2024-07-11 - BBI

Welcome to The Big Blue Insider. Dick Gabrielle with you Thursday edition of our program. We have got a lot tonight football, basketball, even volleyball, and it's one of those nights where usually Thursday shows are kind of hard to fill because you don't have stuff going on from the previous weekend. You're looking ahead to the next weekend, and in the summertime, let's face it, you know, there's not a whole lot going on locally, but not the

case tonight here on the Big Blue Insider. We have got comments from UK basketball players. You may have seen bits and pieces of interviews with these guys on the interweb and on some of the TV stations. Well, they were made available three players today, made available by UK. So everybody has new stuff and you'll be hearing and seeing and reading about a lot of the comments that these kids made today. Also coming up, Jeremy Jarman joins us.

It's tough to get Jeremy because of his busy professional life and family life, but of course Jeremy part of our pregame coverage of Kentucky football, former UK

All Conference defensive end. We've got him for well the second half hour of this second half of this hour and the first half of the next hour, So for about an hour we'll talk football with Jeremy Jarman, and then the UK volleyball comes up fast starting at the end of August, so we'll talk to Hunter Mitchell, who has covered UK volleyball for quite some time, going

back to these days with the Kentucky Colonel. So, like I said, a lot coming up on the BBI, and we'll start with basketball because today UK released it's non conference men's basketball schedule. Some of us had already gotten out, but now the dates are there, the times are not as you know, that'll be settled in by television. But the Cats open up on

November fourth with Wright State. They haven't announced any exhibition games yet. I got to think there's going to be at least one, maybe two, but they got right State Monday, November fourth, Buck now the following Saturday, and then on Tuesday, November twelfth, you know, they play in the State Farm Champions Classic down in Atlanta against the Duke Blue Devils, and that's going to be a tremendous matchup. I would think lots of hype, Cooper

Flag and all that. Back home for Lipscomb on November nineteenth, that's a Tuesday. Then on the Friday following Jackson State in the BBN Invitational Unity Series, followed on Tuesday by Western Kentucky. That's on November the twenty sixth. The following Saturday, Georgia State here in Lexingon. Then on Tuesday, December third, Wildcats head for Clemson. That's the SEC ACC Challenge on Tuesday,

December third. Then the Gonzaga matchup in Seattle on the first Saturday, or rather the second Saturday in December. Now, that would be the first Saturday in December again in the Seattle Climate Pledge Arena. With any luck at all, you'll have to choose between that game and maybe Big maybe Kentucky in the SEC Football Championship Game. That's a long shot, I know, wouldn't be

fun to have to choose though. The following Wednesday, the Wildcats played Colegate for the first time ever, and then on Saturday, December fourteenth, that's when the Louisville Cardinals come to town. So two head coaches matching off in that game for the first time, Pat Kelsey for Louisville, Mark Pope for Kentucky. Of course, Pope played against Uel as a Wildcat. A week after that, Ohio State in Madison Square Garden and the CBS Sports Classic.

So you get that week off there, presumably for exams, and then at the end of the calendar year, Tuesday, December thirty first, the Wildcats back home to play the Brown Bears, and that's the first time the Wildcats have ever played Brown in Kentucky's basketball history. All Right, I mentioned that

we have comments from the players, and we'll start with Ansley Amanpur. He is one of the many many seniors on this team six seven, two thirty two, transferring in from Fairleigh Dickinson, and he talked about some of these high profile non conference games, which is one of the reasons that he was attracted to a place like Kentucky. It's a great chance to measure yourself. You can't wait to get out there and play, you know, actually play

against other teams. Obviously excited for some of the bigger games like Duke Louisville and stuff like that, but just can't wait to get out there and go compete other guys. Is that kind of why you came here playing those marquee games. Oh, yeah, it's definitely a reason you don't get to play on that type of exposure, playing national television games a lot of those big time teams, big time players. You know, definitely, definitely was the

reason why I came here for sure. Pow are games like that going to help you, guys gel maybe even quicker than a game against a team that's not quite up to the same part, because you know, you face adversity. University brings you closer. So when you play those bigger teams, you're going to go through a lot of tough stretchers. They're going to go make runs because there's a lot of talent on those types of teams. So when you when you face it, for should you end up becoming quicker and jail

quicker and stuff like that. So those games definitely help us. What do you mean by adversity there? I think I know, But what do you mean? Just you know, when another team goes on a run, they're gonna hit shots. They're obviously talented too. You know they're gonna go there, hit shots, going a little run. How we're gonna respond to that. The little things like that that helped build us to where we're competing in

March YEP. Obviously the better the competition, the more you're gonna learn about yourself, and as he said, it will prepare you for postseason play. And of course we don't know yet what the SEC schedule is, but it will be grueling. League's going to be tough this year. We also talked to Andrew Carry's one of the Big Six eleven two twenty seven. He is listed as a grad student transferred in from Wake Forest and Carr talked a little bit about why he chose Kentucky, why he wanted to be a Wildcat.

You know, this is a really special place. I think for me, I knew what I was looking for when I went into the transfer portal and this is a combination of everything that kind of came together. For me. First and foremost, it was the basketball fit, and I think, uh, Coach Pope did a really great job, you know, showing me how I would fit within the team and in the recruitment and just the way that

I've been able to play. But also, uh, it's been was really cool for me to say, hey, you need to get better at this and this, and this is how we can help you do that. And you know, for someone trying to to continue to get Better obviously has aspirations to to go play in the NBA. That's that's all you want to hear when you're in the recruitment process, and so that was really cool to to understand my fit. And then the second part was just the embracement. Embracement

from the fans. You know, I think, uh, Big Blue Nation is is just I think you said it before. It's just it's just different, you know. I think it's a really special place and been my dream ever since a little kid coming and watching basketball. You always, you know, you hear about Kentucky, Kentucky basket people. You watch Kentucky basketball,

and you know you want to be a Kentucky basketball player. So Andrew Carr also talked about the fact that during practice Mark Pope, who played in the NBA, want to ring with Kentucky as a big, gets into the low post with him and works with him on drills. So that's got to be kind of fun to square off with the head coach in practice. We talked to otega Oway, six to ford junior from Newark, transferred in from Oklahoma, and he talked to us about his new teammates and he told us he

studied video on these guys before he actually met them. He said, that's why nobody really surprised him when they started competing against one another. No, I mean I kind of, like I said, like I did the research before, so I know what everyone's game is going to be. But just being able to see all the guys like like just be together and just be focused on trying to get better and build that chemistry, that's something I've just been surprised with it because I mean we're all new, Like no one on

the team was here last year. So just being able to see how everyone's been selling selfish, they opened their building. That relation of the bomb on the court and off the court, that's been the biggest thing really. That's just part of the conversations we had earlier today with the three players. We will have a lot more with them coming up tomorrow night. I can promise

you that. Speaking of Wildcat's former Wildcats, you got to see what five of them last night as the USA team USA played Canada, tuning up for the Olympics, eleven to one. Canada took an early lead. The US team was turning it over taking bad shots, but eventually turned things around and one going away these are future Hall of famers against some really good players from

Canada, but the US team wanted eighty six to seventy two. In Las Vegas, Devin Booker started for Team USA and nine points in twenty minutes. Bam Adebayo came off the bench played twenty one minutes six points, seven rebounds, although he was two for six from the line. Anthony Davis had a good one ten points, points, eleven boards, four blocks in only eighteen

minutes of ad coming off the bench with the great effort. Last night for Canada, Jamal Murray started, but they had only five points, did have five rebounds, but did not shoot well from the outside. The shay y Olgis Alexander eight points four rebounds in nineteen minutes, but between the two of

them, the two former Wildcats from the outside did not farewell. Between them five of eighteen, two of nine from beyond the arc, and Team USA is expected to roll to the gold medal and they start in Paris on July twenty eighth against Serbia and Nikola Jokic. At the bottom of the hour, Jeremy Jerman talking UK Football six thirty wlap welcome back to the Big Blue and sider Dick Gabriel with you. Coming up in just a few minutes, Jeremy

Jarman will join us and we're gonna go deep with Jeremy. We're gonna finish up this hour and carry him into hour number two a little bit later on Hunter Mitchell, our old buddy from the u UK volleyball beat. We'll talk with us about the upcoming season, which is coming up fast, just like

football, and we're going to talk a little baseball here. But first, there's a story coming out over the last twenty four hours that may be disturbing to many of you who just don't like the way college athletics are being handled or being designed right now because conference affiliations are going away, Geographic affiliations are going away. And this has been happening now in the ACC for a while, and this is a big deal in that conference because it's two top moneymakers

when it comes to football. Florida State and Clemson have not been quiet about the deal they've got. They're unhappy. They've been talking about moving on, and there's a story out there stating that they tried to make inroads with the SEC and that the SEC apparently has turned them down. At least for now. So now the Big Twelve may be involved, and it may not be

just FSU and Clemson. There may be as many as four teams out of the ACC or four more I should say it's total of six looking to get into the Big Twelve, which, if they can work it out, would not be a bad move for the Big Twelve. That would make for a Power three conference along with the Big Ten and the SEC. There is strengthened

numbers in a situation like this. And once again, a few years ago, it was me and probably a zillion other people talking about the fact that all these changes, including the portal and the NIL, would put an end to college athletics as we know it. They are always going to be around. But if you have a distaste for the way things are operating now, come back and see me in a year, and I guarantee you'll like it

even less. So if these moves happen, the Big Twelve will rival the Big Ten and the SEA when it comes to income and when it comes to power, because there's a lot of great football out there, and it's not all in the Big Ten in the SEC. Speaking of great baseball used to be great in America not anymore for a variety of reasons, cheap among them. The NFL blew him out of the water a while back, and it's not going to go back. I mean the NFL from here on in.

College football to a degree is America's pastime. But baseball still has its place in American sports, obviously, but there are a lot of things that people who grew up loving the game dislike about it. And Joe Madden, the former baseball manager, he's out of the game right now, but he led the Cubs to their World Series title. He's a really smart guy and he had a pulpit the other day where he talked about all the things that are

ruining the game. He loves. Coaches these days are coming from placesline and things of that nature. These are today's gurus. I'm here to tell you, man, if I'm starting a group to when I got, definitely got Larry Bow in that group. Absolutely. I don't care how old Glary Bow is. We need people to pass the game down to have a play properly.

Guys have to be told when they're screwing up doing things wrong. I think you could watch a lot of games today and I keep getting queried about, did you see I'll slop you The play was no. Listen, you

could have sloppy play with the best instructors in the world. I'm not arguing that, but the game has evolved into the point where everybody's after their own brand and to show me kind of a thing as opposed to playing this team concept that's individualized by the Dodgers or the Cardinals or the Pirates of the past, which I loved, and I thought the Angels in the nineties and early two thousands we had an identity. I thought the Rays when we got to

the race, we established an identity. Those are the kind of things that's never talked about anymore. It's all based on analytical data and the sameness. Everybody wants the same thiss when it comes out of draft. And furthermore, there are no minor leagues anymore. That's been so watered down. I'm here to tell you, man, if I under these circumstance, I never get

an opportunity to eventually do what I did. That's Joe Madden, who's been out of the game, at least as a manager since the Angels fired him last June. Since then, there have been five managerial changes in baseball, and nobody reached out to Madden. He said a team in Japan or two reached out to him. Wasn't quite ready to make that jump. Maybe he is now, but it's amazing that a guy who is so well respected and liked by players and has a proven commodity as a manager isn't in the game

right now now. On the other hand, on the other side of this argument is KYL. Ravis, who is one of the baseball voices for ESPN, and if you watch Kentucky in the College World Series, you probably heard his voice. But Raviits was on with the Awful Announcing podcast and was talking about the state of baseball, and he said, because of star power, he believed, and there's a lot of it. He believes major League baseball

right now is fine. I think the game was in trouble, and I don't mean it was ever going to go away, but it was in trouble when it took four hours to play a Yankees Red Sox Sunday Night game four and a half. Like that wasn't good. The product wasn't good. The product is really good on the field. The players, the young players are phenomenal, whether it's Bobby Witt or Gunner Henderson, so the focus is not just on one guy. I don't think Shoeo Tani is responsible for saving baseball,

partly because I don't believe baseball currently needs to be saved. I think what baseball has to acknowledge is we live in a football society. We live in a football world. So the grand old pastime is no longer present. Number one, it's not. It's very easy to see football rules the roost. Baseball absolutely has a huge place on the Mount Rushmore of sports, but

it is shifted. You know, fifties and sixties baseball was it on all the sudden football and college football and all that is passed it and how baseball fits somewhere in between the NBA and the NHL event. That's where it is right now. But the changes they've made, I think help immensely. And there's nobody, no individual that is being asked to save the game. The

game is in good hands, The game is in great shape. There are young players that are superstars who is easy to you know, to look at and be I want to invest in them, the Orioles, the Mariners, that there's teams, the Reds, I want to invest like an Eli Dala Cruz. Sign me up all day long, o'neo Cruz, thanks very much. The Mariner's pitching, sign me up. I'm watching all that stuff now.

Immediately, you might dismiss what he says by saying, well, yeah, he has to say that because he works for ESPN and they've got a big baseball contract. But I think he makes great points. There are some really good young talented players, and he mentioned the Reds Elie de la Cruz. I don't know that Reece Hines keeps up the insane pace that he said in his first two games, but there are a lot of really talented young

players. But they were almost arguing opposite or different points Apples and oranges, where Madden was talking about the coaching and the metrics and all that, and Ravis was talking about star power and you can have both. But you've got to wonder if you can put the two points together. If the coaching were better, if the preparation were better, if the metrics weren't so heavily leaned on, maybe there would be even more star power and people wouldn't be so

bored with the game, which has sped up. They've sped up the games by about a half an hour now and that's a great move. And they've sped up college baseball as well. I think that was one of the great threats to the game. But the other threat right now is the strikeout or home run approach. And I think if anything draws away from baseball, that's it. Go back and look at the style of baseball Kentucky played. What

if you saw that in the major leagues. That kind of chaos on the base pass and that kind of pitching and defense can ansistently, you'd have a much better product. There's a place, obviously for the home run. Tennessee proved that by winning the National championship. It plays a good brand of aggressive baseball. But not everybody can have it all as Tennessee did this year. So baseball will never be the same, but it's not dying on the vine.

One thing that is healthy we know this college football. Jeremy Jarman will come back and shat with us. He, of course, is part of our coverage on the UK Sports Network. That's all ahead here on the Big Blue Sider six point thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blueing Sider. Joining us now on our celebrity Hoidline, one of my favorite people and teammate on the UK Sports Network, former UK All Conference defensive end Jeremy Jarman and Jeremy it won't be long now, will it? Are you feeling it?

Yeah? Definitely starting to get the emotions again. I was able to get on the website and download the schedule also my calendar, so that was a nice little addition that you Can Athletics added to the site the ability to just kind of plug those games into the personal calendar. So I think doing that the other day that really brought out, brought everything to the table and brought those emotions full circle. And the times are slated for the first few games

for the first time in my lifetime, I'm pretty I'm pretty excited. Game. Well, let's talk about that schedule. And I've been saying all along that and everybody knows the games are always tough, it's when they happen, and in terms of early challenges, Jeremy, this has got to be the toughest that I've seen in a long long time for uk Man. It gets started fast and you know, you think back some years back when we when we played Southern miss Uh in Kroger Field and they had us on the ropes.

So to start that game out against Southern Myss. I have a lot of respect for that program. Really tough, really tough group of kids that they recruit. I'm looking forward to deep diving in there. But then boom, you turn around the next week and you're right in the SEC football play. So I mean, there's there's no margin there, There's no margin for error, There's no margin for this kind of lackluster start because it comes quick

this season. Yeah, now the ups and downs are you got everybody healthy, but you're not quite settled in maybe in week two or three that you will be mid season. Do you have many concerns in that direction? Say that again, Gave. When you've got a tough game early in the year, you're relatively healthy, but you're still trying to figure things out with maybe some of the younger players. Are the rotations? Do you have any strong

feelings either way? You know, when I look at this team and I look at I look at the offensive line, I look at the defensive line units, those are those are experienced units for us this year. So you know, ideally you'd like to think that those are going to be your strong suits and when those when those units are strong, game you don't have to get you don't have to be fancy early. You just got to be effective at what you want to do and what you want to be good at.

And we know markdouts football teams. Offensively, they want to eat the clock because that's the football. And defensively, Brad White, he just wants to basically mix it up and muck it up for these teams. So when you're strong up front, like I'm starting to suspect that we could be on both sides of the ball, I think that that's going to help some of the inexperienced players to be able to ease into gameplay, especially at the quarterback position.

You mentioned the D line, and that's got to be an area I would think of strength. Although losing Josiah Hayes, I really that's that's a real damaging blow. I think he may be going for the year. We don't know. They just signed a Juco D tackle, but I still think they've got quality depth starting with Dan Walker obviously, but he makes everybody around him better. What do you think of it? D line? You know

a little something about d Lions you know, I like this group. I look at Ripka just continuing to come into his own I anticipate him having a big season. Silver's the guy, in my opinion, I think he's the X factor up there on that defensive lot, keeping him on the field, keeping him healthy, keeping him in gags. Last year he got off to a quick start and then he just kind of, I think, just kind of things and banged up and he just kind of disappeared from the film.

And if they can keep him on the field game, he's a super talented d lineman. He's shoes, he's massive, long arm, long, big broad chest and back. He's a guy that can help him Between him and Walker, if both of those guys are playing at their capabilities, it just makes life for everybody a little bit easier. Yeah, because they got a double team Walker. I mean, you know, I've been talking on the

air about the fact on takeover day. I don't know if you had any time, you're a busy man to just sit and watch any of those those games that they replayed. They replayed the Florida win and the Louisville win, and those guys you've been talking about, especially Walker, they kept isolating ESPN did on how U of L in particular was trying to one on one block

him and it was impossible, wasn't it. Yeah, it's impossible. There's not a lot of players that you just come across in college football that just have that physique and that stamina, that skill set. There's nothing you can do in practice, gay to prepare for Dion Walker if you don't have a guy that's ultimately sixty six, three hundred and thirty pounds and moves as well as as as the best defense into your defense linement in the country. I

mean, he's a unicorn. Yeah, and you can't simulate that in practice. So you got to respect those teams and those programs for allowing their guys to have the opportunity to try to block these guys, because sometimes it can be a detriment to a player if you don't give him the ability to see if he can block a player one on one, and if he can, that's a confidence booster. If he can't, then that player knows. Okay, I need to dig in a little bit more. I got some film

and now I can work towards this on the offseason. Now I know what an all that sec he give us to the lineman looks like, I know what a potential All Americans, potential lottery pick defensive lineman looks like, so you got to give your players a chance versus just saying you can't block the on walker. You know, we're just gonna double We're gonna double teaming today.

So you know there, So there's a couple of different ways to look at why you see teams attempt to block him in one on one situation. But I don't expect there to be too many players that are going to be able to do that consistently this season. I hadn't thought about that that if you're sitting in in the the meeting room prior to playing Kentucky and you're an old lineman, you've got to be saying to yourself, well, I think I can take this guy, but unless you faced him before, you know,

how do you admit give me some help on this? Right? For sure? And for sure? I mean and there's times, you know, as a defensive lineman or linebacker, you know, whether it's a back being able to carry a back out of the backfield and man the man situations where you're asking your coach, hey, you know why aren't you giving me a

chance I can tackle this guy in space? And I think sometimes as a player, that competitor nature has to come out and you got to say, you know, I can block this guy, Coach, don't we don't need the double team. Let's let's try to work up and you try to do it until you realize that maybe you just can't. But you know, even in our practice, you know, with our players on our team, you know they have to double team Dion Walker to be able to get through practice

segments. And when they don't, he's so disruptive that Mark has to take him out out of some of the practice sessions. I think I remember Stoop's talking about that. That that that got my attention as much as anything where they actually had to take him out of drills because he was throwing people around to he didn't want to hurt anybody. Yeah, And I thought it was a little bit of hyperbole at first, and then as I started to get in and get over there to practice, and then we saw the body of

work on game days, He's absolutely right. I mean, Deon Walker, it's tough to practice against a guy like that unless the guy that's blocking him in practice is also a unicorn, are also ultimately a bona fide pro because he is, he is a he could potentially this season we could be saying that he's a generational type tight talent at the defensive tackle position. All right, be honest with me, and then we'll move on talking about Dion Walker

with Jeremy Jarmon. But how surprised are you, Jeremy, that he's still here? Let's face it, we all know we got a nice nil chunk, but a lot of schools have nil bucks. Are you pleasantly surprised he's still a wildcat? I'm not. And the reason why that is is because I know the type of relationship that he has with the guys in the locker room and also anwar Stewart, the defensive line coach, and Brad White.

But him and anwar are very close. And you can see the body of work I got film breakdown on Dion from game one to present and the buy in the technical He's got natural gifts, but you can see you can see the tools that are that he's deploying, that he's being taught by anwar Stewart who was a technician in college, a technician and professional Canadian Football League.

So he's getting better. There's no reason for Dion Walker to leave and go to another school for a little bit more money, because he's ultimately he's going to end up where he wants to be, which is the National Football League. And he's just he's just continued to just grow and develop at UK and and and and he's going to have an incredible junior campaign. I'm glad you

mentioned Ann War. I was going to ask you about him. You and so many former players who either know him or played with Anwar have been so complementary of him and supportive of Anwar there. So you guys are all so impressed with a job he's doing and obviously the proofs of the putting, But what is it about Anwar you think that has made him so successful at his alma mater. He's authentic. He's an authentic person and he truly wants what's

best for his guys. And I just see the relationship when I go out to practice, I go over and that's where I like to hang out. I like to see and War and those guys and their interactions and it's always inspiring for me. And I see the best, the best players on the team also being amongst the hardest workers on the team, because that from a cultural standpoint, that's not always the case. Sometimes your best players are average workers in practice and then they kind of flip a switch on game day.

And Dion's just the guy that he's a grizzly twenty four to seven. I mean, he's mauling people when it's time to mall people, he's malleling them. And they're having to ultimately putting, you know, taking out of practice sessions in order to be as productive as they want to be because they're focusing on the team. So relationships trump everything. And I think ultimately for these guys they're going to learn is that you can go out and you can go

shop around and you can find the highest price tag. But when you continue to look at the high level of recruiting that this staff is getting done, and you look at the quotes that are coming out from the players and from their families, they say, the facilities are great, you know, the

bills and whistles there there, But the people. It's the people that I enjoyed, the people that I met, the people that when I'm coming on my unofficial business, the true relationship building that's taking place, and that's why Marcus continuing to have success in recruiting, and that's why he's also been able to keep some of his top stars, being able to keep them at Kentucky

despite us not having the highest NIL offer. I can assure you, Dion Walker, the offers that he's gotten have exceeded probably not probably, they have exceeded what he's getting at UK. Yeah, there's no doubt in min There's no doubt in my mind. And it's funny you say that because when you're talking about family, I've heard more recruits talk about that about on their visit.

You know, they just felt a kind of a family vibe at UK and at facility and from the coaches, the recruiters, the guys who host them on their visit and it seems to be genuine and it's paying off on the field. We're talking to Jeremy Jarman or the UK Sports Network. We'll come back and talk more with Double Jay's in just a minute. Here on the Big Moon Sider six. Back to the Big Newing Sider. My guest Jeremy Jarman from the UK Sports Networking and Christy Thomas, part of our pregame

coverage of Kentucky football, and it won't be long now. I've talked to a lot of people this summer, Jeremy about the fact that, of course Kentucky is not in the preseason top twenty fives after back to back seven win seasons, which amazingly have been disappointing to Kentucky fans. But really it is a mystery at least on offense, isn't it. When you've got a new OC, a new quarterback, we don't know who's going to carry the mail in the offensive backfield. We think we know, but the one thing is

you touched on earlier is the offensive line. How confident are you with all these question marks on the offensive side of the ball. One of those it's one of those things gave is that the players in the talent is there. But I'll tell you, changing coordinators, new quarterback, those are recipes for disaster. Yep. I mean, we just we just have to be honest. I mean, statistically, I've seen the articles over the years when you

see NFL teams change offensive coordinators, they change quarterbacks. Those are significant and and there's no different tier in mark he has he has somehow he has been able to manage these these changes with the coordinators as well as anybody as I've ever seen, Because for some head coaches, these OC or DC changes they're they're there. I mean, they ultimately lead to coaches getting fired. GM's getting fired. But he's been right in picking these coordinators to come in.

He's been right ultimately and finding that that signal caller to come in and run the offense. So the concern is here is is you know you go and you got you got a new OCS coming in from an outside conference like the scheme, still got to watch some more Boise film. Uh, you have a talented quarterback room. The guy, as you're likely starter, doesn't have a lot of snaps under his belt. Gavin Wims that is coming in, he probably he may be one of the more experienced players in the room.

I still think that there's gonna be a true quarterback battle in that room. I don't care how many stars, I don't care how many starters are there across some of these players, But I still think that there's gonna be an honest quarterback battle in Paul Camp. Do you think it's gonna be a two man battler or three man, we're gonna see. But I'm I'm really intrigued. I think there's gonna be some storylines that come out, and as they

should. I don't think that this quarterback, this position is gonna be handed to someone. Yeah, I think everybody knows has an expectation of who they think QB one is gonna be from the start. But I think that there's there's gonna be a battle for it. I really do. Are you saying that because of your concern about the fact that, let's face it, we all think Brock vandergriff released a lot of us will be the starter, or are you saying that because you believe Bo Allen has improved that much and that

Gavin Wimson brings a lot to the table. I think Gavin does bring some things to the table. You know, his experience been one of them we talked about. Bobo also has experience. You know, whether he's gonna whether he's going to be able to push to be the push to be a starter in that room, I can't make that determination. I think that that's I think that that's more unlikely. But I like the experience that Bo brings. So we're gonna see Gabe, I just want I want to get out.

I want to watch the guys kind of spin it. I want to watch the edge rushers come off the edge. I want to watch them push the quarterbacks up into the pocket. One of the things about Bush with these quarterbacks quick release. It's quick release football, quick reads football, and and basically the guy that thinks that that his brain sees it breathes the coverage the quickest. Yeah. I don't think that you have to have the most talented arm

in the room in order to succeed in Bush's offense. You just got to have the smarts and the release and the accuracy, don't you. Yeah, I mean it's it's it's it's a lot of quick game stuff. It's a lot of stuff off of some misdirection, a lot of quick games and quick quick game that to me, that benefits that benefits a lot of quarterbacks. I think that that with good decision making that you can really get into a

rhythm. And I think a guy like Gavin, I think he's I think that this is a this is a system that he could potentially thrive in. Uh I sleep rock as well. So I'm just curious to see a little bit more this fall. You know, obviously we didn't get a chance to see see a ton uh, you know, see a ton from from this room. But I'm curious to see what what ultimately what's gonna look like here in a few weeks follow up on on the quick release brand of offense.

And I'm not trying to pigeon all anything, but I'm just curious from your side of the football, does that benefit a receiving group more one than the other or style? Does it mean fewer deep shots? Does that mean fewer checkdowns to running backs or or more patterns for running backs that kind of thing. What should we look for? I think what we should look for is sorry, a little bit of noise in the background. Uh. I think what we should look for is is just basically when I look at this offseason,

I look at coach Schworts, the new wide receiver coach. I'm curious to see the level of I think mental toughness, consistency and just route running

and unders and basically comprehension of defensive schemes. I think that our wide receiver room under coach Shortz has the ability to basically take a take a step forward in terms of IQ football IQ. So when you look at some of this quick game stuff, being able to understand the route tree, being able to read the defender, the corner that's in front of you, especially when you're

talking about option routes being in sequence your quarterback. So when you go back a few seasons and you look at you look at one Dale Robinson catching one hundred balls, which is just absolutely just amazing one hundred balls as the smallest player on the field, it is because of football, Like you, It's because him and Will Levis were so in sync and they understood coverages. I mean, those guys just put on they put on the clinic a few years

ago. So I'm curious to see if one or multiple of these guys, with this new quick with this new offense, if they're gonna take a similar step where they're gonna be in sync ultimately with our QB one to be able to start to rack up yards, move the change. I mean, a lot of this is IQ, and the more those guys can comprehend, then the more that can be added with the option routes and with the wrinkles that you can put in place off of these things. Wandale so often was a

catch and run kind of guys, that what you're talking about. Yes, that's good to me, Jeremy Jarnson. I guess we'll come back and talk more Kentucky football. Saren just a minute with Double Jays. We'll step out for the news break and then bring Jeremy back in our number two on six

point thirty wlap every sing Welcome back to the Big bluins Sider. We're talking with Jeremy jarm and he is in trendsit as he often is, but we took the opportunity to talk some UK football with him, and it'll be here before long here Jeremy's coverage along with Christy Thomas on our pregame show here on the UK Sports Network. And of course the Wildcats again a mystery team according

to many, but that's understandable with all the question marks. But the one thing we know, Jeremy, I'm fairly confident that the defense will give the offense the opportunity to win the game. And that's what it's all about him, all right, it is, And that's that has been Brad White's calling cards since he's been here. I think I think Brad has just he's done a phenomenal job, and I'm curious to see how if any new wrinkles that he puts in that'll be you know, those will be conversations to kind of

talk with him about. But he's just done a good job and had a chance to sit down with him. And I just always always enjoy, always enjoy seeing how he develops inexperienced players and how he continues to just kind of add to their workload as they grow and mature. And Andrew Phillips being one of those guys who's going to be myssed dearly. But Andrews starting out here as a guy primarily an inside inside corner, you know, and and basically

being asked lud and and and play outside coverages. And I asked Brad and he kind of he kind of got a frown on his face when I asked her the question. I kind of felt like a paracist what I asked it. But I said, you know, you're losing Andrew. I said,

does it feel like you're losing two players? And he kind of frowned up, and then he bounced back and he said you and and you know, he acknowledged just the importance of that role that Andrew played, so, you know, trying to replace his experience and his nastity and just seeing how he how he facilitates that and how did players how they handle it. So just

just a lot. I think he's just done a good job. It was huge getting out and being able to get to Georgia transfer at the linebackers and to come into the linebacker room that was that was a huge void void filler there. Jamie is gonna do well right next to right next to our guy d Eric Jackson, D jack Down. The stretch was money last year, wasn't he? He was? He really was continuing to grow, continuing to grow. He's a guy because he's not as fast and twitchy as some of

the other linebacks inside linebackers have been over the years. So for him, the pre snap, the pre snap reeds, the post snap reeds, being able to process that a little quicker. I think that that's what what what was happening for him is being confident in his reads and and basically starting to

anticipate things versus sitting back. He didn't have the he doesn't have the natural ability sometimes to sit back and let something open up and be able to react and and and get in there and get that PBu like like a Trevin Wallace, but but d Jack, he he's a physical player. There a lot of experience. Looking forward to seeing him down in Dallas. Uh in about a week or so at the S Days. Yeah, I'm excited he got You know, he's wasn't He's not as outgoing as Trevin Wallace was, but

he still led the team in tackles the last couple of years. Uh. And I do believe though, help let me ask you how much will he miss playing alongside Trevin Walla. They had such a great relationship, you know, one of those kind of unspoken deals where they just knew each other's moves on and off the field. But bring it in Pop from Georgia should help kind of allay that, right for sure. And a lot of that's just going to be in camp in the film room, talking through things as you

start to see what a player is capable of. And you mentioned Pop, just another experienced football player, and I really think that they're going to sharpen each other just in terms of just play and alignment and anticipation of routes and just down in distance. Just a lot of the pre staff communication that happens before the snap of the ball. And I think Pop is one of those

guys he's really good at that. You don't rack up and have the kind of success that he has by not having a good, good understanding of the game and schemes and what teams are trying to do to you. That's work that's done in what you guys call the film room. And you're looking at video right for sure, A lot of Yeah, that's where a lot of

the work's done. Sitting back with some flower seeds and the cowboy remote gay and and uh and going through and just looking at the film until things just start to until they just start to click, until you start to see tendencies, you start to see friends, You start to see little pre staple alignments

that teams and that players do to get subtle advantages. And those are the kind of things that experience coaches that they that they teach, that they teach players, and as players get more and more experienced than the coaches just basically able to just pour it on. I mean it becomes like a master of graduate level of course of the ball. Where Brad Moulhat I like, uh, like the d jack that he wouldn't be having with one of the younger

linebackers because he's just not there yet. I've heard guys talk about learning to watch film. You know. It's not like you could just sit down and it washes over you, right, I mean, you've got to know what to look for and that kind of thing, and what to study and what to let go. Yeah. I think the main thing is is that now there's so much, there's so much that these offensive coordinators are throwing at you,

and they're self scouting. They're making sure to try to keep their runs to the left, runs to the right, balance short, intermediate, long range play action. So there's a lot of self scouting where they try to keep the defenders from being able to guess. But at the end of the day the film, ultimately, you just need to have an answer for what teams do do the best. Yeah, and if they beat you on some of the ancillary things and you just got to live with that, but you

can't let them beat you at what they do best. Interesting, you know, and I remember I think it was it was either what he Hayes or Bow, one of those two legendary coaches, talked about just that about attacking a team at its strongest point, because if and when you can break that down, you've broken them mentally and emotionally, haven't you. You know, there's a lot of psychology behind that. I think some of the old school

guys they do such a good job of saying those kinds of things. And now you look at a Shun Peyton with some of the more controversial statements. You know, attack the head and the body will die will symbolically symbolically, he's absolutely right. I mean, if a team's run dominant and they've had success running the toss suite, and you're shutting those things down early, now that team can't get into a rhythm. So now the head of the team,

you're offensive coordinator. Now he's trying to figure out, Okay, how can I get the team into a rhythm. Now he has abandoned what has worked best for the team. Now your players know that there's some struggles because you're talking about it on the sideline, and now you're starting to cast doubt amongst yourselves and whether this game plan is going to be good today. So there's a lot of psychological chess play that's going on throughout the game in different

phases. That are you know, that are fascinating and it's fun to sit back and just kind of talk with guys about what it was, what play it was, at what point there was a sudden change that really kind of you know, blew the door in to either allow a team to get back on track or what it was ultimately that that kind of brought about the defeat.

So, yeah, football is a very complex game. It's simple, but it's very complex with the different nuances and alignments that you can show what you know, it's fun, it's fun covering for UK Sports Network Gave and or we get a chance to sit back and just kind of talk about talk about some of those things. Yeah, and you know what, if you can along with what you're saying, take let's say it is the toss sweep. Take that away from a team that's really good and now they've got to

be wondering, all right, what do we do now? You know, now you're you're trying to adjust on the fly when you've worked all week on a game plan that suddenly just melted away right, correct, correct, And it's and it's frustrating for a coach and it can be demoralizing for a football

team. You know, you can just go you can go back and you can look at you can look at a game like Florida last year with with uh, I mean, it was just, it was just it was an incredible game, an incredible individual effort for Ray Davis, but the offensive line so many things fell in place. And once you cast that doubt, once that doubt creeps in and teams and players know, hey, just game plans

not working today, it's over. Yeah. When the players start to doubt the game plan and they start to you know, doubt the doubt, the scheme is absolutely over that afternoon, and so it is. It's gonna be fun to see to see how this camp opens up, Gabe, and I'm looking forward to the Southern Miss game to see where to see where Mark and this team are. We will wrap things up with Jeremy Jarman on the other side of the break. More UK football chatter coming up here on the Big

Blueing Sider six thirty WLA. We're talking with Jeremy Jarman. He is, of course, the former Kentucky defensive and All Conference and now our teammate on the UK Sports Network. You mentioned Ray Davis a minute ago and again going back to watch those sec takeover games, a Florida game, the U of L game, and you remember them, I know, because you've just been referring to him, and you filled in for me quite capably on the U of L game, and I was out with my little medical venture last year.

But those I think were his best two games. Obviously the Florida game where he said records, but the Louisville game on the road against a higher ranked team and a team that had clearly yeared its defense to stopping his run game, and yet he found ways both on the ground and through the air to help Kentucky pull out that upset. It's a lot to ask one guy to come in and fill his shoes, though, am I right? Uh, There's no one coming in the field the shoes that Ray Davis Field.

I mean, he had one of he had one of the best running back seasons that I've that I've been able to witness in person. And it was just it was fun to cover him. He was such a versatile running back, the ability to hit the home run tough first, the season went on in terms of being able to get some yards some yards after intact as well, not in the way that obviously his predecessors in Rodriguez Snail had but in his own way. But his versatility catching the ball out of the backfield.

I mean the seven the seven touchdowns receiving, the compliment is almost fifteen hundred yards rushing and what an incredible campaign that he had in this last year. So yeah, I don't have any expectations that that one person is going to be able to do that to replicate that. So I'm curious to see who's who is of this group? Will he merge? I'm really high. I'm really high on Demi Demi Sumo karmbe really high on him. I think he's a fantastic football player. I think he can help us in the run game

as well as the receiving game. I'd like to see if they're going to utilize him maybe a little bit more in the slight capacity, give him some opportunities there and the way NC State did a couple of seasons ago. So uh so we'll see there. I think he's very versatile. So uh but we all know that there's a there's a there's an open battle there at the

running back position. I think I think it's a it's a talented room but we'll see if there's someone that will emerged that that's able to carry the bulk of the shares. The one thing we know, We've talked a lot about the mysteries on offense, but the one thing we know is Barrion Brown is one of the premier home run hitters potentially in the country. And the Dane Key. Even though he had a couple of drops against Louisville, he made

some absolutely clutch catches for first downs for touchdowns against the Cardinals. Those two guys compliment each other so well. I think Dane has shown growth and maturity from maybe the middle of his freshman year on. I think Barrion needs to take a big step this year. But I keep hearing Jeremy that he is poised and ready to do that. Have you heard the same thing? I have heard that. And I think that that room, I think that that's

a very talented room, and and I was I was very appreciative. I know it's always tough anytime you have to go different directions from a coach, from a coaching perspective, but I'm really high on the things that I've read about coach Schortz. I like his background as a player as well, and I'm just I'm really intrigued to see how his presence will translate to the wide receiver room. That's interesting because generally coaches come in pick up where somebody else

left off. This guy, I think he's already had a pretty good impression, left a pretty good impression, a good impact on that room, don't you. I think so. I think so. And ultimately I think I think that will know for sure here here in a few weeks game And and I'm eager to talk with the players as well and just kind of talk about some of the differences, some of the differences and and how they feel that

they've grown this grown as players and pass catchers. I know at times last year there seem to there seemed to be just kind of a I don't know, I don't want to say lack of focus, because you know, when you're dropping the football, it's hard. You know, I never had to catch the football for a living, So sometimes with some of those drops, is it focus? Is it you know? Is it good defense? Was

the ball a little wildly? You know, there's a there's a lot of reasons, but there were times where it just seemed like we kind of our receiver room kind of got into a lull. Yeah yeah. Barrian had that big drop in the back of the end zone wide open against the Gators, and Dane dropped the first ball thrown to him against Louisville. But they both bounced back and made huge plays, either catching the ball or on the jet

sweep of Barrion Brown. So, and it's interesting that you mentioned coach Schortz one of the first answers of our interview, and so he has clearly made an impression on you. So that's going to be interesting. Jeremy, I won't take any more of your time. It's always great talking football with you, looking forward to that first game as you are looking forward to hearing you and Christy break things down, and I'm sure we'll talk again before kickoff.

I appreciate you joining us. Yeah, game anytime. Man. Love talking football with Jeremy Jarman. And it won't be long now before we see kickoff over at Kroger Field. Something came out the other day. I don't know that we saw a whole lot of play. I know I didn't talk much about it because we were wrapped up in other things. But the athlon preseason all America and All Conference teams announced. Used to be, Athlon was the

voice when it came to preseason magazines. Now there are so many it kind of gets lost in the shuffle, but important to note that Kentucky had three preseason All Americans on the athlon team. Walker made second team, of course, Barrion Brown was second team preseason All American as a specialist, and Maxwell

Harriston defensive back, was fourth team of course on defense. So three on the preseason All America team for athlon, and then of course Dion Walker first team for a defense, Barrion Brown first team, specialist, Harriston a first team defender. Dane Key was named second team on offense, Pop Dumas Johnson's second team on defense on the third team, Derek Jackson linebacker, Marcus Cox offensive lineman, JJ Weaver defensive end, and Eli Cox made fourth team as

an offensive lineman. So Atlon Man, we could wait to get to you know, Kroger or whatever and get our copy of the Athlon preseason. He was on the cover, on the regional cover, and that kind of thing we already knew about the Phil Steele preseason All of America list. Phil Steele publishes the magazine that has got so much information crammed into it you really need a magnifying glass to check everything out. But he named his All America team,

has Walker's second team and Barrion Brown second team as well. Then he's got the usual suspects on his preseason All Conference team. In fact, it's pretty much exactly the same names as we just read off on the Athlon magazine.

So you know, Kentucky football has forged a lot of respect. And we talked with several people already this summer about the fact that Kentucky expectations now are high and they should be because of the recruiting and the development that Mark Stoops and his staff have done, and that has landed people on all conference teams. And there were years in the past and you might remember them where Kentucky wouldn't have anybody or maybe one person on a preseason or postseason All conference

list. And now you know you've got eight, nine, ten people, which means the folks doing the voting are expecting more from Kentucky. And coming up next week we will have the preseason voting by the media at SEC Media Days to find out where they believe Kentucky will land. Last year it was second in the East behind Georgia. No more divisions now, but I gotta think Kentucky will have lower expectations this year. But wildcats like to play with

a chip on their shoulder. Up next, we'll talk Kentucky volleyball with Hunter Mitchell here on the Big bluon Sider six point thirty wlap. Welcome back to the Big Bluinsider. Joining us now somebody who's familiar to you if you followed our show for a while, which we appreciate. Also to the Cameron Mills Show which went off the air awhile back, but Hunter Mitchell was a regular.

Welcome back to these airwaves. Hunter, do you do you miss the Cameron Mills Show on Sunday Night seecause he kind of tried to make you a little bit of a punching bag. I do. I miss Cam. I missed this show. We had so much fun, especially that last year and a half two years when we kind of got into the fun stuff of the show, like the Cameron con and all that kind of stuff. We had a ball. So yes, I missed Sunday Nights very much, very much.

He tried to shame you into seeing movies that you should know. Yeah, I don't know if you if he ever told you this, but I looked up movies that that had been out for quite a while, maybe less time than the ones that you were supposed to know about, and he knew nothing of these classic films either. So that's Cameron. I mean, that fits the then of him. So I know that's true. But the reason that that Hunter and I see each other quite often at UK volleyball matches,

and there's a lot going on with UK volleyball these days. And I know you still cover the sport, you cover the team, the program, But this event that's coming up, they've got a a huge not a preseason it's a regular season event, but it kind of kicks off the season, doesn't

it, And it's going to be something else, isn't it. It's quite the way to kick off the twenty twenty four volleyball season for the best teams in the country over the last several years, Nebraska playing Kentucky at the Young Centers start of the season, and then following that match, Louisvilleill take on Wisconsin. So a really really cool event that's happening in general, especially here in Kentucky as the sport has blown up even more over the last you know,

four or five years. So the fact that we're getting that, the whole volleyball world across the country is getting to watch that, and it's happening here in Louisville. Yeah, it's a really really cool, cool event to start the seasons. The ABC a first serve showcase, as Hunter said, and it is a doubleheader. Wildcats open up in an exhibition with Dayton a few days prior to that. But man, for Kentucky to tackle Nebraska right off the bat, you know, it's something you wouldn't have thought of years

ago, but now that's where this program is, isn't it. Yeah, it's kind of a norm for Craigskinner now, right. He always seems to tackle these Texas is Wisconsin's Nebraska's early in the season because he knows if you're familiar with vollyball, is that a lot of people know now that that's what you have to do in volleyball to get one of those coveted top four seeds. You know, hope to hopefully host at home until the final four.

Obviously this year, if that were the case for Kentucky, you get to host at home to the final four, and then you would go to Louisville to play in the final four because the final four was played at the em

Center this year. So there's a lot on the line for those Kentucky schools this year, you know, especially Kentucky and Louisville, because if they could find a way to get into that top four, you could be looking at on your way to a national championship, literally never leaving the state of Kentucky, which would be an incredible advantage for the Cats. Obviously, that's that's an advantage that usually Nebraska gets right. Usually it's always hosted in Omaha,

so it'd be nice for once if it happened somewhere else. But you know, Nebraska's kind of been the one team that Craig has not been able to get the monkey off his back. Obviously, he was an assistant coach with John cookover in Nebraska before he came to Kentucky. So he has never beaten Nebraska since he's been here in Lexington. So he is he keeps trying. It's his credit. He is not giving it up. In one of these days, he's going to get him. We'll see if this is the year.

So yeah, and you know, obviously it helps with recruiting to play a schedule like this. And by the way, if that happens, or if it comes close to happening, Kentucky or Louisville is an eye on getting to the Final four and winning it without leaving the state. It will come up, and I'll prepare you for it right now. You may already know this. Nineteen fifty eight, Kentucky won the national title with a Finland vibe never left the state of Kentucky. Yeah, so there is precedents when it

comes to basketball. Well, let's talk a little bit about why Craig Skinner plays the schedule that he does. Now, obviously it's to we mentioned recruiting, but it's to prep his team for a regular season that sometimes is grueling through the SEC. Sometimes the league isn't that tough. But as you said, you know scheduling in Nebraska and later on Penn State for out loud ball, State comes to town, Louisville comes to election in this year, so

and then Stanford at in Palo Alto. Man, if you can survive that with some wins, you've toughened your team enormously, haven't you. Yeah, And especially with the improvement of the SEC. Like used to, you had to schedule tough in me at a conference because the league was so weak. So the only way you were going to even get a formidable seed in the tournament was the schedule tough like that. Now though the league has caught up. Obviously, last year we saw Arkansas at Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky.

All of these were teams that, if Florida hadn't gotten hurt, they were a favorite to possibly make a canal four, win a championship. But all of those were teams that were vying for you know, Sweet sixteen to lad ate some of them made obviously, Kentucky sell to Arkansas in that Sweet sixteen last year to make the Elite date. So the league has caught up, and especially with Texas now joined the league. We'll talk about that, I'm

sure here in a little bit. But now that they've come, you're playing volleyball perennial powerhouses every year if you're Craig Skinner, So there's already to stop it, right, You're just preparing your team for what is going to come in then instably tournament because you're inevitably going to run into a Big ten team or into one of those well, I guess are on a PAC twelve team anymore. They were, but you were going to run into one of those

big Pac twelve teams that gave you so much trouble. So that's why he scheduled early, because if you don't have experience against it, it's it's very different going up against a big ten block compared to an SEC block, at least it used to be. Now that that gap has closed pretty substantially just because of the improvement of the league and the coaching in the league. But used to that was why you did it, because it was just such a

massive difference. You had to prepare your team for it somehow. And you know this. But folks, if you have never seen Kentucky play against a Big ten team, when a big ten team enters the building, you know it because they're all just huge, aren't they. Yeah? Yep. And and Craig, to his credit as well, you've begun seeing him recruit that way right because that he's big. I mean even last year they were big. They're they're big again this year with Brooke Boltem and Brooklyn Delay. I

mean, they're getting a lot more size than they used to. So you're seeing again the way Craig has built this program, he's catching up to that Nebraska stuff where you know you're gonna win with size. So well, you mentioned the SEC and it's it's getting tougher and tougher. They open up one weekend, the last weekend in September at Auburn. Then they go to Florida. Right then they got a midweek match with Oklahoma and there and following Sundays

or Missouri and then Texas and then Tennessee. There's really no no respite, is there. There's not no there. You again, there used to be used to. You were seeing Kentucky, you know, at least six years ago, you were seeing them regularly going eighteen and one. Honestly similar to what you saw Kentucky basketball doing in the early years of Cal. It was

you were steamrolling through the SBC. There was no competition. And that's just not the case sing or even Auburn, who I didn't even mention earlier. You know, Auburn was a team that was undefeated for half the season last year and got ranked and went into the NTAA Tournament and made some noise beating I think they beat Creighton last year. So like this league as a whole

is catching up to the rest of the country. And you know last year the big tap and really didn't do a whole lot early in the tournament. It was the SEC making the noise and everyone was like, wait a minute, now, when did this? Where did it come from? And we saw the Arkansas and even Tennessee last year they took Texas to five. Obviously, Texas won the national championship in Tennessee too, come to five having lost

their starting Liberro in the second set. So even that you wonder if they had had their starting Libarro for the rest of the match, what they have maybe beaten Texas. So all of those are what ifs. Obviously it's just to show, you know, the league has substantially cut up and this team, they've got a Gatlin this year, maybe as hard of a schedule as I've seen Craig have for one of his teams. So he clearly believes that

his team can handle whatever he's going on him. So talking to Hunter Mitchell covers UK Volleyball for KSR and you mentioned Texas defending two time national champion joining as we all know with Oklahoma and I talked to Craig Skinner about that, about the fact that you know, for however many years now, what's seven straight the SEC title has gone at least in part through Lexington. Now you got to worry about the Longhorns, And that's nothing to sneeze that. I

don't know much about Oklahoma volleyball. I do know about Texas. Everyone knows about Texas right especially Kentucky fans. They're going to be familiar with a third of the starting lineup this year. So Texas is going to be the one that the whole country is going to be looking at. I mean, it's they think they think of a heavy favorite for a three peat this year. I think most people would agree that. You know, at least as of right now, they're the team to beat. Obviously, you've got to see

him play and see how they gel. But with Maddie Skinner on the left side and Reagan Rusfer on the right side, you're going to be hard pressed to find a front line that is as talented offensively and defensively as those two are, and returning all the talent they had from last year because they were young last year too, they had you know, a young freshman setter in

Ellis Wendle. So they've got a lot of talent coming back. And then with Reagan ruzif for joining the crew, that's going to be a team that's going to be heavily favored to win it all. So that SEC title defense is going to be really difficult. And when that when when Texas comes to Lexington on I think it's October thirteenths on a Sunday, that match is going to be musty television. Obviously, the return of Maddie Skinner for the time

in three years, and Reagan coming back. You know, she left I was you know, got had a great relations with her parents and they left on phenomenal turns. Couldn't say enough great things about Craig and the staff. You know, she just wanted to play her final year close to home for once and be able to beat her own family. So they are going to come back with nothing but you know, a warm welcome hopefully, but they're

going to be they want to beat Kentucky. I mean, you know, Maddie and Reagan, they're going to come in and go, no, we want the title this time. And it's going to be a fun match, especially with memorial being brand news. So that's going to be just a really really cool match to watch for the whole country, but especially if you live

in Lexington. Of course, Maddie and her sister Avery were vital parts of Kentucky's national championship team, and to this day, Hunter I will contend that Maddie was the secret sauce on that team, especially she was in the NCAA tournament, because you can only cover the other side of the that so much, and that leaves Maddie Skinner alone over there, and she took full advantage, didn't she, because everybody was looking at it at all at Alli.

Yeah. Yeah, Ali takes the headline because she had twenty six kills in that match, but Maddy had nineteen as a freshman on the right side. So Maddie was absolutely kind of a quote unquote secret weapon. But she was not secret very long after that her sophomore and on. She's won three national championships at this point, so you know, she has had an incredible career at Texas and at Kentucky. So she is she's one of the best outsides

that I've seen. She reminds me a lot of Avery Avery obviously, now going to Paris and playing the Olympics. But the whole Skinner family in general is incredibly gifted. But Maddie is she has a chance to do something that I don't know if many athletes have done in college, to possibly win four national championships. That's unheard of. So she she's gonna be hungry for I I can trop to you that you know who's done that. The senior class

that plays softball at Oklahoma. Yeah, you think about that. Yeah, so it's not impossible. It just depends on the sport obviously. But yeah, as you said, Texas with a great advantage, really talented roster. Well, so does Kentucky have a talented roster? And you mentioned brook Delay took advantage. I think it was Reagan Russelber was injured a bit last year and Brooklyn kind of got some rotations that she might not have gotten earlier in

the year and really made it work for didn't she. Yeah. So I remember was talking to Leah Edmond on our podcast before the season last year, and she had obviously practiced with the team over the summer, and she said to me on the podcast, Brooklyn Delay is the chance to be has a

chance to compete with me for the all times kill record. And I obviously said, Lee, that's crazy to say that when you watch her freshman campaign, especially like you said, when Reagan went out, they moved her to six rotations, and all of a sudden, the flips switched and she felt like she came into her own. She got comfortable with the offense. She kind of settled into what Ben Josephson, who was the offensive coordinator so to speak, with Kentucky, with what he was asking her to do. She

is one of the most intelligent athletes I've seen play at Kentucky. She just knows how to hit around the block or how to reset a point by hitting the ball into the block to recover it. Like she's just a really intelligent player. And I watched her in the under twenty one tournament that she just got the MVP of actually about a week and a half ago. She's an unavailable brand new hybrid serve that she was just causing complete chaos with her arms.

Swing looks heavier. I think they're really excited for what Brooklyn Delay in a sophomore season is going to be for them, and I think that's partly why we didn't see as much movement with the roster. It's maybe we would have thought if we would have known that you were losing Jordan Thompson and Addie or at least get seen her and Johnny Teeler. I mean, you lose those that kind of offensive production, you'd think you'd see a lot of movement.

We didn't see that, and I think part of that's because they're expecting a lot from Brooklyn, and I don't think there's any reason to believe she can't handle it because she's looked phenomenal in what I've seen at Robert the summer. I've heard great things about how she's been playing, what she's been doing, so I think they're really high on what she could look like for them. She's going to be in contention for SEC Player of the Year this year.

The only problem is she's going up against brag and Russell her to Maddie Skinner, among others, so that's to be a little difficult. But she has been nominal from everything that I've heard from people that cover the program and from walking her in that tournament, so I think they're excited on what she can be this year. We're talking with Hunter Mitchell who covers UK volleyball, which opens the season August twenty seventh in Louisville at the American Volleyball Coaches Association

event taking on Nebraska. We'll talk more volleyball on the other side of the break with Hunter. You're in a Big Bullonsider six thirty. Come back to the Big Bullensider. We're talking Kentucky volleyball with Hunter Mitchell. He covers the sport for CASAR. He has taken pictures and covered volleyball for many, many years. And we were talking prior to the break about Brooklyn Delay and some

of the other talented Wildcats. Brooklyn Delay is pre season All Conference and so are two of her teammates, Emma Grome, the setter one of the best in the country has been since she set foot on campus, and Eleanor Bevin, another senior from Louisvill Toe Lie Borough. So it's like most sports, isn't it, Hunter, If you're strong up the middle, you got a

real shot. Those are pretty good building blocks. Yeah, And I don't I want to say this, and I want to make sure I'm not making it clear that I'm not comparing this upcoming team to the national championship do by any means. But what that national championship team had for Kentucky in twenty twenty was a senior setter and a senior libero, and I think those are two things. Obviously, your setter anchors your offense, your libero anchors your defense.

So having seniors that you are really leading those two sides of the court. Emma Grom has been, like you said, one of the best setters in the country since she steps up on campus. We've been comparing her in some ways to what madisonally was do I think most would say it's one of the best setters that's ever come through Kentucky, if not the best. And

obviously Madison's now coaching her as an assistant coach on the staff. So the fact that we're getting another year of Emma Grom and she gets another year under Madison Lily, I think she's going to take it up another level. And Eleanor Bevin has been honestly undervalued, in my opinion, by the rest of the league. She's not won I to see Libero of the Year since her freshman year. Remember before that, Kentucky was winning every year. Now that's

not happening. Anymore. I think it's voter fatigue, yep. But she has been anchoring the passing, anchoring the defense the way that the Gaby curryes did before her. So having those two pieces be senior leaders, I think it's going to be really important for Kentucky this year, especially as they take on, you know, this harder schedule that has the Nebraska's and the Penn States and the Stanfords and Texas and all that. Like, that's gonna be

really really important. Yeah, and you and I talked about this before that Eleanor Berevitt had the stats, but I do I agree. I think it's probably Kentucky fatigue, at least on that position. By the way, Kentucky with three in the preseason All Conference, for whatever that's worth. The only other school to do that, of course, Texas with Maddie's Kinner, Reagan

Rutherford and Ellen Ella Swindle a couple of minutes off. But Hunter Mitchell, who covers Kentucky volleyball and has been when did you get the bug on volleyball? Because I did a long time ago. It was the first sport I ever photographed for the Kentucky Colonel when I was a student at Kentucky. So twenty fourteen, so actually ten years ago. This year will be my ten year anniversary covering volleyball. So what was it about volleyball? Did they grabbed

you? It was so fast I didn't know what I was watching, but the minute I was like, man, this is fun. And when you get up close in personal and get to watching game in person, which again this is the year to do it with the new memorial coliseums, you're a watching game in person. Do it this year. It's beautiful from the plans that they've you know, posted online, I think it's gonna be great. But you really see how athletic these women are and how impressive it is.

Again, the men's game, it's a lot more power and so there's no there aren't rallies. It's just immediately a side out from a serve or just on a first wing. Yeah, there's not these long rallies that we get in women's game. And you if you think about last season, the longest rally of the season that went viral was Kentucky when they played Nebraska, and I think I counted it was like one hundred and three touches. I mean, we get these incredible, incredible rallies that last minutes, you know,

in volleyball and the women's game, and it's so much fun. And that really was what it was. I just couldn't take my eyes off. But it was just so much fun to watch. No, you're right, You're right on it. With a long volleys, no question, and broadcast matches both on the radio and television, I can tell you that's that's just ready for prime time. Incidentally, as you said, they're coming back to the Coliseum. I really liked the matches in Rupp Arena because they got great crowds.

You know, I thought, man, if nobody shows up, but of course the volleyball crowd showed up, and the site lines at rougher so great. But man, I talked to Craig Skinner about this. With that lower ceiling, Memorial Coliseum can be such a weapon when it comes to the home crowd. Right. The loudest sporting event that I've ever been to, and I've been to I'd photographed Kentucky basketball games, was when Kentucky played Western

and was down two in the All Tournament and they came back. I remember that building shaking and there were I think fifty five hundred in the building at that time, but that building because Western was there, it was them as well, So all of the fans were just screaming and yeah, that lower ceiling memorial it is. It's something when Chucky gets rolling and you're playing against a good team. Like I said, that game against Texas is going to

be fun. I think that's going to be one of those games where that room is gonna shake. It's gonna be a lot of fun to go to. So well, Texas is the preseason coaches pull favorite with fourteen of fifteen first places. Well it's Florida got the other one. Kentucky predicted to finish third. But that's gonna make it fun this year. Hunter Mitchell will make it fun with this coverage. Thank you so much, great talking to you.

I will see you at the matches. Sound good day, Good to see you, thanks to Hunter. Thanks to Jeremy Jarman of course, and tomorrow we will hear more from the basketball Wildcats as they made them available to us today. It's kind of a get to know you tour, I guess, but we'll have more of that tomorrow as well when we wrap up the week. That's it. Good night from the garage in Lexington. Everything that happens now is happening now, what happened then? Just now we're it now

now go back to then? No, no, no I can't what miss win just fIF