2025-08-19 - BBI

UK offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan; (9:00) questionable choices in a sports movie survey; (19:00) Courier-Journal sports columnist C.L. Brown; (39:00) UK network analyst Jeff Piecoro; (58:00) senior center Jager Burton; ex-UK All-American John Wall's retirement message; (1:12:00) some cool stuff happened on this date in sports history and when The Anchorman speaks, you must listen...

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Big Blue and Sider Day. Gabriel with
you on a Tuesday edition of our program. We are
one step closer, of course, the college football Wildcats opening
up on Saturday a week from this Saturday, and you'll
hear the game right here on six point thirty WLAP.
We've got a chance to talk football with players and
with the offensive coordinator, Bush ham Dan. Tuesday ordinarily being

(00:22):
offense Day, so that's what we did. And ham Dan
of course is in his second year now. Now not
everybody on the offensive side of the ball is working
with him for the second year, so many new faces,
but there are some returning veterans from last year, but
also the new faces, especially on the O line and
the running backs too have played a lot of football,

(00:45):
so they catch on quickly, which should be a huge help.
Ham Dan talked today about Saturday scrimmage and pretty much
like what he saw, certainly progress in certain situations.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
I think the biggest thing was just that was as
real of a game atmosphere as we could put them in.
And I think, certainly from a quarterback standpoint, the learning
lesson of the night before the morning before getting yourself
ready for a game never too high, never too low.
Certainly showed up. Was pleased really with the execution, particularly

(01:18):
with the twos. Thought they moved the ball extremely well
up and down the field. Thought there were missed opportunities
early with the ones, but was excited to see them
battle back as the scrimmage continued.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
On coming up an hour number two, Jeff Pikor from
the UK Network's going to join us. He was at
the scrimmage, so we'll get his opinion on what he
saw as well. But we need to know about quarterbacks
and ham Dan. I mean, they've announced Calzada it's going
to be the starter, but ham Dan said that Cutter
Bully is making his presence known.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Cutter's doing a lot of really good things, and I
think you guys know that to see where he's come
from last year to this year, just his metal approach,
how calm he is out there, and he is pushing
the needle on this thing in a big way. Obviously,
Zach's doing a really nice job as well. I mean,
we're very fortunate to have both these guys here. That's
the reality of the situation. It's an interesting situation because

(02:10):
the more veteran guy just got here probably about four
or five months ago, and the newcomers in his second year,
and that's a huge thing too, So taking it one
day at a time. We're fortunate both these guys are here.
Both of them are going to have to win football
games for us when we look at the history of
this conference and taking it one step at a time.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
And by the way, the guy with a leaf blower
in the background wasn't doing us any favors, was he.
I asked a couple questions, one of them being about
communication among the old linemen and the quarterback. Really, everybody
making sure they get the right calls at the right time.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
I don't want to say just okay, you know we're
still every day is so critical. I think it's a
great question because the communication piece is critical, right. We
always say you can hear a good football team from
the standpoint of the communication, not only from the quarterback
to the offensive line, right, but the offensive line of
the running and protection the skill players. So communication we

(03:04):
call it winning the pre snap has flat out the
most important thing worth working on every single day. We've
got to be able to get lined up fast. We've
got to be able to execute our cadence. So many
things are happening before the ball's even snapped, and that's
a huge part of what we're trying to get done.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
Marx Tubes always talks about playing clean football. He's not
the only coach, but that's a real important element obviously
going into any game, and especially going in to the
season opener, and communications is probably the number one key
when it comes to playing cleanly, avoiding pre snap penalties
and all that. So we'll find out a week on
Saturday just how cleanly they can play. I also asked

(03:43):
bush Hamdan about leadership on the team, and I said,
are you getting it from where you need to get it?

Speaker 2 (03:50):
You never know the answer to that question until you
get hit with adversity, you know. And so I remember
I had an old coach with say, hey, how's our leadership,
and you'd say it in the and you know, you
give the answer and he's like, we'll find out. I
think we've got a large part of experienced, mature players
that have been there, so I'm excited about that. What

(04:11):
I need to see is I need to see the
veteran receiver when he's not getting six touches like he
wants to, how's he going to handle it. How's the
quarterback going to handle it when things aren't going well?
How are we going to respond when we're down fourteen?
Those types of things. How are we going to respond
when we're up fourteen? But I do think, you know,
like this is a group that's that's a professional group.

(04:32):
It's an offensive line that handles their business. Backs that
have a lot to prove, know what it takes, and
we're going to hang our hat on that.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
His answer made me think back to last year when
that team kind of fell apart. Apparently not enough leadership
when the adversity struck down the stretch. So we'll find
out about that starting on opening day. In a minute,
I want to talk about some of the former baseball
Cats who we're having great summers right now. But before
we do that, a tip of the BBI can to

(05:00):
John Wall. He has made it official he is retiring.
Didn't play a whole lot last year, hasn't really been
working out with anybody. But you don't retire officially until
you file the paperwork, and John Wall has done just that.
There is video. I'll share some of the audio with
you and I re number two, but there's video on
his Instagram site. Just type in John Wall, it'll come

(05:20):
up pretty slick. I give him credit. He went out
on his terms, did it his way, never won a championship,
but put up some good numbers, made some good money,
and John Wall moving on with his life right now,
before we hit the brake, wanted to throw in a
little bit of UK baseball for you. It's been a
pretty good week, pretty good month in the minor leagues

(05:42):
for former Wildcats. Three have been named either Player of
the Week or Player of the Month. Ryan Nicholson, who's
the former UK first baseman. He's the guy who had
the huge home run in the bottom of the ninth
inning in the College World Series, which set up the
game winning home run in the bottom of the tenth.
But Nicholson has been named Player of the Month for April.

(06:04):
In the Northwest League, added three sixties, six doubles, on
base percentage four ninety five, slugging six twenty seven. He
plays for the Tri City Dust Devils. They're based in Pasco, Washington,
which I've never heard of, but in the Northwest League,
a high A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels. Pasco

(06:26):
is the county seat of Franklin County, out there with
a population of only seventy seven thousand, And I tell
you it doesn't matter where you're playing. If you're playing
in the miners, if you're getting paid to play baseball,
that's just another stop on the road, you hope, on
the way to the majors, which is where Ryan Ritter

(06:47):
has wound up before he got called up to the
Colorado Rockies. Ryan Ritter twice was named the Pacific Coast
League Player of the Week when he was with the
Albuquerque Isotopes, so that's what obviously helped move him up
quickly to a team Colorado that needs a lot of
help and one other former Wildcat with some love, Ryan Waldschmidt,

(07:10):
named the Texas League Player of the Week. Batted five
twenty four, drove in eleven runs, scored ten, hit five
home runs, including one game where he had two home
runs through seven walks. He was good at that at
Kentucky getting on base. He plays for the Amarillo sad Poodles.
About that for a name and coming off last week

(07:31):
the Texas League Player of the Week, so we'll see
if they move him up. They are the Double A
affiliate by the way of the Arizona Diamondbacks. And it
won't be long now before fall. Baseball is in swing
at the University of Kentucky really everywhere, but fall is
when they find out what they've got. By the time
spring rolls around, they're pretty sure the coaching staff of

(07:54):
who's gonna play where and when, who the weekend rotation
just might be, and where they think they can be
really good. And I think this year is going to
be like the football program. You got so many new
faces but a lot of new talent coming in, so
it should be interesting for Nick Benngeoned and his crew.
Going up in just a few minutes, cl Brown, sports
columnists for the Courier Journal, to talk Kentucky football and

(08:17):
a little basketball from both ends of I sixty four.
That's next on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the
Big Blue and Sider. Coming up in just a few minutes.
Cl Brown from the Courier Journals sports columnists. A little
bit later on, Jeff Picor from the UK Sports Network
will join us. Jeff has actually been privy to practices
and the scrimmages, so we'll get an eye with us again.

(08:38):
He can't share everything, but he'll tell us his general
impressions of what he's actually seen. I wanted to share
some things from the interweb. We've talked a lot about
aw it's a bottomless pit and it has to be filled.
So there's all kinds of opinion pieces and rankings and
ratings and polls. And there's a site on the Instagram
random sec where whoever produces it to decided to come

(09:01):
up with a feature where they describe the fan base
as the relative fan basis. And it looks like based
on the photos they use, they're talking about football fans,
and I think it fits most of them. Do some
of them do? So see what you think? For instance, Alabama,
their fan base is described in one word spoiled. Yeah,

(09:22):
I think that fits. Arkansas. We're going alphabetically depressed. Yeah,
and they keep coming up short right. Auburn over dramatic.
I don't know, man, that kicks six. I don't know
if you can be over dramatic on that. But they
know Auburn better than I do. Florida cocky, Yeah, I
see that, those fans in the swamp. I'll tell you what. Now,

(09:45):
I've seen Kentucky take those fans down a notch or two.
But they can be cocky because they show up every
game in full force. So does Georgia, and that's why
Georgia fans have been described as rabid. All right, Kentucky,
we're gonna hold off on Kentucky. We'll come back to that.
LSU and one word drunk, Yeah, why not Hale State,

(10:06):
that's Mississippi State loyal. Yeah. They actually get pretty good
crowds in Starkville for a program that is just really
more than Kentucky struggled to be relevant. Missouri this is
kind of an odd word midwestern. I guess they could
couldn't come up with anything better. Oklahoma cringe. I don't
know about that, but I don't know enough about Oklahoma

(10:28):
yet to say whether that works or not. Ol Miss
mistaken I guess they think the old Miss fans are
mistakenly under the impression that they've got a good program.
They're on the rise right now, but we'll find out.
South Carolina this is a good word. Under hated. I
guess they think more people should hate on the South

(10:49):
Carolina fan base. It's a great fan base when the
team's winning. When they're not, they leave. If the team's
down at halftime or third quarter, they take off and
hit for the bars Tennessee delusional. Well, if you're a
Tennessee fan and you're used to what happened in the nineties,
that is a national championship, national relevance. Back then, Tennessee

(11:13):
was a national brand. You could say Notre Dame, Southern
col back then, Penn State, Alabama. You could throw in
Tennessee without batting an eye. Not anymore. Texas A and
M borderline illegal, have no idea why they think that way.
Texas uneducated. Well, when it comes to the SEC that

(11:36):
might be the case, but Texas has a pretty fair
dose of tradition behind it. And Vanderbilt cute and there's
a photo of Vandy students trying to take down some goalposts.
You talk about condescending. Kentucky attached. That's the word they

(11:56):
use to describe the UK fan base. Detached. Okay, if
that means they show up, yeah, and we're talking football now,
I mean basketball. That's an understatement. So the site is
random sec dot ig on Instagram. Let's not check it
out for yourself. Some of the other stuff that's out

(12:18):
there includes fan Duel coming up with the College Football
All Name team by position, and I run through these
fairly quickly. Apparently. Central Florida had a quarterback named God's
Power Noway. Montana State running back Tommy Running Rabbit. You

(12:41):
gotta wonder if he got Native American blood. Hollywood Smothers
at NC State another running back Pitt I'm sorry. Purdue
had a player at wide receiver named Nitro Tuggle. Kent
State had a wide out named the Realist Clark and
South Carolina I don't remember this kid had a wide

(13:03):
out named Amazon Little John. Colorado State tight end Rocky
Bears b e rs I remember that guy, believe it
or not. South Carolina again an old lineman named Tree Babbelaide.
Appalachian State had an old lineman named big Al Oliver.
Not sure of the school, but another old lineman named

(13:25):
Crush Sours Smu an o liman named King Large, and
Virginia Tech had an old limeman named Haines Hammer. That's
a good name for an old lineman. Special teams player
Ball State d C. Pippin Eh, not a great name
on the defensive side. Not sure of the team. They
just put the mascot next to them. Divine Love on

(13:47):
Aci at D line. Cal had a d lineman named
Legend Journey. Illinois had a misnamed D lineman named gentle Hunt.
Tulane had a kid on the D line name Elliott Nairney,
and Elliott was spelled e l iyt. Why not duke

(14:08):
linebacker Memorable Factor. That was his name, Memorable Factor. And
if you think that's weird, how about Bowling Green Gideon
middle name ESPN Lampron. South Carolina once again the game
Cocks Demon Clowney. They had a linebacker named Demon. Arkansas

(14:28):
State had a defensive back named Pig Cage. That's right, Pig.
Central Arkansas had a defensive back named Dude person. Yeah,
first name dude, Dude. Rice had a defensive back it
says it right here. His name was Moe Billity moh
last name Billity all right. Arizona State had a d

(14:52):
back named Ghost Rouser, the punter Badger Harget, and the
long snapper from Wisconsin Deed Kapper. So I got to thinking,
what was the most unique whether it's either unique or
it's not. What was the best name that I can
recall for a Kentucky football player, one that might stick

(15:14):
out more than any other. Didn't take me long to
come up with this one. Covosier Smoke running back I
think I would have put him ahead of Hollywood smothers,
Covosier Smoke. That's better, isn't it? I think it is.
There's also another poll out there, another ranking. This was

(15:36):
done That other one was done by FanDuel. This was
done by a circle ranks dot com top fifty sports
movies of all time. They ask people to vote, and
this is just all about recency bias. And here's why.
There are three Rocky movies, actually four rated ahead of
the movie that is generally considered the best sports movie

(15:58):
in terms of crafting the art. That's Raging Bull that's
ranked number twenty on this list. But Rocky is ranked
number one, the first Rocky, and then Rocky four is
ranked eleven, is ranked eleven, followed by Rocky two, and

(16:19):
then Rocky three is fifteenth. Well, see, you're wrong about all.
First of all, Rocky shouldn't be ran should be up there,
but not number one. Rocky three, in my opinion, clearly
the best of the rest. Clever Lang. Rocky two is
the rematch with the Paulo crenolet. But Clever Lang, what
a great character. And there is some cheesy mom I

(16:41):
mean there's cheesy moments in all these, but I really
believe Rocky three was the second best Rocky film. Remember
The Titans was second. That's a great film. So's Moneyball
Warrior Never saw it? Ford versus Ferrari never saw it.
Miracle that's up there. Yeah, one to the top ten.
Now The Sandlot, Dodgeball, Happy Gilmore is rated ahead of

(17:05):
Raging Bull. Come on, at least they got a million
Dollar Baby in the top ten. But these are the
other movies rated ahead of Raging Bull, Talladega Knights, Coach
Carter Friday night Lights is sixteen. That's a really good movie.
Caddy Shack. I'm delighted they have it as a sports movie.
Any excuse to list. Caddy Shack is a good one.

(17:28):
That's right ahead of The Karate Kid. Then Creed, which
is simply another Rocky movie. Basically it's a good movie.
And The water Boy and actually Raging Bull. They've got
a misnumber. The water Boy is twenty and Raging Bull
is twenty one, just ahead of two tremendous baseball movies
which should be higher, Major League and Field of Dreams.

(17:49):
And then The blind Side, which is a good movie.
I know it's got its problems, but a League of
their own, which I Love's one of my guilty pleasures.
When that is on, I watch it, pull it up,
Google it. Top fifty sports movies according to Circle Ranks.
I won't go through the second twenty five for you.
There's a lot of really entertaining sports movies on this list,

(18:10):
but it's easy to see that the people who voted
generationally biased. I mean, how do you put Bull Durham
at forty seven eight min out forty nine? No, I
can't live with it, but it's fun to check it out.
Top fifty sports movies of all time and balloting done
by Circle Ranks. Up next Caurier Journal sports columnists cl

(18:35):
Brown on The Big Blue Insider six thirty WLAP Welcome
back to the Big Blue Insider. Joining us now is
the guy we've talked with cl Brown or the Caurier
Journal before, but it's been a minute. Ceel, how are you?

Speaker 3 (18:48):
I'm doing well? Ready, ready for the season start, Ready
to get back in the swing of Thames.

Speaker 1 (18:52):
Oh but you are. We'll let you work as a
sports columnist for the CJ, so that you work both
ends of the interstate. Let's start over here, and you've
been here a few times to talk to football and
basketball players. But from where you said, how do you
see Kentucky football shaping up with fifty new faces and
a little bit, if not a lot of pressure on

(19:13):
Mark Stoops.

Speaker 3 (19:15):
Yeah, I think the pressure is a good thing. I
think since he's been here so long, I think they
may be kind of plateaued. And I think there's been
the whole internet joke of a social media of motivated
Mark Stoops. But I think that's a real thing, and
I think sometimes you need to be kind of shaking

(19:36):
up a little bit in your position to get that
laser focus back into to really to really change up
some things. Maybe you've gotten a little soft one. So
I think that's a good thing for Kentucky football. And
this is going to be, I feel like a make
or break kind of season for for Mark Stoops. I

(19:58):
think I wrote a column about it that you can't
afford in today's landscape of college sports, you can't afford
to allow your football program to slip because it is
such a big revenue generator and you don't want to
fall behind, especially not in the et SEC. So and

(20:18):
then you also have the former UK linebacker kind of
hanging out there dangling John some Rawle at Tulane as
a possible future coach, future replacement, and he's gonna somebody's
going to get him. He's not going to be at
Tulane for too long. So I feel like if things

(20:40):
don't go well for Mark Stoops in this season, then
I believe Kentucky would have to make a quick change.

Speaker 1 (20:46):
You mentioned a motivated Mark Stoops. How do you see
that in your mind's eye? What is what does that
look like?

Speaker 3 (20:54):
Well, I think maybe he's allowed, you know, in this
past seas in the past couple of seasons, maybe he's
taken some chances on people, on players who weren't weren't
the right fit culturally, but they were talented enough, and
I think he maybe kind of let that slide to

(21:17):
think that the talent was going to make up for it.
And I don't think he's laying that slide anymore. I
think he's focused on doing it the right way and
making sure he has the right kids in place and
the right players in place that are all in on
his system. And I think that's the only way you
can be. If you're going to win or lose, you
have to do it the way that you feel is

(21:40):
the right way. So I don't think they'll have those
kind of little problems anymore.

Speaker 1 (21:46):
I agree with one hundred percent plus. I think he
was so uncomfortable with what college athletics in general and
specifically college football had become, with what he called a
roster of eighty five free agents, you know, with the
portal with nil. You know, he came here to be
a blue collar style of football coach and he was
good at it. Then the next thing, you know, every

(22:07):
coach in America of every sport has to at least
in part be a GM as well and go back
to raising funds. And it's comment about pony Up didn't
play well. He was just so uncomfortable, I thought clu
with with what the job had become. But now with
this essentially salary cap and more guardrails, he seems like

(22:28):
he's a lot happier, for lack of a better term.
Does it look that way to you?

Speaker 3 (22:32):
Yeah, from the outside, I do believe so. And I
think it's one of those things too, where I think
he's accepted the fact that you either got to roll
with the changes in college football or you got to
step aside because there's there's no sits in complaining over
where we are that horse has been out the barn,

(22:52):
so that you have to adapt and utilize what's in
place right now.

Speaker 1 (22:57):
I mean one of his favorite expressions is it is
what it is, and you know, and that's in that instance,
he couldn't be more correct. You know, you just got
to deal with it. We're talking to C. L. Brown.
He's a sports columnist for the Courier Journal. Also produces
a podcast that drops every Wednesday. You can find it,
I assume cel wherever you find your favorite podcast, right.

Speaker 3 (23:17):
Exactly, And I'll have Josh Broun on UK offensive lineman
him joining me this week.

Speaker 1 (23:25):
Man, what a good talker. But you know what, man,
old lineman. It seems like they're almost always good talkers,
aren't they.

Speaker 3 (23:32):
Yeah, for sure. I mean I just don't think they
get the credit they deserve a lot of time, especially
the center, because most of the time it's center knows
everything that has to go on.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
And it is the thinking man's position, there's no question
about that. Well, let's talk about Braun and his teammates
on that old line. And you know, you can talk
about Kentucky football all you want. With quarterbacks transferring in
and OC's moving around and things like that. But I
firmly believe that the problems Kentucky has had through the

(24:03):
years are myriad, but they begin with the old line.
Because at its best, Kentucky football with a big blue wall,
and it was moving the football, running it when it
when it needed to, and throwing the ball when it
wanted to. And that that old line just broke down
over the last two or three years, the sacks that
kept coming, and you know, not being able to score
inside the five yard line. And I do think that'll

(24:26):
change this year.

Speaker 3 (24:27):
What do you think, Well, that's that's certainly their hope
and and I've heard that phrase a few times that
they're they're bringing back the big blue wall. So that's
that's a huge statement to make, but it to me,
it goes hand in hand with the kind of football
that Mark Stoops wants to play. He loves that physicality
and it's not just a defensive thing. He wants to

(24:50):
bring it to you offensively as well. And that's it.
It starts up front. So if they are excuse me,
if they are bad to where we've kind of been
used to them during this suite's tenure in having a
formidable line up front, then that certainly will vote well
for success this season. But it's also one of those things.

(25:14):
There's a lot of talking the preseason about a lot
of different things. They just showed me.

Speaker 1 (25:19):
I agree, yeah, And you know what I think is
one of the more intriguing position groups at Kentucky. You
could point to the running backs, but I really believe
the wide receiver room because they lose Dane Key, they
lose Barryon Brown, who was an explosive player, but I
thought Key was more reliable. But I do think that
they're deeper and I think they may surprise people. What

(25:42):
do you see?

Speaker 3 (25:44):
I agree. The funny thing is I feel like they're
so loaded at receiver. My question turns to quarterback. Yeah,
and who's actually going to be delivering the ball to them?
And can they get that kind of synergy that they
need to be successful with the throwing game, especially being
able to take some shots downfield and being able to

(26:07):
have some explosive plays in the passing game, which I
also feel like has been has been lacking because going
back to the offensive line, because either a they never
had enough time to throw or b that they didn't
establish the run long enough for defenses to respect it.
And so they do have these weapons out there, and

(26:31):
I'm especially interested in seeing what Kendrick Law can do.
But yeah, I just think it's one of those things.
I think with this early schedule especially, I feel like
we will know early on where this Kentucky football team
is going to be offensively specifically.

Speaker 1 (26:53):
Oh yeah, and anybody who will listen knows that Toledo
is going to be a tough opponent. It's gonna be
one of those back teams that comes in here and says,
you know, we've got a roster full of kids. You
think they ought to be in the SEC or the
Big ten. And that's not unusual, is it.

Speaker 3 (27:11):
It's not. But it's funny. I've gone the other way
on this Toledo game. I feel like it's been built up,
well maybe not so much built up in height, but
I think you take, kids are tired of hearing about this,
and I think they're gonna go out and smack the
leader around. But again, it's what I was thinking. We'll
see how it plays out on the field. I'm certainly

(27:32):
not not gonna make a prediction right now on it,
but I do think that the thing I think over overall,
themes for this Kentucky football team this season, I feel
like is they have a chip on their shoulders and
they've been hearing about how bad things are and this
and that, and people kind of losing confidence in them,

(27:53):
and I think they have a lot to prove. And
I think that to me, that always bodes well when
you have a team that's motivated, when you have a
team that feels disrespected, I think that helps in terms
of how they will actually play in the effort that
they will show, in the fight that they will have
in these games.

Speaker 1 (28:13):
I agree. And then you've got the new faces, the
guys coming in saying, hey, we weren't here, that wasn't
our fault. But they have different motivation for this kind
of situation. So I do think that's really interesting. We'll
talk more on the other side of the break with C. L.
Brown of the Courier Journal in just a minute. Arround
six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking with C. L. Brown.

(28:34):
He is a sports columnist for the Louisville Courier Journal.
His second stint at the CJ, he left for a
little while, went the ESPN And where else did you go?
See you had another gig there for a while there
Letic Athletic.

Speaker 3 (28:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
What brought you back?

Speaker 4 (28:51):
Job?

Speaker 3 (28:52):
The chance to be a columnist, the area. I mean,
I spent thirteen years in Louisville, came to love it
and came to love the people, the friends that I
had made everything in those thirteen years. And you know,
I'm a native North Carolinian, but I feel like I

(29:14):
have like dual citizenship coming wes of Kentucky. So it
was once everything kind of developed and opened up, it
was an easy decision for me to make.

Speaker 1 (29:27):
Well. I remember we sat next to each other up
in Toronto a couple of years ago when Kentucky was
staying pre season up there, and you talked about coming
back and getting the commitment from the newspaper you were
looking for. And this is not an easy time, as
well know, for the print medium. But as somebody who
interned for the Louisville Times and delivered the newspaper for
four years morning and afternoon, brother, I do have an

(29:49):
accidity for the Louisville newspaper. We are talking, of course,
about the football Wildcats and Mark Stoops his job, and
he admitted as much. Didn't get any easier when Louisville
made a coaching change hired Jeff Brahm. He's doing the
job their pre season twenty two in the last poll
I saw and more than anything, he didn't talk about

(30:10):
it col but you know, recruiting just got a lot tougher.
Then he goes out and poaches Vince Merrill from that
end of the interstate. How did you see that story unfolding?

Speaker 3 (30:21):
Well, I kind of in the back of my mind
I wondered if that was the canary in the coal
mine situation. I don't think after kind of sitting on
it and seeing how things have played out, I don't
think it was maybe as bad as I thought it
was initially for UK in allowing Vince Merrill to go, well,

(30:47):
I shouldn't say in allowing him to go, but it
would get away I'm moving on to Louisville. Yeah, but
I do think it was probably the right time. I
think for kind of all parties involved. I think for
Merriw is the chance to get a fresh start and
get some different responsibilities and kind of do what he

(31:07):
does best, which you know, how he can work a
room and the connections he has and everything. And I
think with Jeff Brahm at Louisville, he was looking for
someone to him and his staff had just kind of
been handling that in terms of recruiting the transfer portal
and looking for new talent and everything like that, but

(31:29):
it gets to be overwhelming with all the rest of
the responsibilities you have as a head coach, and I
felt like he just needed someone else who has been
on the sidelines and kind of knows the totality of
a program like Vince Marrow does, and you know, it
was a good fit. And obviously they had a prior
relationship going back to their playing days, so it all

(31:55):
kind of I felt like it all worked out for
Louisville for sure, and I don't think it hurts UK
in the manner that I thought maybe at first first
had because I also felt like maybe Vince's position at
UK it kind of diminished a little bit over the
last couple of seasons. So you know, it's a fresh

(32:17):
start for Vince, and I'm kind of excited to see
what he does in this GM position at Louisville, and
I don't think it's some kind of death nail for UK.

Speaker 1 (32:30):
You've also got a situation and you kind of alluded
to this where the recruiting game has changed. You know,
now with the portal, it's still important to get into
the living room and convince mom and dad to you know,
send me your kid for four years ideally, but now
it's as much or more of evaluating talent in the portal,
and it's going to be that way for a while,

(32:52):
maybe indefinitely, right.

Speaker 3 (32:54):
Yeah, I don't see it changing for the foreseeable future
with the way the rules are now. The one thing,
the one caveat to it is with the revenue sharing
now being introduced to college sports. I do think contracts
and multi year deals can keep players in place a

(33:16):
little bit longer and maybe bring some more continuity. But
at the end of the day, which we saw before
any money was involved, at least legally in college sports.
And I don't think the general people general public really
realizes that coaches do run players off, Like coaches will
sit down with a guy like you're not going to

(33:36):
play here next year, you should probably get in them
and transfer to somewhere where you will be able to
play kind of thing. And I don't think people really
people consider that in weigh in on that as much
as they think players just up and leave, and players
are always looking for green or grass. On the other side,

(33:58):
it's definitely a two way street in how how players
have moved and it has become somewhat transactional.

Speaker 1 (34:08):
We have a few minutes left of cl Brown sports
columnists with a Courier Journal. Let me shift you over
to basketball quickly because we've had access here in Lexingon.
I don't know about Louisville, but this is unprecedented. You know,
the coach speaking throughout the summer and making players available
because we're right, we all got to get to know
these new guys. And you've been over a few times.
What's your take on what Mark Pope the roster he

(34:30):
has built over here in Lexington.

Speaker 3 (34:33):
Oh. I love the roster. I think that this is
going to be another I mean we saw from this
first season that they play an exciting brand of basketball,
and I think he has more than anything else. I
think Mark Pope knows how to get the right the
right players for his system and get guys who will

(34:55):
plug in in kind of the right way. And of
course it was it was huge to have Otega coming
back and taking his name out of the draft. I
think that was you know the old cliche of of
the biggest recruit might be the returning guy. I think
that's gonna gonna vote well for him, and I'm very
interested in seeing how the transfer from Pitt Jalen Lowe

(35:19):
fits in. Kind of as a scoring point guard, he'll
get he'll bring a different dimension than than Lamont Butler
did last year, and it's just kind of be one
more weapon on the offensive side that that teams have
to account for.

Speaker 1 (35:34):
How do you think he's going to be different?

Speaker 3 (35:38):
I just think he's a better scorer. Like I think
he is a bigger threat in that in that respect
and can get in the lane. He has a good
mid rage game, although he doesn't like a lot of
kids there. He doesn't always kind of go to it,
but it's there and uh, and he's I think he
needs to be a little bit more efficient than he

(35:59):
was at Pitt. But I I also feel like being
in this system, like at Pitt, I felt like he
had to like there was a responsibility on him to
account for a certain amount of that offense. He's gonna
have so many weapons around him in Mark Cup system
that he won't have that burden at UK.

Speaker 1 (36:17):
Yeah, I agree, and he's been a good shooter, they
say so far in drills. We'll see how it works
when the lights come on. What about Louisville, what have
you seen over there?

Speaker 3 (36:27):
Well, unfortunately we haven't had as much access as the
UK as that this summer, but I think all things
are pointed up. I mean, Pat Kelsey has also worked
the portal. He's gotten a lot of people are high
on McHale Brown, a freshman point guard they have coming
in that's by most accounts most recruiting service as a

(36:50):
top ten player. And he also played on the under
nineteen team let's say team this summer and did a
lot of good things for them. So it's it's going
to be a great year for basketball in the state.
I'll say it that way, because the expectations are back
and it finally feels like Louisville basketball is back to

(37:11):
kind of what we've been accustomed to traditionally. After you know,
their their down time, So yeah, that what's going to
be weird, though, is what the game is on November eleventh.
I think this year it feels going to feel so early,
but I don't think that'll take away from the interest

(37:32):
in the state. But I just feel like nationally it
might get kind of lost in uh football still be
going on at that time and everything like that, So
I don't know, we'll we'll see, but it should be
a monster game.

Speaker 4 (37:46):
That's here.

Speaker 1 (37:47):
I wish you were closer to the holidays, the Christmas holidays,
because that always did. The framework there always makes it
a much bigger deal, you know. And speaking of what
you just talked about, that period, let's hope it's over
college basketball. Let's face it is better off when teams
like Louisville North Carolina, Indiana, the blue Bloods are better.

(38:07):
But perhaps we can borrow from Northern Ireland and refer
to that period in you UL basketball history as the troubles.
You know, that might work. CL Thank you so much
for joining us. Tell people how to follow you? Are you?
Are you much on Twitter?

Speaker 3 (38:24):
I'm there. I wouldn't say much on but all my
sign ons are at cl Brown Hoops on Twitter, Instagram,
blue Sky. So I'm gonna try you a little bit
better this year. Bick on.

Speaker 1 (38:40):
Well, and for sure, let's let's listen to the podcast
as well, with drops every Wednesday. Thank you sir. We'll
see you down the road, all right.

Speaker 3 (38:47):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (38:48):
Coming up next on the other side of the news break,
Jeff picorl the UK radio network. He has been to practice,
he has been to the scrimmages. We are going to
get more football info from Jeff on the other side
of the break here on six thirty l ap. Welcome

(40:53):
back to the Big Blue Siders. I mentioned earlier Jeff
of Coral was it practice today? He was at the
scrimmage on Saturday. He's on our SELBTRE hotline And Jeff,
it was just a mirror. What forty five years ago
you were practicing in.

Speaker 4 (41:05):
Weather like this a mirror?

Speaker 1 (41:08):
Yeah, and really they had they caught a break. The
players there were the weather early in camp. But lately
this is the kind of weather coaches like, isn't it.

Speaker 4 (41:17):
Yeah, they like to get hot and get yet there.
But the problem is here, you know, anymore in college
football you only practice once today, you don't, you know,
you don't have two day practices anymore or three day practices,
and so all they have is this. They go out
at about nine o'clock, they're out on the field, they're

(41:37):
done to eleven thirty and that's basically it on the field.
So very interesting.

Speaker 1 (41:42):
Good news is though everybody plays by those rules, right, Yeah, yeah,
it's not It's not like they're getting out worked, you know.

Speaker 4 (41:51):
Yeah, yeah, that's right.

Speaker 1 (41:53):
All right, Well, let's go back to the scrimmage. I
haven't had a chance to talk to you at length
about that. What did you like, What did you dislike?

Speaker 4 (42:02):
I thought that I thought that a lot of the
younger guys are really getting a lot of time. Look,
everybody's making a big deal out of the coaches saying,
you know that the two running backs that they brought
in are basically aren't aren't getting a lot of reps.
And the reason why is one to fifth year one
to fourth year player. So they've been there, they've done that,

(42:24):
they know what's going on. They have to get Patterson
and Wilcox ready for basically situations that could have come
up this season and for the future. Both of them
have got really good ability. They're learning this offense and
they're getting a lot better, so they're getting a lot
of snaps.

Speaker 1 (42:43):
I like that.

Speaker 4 (42:44):
I like the depth at receiver. You know, there's there's
two ways, Loucas. One there's six or seven guys that
can play, and then the other way is they don't
have them you know, the number one guy that's jumped
out and and said I'm the guy. But you know,
they it's a really good room.

Speaker 1 (43:01):
Are you surprised at wide receiver? Which was of course
your position that Kendrick Law hasn't separated himself given the
fact that he's played a lot, he's played in his
sec played at Alabama. Uh, and there's a great opportunity
in front of him.

Speaker 4 (43:16):
There is. I think he's had some bumps and bruises,
and he's missed a couple of practices, but he showed
up when he's had to, and I think he's done
a nice job of that. When he's you know, when
he's been in there, he's made plays. He's he's also
one of the guys that they're probably gonna use on

(43:37):
kickoff and things like that. So he's going to be
an integral part of this offense. But yeah, I guess,
I don't know. It's almost like a baseball team and
you have a lot of twos and threes as pitchers. Yeah,
you know, you don't have the Tom sever or they's
quite good and or you know Nolan Ryan, but you
got a lot of really good guys, you know.

Speaker 1 (43:59):
Yeah, I get it well, and there's there's still you know,
two more practices this week and then the game install
next week. We'll get to that. You were talking about
the two running backs, and Jay Bulwerd talked about them
earlier today after practice, and it sounds like with the
two guys McGowan and Done, they're going to be kind

(44:19):
of a thunder and lightning sort of thing. You know,
one's super quick and one's really strong, just depending on
where they are on the field and what package of
plays are going to run.

Speaker 4 (44:29):
Right. Yeah, I think that Dave Dell is more of
a Chris Rodriguez runner. I think that McGowan is more
of a Boom Williams type guy.

Speaker 1 (44:38):
Really uh yeah.

Speaker 4 (44:40):
I mean he's got the ability to turn the corner.
And I'm telling you, Patterson's been that Swiss Army knife
almost like Demi was last year. You know, he he
he can run between the tackles, but he's you know,
he's got that turn of foot you know that we
like to see in a horse. You know, they can
you know, turn that corner and go uh he can

(45:01):
catch the ball and uh you know, and and and
will Cox's his has got that ability as we saw
last year to you know, the change a game in
one play. So I think they're really deep back there,
and I don't think that they're gonna have any problem
running the football with the running backs and the offensive
line is is big, and they've gotten each practice. I

(45:23):
think they've gotten a little bit better at run blocking.
They did okay in the scrimmage. Uh coach you know,
talked about that, and I think that they're they're continuing
to improve as they get more and more snaps together.

Speaker 1 (45:40):
And you know, you were there when Josh Brown talked
to us the other day and he talked about just
the you know, the old line coming together and the
fact that they've only had you know, and Stoops talked
about this five or six months as opposed to two
or three years. But they've played a lot of football
period at their other schools. How much do you think
act that in Jeff, because chemistry is one thing. Experience

(46:03):
is part of that.

Speaker 4 (46:05):
M Well, I don't know if you were there when
I was talking to Farmer. You were there when we
were talking with with Jagger, but with with Farmer, I
was like, you know, it's they say this all the time,
and you guys, you and Tom probably sick of me
saying this, but it's offensive. Line is almost like a dance,
and you know, everybody has to make the correct steps,

(46:26):
you know, just like in some intricate dance, and the
only way to get that continuity is snaps, and they're
getting those, and they're getting a lot more and there's
some depth, you know, with with Ava stept Up, Malachi
Wood on the outside. They've got you know, they've got

(46:46):
some guys and they are just mountainous players too, just
monstrous guys. So they're getting there. And again, they've got
a whole other week, so what is that nine more days,
you know till they play again. So our play for
the first time, and it's gonna be it's gonna be
fun to see this this group together. But like Jagger Burton,
you know, we we sat and talked to him. He

(47:08):
just looks more comfortable out there because I think now
he's he doesn't think every single play like he did before.
If this, then that, and now it's just react and
he's very he looks very comfortable at center.

Speaker 1 (47:22):
He said, he's not overthinking the snaps. Yeah anymore.

Speaker 4 (47:25):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well you were.

Speaker 1 (47:31):
There, Like I said, when Bush Hampden talked to us
today and one of the things I think the first
thing out of his mouth was about to scrimmage, and
he said he liked the way the two's moved the ball. Uh,
do you remember seeing.

Speaker 4 (47:43):
That Cutter has done a fantastic job? Really, I mean
he really has. I mean he looks much more confident.
And I'm saying that a lot because you've got a
lot of younger guys that are getting so many more reps. Now.
He looks so much more confident and and and composed
in this offense. I like when he leaves the pocket,

(48:06):
he keeps his eyes downfield, and he's stone some really
nice strikes moving out of the pocket and throwing. Zach
has has, I think, done a great job of tucking
and running instead of forcing the ball down the field.
So both of them are working really with It wouldn't
bother me Saturday if if Zach stubbed his toe on

(48:31):
Friday and and was injured and they had to go
with Cutter. I think it's that close of a competition,
it really is. I think they're really playing well for
both of them.

Speaker 1 (48:41):
Although Hamden today ruled out playing two qbs.

Speaker 4 (48:44):
Didn't he Yeah, yeah, I just don't, you know, And
I went through that too, and I think you might
remember this, but when we had Terry and Randy, Terry
Henry and Randy Jenkins, and it just I just don't
think it works because you know, back then they were
totally different players. Terry wasn't a great thrower and Randy

(49:05):
wasn't a great runner. So you know, you know, if
one was in one thing was gonna happen. If the
other was in the other, thing's gonna happen. But I
just I think you've got to have the one guy
that is the guy that's why it. You know, sometimes
he goes down like yesterday, Ohio State name they're starting
quarterback at Georgia, you know a year ago or whatever
two years ago it was. You know that you've got

(49:25):
to make that decision and those guys have to get
most of the one rep. Just you just have to
do it. The guys have to have that guy that
they fall behind, because some guys, if you do that
to two quarterback system, will like one guy better than
you know, he just I like the way he throws the.

Speaker 3 (49:43):
Ball, or.

Speaker 4 (49:44):
I'm friends with him and I'd rather play with him
than the other guy. You know, so it's it's interesting.
I think you have to have one.

Speaker 1 (49:53):
I've only seen that work, and this is just a
team that I could follow h when I was down
in Dallas back in the eighties, and that was a
Baylor team that had two distinctly different qbs, but they
were surrounded by good players. They made it work. They
won eight games that year, but otherwise and it was

(50:14):
pretty smooth otherwise. Yeah, I've not seen that work. Jeff
Picorrol my guest color analyst on the UK Radio. Now
we'll come back and talk more Kentucky football on the
other side of the break here on six thirty WLAP
Welcome back. We're talking with UK network analyst Jeff Pecorro.
He has been covering Kentucky football for many many years.
Prior to that, he was a football wildcat. He watched

(50:36):
the scrimmage's, he was a practice earlier today, we talked
a lot of offense before the break, Jeff, anybody on
defense stick out?

Speaker 4 (50:44):
Well, I think that you know, when this goes back
to when Soups met with Mitch Barnhardt and got the job,
he said, you know, what are you going to do?
What separates you from the other guys, and he said, look,
I understand this. To win in the SEC, you've got
to be strong upfront. You have to dominate both lines,
both sides of the line of scrimmage. They brought in

(51:05):
some very talented players on the defensive front. They've got
guys coming back that are helping on the defensive front.
Josiah Hayes Khlil Saunders are two guys that are that
are going to start. You've added grace and Gusta that
are are are kind of like that thunder and lightning.
You know, one guy plays the edge, one guy plays
in the middle. They've got great depth. I think both offense,

(51:29):
you could probably you have three guys behind them. See,
you really have eight guys that you're going to be
running in that offensive front. And on defense, I think
you're too deep at every position there as well. So
six to eight guys and the edge, you know, the
kid they got from Marshall, from usc UH, you know,
South Dakota. There's this. They just have some depth now,

(51:52):
and it's quality depth. It's not as much as of
a fall off as it was in years past. And
thankfully they haven't been bitten yet. And you know, I
knock on wood. When I say this, by the injury bug.
You know, dj At, a cornerback, has been banged up
a little bit. But other than that, I mean, they
they they stayed pretty healthy and hopefully, you know, you

(52:14):
can go through another couple of days. Saturday will just
be a run through type of practice. Their scrimmaging is done.
They still do ones versus ones and thud, but they
don't you know, they don't tackle really and bring guys
to the ground.

Speaker 1 (52:25):
Yeah, So tell me what happens next week, Tell our
listeners how things change with regard to practice. It's game week, sure,
you know. And now right now it's just rep after rep.
But yeah, now it's a more of a pointed preparation.

Speaker 4 (52:41):
Yeah. And what happens too is after Saturday, they really
cut back. Like right now, they're still doing gassers, you know,
at the end of practice, and they and up downs
and things like that, because you know, if the coach
isn't happy with certain situations. Still after practice, all right,
come on, you guys. They scored four touchdowns on in
the two minute drills, so we're gonna do updowns and

(53:02):
you got to do you know, forty of them because
they start four touch or whatever. So that's still going on,
but once once you get to Saturday, it becomes Toledo.
And so what happens is on Sunday you have your
meetings and you usually get you know, your the game
plan or whatever you want to call it, and now
they have it all on you know, we used to

(53:23):
have papers and you have to take tests, but now
everything's on iPads, form and stuff. And then Monday is
called install and that's when you the the that's really
when the substitutes. The guys that are the threes and
fours are the guys that are really huge because they're
running the Toledo plays on offensive defense and that's usually

(53:46):
walk ons and red shirt guys and stuff like that.
And that's really important at that point because Monday and
tuesday's really those two big work days. Mondays when you
really put it in and your offense, you hear the
plays that we're going to run against this defense. We like,
you know, we're going to play a lot more heavy,
or we're gonna go twelve personnel meaning you know, the

(54:07):
three tight ends a lot, or we're going to play
you know, wide open against this team because we think
I really think they're going to play a lot more
heavy against Toledo only because Toledo's strength is their secondary.
They have three starters that return, plus they got one
out of the transfer portal who started last, so they
really have a very experienced defensive back, you know, the backfield.

(54:30):
I think Kentucky is going to try to pound the
football against them and the kind of wear them down.
They lost a lot, uh you know through the transfer portal,
as almost every MAX school does every year now as
Ohio State, Penn State, Notre Dame. Everybody you know picks
and chooses as Kentucky did. Went in there and got
wolf Schlager and guys like that. So so I really

(54:50):
think they try to pound it. But that and then
as you get to Wednesday and Thursday, you really you
go to shorts and Thursday's usually that first week will
probably be a sweat practice. Friday you just have a
walk through, go to the hotel, and you know you're
on the field Saturday. It's game week. It's crazy, it's
it's here already.

Speaker 1 (55:09):
I know it just it goes so quickly once it
gets started, it goes so quickly. Before I let you go,
you are a horse racing fan officionado. You're also a
good friend of Kenny McPeak. He's got Torpedo Anna running
in a big race, the Personal Ensign up at Saratoga
this weekend. You've also got Sovereignty going in the Travers.

(55:31):
It's that time of year, isn't it.

Speaker 4 (55:33):
No, this is fun, you know the Travers obviously they
called the Summer Derby or the Fall Derby, whatever you
want to call it. But you know it's almost like
that fifth Major, you know that everybody talks about. You
have the three Classics and the Travers States. But that'll
be a fun race. And yeah, I think it's awesome.
You know, Hill and Dale bought into Torpedo Anna and

(55:53):
they have an ownership stake in her. Now they can
want to continue racing her this year and if everything
works out through this year, one more year next year
as well. She's sound, she's a really Kenny says she did.
You know, she just keeps growing and she keeps you know,
it's almost like an an athlete. She wants to learn,

(56:14):
she wants to continue to get better and better. So
this is her four year old campaign and they say
she's going to go you know next year as well
and race as a five year old. That would be awesome. Yeah,
but yeah, this is a huge rate this this weekend.
And you know another Grade one. She's got what six
I think sixth Grade one wins, so this would be
number seven of her which would probably twelve. She's got

(56:36):
eleven wins. Six of those eleven wins are are Grade one.
So she's just been a spectacular, spectacular ort.

Speaker 1 (56:43):
It is such a great story for Kenny and we
all root for him. Obviously Taste Creek Commodore UK grad
or at least he went to the UK. I thank
you grad. Yeah he did, but picked that horse out
of the sale, you know, I mean just you know,
forty thousand dollars, you know, and it's not by accident
that that happens, right, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (57:06):
To me, his greatest strength is picking horse. Yeah, he
chose Curlin. I mean, you know, he's Girland's first trainer
until they you know, sold him and the attorney's got
a hold of him. But you know, you know, he's
he's had great success getting the you know Tejano run
I think was a twenty three thousand dollars horse that

(57:26):
he bought and you know ended up you know, had
the unfortunately had the the problems right before the derby
and still finished second. Yeah, but you know he's had
he's had some really great horses, and he's been able
to go down to Brazil and Chile and buy some
horses and hard spun and you know, the horses like
that that have won you know, so many ray Noble

(57:48):
Promise was his and I mean he just had the
She's the Devil due all all those, you know, just
great horses that he's picked as babies, as yearlings, and
to me, that's his his greatest asset is you know,
I would say, you know, anybody can can train a
great horse, but to be able to pick those great

(58:09):
horses that that is the key, you know. And I'm
not saying that Bob Baffort doesn't do that or Todd Pletcher,
but you know they've got people that are spending millions
and millions of dollars year in and year out and
now and then and that's Kenny. Since he won the
Derby and the Oaks is you know, he's got two
hundred and some horses in training now, so he's become
another packer and Lucas and Fletcher type of guy.

Speaker 1 (58:32):
Hey, I was in his barn at Churchill one morning
and he showed me the.

Speaker 4 (58:36):
Yeah, the white boards.

Speaker 1 (58:38):
Oh my gosh, what he's got going on. Also mentioned
uh and you were talking about the travers sovereignty hooks,
a five horse field, four horses going after uh, you know,
Derby Winter, Belmont Winter. I don't know anybody who gets
up to get him. I mean, I don't know if
that he's a super horse, but to that, to that class,

(59:00):
you know, he's incredible, isn't he.

Speaker 4 (59:02):
Yeah, he really is. But I say you the one
thing that kind of bothers me a little bit. They've
been really especially out on the West coast in California,
these fields are Ford five horses. It seems like every
time you turn around, and it almost makes you yearn
for Keela because you know, you go to Keelan and
especially like Derby Week at Churchill and every field seems

(59:23):
to be you know, nine, ten, eleven, twelve horses, and
you know, just you're just not getting that now. I
was watching it with gd Saturday afternoon. We were at
parlor over there on the Harrisburg Road having some pizza
and he was there and Robin and I. You only
hit some beers with him and watching the horse racing,
and you know the big races are four and five

(59:44):
horse fields, one after another, and I say, you know,
both of us were like, this is crazy.

Speaker 1 (59:48):
What do you know about the purses though, because Keenland
made a concerted effort to up the ante on its
purses and that's that's why you get the great horses
and the great jockey colony that comes with it.

Speaker 4 (01:00:01):
Well, how about this Kentucky Downs race. It's gonna be
the the three and a half million dollars. That's crazy
at Kentucky Down. I mean that that way. My brother's
horse he ran h you know, he won a couple
of races up in Turfway, seventy five thousand dollar races,
so he runs it in this race at at Kentucky Down.

(01:00:22):
He finished fifth and he got like nine thousand dollars.

Speaker 1 (01:00:26):
Yeah, paid his bills, paid his bills.

Speaker 4 (01:00:28):
Yeh, I could pay the bills doing this like that. Yeah,
it's crazy, it really is, but uh, you know it's
it's it's been a boon to Kingland, that's for sure.
This is I think their richest meat coming up ever.
It's just it's nuts.

Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
Yeah, and it's fun and is fun. Yeah, he is
Jeff Coral. He'll be on the call when the Wildcats
take on Toledo one week from Saturday. Thank you, sir,
We'll see you at the stadium.

Speaker 4 (01:00:54):
Hi, Bud. Thanks Dick.

Speaker 1 (01:00:56):
More with the football Cats and John Wall's retirement and
nonouncement that's up next on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back
to the Big Blue Insider, Dick Gabrielle with you. Before
we go any further, I want to say congratulations a
belated happy retirement to Jim Medal. You know, Jim was
the up until recently that well, I don't know what
his last day is the executive Associate Athletics Director for

(01:01:20):
Sports Medicine and Performance. He is retiring, is not retired yet,
but twenty eight years he's put in a UK. He
came here from the New York Football Giants. He was
an assistant trainer up there and somebody on staff here
recommended him and he has done an incredible job. And
I had a great working relationship with Jim in that

(01:01:43):
he was always honest with me. He always knew that
he did not want to be in the spotlight. He
and I worked out a system whereby he could tell
me only so much about a player injury, and I
would not speculate or make up anything to enhance my report.
We trusted each other, and what was also great was

(01:02:06):
he knew if he was treating an injury, he knew
that I would be looking for him, and we developed
through the years a system of hand signals. Now, if
he twisted his hands one way or the other, that
meant a sprain. If he punched his fist into a
palm of his hand, that meant a bruise or a contusion,

(01:02:29):
things like that. If he would point to his like
his collar bone or his shoulder, I know it was
a stinger, which is a stretched nerve, which is really painful,
but not something that's going to end to guys day
unless it's really bad. So anyway, it's just stuff like that.
And then, you know, as he moved up and was promoted,

(01:02:50):
I work with other trainers as well, but I would
talk to Jim at practice every now and then, and
always off the record. You know, we just had great
conversations and he did such a great job, and a
lot of young trainers have come and gone under his tutelage,
and the person taking his place will be Courtney Jones,

(01:03:11):
who is now the senior athletic trainer for UK's women's
basketball and rifle teams. But the department is in good hands.
As I said, Jim got here in nineteen ninety seven
work primarily with football. He was promoted to the director
of Sports Medicine in twenty four and then in fifteen

(01:03:32):
because the program is growing so quickly in general, he
moved to an advisory role with football and oversaw an
expansion of health services provided to student athletes, and then
in twenty eighteen he was promoted to the title he
has now he also oversees strength and conditioning, sports sciences,

(01:03:54):
performance nutrition, mental health initiatives, and things like that. I mean,
he's a great person and has done a great job.
I hate to see him go. I hope I bump
into him every now and then. My sister bumps into
him at church now and then. But I've really really
enjoyed developing a relationship with Jim Mattalano, and through the

(01:04:18):
years he has worked to help UK Athletics intersect with
the Fay County School System, which needs certified trainers, so
that particular program has grown, and through the years I mentioned,
he has had people come through his program and now
his proteges include the current head athletic trainers with the Steelers,

(01:04:42):
the Bengals, the Dolphins, head athletic trainers or directors of
sports medicine at Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Ole,
miss Wichita State, and of course UK. By the way,
the head football athletic trainer at UGA is Ryan Madileano,

(01:05:04):
son of Jim. And one other note on Jim. He
would hate it that I'm talking about him for this
long but last year he was honored with the inaugural
Jim Andrews Doctor James R. Andrews Award given by the
Southern Orthopedic Association for excellence and lifelong commitment to the
field of sports medicine and care of SEC athletes. And

(01:05:28):
by the way, during COVID he was part of the
SEC Returned to Activity and Medical Guidance Task Force, which
won another award, the Mike Slive Award, in part because
of Jim Madialano that the SEC was able to function
beyond the COVID pandemic. So anyway, I gonna miss talking

(01:05:48):
to Jim, Hope I see him around. But congratulations to
his retirement well earned and well deserved. Doctor a lot
of football with Jeppecoro. We heard from bush Ham Dan
and now we're number one. Talk to some of the
offensive players today, including Jagger Burton, who's back at center.
He's kind of bounced around the old line center guard

(01:06:10):
back to center, had some trouble last time he played center,
but he has been and trusted with the number one
job right now on the old line, and a lot
of us had a chance to chat with him after
practice today.

Speaker 5 (01:06:23):
Moving back to center again and having you know, already
played it before, it does feel nice to kind of
go back and not have to be starting completely from
scratch and then taking some things that I've learned the
past couple of years and just moving that into the
center position.

Speaker 1 (01:06:41):
What were the challenges that you faced before that maybe
you had a hard time overcoming that you can deal
with now. How are you better?

Speaker 5 (01:06:49):
I think that just comes with you know, experience and
years of playing, and you know, at the college level,
it's just so different in terms of you know, there's
obviously a bigger there's a lot more people watching you,
you know, a lot more as expected of you as
a student athlete than you know, when you come in
from high school and you kind of learned that every
year and you get better at handling it. And I

(01:07:09):
think that's something I mean, I've talked a lot about it,
but that I've really focused on throughout the off season
is getting better on handling that noise and good noise,
bad noise, whatever it is, and just listening to the
noise that matters. So just trying to trust myself, you know, best,
believe in my coaches as much as I can.

Speaker 1 (01:07:26):
Stuff like that, which has been like is a guy
who has to call some of the singles up front
with all these new faces around you.

Speaker 5 (01:07:32):
Yeah, I think it's been fun, a fun new challenge.
It's college football today. It's talked about a lot, but
you know, the amount of people that are going to
come in now in college football and not have any
guys left by the time you know they're on their
senior year is a lot. I think I have like
four or five guys left with me, so I've had
a pretty we've had a pretty good core group. But yeah,
just getting to know those guys as fast as possible.

(01:07:53):
You know, these guys are coming from different parts of
the country, you know, where they've been to college for
two years, one year, four years, however many years it is,
and just getting to know them as fast as possible.
That's why we do things in the off season where
you know, we have an online retreat every year, we
go to Gatlinburg together, or you know, we went to
Cedar Moore last week the whole team, So stuff like
that is really important now. I think just to get
to know guys better as fast as you can.

Speaker 4 (01:08:15):
You feel a lot more comfortable out there this year
than a year's past.

Speaker 5 (01:08:18):
Are Yeah, Yeah, I feel I feel a lot more comfortable.
I think a lot of that comes with just confidence
in myself. You know, at the end of the day,
I believe in the work that I put in, a
trust our strength coaches in the off season, and then
I trust Coach Wolf's gonna have us all ready to play,
and coach you know, Coach Stoops are gonna get us
do everything we need to do to get there. So
I think just kind of letting go everything else and
just trusting and the people that you know you can

(01:08:38):
trust and doing everything they say, and you know, leaving
no stone unturned leads to confidence.

Speaker 4 (01:08:43):
How'd you go about getting confident or comfortable in the
snaps versus when you tried this a couple of years ago.

Speaker 5 (01:08:50):
I think for me, you know, I just kind of
just had to stop thinking about it as much at
the end of the day. Like the way Coach Wolf
explained it to me when he was talking about moving
back is you're just throwing the ball between your legs.
You can't think about it as like this crazy thing.
It's just like, imagine if you were just trying to
throw the ball backwards between your legs and I was like,
it sounds crazy, but I was like, dang, that does
make a lot more sense than trying to just like

(01:09:11):
do all these yeah, to do all these you know,
little things, whether it may be you know, stuff with
thumb control all that stuff. It's like, oh, just throw
it between your legs back and make sure it's you know,
in the middle of your stance and it should get there,
and then obviously just a ton of reps. Uh, you know,
just you know that I can get to time me
and Zach really got to know each other, is just

(01:09:32):
coming in Saturday, Sunday, whatever it may be, and just
snapping a hundred times and just talking, you know, just
getting to know each other and I really enjoyed that
time with him, and you know, getting to do it
with Cutter a little bit too. You know, me and
kind of have known each other for a longer time
obviously than me and Zach just both being from here,
but still just you know, asking some deep questions and
getting under the surface level and just really getting to
know guys by while getting better at our craft. You know,

(01:09:54):
he's taking drops, I'm snapping.

Speaker 1 (01:09:55):
So what is it about the skills that you have
that can help you be really good at the center?

Speaker 5 (01:10:03):
Yeah, I think I think obviously it feels it feels
sometimes better to just be closer to someone, and sometimes
it's worse. You know, at center, everybody's off the ball
a little bit. You're right on it, so I mean
you're kind of you're kind of face to face. So
for running like wide zone or something, and I have
a zero, which is just a head up nose, I
feel really confident I can always reach that guy, and
I feel confident in my athleticism. And then there's some

(01:10:23):
stuff where, for we're running inside zone and you've got
a head up nose, you got to get two steps
in the ground before that guy gets one or you're
gonna get knocked back. So I think, you know, my
skills set has always been I feel like I've been
fast with my feet and a little bit more athletic
on the athletic side, and I think that kind of
plays into center, just because you have to have you
have to get your feet in the ground fast, you

(01:10:44):
have to you know, reach people one on one and
just continually trying to improve at that every day. And uh,
you know, Coach Fry and Coach Wolf just giving me
all the little tips. You know, they've coached a bunch
of guys, you know, go down the line obviously with
Wolf and even Coach Fry's Michigan for forever had an
outline winner everything. So just talking to them and picking
their brain about how guys they've had do it in

(01:11:05):
the past and seeing if it works for me to
retreat you guys.

Speaker 1 (01:11:08):
Went on. Josh said he thought it went a long
way toward just helping that old line group mess because
you've been here for a long time, but most of
these guys haven't. Yeah, you gotta have that chemistry. How
did you feel about it?

Speaker 5 (01:11:20):
I felt great. I Mean, that's one of the most
fun things I've never done. We've never done something like
that since I've been here, but just going it sounds crazy,
but just going to the middle of the woods and
like swimming in a pond with your boys playing risk
Europe and just talking like I don't know, it's it's
the closest I've never felt closer to a team than
after that trip. Just I mean, we were we weren't

(01:11:42):
in rooms with O Lineman I was with. I was
in a room with like JQ Hardaway, Alexafari, like guys
that I don't get to see that much, just because
our schedules are so different, and you know now when
I see them in the hallway, it's not just a
head nod or what's up, It's like we're gonna stop
and have a conversation for a second. So yeah, I
mean I feel I think that's one of the most
things we've done since I've been here, and it's definitely been,

(01:12:02):
you know, super helpful into this, you know, going through
this last week camp, getting into the season of just
you know, knowing your brother coach had talks about all
the time.

Speaker 1 (01:12:09):
You understand you were the risk champion.

Speaker 5 (01:12:11):
True, Yeah, I was telling I was telling them earlier.
They were so hyper fixated on the rules. I'd never played,
so they're all looking at the rule book and I
would you're.

Speaker 1 (01:12:19):
A rookie and you win.

Speaker 5 (01:12:20):
Yeah, because they were like they were trying to figure
out make sure we're playing right, and I'm just over
there thinking about moves.

Speaker 3 (01:12:24):
So I wasn't.

Speaker 5 (01:12:24):
I was an advantage just sitting over there and took
all the CRuMs. It was like, guys, it says right here,
I won.

Speaker 6 (01:12:29):
Really, Josh said, the reason you won is because he
was so focused on fighting him that you were the
one actually in the game that too.

Speaker 5 (01:12:35):
Yeah, they were just fighting each other. I just it
was Catous and Zach on a team, and uh Me
and Hayes just attacked those two and then we got
a bunch of lucky roles one and then it was
the whole side of the map was ours. That's like
we won.

Speaker 1 (01:12:46):
So it was funn oh line is the thinking man's position.

Speaker 5 (01:12:49):
Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. I was really scary. I
thought Pete was gonna win for sure, but but I
pulled it out. Yeah, I pulled out the underdog story.

Speaker 1 (01:12:56):
So as Jacker Burton, he'll be starting in center for
the Wildcats one week from Saturday mentioned John Wall's retirement announcement.
It's on Instagram. Here's part of it.

Speaker 7 (01:13:07):
I've been chasing the ball since I can barely walk driveways, parks,
packed gyms, five am workouts. I gave this game everything
I had, from Raleigh to Kentucky to the league. Every
jersey I've worn meant more than just wins and stats.

(01:13:29):
It was about representing something bigger and it's something I
couldn't do without you. To my family, my mom is
specially thank you for all your sacrifices. I hope I
made you proud. To my teammates, trainers and coaches, thank
you for believing anymore. And to the fans you made

(01:13:51):
me feel unstopping. Today I'm stepping off the court, not
away from the game. Thank you for every cheer, every moment. Retired,
but never done doing it the walway.

Speaker 1 (01:14:04):
Somebody obviously helped him put it together. It's a great video,
so if you want to check it out, just go
to John Wall's Instagram account and you'll see his announcement
that he's hanging it up. And we'll hang it up
in a minute. On six thirty WLAP Welcome back to
the Big Blue insider final segment of our program and
a reminder you know this. The UK football opener is
one week from Saturday, and you'll hear it right here

(01:14:27):
on six thirty WLAP. Christy Thomas kicks off coverage with
our pregame show and then of course mister Bacoro, mister
Leech and yours truly with all the action as the
Cats take on those rockets from Toledo, and it should
be an interesting game if it works out the way
we think it should. And to follow up with cl

(01:14:47):
Brown's comments, he believes that the Kentucky players are tired
of hearing all this stuff about a MAC team coming
in and will smack them around. I think he may
be that may be closer to the truth than as
I've said, a MAC team coming in and really given
the Wildcats a hard time, and Toledo is fully capable
of doing that. But I think Kentucky is always is

(01:15:10):
the case with a let's say power for D one
school Kentucky and the SEC of course more depth. I
just think Kentucky probably should have more quality players than
even the best team in the MAC and can wear
them down. But again, we've seen MAC teams come in
here and make life difficult on the Wildcats. We've seen

(01:15:33):
MAC teams come in and win Toledo last year knocked
off Mississippi State and Pittsburgh so and it has a
lot of guys back. So anyway, it's going to be
interesting and obviously you'll know as much as you need
to know by the time kickoff rolls around. Got a
text message from my buddy Steve moss Over at Channel
twenty seven WKYT. He was on the show last week. Steve.

(01:15:57):
For the longest time it's covered sports in central content.
He's been to final fours, he's been to ball games,
he's been all over the place. Loves covering high school football.
And he said that what came up in his timeline
where you know the memories kind of thing, and he said,
ten years ago today UK landed the number eighteen ranked

(01:16:19):
recruit in the country. Sasha Kalaia Jones remember him. Jones
was born in Highland Park, New Jersey, but listed as
an American British citizen. Played at Kentucky. He was also
a quarterback, remember really good quarterback. Played at the Woodbury
Forest School in Virginia for a year or two, gave

(01:16:41):
it up for basketball. He is six eleven right, So
then he transfers to a small school in Lynchburg, Virginia,
averages twenty three and ten and leads his team to
a Division two state titled as McDonald's All American. Committed
to Virginia, switched to Kentucky. He was at UK for
a couple of years as a freshman player in only
fourteen games. As a sophomore, played a little bit more

(01:17:05):
in thirty four games and only average about three and
a half points a game. Then he left and committed to
NC State. Had to sit out, but then he left
NC State to pursue a professional career. So now he's
playing overseas in Prague and all over the place. Came back,
played one year in the G League, and now he's

(01:17:27):
playing recently, most recently was playing in Japan, but in
twenty twenty two led the Israeli League and scoring. It's
just one of those star crossed careers that never really
paid off. But Sasha Kalea Jones ten years ago today
was a big time get for John Caliperi and his people.

(01:17:49):
Steve also said that it was eight years ago today
Frederick Douglas debuted its football program and lost thirty six
nothing at Danville. Frederick Douglas has since arisen from those
ashes and has a pretty strong program right now. But
on this day eight years ago, Frederick Douglas lost to Danville.

(01:18:09):
Pretty good program, thirty six nothing. Five years ago, this
was the day that Tom Brenneman made an inadvertent on
air slur and while he was trying to apologize, had
to call a home run, which has become something of
a meme, both an audio and visual meme. But it's
sideline Brenneman for two or three years. He's back now.

(01:18:33):
He's one of the announcers for one of the lead
announcers for the acc football package on the CW. But
he did his penance for a long time. He didn't
realize his microphone was hot and said some things that
you shouldn't say. He shouldn't say, period. But one of
the cardinal rules in broadcasting is if you're not going

(01:18:53):
to say it in front of a live mic, don't
say it in front of a dead microphone. And that's
what happened with Tom Brown. Also, according to Steve, on
this date, UK announced it's class for the upcoming Athletic
Hall of Fame and on this day, back in twenty thirteen,
came the announcement that both Tubby Smith and Rex Chapman

(01:19:17):
were being inducted into the UK Sports Hall of Fame.
So big Dyan history. My thanks once again to Steve Moss,
My thanks to cl Brown and Jeff before, and thanks
to you for listening. That's it. Good night from the
garage and Lexion.

Speaker 8 (01:19:31):
Ladies and gentlemen. Can I please have your attention. I've
just been handed an urgent and horrifying news story and
I need all of you to stop what you're doing
and listen.

Speaker 6 (01:19:45):
Kennon, mom take cutting back past the top conting