It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine day. Now, here's Nick coffee.
All right, here we go five o'clock hour here on a Wednesday afternoon.
Thanks for hanging out with us.
It is coffee and company and we are fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety. There's a lot of reasons you should keep Thornton's in mind when it comes to maybe not a daily stop, but unless you've got an electric vehicle, you're probably gonna stop for gas at some point because you need it. And even if you have an electric vehicle, I mean, when it comes to grabbing something convenient rather it be food, drink, boo, whose.
Candy, whatever, they've got it.
And Thornton's not only do they let you save it the pump, but let's just say you are somebody that doesn't that doesn't care about saving money at the gas pump, either because you have an electric vehicle or you just you know, maybe you have a gas card from your employer.
I don't know, but even if they didn't.
Offer the Refreshing Awards program where it's where you saved money at the pump, maybe they just offered savings within the store. That alone would still make it worth your while because it's free and you can take advantage. Currently, right now you can get three Monster Indergy drinks for just seven bucks. But how about this, This has got to be a newer promotion unless I just haven't paid
attention to it. I'm not a big red Bull guy like red Bull, but red Bull often reminds me of bad nights drinking alcohol where red Bull was mixed and ended up mixed in a drink with another drink it didn't like, and it just you know, paid for it the next day. So do you have any is there anything like that that's non out alcoholic Austin for you that make reminds you of a bad night drinking that you just kind of stay away from.
No, But for for me, it's if anything, it's vodka, like just a taste of vodka.
I just can't do anything.
The boost for me is tequila.
But when it comes to mixing, which I now know and I don't drink much liquor, but the you know, if you drink something that is of high quality and you can do it with just water, or you do it like by itself and you slowly sip. It's a little bit more potent clearly, and it'll put you on your ear end if you're not sure monitoring how much
you're drinking. But it is a much smoother experience, like all the sugar with like coke, Like I remember one time, Oh yeah, I realized, like bourbon, if you get a good one and you know you're in a bourbon mood and you can you can monitor the intake level and you do mixing water as well, or you just have like a big like I've seen people with like the humongous balls of.
Ice that they just put in a cup and those.
Yeah, and over time, you know, your your bourbon becomes a little bit watery, but that takes a little bit of the bite off.
Yes, so what it's supposed to do.
And also you know you're not mixing in that sugary soda that can make it to where you're you know, feeling it even worse the next day.
Ginger Ale is always a good throw win for that little old Forester and ginger Ale. That was my young young twenty twenty three to like twenty. It's not a bad mix right there. No, that's old Forester and ginger Ale. That was the constant going out drink.
Yeah, red Bull, I mean vodka and Red Bull. That's a good like And I don't, gosh, I don't I think the last time I had a vodka Red Bull was that was in Vegas, which was at least three four weeks ago.
Appropriate place to have that.
Yeah, Well, we've just been hanging out and had enough beer and I just wanted to mix it up a little bit. And vodka in Red Bull for me is the ultimate not really knowing what I'm going to get in a variety of ways, mostly not knowing if I'm going to just be perfectly chill and the perfect amount of like, you know, a little bit of a buzz, or if I'm going to be tipsy, but also feeling like I can go run a marathon. It gives me
like a you know, a real jolt at times. And then sometimes I've had multiple vodka Red Bulls at night and wake up the next day thinking why are you so dumb?
Why did you mix?
Why did you why did you go to liquor after drinking beer? And then other times I wake up as if I didn't even realize that I drink the night before so I really never know what I'm gonna give. But because of how bad it can be on the other end, it's it's uh, I usually stay away from it. But anyways, the reason I bring up Red Bull is because right now you can do buy two, get one free of the twelve Mounts Red Bulls. And they also
have a five dollars combo. You can get a wild berry doughnut in a wild Berry Red Bull combo five bucks. That's a that's a creative breakfast for you. So again we are philbuth Thornton's certainly appreciate appreciate them all right, So we've been all over the place today. I'll mention the O takea away watch once more, just because as we start the five o'clock hour, unless I have missed it during the break, it doesn't appear that we have received any information just yet. I don't say we like
me and this show. I just mean, okay, here we go. It looks like it is now. Yeah, I did miss it. It happened before we went to break.
In the uh.
In the four o'clock hour, he has decided that he will return to Kentucky for his senior season, which was the obvious right decision, and I would imagine it was what he was going to do all along.
But who knows, maybe he did. Maybe he did.
Have a real last minute, you know, change of heart he was going to go and then he decided to stay. Or maybe he just didn't know and he wanted to utilize every every hour of every day to actually, you know, consider the situation. Or here's another factor that I doubt this is the case, but it really wouldn't surprise me.
These kind of things give you a real big opportunity for marketing and branding, not just for you as an individual as a player, but also for your program because Otegoway coming back solidifies where everybody probably has Kentucky viewed next year as far as preseason rankings. So the content
that goes into this, I don't know if. I mean, I haven't seen any of the actual social media stuff, but if there's like a video that somebody put together or a graphic, you would think they'd have that in mind just in case, you know, I mean, I bet there's been plenty of creatives that work for these universities that have two different scenarios created, right, I guess maybe you actually you wouldn't create.
You wouldn't create.
Something if it's a you know, for example, if he's gonna go pro, I don't think Kentucky would have celebrated with some big, special social media content. But even if the you know, even if there was a ninety percent chance that he does stay in the draft, you would still probably have something available just because you know you
could take advantage of it. So I don't really know what led to it, but he did work out for the Nets today, and he wouldn't have been able to take advantage of that workout had he announced last week or.
Two days ago.
Probably so good, there's a good chance he just wanted to soak up every bit that you can from this process of getting feedback from the NBA and just going through the experience working out with other NBA hopefuls, and you know, there is real value there. But he looks as if he's got his Instagram post he wrote I'm back better now. I assume that's an indication that he got better throughout this process, which if he did, it
wouldn't shock me. I'm sure he's competing against really good players as it's a competitive thing to make it in the NBA, and he will make a lot of money at Kentucky and he may never make it in the NBA. And had he not decided to come back to Kentucky, he wouldn't have had all that money, and he still may have never made it in the NBA. So this was the right decision for him and clearly the one
that Kentucky fans were expecting and hoping. So right now, I feel like there's a good chance that we've got to beat down to as far as players that you realize, if they do decide to come back, it's going to make the team that they play for a lot better than they would be without them. Or it's guys who were in the portal, and when they decide to come back, there's going to be a lot of competition because they're that good. I don't really know who I don't really know who else is even I mean r J.
Luise.
It looks as if and you never know what to believe anymore, because I'm looking right here and this is a Twitter account called Johnny Thunderbird, and it's a Saint John's basketball fan account that put out an hour ago that he's keeping his name in the NBA draft, And look, maybe he is, but like I just now see things from outlets like that and just you know, I don't assume that it's fake, but I don't really know if
I should trust it. But it wouldn't shock me if he does decide to stay, because and it looks like that is in fact what he's decided to do.
Well, there's two different things here.
You've got you've got a report that he's staying, and I don't even know if you can call something that's on ex Twitter or report because you know, you can pay for the blue check mark and just claim your whatever and just mess with people, which a lot of people do that, by the way. So I haven't seen anything certain as far as what he ends up doing. But if he does come back to college and he ends up available, he'll have a.
Lot of suitors because he's that good of a player.
All right, now, let me see if we got anything here the latest from the one and only Jeff Goodman, who I feel like is pretty pretty ahead of the game when it comes to covering and reporting on things like this. But yeah, it doesn't look you know, he did just share the Kentucky news with OA on the field of sixty eight Twitter account but nothing on R. J.
Luise.
And again, people all around here probably don't care anyways, because I wouldn't imagine that any of the local schools would be in play for him if he does come back to school or not. But anyways, that's the big news.
So take Oway is coming back to Kentucky as expected, and now you don't have to worry about what you would do if he didn't, because there really wouldn't be I think a scenario where you could, even with all the money you have, I don't know how you'd be able to make up what you had lost with him.
But it doesn't matter now because again, you didn't lose him. He's coming back to college.
All right.
Also, we got some news on the UL basketball scheduling front. The ACC announced the full schedule today. It just doesn't have we don't have dates and tip time anything like that, but we now know which teams Louisville is gonna play once on the road in conference play, once at home in conference play, and who they will play twice in conference play. We knew it was SMU as the I mean, I'm not calling them a rival regardless what the ACC wants to call it. But the pairing of annual your
annual opponent that you're gonna get twice. Everybody in the ACC has one of those. Louisvill's was SMU, and I think it just played out because both of you are transplants, although Loisl's been there a lot longer and there I guess really was no natural fit anywhere else, so they just lump those two together. So Louis will play SMU every year basketball home and away, and then they're going to rotate a different team every year as a two time opponent. And this year you get Duke, which it
is wild. I think this is really telling in regards to, you know, just where the ACC has fallen in recent years, because you're celebrating at the fact that you get Duke twice, not because you're super confident that you're going to beat them twice, but it's just because you realize that you get two opportunities to probably beat the best team in your league. And there could be a big difference between teams that are you know, Duke and then teams that are you know, in fifth place.
You just don't know.
So I do believe the ACC is going to get better and take a step forward. I just as I mentioned earlier, I think what really is going to be the factor for the ACC and we'll know when we get there. I mean, I don't know this for certain, but this is what I believe, this is how I believe it'll shake out. I think you will have teams like North Carolina, n C State, maybe Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Virginia.
I think those are the teams, maybe even Syracuse. Those are teams that I think will be better than they were a year ago. But are they going to be good enough to where there's real value by beating them in lee play? And where that really gets determined, I think is what you do in the non conference portion
of your schedule. Therefore, I think competing well outside of the conference is going to be huge for the ACC as far as getting any kind of benefit of the doubt when it comes to how conference play shapes up. And the SEC we know is the best league in basketball after last season and wouldn't be shocked if it
once again is the best league in basketball. So if you can be competitive in the ACC SEC challenge and a couple maybe three ACC teams end up beating the top six or seven of the SEC, that could go a long way on selection Sunday. Easier said than done, and we don't even know the matchups just yet, but that is something I think will be a huge factor. And it's just it's usually the ACC is just so good that you know you're going to get opportunities to
get valuable wins. You could you could finish with, you know, three games above five hundred conference play in previous year in the ACC, and you're still safely in with maybe even a decent seed. Louisville went eighteen and two and got an eight seed last year. I mean, that's that's where the league is. So Louisville schedule right now. In the non conference, you've got Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Cincinnati, Memphis, whoever you get in the ACC SEC Challenge, and then
now you get Duke twice. So with those opportunities, if you can take advantage and win some of those games, heck, win a lot of them. I don't know if that's doable, but you should be able to. I mean, Cincinnati and Memphis, let's be honest, aren't. I mean, Indiana, Cincinnati and Memphis aren't teams that really Louisville should be thinking Okay.
We got a tall, tall task here.
I mean, I hope they're good and louisvill can beat them,
because again that's best, that's the best case scenario. But if those teams are solid to good and you can win your fair share of them and then do what you're supposed to do the rest of the way, like beating up on the bad teams in your league, and then of course doing what you're supposed to do against the lower level teams that are going to be on the schedule, like the Winthrops or maybe the Bellermans, then that, you know, that gives you a much better chance of
avoiding the eight line like you did last year. All right, So the college football playoff argument, that's really the best way to describe it, right, And I'm I mean, yes, it is. Technically it's fans arguing. I'm not sure if we're actually getting arguments with the acc SEC, Big ten and Big twelve commissioners, but clearly they're they're speaking on behalf of their league, and they're also operating as if they're doing whatever they can to you know, make.
The most of doing whatever they can to help their league, like that's their job.
That's not their fault, so not having somebody overseeing the entire situation that is not a representative of one league, that is not employed by a specific league, Like that's that's what you need, And I just I don't know if that's actually gonna ever happen. But the format that I think makes the most sense at sixteen.
Is the champs.
Get automatic bids from the four Power fours, but.
They don't get any automatic spot. They just they're in.
Right, if you're the champ in the Big twelve and it's that down of a year, you might get seated at thirteen, and then you should have a conference champion from one of the other leagues, the G six as they call it, and whichever team is best in the College Football Playoff rankings from that group should also get an automatic bid, and then the rest it's just up for grabs and it goes to the best teams, regardless of what conference they're in.
To me, that makes the most sense. Or you could give nobody.
A automatic bid and just pick the sixteen best teams.
And if you did that, I really wouldn't have any issue with it either. But at that point you would have to ask yourself, okay, what's the point of conference championship games. That's what they run risk of here is if you don't have any incentive as far as seeding or even a bid to win your conference championship game, why play it?
Right?
I mean, I guess you're almost going to be you know, want you don't want you if you find yourself avoiding the conference championship game unintentionally it's because you lost. But also late in the year, you could be thinking, Okay, we only played twelve games, we only have one loss, and because of how our league shaped up, that removed us from having the chance to compete in the conference championship.
But that's okay, because we probably would lose in the conference championship game, which would give us two losses, and that would make it tough for us to get in. So I still think you have to have some kind of incentive to get into the You have some kind of incentive for the college football or sort of the conference championship games, because they become really pointless outside of just you know, big money for TV, which really that's
what the college football playoff is. But at least a lie to us and act like you know, it's not because of that. So you know, the SEC meetings are going on, and there's all kinds of things being said right now by different coaches that some I think are newsworthy, some not so much. But this is something that Kirby Smart said that I mean, I'm not gonna assume he's lying. It really doesn't shock me. It's first I've heard of it.
But again, the top level of college football is insanely competitive to where you're gonna do whatever you can to get an advantage and just constantly be trying to find a way to get an edge over your opponent and be it a better situation. The Kirby Smart says that collectives are now striking deals with high school recruits to keep and also gain their commitments. Smart says, some of these guys, these kids, I should say, are getting paid as much as twenty thousand dollars a month in the
unregulated market. If they decommit, they're being asked to return the compensation, he says, but clearly they could not do that, So that would that would help me understand why there's such a big push to get rid of the third party collectives because of this kind of stuff. But I'm just to the point now where there's always going to be a way to get people paid. And I'm sure before nil was a thing, people were still getting paid to an extent. We know that, right, Like, it's not
a big shock. You don't clutch your pearls and think, oh my goodness, Like before this there were still people getting handshake deals and getting vehicles for their family or a job or their dad or something like that. I mean,
that stuff's been going on forever. So if in fact what Kirby smart is happening and it's unregulated and they can't regulate it, I just chalk that up as okay, that's now the new way of bending the rules, because no matter what, even if you do open up and by the way, a lot of things are now opened up to where I mean it's a free market. You can pay for players, you can leave any time you want as a player and go play wherever you want.
And some guys are playing college sports for six or seven years.
So with that.
You could be even more lawless, and it could be even more chaotic, and even more so the wild wild West. They'll still be people trying to find a way to ben rules and not break them or ben rules, break them and not get caught, because that's really just human nature for a lot of people. I hate to say that, but the old saying has some truth to it. You cheat, you ain't trying, right. I mean, that's I don't know if I necessarily believe that wholeheartedly, but like I know
why people say it. All right, quick break, I'm gonna give you my top three I'm sorry, top four Louisville football players by certain positions. Next, and this is not a great teast for a five o'clock drivetime sports radio show, but somebody's requested it, and I want to have fun because I'm I'm running on fumes here.
The tank is almost empty.
I've got the rest of this show and then tomorrow and Friday and then that's all she wrote.
I'll be out of here and on my way.
To to eight forty whas. So hang out. Please don't leave me lonely while I'm wrapping this up. That'd be a sad way to go out. So please, I beg of you. Keep a lock right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Now back to coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine day.
All right, let's get right into it. I'm doing the same thing that I did last week with the basketball players, meaning I'm not basing it on my exact lifetime at this point because I was born in nineteen eighty eight, so therefore my memory of watching U of L basketball and football really starts in the It's more so basketball in the mid nineties. Football late nineties is what I remember.
I mean I remember, I mean, I remember for certain players, certain things about football, but just not as as much as I do basketball.
So I'm gonna go.
With top four quarterbacks, and I'm gonna give you mine here, and I want I'm gonna get I'm gonna see Austin here. If you like, you don't have to tell me right now, but after I give you my four, tell me if there's any surprises, maybe not as.
Far as order, but as far as.
You know anybody that you were surprised that was there or that was that was left off. I mean, the first two are so obvious. I mean, and I think you could really unless you live to watch Johnny Unitas play. And even if you did, he was a better quarterback in the NFL than he wasn't. Louisville didn't do much at quarterback at Ul as far as throwing the ball because it.
Was a different world.
A statue though, that's right.
I mean he's a legend, but again his his his legend really became bigger in the pros than it was around here. But still we embrace to touch that statue on. Yeah, we embrace him, and he's great. But when it comes to the top two, I mean it's it's Lamar and tent right, I mean.
We're talking about quarterbacks.
Yeah, I mean yes, I mean Lamar is number one and I don't think that'll ever be disputed by anybody. And I think I go Teddy just because he was really good for multiple years and the numbers show that his statistics as well as the wins. And then after that, I mean, you know, I just as a fan, I can't remember a quarterback that I felt like we had a chance to beat anybody when he was on the field.
Yeah, there was just something about seeing Teddy march out there and you knew.
That and look, Lamar, Lamar did things that look that clearly looked as if, you know, only somebody created.
In a video game could do.
But with Teddy, I just kind of feel like the moments that And look, Teddy had bigger moments, bigger wins, right, I mean, Lamar had a great career here, and Louisville had some special wins along that along.
The way as Heisman year.
Really yeah, I mean the Florida State win was monumental. It's an all time memory, will always be for a lot of people.
Not just me, sarahcuse jump, that's true.
And then but I mean, I still believe that the best Louisville football win ever, certainly in my lifetime, is the win over Florida and the Sugar Bowl. And Teddy put Teddy put himself on the map more so than he already was that year, and obviously that was I mean, that was a big statement by louisvill football at that time, one of the forgotten things at least maybe it's not
forgotten people that just don't mention it anymore. But we hated Kirk Herbstreet after that because he gave us no chance to win and and and you know, dismissed us. And then when we won, I say, we like I'm on the team. And whenever Louisville won, he acted as if, well, it's only because Florida wasn't interested, and I think Herbie learned at that time that we may not be a big, big brand in college football, but we are active online and we're petty and we don't forget.
That's what he learned. So those are the top.
Two m again, right, yeah, yeah, he's fine. And then for me when it comes to three and four, I mean, I'm gonna go Brian Brown, of course, but I actually think Lafor's in the twenty twenty the two thousand and four season was I mean, I think outside of Lamar and the Heisman, and Lamar in his in his junior year, Lafour's he was insane. I mean he had thirty five hundred plus yards in the twenty two thousand and four season,
thirty total touchdowns. I still think that was a Louisville team that despite the schedule, I mean, I can't, there's no way to prove it, but I think that was the best level football team from top to bottom that
I watched. Because not only did you have a you know, team that went I mean again you lost, so you don't get credit for it, but the one time they played a really really good team outside of that Boise State team in that in that Bowl game was Miami, and we all know how that played out, and that still pains me to this day to know that they you know, they couldn't they couldn't win that game. But not only was that team eight to zero in the
comp ANDSA, they were eleven in one overall. They finished number six in the BCS rankings, which just got to be the highest we've ever finished, to be honest with you. And then the only loss was against number three Miami. That happened to have every I mean think every player who started on that team was drafted in the NFL. I don't know if that's accurate. I don't think it is. I'm exaggerating, but they were loaded. But also so was Louisville.
If you go back and look at that team, they didn't just have the guy, you know, they didn't just have the the you know, Lafor's. They had dudes who played in the NFL for a long time. And that coaching stab was loaded. Jeff was the QB coach. You had Tony Levine who went on to be a pretty successful coach elsewhere as a head coach, Mike Summers on the O line, I mean, Paul Petrino was still a madman here at that time.
So I'm going to go.
I'm going to go Brahm three, Lafour's four, And I feel bad leaving off Redmond because Revand was really really good, and he's one of those guys that didn't have any accomplishment as well. I shouldn't say he had a lot of the complishments, but he didn't have a team that really did anything crazy memorable, at least not that I'm aware of. As far as milestones for LOISVLL football, though, we feel like are really rare, So you know, I think maybe that's why it just doesn't. He doesn't come
up as much. But I remember how big of a deal it wasn't he came to Louisville before it was the cool thing to do before guys like Brian Did and Mike Bush. So I'm gonna go that's my four. If if I was going five, I would go Redmond. But the running backs, no, by the way, real quick, did Is there anybody that I left off that you felt like was now?
No, that's you was all in in.
It was pretty easy and my taste too. Yeah, all right, so with running backs, this one's easy at the top.
It's Mike Bush.
I mean, twenty five hundred yards, thirty nine touchdowns. Imagine what would have been had he never got hurt. I mean, that's the It's one of the many, but it might be one of the top all time Louisville what ifs right, just because of how how great that team was, and you know, he goes down proven at the time he was a phenomenal player, one of the best running backs in the country. And then you know, you end up getting Kobe Smith and Anthony Allen to step in and those guys were great.
That's true.
You want to know a weird little side tidbit, as I when I was living in Arizona at that time, my grandma would always send the would always send us a Courier Journal articles and sweet and.
Yeah, that's a great that's well, that's a grandma that that that you know, she knows that you would love that.
Yeah.
I don't remember if it was the front page or if it was just it had to be on because there were different subjects almost sports. One was entertainment, but on the same thing where it shows that Michael Bush is laying there and it says Heisman candidate out for season. There's a sub bottom of the corner that was like the same time that Steve Ir when the Crocodile Hunter died.
And remember I always remembered seeing Michael Bush laying there and then just hearing it's just see because that's how the news broke.
We didn't have phones.
Well, And it's another reminder that like now, when you get your information, it's just something you pull up on your own device, on your jockett or a TV screen or your or your you know, your computer, whatever it may be. But now you know back then, but physically you'd have it. And then if it just sits around somewhere for a long time, you see it enough when you walk past it and you remember those kind of things.
There's a lot of times where I think of that Michael Bush, that face, you think of the crocodile.
And I think of the Crocodile Hunter.
I love the randomness of this.
That's just uh so I guess do with that what you think the universe thinks of us as you will?
So yeah, I uh, I gotta go Bush one. And then after that it's really competitive, to be honest with you. I mean, I I think I think blow pal just because of how good he was in that one season with Charlie. Also forgot about him and Blow. I mean that team wasn't great, but man, we felt like we were in heaven because we went through Cragthorpe and then Charlie comes in and we start. You know, defense was
clearly upgraded in a major way. They were competitive and you could just tell there was new energy, new life in the program. And again we weren't great, but man, that beef old Brady's Bowl and Saint Pete felt great.
Didn't it.
I meant everything.
And the reason I put Blow there is because early in his career before you know, he got cracked like a lot of other people, to where it just you know, things were it was, the program was in a bad way. He'd kind of slacked off, stopped working out as much, and I don't even think he had grades that he
needed to be eligible whenever Charlie first got here. But Charlie uplifted him and basically, you know, made him the face if you remember that, that's way back in the day he made because Charlie would have a face.
Of the program. I don't think he wanted it to be an annual thing.
But when it was blow early on, a lot of fans every year would ask, you know, who's that guy?
Then we realized, oh yeah, it's Teddy bridge Water. But anyways, that team.
No offense to those guys at all because they played hard and they helped bring us back in that era that was the Charlie Strong air at the louis of football was really special. But I'm not sure that team wins four games without him, or maybe even three. I mean, the offense was not loaded. You didn't have many good receivers at all, and your quarterback play wasn't great by any means, and you had an offensive line that did their part. But blat of Powell is the reason you
were able to win games. You had a good defense, but he was the offense. And I mean he had one thousand, four hundred and five yard cards in twenty ten alone.
When I think of those years, I think of possibly the ugliest uniforms that Louisville's had, you know, with like the stripe kind Oh yes, you know exactly what one you're talking about. It made it look like a tank. I don't know it it's the top.
So forget I'm going These are running backs that I watched play at Louisville that I remember as far as the best. And then after that, I gotta be honest with you, it gets there's a lot of guys that are that are solid, but I don't, you know, it just sounds kind of off putting them in the all time great. But again, this is an all time great. This is Nick's twenty year window roughly or twenty five
year window, whatever it may be. And and this one, I swear to you, this guy I think will go down as one of the most easily forgotten electrifying players that we had at Louisville. And because of circumstance and because of it all not working out for him, it easy easy to forget. And that's Javian Hawkins.
Oh wow, who would you?
Who are you thinking?
I want to thinking of Victor Anderson.
Oh no, Vic had a good run passed up by I mean he and he and Blau were the same year and Vic was Freshman of the Year in the Big East and then kind of tailed off. And he was productive and did certainly play a role for Charlie in that last year, but it was hard for him to really stand out because Blao Powe was just I mean, b palet over fourteen hundred yards in one season. I
mean that's pretty special. But do you remember Javian Hawkins, Yes, I do, so he was a freshman All American in twenty nineteen, SAT's first year where Louisville ended up going eight and five and won the Music City Bowl against Mississippi State. And even the next year when Louisville stunk it was the COVID year he opted out. If you remember, he left and signed with Rosenhaus was that his name
of the agent? Yes, and ended up going pro. But never I mean, he had a brief stint with the Falcons and the Rams and that's all.
She wrote. He was really really.
Good, and I mean in two seasons he had two three hundred and fifty five yards and sixteen touchdowns. And I say two seasons because I mean it's not really two seasons, right, I mean, he he played a normal season as a freshman and as a sophomore. He ended up,
I guess as a red shirt freshman. But that as a sophomore, you know, he played and they but they only I don't even know how many games they had on the schedule that year because again, you only played a con he could played a nine game schedule I think it was, and he he opted out after maybe not even halfway through the season. And I mean, really he was so easy to forget about him after that because you'd really never heard anything about him.
But when he was here, he was good.
Like he was.
He was of all of the running backs of the Louisvells had, like the two guys I just mentioned, they're really great, productive, they didn't have a boot burst of speed like he did.
I mean, he was. He was really good.
And then at four, it really is tough because I guess I'm just gonna go I'm just gonna go longevity here, because the numbers are impressive over a four year career, and he was productive every year. He was to an extent, and he played for some really good teams that had a lot of success from going Brandon Radcliffe, oh yes, twenty three hundred yards in his career, twenty six touchdowns. So again that tells you how good Javid Hawkins was in a brief amount of time. He had twenty three
hundred yards in less than two seasons. Whereas Radcliffe, who again I believe is good, he was much less productive just because he shared the you know, he wasn't a feature back and he didn't have many plays where he was getting you know, eighty yard touchdowns.
So what I quick question dad, onto that list on that problem with it? Where would we throw someone like Brock Bowland? Will we call that a running back?
No, he's more of a full back. And I love that you mentioned Brock Bowland.
Because I mean love, I loved Brock, But he wasn't like that.
I mean like he didn't have really any I mean, he's just a guy you remember who was on a good team, like a kid.
He just kind of he's like my bozx Smith and basketball.
Didn't they use them a lot? Didn't they use them a lot of a senior year.
Yeah, he was effective, he was a weapon. He just you know, he would be tough to include him because he was a situational guy where he's not just out there to continuously move the change for you, you know, right. But now I got to look this up because I'm I'm a fool for just not being able to move on past it. But yeah, Jamie Hawkins, he had twenty three hundred yards and he only played in twenty one games. I mean, that's impressive. That's impressive. So that's why I
have him there. But again he is right, he's so easy to forget. Yeah, all right, so there you got have it. We're gonna do receivers and defensive players tomorrow because again I ramble and can't manage the clock. Quick time out will come back. Wrap it up on the other side right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Now back to coffee and company fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine day.
So if you are joining us late, you're really late.
But the big news today here locally is otego Away has decided to come back for his final season.
Actually is it his final season. I'm not sure.
I don't know how long he's played college sports, but nonetheless he's back, and that's was the expectation. But he certainly waited late until making it public. But he'll be I think the biggest factor for Kentucky being a preseason team that is ranked probably in the top ten, certainly fifteen.
Just about everywhere that you look.
But the other news that I guess it's probably not really irrelevant, but as far as all the guys that were waiting at the last minute, to make a decision and make it public. Oway was the biggest I think college player that is coming back as far as the decisions that were made today. Because r J luis he is going to stay in the draft. His father tells the field of sixty eight that he's going to remain in the draft, and here's a quote. He says, there'll
be no change of heart. RJ's excited about the future. He's appreciative of Saint John's coach Patino and the fans. He wants to leave college as a Johnny. So if you remember he hit the portal but never ended up transferring because he's now going pro. But what a weird way for your college career to come to an end.
You're an All American. You were the man for a team that was one of the best teams in the country all season, and the team was a storyline because Rick Patino, of all people, as the guy that's back in New York City bringing the Johnnies back to life. They were relevant and successful in a way they hadn't been in a long time. And then they get in the second round against Arkansas.
R J.
Lewise is having an off night.
Patino benches him and I don't remember if Rick really went out of his way. I think he was probably asked. But Rick will clearly tell you if he wants to. I mean, he didn't shy away from acknowledging why R J. Louise didn't play, and you know, he was letting his think he said something. He was letting his misshots and poor offensive play hurt him on the other end.
So no more r J. Luise in college hoops.
So really, I guess by now, and it's probably been that way already, but I was gonna say by now, you probably have you know, you can look at these early rankings and know that not much of anything is going to change, because you know, I mean, there's not all I mean, there's still certainly some moves that could be made. There's still some guys I guess they could join your team from a receives I don't even know if graduates have the ability to hit the portal even
though the portal's closed. But for the most part, I'd say the dust is settled, and we now know what college basketball teams next year are going to look like. And I would imagine that both fan bases around here probably feel pretty good about where they are now with Louisville, it's definitely going to come down to I mean, the excitement is going to be there regardless, but figuring out what happens with Ali Khalif is going.
To be huge.
And I'm still just operating with the belief that common sense will prevail and they'll look at his waiver and realize that he, of all people, should be entitled to get a to get a fourth year of playing college basketball, and you know, because he sorry about that, because he's only played three seasons and he got injured.
Like it just to me, it's it's a no brainer.
But then again, the NAA has at times made the wrong decision on what seems to be no brainer decisions.
So we're out of time, you guys, enjoy the evening.
We're back at it tomorrow right here on ward, Stock seven ninety