Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
From border to border across the Commonwealth of Kentucky. This
is Big Blue Insider. Talk to Tick Gabriel call eight
five nine two eight zero Cats that's eight five nine
two eight zero to two eight seven. Or state wide
that's one eight hundred six oh six game. That's one
(00:26):
eight hundred six oh six four two six three. Or
you can tweet the show. That's Big Blue Insider one.
Now here's Tick Gabriel.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Everybody through the facilities of the iHeartMedia Megaplexis is the
Big Blue Insider state wide edition of our program.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
And tonight you already heard.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Comments about Kentucky football from Brad White Cutter Bully. We'll
keep talking UK football with Cole Park and Jeffcorl, but
also we'll shift to Kentucky basketball because today was media
day for both the men and the women. Stay with
us here on the state wide BBI.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Come by.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
It is the Big Little Excited Dick gabrielle joined in
studio by Cole Park, Jeff of Coorl will join us shortly. Jeff,
of course, was in Athens, as was I and was
Cole watching the Wildcats. And you know, if you pay
attention to such things. Cole it's amazing to me. All
our friends out in the desert know these things. But
(01:21):
Kentucky gets the late touchdown and a team that was
a twenty and a half point favorite makes it a
twenty one or twenty one point game, and the over
and under is good as an over for.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
By about a half a point or a point. It's
just phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
But if you're a Kentucky fan, you had to like
what you saw there. But for the most part, it
was a tough day.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Wasn't it.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Yeah? Not great. I mean I wrote a piece for
the Cat's Pause about how the passing offense looked quite
a bit better, but not much else did. It was
a game in which, you know, obviously, those are two
guys who have been banged up at periodic points in
the season, and George is a tough team, a tough defense.
But the run game didn't quite get established in the
way that we had kind of gotten used to seeing it.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
You know.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
It seemed like Seth was pretty hot early and then
maybe lost a little bit of steam there. But we
did see him catch some passes, so that was nice
to see the running backs involved in the passing attack.
We saw the first wide receiver touchdown of the season,
Cutter Bowley had a pretty strong showing. I know it.
You know, if you're just a box score watcher, it's there.
You see the one interception, You're like, oh, another one,
But we all watched it. That interception is nothing to me.
(02:26):
He was trying to throw it out the back of
the end zone and Georgia got a toe tap and
it was fourth down anyway, So the result of the
play was the same as it would.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Have been of Peon would have just allowed that.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Yeah, who cares. But two touchdowns, which was pretty solid,
and both of those came through the air, one to
Josh Cattis, the other Duke Kendrick Law. We saw Fred
Ferrier get targeted quite a bit, and how about Cameron
Miller putting on a show down there in garbage game
was kind of out a hand there. But other than that,
I mean, the defense looked not great. I mean that
(02:57):
first drive from Georgia that was just weight easy, too routine,
too comfortable. We saw some rough, rough offense. We'll say,
to immediately end the first half, that was a difficult
drive and it ended with, you know, the first missfield
goal of the season for Kentucky just heartbreaking from twenty
six yards out. But we did see some promising things
(03:20):
out of the passing attack, and that's kind of what
I held my hat on because I was you know,
you if you saw my predictions and you heard me
say it, I wasn't very optimistic going get down to Athens.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
I not many were.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
I expected this one to be worse than it was,
quite frankly, so.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
You probably doubled down on your mind on that after
that first drive.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Right, Yeah, honest I did. I was like, well, I
know what to expect, and even more so after Kentucky
couldn't really you know, got the penalty on their first
offensive drive and couldn't really do anything with it, gave
the ball back and went fourteen zero, I was like, oh,
this one's going to get bad, bad, isn't it. It
didn't get bad bad, but it got pretty firmly put
away early on in the second half with that seth
McGowan fumble that was reviewed and then Georgia gets the
(03:59):
touchdown that was over as far as I'm concerned. But
all in all, just not a great showing, and I
didn't expect it to be.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Georgia was better than Kentucky. Georgia was favored to beat Kentucky,
and yet fans, you know, reacted as though they believed
Kentucky should have won the game, which is that's what
fans do.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
I get that.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
How well did they play? To me is the issue
because can you going forward make that work for you
down the road, But of course down the road awaits Texas,
which is going to be teed off by the time
the Wildcats get to The Longhorns stunk it up down
in Gainesville against you know what has been a common
Florida team, and then Tennessee.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Has got things going.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
So it's just it's a brutally tough schedule for a
team that's, you know, got some talent, but it's the
young guys, really, And we've seen this periodically with with
football teams, and I don't know, I can't say it
shouldn't happen now in this day and age of the portal,
but it is unusual now that a team like a
(04:55):
Kentucky can look at its roster and say, you know,
a lot of this really promising talent is promising because
it's so young. You know, right now you get old
real fast. Stoops has talked about that in the past,
hasn't he?
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Absolutely. I mean it's really interesting that, you know, we've
talked about this wide receiver room all season and how
talented it is and how deep it is. But the
wide receiver I was most impressed by coming out of
this game was Cameron Miller, who made his first made
his first game appearance against Georgia and had two pretty
stellar catches. I thought, I think he might have had
more than just two, but he had too that maybe
(05:32):
go wow, Yeah, Like, I don't know that some of
the starting receivers would have made those catches. There was
a you know, I'm not gonna call out a player
by name, there's a particularly bad non catch in the
first half there that I thought, you know, when I played,
my coach always said if you can get a hand
on the ball, you can bring it down, and that's
not always fair, but that one should have been brought
down regardless. You know, Cutter Bowley, young guy. He showed
(05:56):
a lot of promise, and it seems like so many
places across this team, some of the guys that are
doing the most and getting you the most excited are
some of those young guys, and it kind of makes
you wonder at times like how did we get to
this spot?
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Well, and I'll tell you this, I was impressed and
yes I used that word deliberately by the changes they
made in the offense and they said they were going
to do that. They said, we're going to work on
getting the ball out faster, and they did that. Quicker drops,
they moved the pocket, They helped the O line give
up just the one sack I believe is that not
(06:30):
two one late?
Speaker 3 (06:31):
That's right?
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Yeah, but yeah, they gave their quarterback a better chance,
and I thought cutter Bowley took advantage.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I thought he was more accurate.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Well, the numbers stay this thanks to Corey Price, we
know that his numbers essentially add up to the best
road SEC road performance since nineteen ninety nine, and that
was an air raid year. Yeah, so I think that's
something you can probably build on. And as you're right,
George's one of the best team teams in the country.
(07:01):
But it sounds like we're making excuses. But George is
better than Kentucky and that's why fans are frustrated right now.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
Yeah, absolutely, the first things first with that stat rest
in peace, Mike Leach as always, But you know. I agree.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
I spoke to Leach was gone by the ninety nine
when it.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Was his final season, right, regardless, anyway could be wrong.
We'll see regardless. Yeah, I mean, I spoke to Bush, Hampden,
I spoke to several of the players, spoke to Cutter
and the week leading up to Georgia, and you heard
so much. You know, we've we've both you've done this
job a little bit longer than I have. We've both
done this job a little bit long enough that you
know what you expect to hear from coaches at times.
(07:40):
And you know, we heard, oh, we're going to change this,
we're looking at changing this. I honestly didn't really expect
to see that much different going into Athens, but we did,
didn't We We saw the running backs, both of them
had catches in this seth had a couple that were
pretty notable. He got some pretty good gains through the air.
We saw both the running backs get involved in the
passing game. We saw more wide receives is getting involved.
We saw more wide receivers getting open by the way
(08:03):
they were running their rest. We saw the ball getting
out of there faster. Like you said, the one sack
that late makes it too, but only really one sack
that seemed to stick out against Cutter Bowley. Bowie, you know,
even said after the game, I really liked the way
we called it today. He said, I felt really comfortable
with everything we were running and he looked at I mean,
you know, you can look at this game and if
you just look at the box score, you see two
(08:23):
sacks the one interception. But if you watched this game,
Cutter Bowley looked almost like a completely different player than
he did against South Carolina. I mean, he looked way
more comfortable here. They gave him a chance, they really did.
They set him up in a much better position to succeed.
And they didn't even have to sacrifice the tight ends
because we saw plays from Caddis and Rodriguez and when
Rodriguez has got taken away, whether that was fair or not,
(08:44):
but it was not. I didn't think it was either.
I thought he should have been down there.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
But according to mister Percoro's research, and we'll get Jeff
to talk about it when he joins us.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Well, they called it per NFL rules. That's not college rules.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
I feel like that shouldn't happen.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Yeah, we'll get you have to break that down a
little bit more.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Regardless, you know, we saw both of the tight ends
still be involved at the same time as more seeing
more wide receivers get involved, at the same time as
seeing the running backs get involved. It it felt like,
you know, I watched that game, and you know, it's
weird to say, I watch this game that Kentucky was
out of pretty early. That was Georgia covered the spread,
I believe, and it was a blowout for all intensive purposes.
(09:23):
But I felt weirdly optimistic about Kentucky's future because I
was like, maybe maybe they actually can have some success
with the passing offense.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I'm a little puzzled by the fact that it seems
like the defense, which we, I think all of us
thought would be, for lack of a better term, the
strong point or the stronger point for this team, seems
to be struggling a bit. And I don't know that
it's backsliding, but you know, and again they have faced
some really good teams and a couple of good quarterbacks,
(09:52):
but it's not imposing its will the way I thought, well,
the way it hasn't a passed and the way I
thought it might little bit not all day, every day.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
Yeah, I mean, I agree. I thought that people online
have been far less kind than I'm going to be.
But I thought the defense was not very great against Georgia.
And we say this knowing it's Georgia. Yea, even a
Georgia team that's not living up to Georgia standards is still.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Five running backs deep.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Yeah, it's a very tough team. But like I said
it earlier, that first possession they had, the first try
to scored a touch on that was way too easy.
It never really felt like Georgia was uncomfortable at any
point in that drive. And when Georgia really wanted to,
it felt like the Bulldogs imposed their will on the
Kentucky defense. And you know, we've I wasn't necessarily expecting
(10:43):
this to be Kentucky's best defense I've ever seen, but
I was expecting it to be a strong defense, and
so far it's just been really, really inconsistent.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
And why do you think that is?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
You know, I my theory, I think they're lacking a linebacker.
And I'm not pointing the finger at anyone particular guy,
but I think we've been spoiled for the last six
or seven years with obvious guys who have overlaped, but
Derek Jackson, you know, and guys who have played alongside him.
I think it really shown to be legit SEC linebackers,
(11:17):
and I think these guys are still trying to find
the way. They've made some good plays, but not consistently.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
Yeah, I mean, it just feels like it feels like
the defense is the product, you know, the poster child
of the warnings of the transfer portal as well as
the pros of it. You know, there's good players in
this defense. There's a lot of good players all around
it even now, but you know, it's game after after
game we're hearing players not going where they're supposed to,
not playing as a unit, not being connected. And then
(11:45):
Brad White was pretty furious after this. Georgia Gaming said,
until we tackle efficiently and effectively, you know, he said,
I'm not going to sugarcoat it. We have got to
be and then pause and said, you can't be a
good defense if you're not good at tackling. Right, that's
a fact. You know, feels like you shouldn't have to
say that, but it's true. This defense is not doing
(12:06):
the best at tackling. And I think you know, some
of that is on the players themselves make the tackling.
Some of that is that they're just not being a
very cohesive unit. I mean, we saw it against South Carolina,
the big curl route that ended up going for a
massive gain. I mean, I think Brad White pointed out
after that play on the curl that South Carolina had
a few weeks ago. He said, that might be the
worst play I think I've seen this defense do all year.
(12:28):
He said, literally every single player did the wrong thing
on that side of the on the field, he said,
that's what he said. You know, you can say, you
can hold your hand and say that's my fool, but
that's just what's going to happen when everyone makes the
wrong read on that play, and you know, for whether
it's a leadership thing on that defense, whether they're looking
for that vocal leader, you know, whether it's just a
(12:51):
transfer portal in cohesive unit. Something is not clicking in
that defense, and it was on full display in Athens.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
He is Cole park at the catch balls. When we
com back, we'll shift our attention to Kentucky basketball.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
At the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Jepicorl joins us from the UK Sports Network here on
the state wide BBI.
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Speaker 5 (16:36):
Welcome back.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
It is the statewide edition of the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
I believe, against all odds, we have mister Jeffikoro on
the Celebrity Highline Champion.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Well, hello boy, finally we hear from him.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
He was a no show last week, but I can
confirm that he not only worked the game in Athens
on Saturday, but played around the golf on Friday in Athens.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
So my birthday, that's right.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Traded himself to a birthday round of golf with Tom Leech.
Tom said, I said that to you, Tom, he said
shot in eighty two. I said yeah, he said, they
made me keep playing. But anyhow, if nothing else, Jeff,
we had a nice time down in Athens, and uh,
it was a nice day. It just wasn't a nice
outcome for the Wildcats. But we've been talking basketball. Let
(17:25):
me stay with you on basketball. We'll shift to football
after the break. But you were there today for media day,
and again Jeff sport was football in terms of what
he played, but he has interviewed a zillion basketball players
in his day. And Cole and I have been talking
about how this team is coming together in terms of personalities.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
They got an interesting mix of.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Older guys and younger guys, and I think maybe just
maybe better than last year's team.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
What do you think?
Speaker 10 (17:57):
Yeah, you know what's interesting, Dick. I didn't read this
until Mark said it. They had seven super seniors on
that team last year, so seven so they lost eight
players because Travis Perry left as well after last season,
so you don't have that senior leadership to lean on.
But it'll be a little bit younger team. But the
(18:19):
key position points in that van otega oh Way obviously
an older player. But yeah, this is a team that
I think is energetic, dynamic. They're long, They're going to
be physical, they can shoot. They have three fantastic shooters.
I'm really excited about this season. I had questions going
into last year. I wasn't really sold on a guy
(18:41):
like Kerkreasa and some of the other guys. But these guys,
they are all pretty established fellas who are coming over
from different teams and have had great success.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
You know, I'm glad you brought up Kerk Cresa because
people forget that last year's team prospered despite the fact
that they lost a I thought it was an important
part of that puzzle. Increasa as the backup point guard
who's already playing meaningful minutes, and then Lamont Butler's hobbled
for most of the year. So yeah, it's all about
(19:10):
staying healthy. But Cole and I were talking about basketball
in the last segment and what they were doing in
practice today and what we're going to see in Proteina,
and we got to remind ourselves the two best players
on this team aren't going at a full boar yet.
That's o Way who's doing some drills, and Quaintance, who
isn't even on the court yet at all.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Can you imagine.
Speaker 10 (19:34):
It's really scary for a guy like you that went
and saw practice as to how good this team could
possibly be when they get healthy. Thankfully, you've got you know,
a month or so almost a month, you know for
both of those things, you know, and one of them
(19:54):
with otegas toe isn't a huge injury as compared to
what Acquaintance is coming back from. But Quentin said every
benchmark in his recovery and uh, you know, supposedly ahead
of ahead of the pace to get back. But yeah,
this is gonna be a deep team. I mean, you know,
your last guy on the bench is probably Reeth Potter,
and all he did last year was score six and
(20:16):
a half points a game and four rebounds at Miami Vohio.
So it's a guy that you know, is his playing time,
and it's not a you know, it's not that fourteenth
guy on the bench that let's put him in mop
up time. You know, it's a guy that's actually contributed
in some big ballgames.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
Yeah, and if you heard you heard Mark Pope talk today,
you think that Quaintan's is some kind of superhuman healer
over here with the his leg as progressing at an
insane rate. But no, I mean it's promising to hear.
We don't know when he'll see the court for sure.
Obviously they still emphasize proceeding with extreme caution. But and
what you just talked about there though, and what we
(20:53):
talked about earlier with Cresa going out and Butler going
out and then you had Jackson Robinson kind of fill
in at the point guard role. He goes out, he's done,
he's done for the year. Hope didn't come out full
on and say that that was why he built this
team the way he did, but he did kind of
imply that this is a very deep team. It's going
to be tough at times to you know, work on
it's gonna be a great challenge rather to keep everybody
(21:15):
on the same page. But he said, we're going to
have that depth for when we're playing all these games
and when things happen like injuries. So it seems to
me year one to year two, we hear about the
growth these players take under Pope from year one of
year two, but it seems like Pope himself has done
a bit of growth yere one of year two and
is learned from year one and how he's built this roster.
Speaker 10 (21:38):
Cole didn't you think it was really interesting what he said,
you know, especially with the problems that he had last year,
and basically he had two guys gone for the most
of the season and two other guys that were injured
a lot of the season that he said, I wish
we could play forty two games. And I was like,
what I mean? He was, oh, like, are you kidding me?
(22:01):
The attrician rate already is is sky high with your
team of last year. Now you want to add another
ten games. I thought that was nuts.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
I guess he figures everybody else would have attrition as well, but.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
He's speaking well, yeah, in terms of.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Getting his team ready, you know, challenges, and now you've
got George Chann and Purdue coming in, which obviously will
serve those teams. Hey, we're going to screamage Kentucky. We're
going to play it. It's a real game. But I
gotta think, Jeff, when you were in school, you know,
you had JV football games, you had exhibition basketball games
(22:37):
against you know, D two teams or whatever.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
But the rule now where you.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Can play against D one competition, that's huge for everybody,
isn't it.
Speaker 10 (22:46):
Well, guys, don't you think that the NCAA is getting
themselves in a sticky situation here because you can play
these games in baseball, you can play these games in
men's and women's basketball, but you can't practice again another
team in football. Yeah, and that's one of the things
that Mark Stoops has talked about. Yeah, especially with the
(23:07):
lesser players that you have, now that you can't have
all these walk ons. He's like, look, instead of us
killing each other, why can't we, you know, have these
scrimmages against other teams. They would love to go down
and see Weiss in scrimmage against Eastern or or heck,
maybe even go up to Columbus and scrimmage against Ohio
State or something like that.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Sound good to me?
Speaker 4 (23:29):
Yeah, I mean me too, and that that's kind of
the beauty of you know. Mark Pope said that about
the exhibition games they play this year at Purdue. He said, said,
if we were to somehow go in there and beat
Purdue by thirty, he said, I would be like, what
just happened? He said. We're looking at Purdue as a
marker where we want to be, right, that's a team
we want to measure up against before we start playing
games because we want to know more about ourselves. We
(23:51):
want to see what we are and that's so valuable.
And we saw Kentucky baseball just had a really exciting
scrimmage against West Virginia. You know, everyone who saw that.
Both teams look really really good. That was a good
test for both of those and the football teams left
playing itself over and over again.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
You know.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
And I've heard Chris Doring on the SEC network talk
about He's talked about this on my show locally on
the SEC Network. He is so against playing against a
one double a team or whatever.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
You know. The East snoware state games.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Of course, he played at the highest of highs when
it comes to Florida history, the Spurrior glory days when
they were killing everybody. But he was saying, let's play
those games in the spring. I said, you know, an
Eku needs that money, and he said, well, let's play
them in the spring. And in theory, that's great, because Jeff,
that would accomplish what you were hoping for, and that
(24:42):
would accomplish what Doring is hoping for. But on the
other hand, there are coaches across the country don't even
know what their teams are in the spring because they're
still putting it together via the portal.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
So I don't know if that's the answer.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
You know, I mean sure, but is that all That's
significantly different than it's a numbers. There's players in baseball
who play in some of these scrimmagesn't go on to
transfer men's soccer had that happen too, I mean the
soccer team.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
There's not the attrition in those games that there isn't football.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
No. I just mean in terms of not knowing what
your team is. I've seen players I remember I was
covering a men's soccer exhibition as a freshman, and I was,
I wrote a whole long piece about how good this
player looked, and then time for the season starts. He
transferred to Xavier. I was like, well, all right, that's great.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Yeah, yeah, but you know, and I get what you're saying,
but it's one guy on a soccer team. I'm just
thinking of the attrition that happens in football and what
you try to accomplish in the spring. And I'm not
saying it wouldn't be I love Jeff's idea going to scrimmage.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Yeah, somebody go down the road scrimmage a Louisville. I
agree that that works. Anyway.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Getting back to the basketball Wildcats, you know this team,
Jeff has more than just a couple of big days.
You know Mari Williams. Last year they had Brandon Garrison,
but now you know Malachai Moreno, we saw him in
the sweet sixteen when acquaintance is healthy.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
The kid from Croatia.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
I was, I had read about him, but he's a
good six' ten with broad.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
SHOULDERS i mean he can be a.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
Banger, yeah and cleared by THE inca, now so that's
a big. Thing pope talked about how it took a
little bit for him to get adjusted once he got over,
here but that he's made a lot of. Strides he looks,
good and more, importantly it's not a big z. Situation
he's going to be good to go is. Now so
you have another piece to your puzzle. Already.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
YEAH i asked Him jeff today about.
Speaker 10 (26:29):
It i'm just gonna say he told us when you,
know we all interviewed all these guys for people out
there that are wondering at different. Times so he says
different things to each of. Us but we brought it
up about him and how thankfully he, was and he,
goes it was never a thing of me getting in
(26:49):
or not BECAUSE i had the grades and the school
and all. That he, Said it was more on how
many years were they going to give. Me was it
going to be three or four? Years and he, goes
that's what took so, Long AND i was. Okay so
he's list he's listed as a. Freshman, yeah SO i
guess he'll be a soft three. Years he has three
years left to, Play.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Okay, well LIKE i, said on the, ROSTER i saw
he listed as a. Freshman but if he's if he's that,
good he's going to be going, anyway right, Right so, yeah,
Yeah BUT i asked him about the fact, that And,
Jeff i'm sure you played with guys who got, homesick you,
know being recruited far from. Home oh, YEAH i knew
(27:29):
kids WHEN i was in, college And i'm From, louisville
as you.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
Know BUT i went, home you, know For thanksgiving And.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Christmas didn't have a car for one, reason but could
have hooked a, ride could have jumped on A. Greyhound
BUT i, thought, oh this is this is WHERE i.
Am but there were kids in my dorm and could
not wait to just. You they were so homesick to
get home To louisville Or richmond or wherever they were.
From and now you've got a kid who's five thousand
(27:55):
miles from home FROM croi share whatever it. Is you
had a kid on this team a while back From New.
Zealand you can't get much farther, away you.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
Know unless you're in Communist. China uh, That.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Jeff that always amazes me when athletes come so far
to Play american, sports you know WHAT i. Mean and
you've got kids on The kentucky football team From australia
doing the same, thing, Right.
Speaker 10 (28:20):
Well, dick you know the one thing back when you
AND i And, cole, sorry back in the good old
days When dick And Iran, college we had what they called,
sponsors and this was these were for most of the,
time it was for the out of state players and
they could go over to that person's house right on the,
weekends you, know for get a home cooked meal type of.
(28:41):
THING i, remember my uncle is is Part slavic and
and lived In, Columbus ohio and was the head of
one of the big, Churches slavic churches up, there And
Ohio state was recruiting a kid that was from the
same area that that he was From, ryuzgoslavia the area,
(29:04):
there and he became He's he went with the coaches
because he spoke the language to the, airport brought the kid.
In he ends up coming To Ohio state and uh
and stayed there for four years and became a great
friend of my. Uncle AND i thought that was a
really cool. Story but that's kind of to your, Point.
Dick what these teams and people try to do is you,
(29:27):
KNOW i always said this about baseball. Players could you
imagine being a guy like when a rolled as Chapman
or is one of these guys who came From cuba and.
Stuff you're. Stuck you're sent To, america don't know the,
language don't know the, rules don't know the, money don't
know how to order them off a, menu and they,
say here's a million, dollars good, luck you.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
Know and what some of those guys had to do
to get.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Here some of the stories about how those guys had
to sneak out of their country and those guys From
cuba can't go, back you, know and what are they
going to see their families.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Against that's a great.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Point and then again you've got how many guys From
japan And korea.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Plans SO i just find it.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Fascinating all, right when we come, back we're gonna shift
gears With Jeff piicoro And Cole.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Park go back to.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Football Give jeff's comments and observations about The wildcats And
georgia here in the open, week but upcoming the two,
teas The Terrible Teas tennessee And. Texas that's all ahead
here on the state WIDE bbi From pikeville, Too, padukay
(30:33):
it is the big Lew. Insider Cole park at A
Cat's boss here in the studio with. Us Jeff pickory
THE Uk Sports network is on the line with, us
and of Course jeff worked the game With Tom leach
and there was truly down At. Georgia we were talking,
Earlier jeff about the fact, that, Look georgia is just
better Than kentucky was favored to win by basically three,
touchdowns did win by three. Touchdowns not a lot to.
(30:56):
Like a few things to, like but it's hard to
pick out other THAN i think the fact That Cutter
bowley had there was a better offensive plan for. Him you,
know was there any progress made? Now that was important
That bully was finally given a, play a sheet of
plays where he wouldn't have to stand in there and get. Killed,
(31:16):
Right but it's hard to find anything else to really
like about that, game, Now.
Speaker 10 (31:22):
You're exactly, RIGHT i really, well you look at what he.
Did you look at what he did two weeks, ago
and he completed twelve passes in that game for two
hundred and forty. Yards, Right so he's going down the.
Field this week he completes twice as many, Passes SO
i think he's he's, learning he's getting the ball out.
Quicker he had twenty, whatever it was twenty four to
(31:44):
twenty five completions for like two hundred and thirty yards
something like. That BUT i just like they were getting
the ball out of his, hands, quicker he was getting
to the, receivers, quicker he knew where he was going
with the ball at the. SNAP i JUST i saw
a lot of improvement from The South carolina game to
The georgia.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Game we talked preseason about the, fact AND i use
the words intriguing about the wide receiver room BECAUSE i
had no idea if the wide receiver room could be
better Minus Dame, key Minus barry And. Brown but it
has underwhelmed, us has it? Not but you know is
that Because cutter wasn't given enough opportunity to find these.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Guys that's your. Position you're up essentially watching The all
twenty two video as an unfolds live before your very.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Eyes what should we think of the wide receivers now
that we've seen this new wrinkle added to The kentucky.
Speaker 10 (32:38):
Offense, well the one thing that we saw every practice
that we went to And i'm talking about me And
tom when we went to, practices was twenty two and
nineteen two freshmen that were making play after play after
Play cam And quisenberry every practice we'd walk away up
(33:00):
said did you see the catch he? Made or did
you see he got behind the? Defense and, uh you
know for a long. Touchdown AND i think that Coach
doubps was waiting and waiting and waiting for these guys
And i'm not going to name, names but for some
of these guys to step forward and they just have.
It silato has been you, know he's been banged up a,
(33:21):
lot but you, know we just haven't seen much from
from the other. Guys farrier hasn't really done. Much macclin
hasn't really done. Much they're having trouble getting off the
line of. Scrimmage, uh you, know they're getting they're getting
physical at the line of scrimmage and not and not being.
Able they're getting knocked off their. Routes they're not running hard.
(33:44):
Routes you, know on a on a couple of bad,
passes they've allowed the defensive backs to determine where they're.
Going and that can't, happen especially on a quick. Flint
you've got to get whatever it takes. Inside you've got
to get inside of that defender so you can be
between him and the. Ball that's where an interception came
(34:04):
from because of one of those plays a couple of weeks.
Ago So i'm just not seeing enough out of these,
guys and SO i Think Mark steus finally, said, LOOK
i don't give a darn who it is if they
can catch get him in. There you, know here's the thing,
too you just said it about basketball. Book you guys know.
This it's pretty improbable that a guy stays four years
(34:24):
at a place nowadays unless they're a. Star you, know
is twenty two and nineteen going to be here in four? Years?
Heck Is Mark stoop's going to be here in four?
Years you got to win, now don't worry about next
year or two years or three years down the. Road
and if this guy gives me an opportunity to, Win
i'm playing.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
It, yeah, absolutely And i'll try to be quick. Here
jeff speaking of not quite a wide. Receiver but when
it comes to, receiving there's a lot of controversial, officiating
shall we, say in this. CONTEST i think even FORMER
uk Coach Rich brooks call it out on social media
how bad it. Was but one play in particular that sticks.
Out Willie, rodriguez final driver of the first. Half big,
(35:05):
Play big play when a thirteen yard game he set
at first in, goal uh, catches the ball seems to
go out of bounds and then the ball comes. Out
they end up ruling that an incomplete. PASS i was
told you got some information on.
Speaker 10 (35:17):
That, yeah you. Know look When Jesse Palmer hits played the, game,
right he was a quarterback in the. Sec he's doing the.
Game he said it was a. Catch they go to
the rules official that they have on with them and they,
say what do you think about? That AND i don't
know who it, was you, know bet Old, bill what
(35:37):
do you think about? That he, said that is a.
Catch he caught the, ball he had two feet. In
he hit the ground out of bounce, part so he's
already established himself in bounced and hits the ground out of,
bounce then the ball comes. Out that's a completed. Pass
and they ruled. It, no it. Wasn't so if you're
(35:59):
telling me the official who's supervising all these, guys or
one of the supervising, guys if Jeans territor says it's
a completed pass and you guys overturn, it that's not, right.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Yeah and you know that's not Why kentucky, loss but
it made it that much more difficult On kentucky to be, competitive,
right just like last year when they had a pick
six taken.
Speaker 10 (36:21):
Away you only get so many chances in a. Game
you're right That i'll die on that. Hill show me
where that ball touches the. Ground last year that was a.
Touchdown it was called a touchdown on the, Field it
was ruled a touchdown at the. Stadium and then some
guy In birmingham, says you know, what.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
It can't Be, well it touched the ground as he
was catching, it which can happen as long as you've
got your hands just. Throwing you. Know you, Go, well
the thing, is we've made it confusing last year and
we're drudging it up.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
Again they marked the ball at that. Spot they didn't
call it an incomplete.
Speaker 2 (36:59):
Pass, anyway it will go nuts talking about And jeff
bro thank. You we'll talk to you, Soon, hi, Buddy,
footbaul basketball. Overlap it's a good time to be a sports.
Fan there's also baseball, playoffs hockey's. Begun, hey why? Not
we didn't talk about those two? Tonight maybe next.
Speaker 4 (37:16):
WEEK i don't want to talk about anything baseball My red, Sox.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Oh that's, true that's. True all right For Bo, robinson that's.
It Good night From, lexington
From border to border across the Commonwealth of Kentucky. This
is Big Blue Insider. Talk to Tick Gabriel call eight
five nine two eight zero Cats that's eight five nine
two eight zero to two eight seven. Or state wide
that's one eight hundred six oh six game. That's one
(00:26):
eight hundred six oh six four two six three. Or
you can tweet the show. That's Big Blue Insider one.
Now here's Tick Gabriel.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Everybody through the facilities of the iHeartMedia Megaplexis is the
Big Blue Insider state wide edition of our program.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
And tonight you already heard.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Comments about Kentucky football from Brad White Cutter Bully. We'll
keep talking UK football with Cole Park and Jeffcorl, but
also we'll shift to Kentucky basketball because today was media
day for both the men and the women. Stay with
us here on the state wide BBI.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Come by.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
It is the Big Little Excited Dick gabrielle joined in
studio by Cole Park, Jeff of Coorl will join us shortly. Jeff,
of course, was in Athens, as was I and was
Cole watching the Wildcats. And you know, if you pay
attention to such things. Cole it's amazing to me. All
our friends out in the desert know these things. But
(01:21):
Kentucky gets the late touchdown and a team that was
a twenty and a half point favorite makes it a
twenty one or twenty one point game, and the over
and under is good as an over for.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
By about a half a point or a point. It's
just phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
But if you're a Kentucky fan, you had to like
what you saw there. But for the most part, it
was a tough day.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Wasn't it.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Yeah? Not great. I mean I wrote a piece for
the Cat's Pause about how the passing offense looked quite
a bit better, but not much else did. It was
a game in which, you know, obviously, those are two
guys who have been banged up at periodic points in
the season, and George is a tough team, a tough defense.
But the run game didn't quite get established in the
way that we had kind of gotten used to seeing it.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
You know.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
It seemed like Seth was pretty hot early and then
maybe lost a little bit of steam there. But we
did see him catch some passes, so that was nice
to see the running backs involved in the passing attack.
We saw the first wide receiver touchdown of the season,
Cutter Bowley had a pretty strong showing. I know it.
You know, if you're just a box score watcher, it's there.
You see the one interception, You're like, oh, another one,
But we all watched it. That interception is nothing to me.
(02:26):
He was trying to throw it out the back of
the end zone and Georgia got a toe tap and
it was fourth down anyway, So the result of the
play was the same as it would.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Have been of Peon would have just allowed that.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Yeah, who cares. But two touchdowns, which was pretty solid,
and both of those came through the air, one to
Josh Cattis, the other Duke Kendrick Law. We saw Fred
Ferrier get targeted quite a bit, and how about Cameron
Miller putting on a show down there in garbage game
was kind of out a hand there. But other than that,
I mean, the defense looked not great. I mean that
(02:57):
first drive from Georgia that was just weight easy, too routine,
too comfortable. We saw some rough, rough offense. We'll say,
to immediately end the first half, that was a difficult
drive and it ended with, you know, the first missfield
goal of the season for Kentucky just heartbreaking from twenty
six yards out. But we did see some promising things
(03:20):
out of the passing attack, and that's kind of what
I held my hat on because I was you know,
you if you saw my predictions and you heard me
say it, I wasn't very optimistic going get down to Athens.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
I not many were.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
I expected this one to be worse than it was,
quite frankly, so.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
You probably doubled down on your mind on that after
that first drive.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Right, Yeah, honest I did. I was like, well, I
know what to expect, and even more so after Kentucky
couldn't really you know, got the penalty on their first
offensive drive and couldn't really do anything with it, gave
the ball back and went fourteen zero, I was like, oh,
this one's going to get bad, bad, isn't it. It
didn't get bad bad, but it got pretty firmly put
away early on in the second half with that seth
McGowan fumble that was reviewed and then Georgia gets the
(03:59):
touchdown that was over as far as I'm concerned. But
all in all, just not a great showing, and I
didn't expect it to be.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Georgia was better than Kentucky. Georgia was favored to beat Kentucky,
and yet fans, you know, reacted as though they believed
Kentucky should have won the game, which is that's what
fans do.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
I get that.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
How well did they play? To me is the issue
because can you going forward make that work for you
down the road, But of course down the road awaits Texas,
which is going to be teed off by the time
the Wildcats get to The Longhorns stunk it up down
in Gainesville against you know what has been a common
Florida team, and then Tennessee.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Has got things going.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
So it's just it's a brutally tough schedule for a
team that's, you know, got some talent, but it's the
young guys, really, And we've seen this periodically with with
football teams, and I don't know, I can't say it
shouldn't happen now in this day and age of the portal,
but it is unusual now that a team like a
(04:55):
Kentucky can look at its roster and say, you know,
a lot of this really promising talent is promising because
it's so young. You know, right now you get old
real fast. Stoops has talked about that in the past,
hasn't he?
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Absolutely. I mean it's really interesting that, you know, we've
talked about this wide receiver room all season and how
talented it is and how deep it is. But the
wide receiver I was most impressed by coming out of
this game was Cameron Miller, who made his first made
his first game appearance against Georgia and had two pretty
stellar catches. I thought, I think he might have had
more than just two, but he had too that maybe
(05:32):
go wow, Yeah, Like, I don't know that some of
the starting receivers would have made those catches. There was
a you know, I'm not gonna call out a player
by name, there's a particularly bad non catch in the
first half there that I thought, you know, when I played,
my coach always said if you can get a hand
on the ball, you can bring it down, and that's
not always fair, but that one should have been brought
down regardless. You know, Cutter Bowley, young guy. He showed
(05:56):
a lot of promise, and it seems like so many
places across this team, some of the guys that are
doing the most and getting you the most excited are
some of those young guys, and it kind of makes
you wonder at times like how did we get to
this spot?
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Well, and I'll tell you this, I was impressed and
yes I used that word deliberately by the changes they
made in the offense and they said they were going
to do that. They said, we're going to work on
getting the ball out faster, and they did that. Quicker drops,
they moved the pocket, They helped the O line give
up just the one sack I believe is that not
(06:30):
two one late?
Speaker 3 (06:31):
That's right?
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Yeah, but yeah, they gave their quarterback a better chance,
and I thought cutter Bowley took advantage.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I thought he was more accurate.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Well, the numbers stay this thanks to Corey Price, we
know that his numbers essentially add up to the best
road SEC road performance since nineteen ninety nine, and that
was an air raid year. Yeah, so I think that's
something you can probably build on. And as you're right,
George's one of the best team teams in the country.
(07:01):
But it sounds like we're making excuses. But George is
better than Kentucky and that's why fans are frustrated right now.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
Yeah, absolutely, the first things first with that stat rest
in peace, Mike Leach as always, But you know. I agree.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
I spoke to Leach was gone by the ninety nine
when it.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Was his final season, right, regardless, anyway could be wrong.
We'll see regardless. Yeah, I mean, I spoke to Bush, Hampden,
I spoke to several of the players, spoke to Cutter
and the week leading up to Georgia, and you heard
so much. You know, we've we've both you've done this
job a little bit longer than I have. We've both
done this job a little bit long enough that you
know what you expect to hear from coaches at times.
(07:40):
And you know, we heard, oh, we're going to change this,
we're looking at changing this. I honestly didn't really expect
to see that much different going into Athens, but we did,
didn't We We saw the running backs, both of them
had catches in this seth had a couple that were
pretty notable. He got some pretty good gains through the air.
We saw both the running backs get involved in the
passing game. We saw more wide receives is getting involved.
We saw more wide receivers getting open by the way
(08:03):
they were running their rest. We saw the ball getting
out of there faster. Like you said, the one sack
that late makes it too, but only really one sack
that seemed to stick out against Cutter Bowley. Bowie, you know,
even said after the game, I really liked the way
we called it today. He said, I felt really comfortable
with everything we were running and he looked at I mean,
you know, you can look at this game and if
you just look at the box score, you see two
(08:23):
sacks the one interception. But if you watched this game,
Cutter Bowley looked almost like a completely different player than
he did against South Carolina. I mean, he looked way
more comfortable here. They gave him a chance, they really did.
They set him up in a much better position to succeed.
And they didn't even have to sacrifice the tight ends
because we saw plays from Caddis and Rodriguez and when
Rodriguez has got taken away, whether that was fair or not,
(08:44):
but it was not. I didn't think it was either.
I thought he should have been down there.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
But according to mister Percoro's research, and we'll get Jeff
to talk about it when he joins us.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Well, they called it per NFL rules. That's not college rules.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
I feel like that shouldn't happen.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Yeah, we'll get you have to break that down a
little bit more.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Regardless, you know, we saw both of the tight ends
still be involved at the same time as more seeing
more wide receivers get involved, at the same time as
seeing the running backs get involved. It it felt like,
you know, I watched that game, and you know, it's
weird to say, I watch this game that Kentucky was
out of pretty early. That was Georgia covered the spread,
I believe, and it was a blowout for all intensive purposes.
(09:23):
But I felt weirdly optimistic about Kentucky's future because I
was like, maybe maybe they actually can have some success
with the passing offense.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I'm a little puzzled by the fact that it seems
like the defense, which we, I think all of us
thought would be, for lack of a better term, the
strong point or the stronger point for this team, seems
to be struggling a bit. And I don't know that
it's backsliding, but you know, and again they have faced
some really good teams and a couple of good quarterbacks,
(09:52):
but it's not imposing its will the way I thought, well,
the way it hasn't a passed and the way I
thought it might little bit not all day, every day.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
Yeah, I mean, I agree. I thought that people online
have been far less kind than I'm going to be.
But I thought the defense was not very great against Georgia.
And we say this knowing it's Georgia. Yea, even a
Georgia team that's not living up to Georgia standards is still.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Five running backs deep.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Yeah, it's a very tough team. But like I said
it earlier, that first possession they had, the first try
to scored a touch on that was way too easy.
It never really felt like Georgia was uncomfortable at any
point in that drive. And when Georgia really wanted to,
it felt like the Bulldogs imposed their will on the
Kentucky defense. And you know, we've I wasn't necessarily expecting
(10:43):
this to be Kentucky's best defense I've ever seen, but
I was expecting it to be a strong defense, and
so far it's just been really, really inconsistent.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
And why do you think that is?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
You know, I my theory, I think they're lacking a linebacker.
And I'm not pointing the finger at anyone particular guy,
but I think we've been spoiled for the last six
or seven years with obvious guys who have overlaped, but
Derek Jackson, you know, and guys who have played alongside him.
I think it really shown to be legit SEC linebackers,
(11:17):
and I think these guys are still trying to find
the way. They've made some good plays, but not consistently.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
Yeah, I mean, it just feels like it feels like
the defense is the product, you know, the poster child
of the warnings of the transfer portal as well as
the pros of it. You know, there's good players in
this defense. There's a lot of good players all around
it even now, but you know, it's game after after
game we're hearing players not going where they're supposed to,
not playing as a unit, not being connected. And then
(11:45):
Brad White was pretty furious after this. Georgia Gaming said,
until we tackle efficiently and effectively, you know, he said,
I'm not going to sugarcoat it. We have got to
be and then pause and said, you can't be a
good defense if you're not good at tackling. Right, that's
a fact. You know, feels like you shouldn't have to
say that, but it's true. This defense is not doing
(12:06):
the best at tackling. And I think you know, some
of that is on the players themselves make the tackling.
Some of that is that they're just not being a
very cohesive unit. I mean, we saw it against South Carolina,
the big curl route that ended up going for a
massive gain. I mean, I think Brad White pointed out
after that play on the curl that South Carolina had
a few weeks ago. He said, that might be the
worst play I think I've seen this defense do all year.
(12:28):
He said, literally every single player did the wrong thing
on that side of the on the field, he said,
that's what he said. You know, you can say, you
can hold your hand and say that's my fool, but
that's just what's going to happen when everyone makes the
wrong read on that play, and you know, for whether
it's a leadership thing on that defense, whether they're looking
for that vocal leader, you know, whether it's just a
(12:51):
transfer portal in cohesive unit. Something is not clicking in
that defense, and it was on full display in Athens.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
He is Cole park at the catch balls. When we
com back, we'll shift our attention to Kentucky basketball.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
At the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Jepicorl joins us from the UK Sports Network here on
the state wide BBI.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
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Chips?
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Speaker 5 (16:36):
Welcome back.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
It is the statewide edition of the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
I believe, against all odds, we have mister Jeffikoro on
the Celebrity Highline Champion.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Well, hello boy, finally we hear from him.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
He was a no show last week, but I can
confirm that he not only worked the game in Athens
on Saturday, but played around the golf on Friday in Athens.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
So my birthday, that's right.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Traded himself to a birthday round of golf with Tom Leech.
Tom said, I said that to you, Tom, he said
shot in eighty two. I said yeah, he said, they
made me keep playing. But anyhow, if nothing else, Jeff,
we had a nice time down in Athens, and uh,
it was a nice day. It just wasn't a nice
outcome for the Wildcats. But we've been talking basketball. Let
(17:25):
me stay with you on basketball. We'll shift to football
after the break. But you were there today for media day,
and again Jeff sport was football in terms of what
he played, but he has interviewed a zillion basketball players
in his day. And Cole and I have been talking
about how this team is coming together in terms of personalities.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
They got an interesting mix of.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Older guys and younger guys, and I think maybe just
maybe better than last year's team.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
What do you think?
Speaker 10 (17:57):
Yeah, you know what's interesting, Dick. I didn't read this
until Mark said it. They had seven super seniors on
that team last year, so seven so they lost eight
players because Travis Perry left as well after last season,
so you don't have that senior leadership to lean on.
But it'll be a little bit younger team. But the
(18:19):
key position points in that van otega oh Way obviously
an older player. But yeah, this is a team that
I think is energetic, dynamic. They're long, They're going to
be physical, they can shoot. They have three fantastic shooters.
I'm really excited about this season. I had questions going
into last year. I wasn't really sold on a guy
(18:41):
like Kerkreasa and some of the other guys. But these guys,
they are all pretty established fellas who are coming over
from different teams and have had great success.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
You know, I'm glad you brought up Kerk Cresa because
people forget that last year's team prospered despite the fact
that they lost a I thought it was an important
part of that puzzle. Increasa as the backup point guard
who's already playing meaningful minutes, and then Lamont Butler's hobbled
for most of the year. So yeah, it's all about
(19:10):
staying healthy. But Cole and I were talking about basketball
in the last segment and what they were doing in
practice today and what we're going to see in Proteina,
and we got to remind ourselves the two best players
on this team aren't going at a full boar yet.
That's o Way who's doing some drills, and Quaintance, who
isn't even on the court yet at all.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Can you imagine.
Speaker 10 (19:34):
It's really scary for a guy like you that went
and saw practice as to how good this team could
possibly be when they get healthy. Thankfully, you've got you know,
a month or so almost a month, you know for
both of those things, you know, and one of them
(19:54):
with otegas toe isn't a huge injury as compared to
what Acquaintance is coming back from. But Quentin said every
benchmark in his recovery and uh, you know, supposedly ahead
of ahead of the pace to get back. But yeah,
this is gonna be a deep team. I mean, you know,
your last guy on the bench is probably Reeth Potter,
and all he did last year was score six and
(20:16):
a half points a game and four rebounds at Miami Vohio.
So it's a guy that you know, is his playing time,
and it's not a you know, it's not that fourteenth
guy on the bench that let's put him in mop
up time. You know, it's a guy that's actually contributed
in some big ballgames.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
Yeah, and if you heard you heard Mark Pope talk today,
you think that Quaintan's is some kind of superhuman healer
over here with the his leg as progressing at an
insane rate. But no, I mean it's promising to hear.
We don't know when he'll see the court for sure.
Obviously they still emphasize proceeding with extreme caution. But and
what you just talked about there though, and what we
(20:53):
talked about earlier with Cresa going out and Butler going
out and then you had Jackson Robinson kind of fill
in at the point guard role. He goes out, he's done,
he's done for the year. Hope didn't come out full
on and say that that was why he built this
team the way he did, but he did kind of
imply that this is a very deep team. It's going
to be tough at times to you know, work on
it's gonna be a great challenge rather to keep everybody
(21:15):
on the same page. But he said, we're going to
have that depth for when we're playing all these games
and when things happen like injuries. So it seems to
me year one to year two, we hear about the
growth these players take under Pope from year one of
year two, but it seems like Pope himself has done
a bit of growth yere one of year two and
is learned from year one and how he's built this roster.
Speaker 10 (21:38):
Cole didn't you think it was really interesting what he said,
you know, especially with the problems that he had last year,
and basically he had two guys gone for the most
of the season and two other guys that were injured
a lot of the season that he said, I wish
we could play forty two games. And I was like,
what I mean? He was, oh, like, are you kidding me?
(22:01):
The attrician rate already is is sky high with your
team of last year. Now you want to add another
ten games. I thought that was nuts.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
I guess he figures everybody else would have attrition as well, but.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
He's speaking well, yeah, in terms of.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Getting his team ready, you know, challenges, and now you've
got George Chann and Purdue coming in, which obviously will
serve those teams. Hey, we're going to screamage Kentucky. We're
going to play it. It's a real game. But I
gotta think, Jeff, when you were in school, you know,
you had JV football games, you had exhibition basketball games
(22:37):
against you know, D two teams or whatever.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
But the rule now where you.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Can play against D one competition, that's huge for everybody,
isn't it.
Speaker 10 (22:46):
Well, guys, don't you think that the NCAA is getting
themselves in a sticky situation here because you can play
these games in baseball, you can play these games in
men's and women's basketball, but you can't practice again another
team in football. Yeah, and that's one of the things
that Mark Stoops has talked about. Yeah, especially with the
(23:07):
lesser players that you have, now that you can't have
all these walk ons. He's like, look, instead of us
killing each other, why can't we, you know, have these
scrimmages against other teams. They would love to go down
and see Weiss in scrimmage against Eastern or or heck,
maybe even go up to Columbus and scrimmage against Ohio
State or something like that.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Sound good to me?
Speaker 4 (23:29):
Yeah, I mean me too, and that that's kind of
the beauty of you know. Mark Pope said that about
the exhibition games they play this year at Purdue. He said, said,
if we were to somehow go in there and beat
Purdue by thirty, he said, I would be like, what
just happened? He said. We're looking at Purdue as a
marker where we want to be, right, that's a team
we want to measure up against before we start playing
games because we want to know more about ourselves. We
(23:51):
want to see what we are and that's so valuable.
And we saw Kentucky baseball just had a really exciting
scrimmage against West Virginia. You know, everyone who saw that.
Both teams look really really good. That was a good
test for both of those and the football teams left
playing itself over and over again.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
You know.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
And I've heard Chris Doring on the SEC network talk
about He's talked about this on my show locally on
the SEC Network. He is so against playing against a
one double a team or whatever.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
You know. The East snoware state games.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Of course, he played at the highest of highs when
it comes to Florida history, the Spurrior glory days when
they were killing everybody. But he was saying, let's play
those games in the spring. I said, you know, an
Eku needs that money, and he said, well, let's play
them in the spring. And in theory, that's great, because Jeff,
that would accomplish what you were hoping for, and that
(24:42):
would accomplish what Doring is hoping for. But on the
other hand, there are coaches across the country don't even
know what their teams are in the spring because they're
still putting it together via the portal.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
So I don't know if that's the answer.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
You know, I mean sure, but is that all That's
significantly different than it's a numbers. There's players in baseball
who play in some of these scrimmagesn't go on to
transfer men's soccer had that happen too, I mean the
soccer team.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
There's not the attrition in those games that there isn't football.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
No. I just mean in terms of not knowing what
your team is. I've seen players I remember I was
covering a men's soccer exhibition as a freshman, and I was,
I wrote a whole long piece about how good this
player looked, and then time for the season starts. He
transferred to Xavier. I was like, well, all right, that's great.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Yeah, yeah, but you know, and I get what you're saying,
but it's one guy on a soccer team. I'm just
thinking of the attrition that happens in football and what
you try to accomplish in the spring. And I'm not
saying it wouldn't be I love Jeff's idea going to scrimmage.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Yeah, somebody go down the road scrimmage a Louisville. I
agree that that works. Anyway.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Getting back to the basketball Wildcats, you know this team,
Jeff has more than just a couple of big days.
You know Mari Williams. Last year they had Brandon Garrison,
but now you know Malachai Moreno, we saw him in
the sweet sixteen when acquaintance is healthy.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
The kid from Croatia.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
I was, I had read about him, but he's a
good six' ten with broad.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
SHOULDERS i mean he can be a.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
Banger, yeah and cleared by THE inca, now so that's
a big. Thing pope talked about how it took a
little bit for him to get adjusted once he got over,
here but that he's made a lot of. Strides he looks,
good and more, importantly it's not a big z. Situation
he's going to be good to go is. Now so
you have another piece to your puzzle. Already.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
YEAH i asked Him jeff today about.
Speaker 10 (26:29):
It i'm just gonna say he told us when you,
know we all interviewed all these guys for people out
there that are wondering at different. Times so he says
different things to each of. Us but we brought it
up about him and how thankfully he, was and he,
goes it was never a thing of me getting in
(26:49):
or not BECAUSE i had the grades and the school
and all. That he, Said it was more on how
many years were they going to give. Me was it
going to be three or four? Years and he, goes
that's what took so, Long AND i was. Okay so
he's list he's listed as a. Freshman, yeah SO i
guess he'll be a soft three. Years he has three
years left to, Play.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Okay, well LIKE i, said on the, ROSTER i saw
he listed as a. Freshman but if he's if he's that,
good he's going to be going, anyway right, Right so, yeah,
Yeah BUT i asked him about the fact, that And,
Jeff i'm sure you played with guys who got, homesick you,
know being recruited far from. Home oh, YEAH i knew
(27:29):
kids WHEN i was in, college And i'm From, louisville
as you.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
Know BUT i went, home you, know For thanksgiving And.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Christmas didn't have a car for one, reason but could
have hooked a, ride could have jumped on A. Greyhound
BUT i, thought, oh this is this is WHERE i.
Am but there were kids in my dorm and could
not wait to just. You they were so homesick to
get home To louisville Or richmond or wherever they were.
From and now you've got a kid who's five thousand
(27:55):
miles from home FROM croi share whatever it. Is you
had a kid on this team a while back From New.
Zealand you can't get much farther, away you.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
Know unless you're in Communist. China uh, That.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Jeff that always amazes me when athletes come so far
to Play american, sports you know WHAT i. Mean and
you've got kids on The kentucky football team From australia
doing the same, thing, Right.
Speaker 10 (28:20):
Well, dick you know the one thing back when you
AND i And, cole, sorry back in the good old
days When dick And Iran, college we had what they called,
sponsors and this was these were for most of the,
time it was for the out of state players and
they could go over to that person's house right on the,
weekends you, know for get a home cooked meal type of.
(28:41):
THING i, remember my uncle is is Part slavic and
and lived In, Columbus ohio and was the head of
one of the big, Churches slavic churches up, there And
Ohio state was recruiting a kid that was from the
same area that that he was From, ryuzgoslavia the area,
(29:04):
there and he became He's he went with the coaches
because he spoke the language to the, airport brought the kid.
In he ends up coming To Ohio state and uh
and stayed there for four years and became a great
friend of my. Uncle AND i thought that was a
really cool. Story but that's kind of to your, Point.
Dick what these teams and people try to do is you,
(29:27):
KNOW i always said this about baseball. Players could you
imagine being a guy like when a rolled as Chapman
or is one of these guys who came From cuba and.
Stuff you're. Stuck you're sent To, america don't know the,
language don't know the, rules don't know the, money don't
know how to order them off a, menu and they,
say here's a million, dollars good, luck you.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
Know and what some of those guys had to do
to get.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Here some of the stories about how those guys had
to sneak out of their country and those guys From
cuba can't go, back you, know and what are they
going to see their families.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Against that's a great.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Point and then again you've got how many guys From
japan And korea.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Plans SO i just find it.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Fascinating all, right when we come, back we're gonna shift
gears With Jeff piicoro And Cole.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Park go back to.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Football Give jeff's comments and observations about The wildcats And
georgia here in the open, week but upcoming the two,
teas The Terrible Teas tennessee And. Texas that's all ahead
here on the state WIDE bbi From pikeville, Too, padukay
(30:33):
it is the big Lew. Insider Cole park at A
Cat's boss here in the studio with. Us Jeff pickory
THE Uk Sports network is on the line with, us
and of Course jeff worked the game With Tom leach
and there was truly down At. Georgia we were talking,
Earlier jeff about the fact, that, Look georgia is just
better Than kentucky was favored to win by basically three,
touchdowns did win by three. Touchdowns not a lot to.
(30:56):
Like a few things to, like but it's hard to
pick out other THAN i think the fact That Cutter
bowley had there was a better offensive plan for. Him you,
know was there any progress made? Now that was important
That bully was finally given a, play a sheet of
plays where he wouldn't have to stand in there and get. Killed,
(31:16):
Right but it's hard to find anything else to really
like about that, game, Now.
Speaker 10 (31:22):
You're exactly, RIGHT i really, well you look at what he.
Did you look at what he did two weeks, ago
and he completed twelve passes in that game for two
hundred and forty. Yards, Right so he's going down the.
Field this week he completes twice as many, Passes SO
i think he's he's, learning he's getting the ball out.
Quicker he had twenty, whatever it was twenty four to
(31:44):
twenty five completions for like two hundred and thirty yards
something like. That BUT i just like they were getting
the ball out of his, hands, quicker he was getting
to the, receivers, quicker he knew where he was going
with the ball at the. SNAP i JUST i saw
a lot of improvement from The South carolina game to
The georgia.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Game we talked preseason about the, fact AND i use
the words intriguing about the wide receiver room BECAUSE i
had no idea if the wide receiver room could be
better Minus Dame, key Minus barry And. Brown but it
has underwhelmed, us has it? Not but you know is
that Because cutter wasn't given enough opportunity to find these.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Guys that's your. Position you're up essentially watching The all
twenty two video as an unfolds live before your very.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Eyes what should we think of the wide receivers now
that we've seen this new wrinkle added to The kentucky.
Speaker 10 (32:38):
Offense, well the one thing that we saw every practice
that we went to And i'm talking about me And
tom when we went to, practices was twenty two and
nineteen two freshmen that were making play after play after
Play cam And quisenberry every practice we'd walk away up
(33:00):
said did you see the catch he? Made or did
you see he got behind the? Defense and, uh you
know for a long. Touchdown AND i think that Coach
doubps was waiting and waiting and waiting for these guys
And i'm not going to name, names but for some
of these guys to step forward and they just have.
It silato has been you, know he's been banged up a,
(33:21):
lot but you, know we just haven't seen much from
from the other. Guys farrier hasn't really done. Much macclin
hasn't really done. Much they're having trouble getting off the
line of. Scrimmage, uh you, know they're getting they're getting
physical at the line of scrimmage and not and not being.
Able they're getting knocked off their. Routes they're not running hard.
(33:44):
Routes you, know on a on a couple of bad,
passes they've allowed the defensive backs to determine where they're.
Going and that can't, happen especially on a quick. Flint
you've got to get whatever it takes. Inside you've got
to get inside of that defender so you can be
between him and the. Ball that's where an interception came
(34:04):
from because of one of those plays a couple of weeks.
Ago So i'm just not seeing enough out of these,
guys and SO i Think Mark steus finally, said, LOOK
i don't give a darn who it is if they
can catch get him in. There you, know here's the thing,
too you just said it about basketball. Book you guys know.
This it's pretty improbable that a guy stays four years
(34:24):
at a place nowadays unless they're a. Star you, know
is twenty two and nineteen going to be here in four? Years?
Heck Is Mark stoop's going to be here in four?
Years you got to win, now don't worry about next
year or two years or three years down the. Road
and if this guy gives me an opportunity to, Win
i'm playing.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
It, yeah, absolutely And i'll try to be quick. Here
jeff speaking of not quite a wide. Receiver but when
it comes to, receiving there's a lot of controversial, officiating
shall we, say in this. CONTEST i think even FORMER
uk Coach Rich brooks call it out on social media
how bad it. Was but one play in particular that sticks.
Out Willie, rodriguez final driver of the first. Half big,
(35:05):
Play big play when a thirteen yard game he set
at first in, goal uh, catches the ball seems to
go out of bounds and then the ball comes. Out
they end up ruling that an incomplete. PASS i was
told you got some information on.
Speaker 10 (35:17):
That, yeah you. Know look When Jesse Palmer hits played the, game,
right he was a quarterback in the. Sec he's doing the.
Game he said it was a. Catch they go to
the rules official that they have on with them and they,
say what do you think about? That AND i don't
know who it, was you, know bet Old, bill what
(35:37):
do you think about? That he, said that is a.
Catch he caught the, ball he had two feet. In
he hit the ground out of bounce, part so he's
already established himself in bounced and hits the ground out of,
bounce then the ball comes. Out that's a completed. Pass
and they ruled. It, no it. Wasn't so if you're
(35:59):
telling me the official who's supervising all these, guys or
one of the supervising, guys if Jeans territor says it's
a completed pass and you guys overturn, it that's not, right.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Yeah and you know that's not Why kentucky, loss but
it made it that much more difficult On kentucky to be, competitive,
right just like last year when they had a pick
six taken.
Speaker 10 (36:21):
Away you only get so many chances in a. Game
you're right That i'll die on that. Hill show me
where that ball touches the. Ground last year that was a.
Touchdown it was called a touchdown on the, Field it
was ruled a touchdown at the. Stadium and then some
guy In birmingham, says you know, what.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
It can't Be, well it touched the ground as he
was catching, it which can happen as long as you've
got your hands just. Throwing you. Know you, Go, well
the thing, is we've made it confusing last year and
we're drudging it up.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
Again they marked the ball at that. Spot they didn't
call it an incomplete.
Speaker 2 (36:59):
Pass, anyway it will go nuts talking about And jeff
bro thank. You we'll talk to you, Soon, hi, Buddy,
footbaul basketball. Overlap it's a good time to be a sports.
Fan there's also baseball, playoffs hockey's. Begun, hey why? Not
we didn't talk about those two? Tonight maybe next.
Speaker 4 (37:16):
WEEK i don't want to talk about anything baseball My red, Sox.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Oh that's, true that's. True all right For Bo, robinson that's.
It Good night From, lexington
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