
So now I think when you don't have that, you
got to I think there's a chance for them to
jail quicker than it was the other way around.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
One of them told me that it was a big
plus for them coming in because the very drills they do,
they don't have to be taught, you know, And that's important,
isn't it, Because I mean, in my feeble memory, I remember,
you know, what am I supposed to do here? And
that kind of thing. These guys just jump right in
and do it right exactly.

Speaker 5 (22:24):
It is like you're a freshman. You make sure you're
not the first guy in the drill, because you got
to make sure you make a mistake, So you're going
to tend to go back a little bit, maybe be
the third or fourth to see with a drill. It's
really about here's the other thing that I can see
being a positive happening can help them jail. A lot
of these guys are coming from lower division classes G

(22:44):
five or lower, and they also have a chip on
their shoulder. And then you have guys who played last
year like Jagger, Dagger and Farmer and they have a
chip on their shoulders because of what happened last year.
So now you also are I don't want to say
trauma bond it, but you're bonding on the build of
everybody is not looking at You've got to perform well.

(23:05):
That can also help you jail well because now we
got to work better together, maybe watch more film, maybe
do more drills together, maybe work together outside of Wolf
on your own, and that can also form a bond
that we don't see as fan.

Speaker 1 (23:19):
Did you say trauma bonding? You need to explain that,
share that with me.

Speaker 5 (23:25):
Well, there's so there's a situation where if two people
are going through bad things in life and they can
form a relationship good or bad because they're gone through trauma.
Sometimes that's bad because you're a form relationship in a
negative way because you're trying to help each other through
a trauma situation. So, yes, that was the wrong word
to use, but that's the person that came to mind.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah, I got you. No, I mean there is trauma
out there, physical and metal, but they can't school together.
We're talking to Van Iiles, a former Kentucky defensive back,
and if you follow them on Twitter, you've learned a
lot of football. He's the coast of the Locker four
to win one coach of driving with styles and a
former Kentucky defensive back and also an NFL veteran, and

(24:07):
he cannot wait for the season to begin. And in fact,
I gotta tell you I went to the two practices
Friday and Saturday. And if you don't already, coach, you're
gonna like what you see in this defensive backfield. But
you and I have talked about the fact that that's
probably the most developed experienced position, isn't it.

Speaker 10 (24:26):
Yes, And.

Speaker 5 (24:28):
I'll say this, they disappointed me last year. Really, I yes,
I really thought that. I know the numbers will say differently,
but the numbers gonna say differently because teams started about
halfway through the season running the ball wheel again, so
they didn't have to throw as much so sometimes numbers
are misleading. After that Old Miss game, I think they

(24:48):
didn't rise up as much as I thought they would.
They kind of eater it and went down a little bit.
And for me, for the three fourth defense to be strong,
the safety have to be almost elite, but beyond solid.
And I don't think they played well last year after
the Old Miss game. And from what I'm hearing is

(25:08):
they are really playing well. And if just safeties can
play well, this defense can really develop and really have
a polid year because up the middle is the most
important part of this defense. So from what I hear
and is Loving and ty Brian are having really good
springs and really good fall camp. If they tinue to
do this, I think this defense can do can be

(25:30):
can be a problem for some offenses this season.

Speaker 1 (25:33):
Both of those guys had picks on Friday and in
fact love it. I mean you may have seen the
video of it or at least a photo. He's sky
to go up and get it. And we had a
chance to talk to him in Atlanta. Confident young man.
I thought he played fairly well last year, but honestly,
I thought the whole team kind of fell off the
face of the Earth the after mid season after they

(25:55):
Old Miss win.

Speaker 5 (25:57):
Yeah, you know it's I mean, when you're dealing with
eighteen to twenty three year olds, there's a lot of
things that can affect their play. Being someone who is
in that in that arena, there's other things can that
can affect your focus. And I think it really started
to to grade on the defense that they kind of
have to be pricked for us to win games. And

(26:19):
sometimes you start doing things outside the character of the
defense because you're trying to be perfect and trying to
make plays. And when you start doing that, that's just
when that's when the defense is losing its glue because
we need everybody do their job and only your job
and not trying to do things outside of the framework
or the scheme.

Speaker 1 (26:36):
When alignment defensively leaves his gap, we know bad things
can happen. Is there a similarity when it comes to
d bacs.

Speaker 5 (26:46):
Oh for sure if. And this is the toughest thing
to do as a defensive back. As I tell my guys,
as coach coach smithsy to tell us, is you can
never guess. You can anticipate to pay a route concept
or a certain play, but you can't just off off
of the snap, the oh, off of film study. I

(27:09):
know they're gonna run his play. No, you think they're
gonna run this play. When you start saying, okay, I
know they're gonna run a certain route and you start
attacking that route before they run it. The offense also
knows what they do, what their Steff Skolling is is too,
so they might run a different play and you're in
a spot that you normally think they're gonna run a
route and they do something differently now as a touchdown.

(27:31):
And that's something that we did poorly last year. And
that's why I say the safety did not play as
well last year. We gave a too many explosives and
explosive plays in the run game, in or in the
pass game. Comes down to the safety. As I tell
my guys, we are the eliminator of everybody mistakes. But
no matter what happens in front, get the guy down,
knock the ball down, just tackle somebody so we can

(27:54):
get a new set of downs. No matter what happens.
Let's get a let's tackle the guys so they don't
get a forty fifty sixty y'all play.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
Brad White talked about the exact same thing on media Day.
Too many explosives and that'll get your beat. We're talking
to Van Hiles. He is of course the man behind
Driving with Styles. You can learn a lot of football
listening to this young man. We'll talk more on the
other side of the break here on six thirty WLIP
Welcome back. We're talking with Van Hiles V Styles if

(28:23):
you will on Twitter or x and he is, of
course the co host of the Locker four one one,
the host of Driving with Styles And right now you
have posted a season review. You've taken each game and
posted on Twitter X. And you know, I've been talking
to a lot of people because I watched Van on
SEC Takeover Day when it was Kentucky Day and they

(28:45):
replayed the ole miss UK game, the upset win. I
don't know if you rewatched that, but I watched it
a couple of times and I was amazed Van and
how well Kentucky played. I was there. You know, Hamden
called a really good game. Rock Vandergrift threw the ball well,
he ran the ball well. They still didn't block well
enough for him. They sacked him five or six times,

(29:06):
but they made plays on both sides. Of the ball.
And when you go back a week prior to that
Georgia game, or they played Georgia to one point game,
Kentucky over that span of two weeks, played as well
as any team in the top ten. What happened after that?
In your eyes?

Speaker 5 (29:22):
Cool, I know that's a tough questions. I wish I
was in lection. I would say this, What I believe
happened is that with more reps of a quarterback, the
game usually slows down for you. On top of that,
when you start to understand the scheme and the plays

(29:44):
and why the players call, the game slows down for you.
I don't think the game slowed down ever for Brock
have to Salt Carolina games, and rightfully so.

Speaker 1 (29:55):
He was running for his life.

Speaker 5 (29:57):
If there were certain things happening that game that would
make me see ghost too. So if you look at
the games after that, there were situations where when I
look back at it, there were guys that were open
that he's actually looking to that direction, reading that side
of field, and do not and he doesn't throw the ball.
And for me, that's the situation of either the game

(30:19):
it's not slowing down for you, you're confused or you're seeing ghosts.
And I think a lot after that Saw Carolina game
was a combined situation was not healthy. I don't know
where Hendy showed the injury. Whatever happened had after game one,
and those teams started getting worse and worse and worse
that the season went on. I just think that it

(30:44):
was just not a perfect match. In my opinion, it's
kind of hindsight. Twenty twenty wasn't a perfect match between
Brock and coach Bush as far as seeing the game
the exact same way.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
Well, now they've got a new guy, Zach Calzaida, who
likely will start. Looked pretty good, I thought over the
last couple of days. But again I'm a civilian. But
he's got a big arm, cut her bowl. He through
some really nice balls as well. But here's a guy
who comes in and a man Jeremy Jarman. You know Jeremy,
he put it well, you know you talk about this
is a guy who quarterbacked A and M to an

(31:17):
upset of a top ranked Alabama team. He said, this
guy knows how to slay the dragon sec expect. I
talked to him about the fact that yes, he's coming
in from one double A where he through a ton
of footballs, but he knows as you know something about
what you mentioned earlier, you know the speed of the
SEC that I know it. He hadn't played in three

(31:39):
years in the SEC. But that's invaluable, isn't it. Oh?

Speaker 5 (31:43):
For sure, he has been in stadiums SEC stadiums that
you understand when you get into a to a role
game what to expect for guys who have not if
you only played Incarnate Word and then came to the SEC,
there is a learning curve playing on the road. And
he knows that he's playing the road and he started before,

(32:04):
which is the difference between him and Brock. I think
from what I have seen, just this level of confidence,
this level of he seems like he's not gonna get rattled.
I think those are big. He seems like a big
quarterback I haven't seen in person. But he seems physically
able to handle the rigors of this conference. And that's
the tough thing about this conference that few don't talk

(32:26):
about enough. It's not that the conference is great and
we have great teams. It's a physic calitar weekend and
week out. There's not a break in our schedule. Any
team in this conference schedule, as far as having kind
of a week where you can wrest rest a starter
for a half or rest of starter for a certain
period of time. Every week is a dogfight. So therefore
we get into game five, six, seven, eight, there's a

(32:49):
lot of attrition and hopefully he can. I know he can.
I feel like he can. He can handle that the
rigors of this conference more than what we've had in
the past.

Speaker 1 (32:58):
It is the second year the team for bush Handen,
but the first for Zach Calzada. Now he's a guy who,
of course is playing on his third team, So I
guess quarterbacks just get used to assimilating that kind of
information quickly. You gotta hope, right, I will hope.

Speaker 5 (33:16):
To me, it would be a little difficult for him
because it's like it's like learning French, Spanish and English.
I mean, hopefully he can. He can develop a way
to maybe translate those to maybe old offenses and maybe
an old play and translate it that way. I'm not
sure how he would do it, but he's an older guy.

(33:37):
I think he's seen a lot. If he was a
younger guy or probably more worried about it, but he's
a season that I don't think it's going to be
that to me, isn't as much of a problem as
him learning his teammates. I think that's a bigger transition
than actually learning the playbook. So it seems like the
players have gravitated to him. So it seems like he's
done a good job with with former bonds with brand

(34:00):
new teammates that he has never seen and never played with.
And that's a big thing for a team is you
got to find those create those bonds, and it seemed
like he has done a good job of that from
what I've heard.

Speaker 1 (34:10):
Well, so, yeah, it's funny you mentioned that because on
media day he told me that that has been a
great process, and he said he put out a text
message or a group message or whatever one day, Hey
we're gonna throw at five o'clock or whatever, and a
dozen guys showed up. You know that's that's a Yeah,
that's a good sign, isn't it.

Speaker 5 (34:29):
Yeah, that's that's a great side. And I guess now
you think about it, it's not as this isn't his
first team moving too, so he probably has a system
of development that bond. And now, as you said, it's
easier to develop a bond now because you can text,
it's kind of informal. You can create a conversation without
Back in the day, you have to see somebody face
to face, and nowadays you can create those those relationships

(34:52):
without having to have those awkward moments.

Speaker 1 (34:55):
How concerned are you about the loss of Dane Key
and Very Brown. We know what they brought, We knew
that there were some hitches and especially Brian, but play guys.

Speaker 5 (35:11):
I would I would be a lot more concerned if
we lost Baron, dang And and Maclin. If we lost
all three, I would be totally concerned. But I think
keeping one who can obviously be the leader of that
room because if if he's not there, then there'd been
a whole group of new guys and a bunch of

(35:31):
young guys. So I think having him in the room,
having one guy one carryover makes a big difference, more
than two because let's say they were this is how
I look at it. If Very dang keyward seniors, they
were gonna leave anyway, So it's a thing in this conference,
next guy up anyway. So keeping one of the guys,
keeping one of the vets, I think was very critical

(35:53):
for this program. If we lost all three. I'm not
sure how how that room would be.

Speaker 1 (36:00):
I will tell you this. I don't know if you've
seen or read or heard any of the interviews with him.
Jamori Macklin is very confident going into this year. I
had a really fun conversation with him on media Day.
He wasn't bragging or anything, but he just can't wait
to get started. And I think, you know, he really
is embracing this role as the guy they're going to
be counting on.

Speaker 5 (36:20):
I mean, if you look at the season last year,
he really is like he probably want the season to
end because his last two to four games were outstanding.
He didn't get for me as a Washington film. Again,
as you say earlier, he didn't get enough target as
he was as open as he was, there was a

(36:42):
lot of times where we missed him. And I think
now he knows the offense, he's kind of a leader
of that room, and I think now he can dictate
things a little bit more than he was able to
last year being a new guy transferred from another college.
I think now him and Bush might have a relationship
where he can go I'm I said, coach, no, this
play I was open. Can we run to play again.

(37:04):
Those things are very important.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
Well, receivers are always open though.

Speaker 10 (37:08):
Right, well always in the US, you are.

Speaker 1 (37:12):
Yeah, And you know, I talked to him about being
a return man again, and he admitted to me, uh,
that he thinks he'll be much better because the last year,
he said, I was scared back there, and I thought
he meant of the contact. No, he was so afraid
he was going to drop the ball. But he said,
he's so much more confident now. Uh, you know, but
he said it, and now it's because he's worked so

(37:32):
much on his footwork, so now he knows much more
about how to play the position. And that obviously that
gives you confidence when your fundamentals are sound.

Speaker 5 (37:41):
Right, Oh, for sure. If if you're afraid to catch
the ball, I was not afraid to drop it. Yeah,
if you have apprehensions up dropping, you're going to drop it.
That that is, it just goes hand in hand with
a lot of things in life. So I can understand
that might be why a lot of balls jump dropped
in front of him, because sometimes you just have to
stay us five or ten yard by packing the ball

(38:04):
in fair catching. But he's afraid to catch it, he's
afraid to fair catching the drop and then we get
the point of the ball on the twenty thirty yard line.
Uh huh, that's interesting, that's you know what. The transparency
on that is great because I'm not sure most guys
would admit to they were apprehensive of doing anything on
the football field. Although we all know a lot of

(38:25):
guys who played football. Pretty much everyone has a has
moments of apprehension. For him to say that in an
interview is great, man, Yeah, because.

Speaker 1 (38:33):
It tells me that he's got a lot of.

Speaker 10 (38:35):
Confidence now exactly.

Speaker 1 (38:37):
Yeah. He is Van House. He as the co host
of The Locker four one one and Driving with Styles.
Follow him on Twitter at v Style seventeen. Thank you sir.

Speaker 10 (38:46):
We will talk again soon, I hope anytime.

Speaker 1 (38:49):
Coming up an hour number two more football chatter, reject
the Floral the UK Network and we'll go to Richmond
and hear more from the colonels of Ekau on six
thirty wlap Inte.

Speaker 13 (39:19):
Tact Tact Can Anything then.

Speaker 1 (40:49):
Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider joining us snounder
celebrity Highline is a guy who cannot wait for football.
That of course with a lot of us, but that
includes are UK Sports Network analyst Cheer Horor a former
football wildcat himself. And I've talked to you through the years,
Jeff about you know what it's like and what they
call camp and really were you guys? It was a camp,
that's why they called it camp.

Speaker 3 (41:10):
Right, this is nothing. This is a sleepover at your
buddy's house. Compared to the three of days that we had.

Speaker 1 (41:18):
Yeah, three day sometimes four.

Speaker 3 (41:20):
Right, Well, they would take first off when you get there,
Tom Kalanowski, they would take your cars and park them
down at the track, you know because it had the gate,
so they'd park them down there, lock them away and
take your keys so they had no car. Then we
all lived in the tower and the seniors were on
the first couple floors, Juniors the next couple floors sophomores,

(41:41):
the next couple of fours in freshmen you know above that,
and no elevators. You had to use the sixs. Wow,
that wasn't fun in the tower. But yeah, we practiced
in the morning, then you'd have lunch and you practice
in the afternoon. Then you'd have dinner and meetings and
you'd practice at night. And that was that was for
three weeks.

Speaker 1 (42:01):
Did you have to worry about it or make adjustments
and that. Again, when we're young, you can do things
you can't do now. But I'm wondering about what it
was like when you had to eat and then go practice,
you know, especially in hot days.

Speaker 3 (42:16):
Yeah, no, they you know, we would practice in the
morning and the lunch was hitting in, and then we
wouldn't go out and practice till three, you know, three
hours to Yeah, you know, they'd let you go. We'd
go back to the dorm and some guys would nap.
And you know, I always thought this was the one
of the most hilarious things we were I for some reason,
I remember this. You know, there was this show on

(42:37):
I don't even know it's still on called Young and
the Wrestlers, and you know, it's a soap oper.

Speaker 5 (42:41):
It was a soap oper.

Speaker 3 (42:42):
It was on from like one to two. So anyway,
you know, we're at practice one day and everybody's talking.
You know, a bunch of guys are talking, can you
believe what you know Joe did to Sybil or whatever?
And coaches, you know, one of the coaches like, what
are you talking about?

Speaker 1 (42:57):
Who did that?

Speaker 3 (42:58):
We're like the rest guy, you enough, Oh.

Speaker 1 (43:04):
My gosh, I've heard I've heard pro athletes say, we
don't know downtime on the road and the only thing
back then on TV or soap operas. Now you can
find anything at anytime. Here's just a little and you'll
get this little inside baseball for people. I don't know
about it now. My wife watches it, butf she records
Young and the wrestlers, and there are people that were

(43:25):
on there when I got the KYT in the mid
eighties that were on that show. They're still there getting paidcheck. Yeah, yes,
you know. He was a great bad guy and movies.

Speaker 3 (43:33):
And remember that was one of my favorite shows.

Speaker 1 (43:37):
He was the folks. We'll get back to football in
just a minute, I promise you know. He was the
main bad guy. I think he's Austrian by birth or
some great accent, great mustache, you know. Yeah, no, you're right.
But CBS would send it, well, we called send it
down the pipe the network feed at twelve thirty every day,
well one. At one point, long before I got there,

(43:57):
KYT began to record it because I think we started
doing news from twelve thirty to one as well as
noon to twelve, so they would play it back the
next day at nine am. So when we were having lunch,
we could go to the break room where we'd see
that day's young and arrests, and we'd sit there making
fun of it, you know, and like Mystery Science Theater

(44:18):
three thousand. But you know, well, one one year, somebody
upstairs decided we're gonna we're gonna let it air at
twelve thirty at its normal time, take it off nine am.
Oh my god, the poor switchboard operator. Oh they crushed her.
What have you done with my stories? Well there's a
twelve thirty Now I can't watch it at twelve thirty.

(44:39):
We quickly moved it back to nine am. You don't
mess with that kind of stuff, all right. Back to football.
Jeff's been at practice more than once. And I was
talking to another reporter on Friday when they lent in
the media for the first day, and we were talking
Jeff about the fact that not very many of us
on the beat. You Ken Spencer played Jeremy Jarman with

(45:01):
and when he goes to practice Van Hiles if he's
in town. You guys watch these things differently than we do,
just like you and I would sit at a high
school football game and you'd make observation. I'm like, what
what are you talking about? When you go to an
early camp practice, what do you watch for? I mean
we all watch for pretty passes and people catching the ball.

(45:21):
What do you watch for?

Speaker 3 (45:23):
I don't even look at the receivers at this point.
And the thing I go to the line and I
watched their footwork because you could be a monster. You know,
you could be six foot five, three hundred and forty pounds, right,
but if you have big thick legs and big sick
calves and stuff and don't move well, then you're not

(45:46):
going to do anybody any.

Speaker 10 (45:47):
Good in this offense.

Speaker 3 (45:48):
So I like to watch the footwork and stuff. And
you know, it's like Jared Lorenzi. Yeah he weighed three
hundred and twenty five pounds, but he was as nimble
as I was at one hundred and seventy five. You
know that amazing? Yeah, that's that to me. And and
that's when you talk to pro scouts and pro coaches.

(46:09):
They that's what they're looking for. They're looking for guys
that are nimble, guys that can move because now in
today's game, everything's about the edge rushers. Now, you know,
everything's about what's on the edge. How quick can that
guy get around that tackle and get to the quarterback?
So you've got to have great feet and and so
that's what I'm looking at. And again with the offensive line,

(46:30):
and we've talked about this, that nauseum is to me,
it's a ballet, it's a damp and everybody has to
take the right steps. So how quickly can these guys
get on the same page. That's what I'm looking for.
And you know, some of these guys were here this spring,
so that's going to help them. Sure, But you know
they only got four weeks and we're playing football guys.

Speaker 1 (46:49):
That's the thing I think that concerns me the most.
I'm really impressed with these guys they brought in, Jeff.
Their resumes are good. They aren't guys you transferred in
just because they couldn't get on the field at the
other schools. These are guys who accomplished some stuff at
their prior stops and now they want to try the
SEC or try a new SEC school. But everything's expedited, however,

(47:11):
And I talked to some of them about it. They've
got and who did I talk to? I talked to
Josh Braun on media day about this, and he's in
his third school. But you know, because they've got so
much experience, so many reps, Yes that we should be
concerned about them, but not nearly as much. Does that
make sense exactly?

Speaker 3 (47:30):
Look, and Kenny Brooks did the exact same thing with
the women's basketball team. These two coaches beating stoops and
Kenny went out they got these guys. These weren't just
three hundred pound guys with big bellies. These were three
hundred pounds plus guys. In every one of the guys
they brought in who were expected to play and start

(47:50):
were all conference in their conference. Braun being from the
sec U. You know, you look at Wolf Schlager, he
was all conference. You know, all all these guys were
all conference players coming in here. So these weren't, like
you said, just guys looking for a change of scenery.
And it's it's interesting because when you talk to players
who transferred in here, what are you looking for? And

(48:14):
they say, look, look at what Brad White has done.
Look at the guys he's put in the league, at
this at the linebacker and edge position, and you can't
deny that. Look at look at who the defensive backs
that have been coming through Kentucky that have gone on
to the league. You can't deny that. And look at
the offensive linemen that you know have been successful here

(48:34):
and when that work gets out, it's just like ten
State and linebackers, it's like USC and running backs, that's
where you want to go. Ohio State and wide receivers,
that's where you go because they're really really good at
coaching you up and getting you to that next level.
And so, yeah, these guys have done it before. It's
the same thing everywhere. It's just different terminology. So that's

(48:59):
you know, that's what you're or how quick can these
guys grasp the concept?

Speaker 1 (49:02):
You heard you heard Hamden talk Bush Hampden on media
Day about how burbage terminology is a challenge even with
the guys who have played a lot of football because
it is still, you know, new to them, but they
can pick it up faster. And to that end, one
of the guys either brought or Roaslager told me back
in the spring, he said the drills were doing We've

(49:24):
done these at other schools. The coaches don't have to
teach the experienced guys just how to do drills, you know,
even if they call it something Oh yeah, that's yeah,
that's rock pile. We did that in Oklahoma, or yeah,
you know we did that, so that's a huge plus.
Uh you know. And then the older guys, like in
Stripes when they were learning how to march, help the

(49:46):
younger guys.

Speaker 10 (49:46):
Right, yep, well exactly.

Speaker 3 (49:49):
And again it's some people have a numeric system, you know,
where a pass play could be an eight eighty six
or a too forty seven. Different numbers are different, and
then the other teams have yes, and then other teams
have waggle and zipper and things like that. So it's

(50:09):
just getting used to that terminology. That's that's the biggest thing.
But and and again, when you're in high school, it's
usually a power twenty four. It means the two backschooling
through the four holes.

Speaker 1 (50:20):
You know.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
Well that's that's They can't call it that in college
because everybody knows what twenty four is, you know, so
you get the line of twenty four twenty four, they hey,
they're coming over here, you know, right right.

Speaker 1 (50:29):
Yeah, it's it's an inexact science, but everybody knows that.
Jeff Picorrol is the radio analyst for the UK Network.
We'll come back and talk more football with Jeff on
the other side of the break here on six point
thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Moon Sider. Jeff
Piicorro's on our celebrity hotline is our color analyst on
the UK Network. And by the way, Jeff I mentioned
earlier in the show that you know, the athletic has

(50:51):
been running all these lists and rankings and stuff to
help us, you know, get through the summer, and they've
got to fill others. There's time and space, interweb and
you know you've talked to you you mentioned receivers and
whenever you talk about the best of the best in
college football. And it's not just because you grew up
in an Ohio State fan because your dad played baseball there,

(51:13):
you went to games, but clearly that is just one
of the cadillacs of college football. And one of the
writers has his annual list of college football freaks, Bruce Feldman,
and at the top Jeff is an Ohio State wide receiver.
That school you mentioned Southern calfil running backs and Penn
State for linebackers. Ohio State is now wide receiver. You

(51:37):
I find that really amazing. How did that happen?

Speaker 10 (51:42):
Well?

Speaker 3 (51:42):
I think that the turning point was a guy named
Urban Meyer. He changed things when he got to Florida.
He changed things when he got to Ohio State. And
what I mean is he went Remember his defenses were
a little bit smaller, but they were quicker to the ball. Remember,
and everybody was like, oh my week, got all these
three hundred pounders and the kill us with these two
hundred and thirty founders. The same thing with Steve Spurry

(52:06):
is another guy. Those two guys were so far ahead.
How Mummy was another one? You know, you look at
what they did. Spurrier would flood his zone with receivers.
You put three receivers against two defensive backs. One of
them is going to be open, right, So now you
force the team to play in the zone. Much easier
to run routes against his zone than it is man coverage,
especially when you get great guys that cover.

Speaker 5 (52:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (52:29):
And so I think Ohio State with Urban he started
bringing in a different type of player to Ohio State.
It wasn't these big giant behemoths, because remember with Woody Hayes,
it was three yards in a cod of dust. Urban
comes in there and he changes everything and he becomes
an SEC school playing in the Big ten. And it

(52:49):
took it took the Big ten some time to catch
up with that.

Speaker 1 (52:52):
This kid Smith were But you know what I'm talking
about Broad Jones eleven feet You talk about which vertical
thirty eight inches he can run? Jeff twenty three point
five miles per hour? Twenty four miles per hour is
like track Star speed squatted five fifty. This is a

(53:13):
guy who is you know, six one seventy five whatever,
and uh he benches and I guess it's two twenty five?
Is that the standard wait for event?

Speaker 3 (53:27):
All the pro twenty reps?

Speaker 1 (53:31):
Yeah, now, ridiculous by comparison. And we've talked about this
here on the show, and you and I have talked
about it. Dave Gusta, the nose tackle for Kentucky, Yeah,
who came in from Washington State, thirty eight reps. It's
almost twice. Now, this guy's a wide receiver, so that's
pretty impressive. Still no twenty.

Speaker 3 (53:48):
Right heah, And you're talking about these are these are
just elite appletes. These are those guys that every team
dreams of having on their team, and uh, they just
have them in spades every single year there. It's absolutely amazing,
it really is. But and again you look at what
Kentucky has done and the athletes that they're bringing in.

(54:10):
I mean, everybody thinks that val Dell is just kind
of heavier between the tackle guy. That guy's really good
that Kentucky got from Nebraska. And you look at Seth McGowan.
This is a kid who started his career at Oklahoma
and played pretty well, had a eight hundred yards rushing
in Oklahoma last season in New Mexico State. We asked you,

(54:32):
why did you come here? And he said, because I
was always amazed that it would say here's Betty Snell
from Kentucky, here's Chris Hye. And he went down the
list of running backs who played here and he said,
they're doing something right over there with these running backs.
And he you know, he said, look at Ray is done.
He's talking about Ray Davis, and he goes, I want

(54:52):
to be a part of that. So you know, hopefully
Kentucky can didn't make that change.

Speaker 10 (54:57):
You know, they've been known as having.

Speaker 3 (54:59):
Really good running backs and good defensive back that hopefully
it continues.

Speaker 1 (55:03):
You gotta have athletes, though, and I urge you ought
to look at this list of freak athletes and on
it because you and I have talked a lot about
tight ends. Is this going to be the year number
fifteen in terms of the freak athletes in the mind
of Bruce Feldman? Is Eli Stowers a kid from Vanderbilt
And you mentioned New Mexico State, Well, he went four

(55:23):
years to Texas A and M. But last year a
year prior, was at New Mexico State. And one of
these guys who came to Vandy from New Mexico State
and all he did last year was make forty nine catches.
I don't think we'll see that from the Kentucky titands
this year. But if you have the right kind of athlete,
you can make it.

Speaker 3 (55:41):
Work, you know, Dick, Why is going on in New
Mexico State? They put out some really nice I mean,
you're like Pavia right, the quarterback at Danby, yep, Pete
who's here at UK.

Speaker 10 (55:55):
I mean, it's just.

Speaker 3 (55:56):
One right after the other, and you're like, man.

Speaker 1 (55:58):
Well, they hired their offensive coordinator, they hired their o C.
They had to have a lot to do with it.

Speaker 3 (56:03):
Yeah, yeah, but still these you know, decent player, really
good players come out of there.

Speaker 1 (56:11):
A few minutes left with Jefpicole, and I made reference
to a movie earlier. Jeff and I talk a lot
of movies in our downtime, and I love the websites
on Twitter that take behind the scenes looks at movies,
and one of my faves was The Fugitive, released thirty
two years ago this week. I did not know that
the original script was kind of goofy, and they got

(56:34):
rid of the original script writer. You some of this
stuff like the train crash, but the guy who ultimately
wrote the script finished it was a guy who wrote
die Hard, which makes sense. But they always talk about
actors who might have been in the movie. Well, Harrison
Ford role, they looked at Alec Baldwin, they looked at
Michael Douglas, Nick Nolty, Kevin Costner, It just wouldn't have worked.

(56:57):
And then Tommy Lee Jones, they looked at Gene Hackman,
they looked at John Voight. That wouldn't have worked either,
you know, so just stuff like that. I loved Joe
Penliano's character in that movie. He was the guy that
Tommy D. Jones don't go get me a dome hutter. Yeah, exactly.
He was supposed to die. Remember the scene in the

(57:17):
very enwhere in the laundry and he gets hitting the
head with this huge beam or something that was supposed
to kill him. But on camera he moaned and wiggled
his hands to make everybody know I'm not dead, because
he wanted to be in a sequel. But my favorite
thing was you remember when Harrison Ford jumps into the
Saint Patrick's Day Parade. I always thought to get away.

(57:40):
I always thought, man, they had to make that happen. No,
that was the real Saint Patrick's Day Parade. They just
used it.

Speaker 10 (57:47):
You know.

Speaker 1 (57:48):
He just jumped in there and then pulls the hat
out of the garbage can. Did that on his own.
Seventy percent of the lines were improvised. I just like
stuff like that. A lot of that comes up in
sports movies too, Like well, last night I watched Bull
Durham on the MLB channel. They ran it in there.

Speaker 10 (58:05):
Candlesick to make a great question.

Speaker 1 (58:08):
And my favorite is when Crash steps out of the
box needs another bat. Bat Boy brings it up to him.
Remember what he does, get a hit Crash and Cosner
goes shut up. Apparently in real life that devastated that
little boy. He thought he had done something wrong and
he burst into tears, and Cosser and the director had

(58:30):
to know, son, you didn't do anything wrong. So, you know,
But is Major League your favorite baseball movie? Most people
say Major League? I say Bull Durham or The Natural.

Speaker 3 (58:39):
Well, you know, I have a real soft spot for
a movie called The stand Lot. Oh yeah, that's kind
of my favorite because it just I remember the kid
doing exactly what those kids did, you know, and playing
with all the guys. So uh, the other ones, those
are all kind of, you know, glorified movies. But I

(59:01):
don't know they you know, they're they're they're all really good.

Speaker 10 (59:05):
I mean.

Speaker 1 (59:07):
By a former minor league baseball player.

Speaker 3 (59:10):
Yeah, I still think my favorite sports is still because
it's so true to life.

Speaker 10 (59:15):
Was North Dallas forty.

Speaker 1 (59:17):
Yeah that was pretty good, Peter, but it was most
of the off the field stuff. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah,
But I don't know. Football movies are hard any given Sunday,
not bad, you know.

Speaker 10 (59:30):
But football movies are again over the top.

Speaker 3 (59:33):
Look, you know, it's it's like when people ask, do
you really do you really make these unbelievable in the NFL,
not in college, and they and they and you know,
because I've talked to a million guys obviously, all my
buddies that played, and stuff like, what do you do
at halftime? Are you going to as we go in
there and uh we grab an orange and we uh

(59:53):
we go to the bathroom. And remember in the NFL,
they twelve minutes, says then we turn around to correct
cat on the field because it's still coach is pulling
everybody together, saying, Okay, here's what they're doing. We know
what they're doing. They're just kicking our butts. You know,
we got to do better this. But yeah, you know,
but the scenes when the coach is in there and
extorting the team and here's what we're.

Speaker 10 (01:00:13):
Going to do it, that's all a bunch of bs.

Speaker 1 (01:00:16):
Win one for George Zip.

Speaker 10 (01:00:18):
Yeah, there you go.

Speaker 1 (01:00:20):
You will hear Jeffercorro as he calls Kentucky football starting
on August thirtieth. That is less than four weeks away.
We will chat before then, I'm sure, my man. But
thank you so much, Hi Bud.

Speaker 10 (01:00:31):
Have a great one up next.

Speaker 1 (01:00:33):
More from Richmond on the EKU football colonels. That's ahead
on the Big Blue Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome back
to the Big Blue Insider. We've been talking a lot
of Kentucky football preseason time, now to talk more about
those EKU colonels over in Richmond. As I mentioned earlier
and you heard Walt Wells earlier on the show, they

(01:00:53):
had their media day Sunday morning, and they're looking to improve,
of course on the eight and five record they turned
in last year. They were six and oh at home,
six and oh at Roy Kids Stadium. It's been a
while since they've been undefeated at home. And of course
they opened up at Mississippi State, got pounded fifty six
to seven, lost to Western Kentucky thirty one to nothing,

(01:01:14):
So back to back losses to open up the season.
But then they won three straight. But you know and
remember now Western Kentucky's Division one, so they open up
with a couple of D one games. Then they go
back to one Double A and lost back to back
games Southern Utah out there, Abilene Christian down in Texas,
but then came back and ripped off with five straight wins,

(01:01:38):
including a nail bier, actually a couple of them, Austin
p in overtime down in Clarksville closed out the home
season by slipping past North Alabama, and then they get
to the playoffs finally, hadn't been to the playoffs in
a while. They're still trying to win a playoff game.
But they lost to eleventh rank Villanova twenty two to seventeen.

(01:01:59):
There were goofy calls that should have gone one way
went the other, and yeah, I'm a little biased, but
but then at the very end, Man, this reminded me
of the Kentucky Old Miss game from a couple of
trips back to Oxford. Remember with Will Levis when Kentucky
scores what looks like the go ahead touchdown in the
closing seconds, but there's a penalty. Well, Eka, you would

(01:02:21):
look like had thrown the game winning touchdown at the end,
but the receiver had his foot on the back line
of the end zone. His foot was like partially on
the chalk and partially out of bounds, which makes it
out of bounds. And Eku loses twenty two to seventeen.
And as some of the players said, they never should
have come down to that. They should have put the
game away earlier. So, yeah, they lost a lot from

(01:02:45):
last year, but they've got a lot coming back. They're
looking to use that as motivation as kind of a
chip on the shoulder, and Braydon Latham, who's in Outstanding
running Back, says that the key this year is to
finish strong each game and throughout the year.

Speaker 4 (01:03:02):
I felt like we did pretty good last year and
not to do it too much on the pass, but
like we kind of worked our butts off and like
we kind of felt like we should have. We lost
some games we shouldn't have lost, to be honest with you,
and we probably should have won that conference last year.
But pride, like we just want to be the best
we can be every day, you know, just put one
thousand percent every play, Just put our best foot forward

(01:03:23):
and just see what we can do. Because it's all
about like a matter of produe at the end of
the day. And just like we don't wear this just
for us, like it's just for the community as well.

Speaker 1 (01:03:32):
Lathan ran for one hundred and three yards in that
big win over Northern Alabama which put Eastern Kentucky into
the playoffs, was a unanimous All Conference selection and the
a sun And is entering his junior year. He's from Knoxville,
so they're looking for big things from him. We also
heard from wide receiver Marcus cow Wise junior. He was

(01:03:53):
a preseason All a Sun selection, and he talked about
that tough loss and the fact that it just serves
put a chip on the Colonel's shoulder.

Speaker 14 (01:04:02):
I mean, you know, that's just us keeping a chip
on our shoulder. I mean, like you said, we don't
dwell in the past. But at the same time, we
like we said before, like I said before, the details,
so small things. I just we just feel like we
didn't finish that game, that Vevlynova game, like it shouldn't
even been a close game for them for the rest
to call it like that. So I mean that was
I feel like that was all on our part. So

(01:04:25):
like that we said the details. That's the thing. Like
Bbe said, we talked to each other. We have meetings,
a lot of more meetings. We want to be a
player led team, so that we talked. We talk about
little things like that, like I said, the detail.

Speaker 1 (01:04:36):
Cal Wise was named a Freshman All American by Phil
Steel last year and led the Colonels in receiving as
a freshman with forty two catches for five hundred and
twenty six yards. And five touchdowns, not too shabby. We
also heard from Liam Coppinger. He's a red shirt senior.
He is from Everson, Washington and came to EKU by

(01:05:00):
way of the College of Idaho, so he's a veteran
but is something of a new face. Played last year
at Eku started eight games out of the ten and
it was part of the Eku offense that scored thirty
eight touchdowns and rang up more than forty five hundred
total yards of offense. So he is expected to be

(01:05:21):
one of the leaders on that offensive front. And he
talked about the fact that when it comes to the
old line, everybody's competing for every position. Nothing is settled
right now.

Speaker 15 (01:05:32):
Yeah, I mean we spent a lot of the offseason
and now camp too, just kind of seeing who can
play the best. We don't have design guys for you know,
this can be a left tackles, can be right tackle.
We just want to five best out there. And so
it's just all about competition every day, no matter where
you're playing, whether it's a new position for you or
something you've played your entire life.

Speaker 1 (01:05:51):
And it really has to be that way for Eku's
old line given the personnel losses from last year, and
we'll hear from wal Wells on that matter in just
a moment. But now looking at defense, there are some
holes to fill on the D line, But Jeremiah Bailey
is back. He's your red shirt junior last year, fourth
team All Conference via the Phil Steel Magazine, started all

(01:06:15):
thirteen games, forty three tackles, two and a half sacks,
five TFLs, three quarterback hurries, and he is a guy
they're going to be counting on a lot because again
they did lose people on that d front. But he
finished strongly. In fact, he had one of his best
games against Villanova in the playoffs. He had eight tackles,
three tackles for lost, two sacks. So he's back to

(01:06:38):
pick up where he left off. And one of the
words he used was one that really every player used,
and that was consistency.

Speaker 8 (01:06:45):
Consistency.

Speaker 16 (01:06:46):
Like obviously, we got a lot of new guys coming
in and we're a younger team up front, especially like
last year, we had a lot of older guys in
the room that's been here, been in our system, so
they know how to adapt and they know how to
system works within the play and we had a lot
more I wouldn't say freedom, but you know, like we
got older guys in the room that's been in the

(01:07:06):
position for a long time, Like it's a different level
of understanding how we fit in within the scheme. So
with me, just making sure everybody knows what they're supposed
to do, how they're supposed to play certain blocks, and
how we fit in the defense, because especially playing D line,
it's kind of like you doing the dirty work for
the ones behind you. So if you miss up in

(01:07:27):
your gap or you misfit, it can mess the whole
defense up. So really just trying to make sure everybody
knows where they fit so we could be more successful
as a defense because it starts upfront every play with us.

Speaker 1 (01:07:38):
Also speaking for the defense was another veteran that's Cam Junior.
That's his last name, Junior. He's an outside linebacker from Miami. Redshirt.
Senior played previously at Cincinnati, but this will be his
third season at e Ku played in all thirteen games
last year, started eight. I had forty nine tackles a

(01:07:59):
season nine nine in the Colonel's upset at Tarleton State.
So this guy knows how to get it done. And
Junior talked about the fact that there were a lot
of Colonels who were named to the preseason All Conference team,
but e k Will still picked to finish third in
the league.

Speaker 17 (01:08:16):
I feel like we have a lot of guys that
are capable of leading this team, leading this team to victory.
I feel like they underestimate us, especially having so many
guys on first, second, and third team preseason. I feel
like the guys that are not on those preseasons, there's
a lot of guys that you know, that are in

(01:08:38):
the unknown right now that's gonna be popping up out
of nowhere showing everybody that they're worth you know, you know,
playing on the team we're playing. In college football, especially
D one football, playing D one football is really hard,
So there's gonna be definitely a lot of guys that're
gonna come out of nowhere and surprise a lot of Finally.

Speaker 1 (01:08:59):
We also heard from Jaheim Ward, a defensive back who
transferred in a couple of years ago from Austin p
where he played a lot of football. Played fairly well,
but last year really blossomed. He was second team All Conference,
started ten out of twelve games played in all twelve,
had third most tackles on the team sixty six with

(01:09:20):
five tackles for lost, couple of picks, nine pass breakups.
So he's looking for another big year and of course
the Colonels need a big year from him. And he
also used the C word.

Speaker 18 (01:09:32):
Can we be consistent? Can we be better than he
was yesterday? Can we keep stacking days? Can we keep
making plays? Is he going team to grow? Can we mature?
It's all about that for real.

Speaker 1 (01:09:43):
Practically every player who sat down in front of us
used that word consistency. So there's a lot to talk about,
including the fact that Jacob Baker ek Use punter was
named on the FCS Punter of the Year watch list,
so that's another weapon for the Colonel, as is Jalen Montgomery.
Phil Steele's second team All Conference selection a year ago.

(01:10:06):
He's a return guy, averaging only twenty four yards per
kick return attempt and fourteen yards per punt return, the
most in the UAC. So when it comes to special teams,
the Colonels have some key people coming back, but lots
of holes to Phil, and we're going to talk and
hear from wal Wells about that, the head coach after

(01:10:26):
the break here on the Big Bloon Sider six thirty WLAP.
Welcome back to The Big Blue Insider. Dick Gabriel with
you as we wrap up this edition of The Big
Blue Insider. And by the way, I'll be on vacation
for a week starting tomorrow night, so it'll be the
best of the Big Blue Insider. But we were replaying
some of the interviews that we had. They're just a
lot of fun. We had a great summer. When it
came I thought the lining up guests. So until I

(01:10:50):
get back, I'm heading out of town to Saratoga go
watch the horses run. So one week from tomorrow I
will be here. One week from today, I'll be back.
So the best of the Big Boon Side for the
next five nights after this, but we wrap up our
conversation about the EKU Colonels you heard from Walt Wells earlier.
He of course in his sixth season at EKU, and

(01:11:11):
for the first time in a long time under Wells,
the Colonels have gone to two postseason tournaments. They went
in twenty two, then again last year, and they won
the conference championship back in twenty twenty two. After competing
for so long as you know in the Ohio Valley Conference.
Walt has been around. Walt worked at Tennessee, wal worked

(01:11:33):
at Kentucky and in fact, he was at UK when
the EKU job opened up. He was on staff over
there helping John Schlarman with the offensive line. But then
the EKU job opened up, so he comes back to
EKU where he was from nineteen ninety seven to two
working for Roy Kidd. Then he came back in twenty

(01:11:54):
fifteen as the assistant head coach, left for Tennessee and
then the UK and then came back. So this is
his third stay at EKU. But he was a tight
ends coach and then the o lines coach for those
six seasons starting back in ninety seven. So he's got
great history with EKU. He knows about the tradition of EKU,

(01:12:18):
and he talks about Roy Kidd all the time and
what that man meant to Central Kentucky, to the city
of Richmond, Madison County, and Eastern Kentucky University. So you
talk about a guy who really really wants to get
this team back to where it used to be. Now,
of course I mentioned this before. He's got a tough

(01:12:39):
schedule ahead of him. They always play one or two
D one teams, and this year is no exception. They
open up at Louisville, come home for Houston Christian, which
is one Double A, and then back on the road
for another D one matchup at Marshall. Marshall used to
be one Double A, became a real power and then

(01:13:02):
moved up to Division one football. So once again it's
going to be a tough road for the Colonels, especially
given the fact that they lost so many people as
a young team as well pointed out, but they've got
to get ready for a tough season opener.

Speaker 7 (01:13:18):
We got an inexperienced football team and a young football team,
but I think we've got some talent that can can
grow up and hopefully they'll grow up fast in training camp.
That's what we're looking for. We're really just focused on
training camp right now. The season is going to be
here soon enough, and we know who we open with
and we understand, you know, the processes that we'll go through.
And two or three weeks later we played Marshall and

(01:13:40):
you know, that's an old rivalry here with Eastern and
Marshall in the old days. But we're really just focused
on one day at a time.

Speaker 1 (01:13:49):
Every coach in America is saying that right now because
they have no choice. Well they do. If they look ahead,
they're gonna get hammered. But he really has to look
at one day at a time because he's trying to
figure out which player to put and where. And it's
interesting to me that Eku is kind of on a
parallel track with Kentucky. Massive changes on the O line,

(01:14:12):
some changes on the D line. UK may have more
changes on the D front than Eku, but similar there.
And just as Kentucky's got a new face at starting
quarterback as far as we know, so will Eku, which
apparently the position is wide wide open right now. So
Wells talked about the holes they have to fill and

(01:14:33):
what that means.

Speaker 7 (01:14:34):
Yeah, the offensive line is the first place that I
think about. We lost four starters in our offensive line
last year, so we have to replace those guys and
then gel together because that's what it's all about. And
I think that's the most area that has the going
to have the newest amount of starters in that in
that group, you know, the defensive lines right there with them,

(01:14:56):
they lost two starters.

Speaker 8 (01:14:58):
Jeremiah Bailey's back.

Speaker 7 (01:14:59):
As a starter there, but there at least some guys
that have played, you know, because you rotate so many
of those guys. And then quarterback is going to be
a brand new guy. We don't know who it is yet,
but whoever it is, they haven't taken Kobe Lambeth, I
think has taken three snaps for us. So whoever it
is is gonna be new to the position and new

(01:15:19):
to playing quarterback here at Eku.

Speaker 1 (01:15:22):
Of course, last year the starter was Matt Morrissey. He
followed well, was a tough act to follow Parker McKinney
his last year at AKU and twenty twenty three through
for three thousand yards twenty touchdowns. But the year prior,
in twenty two, when they won the conference title, he
was even better through for nearly four thousand yards thirty

(01:15:44):
three touchdowns. Only eight picks had a quarterback rating of
one sixty one. This is a guy who started a
few games as a red shirt freshman and then just
kept right on going. Could have transferred out, but he
stayed at EKU. They got some innis together for him
and he fitished strongly for the Colonels. But of course

(01:16:04):
last year Matt Morrissey had a step and did a
decent job, but he was no Parker McKinney. But then
who is McKenny one of the best quarterbacks in the
history of EKU football. So now wal Wells trying to
figure out who is the next guy, and like all
the other positions, he's looking for the most consistent player

(01:16:26):
in camp at the QB spot specifically. But I mentioned
this to Walt that every player that they sat down
in front of us, for the most part on Sunday
morning used the word consistency. We asked them about the
word dominate, but it's like they almost volunteered the word consistency,

(01:16:47):
and Walt Wells was pleased.

Speaker 7 (01:16:48):
To hear that that's our second core value purpose, consistency
and performance with the championship mindset, and that's something.

Speaker 8 (01:16:54):
That I try.

Speaker 7 (01:16:56):
I want them to play with emotion, but not be
emotional and consistent in that and be consistent in taking
your steps and consistent in tackling, and consistent in blocking,
and consistent in making your reads. You're going to make
some mistakes, but if you are consistent enough at what
you do, you're probably gonna get very good at it,

(01:17:17):
and you're gonna be able to be better every time
you go out there. You can't be up and down
like this, you know, and I know people like it.
I can't believe he says that when they see me
on the sideline. But you know, I tell them, don't
you know, do as I say, not as I do.
You know, be consistent with your emotions, have emotion, and
celebrate each other, have fun.

Speaker 8 (01:17:39):
I enjoy that.

Speaker 7 (01:17:41):
Just don't let it take you out of what you're
supposed to be doing.

Speaker 8 (01:17:45):
So I'm proud to hear they said that.

Speaker 1 (01:17:47):
Looking forward to getting over to EKU. You know, they've
got the improved facilities, They've got a good schedule, and
I've loved going over there for the longest time to
cover games. I was the first host of the Roy
Kid TV show back in the eighties and put together
a great relationship with Roy and his family, his wife Sue,
and I just love going over there. It's just can

(01:18:07):
I coordinate that around the UK schedule. But I will
tell you this, if you have an opportunity to get
over there and see a home game in Richmond, let's
say the Wildcats are playing in the afternoon and Ekus
playing in the evening, I urge you to do it.
It's a lot of fun. It's a great, great atmosphere,
and as I said, they have put a lot of time,

(01:18:28):
effort and money into the facilities over there because they
were trying to move up quite frankly to Division one,
fell a little bit short because of facilities. So if
they ever get the opportunity again, I got to think
they'll do what a Look, it costs money, more money
obviously to play in D one, but the odds of
the return being greater so much better because if you're

(01:18:50):
in a conference, a good conference, you get money, you
get TV money, you get a chance to play in
a bowl game and reward your players and your fans.
But right now the Colonels are concentrating on just getting
back to the playoffs, and I really thought they were
primed to make a run last year. Tough game on
the road in Philly against Villanova, and things just didn't

(01:19:12):
go well at times, and again Eku made mistakes, but
you know, when you're on the road, you could run
into some questionable calls or situations. But as one of
the players said, we shouldn't let it come down to that.
So we're going to try to make it work again
this year, and we will keep an eye on them.
Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks to Jeffcorrel, Thanks to Van
Heiles that said good night from the garage in Lecxington.

Speaker 12 (01:19:34):
I didn't think you had it in you. I'm your Huncleberra.

Speaker 5 (01:19:41):
Why Johnny Ringo, it looked like somebody just walked over your.

Speaker 6 (01:19:47):
Grave, statting do.

Speaker 13 (01:20:38):
Anything, can do anything. Then station attacks to tips it

(01:21:23):
dont donting to the US

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2025-08-04 - BBI

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