2026-03-09- KSR - Hour 2

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Looking for a mortgage bank to help you make your next major mortgage move, whether it's a refi or home purchase, regardless of whether it's your first one or one of many, consider our friends at Stockton Mortgage, but don't just take our word for it. Stockton Mortgage has over seventy thousand five star reviews and counting, just like this review from Joshua, who says this about his experience with Stockton. They were super professional, always answered my questions I had, and streamlined the process. I could not ask for better people to help me and my family get our first house. I feel blessed to be able to go through them. Be like Joshua or the sixty nine nine hundred ninety nine others just like him, and get started with Stockton Mortgage today by going to Stockton dot com and get started. I've even used Stockton Mortgage myself on my own home loan.

00:00:46
Speaker 2: For your home.

00:00:47
Speaker 1: Loan needs, Stockton dot com and click get started Stockton Mortgage MLS eight two five nine, Equal Housing Lender NMLS, Consumer Access dot Org.

00:00:59
Speaker 3: Welcome to our two of Kentucky Sports Radio present it by Stockton Mortgage. Now here's Matt Jones.

00:01:05
Speaker 4: Welcome back our two Kentucky Sports Radio. Now happy to be joined for only the second time since he's been coached, and first time since he's been sort of around to know the job is head coach Will Stein. Will people can't see this, but I'm looking at you through these cameras and love the hat you're wearing.

00:01:24
Speaker 2: How's everything going?

00:01:26
Speaker 5: It's going great, man, I'm so excited to be on the show. Thanks for having me.

00:01:30
Speaker 6: We actually just practiced our practice for tomorrow.

00:01:34
Speaker 2: What does that mean practice? You're practicing?

00:01:36
Speaker 5: Like dude, there's still many moving parts in the football practice. If we were to go out there tomorrow and have not have walked where we're going to be the spots on the field, what do these transitions look like?

00:01:48
Speaker 6: It would have.

00:01:48
Speaker 5: Looked like a hot pile of dog sahiit.

00:01:52
Speaker 6: So what do you do as a football coach?

00:01:53
Speaker 5: You plan, you prepare, And now I believe the kids are going to go out tomorrow and be able to take all the inkor just energy out because they know where they're going in those spots. You know what the drills look like. And so yeah, we just we practiced the practice today.

00:02:06
Speaker 4: How much of a change is it? I mean, you haven't been a head coach. There's a sort of CEO management. Part of that is that something that how much of a change is that from what you've done up until this point.

00:02:19
Speaker 5: I would say it's it's been definitely a change. You know, I'm used to being in an offensive staff room with just the offensive coaches, recruiting, really the offensive side of the ball. So now when you're a head coach, you deal with every facet of the program, strength and conditioning, nutrition, training room, you know, donor relations, more media.

00:02:39
Speaker 6: But you know, I get to be a head coach, Like how cool is that?

00:02:43
Speaker 5: And to do it here Kentucky where you know, I'm so excited to be and just ready to get wrong. With these guys in spring ball. I know they're eager to get out on the football field. They've been working now eight weeks straight and what we've called the hunt to get prepared for this phase two of our all seats.

00:02:59
Speaker 2: So tell me, what what do you mean the hunt? What does that mean?

00:03:02
Speaker 5: You know, it's it's the grind, you know, It's it's everything leading up to spring football. It's it's the early winter workouts, it's you know, just the drills that are combative and and make you strain and you know, make you want to tap out, which is you know, the mental warfare of playing football. But you know, one of our core DNA trads is toughness. And that's really what Winter Phase one, or the Hunt as we called it, was all about.

00:03:28
Speaker 4: Well, let's talk about your your team and specifically how you built. I mean you had to essentially create a team from scratch. You obviously are keeping a number of guys. I look at the class you brought in in the roster, and it seems to me that you spent a lot of your rev Share money but also your attention on building this core offensive line. Am I correct in that?

00:03:53
Speaker 5: Yeah, when I got the job, it was December second, and December third was signing day.

00:03:57
Speaker 6: Think about that. Yeah, you have no, you can't build a.

00:04:01
Speaker 5: Twenty six class in twelve hours. It's absolutely impossible. So you know, I like a lot of the kids that we kept on I mean all of them, we kept them, and I think there's actually some really good players in that group. Out of the ten that we signed and then I believe it was thirty four portal guys. And think about this, we had sixty six official visits.

00:04:22
Speaker 6: In a twelve day span. That's freaking unbelievable.

00:04:25
Speaker 5: Man, Like the work of Pat Biondo, Pete Knachta, Joe Sloan, Jay Bateman, the guys that were here boots on ground while I was going back and forth between Oregon and Lexington.

00:04:35
Speaker 6: I mean, it's really incredible.

00:04:37
Speaker 5: There needs to be some sort of book or or something written or documented about how they were able to be here working with me and Oregon and us all working together on different time zones to assemble what we believe is a really strong class.

00:04:52
Speaker 6: And you mentioned the offensive line. I think o one d line in this league.

00:04:56
Speaker 5: Man, that's where it starts, and it the winning foot ball in November, December, January is up front. Like you think about Indiana and what they're able to do in their run, I mean, Bernana Mendoza phenomenal player, But how did they beat Miami? They ran the freaking football, They ran the ball. How did Miami get to where they were? They have a dominant offensive line and running.

00:05:16
Speaker 6: Backs that are big and physical. So that's where it's won.

00:05:19
Speaker 5: The Georgia Bulldog teams of old Alabama Saban teams, it's a common denominator. It's having big, giant human beings that are physical upfront on the O line and D line, so we can throw the ball down the field, so we can run the ball in the fourth quarter. Wins, so we can stop the run so we can affect the quarterback. That's where it's won. And that was a major, major piece of this puzzle.

00:05:40
Speaker 4: And I think that surprised some people because we have this stereotype of Oregan is just throw it around and there's athletes everywhere, and you did that. You played Indiana twice last year and they and they handled you guys fairly. Well, was that do you see the way you build this Kentucky program? Is Indiana a model? Mediana was maybe the worst program in the major conference in the country. Or is it kind of a model? How do you see that?

00:06:07
Speaker 6: Well?

00:06:07
Speaker 5: I mean, I think any team that wins it all is obviously doing something right. So the model of consistency has always been Nick Saban and what he was able to do with Alabama, and that really transitioned into Kirby Smart and so I've learned that model per se in the vision and eyes of Dan Lanning. That's going to translate to now my vision and model for us here at University of Kentucky. So you know, I look at Kirk Signetti and what he was able to do there. Obviously they're aligned from the top down. But I still remember looking at visuals of the first game at IU in that tenure and it was a half full stadiums. Yeah, you know, they got momentum, they had you know, big wins early, and they've they've done it not just offensively but defensively, special teams and you can see just as a program that they're extremely aligned and they have a plan and they're going and attacking that plan. So that's what I'm excited about is you know, given you know, the resources that we have at our disposal, I think we've done an excellent job so far.

00:07:08
Speaker 6: But it's it's potential. It's everything that we're not.

00:07:11
Speaker 5: And that's what I've always learned about that word is potential is everything that you're not. So how do we take the narrative of what Kentucky may have been in the past and push the envelope forward?

00:07:21
Speaker 6: And that's what we're doing right now. And I think we have great.

00:07:23
Speaker 5: Coaches, number one phenomenal players that are bought in right now, and I'm just excited to get rolling.

00:07:30
Speaker 4: All right, let's talk about the team because we're all going to have to learn this team quarterback. Didn't know who he was until I heard he was about to come here, Kenneth mentioned, So tell everybody, this is going to be kind of for a lot of people, their first real description from someone they trust about who the quarterback is going to be next year. Tell me about Minji.

00:07:51
Speaker 6: Well, he went to Notre Dame, so we all know he's not very smart.

00:07:54
Speaker 5: If you want to, he's extremely intelligent, right, extremely intelligent.

00:08:00
Speaker 6: Can fit in any room.

00:08:02
Speaker 5: Just talking about him as a person old, young, white, black, rich, poor, it doesn't matter.

00:08:07
Speaker 6: You put Kenny Minche in the room. And he's a glue guy.

00:08:10
Speaker 5: So when I have glue guys as my quarterback, to me, that makes the locker room better, makes the locker room more connected. So I'm really excited about him just as a person, he's extremely competitive. And then as a player, like we all watch the tape and you can say, well, he played a mop up time I did it right, he did, there's truth to that, But when you watch the throws, there's pro throws all over the tape, there's anticipation, there's timing, there's touch, there's velocity, there's pocket mobility. He can throw the deep, bull can throw it intermediate in short So that's what I'm excited about. And it's been pretty impressive to see him take this offense that we've built up to this point, and it was almost like he's been in it for four years. So that gives me great excitement for his ability to transition and really show his ability to play football at a high level here. And I talked to Mike Denbrock, talked to Gino Goodooley, talk to these guys at Notre Dame that have coached him the last four years, and it was really like a coin.

00:09:12
Speaker 6: Toss, you know.

00:09:13
Speaker 5: Obviously Coach Freeman had the final say and who was going to be the guy, and they went with a younger player. But I'm just excited that Kenny's here with us, and I think our fans are gonna be.

00:09:23
Speaker 2: Has he been all that you hoped like? Has he been?

00:09:27
Speaker 5: He's an excellent player person and again ready to see him take the range of this offense over the next fifteen practices.

00:09:35
Speaker 4: All right, let's assume that I was hosting Kentucky countdown to kickoff and Will Snein was not the coach, but he was our expert commentator. Give me a minute to minute and a half. What do I as a fan look for in this Kentucky team? Who are some people that stick out to you? And when they come to the spring game here in a little while, who's going to be Like, Okay, that is the the basis for who this team will be.

00:10:02
Speaker 5: Well, I think you just first look at just us holistically, like who we are as a team. We're gonna be connected, like connected in every sense possible. Our players are gonna be connected to each other that they're gonna play their absolute uh butts off for each other, play relentless football from point a to point b, six point point a to point b six seconds of hell like offense, defense, special.

00:10:24
Speaker 6: Teams, six seconds of hell, three seconds of freaking hell.

00:10:27
Speaker 4: Man, get the T shirts. That's the first time I've heard that.

00:10:32
Speaker 5: Yes, So that's something that we're gonna you know, hang our hats on is just the connectivity of the of the of the team and like I mentioned, player to player coach, the player connection and then coaches that truly love each other and are passionate about working with each other.

00:10:46
Speaker 6: You know, that's one.

00:10:47
Speaker 5: Like I want our team to play clean, like obviously, limit penalties, limit explosive plays. Guys that can play the same call on offense, defense, and specially teams every single snap.

00:11:01
Speaker 6: That's huge to us.

00:11:03
Speaker 5: You know offensively too. I think you're gonna look at like a modern pro style offense. What does that mean, Like we change the tempo up. It's not fast paced every single snap. We have the ability to go fast. We have the ability to slow it down.

00:11:15
Speaker 6: Huddle we have we can huddle.

00:11:16
Speaker 5: We can huddle, speed break, we can do a bunch of stuff at the line of scrimmage to change the play to get us in the best possible scenario. You're gonna see RPOs. You're gonna see shots, see vertical passing game, different run schemes.

00:11:27
Speaker 7: You know.

00:11:27
Speaker 5: I believe we put an exciting product on the field on offense and then defensively, I mean we're gonna be extremely sound but attacking, like a team that will put pressure on the quarterback, calls havoc on the quarterback, a third down package. To me that it is the best in college football. With what Jay was able to do at Texas A and M with him and coach Elco. So that's really exciting as well. And then special team is all about changing the game. That's our mantra on special teams. How do we change the game? You know, I'm a risk taker, like I want to get the ball back for offense.

00:12:00
Speaker 6: What does that look like each game? It can differ from you know.

00:12:03
Speaker 5: Surprise on sides, fake punts, punt block situations, you know, gate formations on special teams and extra points, Like I want to put pressure on the opposing team through special teams. It is one third of the game, and you're gonna see our best players playing on special teams. It's not just an opportunity to take a playoff, it's an opportunity for us to really change the game.

00:12:23
Speaker 6: So I'm really fired up.

00:12:25
Speaker 5: The players are doing a great job, you know, not to single out one person or two. I'm just excited for our fans of go out and watch watch the product that we're gonna put on the field and make them proud.

00:12:38
Speaker 4: All right, So I know nothing, so I admit that to start, but I look at the roster and I go, okay, love what he did at offensive line. I'm excited about this quarterback. I wonder do they have you know, one thing Oregon always have. We're playmakers at receiver. Do you feel like you have the playmakers at receiver you need.

00:12:56
Speaker 5: I love Nick Anderson, I really do. I love DJ Miller, I love uh, you know JK in the slot. I love Kenny Darby, who we signed.

00:13:06
Speaker 8: Shoot.

00:13:06
Speaker 6: I love a lot of our guys. I mean I think there we got a strong core of receivers. I really do.

00:13:11
Speaker 5: Especially some younger guys too, I think are going to show out. I love Willie Rodriguez at tight end, Michel Skinner, Henry Boyer.

00:13:17
Speaker 4: What about Willie Rodriguez? People know him, What have you seen with him so far?

00:13:21
Speaker 6: He's got a ton of talent, a ton of talent.

00:13:23
Speaker 5: He's extremely willing in this Sierra to put his face on people on block. But I think he can be a really matchup problem for teams in the slot and even on the perimeter.

00:13:33
Speaker 6: So An a Kentucky kid, this place means a lot to him.

00:13:36
Speaker 5: So obviously had Kenny Sadek at Oregon. It was a special, rare talent. We had Terrence ferguson there, and you know this past season we even had Jamari Johnson. So Titans in our offense have really traditionally done really well. So I'm excited about him. I was glad that he really glad that he decided to come back be a Wildcat, and that was somebody we we definitely wanted to keep.

00:14:00
Speaker 2: All Right, now, I look at this. I can't be the first person to say, man, this schedule next year.

00:14:06
Speaker 4: I mean, I've been a Kentucky's football schedule is always hard, but you may have inherited the hardest one I've ever seen.

00:14:14
Speaker 2: So you look you love it, though, You're like, let's be scared.

00:14:18
Speaker 6: Man, I'm not scared. You scared? Go to church, bro, come on see.

00:14:23
Speaker 2: I love it though, but you're.

00:14:24
Speaker 6: Supposed to do.

00:14:25
Speaker 5: Let me call it the schools up and say hey, can you please not play us? I'm man, we signed up for it.

00:14:33
Speaker 4: I love that, indeed, and I would assume that's partially why guys would be excited to play here.

00:14:38
Speaker 2: Right, we get to play Alabama LSU given Saturday.

00:14:42
Speaker 5: Yes, I watched the freaking Wildcats. Uh, I mean it should it be Texas last year? I mean, come on, yes, miss, I mean I just think about we had Will Levis and we had Liam Cohen call and plays won ten freaking games, like on a tough schedule, Like we got score points, right, we have to score. We have to stop people when it matters. That's not just true for Kentucky, It's true for everybody, you know. I mean, shoot, you could say all these teams are assembled, Well, everybody's got players. We have the starting left tacking from Tennessee playing for US right now. Think about that. Yeah, we got played at Ohio State planning left guard, starting sending for Baylor playing for US. If we have good players and we have good coaches, So like, cut it loose, man, don't be scared. Cut it loose.

00:15:26
Speaker 6: Whatever happens happens. We have a process. We go through that process throughout the week. We're doing it right now.

00:15:36
Speaker 5: And like when you have a great process, do the results always happen the way that you want it?

00:15:42
Speaker 6: No, that's football.

00:15:43
Speaker 5: Even at Oregon we had the most elite process in the you know that I've been a part of that. I'm building here. And we got our asses kicked in the semifinal like that. That doesn't mean we were a bad team. That means that we had a bad result. We didn't play well. So it's up to us to create competition, real competition and practice. Practice has to be hard. Football is a tough freaking game. It's hard to win. You've heard that from every coach, and it's so hard to win.

00:16:08
Speaker 6: It is hard.

00:16:09
Speaker 5: It's real because every team, especially in this league, has great players.

00:16:13
Speaker 6: So you have to be able to run the ball. That matters. You have to have great quarterback play, and you have to affect the passer. You have to. So that's the plan.

00:16:23
Speaker 5: It's our job right now to build that plan out, to get real confidence with our guys, and then when we step foot in Krogerfield on September fifth against Youngtoun State, like let's see if our process is what we thought it was and wherever it wasn't, wherever it lacked, we adjust, we make changes, and then we go attack the next week. So there's no guarantees in football right at all. All I know is like hard work building a roster and then going out and cutting loose, yeah, and not being afraid to fail, Like just go cut it freaking loose.

00:16:54
Speaker 4: I was saying that, I look at in that week three, you play Alabama, and I know you've got two games before that, are we two? We two or three anyway, but play them at home. And I was thinking, that's gonna be one of the coolest days in Lexington.

00:17:06
Speaker 2: Like it really is.

00:17:07
Speaker 4: That's gonna be one of the coolest days in Lexington. When you thought about doing this job, it's part of it thinking about that opportunity to have days like that where you're playing these great programs in your home state.

00:17:20
Speaker 5: Well, I think the coolest day in lectioning is gonna be September fifth, number one inn state.

00:17:25
Speaker 6: I know that's coach talk, that's real.

00:17:27
Speaker 5: What I don't need to do is give those guys who are tough as hell a sound bite the Matt Jones show about me thinking about the second game.

00:17:34
Speaker 2: Of the year, gotcha, fair enough.

00:17:35
Speaker 5: I'm so focused on freaking spring, dude, I am, and like I'm so jacked up for tomorrow getting on the grass, get on the turf, like like we got two practice shields out here. I'm looking at them right now, like it's it's beautiful. I'm in Lexington, Kentucky. I get the coach the Wildcats. That is what I'm so fired up about and really being entrenched in that process. And when we get to those games in our league. Man, it's gonna be awesome. But what I can't wait is for Kroger Field to be packed sold out for that first game against Youngstown State.

00:18:05
Speaker 4: What has been the part of the program since you've been here that has surprised you the most, or maybe been the thing that you didn't know about Kentucky football that you've come here and going, oh, okay, that's a little different than I thought.

00:18:20
Speaker 6: I mean, shoot, man, there's so many to talk about.

00:18:23
Speaker 5: I will say this, the support from our fans and our you know, the people that help us out on a day to day basis, has been incredible.

00:18:32
Speaker 6: It really has been.

00:18:33
Speaker 5: I mean, Big Blue Nation is even more than I could have ever known. I was a part of Big Blue Nation as a fan, but to see how dedicated they are to the Wildcats all of our sports. I mean, I'm at the gymnastics meet and there's two thousand people in there. Yes, Kalli, this is freaking unbelievable. Women's basketballgains South Carolina. It's packed a Memorial Coliseum to the brim. That's what I'm just so thankful to be here to represent them. I mean, I'm at the legislature I'm there with our president, doctor Capaluto and meeting people there, and like, I mean, there's Wildcat fans everywhere. It's really cool to see how big of a pool we have throughout not just the state, but the entire country.

00:19:20
Speaker 2: I have two listener questions, well, listener friend slash questions and then we'll get you out here. One is from a former KSR member Max Stuffy Ray guy winner here just a few years ago, and he goes, I got one question for Will. Does he like Australian's punting?

00:19:37
Speaker 5: We got one, Yeah, heck yeah, big Aussie guy. Then hey, whoever can change the field I'm good with. We have we have an Aussie right now.

00:19:48
Speaker 4: And lastly, this comes from a listener of the show also who says, how does Will see recruiting in the state of Kentucky does Obviously it's important, But how important is it going forward in terms of who he will recruit out of high school?

00:20:06
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean recruiting always starts within your state. No matter where I've been, you have to win the state always. So obviously I may not to mention the name we we got.

00:20:19
Speaker 6: You know, you know that there's right, So that's something that you know can't allow to happen. You can.

00:20:28
Speaker 5: We have to win the state, especially when you have extremely talented players, which I'm excited about in this twenty seven class.

00:20:36
Speaker 6: You know guys that are here. So but here's what I'm gonna tell you too, right, I'm not going to beg man. I'm not. You either want to be a part of this or you don't. We have every resource possible to go sign great players. The way that you recruit is still old school.

00:20:51
Speaker 5: It's still communications, still waking kids up in the morning and putting on the bed at night, still touching everybody in their life that matters to them, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, coaches, trainers, now agents. That's still the way to recruit. So it's our job to always start within the confines of the Commonwealth, and then we'll go wherever we need to. I've said it before. I'll go to Alaska, I'll go to freaking wherever to get the best players possible for us to go win and win the way that we want to.

00:21:21
Speaker 4: You've created two sayings that will outlive this interview. Six seconds of hell and if you're scared, go to church. I can just go ahead and tell you yep, I know this fan base. Both of those you're gonna be hearing for a long time. Well, thank you very much for taking the time. Look forward to being out there at some point during spring practice and go give them hell.

00:21:44
Speaker 9: Well.

00:21:44
Speaker 5: I appreciate it, Matt, thanks for having me, big fans, and we'll talk soon.

00:21:49
Speaker 2: All right, will Stein, we'll take a break, be right back. It's KSR.

00:21:55
Speaker 6: So I love that.

00:21:56
Speaker 2: I thought he was great. I think he's gonna I love the mentality.

00:22:01
Speaker 1: That's exactly what this program needs. I mean, I love Mark Stoops, but his youth and enthusiasm and excitement just came through the interview.

00:22:09
Speaker 2: Great job, it was great.

00:22:11
Speaker 4: Kentucky Skin Cancer Centers off and your listeners fifty dollars off a glow to facial. That's right, you could get a facial the Kentucky Skin Cancer Center fifty dollars off. Just use my code KSR. They've got it all over the state. Glasgow Waverley was it Waverley? That's not Powderly Waverley, Oh my way, Wave was a different place. Go to the Kentucky Skin Cancer Center. Use my code KSR fifty dollars off your official skincare facial and they also have sets go to Kentucky Skin Cancercenter dot com. Kentucky skin Cancer Center dot com. Drey, what'd you think of it?

00:22:46
Speaker 2: That was awesome?

00:22:47
Speaker 10: I mean, I know it's March madness and I've got my eyeballs on. Get to the SEC tournament. Heck, I'm ready to go. Kick off football season now matter.

00:22:54
Speaker 2: If you're scared, go to church. I love that. And also, yeah, I mean he met it.

00:22:59
Speaker 4: He was people can't see because we didn't We weren't able to show the video. But he, uh, he looked at me like, dude, I'm not what do you mean? We play good good? Like like a hair on his face kind of was like a little bit like why d you Of course we're gonna be We're ready.

00:23:15
Speaker 2: This is the sea. That's what you gotta say.

00:23:17
Speaker 4: If you're going to play that schedule, you might as well be excited about it. No reason to dread it. Nope, love it all right. We will now take some calls A nine two eight, twenty two eighty seven talk with Stein and Basketball.

00:23:28
Speaker 2: Next TJ Smith, personal injury attorney, called TJ. He'll make them pay Now.

00:23:34
Speaker 3: More of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton mortgage. Here's Matt Jones.

00:23:39
Speaker 4: Let's do a couple of news tidbits here. First, you kind of I think this is what Will Stein's referred to. Seneca Driver committed to Oklahoma. Tough loss for Kentucky, number one tight end in the country. Will says, we're not going to beg Uh. I like, I appreciate that. Tough though to lose him he was. He's just he could be a star as tough. He is a star Ka Tuck. He's been recruiting for a long time, little solds everybody else. Just a superstar player. Gonna be a senior at Boyle County next year.

00:24:04
Speaker 2: Remember, Jason Witten is a tight end coach at Oklahoma.

00:24:07
Speaker 10: Now, Uh, you know, I don't like to lose a recruit. But when Jason went in a Hall of Fame tight end as the tight ends coach, you can understand why Seneca might lean that way.

00:24:15
Speaker 2: A little bit. Maybe can change his mind by the time.

00:24:18
Speaker 4: Remember it's a long road, got another year before he plays college football. Also, we've learned a year or two might end up into port.

00:24:27
Speaker 1: They don't quit recruiting these kids just because you've verbally committed to somebody.

00:24:31
Speaker 2: That's right, So long road.

00:24:33
Speaker 4: Brydon Hawthorne told The Harold Leader this morning he will return to Kentucky.

00:24:37
Speaker 2: So we have one player next year.

00:24:38
Speaker 1: There we go build the roster.

00:24:40
Speaker 10: Now, it seems early portl had an him open yet, but I like it. I hope it's I hope that stays firm if he can put on a little bit of wait this year. I mean, I think the red shirt was silly, but he was so thin. I don't know that it could have helped. But think if he can bulk up, he's very skilled.

00:24:54
Speaker 2: I like it.

00:24:55
Speaker 1: I wonder if he hadn't gotten hurt, if he would have played this year because they were kind of you know, maybe then maybe.

00:25:01
Speaker 4: But it's good. We now certainly have one one. I think that kid can be good. So I think that'll that'll be a really positive addition. So with that, let's go through here. Mike, Mike, go ahead, Hey there, you take me off speaker go.

00:25:23
Speaker 11: Oh my bad. So anyway, the reason I'm Colin is thanks for letting me, let me come on. But I appreciate you guys. This show been a long time listening for a long time. So so I guess me as Kentucky fan. For I'm fifty one years old, since I was, you know, probably seven eight years old, and seeing a lot of great things, a lot of bad things. Whatever my my fear, and I guess, you know, maybe I need to go to church, and I do need to go to church.

00:25:56
Speaker 2: But go for it. Give me your point, go ahead.

00:26:00
Speaker 11: Oh My point is this is that next year. This is what I'm looking at right now, is next year? You know with what we?

00:26:08
Speaker 9: Uh?

00:26:09
Speaker 11: Were we standing with anybody right now? You know what I mean? And I'm just like, you know, with Pope. You know this year, I mean it was just a disaster. Next year, I mean recruiting wise, I mean, I mean normally we have a we have a stack team, and I mean now we have nothing.

00:26:25
Speaker 4: It's a completely and I appreciate the call, completely reasonable worry.

00:26:29
Speaker 2: Next six weeks will tell it.

00:26:31
Speaker 4: I mean I can't I can't say anything that's gonna make you feel better, Drew, because there's nothing really to say. I don't know who they might get. I don't even know if they know who they might get. So it's hard to say confidently anything.

00:26:43
Speaker 10: Completely agree with you. If I were to give you a little optimism and this is a stretch, but they seem to be in good communication with Dink. Payt our guy Jacob said they're gonna talk to him again this week. I know people are conflicted on the G League thing, but we need bodies. Yeah, and uh, if he can come help out, that's a six seven guard to averaging sixteen points for the Westchester Nicks. And I don't know if he'll end up here, but Pope's at least pursuing that.

00:27:05
Speaker 4: I'm not conflicted. If he's allowed to play, getting period, end of story.

00:27:11
Speaker 2: That's it.

00:27:11
Speaker 1: If the rules allow it, you got to adjust. And if you can get somebody like that, you do it.

00:27:15
Speaker 2: If he's allowed to play, you do it. How does that work?

00:27:18
Speaker 10: If he comes here and he looks good but the Knicks still own him, Can he can he just leave college and the Knicks sign him. We've never seen anything like that before because they own his rights.

00:27:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know.

00:27:30
Speaker 10: I like October them calling him be like, well, it's a fun month I'm heading to.

00:27:35
Speaker 2: I'm just wondering that I don't know if honestly don't know the answer that question. I I we've never seen anything. We've never seen it. I don't know if they'll still own his rights next year. I'm not sure, to be honest, go ahead, Mike.

00:27:50
Speaker 9: Hey, guys, I hate it. I'm more I'm at right now. But you know, I've kind of got to take on the basketball and I was gonna try to convince you guys to come with me here. But I really feel like, and I hate to say it, because I hope, I was hoping it would work out, that we need to make a switch, and I know everybody says they won't do it. We need to make a switch after this year, because I feel like we're too far behind, and he looks desperate. I don't think he can. He doesn't look confident like he's going to fix it. And even if he does get a GM, who's coming in here with a setting up coach. Kayshawn Prince ain't even to come here to get fired in one year.

00:28:26
Speaker 4: I think they can get a good GYM. I do think, and I think you can even go further. And I appreciate the call. A GM could get hired and could keep the job even if the coach changed one day. Could you know in general, in other sports, a GM is hired by like the president of the team and the coach reports to the GM. Now, this is going to be kind of weird because you're going to actually have that structure flipped. The GM works for the coach, which is not how it is in professional team right. So I think that's an interesting, odd dichotomy that I'm not exactly sure how that's gonna work out.

00:29:07
Speaker 1: We've talked about will Stein brought his GM. He was here before will even got here.

00:29:13
Speaker 4: But those gyms were if will Stein wants to replacing he can, Whereas like in the NBA, the GM is the one who hires the trache.

00:29:20
Speaker 10: I'm a big Titans guy. We've had GM coach drama the last few years, just rotating through all of them. It is a weird dynamic.

00:29:25
Speaker 2: It is different though, This is the GM is under the coach here, which is different. Peggy, go ahead, Peggy.

00:29:32
Speaker 7: Good morning, guys, Good morning.

00:29:34
Speaker 8: First of all, they should have never let they bake or go. But my thought for replacing him, and I'm sure we'll never get him, is Tom Hart. And they still need to get rid of Cameron. And I never ever want Dicky Vee to call a Kentucky Florida game because all he did was talked about Florida.

00:30:03
Speaker 2: Well, they were beating us, Florida, they were beating us pretty bad.

00:30:08
Speaker 8: Yeah they were. But all he did was big about Florida. He never mentioned Kentucky and all he talked throughout was Florida and his foundation. His foundation is a great foundation. But you don't hog up the whole time talking about Florida.

00:30:27
Speaker 4: Yeah, I understand that. I appreciate the call. What do you think about? Uh, Dicky V with a strong Dicky V with a strong comment about about our roster, saying, if they're going to spend twenty two million dollars, they should have better players than this.

00:30:43
Speaker 1: Do you hear our fan base say it e than we may say it on this show.

00:30:46
Speaker 2: It's weird to hear. Dicky V doesn't say things like that very often.

00:30:50
Speaker 1: Yet when he when he said something like that on a national broadcast, that kind of resonates a little harder.

00:30:54
Speaker 2: I think he's not usually very critical. It's usually oh Mark popele turns.

00:30:58
Speaker 10: You know, he's putting belief him if he don't truly believe it, just because he's not really that critical of people on broadcast. So that that was another layer of just throwing your hands up in the air with this team and how the season's gone.

00:31:08
Speaker 2: I said hi to him right before the game. I reached over, I took a picture, and he goes, are they going to win? And I said I don't know, and he goes, no one knows, which I thought was like, well that's true. Yet that is kind of true, Donnie. Go ahead, Donnie.

00:31:25
Speaker 7: Yes, my faults are for every postseason game. We should start mode dia Bonte and set yellowvich and come out physical and punch him into my mouth for every postseason game for the rest of the season. And I still haven't given up on the Cats.

00:31:46
Speaker 2: Appreciate the call. Do you agree with that? Appreciate the call there at the end. Yeah? Yeah, about not giving up on the Cats or starting Diabatee. Yeah, I'm a big Yellovich guy, and I think he has so much more, but he just can't get into groove. When he plays the first half, then it just goes to diabate So I'd rather if Diaboatee is gonna play like he has lately, Uh, I think, yeah, go ahead and let him start and get the most minutes. It ends up being him most of the game. Anyway, I agree I kind of think now Diabate is more of a starter. Yep, I do Wondervich off the bench potentially to hit threes, et cetera and add a spark.

00:32:21
Speaker 10: I wish Yellovich had more opportunities in November to get a little more comfortable. I think his ceiling is a lot higher than what we're ever going to get near here.

00:32:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, and switch, I thought it was warranted. I thought, go ahead, it's needed to start. Now I think it's flipped. I do think Diabotti probably needs to start now.

00:32:35
Speaker 2: Let's talk about that.

00:32:36
Speaker 4: Yellovich made comments after the game where he said, we've just got some guys that get away from the team basketball and if they haven't gotten the ball in two or three minutes, they just shoot.

00:32:46
Speaker 2: Who's he talking about.

00:32:48
Speaker 1: Well, if we're gone on on the game, Oway did it, Aberdeen did it, Diabate did it, Jasp.

00:32:54
Speaker 2: I mean when Jasper comes in, it's there is a sense with all four of those guys that they will take. Actually, don't think Aberdeen does it as much.

00:33:04
Speaker 1: He usually does it after he hits a shot.

00:33:05
Speaker 2: When he hits one shot, he's got out in a way. It's hard for me to get upset at it because.

00:33:11
Speaker 1: He's best player.

00:33:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, but he's right, that does happen.

00:33:15
Speaker 10: He was talking about guys that go whill without the ball though you know way in Aberdeen they have a lot. It was guys that go two or three minutes without it then think it's their turn.

00:33:22
Speaker 4: Yeah, there is there is a little bit sometimes you can feel it of Okay, I okay, now me, there is a little bit of that.

00:33:31
Speaker 2: It was also great Symar would do it sometimes.

00:33:33
Speaker 1: I can't say he's he's got to get the ball in his hands. Man only shot shot him down two straight games. He's got to find a way to get older and get to get a shot.

00:33:41
Speaker 10: It was also great to Yellowvich or someone it was him say fatigue is not a problem.

00:33:46
Speaker 2: It was Yellovich. He did say that fatigue is not a problem. That's not an excuse for us, is what he said.

00:33:50
Speaker 7: Uh.

00:33:51
Speaker 4: Spring is sprung and that means you might be getting outside more and whether it's doing yard work or staying active by biking or running. Court physical therapy can help you with aches, pains, and injury. Court physical therapy can help keep you from getting back to get being hurt and go back to the things you enjoy while preventing injuries. It's Court Physical Therapy seventy locations statewide. There's a center near you. Go to Court dot com. It's KRT dot com. We'll take a break, be right back. It's KSR, Welcome back, take you Sports Radio. Cornbread Hemp will be one of our sponsors on the road. Go to Cornbreadhimp dot com promo code KSR, Full Spectrum, Flower only, Hemp, CBDs and the Seltzers and they're all there for you.

00:34:30
Speaker 2: They help me rest I hope they will do the same for you.

00:34:33
Speaker 4: Try Cornbread Hemp, Cornbreadhimp dot com promo code KSR our longest along with TJ.

00:34:40
Speaker 2: Smith. Our longest sponsor.

00:34:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, for a long time was Boons Butcher Shop.

00:34:45
Speaker 2: You say that they haven't been on this radio show in a decade.

00:34:48
Speaker 1: When we first started, though they were legab. They stayed with you all the way for like ten years.

00:34:52
Speaker 4: As he might, Yeah, it was not I love Boons Butcher Shop, but we should really support the ones that are doing it absolutely and not always shan and bringing up Boons Butcher Shop. Even though I like Boons Butcher Shop, but you keep bringing that up and it has been a decade since Boon's Butcher Shop has.

00:35:08
Speaker 3: Been us has been with us for a long time, right here in Lovell at the studio.

00:35:14
Speaker 6: We're gonna have later on.

00:35:15
Speaker 4: Heah, I'm good, all right, So schedule Wednesday, we play at one o'clock. We play at twelve thirty in Nashville. We're gonna talk a lot more about this tomorrow. But what we think the crowd will be like, We're actually not gonna be there yet. We're gonna be getting We're gonna be on the way so here we would like to come watch the game. So we're gonna do the show, leave here at like eleven, get in the car, and then we're gonna drive to Bowling Green and watch the game there and do this postgame show there. So if there's somebody in Bowling Green would like to have us watch, I guess it'll be more like the second half of the game and do the postgame show there, not in front of a crowd, just host us. If you have like a sports bar or something like that, Yeah, let us know, because we're gonna get there, stop and watch the game.

00:36:13
Speaker 10: I have a feeling this early start a lot of fans that have plans might not make it.

00:36:18
Speaker 2: For the game, even with only ten dollars tickets.

00:36:20
Speaker 10: I mean, I don't know a lot of people going, but the few I've reached out to are like, we're gonna get there Wednesday at like five and just hope we're still in it. I hope it's still a good turnout. But playing before noon local time, I think is gonna have a big impact.

00:36:33
Speaker 1: It will so many people's got their hotel reservations don't even start till Wednesday night.

00:36:37
Speaker 10: And I looked up what it was to add Tuesday night. My goodness, Tuesday night isn't on discount.

00:36:42
Speaker 4: So but we will do Now we are going to do our ten roof show Thursday either way.

00:36:50
Speaker 2: Now, if we win, it'll be a lot of fun. Shit, Yeah, it'll be good. If we lose, that will be interesting.

00:37:00
Speaker 1: Group therapy, Yeah, morning beers, hangover party.

00:37:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, mourning beers Withdrew Right, several.

00:37:09
Speaker 1: If they win, will becoming a pregame show for the next game too, right, Yes.

00:37:15
Speaker 2: That's the ideal situation. That's the ideal situation. Why are we got We know we're not gonna lose. Are we we should win?

00:37:21
Speaker 1: Don't talk it into existence.

00:37:23
Speaker 10: One thing I hate and I don't even want to say this out loud, but if you lose, you could be leaving Nashville as Arkansas, Tennessee, and Florida are coming in. I mean, you could pass them on your way out. Now they get to pass your fans coming to the time. I mean, our fans will be on the way to Nashville potentially as we're going home. Most of my friends, you know, I've done this trip for twenty plus years. Most of my friends are arriving after this game.

00:37:51
Speaker 4: I am arriving after this game, and I'm going no matter what, but we're gonna win.

00:37:56
Speaker 2: Shane O, go ahead, SHANEO.

00:38:00
Speaker 12: Good morning, guys, and I just hey, I got a couple of things to say about football. And first off, thank you, thank you, thank you for having coach will on man. I had multiple chill bump east, as Ryan would say, moments during that interview. I also got so excited, man, my mouth started watering and pasting back and forth here at the house. I mean, I'm so excited about that guy and the fact that they're on the hunt. I mean, and the T shirts they're going to be made. Call Rick at the Kentucky shop, right now and get him on it, because man, I signed me up and I want to do a little pr man because we've been without PR for football far too long. And the Spring Game April eighteenth, BBN show up, Morning beers, afternoon beers, Let's celebrate. Let's make our spring game a celebration for what it should be. And then my last thing this week, I live in Mauvel and I'm a former player, and I bought it gone Bys and got me some sissy cakes. But I'm going by to give miss w a hug and Aunt Blakie another hug for raising a young man that with the caliber and the insight and the passion that we really needed for this program. And that's all I need to say. Guys, Appreciate it.

00:39:29
Speaker 2: Appreciate it. I agree with everything he said there. We'll get plenty of hype for the spring game as we get closer. Warren, go ahead, Warren.

00:39:39
Speaker 13: Hey, guys, good morning, love the show, love to give you with Coach Sted. My cousin and I have season tickets and we're so fired up. I wanted to be wanted to call for a long time. And congratulates Drew on expecting the little girl. I'm actually holding my new board right now now. So congrats to Drew. You guys, I've been the listener for so long. You guys still like family. So I wanted to tell you, Matt that I'm excited that your dad had a good report last week.

00:40:16
Speaker 12: Just like you, I.

00:40:17
Speaker 13: Grew up becoming a UK fan because of my grandfather and my grandmother and watching games with him growing up. And I actually got to watch the Florida game with my grandmother, who turned one hundred and one yesterday.

00:40:33
Speaker 2: Well that's awesome.

00:40:36
Speaker 4: In that, that is very cool. I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to go to break here in a second.

00:40:40
Speaker 13: But okay, real quick, that's okay.

00:40:43
Speaker 2: But thank you very much for all of those kinds. You guys appreciate it.

00:40:50
Speaker 4: One hundred and one, that's a lot of JC. I got like thirty seconds.

00:40:55
Speaker 9: Go.

00:40:58
Speaker 12: Real quick.

00:41:00
Speaker 14: Chandler getting off threes. He needs to be able to burn that pressure off. He's not gonna get open looks the books out on him. He got to he can't get all ways of the rock. He's got to get to the lane and hit the little ten footer.

00:41:15
Speaker 2: I agree, he's got to. You're exactly right.

00:41:19
Speaker 4: The book that's a good way to put the book is out on him and he's got to find a way to get open because that's crucial for us. Let's go to DraftKings promo code KSR bet five. You can win up to two hundred dollars from DraftKings. That's your place for March Madness. This year Tennessee had won, we would have won our parlay. That's what I get for believing in Tennessee. Tonight's Sunbelt Championship, Georgia Southern has a chance to do something no team's ever done. Six games in six days to win a conference tournament. Six games in six days. These games in six days for the Sunbelt Final. They play Troy tonight to win it all. Do you think they can do six games in six days. No, we saw Troy last year. We wrote a hundred stories on the meeting at waffle House. Waffle House will carry them to the tournament again. I want the team to win in six games and six days. I'm gonna pull for Georgia State. We're Georgia Southern, Georgia and uh Shannon, I'm taking Georgia Southern as well. Six games in six days.

00:42:18
Speaker 3: Our team is tired after we play two games in a week. This team's gonna play six games and six days. Georgia Southern.

00:42:25
Speaker 4: We don't like the Saturday Tuesday turn around and Georgia Southern is on their sixth game.

00:42:33
Speaker 15: They got the Wednesday to Monday, Saturday to Tuesday. Too much, too much fatigue, but six games in a row, Georgia Southern.

00:42:44
Speaker 4: That's tonight, the Sunbelt. We will see you all tomorrow. Thanks to will Side for coming on. It's KSR