2025-10-28 BBI

Dodgers beat the Blue Jays in 18 innings and I stayed up for the whole thing; (10:00) Mark Stoops on Auburn; (19:00) Jon Hale of the HL on the state of UK football; (39:00) more from Stoops on how his team is still battling; (50:00) UK radio voice Darren Headrick on baseball and women's basketball; (1:09:00) EKU's Walt Wells on the Colonels' upcoming trip to Central Arkansas and a hot-headed tennis player needs a hug

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
A five out, A simple keel car show's going down.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
And that is how it ended last night's, or should
I say earlier, this morning's Major League Baseball playoff game
the World Series Game three in Los Angeles, with the
Dodgers finally outlasting the Blue Jays thanks to Freddie Freeman's
home run. Hi, everybody, welcome to the Big Blue. Insider

(00:39):
Dick gabro with you. I'm a little bleary. I stayed up.
Usually I don't, not because I'm of a certain age,
just because if I'm not that interested in a game.
And look, I like the Dodgers, I like the Blue Jays.
They are neither one of them is one of my teams.
I'm a Cardinals guy and the Reds, but this one

(01:00):
just grabbed me. I mean, there's a lot of star power.
The Blue Jays are an underdog, but not the kind
of underdog where you didn't think they had a shot.
And sure enough they won. They split the first two games,
and then it looked like they had the Dodgers beaten.
They had that lead five tofore and then Shohai Otani

(01:21):
came up and hit his second home run of the night.
That's Joe Davis of Fox Sports along with John Smoltz.
They did a great job calling the game during extras.

(01:44):
One of the Dodgers, I can't remember who hit a
fly ball. I think it was Will Smith, the kid
from U of L. He's not a kid, he's a guy,
and he thought it was out. He started. It looked
like a home run flip, but it was just an
out the deep center field. So from that point going on,
even though the crowd went nuts, every time there was
a deep fly ball at Dodger Stadium, he had to weigh.

(02:06):
Joe Davis had to wait to make sure it was out,
and he certainly made sure Freddy Freeman's ball was out
of the ballpark when he called it. That tie the
game sent it into extras. Otani homer twice, doubled twice.
It was the first four extra base hit series game
since nineteen o six. Atani walked five times, four of

(02:29):
them intentionally, three times with nobody on base, tied the
record of reaching base nine times, stayed in the game
even after he had a leg cramp while he was
caught stealing in the ninth inning. It's an incredible, incredible
set of numbers. Six hundred and nine pitches six hours,

(02:49):
thirty nine minutes. This game ended at two thirty nine
Eastern time. Now, that was eleven thirty nine in Los Angeles.
Forty four players, nineteen pitchers. The Dodgers had sixteen. It's
the Blue Jay said fifteen. It was a ten inning
double shutout at one point, no runs between innings eight

(03:13):
through seventeen. Dodgers two for fourteen with runners in the
scoring position, stranded eighteen runners. Toronto two for twelve with
runners in scoring position, nineteen left on base. And it
looked as though Toronto was going to take the lead
in the tenth inning, but the Dodgers made a big

(03:33):
defensive play throwing out the go ahead run at the plate.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
Sch Nandos.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
Tascar Hernandez field of the ball, fired it to Tommy Edmund,
the second baseman, who threw Schneider at the plate, and
Edmund already had made a tremendous play off a deflected
ball into short right field and threw a runner out
at third base. It was a great, great baseball game.
And I know we don't talk a lot of baseball here.

(04:15):
People have lost a lot of interest in baseball, but
this was incredible. And by the way, this was seven
years to the day since the Dodgers beat the Red
Sox in eighteen innings. So there's some history for you.
And speaking of history, they kept showing Sandy Kofax, three
time World Series champion. He'll be ninety in two months.

(04:37):
He stayed to the end of the game and in
fact went into the Dodger clubhouse to congratulate the Dodgers.
This is a guy who won three cy Young Awards
and retired way too soon, but his arm was a mess,
and now he is an icon in Los Angeles as well.
He should be incredible game. You can read about it
if you haven't already on the interweb. And now the

(05:00):
with a two to one lead. Much more going on
though in the world of sports. As you might know,
the Wildcats. We'll talk some football tonight with John Hale
of the Herald Leader. He's coming up at the bottom
of the hour of the Cats taking on those Auburn
Tigers seven thirty kicktime. We'll be on there at five
thirty from the planes Watchally Christy and Ricky and Logan.

(05:20):
We'll be back here anchoring pregame coverage. Tom Jeff and
I will have a call down on the planes last
time we were down there to work a game was
COVID year. That was the first game we did. Remember
when they delayed the start of the SEC season, we
weren't sure if we had football, and the SEC did
the prudent thing. Greg sank waited and waited to see

(05:44):
how things were going to shake out. Some conferences canceled football.
The SEC waited until deep in September, and now it
was strictly conference games. Why because the league had control
over the game sites. And I will never forget. I
have a special pass to get down on the field
as the sidelines reporter. Not just the usual credential I had,

(06:08):
but a special pass like a COVID pass, clearing it
for me to be down there. And I had to
wait for Not that anybody cares about my trials and
tribulation would not big a deal, but I had to
wait for a specific security person to come sign off
on my two credentials and to make sure I had
a mask on. And I will tell you this, there

(06:29):
were protocols in place. Of course, back then you remember
social distancing and all that. Auburn all but ignored it.
You might not have even known that there were protocols
in place, the way the crowd lined up and crushed
in for that game, especially the student body. By comparison,

(06:50):
we covered a game at Alabama later that year, and
you would have thought that Nick Saban was in charge
of security. They were so well spread out at Auburn enough,
I mean at Alabama, And sure enough, Auburn reported after
that game all sorts of problems with additional COVID cases
down there on the planes. What I remember most about

(07:11):
that game Kentucky lost the game, and Chris Rodriguez early
in the contest scored a touchdown, got into the end zone.
You might recall seeing this and hearing it, and Kentucky
wasn't credited with the score, and eventually it was turned
away empty handed. They kind of set the tone for
that game. So anyhow, Wildcats and Auburn seven point thirty.

(07:35):
And we'll hear from a little bit from Mark Stoops
later on in the show, and as I said, we'll
hear from John Hale as well. Basketball Cats returned to
action on Thursday against Georgetown University. That's a seven o'clock
tip at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center Downtown. It'll
be on SEC Plus. We'll have it for you right

(07:55):
here on six thirty WLAP starting at five thirty and
Jack with a call of the Cats and the Hoyas,
and then the Cats start for real, believe it or not,
one week from tonight at the BBN United tip Off
Classic Nichols State. I think it's just Nichols is the

(08:17):
school coming in. That's a seven o'clock start on SEC
Plus and again we'll have it for you right here
at five thirty. Then there's a Friday game against Valpo,
so the Wildcats the UK men get started next week.
The UK women actually start on Monday at six thirty pm,
and again that'll be on SEC Plus. We'll have that

(08:40):
one for you with Darren Hedrick at six fifteen Monday.
Now Darre's going to join us a little bit later
in the show to talk Kentucky baseball and UK women's basketball.
The baseball Wildcats wrapped up fall workouts with their final
scrimmage that came against Morehead State on Sunday. When we
come back, we'll talk about more Wildcats and we'll hear

(09:00):
from John Hale of the Herrow Leader. Also Craig Skinner
his volleyball Wildcats with a huge weekend coming up Friday night,
they take on Vanderbilt and Andy, playing its first season of
women's volleyball since nineteen eighty under head coach Anders Nelson,
longtime Kentucky assistant, hired a way to build the program
at Vandy. That's Friday, But then on Sunday, the Wildcats

(09:22):
hit the road and travel to Austin. Very likely two
undefeated teams. Cats rank number three in the country, Texas
rank number two. They square off at one o'clock on
ESPN for the league lead in the Southeastern Conference is
Kentucky tries to secure its ninth consecutive SEC championship. More

(09:43):
to come on the Big bluon Sider six thirty WAAP.
Welcome back to the Big bluon Sider. Coming up in
a couple of minutes, John Hale will look ahead to
Kentucky Auburn and look at the Kentucky football situation overall
as it relates to college football in one of the
weirdest seasons you've ever seen in terms of coaches coming
and going. But Mark Stoops says, one thing on his

(10:06):
mind right now, Well, you've got to think he has
a lot of things on his mind. But in terms
of his team, he's just got to get ready for Auburn.
He's got to get ready for this road trip. Got
to figure out a way to improve on what the
Wildcats have been doing offensively and try to figure some
things out defensively, which is the side of the ball
that was so good early in the year, but now

(10:28):
injury is beginning to pile up, especially in the defensive secondary.
But it's next man up against the Tigers team that,
as we said earlier, beat Arkansaw but took advantage of
four razorback turnovers in the fourth quarter. It looked like
Arkansas had control of the game. Then the Hogs started

(10:48):
to turn things over and Auburn took full advantage. And
it's an Auburn team, as Stoops pointed out at his
news conference, that can hurt you in a lot of
different ways.

Speaker 4 (10:59):
There what four and four and their losses have been
very close, a couple very difficult losses for them, So
they're very close to being, you know, a very very
good football team as far as the record goes, but
very big, very physical, very well coached team.

Speaker 2 (11:19):
Seven thirty kickoff down on the planes. We'll have it
for you right here with pregames starting at five thirty
and we'll talk more Kentucky football coming up in hour
number two. Well, also here from Walt Wells and the
EKU Colonels. They had a tough one over the weekend.
They saw their home field winning streak snapped at Roy
Kidds Stadium, losing to Tarleton State. Yeah, that's right, the

(11:39):
same place where Billy Gillespie coaches basketball. Now. So the
Colonels likewise, on the road this weekend. They go to
Central Arkansas to try to turn things around. But it
was a tough one at home for Walt Wells and
the Colonels. More on them coming up. As I said
in our number two, Vanderbilt is on the agenda for

(12:00):
the Kentucky volleyball Wildcats coming up Friday. Then it's the
top ranked or second ractors should say Texas Longhorns and
more awards coming in for the volleyball Cats. Cassie O'Brien
SEC Player of the Week, not just the Freshman of
the week, but the overall player of the week. She
had been Freshman of the Week for four straight weeks.

(12:20):
Also the Setter of the Week, and Brooklyn Delay the
outside hitter, the All American named the SEC's Offensive Player
of the Week. O'Brien had fifty assists in just a
three set match at Alabama that broke the school record
for most assists by a single player and a three
set match. This is a team Kentucky which has had

(12:42):
so many great setters, including Madison Lily, who held the
record up until O'Brien broke it. She's on the coaching
staff now. Lily had forty eight in a three set
win over Dayton. Madison Lily was the NCAA Player of
the Year as a setter. That's how good she was.
And Cassie O'Brien broke her record. And again, Alabama is

(13:05):
not one of the better teams in the SEC. But
what that means is Kentucky did what it should have
done against the Crimson Tide down there in Tuscaloosa and
swept so Brooklyn Delay got her eighth and ninth straight
double figure kill matches on the season over the weekend.
I said it at the beginning of the year and

(13:26):
I'll keep saying it as long as the Wildcats remain healthy.
This is a team that could win the national Championship.
It's got to beat Texas and everybody else to win
the SEC title, no doubt. It's gonna be interesting to
see what happens in the SEC tournament coming up at
the end of the season, but it's gonna be amazing

(13:48):
once it gets into postseason play, into the NCA Tournament.
Very likely Kentucky will be hosting here at historic Memorial Coliseum.
If you haven't seen him yet, get out and see
him person. I know they're all over the TV. They'll
be on SEC Plus. Maggie Davis will step in for
me on Friday night as I will be down at Auburn.
She and Leah Edmund will have the action on SEC

(14:11):
Plus as the Wildcatchs take on Vanderbilt and on Texas
Day on Sunday. That game is going to be on
ESPN over on the other side of campus. UK goalkeeper
Megan Holland of UK Women's Soccer SEC Defensive Player of
the Week. She was big in a three zhering win
at Texas A and M in the regular season finale

(14:33):
on Sunday. That was her first career shutout against the Aggies,
tied her career high in saves in the process. This
was just her sixth start of the year. She made
four saves for the second straight match. She has not
a lot of goal from the run of play excluding
penalties in her last two hundred and thirty minutes of action.

(14:53):
She as I said, a freshman starting just her sixth match.
So UK women's soccer racking up a big award guts
out of the week off than they had for Pensacola, Florida.
For the first round of the SEC tournament that happens
this Sunday, November the second, they will take on as

(15:13):
the number six seed eleven seeded Florida. That will come
up at three o'clock on the SEC Network. A couple
of notes from the NBA. The Houston Rocket has destroyed
the Brooklyn Nets last night one thirty seven to one
oh nine. Reed Sheppard had a good game. He's been
struggling a bit early, but in twenty four minutes fifteen points,
eight assists and four rebounds, trying to earn his way

(15:37):
as a second year point guard, kind of a combo
guard for the Houston Rockets. One other notete. Couple of
other notes, I should say Tyrese Maxi the X Wildcat.
The seventy six ers are getting it done right now.
They are off to a three and oh start they
beat Orlando last night one thirty six, one twenty four,
Tyrese Maxi had forty three points and eight assists. Remember

(16:03):
Maxie was on the COVID team, the team that did
not get a chance to compete in the NCAA tournament.
They had Emmanuel Quickly and Nick Richards competing for sec
player here. Remember that Nick or quick Who's it going
to be? When Maxi was actually the best of the
bunch and didn't get to play in the tournament, nobody
did and Caliperi remembers said we would have won it,

(16:26):
and that sounded like brave talk. But when you go
back and look at that season, look at that team,
they they definitely believe would have been a Final four team.
One other NBA note, Michael Jordan rookie card autographed sold
for two point seven million dollars in a private sale.
That's the Fleer Michael Jordan card new record for the

(16:47):
all time highest price ever paid for a trading card
with an after market signature. Wow. John Hale of The
Herald Leader next on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're
joining now by John Hale of The Hero Leader covers
the football Wildcats and it's been a tough year. We
sat through the Marks Troops news conference Monday, John, and

(17:12):
he's a guy who's you know, whistling past the graveyard
very likely, but tries to stay upbeat. I thought he
did a pretty good job. What do you think?

Speaker 5 (17:23):
Yeah, it was it was fine. I mean I think he,
you know, hit the notes of a guy who is
still has some hope that they can turn this around
the season and win some games that don't but he
clearly expects him to it. It was just awkward in tone.
I mean, obviously we're not going to ask him every
question is not going to be about are you coming
back or getting fired and that stuff, But it did

(17:45):
feel like at some points, both from us asking and
him answering, there was almost this tone of like, why
are we talking about the future. Why are we talking
about this young guy who's going to develop when we
don't even know what's going to happen in two weeks
or whatever. So it's an awkward moment for sure, But
I do think, you know, he's a guy that the
only option he has right now is the focus on

(18:08):
the game plan this week for Auburn and kind of
build around what Hutter Bowl he's doing with his improvements
some of the other young guys that are playing, and
hope that those potsive strides, you know, translate the wins.

Speaker 2 (18:18):
Before we talk about Kentucky, Auburn and some obvious other
obvious topics, but the most obvious topic is what's going
on in college football right now. You've covered this sport
for quite a while, you've watched it as a fan
for quite a while. It's never been like this, with
so many coaches at high profile jobs being fired mid season.

(18:40):
You know, Mike Gundy fired after three games, James Franklin
early in the season. What do you make of this?

Speaker 5 (18:47):
Yeah, I mean, it's it's amazing to watch to see
how much change has happened, especially because a year ago
there was so little change and the narrative was, oh,
with this revenue sharing and schools have to find an
additional twenty and a half million dollars. Now they're going
to be much more conservative than they're coaching decisions, and
they're not going to pay these massive buyouts to fire coaches,
and they're going to negotiate better coaching contracts or more

(19:09):
school friendly ones moving forward. And now everybody's all these
people are finding their coaches mid season, and because of
the demand that's going to be out there for the
best candidates and the guys who are going to get
raises to stay at their current schools. Like it certainly
doesn't think that coaching spending is going to be going
down this winter, and so anybody who thought that the
landscape was changing because of revenue sharing, it doesn't seem

(19:30):
like that's happening now. It seems worse than ever. And
I think a lot of it probably has to do
with the expanded playoffs and more access and school You know,
everybody has hope to get there, and when you're not,
when you're falling short, especially at some of these powerhouse programs,
you know, the grass is always greener for some people.
I do think that in relation locally to Mark Stoop's situation,
the fact that all these mid season firings have happened,

(19:53):
are certainly increasing the pressure because like Barnard's the guy
who makes moves hastily. Ever, like even when he fired
Joker Phillips, it was with two games left and the
season was essentially over, and it was after eleven thousand
people showed up for that Vanderbilt game, So like the
season was basically done then, but because every Sunday some
other high profile coach seems to get fired, it does

(20:13):
leave the camp that wants Mark stoops out to say,
why can't Kentuck you do that too? I'm not I
still don't really see the benefit of doing that. I
but maybe maybe there is who.

Speaker 2 (20:23):
What might that be?

Speaker 5 (20:25):
Yeah, I mean, I guess the argument is that you
get ahead start on your coaching search and you can
do some vetting of candidates and stuff. But like all
these agents and coaches know what jobs are probably going
to be open, and like just take you know, the
elephant in the room with John Somerral and Kentucky. John
Somerral is not going to take the Kentucky job because
it opens on October twenty eighth, and if he thinks

(20:48):
that Auburn or LSU or Ole Miss if Lane Kiffen
Leaves are interested in him, Like, he's not going to
jump the gun just because of when it opened. Like
he's going to like make the best decision for him
in his career. And so I mean, I guess that.
I mean, there's always the argument that it helps you know,
the fan base and morale and ticket sales, like those
tickets are sold, Like nobody's going to go out and

(21:09):
buy extra tickets to the Florida or Tennessee Tech games
because there's a new coach, Like that's not gonna happen.
Those are the titments is going to be what it
is right now. So the financial hit, whatever that is,
is already happened like that. Maybe going into next year, certainly,
I can you can bring in the financial argument if
it's going to hurt my I'm fully willing to hear that.
I just don't. I just don't see that bet if
they're doing it right now, other than just to get

(21:30):
people to stop being so negative. But I think that's
it's going to be the case anyway.

Speaker 2 (21:35):
Yeah, And I think you hit it right with especially
with a guy like John Simraw. He's not going to
run out on his team. It's been known to happen
by other coaches. Bobby Patrino is one of them. We
told his ad, you know, the night before a ballgame,
I'm your man, and then the next thing you know,
he was leaving. So you can't take anything for granted,
can you.

Speaker 5 (21:56):
Yeah? I mean, and those coaches, even the ones who
are going to stick with the third teams obviously the
one the playoff attention, like Tulane or you know, South
Florida or some of these other group of five schools
who are in contention for that final playoffs, but are
like they're going to have the conversations behind the scenes,
but they're going to stay coaching until the last possible minute.
I mean, like, if it turns out whichever of those

(22:16):
teams don't make the playoffs, sure those those coaches are
probab gonna leave before the vote game, but like they're
going to stay invested there and that's going to be
their number one go Like, you're not gonna it's not
gonna be a situation where you hire a head coach
who's in the playoff and he's going to be like
coaching that team and building a staff here. That's not
going to happen like that. They can't devote that kind
of attention until their season is over. So like the

(22:38):
timing of this is all is all going to be
awkward for various various reasons. And I mean other than
just to make people happy like that want Mark Stoops out.
I just don't see the benefit of doing it right now.
And the other part is like, even if you do
want him out, because of the way his buyout is
structured with the lump some payment within sixty days and
all of that, Like, the best case scenario is still

(22:59):
for conduckt even if everyone agrees Mark Stukes, the administration,
the fans that change might be for the best, But
the best hope is that they win some games down
the stretch and he finds a John Caliperry esque like
soft landings Maas somewhere else and like gets another job,
and then you're kind of out of this and so
like that's what you should be rooting for, like root
from the beat Auburn and Florida and you know, upset

(23:20):
somebody else and get to six wins and say like, okay,
well maybe he could be a legitimate candidate or Virginia
Tech or somewhere else. Yeah, and then it ends that way,
like that possibility certainly for the administration facing the decision
about how much money this is going to cost, Like
that part can't be dismissed.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
Yeah, And in this day and age where revenue streams
are so vital, even more vital than they've ever been
for obvious reasons, I do recall I had a conversation
with Mitt Barnard many many years ago, but he said,
people don't understand how expensive it is to fire a coach,
and he wasn't specifically talking about any particular coach, but

(23:58):
you know, you got to obviously pay off the head coach,
you got to pay off some assistance. Then you've got
to turn around and start negotiating contracts with a new
guy coming in. So it's not easy, is it.

Speaker 5 (24:09):
No, And like the other part is like if they
do fire him, or if they reach some sort of
negotiated settlement for less than the full thirty eight million dollars,
like that money is mostly going to be funded by
private donors, like the boosters who want this to happen
and are willing to make it happen. It's not going
to come from their general budget. But even that is
a problem because then you're saying, Okay, let's raise thirty

(24:30):
eight million or twenty five million or whatever the number
ended up being from our boosters and to get this done.
But then you're going to have to hire a new
coach who's going to have to filled out, like build
out a roster for the next team, and you're going
to come back to those same people and say, well,
can you give us some more money so exact file builders,
so we can come up with this or we can
do these other things, and like that part of it,
like especially the program of Kentucky. The money's just not

(24:51):
endless and so like it's not And this is the
athletic department that's taking out one hundred and forty one
million dollars in internal loans from the academic side of
the university. So even if the buyout is funded privately,
the optics are terrible. Like everyone on your academic side
is worried about cuts from the federal government right now
and medicaid cuts, what that's going to do to the
hospital and how that's going to trickle down to the

(25:13):
rest of the university. And then you're paying your all
time winning this coach thirty eight million dollars to go
somewhere else. Like that, the optics are not good. And
that's something they have to consider whether no matter how
many people who only care about football want are gone.

Speaker 2 (25:26):
Yeah, and you can say, well they've got the money,
Well yeah, they've got money. Not the money, but money,
But you know, you got how many other sports to
worry about. Sure, you can throw a big chunk of
money at a coach who's departing, but now you're not
giving that money to basketball, to all the other sports.
So yeah, it's it's it's just an untenable position. But

(25:49):
that's what happens when you sign coaches to fat contracts
like that. He is John Halo, the Harrow Leader. We'll
come back and talk specifics with the football Wildcats on
the other side of the break here on six thirty
WLAP Welcome back. We're talking with John Halo, the Hero
Leader covers the football Wildcats who head for Auburn this weekend.
And Auburn was a winless SEC team until Arkansas started

(26:12):
ringing up turnovers in the fourth quarter. The Hogs turned
it over four times against Auburn and the Tigers took
advantage in Fayetteville. This is not a super good Auburn team, John,
but it's one that's now feeling better about itself, isn't it.

Speaker 5 (26:28):
Yeah. I think it's all about vibes this week, like,
because I think Kentucky's good enough to beat Auburn. Think
they could not to be forda next week, certainly with
a team of an interim coach, But like it's just
a question of you know, coming off that Texas game
and how well they played there, I legitimately thought that
they were going to have five wins going into the
Louisville game with a chance for Paul elgible in that
last week, and you know, probably not getting it against Loisvill,

(26:49):
but at least have that opportunity. But then you come
out and play frankly, so badly against Tennessee to where
it was not really competitive, even though the offense looked
much better, Like the game was never in doubt for
like the second quarter and so like, is that a
sign that the players that heartbreaking lost against Texas was
the final straw and we're going to see them start
letting go of the rope? I asked Mark Day yesterday

(27:09):
and he said, no, that's not the case. But that's
certainly a worry. And coming off that performance against his
you can't feel great about Kentucky's mentality in their mind
frame with juries filing up coming into Auburn. So maybe
Auburn winning last week in Kentucky taking the boy out lost,
maybe that's enough to just continue both teams on that
same trajectory. It's going to be fascinating to watch. It
probably is a good opportunity to go for Kentucky to

(27:32):
get on the road and get away from home a
little bit. We know they've struggled at home for three years. Basically,
there's obviously a ton of negativity around the program. If
you play at home this weekend and you get down
ten nothing in the first quarter, like the booze are
going to be everywhere. So maybe maybe it's fine to
kind of circle the wagons and go away this weekend.
We'll see if that helps him or not.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
Yeah, and you wonder how that will affect the young
guys who are getting more and more playing time. You know,
I'm sure obviously they're going to be excited about playing.
They'll take the accused from the older guys though, And
it's going to be tough on these veterans to keep
bringing the energy, isn't it.

Speaker 5 (28:06):
Yeah, it is. And it's it's also a weird situation because, like,
let's be honest, so many of these half the roster
was not on the team last year. So it's not
like they've got a bunch of guys. They have some,
but not the majority who have been here for three
or four years, and are you know, kind of living
and dying with every you know, twist and turn of
the program. Like a lot of these guys, certainly all

(28:27):
the grad transfers who got here with one else ability left,
who wanted this to go better and wanted to go
out on the high note. But you know, there's probably
a lot of individual things at stake in terms of
can you prove yourself to NFL scouts, can those young
guys carve out roles for the future, whether that the
Kentucky or somewhere else in this transfer portal era, Like,
there's plenty of individual to things to to play for,

(28:48):
but you know that's not going to help you get wins.
Like if everybody's out for themselves and their individual thing,
that's a bad spot to be. And so you've got
to make sure that those leaders, those veteran guys are
keeping the team orient and goals first.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
Mark Stuops has mentioned every chance he gets that he
thinks his team is better than it was last year,
and I agree with him. I mean, sadly the results
aren't speaking for themselves. But where do you think this
team lacks right now? I know that's a broad question,
but what do you see.

Speaker 5 (29:18):
I think it's still depth. I think that's the biggest issue.
Like we've seen two years in a row now where
you lose a starting cornerback and it basically just decimates
your entire defensive game plan when you're playing a spread
offense like Tennessee, Like it should not be that way.
Like think about like Stoop's best teams when the secondary
is really good in twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, those years,
like they had four or five corners that they were

(29:39):
confident playing in games. And now last year at Maxville
Harrison and this year with Dj Waller, like losing one
guy appears to like you just can't cover Tennessee. Like
that's a bad spot. Like we saw down the stretch
last year when their injuries on defense try to pile up,
like it was just so much harder for them to play,
and we don't really see like other than the defensive line,
it's like, I don't know that there are many backups
on that that you feel good about being in the

(30:01):
game right now. That's a hard spot to be at
in the second half of of an SEC season. On offense,
I mean they're making some progress, Like I think a
lot of last week's Probably the Tennessee's defense is not
very good, and so we'll see if that can hold
up against somebody else. But they've changed what they do schematically. Obviously,
Cutter Bowley is getting better week by week. They've got
these young receivers who are stepping up. We know the
tight ends are good, the offensive line improved. Seth McGowan's

(30:23):
like a real star at running back, so like they've
got pieces there. It just seems like it's taken way
too long to figure out how to use them all.
And part of that's the quarterback. Obviously, the cutter wasn't
even starting at the beginning of the year, and then
when he did start, he was looking like a red
shirt freshman out there. But maybe his progress is enough
to move that ahead. It just doesn't seem like, you know,

(30:45):
we need to see them do that. You know what
they did last week, score more than two touchdowns against
another defense, Like if they can do against Opera, who's
got a good defense, like then you get some real
hope that, Okay, this offense is improvement is legitimate.

Speaker 2 (30:58):
Yeah, And by the way, I was talking to so
many about this just the other day. You know, why
did it take him so long to figure out Cutter Bowlie,
I got to tell you. And in the limited time
we got to see practice, I don't know about you,
but I spent a lot of time watching the quarterbacks
because frankly, I can't watch line play and tell much.
But I'm watching Calzada, I'm watching Cutter Bowlie, and there

(31:19):
was very little difference, you know, and they you know,
but they weren't going against live rounds, they weren't playing
against another team. It was drills. There was some limited
or controlled scrimmage, but kel Zada looked like the guy.
And then when the lights came on, he just didn't
get it done, and Cutter Bowlie did. And that's how
sports happened sometimes.

Speaker 5 (31:39):
Right, Yeah, And like that's the other part is I
mean in the spring when we watched them, I certainly
thought there was there was a huge gap. It wasn't
even a competition. Absolutely, I did think, yeah, I did
think Cutter looked better in the camp when we saw him,
like early that first week. I think we got the
two practices, but he was only playing against the second defense,
and as we just talked about, Kentucky second tem defense
isn't very good so that part of it is you

(32:01):
don't learn much from that in practice, even in scrimmage,
is when he's going into the twoes, like that's part
of it. And then even the way it played out, Okay,
so tells out is terrible for two games are not
very good, then he gets hurt. Then Cutter comes out
in that first SEC Star at South Carolina and looks awful,
like he looks really bad, Like he did not look
a guy who was ready to start games in this league.
And I think if Zach kills Outa had been healthy

(32:21):
at that point, like they would have considered going back
to him. But because they didn't really have any other option,
you spend those bye weeks building. You say, like, okay,
here's what Cutter can do. Well, we need to get
the ball out quicker, because clearly he holds onto it
too long. Sometimes it takes sacks that you know he
doesn't need to. How can we do that? And then
they've built a game plan that does it. I mean
like against Texas, he com played eighty percent of his

(32:43):
passes and like some huge percentage of his passing yards
were after the catch, like they were just not asking
him to throw it down the field, which helps his improvement.
But that's showing like, Okay, here's what we know we
can protect, here's what we can do. And then last
week against Tennessee, when a more aggressive events had some
of those opportunities they did they threw down the field
and it looked better. So maybe they can build on
that now. But like they're not asking him to do

(33:05):
too much. They're trying to figure that out and it's
taken time, like guys don't develop it instantaneously, and Cutter
was not a guy who looked even when he got
the starting job, like he was ready to do it.
They've just figured out the best way of play and
clearly that's their best option now. But they started winning
games with not one a game against the Power War
competent like opponent yet and so uh like to just

(33:27):
go out and say like, oh, he was definitely the
best option. It's just not the kick.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
No no uh Norton. And people pointed DJ Miller as well,
he was hurt, you know, it took him a while
not to and it is I think Snoop's pointed out.
Once he was healthy and got back into the flow,
they were not They were no longer working on install
they were working on a specific game plan, so he
was way behind. He he admitted to that us when
he talked with us a couple of weeks ago, a

(33:52):
few minutes up with John Halo, the Hero Leader and
you touched on something I think is pretty important in
that I think bush ham Dan has made the a word,
the adjustments. That's the word that fans love. They aren't
making any adjustments. Well, they did to your point with
this offense. It looks almost like a totally different offense,
doesn't it really since the Georgia game.

Speaker 5 (34:13):
Yeah, it's not quite as dramatic as obviously what they
did in twenty nineteen when less in October, but it
is very different than what they were doing the first
few weeks, like during those two the early by weeks,
that helped them a lot. I think trying to kind
of zero in on what Cutter can do, what these
young guys can. That's probably part of the other reason
we're seeing the young receiver play now is they figured
out that, you know, whatever limitations the older guys have, Okay,

(34:35):
if these young guys might not vote the whole playbook
or might not understand avery reading your motion, we have
to do like what can they do well and put
them in those best positions to do it and not
ask them too much. So like that's all part of it.
It's all together, Like it certainly looks much better than
it did a few weeks ago. They gotta win games
like that, it's not gonna matter if they don't win games,
Like certainly even if mark Sis is back next year,

(34:57):
if they don't win any more SEC games, Like I
can't imagine this s NARIWK but that is back, and
so like that part of it is is just the
reality of the situation. But it's impossible to watch the
last three games and not think that they've made significant
changes for the better on offense, Like that's what you
need to do now. They just whether it's enough, that's
a different question, but they certainly have made changes that

(35:17):
have helped.

Speaker 2 (35:18):
Really, do you think ham is going to be moving
on even though despite the work he's done with Cutter Bowling?

Speaker 5 (35:23):
Yeah, I mean, I just it's just, you know, a
scenario where the offense was so bad for the first
half of the season and where like they have like
he's been here for a year and a half now
and they Saturday was the first time they scored more
than two offensive touchdowns in the game. So maybe if
they go out and Cutter throws for four or five
touchdowns each of the last remaining games, that's enough. But
if Mark Stoops is back, it just feels like the

(35:45):
only way that you have any chance to build womenhim
is him to make the argument and say, like we're
going to make massive staff changes, like assuming that they
don't like get to a bowl game or whatever, that
would change everything. But if it plays out as a
three to nine or four in eight season and Stoops back,
the only way anything to your fans is doing to
staff overhaul. And so that just seems like where it
would be going at that point.

Speaker 2 (36:04):
You know, you mentioned Tennessee Tech coming up, Florida coming up.
You do wonder about the crowds. You know, the weather's
changing basketballs here, especially with that Tennessee Tech game, and
that's a dangerous game. As you know, they're one double A,
they're FCS, but they're one of the best in the country.

Speaker 5 (36:22):
Yeah, they're undefeated, So I mean like at that level,
I mean, Kentucky has never lost their FCS game since
they went to that permanent twelve game schedule, and I
get a one or of two, so like you would
think they would still be able to but if they
lose to Auburn and Florida, things are really ugly. Tennessee.
TEK is absolutely going to be coming into that game
thinking they have a chance to win, and certainly there
won't be a lot of fans in the stands that

(36:42):
they do. The one thing that Kentucky is good about,
I think they've gotten better since the Joe Gerrera is
like finding ways to give away tickets to with whatever
promotions they're going to do. So it might not help
your revenue thing, but like give you sports games and
the military stuff and the teacher days or whatever, and
like find a way to get some people in the
stadium who might not be able to afford to go

(37:03):
some other way, and that helps the crowd a little bit.
But yeah, I don't think the Florida game is gonna
be great because the last two weeks have been seriously
boosted by road fans and clearly no Florida fans are
coming up here to watch an interim coach and you
know next week and then yes, CES game's always kind
of that way. So it will be fascinating to see
what those crowds are.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
Like, you know what else was fascinating? I read. I
didn't see what confirmation they had on it. But supposedly
Scott Strick then our old Pala was an assistant ad
here now at Florida, the ad who fired Billy Napier
finally reached out to Matt Lafleor of my beloved Green
Bay Packers. So if that is indeed the case, not
a bad move, not a bad try, but it's just

(37:45):
incredible what's going on, isn't it. Yeah?

Speaker 5 (37:48):
I mean, I guess that's your argument for making an
early firing is you can take some big swings and
call some people who you don't think are and take
the job, but just find out if there's any interest.
But you know, back in the old you know is
Bill Parcells come to Kentucky day, Maybe we would be
having those conversations if there was an open job right now.

Speaker 2 (38:05):
Yeah, And in fact, Parcells talked to Kentucky twice. It's
always fun to think about what might have happened. And
I've said this before, but my friend who is the
playbook play guy for the Cowboys, when Parcells turned the
UK down and took the Cowboy job, Brad went to
him and said, you know, I know a bunch of
people in Lexington. Were you really thinking seriously about the

(38:27):
Kentucky job? And he said, if Jerry Jones hadn't called me,
I probably would have taken it, which would have been
an interesting chapter in the history of Kentucky football. John,
But we'll leave it there. Thank you, Sarah. We'll see
you down on the planes, if not before.

Speaker 5 (38:39):
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
Kentucky dot com is where you find John Hale or
on Twitter or an addition on Twitter or x at
John j O n H A L E Underscore h L,
John Hale Underscore HL. Our number two comes up next.
We talk Kentucky baseball and more here on six thirty
wlap Everything then.

Speaker 1 (39:07):
At such tact taking the show. Anything to.

Speaker 2 (40:56):
Welcome back to the Big bullon sider, I remember two
of our program as we go ahead, the Kentucky football
The Wildcats playing at Auburn on Saturday night and Kentucky
is trying to snap a losing skid to the Tigers.
I mentioned that earlier things haven't gone well for the Cats.
They've lost nineteen of the last twenty, including four straight.
Last year, Kentucky lost to Auburn. It was such a

(41:19):
weird game. The Wildcats had beaten Ole Miss and then
had a bye week going into the Vandy game. And
then Vandy came in here with Diagle Pavia and beat
the Wildcats twenty to thirteen, and we knew by then
Vandy had some stuff going on. Vandy was pretty good,
but we all thought, at least those of us at

(41:40):
this end of the interstate thought Kentucky would win that one.
But nope, Wildcats lost it, and the following week they
lose big down at Florida. Then here comes an Auburn
team which was okay, not particularly great, and Kentucky jumped
off to an early lead, ten to nothing lead, put
together a couple of real nice drives, played well defensively,

(42:03):
got a big game from Pops from Jamon Dumas Johnson.
He had eight tackles, including a sack. Last year from
one of the linebacker spots, and that has been a
position where I think Kentucky has struggled a bit this
year with inconsistent play. I think the d line has
played well. The defensive backs of late I had a

(42:23):
hard time, but of course they're thin. They've had injuries
and Tennessee exposed them. But I think up until that
point they had put it themselves fairly well. But linebacker
a just up and down. But last year was so strange.
I mean JQ Hardaway had a pick and UK had

(42:43):
the ball. The Auburn forty couldn't do anything with it,
had to punt it away. Then Kentucky defense held again,
but eventually the Kentucky offense shut down and give Auburn credit,
Tigers tied it up. It was ten apiece going into halftime,
and Auburn scored touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters

(43:06):
and won at twenty four to ten. It was just
one of those weird games where you felt like Kentucky
was about to turn things around, but they never had
an answer for Jarque's Hunter. He had the two touchdowns
in the second half, and he ran all over the Wildcats.
He had twenty three carries for two hundred and seventy

(43:28):
eight yards, including a fifty yard scamper and a forty
five yard run in the fourth quarter that resulted in
a touchdown. So that one got away from the Wildcats
and now they got to try to return the favor.
Down on the planes, you heard Mark Stups earlier talking
about the Auburn Tigers and speaking of linebackers. When the

(43:50):
Cats line up against Auburn, they will be facing the
current Bronco Negirsky National Defensive Player of the Week. Xavier
Adkins led Auburn to the win over Arkansas at least
the defense thirteen tackles including a pair of sacks and
four tackles for loss and the comeback win. And he

(44:15):
has led to tigers and tackles for five straight games.
So he is going to be a factor. And he
is a guy Kentucky. They're gonna have to account for
him on every play. I don't know if it's Jagger
Burton or whoever, or a running back, but they're gonna
have to account for this guy if they want to
accomplish anything down there at Auburn, first and foremost, they

(44:38):
need the effort. And there has been no sign as
of yet of the Wildcats giving up, as they say,
letting go of the rope, and in fact, Mark Stoops
said as much at his news conference.

Speaker 6 (44:50):
No, I really don't you know. These guys have had
a very strong mindset and their attitude has been right
the entire time. It is difficult, I mean let's be
hon I mean, you know, the guys have worked very
hard and that's why we're all disappointed, you know, one
way or another. And you know, a loss is a loss,
and it doesn't feel good, and your pride gets bruised

(45:10):
and hurt and you get battered up as the year
goes on. But you have to pick yourself back up.
You have to have a strong attitude of mindset, and
you have to embrace the process, the adit. You know,
the the week and how you go about it, and
you know, engulf yourself in that and the preparation and
then you know, as a coach, I know that makes
you feel a heck of a lot better.

Speaker 2 (45:31):
Stoops has said on multiple occasions, and I do believe.
I believe he's right. Well, my own eyes telling me this,
maybe yours don't. But mind you, Kentucky's better this year.
But the schedule, and we knew this going in well
is not allowing them to show it in terms of
wins and losses. That was the fear going into this
season that the Wildcats would be better, but the schedule

(45:53):
would not allow them to reflect that. And everybody said
the same deal. Everybody said the same challenges year to year,
improving your roster with the portal with NIL. I asked
Stoops about that, about the fact that you know, he
came in he changed the culture. He really did change
the culture. Raised the floor. We've said that before, raise

(46:15):
the ceiling. He's been a victim of his own success.
And now so many people, an overwhelming number of people
want him gone. They're mad at him, they're angry, they
want to feel better by firing the coach. They think
it will improve the program. Maybe it would. But whoever
comes in here we'll have the same set of challenges
as Mark Stoops as UK every school has similar challenges.

(46:38):
Is a matter of how do they deal with it?

Speaker 6 (46:40):
This era that we've been in, you know, hasn't been
real fun for too many except you had a boatload
of money, you know, and and so that was fun
for them because but the you know, I think everybody's
talked about it. We beat a dead horse on that,
like you know, with transfer portal and completely wide open

(47:02):
NIL with no sour cap. As much money as you have,
I mean, I don't think anybody likes that. And again
unless you're five six schools that have as much as
they want, so I think you know, coming out on
the other side of that with you know, somewhat of
a cap if we can make sure you know, we're
we're enforcing some of these rules on nil and let

(47:24):
the players earn what they can earn authentically and organically,
and then the rest of it, you know, be somewhat
of a level playing field. I think we're all looking.

Speaker 5 (47:33):
Forward to that.

Speaker 2 (47:35):
Whatever Kentucky did last year when it came to the
portal and doling at nil money and all that didn't work.
They made mistakes and stoops Is admitted as much, and
you kind of let the team get away from him.
And again they're playing better this year. They've done a
better job putting this team together. They're just not as
talented as they've been in the past, and they're not
as talented as a lot of the teams they're facing

(47:57):
in the SEC. But they are, I believe, getting better,
starting with Cutter, Bolli and bush Ham down the two
of them working on this offense, developing Bowley that has
made Kentucky more fun to watch number one, but number two,
I think they'll go down and score points against an
Auburn team that's pretty good defensively but needed four turnovers

(48:19):
to beat Arkansas. Four turnovers in the fourth quarter to
be an Arkansas team. That's good but not great. But again,
Kentucky has done a better job this year. I think
preseason and how it has constructed this roster. And Stoop said,
as much.

Speaker 6 (48:35):
You can see, I hope you can and everybody can see,
like we are most definitely better in certain areas. I
understand we're not complete, and you look at our record
and you know, I'm not nate to that, but we
are definitely better and making strides and and you know,
it definitely helped. So we're far better, even though the

(48:58):
record may not indicate that. But you the progress, you
see the young guys, and so we did as good
as we could. And you know, definitely, you know, for
this last year, for this team had more resources, and
I'm grateful for it. You know, I wish, you know
that the results would be better, but I know we
are better. But you're not going to do it in
one year either. You know, you still have to build

(49:19):
a roster over you know, of course, of at least
two three. You know, yes, you look at it, you
evaluate it every year, and you hopefully just patch a
couple holes you don't have to patch.

Speaker 2 (49:32):
All the holes, which they did not have to do
going into this year. They had to patch a lot
of them, but not all of them, and they are better,
but they let some opportunities get away. South Carolina is
a great example. Too many turnovers led to too many
points for the game. Cocks took Kentucky out of what
it was trying to do, and that was that ole

(49:55):
Miss is a really good team. We're finding that out,
aren't we. And Stoops after that game talked about the
fact that they stayed in the game, they were tied
in the third quarter with ole Miss, and he pointed
out that there are going to be teams that don't
play ole Miss as well this season, and he's right
about that. Ole Miss is contending for a playoff spot

(50:16):
therefore national championship, and Kentucky hung right there with the
Rebels but made too many mistakes. Tennessee bad matchup. Texas
got away. Should have won that game. It's just been
that kind of season for Stoops in the Wildcats, and
they can make everybody feel better on Saturday night if
they can pull off the wind over the Auburn Tigers again.

(50:39):
Down on the planes, gonna be tough to do, not impossible.
But remember the last time Kentucky won there, last time
they beat Auburn, the Wildcats was at nine. Two huge
sec road wins for the Cats under Rich Brooks at
Georgia at Auburn, and in both places the scoreboard did

(51:01):
not reflect the final score as soon as the game
was over because they shut it off. But we won't forget,
will we. All Right, when we come back, we'll talk
to Kentucky baseball and women's basketball with Darren Hedrick. Women's
basketball openers coming right at us, and baseball wrapped up
its full practice with an exhibition game yesterday, or I

(51:22):
should say Sunday at Kentucky Proud Park. Back in a minute,
six thirty wlap Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider.
It was baseball over the weekend for Kentucky fans. But
before we go any further on that, let us welcome
Darren Hedrick, the radio voice of the baseball Wildcats. Mister Baseball,
how late did you stay up late late last night

(51:43):
early this morning? Because, as I pointed out out at
the top of the show, Darren I got sucked into
that game and Buddy I stayed up for the whole thing.
What about you?

Speaker 7 (51:52):
Did you really stayed up? I made it to about
the sixteenth, oh, and then not at all, and the
next thing I knew. I woke up this morning to
see the results. But man, what a baseball game last night.

Speaker 2 (52:07):
Man, drama, excellent play. What you would expect. I don't
know that you expect the Blue Jays to be discontentious.
Everybody thought the way the Dodgers have been playing, and
especially some of the pitching, but then the bullpen came through,
So anyhow, just that's that's what happens with baseball, the
baseball Wildcats and action over the weekend. You got to

(52:29):
take in some of that exhibition game on Sunday. I
think Minion has a similar path he's treading compared to
Mark Pope. He's got, you know, the new components, he's
got talent. He's got some decisions to make, but it should.

Speaker 5 (52:46):
Be fun, right, Yeah.

Speaker 7 (52:48):
He's got a deep team this year, so it's a
good problem to have with some of those decisions. But
I'm like you, I like the makeup of this team
a lot. It's a super talented bunch, a lot of
returning faces from last year. I think offensively, you're going
to see a club that there's a lot of the
things that Kentucky has done under coach Menji On, some

(53:11):
of those hallmarks like running and bunting and stealing bases
and that sort of thing. But I also believe this
group has some power to it, and I think you're
going to see an offense that's well rounded, exciting to watch,
fun to watch, and it's going to be that whatever
it takes to win, mentality, focus on details, that sort

(53:34):
of thing. I'm looking forward to watching this team in
the spring.

Speaker 2 (53:37):
Ryan Schwartz has had a big fall and we might
point out as we double back and you know this,
you've done this forever, but when we talked with players
in the past about the best teams Minjeon has had,
it just seems like they always started. Nick says the
same thing. We knew back in the fall we were
going to be going. And that's not just brave talk.

(54:00):
That's because of intersquads, right like the one we saw Sunday.

Speaker 7 (54:05):
Yeah, yeah, that's exactly right. I always think about the
team that made Omaha just two years ago. In the fall,
there were signs that that team had the potential to
make it, that they had the talent and the pieces
in place to make it. It just depends on the
sport of baseball, which everybody knows. And look what that

(54:26):
team did. I think this team has similar makeup. We
talked about position players and what the offense can do. Dick.
I like the pitching too. Nate Harris is back, Ben
Cleeber is back. Jackson Jelkin is an outstanding arm. Can't
wait to see what he does in the spring. And
I think they've done a great job of building a

(54:46):
bullpen that can help them win some games against SEC competition.

Speaker 2 (54:52):
Jackson Jokins' name has been out there on the internet.
He's a guy who coached first base all season longest
have one game. I think he was I don't know
if he was ejected, but he was told to return
to the dugout when he got a little chest. He
was an umpire. But tell everybody what they can expect
from him, or at least what his credentials say. They
can expect that he's a.

Speaker 7 (55:13):
Guy that's been drafted a couple of times and it's
chosen to stay in school and power arm. You're going
to see a guy flashing the upper nineties with his fastball.
He's got good wipeout stuff. The big thing for him
right now is just staying healthy. He's not pitched a
lot the last couple of years coming back from an injury,

(55:35):
so I think the fall was big for him just
to get back on the mound knock off some rust.
But I would expect him to be a big part
of this rotation come springtime.

Speaker 2 (55:47):
We're talking to Darren Heddrick. He is the radio voice
of the baseball Wildcats. Also, you can't Winen's basketball. We'll
touch on that here in a moment. But the Wildcats
wrapped up fall with the exhibition game against Morehead States
the entire ballpark too, didn't they You touched on this earlier.
But that's what's fun about this team.

Speaker 7 (56:07):
Yeah, it really is. I thought one of the impressive
things against Morehead State Sunday in the first seven inning
portion of the scrimmage, the first half of the scrimmage
was how this team went the other way, and that
was how they started their offense, that they were able
to hit the ball with authority the other way. Jace
Tarnish was the guy that really stood out in the
first seven innings, if you want to call it a

(56:28):
seven inning game. The young man hit home run shy
of the cycle, and his first hit of the game
was a backside triple down the line into the right
field corner. So he can fly. He's got so much
speed he can hit. I don't know if he will
end up being the leadoff man, but that's where coach

(56:49):
Vin Jones been playing him in the lineup here in
the fall, or at least experimenting with him there. So
if that's the case, they've got one heck of a
leadoff guy to jump start the offense.

Speaker 2 (57:00):
Yeah. And defensively, they've got up the middle of the
returners in the two middle infielders Tyler Bell and Luke Lawrence,
who might be the best combo in the SEC for
my money. That's not a bad place to start defensively.

Speaker 5 (57:13):
Is it.

Speaker 1 (57:15):
Now?

Speaker 7 (57:15):
And it feels like that's been a hallmark two of
coach Benjium's teams is building that defense up the middle
and out. And they're breaking in new catchers this year.

Speaker 5 (57:26):
But I like the mix they have.

Speaker 7 (57:28):
You've got a veteran guy from Elon and Alex Stuffy,
You've got tager Tyson to transfer from Louisville, and then
You've got the young gun Owen Jenkins from right here
in Lexington, that was a potential MLB draft pick this
past summer. So you've got some new catchers this year.
But then you mentioned that best combo up the middle

(57:49):
with Bell and Lawrence, and what a duo those two are.
Obviously Bell is a potential draft pick at the end
of this year, and then likely Tarnish and Center up
the middle, and then you know, we'll see how the
corner competition shake out. I think that's where you're going
to see a lot of the competition in the preseason

(58:10):
portion of the schedule is who plays third base, They've
got some great options there. Who plays first base, They've
got some options there, and then who ends up in
the corner outfields?

Speaker 2 (58:21):
Yeah, do you think Will Marci is the starter again
in center field?

Speaker 7 (58:27):
That one is going to be interesting to watch because
I think we saw Tarnish play some center in the fall.
That's an interesting competition right now. I would kind of
lean Tarnish, but we'll see. Marcie's definitely going to get
a chance. And that's another one of those good problems
to have if your coach Minzione.

Speaker 2 (58:45):
Yeah, well, he was a starter last year, then he
got hurt. Of course, he had transferred into Menci State
where he hit two seventy seven, did not he struggled
last year out of the gate and then he got hurt.
So yeah, I'm with you. I think it's going to
be really fascinating to see what happens there. You touched
on the starting pitchers coming back, and it just seemed
like Kentucky each year we've been wondering about the entire

(59:09):
weekend rotation going into the start of at least the
sec portion of the schedule. But that's not going to
be the cases. I would think, Right, they've got to
know at least two starters.

Speaker 5 (59:20):
I would think, yeah, I think so.

Speaker 7 (59:23):
And there's another group that has had fun competition with
guys pushing each other in the fall, because I mentioned
Nate Harris and Ben Cleaver and Jackson Jelkin. But then
they also have the guy Jack Bennett, who was a
starter at Western Kentucky and one of the key starters
for the Hilltoppers last year. So there's plenty of depth

(59:44):
in terms of starting pitching on this team. And you
look at Ben Cleaver one and I mean, hitters just
have a hard time seeing the ball come out of
his hand from that left side. He's got to wipe
out curvefall his fastball high well, especially when he commands
it for strikes. And then Nate Harris just has that

(01:00:04):
bulldog mentality on the mound that was so impressed with
him as a freshman starting on Friday nights in the
league last year. What he did against Clemson in the
regional last year. Yeah, I'm looking forward to to some
big things from him in the spring.

Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
One other pitching note Kentucky Lance Cole MacLean on the
recruiting trail twenty twenty five Gatorade Player of the Year
in Kentucky. And this is a guy who was going
to get away from the Wildcats. He had been committed
to Tennessee as you know since twenty twenty two. But
now Tony Vittello is a San Francisco Giant that was
a big get or could turn out to be a

(01:00:40):
huge get for the Wildcats. Right.

Speaker 7 (01:00:43):
Well, absolutely, that's a huge get. You know, here's another
left handed pitcher. And the one thing you know about
coach Benzion and Dan Roselle, they love to have all
these different arm angles and different styles on the mound
that they can throw at opponents. But this young man
a special talent with that left handed arm. Obviously a
huge flip for Kentucky and the recruiting cycle and get

(01:01:06):
him to campus and he'll be a big part of
this program in the future.

Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
Yeah, out of Taylor County High School. It would have
been tough to see him on the mound for the volunteers,
but apparently he's going to wear blue. He is Darren Headrick,
the radio voice of the baseball Cats and women's basketball.
We'll talk about that on the other side of the
break here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. Darren Headrick
is on our Celebrity Hotline, the radio voice of the
women's basketball team. Kenny Brook's talking to the media earlier today.

(01:01:34):
So much excitement, of course about the men's team. But
when people Darren start talking about Kenny Brooks's team, they're
getting excited. He has new faces, but he has really
good returning talent, doesn't he.

Speaker 7 (01:01:47):
Yeah, that's part of the reason why there is so
much excitement around this women's basketball team is the returning talent.
The triplets are back this year. You've got Clara Strack
and Tianni t who both six'. Five Amelia hassett is
around six to, four and so, yeah you're talking about
a fun. Team Jordan obie potentially a. Starter and then

(01:02:10):
you've got the brand new point guard this, year And Tony,
morgan who was one of the top point guards in
the transfer portal class this past. Cycle he's added depth
to the team With Josie gilvin And Asia. Boon so,
yeah fans coming To Historic Memorial coliseum are going to
be treated to a fun group.

Speaker 5 (01:02:30):
To watch this.

Speaker 2 (01:02:31):
Year track And key Preseason All Conference Second team for the.
Coaches Tony morgan is on The Nancy lieberman Point guard
of The year Preseason top twenty watch list for A
uk team ranked twentieth preseason by the. Coaches tell me
about the pressure On Tony, morgan because anybody who Follows
Georgia aymore is gonna have, pressure but she seems qualified

(01:02:53):
to handle. IT i think Solely, darren just because she's a,
veteran you.

Speaker 7 (01:02:57):
Know, YEAH i think the biggest thing That Coach brooks
has instilled in her in the entire. Offseason i've heard
him repeat it over and over to media and to
her in practice is you don't have to walk or
play At Georgia amore's. Shoes in, fact he, SAID i
want you to bring your own shoes to, This and

(01:03:18):
so he's really instilled in her all summer or put
into her all, summer, like, hey you, Know Georgia's, Georgia You're.
Tony run this thing Like tony, would and SO i
think we're going to see big things from. HER i
love her explosiveness, yea in practices and you, know. Scrimmages

(01:03:39):
i've seen her get downhill in a. Hurry she distributes
the ball. WELL i think she's acclimated to the offense
of What kenny wants to do running, things AND i
think she's getting on the same page of what he
wants or expects from his point. Guard so she's going
to be a huge addition to the team this.

Speaker 2 (01:03:58):
Year Clara strack is obviously a player to. Watch led
was the best defender be really in the league last,
year led the league in block. Shots But i'm just
so excited About Tony key and what she is going
to bring this. Year the improvements watching her in the,
SCRIMMAGES i think she's she's i think trying to be

(01:04:19):
a little more, aggressive you, know and trying to be
somebody who really sets a tone out. There do you see?

Speaker 7 (01:04:25):
That, yeah there was a little bit of that last,
year although it Was Georgia amore's. TEAM i Think keani's
going to be a lot more asserted with this scroup this.
YEAR i think you're going to see her be a
verbal leader and you, know if she can find that
consistency WHERE i think she would even admit last year
she could be a little up and, down and when

(01:04:48):
she was, up this team was. Rolling and you, know
you just find that consistent middle ground with, Her she's
going to be. Outstanding the THING i love About tianni
is she can play. Big you can put her down
there in the. Post she can, defend block shots and
score the. Basketball or she could bring the ball up
the floor herself like a point. Guard she can step

(01:05:11):
out and shoot the three. Ball there's a lot to
like About tianni's, game but you're, Right, dick the energy
and the verbal leadership that she has shown in the
PRESEASON i think will be huge for this.

Speaker 2 (01:05:21):
Team WHAT i like about her the most is she
is a bona fide has she proved this last year
a BONAFIDE sec frontline, player meaning she has, size, strength and.
Skills it's not good enough anymore just to be big
if you're going to compete in the. League And South
carolina kind of set this Tone tennessee did to a,

(01:05:42):
point but, really Don staley's teams. Did you got to
have bigs who can mix it. Up and she looks
like she likes mixing it.

Speaker 5 (01:05:49):
Up.

Speaker 7 (01:05:50):
Yeah you know THE sec style and women's basketball for,
years and this is going back to The Pat summit
In Andy landers.

Speaker 2 (01:05:58):
Days.

Speaker 7 (01:05:58):
Yeah, well, yeah a big down low and you just
throw it inside to them and let them go to
work in the. Paint basketball is changing on the women's,
side and we're seeing it in THE. WNBA i Think
Kenny brooks has been a little forward and ahead of
the curve in college. Basketball in going to this, STYLE

(01:06:21):
i think it was unique last. Year it GAVE sec
teams trouble Because kentucky wasn't a team even with an
outstanding point guard In Georgia. Amore they didn't just roll
downhill and dup it off to.

Speaker 2 (01:06:34):
The big for a.

Speaker 7 (01:06:34):
Layup you saw them shoot threes and spread the floor
AND i really mix it up, offensively AND i think
you're seeing the league starting to trend that. Way Clara
strack is not a typical back to the basket. Center
she can move and that's forcing other teams to bring
their bigs out to guard that and it opens up the.

(01:06:56):
Floor AND i think he's been really forward in that
kind of offensive. Design AND i think you're going to
see the league start to trend because that's what we're
seeing in the in The Pro league as.

Speaker 2 (01:07:07):
Well you, know we've talked a lot about what this
team has and yet it has not gotten a lot
of preseason love from the posters and all. That and that's,
fine it really means. Nothing it's just fun to talk.
About But i've got to, Think, darren that's because of
the departure Of Georgia. Amore is it that? Simple?

Speaker 7 (01:07:25):
YEAH i THINK i think a lot of it has
to do with just the departure Of georgia, alone BUT
i also think, teams or not, teams but but folks
outside Of lexington at times have forgotten That kentucky didn't
just add with you, KNOW Kk, carroll the freshman recruit
and some of these. Portals they also added from. Within

(01:07:49):
Because Jordan obie's back this year after missing a season
due to, injury they were going to Have Dominika parova, unfortunately,
man want of heartbreaking injuries she. Suffered my heart still
goes out to that young, lady works so hard to get,
back only to suffer an injury. Again but at the
time you were, thinking, man nobody's really taken into account

(01:08:12):
the fact that those two are essentially additions to this year's. Team. Yeah,
Yeah but SO i think they're going to surprise people.
Again AND i, think you, know this team has the
attitude of you doubted this last year and we finished,
fourth go ahead and out again this?

Speaker 5 (01:08:28):
Year?

Speaker 2 (01:08:28):
Yeah why? NOT i, mean you, know it's it's it's
gonna be it's gonna be, fun it's gonna be right
on top of. Us And Darren heddrick will call the
action for THE Uk network before we. Go darren also
is OUR Uk Football network scoreboard reporter and our. Anchor
AND i always talk about the fact that daring that
you pop into our broadcasts and surprise us with, scores

(01:08:52):
and it's. Anymore it's like you got to keep an
eye on the wire as well to see what coaches
are coming and going throughout the. Season it's made as
our hasn't.

Speaker 7 (01:09:00):
It it really has what a wild coaching cycle this
year Is, God AND i don't think it's over. YET i,
Mean kentucky's going down there to face An auburn team
who has a coach coaching for his. JOB i, mean
it's just it's all over the. Place AND i guess
it's just the era we're in, Now, dick where everything

(01:09:23):
there's a lot of money riding on the, line maybe
more so than ever with these, games AND i guess
that also in, turn people want return on their investment
and they want, results and so it's just a different level.

Speaker 2 (01:09:35):
Now, yeah it is like it or, not for better or,
worse and we're kind of stuck with. It. Everybody it's
funny everybody agreed. THAT i, mean media, fans like the
players need to be compensated somehow beyond what they. Were
AND i roundly reject the notion that a scholarship is
worthless because it's. Not but there needed to be. More

(01:09:59):
and now That angelum has swung so, FAR i don't
know when it's going to swing, Back, darren but it's
just something we all got to sit. Through.

Speaker 5 (01:10:06):
Right.

Speaker 7 (01:10:08):
Yeah as somebody noted earlier this, week the toothpaste is
out of the bottle and it's hard to put it
back in exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:10:16):
Right, hey thanks for joining us talking, baseball football and.
Basketball Darren headrick radio voice of The Baseball, cats THE
uk women's, team and of course he joined us On Kentucky.
Football thank, You. Sarah we'll talk to you.

Speaker 7 (01:10:28):
Soon, yeah no problem at. All thanks for having Me.

Speaker 2 (01:10:31):
Dick follow him On twitter or ex At Darren Underscore.
Headrick you can also of course hear him on THE
Uk Sports. Network and we'll come back and wrap up
this edition Of The Big blue And sider and just
a few here on six point THIRTY. Wlap welcome back
to The Big blue And. Sider coming up tomorrow, night
we're going to take another look at this gambling situation

(01:10:51):
that has just ripped through THE nba and has put
a lot of lives on. Hold it's, fascinating, troubling and
it was. Predictable that was to. Me that's what's the
most disappointing part of all. THIS i will talk more
about that tomorrow. Night we'll also chat with unforgettable Guard
Sean woods and with Our West End bureau Chief Gary.

(01:11:12):
Moore as we do each and Every Wednesday, thursday we
are bumped By kentucky. Basketball as you, know the men
take On. Georgetown you and then On, friday we're back
with you as we preview not just the, weekend but
we also take a look at THE nfl with our
Man Billy. RUTLEDGE i mentioned The Bronco Nigersky award, earlier,
well that goes to a defensive. Player The davy O'Brien

(01:11:35):
quarterback of The Week, award get this went to a
red shirt freshman From North texas Named Drew. Mestmaker he
is From, Austin. Texas of, course that's a place where
all eyes have been on a quarterback, there a young,
quarterback and this kid probably grew, up of, course wanting
to be a, longhorn but ends up playing up At

(01:11:58):
North texas In, denton north Of. Dallas and all he
Did saturday was throw for more than six hundred yards
six hundred and eight to be, precise in a fifty
four to twenty win Over. Charlotte he is the twenty
second player ever to throw for at least six hundred
yards in AN fbs, game in the first since twenty.

(01:12:18):
Twenty his total yardage ranked sixteenth all, time thirty seven
of forty nine with four touchdown. Passes, naturally he was
THE Ap National Offensive player of The, week The American
Conference Offensive player of The. Week First American conference player
to win The davy O'Brien NATIONAL Qb quarterback of The

(01:12:41):
Week award this. Season as you might expect other, Candidates
Joey agilar Of tennessee for the big game he had
against The Kentucky. Wildcats and if you look at The
davy O'Brien award all season, long on two different, Occasions
Gunner stockton Of georgia the, award but you also saw

(01:13:02):
the usual, Suspect Tommy castellanos Of Florida state one of
the first. Week he's the guy who helped Upset. Alabama
Fernando mendoza Of, indiana one of the biggest reasons The
hoosiers are where they are right, now and to me
a huge surprise the Former TENNESSEE Qb nico Email Nico

(01:13:23):
iamaieva Of Ucla and now they got blown out By
indiana last. Week but Remember ucla fired its coach before mid,
season went on a three game win. Streak indiana shut it.
Down but that kid was supposed to go over there
To la and turn things around for The. Bruins they
were terrible and fired their coach and showed signs of.

(01:13:45):
Life so, ANYHOW i went back and looked and it
says that NO uk player has ever won The davy
O'Brien Weekly, award and they have sort of The Great.
Eight they're like finalists for the. Award and last, year
after he helped Beat Ole Miss, Rock vandergriff was one
of The grade. Eight and then in twenty twenty, One

(01:14:08):
Will levis scored five touchdowns through and ran for five
tds in a win OVER. Lsu he was in The grade.
Eight But i'm kind of surprised That Tim. Couch maybe
they weren't even doing this back When couch was, around you,
know The grade eight and. All so E, ku coming
off a loss To Tarleton state hits the. Road The

(01:14:31):
colonels will fly To Central arkansas for our Game saturday.
Evening Pall wells talked to us earlier today about the
fact that it was a ten to seven, Game colonels
trailed by only three at a half and then came
out in the second half with not nearly enough. Energy,
yeah we.

Speaker 3 (01:14:48):
Didn't we didn't come out and play with the energy
that we had to play with to.

Speaker 2 (01:14:51):
Win we didn't give him an.

Speaker 3 (01:14:53):
Opportunity you, know they came out and took advantage of
the first drive of the second, half and then we didn't,
respond and you, know and that's what you had to.

Speaker 5 (01:15:03):
Do you have to.

Speaker 2 (01:15:04):
Respond it was especially disappointing because it was homecoming and
The colonels had won ten straight At Roy Kidds. Stadium
but they end up losing thirty one to, seven gave
up three second half touchdowns To Tarleton. State AS i mentioned, earlier,
yep that's Where Billy gillespie is still coaching. Basketball suspended,
briefly but he is. Back What well, said he did not.

(01:15:26):
Expect he was surprised to see his team come out
flat in the second. Half they've been playing so, well
but Not saturday, afternoon not after. Halftime that was.

Speaker 3 (01:15:36):
Disappointing and you know that starts with, Me. Dick i've
got to do a better job of what we do at.
Halftime and you, know we've been reevaluating it all. Week
sometimes you, know sometimes it is what it, is and
you don't need to change a whole, lot but sometimes
you need to look and see how are we doing,
Things what are we? Doing are we giving them too

(01:15:56):
much information now that we got iPads and we got
the ability to watch the first, half you, know at
halftime and things like, that are we maybe giving them
too much to think about and not just letting them.
Play there's a whole lot that goes into play. There
it's disappointing because you got to come out.

Speaker 2 (01:16:12):
And you, know you got to feed feed off the.
Crowd you got to feed off you.

Speaker 3 (01:16:15):
KNOW i, mean you're ten, seven you're behind ten, seven
but you're ten seven at halftime with the number three
team now number two team in the.

Speaker 2 (01:16:22):
Nation so that was a wasted opportunity FOR, ku a
chance for The colonels to take another step. Forward they're
trying to get back to where they were traditionally as
a one double a, power as AN fcs power no
longer in The Ohio Valley, conference but they still take
a great amount of pride and what has been accomplished.

(01:16:43):
There Wal wells was part of. It back in the.
Day he coached Under Roy, kidd and he was At
kentucky as an, assistant helping out with the old. Line
When John schlrman was taken ill and As john, Battled
Walt wells took the head coach Job AT eku intent
on bringing The colonels back to the glory. Days and

(01:17:07):
even though that it's been a while FOR, Eku wells told, me,
said the tradition it's still. There people are still. Aware
opponents come, in even teams Like tarleton that were NOT ovc,
schools but they knew coming, in and everybody knows coming
in what they're up against when it comes to. Tradition

(01:17:29):
when you Face Eastern, kentucky you, know.

Speaker 3 (01:17:31):
Tradition never, fades it never. Runs it's part of your.
History it's who you. Are now you got to create
your own. History AND i think we've done a little
bit of that. Ourselves you know with the last four
years that we've been eligible for a, playoffs you, know
we've been in them two years and so we've done
some things to add to that history and to continue

(01:17:52):
to put that target on your. Back but the you,
know when they come in here and they see the
banners with all the conference, championships with the national, championships
with all the playoff, appearents you know you have to
get up each and every week and be ready to
defend THE eku on your chest and defend what's been done,
here not only in the, past but what's what you've.

Speaker 2 (01:18:13):
Done so The colonels now are three and five. Overall
unfortunately for, them they're zero to four on the, road
and even if they run the, table it's gonna be
hard for them to make the. Playoffs but the players
told us earlier today that they are pulling, together and
At Central arkansas And conway they will pull together because
it's them against the. World one other football NOTE i Mentioned.

(01:18:35):
AUSTIN i referred to Arch. Manning he did not Practice.
Monday he is in per concussion. Protocol we'll find out
later in the week if he can play Against. Vanderbilt
wouldn't that be? Something if he couldn't go against The
commodore seven and One texas six and, Two Matthew caldwell
might get the. Start he's the guy who led The

(01:18:55):
longhorns to the win in the closing seconds over The.
Bulldogs by far are the greatest moment of his. Career
this guy is From, Auburn, alabama went To Auburn High,
school played At Jacksonville, state transferred To Gardner, webb then
transferred To, troy and after that he transferred To. Texas

(01:19:16):
knowing he likely would be a backup at ut but
he came in for the Injured Arch manning and led
The longhorns to a. Win so he has that moment
in his memory. Bank thanks so much to my guest,
Tonight John hale Of The Harold, Leader Darren hedrick of
THE Uk Sports, NETWORK eku Coach Walt. Wells that's a
good night from the garage In. Lexington you can't be, serious,

(01:19:39):
Man you cannot be. Serious top ball was on the,
line short blew. Up he was clearly.

Speaker 7 (01:19:47):
It how can you possibly call that?

Speaker 2 (01:19:50):
Out how many you can.

Speaker 1 (01:19:51):
Miss such stating the showing anything back such. TACT i

(01:21:08):
think The canaps, typing don don't do the