2025-09-23- KSR - Hour 2

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

00:01:05
Speaker 4: This is not Matt Jones. H. This is Drew Franklin. You're welcome. I'm with Ryan Lemon and special guests Dennis Dennis Johnson joining us at Kaspar and Grill. We're excited to have Dennis. Ryan, you booked, booked a big guest today. I'm very very proud of you. You said you're gonna tell some stories.

00:01:20
Speaker 2: I've got some great Dennis Johns stories. Ill Man, great story. Oh man, I looked at your schedule, Whoodford County schedule. You're off this week. We are, I thought, Man, it's a perfect time to get you in to talk a little UK football talk, a little Jasper Johnson's basketball and Wolf jacket shout out. Yeah, absolutely, So you look good, man, you look good. Proud of you.

00:01:38
Speaker 5: Appreciate it. Man, pretty such, Joe, have me on. You guys do a good job. I try to listen when I can and so, uh, you guys have a lot of fans in Wolford, Cana in the state. Man.

00:01:45
Speaker 2: So Jasper came in one day this summer and did a great job. Yeah oh you came Yeah really good.

00:01:51
Speaker 4: 're excited to have him here. We should like break it up well maybe, well do you want to go football first, Basketball first, you're Johnson Legacy first. You can get these stories out of the way. Woafos killing it early in their season. Which way you want to go? Or I could start with telling you about Don Franklin.

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Speaker 5: How about I do that? People will do that?

00:02:07
Speaker 4: Why you think about the direction you want to read with? It's fourth quarter? You need options and there's twenty eight stores and over six thousand vehicles across the bluegraund This makes absolutely no sense across the Bluegrass trucks. What let's start all over. Don Franklin Auto big sponsors of the show that you can. You can go there with locations all across the state. This read really makes no sense. With power train protection. Powertrain protection ten years, unlimited miles. That's how you finish strong coverage on certified, pre owned makes and models only at Don Franklin Auto. You got parts that need replacing, Keep rolling with confidence. Don Franklin's five year parts warranty on qualifying parts. Keep you on the boat. Who wrote this, not on the sidelines. Just get to Don Franklin Auto for GMC, Hondai, Nissan, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Fiatkia, Mitsubushi, Ford, Lincoln, Genesis, Cadillac, and Toyota. Score big at your local Don Franklin dealership. Are still your way over to Don Franklin Auto dot com. Right before you talked to Jasper, Shannon and I were just have a conversation off off the air about some of these ad reads and they got to start a putting spaces in words like.

00:03:07
Speaker 2: Just tangle dramatically correct sentences.

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Speaker 4: I might even swore this one out.

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Speaker 3: Random numbers in there that make no sense, like it's yeah, it's not easy reading these things. It's barely English.

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Speaker 5: All right.

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Speaker 4: Anyway, we do love Don Franklin. Sorry I butchered that ad read. Uh, but we're in the family. Don I apologize Don Franklin Atto dot com. You all know the drill. Check him out always being good to ksorrow. We have loving remotes there. We also love having Dennis Johnson. Did you did you all pick football or basket?

00:03:32
Speaker 2: I've got it, I've got I've got three good you have the four?

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Speaker 4: Have the four.

00:03:36
Speaker 2: Let's tell Let's tell a story and then do a football segment and tell a story, do a basketball segment, then tell a story and do that. Johnson love it.

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Speaker 5: I love it.

00:03:43
Speaker 4: This is your bit.

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Speaker 2: Okay, I'm gonna go in. I'm gonna go in the order I think they happened. The first great Johnson story. A lot of people Kentucky know this. My man played varsity football when he was in the second grade.

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Speaker 4: True story.

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Speaker 2: He's in a second grade, his brother Derek's in the third grade, and they're playing high school football at Harritsburg High School. And I heard this one great story somebody in your lockering with you with the Arizona Cardinals, like they challenge you like there's no way, said I have a second grade son, There's no way he could have played high school football. And he then the second grade.

00:04:17
Speaker 5: Absolutely no. It was funny, man. Once the guys found out, and that was a year m and Alos came and so once they found out, we'll probably go out to practice one day and all the guys like stuck around, was like dude, this can't this can't be true, and them and them there was like, man, come on, man, be I'm like, no, it's absolutely true. So they did some research and they were like it was like a topic of discussion for the whole years, Like every tithing that seemed like dog ain't no way. I'm like, oh, it's a way. We me and my brother rode our bikes. Practice started, you know, it's when you had triple sessions. Practice started at six oh one am. My dad would leave at four to get down there. He's always an earlier riser. So me and my brother ride our box with our pads on, and if we were late, we had to run. And so we had to do triple sessions. No going to the city pool. We had practice again, and then we had another practice and so yeahah that was that was. That was a life in the Johnson household as young kids. But we did we didn't only different, so we just we went with it.

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Speaker 4: So I was like collecting Ninja turtles.

00:05:04
Speaker 5: No cartoons for us, none of that.

00:05:06
Speaker 4: What was it like for the other guys who are much older than you and say you just put them on their butt? Like how just demoralizing was that to get hit by a second grader?

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Speaker 5: Well, for the most part was the other way around, because he put up against the best guys and they would knock our heads off and might just like get up and don't be soft and be tougher and stuff. So we we kind of had to go to the hard way. He wouldn't put up against the guys who probably could have matched up against. Most of the time, we were the scout team guys versus the first team guys, and we had to do everything we could have survived. But you know, my dad had no he didn't take any shorts, and it was always be tougher, be stronger, be better, don't be you know, soft, And so that's kind of how we grew up.

00:05:40
Speaker 2: So because of you, the KHSAA implemented what I've always called the Dennis and Derrek Johnson rule. Well, you can't play varsity football until you get in high school, right absolutely, it made the rule because of you, guys. And there's some kids, you know, we have kids, man, who the eighth grades want to play. I'm like, guys, I'm sorry, we just you know, because.

00:05:55
Speaker 5: Of my father, right God, kids who are kids are now six seven and six seven, you've seen all. So they got to play middle school until they get in high school in the state of Kentucky.

00:06:06
Speaker 2: For that's the first Dinnis Johnson story played me's in the second grade for Harrisburg High School.

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Speaker 4: Now that you were just out there and this this was a little more after second grade. But I mean, you were getting a lot of attention at a young age, leave aside just out there hitting people. What was that like, having a spotlight on you when you're still truly just a kid.

00:06:21
Speaker 5: Well, it's funny. Uh what was coach Smith's name? He's the coach dB at the UK. He came to a cruise on gas Rick Smith. We had a ton of guys coaches out there, and I remember him going in before the game talking to my day. I was like, you know, we like, we like the kid. You know, I was tall. He was like when I was like, oh yeah, he's like in fourth grade, he was like, what the what's going on? So, you know, and I'm young at the time, so I'm like no, no, no, I'm like I'm too young to go to college. Like, yeah, what do you? What are you? What are your players next year? Guy? I'm like, uh, they go to fifth yeah, school, maybe go to the park, go to kids out, you know, practice, that's it. So it was, uh, now it's funny. But now we had a good time. Waited. Like I said, we were my brother and I had a chance has been the spotlight for a long time, so it was kind of became kind of, you know, common thread after the while. But I always tell people with this now, my dad was so hard on us. You remember ESPN's scholastics. I remember they follow us around for like a whole week, and I'm like, where are they follow us around? We're not that good because my dad was just so hard if you made twenty tackles, it was the three tackles you did make or the three blocks you did man that he would harp on. So even for a long time, I'm like, I don't know all these people are like follow us from because we're not really like we're not that good, you know what I'm saying, Like we're not that good. And the first time I kind ofnew, he took us to a camp somewhere. It might've been in New York or something like one camp meet Craig all of us and we all got like top kids in camp, and everybody's like, where are you guys from? Harrisburg was like Harrisburg, Pennsylvania was like no, no, Harrisburg context. He's like, no, there's no like football in Kentucky like Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. By this time, I'm you know, seven fifh graand and I'm like, oh, these guys, you know, you start hearing about ratings and this guy's aren't the tenth best old lineman and we're like killing these guys. I'm like, oh, this is easy. We've been doing this for a long time. Yeah. But it was so funny. I was kids like you guys got be from Pennsylvania. Like, there's Pennsylvania has good high scholootball, but not like Kentucky, Harrisburg. I'm like, no, Harrisburg, Kentucky. It was funny. So now had a lot of good stories growing up with football.

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Speaker 4: I mean, the football was obviously covered and it's a you know, legend around here. But were you and your brother just competitive and everything? Did judge us always fighting or something in the backyard or whatever it was. It's just always head to head.

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Speaker 5: And I tell parents is I tell my parents were so great because we basketball and the kitchen and we always slapping our hands on the walls. Happened to get the walls painted, but my mom and dad let us do it, and me and my brother fought in the background. We always had a lot of people over Craig and Julius and Harry j all those guys and it was everything was competitive. We ping pong table. Downstairs, we had a big contra video game, the real big video game, and then we had a on other part of the basement. You've been there. There was a whole basketball court with a mini hoop, and so it was. It was some competitive times. People getting knocked into the walls, people with fish fighting. It was a lot of that growing up. But it made us who we were.

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Speaker 2: He just mentioned five guys Dennis Johnson, Dereck Johnson, Julius Yeast, j Parks, Craig Easy, all played Major Division one football out of Harrisburg High School. Jason Dunn before them, I'm done when in the NFL. I mean, it's amazing that school at that time. You guys produced five major Division one football players.

00:09:14
Speaker 5: Crazy. Now, it was some some of those Friday nights men. I'm gonna forget. This is probably eight nine years ago. I met a guy some game or somed me said, Man, if you're I'm gonna tell the story. If you ever told anybody I would I would, I would say you were alive. He was like, my my grandson was playing in a playoff football game. Whatever, run the playss. But I came to Harrisburg because you guys had Philip former Bobby Bell. Now you know you should fly to helicopters, and He's like, I just wanted to see those guys, and so I missed my grandson's game to come and see you guys play. So if you ever tell those stories, I'll never forget the guys tell me the story. So it was some some legendary stories and times of Harrisburg U back in those days.

00:09:46
Speaker 4: Now you mentioned people not knowing Harrisburg. You all certainly put it on the map. And then after your high school career, even during your high school career, you know, we all know you in a Kentucky but some big time schools coming to visit.

00:09:56
Speaker 5: Huh No, I was good. Uh you know we had you know, my final mind me uh Notre Dame. I think Colorado was in there at the time, Florida. Uh so I had a whole bunch again those guys I'm come to the basketball games and my dad having the section on for all those guys, and it was it was crazy times because you think about a little community seven thousand people and all these guys constantly. I mean it was just a madhouse for a year, I would say, you know, for those guys, but it was a good frock community. I got to see a lot of people. It was. It was definitely fun.

00:10:24
Speaker 4: So when Steve Spurrier comes to visit, you know, I love Harrisburg, but it might be a little iotening to him from being down there. What's a Steve spurriy visit?

00:10:32
Speaker 5: Like?

00:10:32
Speaker 4: Is he in and out or is he spending the night at bed and breakfast? Is he going out to eat?

00:10:36
Speaker 5: I think he was in and out and the price stayed in Lexton, but he came in and came to the house. Him and Charlie Strong was with him. So him and Charlie come in and we talked for four or five hours and hang out and they eating all that typ of stuff and then I guess they hit the hit the bypass and go to Lexing and spend the night and get out of dodge. Yeah.

00:10:53
Speaker 2: I gotta tell him my second dish, tell them all the night before he makes it. He's gonna commit on the signing day, make the big announcement in the high school gym. The night before is when Lexington had the famous dusting of snow that snowed a foot of snow overnight and his announcement. Then Harrisburg is the next morning. So Gary Johnson and I got on the car, get in the car. The snow has not covered as has not been removed from the road. You can't see if you're on the road or not. We're watching the guardwear garrel on the side of the road and make sure we're still in the concrete. They closed the Bluegrass Parkway while we were on the Bluegrass Parkway, but we're out. We're on it already. So we kept going like ten miles an hour and get the hairy bring. I remember telling Gary Johnson, if that big SOB does Doc pick Kentucky, I'm gonna smack him when I get there.

00:11:42
Speaker 5: I'm gonna tell you a great story. So the night before we played in South Laurel, I forgot the head coach I signed a few weeks ago. So I'm taking in this packed house right with Julius, and I say, if we got a good team, And so it's packed in there and I'm taking the battle bounds and this guy gra Grass my jersey.

00:11:56
Speaker 2: He's like this is during a basketball game.

00:11:58
Speaker 5: Said if I need to know you're going so bad, I'll give you five hundred dollars. I'm like what and I'm like, you know, I'm a kid. I'm like throwing the ball, like this guy's gonna, you know, detect me. And then after the game, so many people surrounding me, the bus leaves me. And so after going coaches often he caused my dad because he had one of those big old uh save by the bell of phones like uh uh you you left one of your players. It was like, oh, like your son, you know. So he had to come out and get me because I couldn't get away like the bus had already gone. But that was a crazy story, and it took us, I don't know, three or four hours to get home. And then the next morning we woke up and it was it was, it was a madhouse.

00:12:29
Speaker 2: I remember you saying that morning when you made the commitment, and I believed you. You said you really didn't know till you woke up that morning. And then when your dad came in, Alvis comes in to get you up. Your dad where my Kentucky had.

00:12:40
Speaker 5: I was a huge Many fan and my favorite team was always Notre Dame and so I always had probably like a champion today, and so I had, you know, I had like Edwin james On, I visited h MAMMI so we had a great time. I had Javon Kersher. I mean I had all the tops of the tops guys, uh and so U. So it was a tough decision because I wanted to go to one of those three schools. And so just in my heart of heart, man, I was a Kentucky threw and the through and that was that's what made the decision.

00:13:03
Speaker 4: Can only imagine that visit to the you probably got to see the library and yeah, keep tutors. You know, just how close realistically were you to to pick in one of those other schools that you loved? Somebody was was Ryan Ever in jeopardy of risking his life to go to a commitment.

00:13:18
Speaker 2: Soody slammed you if you didn' pick Kentucky.

00:13:20
Speaker 5: That's why that's why I think Kentucky said Ryan limit right, We're a good friend. So I didn't want to get body slamed by Ryan. So you can't it was you can't? Was but no I did. I mean I but they was a coach at uh uh and many and so went down there and actually went in there a few times and just you know, as an eighth year old kick comeing from Harrisburg, getting to see all that and hanging out with all those celebrities and went to the club with Bubba Franks and all those guys and went to Luke's. I mean, we was all over the place, man, and so everybody knew who you were. It was, it was it was very it was very tempting. Yeah, it's amazing. Still got that commitment. We'll take a break. We want to hear more about Kentucky football. You you there in your days, and then the current state. And of course we got to hear what the expectations of jasper practice up to up yesterday, so we want to hear a little bit about that too. It's Drew Ryan and Dennis Johnson were KSPARR.

00:14:04
Speaker 4: Will be right back. Welcome back to KSR. Drew Franklin, Ryan lemoned kspar and grill with our special guest Dennis Johnson before we get back to him and Ryan thought of even more stories during the story. Shannon, Who's this segment brought to us.

00:14:17
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00:14:56
Speaker 4: Back to you, Drew, I think our listeners need corn bread. After my Don frankl and read, I was just saying words, I went back and looked at it. I mean, it's it's a lot going on in there. I feel bad, AM gonna am I gonna get fired?

00:15:06
Speaker 2: Ryan, No, I mean like you. I think they put it in Ai and let Ai spit it out, and you know they don't prove it, and then they just send it to you.

00:15:12
Speaker 4: It's going on in there, the lot going on in there. Franklin also shout out Dennis Johnson, We're gonna keep this moving. You'll stay on football a little bit. And you look like you perked up with some more stories there. So I'm just gonna pass it off to you again, right, Okay.

00:15:24
Speaker 2: So we got it from Harrisburg to UK.

00:15:26
Speaker 4: Yeah, let's just let's just do the timeline.

00:15:27
Speaker 2: Okay, He's at UK and there's this great story where Dennis has mentioned his dad, Alvis. Alvis is one of the most great it's maybe one of the greatest football coaches ever in this state ever, and very well respected. And so you guys, I believe you're on the road at Florida, yes, and it's game day and you guys are stopped at the hotel room. Your dad says, come into my room. So you and Derek go to the hotel room and he started doing some coaching in the hotel room and uses your mom as the offensive lineman. Stand up Rosetta and you get showing you what to do, get around it, offensive lineman, right, putting your hands on your mama will not like that, but you know, like just showing what to do.

00:16:06
Speaker 5: She was she was a football tackling dummy for about ten minutes and he had no regard. You know, he was in football mode, and once he's in football mode, he's in My dad was and now people know that a lot of a few sides of my dad, but he's probably one of the most competitive people, and he he doesn't like error and he wants you to be successful every single player. I don't think I had a sack for a game or two, and he just was getting pretty irritated. So he had to He had to give me his sade of the coaching what he thought I needed to do on me and my brother to be successful. And so my mom was the only obstcut of room. Thus, take off your your earrings real fast and Rae put your hands traight out him. So he just had to get his. He had to get it off his chests before he walked out, before he walked down went to the ro.

00:16:49
Speaker 2: His dad had off, had put the coach hat offs a little bit.

00:16:52
Speaker 5: Yep, we got that a lot.

00:16:53
Speaker 4: I got to ask if he changed a little bit, because Tyler Thompson wrote a good story on Your Whole Family for our website months ago, But it seemed Grandpa might have been a little different than than Dad, because Jasper was talking about him getting him shoes and look good, play good, feel good. Did did you see a shift in the attitude when he went from dad to Grandpa?

00:17:13
Speaker 5: I mean a super duper duper shift, Like I was just telling them from the stories of one of the two times he really got on him, but the other times he was. I mean, like he bought I mean he bought Jasper so many pair of I'm like it was. It was, I'm like, Dan, I would ask you for a pair of my You're good, you got a pair putting out on him, put ice on it, you know what I'm saying. I'm like, man, it was just but it swiss man when he got the grandkids, man, he switched Skylar and Skyler and Jasper could do no wrong in his eyes. But no, no, but they had a great relationship, and so they Jasper always said this Jasmine, Skylar had a Jasper uh, and my granddad had just had some kind of you know, real intimate bond, you know what I'm saying. That bought them close together, and they spent a lot of time together. So it was, it was, it was definitely great.

00:17:54
Speaker 2: Hey, als never missed a game, whether it was Skyler playing or Jasper playing. Or when you and Derek were playing, he never that's the game right for sure. You know, I think I've always said you left UK as one of the top defensive players. Ever, I think Art still you and we got to put Josh Allen you. How do you think when somebody puts that kind of praise on you what you did at UK?

00:18:15
Speaker 5: You know, I think it's part of the process. You know, you're blessed to be able to be in that position. And so when we went to the UK, like you know, coach Mommy and that staff, Tim and those guys that kind of move the needle, and so I wanted to be a part of that man and so I just wanted to try to do my part to to help to help put UK where it is currently. And so now it's definitely how praise those guys, I know, Art and Josh, those were phenomenal players, and so just to be mentioning with those guys, it's definitely something. But it was great times there and so UK, you know, growing from that stage of my life was great for me and and and and made me into the men.

00:18:46
Speaker 4: And today, you know, we have a lot of younger listeners because Ryan Lemon, you know who brings in. So what was just like the current stead of UK football When you committed, you named all these powers that that that you could have gone to. I assume Kentucky. The records weren't quite what those were at the time, so it's a big decision for you. What would you just like when you made that.

00:19:06
Speaker 5: Well, I think, first of all, you know, Craig was there, how Mummy had brought this, you know, high powered offense, some excitement the UK football. My brother was there, so I knew a lot of the guys on the team, George Man. Some of those guys to grow up there sometime, and so I wanted to be a part of it. Like it wouldn't the tradition, risk programs and one thing my dad always told me before I made my commitment, go somewhere you can get to play practice is one thing, but you need to get game reps. If you want to be a pro, you have to get game reps and playing in the best conference in the country. Man, I said, well, you know, got a lot going for me. My dad was there, my brothers there, Craig was on his way out. But I said, man, being a part of that and being able to getting a chance to go out and play earlier. I thought it was there was it was a no brainer at the end of the day, when I really put all the put everything on the table. UK was just it was the best decision for me. And like I said, we're gonna play against the best every single Saturday, and so go somewhere where when you leave you can come back and people have respect for you. Can you know, you have some ties and so that was very important.

00:19:58
Speaker 2: And you're wearing the blue today, a blue hat on, you got a blue pull over on. You're the head coach at Whitford County High School, so you're obviously still involved with the game. What do you see when you see this Kentucky team right now?

00:20:08
Speaker 5: No, I like him, I think, you know, I think offensively, we had to figure some things out, and I think I think I met Zach actually one of the first that he was there. I was over there at the at the facility when Vince was still there, and so like him. But I just think Cutter, you got more time. You know, he's a he's a his body, pro type body. I think he's gonna throw the ball, He's not afraid to make a mistake, he's gonna throw the ball. So I think he gives our long term. He gives our offense the best chance to have some success. And we're already going to the belly of the beast, you know what I'm saying. So you gotta be a you know, I think our run games. You got a better offensive line. I love the running back group, but I just it's gonna be hard to run for one hundred fifty hundred seventy five when we get into the heart of this se plus, we gotta be able to throw the ball. So I like him. Defensively, I think we're always solid. I just think a lot of times we wore our defense down, and so thirty four quarter we give up some some players we probably wouldn't give up early on, if you know, offense could control the ball little bit more so. No, you know, it's tough. Every year we're in the toughest conference. And I always say, man, when you when you add Oklahoma and Texas, Man, those are two high school rich states, and maybe in years past when they want SEC, we might be able to get a few of those kids. Well now they can all stay home and still playing SEC. So that makes it even tougher on us, you know what I'm saying. And so but now I like coach stops, I think it's just like I said, it's tough, man, I said, but we just gotta we got to get back to the old school, grind out some games to try to win them. At the end.

00:21:26
Speaker 4: You have a couple of wins over South Carolina and one was down there, yes, talk about just how tough it is to go on the road, and did they have the rooster crowing back then, and what that atmosphere was.

00:21:34
Speaker 5: Like, absolutely, it was, it was, it was. It was probably one of the louder environments I've been into our remember, And it was funny. When I was playing for the Cardinals, guy got cut and so they bought another guy and there he's laying on one bed and I'm on another bed, and he was like, I'm like, I know you. He was a tackle from South Carolina when we played him, and so but I just remember loud environment, crazy. It was a day game, and so we were able to win a game dinner. So we're definitely going to a hostyle, which all the SEC's are, but just one of the one of the louder ones. I can remember being into on a twelve o'clock game, and so we got our hands full it. So we've gotta be ready to go down there and play. We cannot we just can't turn the ball over. Man, we turn the ball, we think it's that disaster for us. And so what they did to us last year, I was at the game last year and it was that was one of our better performances and so we need we need to go to there and get revenge.

00:22:20
Speaker 2: Well, there's still a lot of football left with the schedule, is you know, pretty tough for this team. What do you think they need to do to kind of have some success now from playing on out.

00:22:28
Speaker 5: I think you, like you said, they hopefully they've given Cutter of the keys to the like win, loser, draw and get. You just got to give it to him and let him go and then you you evaluate him at the end of the year. So I think that's one thing is I think he'll be able to galvanize the guys, get them all together and say they can somebody they can trust him leaving offensively again. And I think if you do that right, you're not it's not going to be perfect, but I think you have to you can't go back and forth. I think you got to get some consistency. And so offensively, if we can just if we can find a way right just to ball control, uh, get the ball out quick, make some play. I think it helps our defense a lot. And I'm looking like I like the kid from Franklin. I'm looking for fairy er to to step up. I think we need wanted the receivers to really step up and and be we need a one to two combination. And so I like the kid I've got a chance to talk to a few times. So I'm looking for that kid to step up and and help us at a sec play.

00:23:15
Speaker 4: It's the football breakdown from a football legend. We'll switch to basketball, and I see Ryan's wills turning. Maybe with some more stories coming out.

00:23:22
Speaker 2: My favorite story I haven't told you all right, it's.

00:23:24
Speaker 4: Drew Rydan Dennis at Caspar TJ.

00:23:27
Speaker 1: Smith, personal injury attorney called TJ.

00:23:30
Speaker 4: He'll make them pay.

00:23:31
Speaker 3: Now more of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage.

00:23:35
Speaker 5: Here's Matt Jones.

00:23:37
Speaker 4: Welcome back to KSR. Drew Franklin filling in for Matt Jones with Ryan Lemon here beside me. We also are happy to be joined by UK legend Dennis Johnson. We're gonna switch our topic with him from football to little basketball. But first, Ryan Lemon, would you like to try to do an ad read?

00:23:54
Speaker 2: My adred doesn't have the numbers in it. I got lucky, I got.

00:23:57
Speaker 4: I'm still haunting me. I feel like I've been benched.

00:24:00
Speaker 2: Are you missing the warning signs of skin cancer?

00:24:02
Speaker 5: Well?

00:24:02
Speaker 2: Doctor skag that the Kentucky Skin Cancer Center says he hears this all the time. He thought it was just a spider bite. Later testing show it was sins sale skin cancer. Skin cancer is extremely common, can be hard to find. That's why it's important to know the warning signs and when you see your dermatologists at Kentucky State Skin Cancer Center. Their team of experience and carrying doctors and are experts when it comes to finding and treating skin cancer, so they are all over the place has five locations across Kentucky, Beam Bowling, Green, Owensboro, Glasgow, Franklin and Mulenburg County. The team gets you in quickly, treat you like family. So schedule your visit with your trusted skin cancer experts by calling two seven zero eight four to two, nineteen ninety nine, or visit Kentucky Skin Cancer Center dot com. That's Kentucky Skin Cancer Center dot com, your trusted skin cancer expert.

00:24:47
Speaker 4: Back to you, Drew beautifully, said ron Lemon.

00:24:51
Speaker 2: I got one more dinners.

00:24:51
Speaker 5: I know you do.

00:24:52
Speaker 4: I wish he's so excited.

00:24:54
Speaker 2: This is my favorite one. Okay, this is this is when he's playing at UK. He's at UK, Derek's at UK. And I've known the family for about four or five years and I know he's Elvis and Rosetta the mom and dad, and they kept keep talking about these Sunday afternoon dinners. Well, I invited myself. I said, well, I want to come. I want to see how you feed these boys that are college athletes. I want to come and watch this. I walk in and Dennis will back me up on this. Rosetta had two full chickens, a full ham mashed potatoes. I'm dressing corn. It was like a Thanksgiving feast for twenty people. And there were like six of us there. And guess how much was left.

00:25:35
Speaker 5: When we were finished. None.

00:25:37
Speaker 2: It was all gone. I have never seen a Thanksgiving dinner on a Sunday afternoon in May. It was amazing. Your mother killed it that day.

00:25:48
Speaker 5: See she's a cooker man. We used to get all those guys over every I mean it was every day breakfast and at least breakfast and dinner. But she was finished clean up a kitchen this time to start cooking again. And it was you were never like you never want the more so she was and she still does it. I have my iming over a few probably sixeven months ago when she did, and she.

00:26:06
Speaker 2: She still does it. They were very where's Drewnile's invitation?

00:26:11
Speaker 5: Next time you guys are one, welcome to come over. She'll cooks.

00:26:13
Speaker 2: We did this with no cameras, just no you know, way before social media, just presenting Alison inviting us over for Sunday afternoon dinner.

00:26:21
Speaker 4: Ron, we believe you went there for free meal without it didn't work.

00:26:23
Speaker 5: I believe.

00:26:24
Speaker 4: Did you have a favorite thing she made? I mean he named the chicken and ham and all that, Jebas.

00:26:29
Speaker 5: I always you know, I'm like, I'm kind of like, I'm a big breakfast guy, so I like I like the I like steaks on the grill and the eggs. Steak and eggs is good. Her homemade pizzas are really really good. Puts a lot of a lot of meats on there. So that's that was those two of my favorite things.

00:26:43
Speaker 2: Do you think it'd be good content for Mario that she fixes big meal for all of us one day?

00:26:47
Speaker 5: Come on, yah, we'll get some weight on you, Mario. You might get it, you like Jasper might put twenty on your.

00:26:54
Speaker 2: You mentioned Jasper. Obviously that's a big topic around here. And he grew up playing here, played it souther in middle school, played Atoodford County before he went on to bigger and better things. I think the city of Electionton is so proud to see how he's developed as a player. And I know you're proud as a dad. What are your thoughts about him now where he is as a player, as a freshman going.

00:27:12
Speaker 5: Into the UK. No, I'm uh, you know, as a dad definitely, you know, excited for him. You know, it's been a long journey, right, a lot of long early mornings, long nights in the gym, and then you know, once he got to Agy, we sent them off to kind of figure that itself, and so you know, once he went to Lincoln Ot, I think it prepared him for what he's going to go into now, and I was I told the story before. You know. I think link was probably the best thing for him because the first two weeks she wanted to come home. You know. Bill talk was like he was with Trey and Labarn and all them guys, and He's just like, man, I'm not home. Six five six shots, now enough for me, you know what I'm saying. I need to and Bill me and Bill talked, and I love Bill Armstrong to this day. And Bill kind of walked me through it. And I went down there and just told him. I said, you're in the right place when you need to be here. And I think failure is good for all kids. Man, they need to go through it and have to figure that out. And so I didn't go to a game until like they came. I think they played in the Marshall County who Fest was like a January. So I wanted to figure out hisself. And so I think that was really really good for him to count And just if you if you haven't hard time to go to the gym, figure it out, you need to be by yourself. If basketball is really then you'll figure it out. In about January, Bill called me and I think he they played in some time and he had like twenty five or twenty six, and Bill was like, you know, he's figured it out, and so saw you know, and that's a good note. And I caught him and just now my thing was like, you know, figure it out. You know what I'm saying, Like you you're a basketball player. I went as far as I could with you as a dad to try to get you positions, and I now, you got to figure some stuff out playing with a lot of great players. And so everybody's out for in that room, you know, with your and le burn and all those guys. Man you had. I think him the Igua dollars son was the only underclassmen on the team, so everybody else was scenes who are who are ready to sign? And so but it was good for him. I think he had to compete in practice every day and so it was a great experience. And then going to overtime last year was another different experience. So I just always a big believer and put him in uncomfortable experience different, So we had to figure it out. And he's done knocking on wo up at this point, he's done a good job of figuring it out. Now this is a different beast coming to college and so uh uh, you know, routines and all that type stuff. What you got to do to five minutes and so on. I'm excited to see how he's gonna he's gonna transition and what he's gonna do.

00:29:08
Speaker 4: We were there for the commitment ceremony at the high school, and uh, I'm pretty unexpected that there's a Dennis Johnson jersey comes out basketball jersey. I should say, yes, yeah, I mean we all we all know there's football jerseys. But a nice twist there. How cool was that even though you didn't get to officially uh play a lot for Kentucky, but you did have a moment with the basketball program and Jasper used that to make his.

00:29:28
Speaker 5: Commitment absolutely and his old his old agent, Nate Conney was the one that kind of put all that together, so this would be cool to do this, and with the Donano's and all that type stuff and Morgan and Morgan, so it was cool man, just to kind of and I'm not one of those people I might get about you, but he wanted to do it. So I'm like, I'm with if you want to do it, I'm cool with it, but I never want to. I don't want to deflecting the tension off famous as his time and doing his thing, and so I'm excited to see him play, but no, it was it was definitely a cool moment. So I'm sorry.

00:29:51
Speaker 4: Well, just briefly explain how the basketball thing with you worked where you're the football star and you ended up with a basketball jersey.

00:29:57
Speaker 5: So I used to go work out with him in the summer, and so we had talked about it when I was getting recruited. I could play football and basketball, and so that was kind of the plan of accident. And so in the summer I would work out in the UK in the morning basketball, and then at night time they ever go play, and then what's the Seaton Center? I would go play. And so I did it up until football was abroad to start, and so uh after the outback ball people don't notice, but I flew right home and started going in the morning. I was shooting in the morning and working out and stuff. And probably three or four days before I was going to probably suit up to play, I was invited to work out one morning. So how Mommy, tub me and my dad was sitting at Memorial and I'm like, oh, this can't be good, and so they wanted to have a conversation and coach Moummy really wanted me. He's like, if you want to be an NFL player, you know I had some risk injury and some hand problems, Like you need to get stronger and get bigger, and I kind of want you to be a leader for the basketball or for the football team. And so my dad was like, or when you signed a football scholarship and if that's your goal, then maybe we don't do it. And so so we made a decision that day for me not to play. And that was probably the one regret I have as an adult, not being able to just go out there. And because I was able to compete, Like I said, I was top hundred in the country, come out of high school, played for son of a curl a real did his team. We trailed over the country and so knew a lot of the guys out that we would have played against. But that was my one regret, not getting a chance to get on the floor rough areen and be able to play. But I'll get a chance to be able to see my son, which is probably even more special.

00:31:19
Speaker 2: Well, you mentioned Jash for going to you know Lincoln in ot when now he's right down the street. Yeah, he's too close. He's leaves just the lodge right down the street. Is he's he been sneaking home? Was he's closed at your house sneaking to mom's vitals? Or is he you make any kind of Hey, you still need to figure it out and stay over there.

00:31:36
Speaker 5: I said, I told you before. Man the best thing they got him, him and Scoular lived together. So they got a little condo downtown and so the best thing they did was they took the dog. So now I'm for true emptynessa but now he actually when I came home from Florida, uh, my wife im flew in early that morning, and so I didn't get on to about seven o'clock, and he was at home and she was she was doing some stuff to his her. So every once in a while we'll come back. But I know what schedule is busy about it. So you know, I try to preach him that battle routine. I think pros have a routine means you got to get in a routine every day. But every once somewhere he'll come want to get a free meal or I bet take something out of the pantry or take something from my mom myself, or looking through stuff. I said, hey, you got your own stuff. Now you know what I'm saying, you got your own Another thing.

00:32:16
Speaker 4: I ramped up practice there and it's still very early. I mean yesterday it was first day. To even this week, we can do twenty hours. But y'all ain't scooped for us. Anything you've heard out of there, you've been watching.

00:32:24
Speaker 5: Well, my buddy called me, text me, Now, I was watching our golfers, Enrichmond and Ron Brown, who you know Ron to He said, I'm sitting here with a Raison and Tayson Washington. You're watching your son play and say he's shooting it pretty well. And so that's kind of insight I've got. And I haven't been to practice or anything, and so I talked to Jeff, but just about you know, just there are no magic pills to work. Just continue to work hard and you'll get the resorts you want. So I've kind of stayed out of it, but just people from here and there kind of say, if they've been to practice, I saw him do this or do that. So I just say, you know, it'll time with Tale, time with Tals. He's got to go out there and you have a good time. And like I said, for a lot of his kid it's it's a ton of pressure. But you know what I'm saying. So I talked to him a lot about the mental, mental part of it, because it's, like I said, any of those kids, the first time you go out there and lay egg Man and the people on you. So you gotta be thick skin and be mainly tough and just uh and just and just believe in your work.

00:33:13
Speaker 2: What do you think his role will be on the team this year? And what do you want his role to be on the team this year?

00:33:17
Speaker 5: You know, I think you gotta you gotta go to find your own practice every single day. I'm a coach because I get it, you know, And I tell my parents, every one of your kids is Lebron James and so there's only one football and eighty five Gays. We're gonna put the best eleven out there. So you know, whatever you're doing practice is going to show in a game and where they trust you to do. You know. But I think he can he can play a little bit on the point. I think he can shoot it off the ball, and so uh, I think You'll be able to do a lot of different things. I think that one good thing about Jaspers, he's he knows how to get people involved. You know, on his You team a few years ago, he was playing up and so had all those guys on the team. And the one thing I like, he was able to find you know, everybody wants the ball and sometimes you get those lips on the forehead, like my granny just saying, he was able to find those guys and get them touches and stuff, and so so I think he has a Comellion type game, and so I think he can adapt to whatever. But like I said, you just got to go out there. You're playing a in the toughest conference basketball conference in the country. Man, she gotta go out and just like you said, every day is a new day. It's a job, Benevident. You gotta find way to get minutes.

00:34:12
Speaker 4: I mean, he obviously played up going to Lincoln Ote, but now, I mean the SEC's got some grown I mean, SEC has some football players out there that should probably be on their second job post college by now, but they exist. Is he ready to make that big jump in that challenge and have to get a little more physical.

00:34:28
Speaker 5: Absolutely no, I think and like I said, and he taught me when he came out from USA basketball. He said, the first few days like, man, you know I was it was, it was physical, you know what I'm saying, Just trying to trying to fill itself out. He had lost some weight when he went to Swiss nobody trying to get his weight back up. But I just think you gotta play it a lot, you know, play a lot. And he valways even when he was young, actually taking to the Wayne Harris Baray and play with the old guys and get bumped and knocked around. This is different, right, but you just gotta you gotta get used to it. Like all things that you gotta used to it. I had to get used to it as a freshman. I was fast in college. But I'm like, man, I didn't know this guy. These guys from Florida are different, these guys from you know, Ohio University. In the first few games, which is which is not the truth. And so it'll take some adjustment town for him. But once he once he gets settle, don't think he'll be fine.

00:35:06
Speaker 4: All Right, we'll take a quick break. We'll come back for one last segment. With Dennis. It's Ryan and Drew ks Bar. Got a good crowd in here for lunch. Y'all should come by tomorrow's wings Day, but come on today, come by anytime. I'm looking good in here. But we'll be right back for one last segment, Welcome back to KSR. Drew Franklin, Ryan Lemon, and Dennis Johnson were at KOs Bar and Grill and just like the last two segments, were coming back with Ryan Lemon giggling. I have no idea what's going on between his ears, but I feel like I would be robbing all of you if I just didn't let Ryan Lemon say what needs what he needs to say.

00:35:36
Speaker 2: Well, I picked up the Avish and Glass text machine during that break, and there's all these text messages new coming in out Look at everyone. It's about Dennis. I remember in elementary school playing the Mercer County All Star team, which is basically their seventh and eighth graders, and they killed us, and Dennis looks like one of the parents got to put on the pads and go full speed.

00:35:54
Speaker 5: No, I was telling somebody that I said, me and my brother used to play youth middle school, freshman in high school, all in the same week, you know what I'm saying, and half the practice when you had a few minutes. So we go from the high school across the street to the middle school and then after middle school practice go to the sportly field and do u football practice. So we had a nine to five of football practice.

00:36:14
Speaker 2: Asked Dennis about the time at East Jetsman when he blocked the kids so bad. I'm pretty sure the imprint of the ball is still on the wall over there, if not still in orbit somewhere, it must have been in a basketball game.

00:36:24
Speaker 5: Basketball baseball.

00:36:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, asked Dennis about when he was playing baseball and was a foot taller than everybody else on the baseball for everybody's seen that picture.

00:36:32
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's that's legendary.

00:36:35
Speaker 2: Well there's this that's a story where I guess in the city championship or something, Derek hit the home run to put your team ahead, but you pitched a no hitter in on the on the field like you got the Johnson Boys won the city title.

00:36:48
Speaker 5: Basically, he remember six six' three playing twelve you baseball on freaking eighty miles an, hour two fastballs and a change, up and they were like swing seven times they of.

00:36:57
Speaker 4: Us have hated, You. Shane let's get one. Call by the, WAY i know we have someone on the. Line let's get to. That let's go To.

00:37:02
Speaker 5: Justin.

00:37:03
Speaker 4: Justin what's, up, hey.

00:37:06
Speaker 6: Fellows appreciate you taking my, call calling From South carolina and just sitting outside Of Watford college thinking about our. Guide Like, harry BUT i have a football. Question tonight they released THE sec, schedule the six opponents that we don't know who will play next. Year who do you guys think that we'll draw? Tonight and then percentage chance that we finally Get TEXAS a AND m at? Home we have yet to play them at. Home thanks for taking my.

00:37:31
Speaker 4: Call, THANKS i appreciate the call you. Took my, ANSWER i would say high Probability TEXAS a AND. M a big part of the new system is getting everybody to all the. Stadiums you, know you're getting played the teams every couple of, YEARS i, think just to get some, balance because you, know how many times have they haven't been? Here we've been there? Once is that the only?

00:37:47
Speaker 2: Meeting, yeah they've never been. HERE i also Expect oklahoma to be on the. SCHEDULE i, think you, know in the new. SCHOOL i Think oklahoma probably Gets kentucky that in that rotation probably next.

00:37:55
Speaker 4: Time those are two good. Picks do you have one you want to be on the? Schedule maybe a trip for YEARS i Wanted Old. Miss we've been. Lucky they gave us that twice in the last couple of SO i won't get greedy and keep winning more of the grow is there is there a trip you all like to make Or dennis a place you?

00:38:08
Speaker 5: Remember, FINALLY lsu was the year we beat. Him that Was crazyns the lifetime. Game that's. That that's where you want to play us playing my all time favorite trip as afresh when we knocked them off down. There but it was it was it Was pandemoniu, man it was it was.

00:38:21
Speaker 2: Crazy was that The Seth hanson game winning field goal?

00:38:24
Speaker 5: Game?

00:38:24
Speaker 2: YEP i remember. That that's a big win win.

00:38:28
Speaker 5: AT Lsu man night, game packed, towles the they had the tiger down, there roar and it was it, was it, was it was always it was meant meant to.

00:38:36
Speaker 4: Be that was high on my bucket. List i've not been able to do.

00:38:40
Speaker 5: IT i.

00:38:40
Speaker 2: KNOW i think that's the. ANSWER i remember the year.

00:38:42
Speaker 4: We were just getting destroyed During baker like celebrated and you know he made a big blond side block And i'm, like duperre down. Fifty let's just get. Home BUT i would like to get back there and get another shot at. Them is that the one where we got him? Here number? ONE i would love to go To Baton rouge, though and be competitive at some.

00:38:57
Speaker 2: Point in recent, years they've been To, Texas they've been To TEXAS a AND, N they've been To Old. Miss some of these road trips we don't get to make a. LOT i, think let's use the right. ANSWER i lost.

00:39:04
Speaker 5: Five hundred dollars the year they they caught the. Past we were in especially need to meeting for The. Carls me And Treil fog was All american. Linebacker we had a bet and, UH i run out of The we were, late so we both get. Fined SO i run into the meeting room like we. Beating so two minutes Later trail was in like get my money, back and so it.

00:39:23
Speaker 6: Was it.

00:39:24
Speaker 5: WAS i always have a bad memory of. That so, YEAH i GOT i. LOST i lost a lot of money that THAT i got. Fine the treip took my money.

00:39:30
Speaker 2: Back so you played for The Arizona cardinals what three or four? Years three, years and then you went to the forty.

00:39:35
Speaker 5: Nine forty nine ers yet for about half a, season and.

00:39:37
Speaker 2: It was it your, risk had a risk at.

00:39:39
Speaker 5: Risk AND i had an. Elbow they wanted me to Get Tommy. Johns and so THEN i went To canada for a little while and JUST i just kind, of you, know L mark stew was a lesend in CAN i remember being in the. Meeting it's like then we got a bock to skid And i'm like, Still they were, like he's they Traded Mike roti. Over i'm, Like I'm stuard LIKE i, have BUT i just didn't do. It so THEN i came back and started real. Life my mom AND i rolled my mama letter about you, know going to the pros, early and she, said that's about time to come out and get that. Degree SO i flew. HOME i THINK i was in somewhere at the, time AND i flew. Home we had this, conversation said you need to re enroll in. School and this letter you wrote me still on my h on my, refrigerator so let's make it. Happen so, yeah that was my After. Canada that was end of, my uh my football career and, briefly what year you in it At? Woodford now this is your, eleven you're, eleven, yep SO i.

00:40:26
Speaker 4: Saw we got you in THE ksr top twenty. Five off to good start and you're a couple of places behind My Madisonville. Maroons but, Yeah i'm sure what's up next for? You you mentioned you got this week.

00:40:36
Speaker 5: Off, yeah we're off this week and we started district next week at uh at against South oldham at, home and so we got a we got a tough, district but no, Man wolf Of kana's a great. Place we got good good ad, main good. People. Man so we we've we've up the antie and sports wor for. Counting so it's a good. Time you'll get a. Chance ryan did a game for. Us yeah he got to see the. Atmosphere we kind of crank it, up have A dj and a good. Week we get it. Going so now WE i live with For caunton's good people and so we're excited for this. Year we got we gotta get To. Crogerfield that's that's our next step and so hopefully we can take. That we've been thirteen and one twelve and, two and so we gotta take the next step to get to get the croclefield and win.

00:41:11
Speaker 2: One before he went To Wooford, county he was head coach At Jesse Clark Middle School Jesse. Clark Gavin lemon transferred To Jesse Clark Middle school basically to play. Football hiss eighth grade year For. Dennis.

00:41:21
Speaker 4: Oh this seems like a violation At dennis one.

00:41:24
Speaker 2: TIME i know, what there may be a couple of butts Like, gavin you got a body Like? Atlas what's about you?

00:41:31
Speaker 5: Know go make a?

00:41:32
Speaker 2: Play gavin, Comes i'm, like what's A what does that? Means as he, SAID i got a body Like? Atlas what does that? Mean he?

00:41:39
Speaker 5: Did he? Was he was built, man he.

00:41:41
Speaker 2: Was you had him on one side of the devinsive line and a fellow by the name Of Jedrick wills on the other side of the offensive line on that on that. Team So gavin had a lot of, tackles cause everybodys running.

00:41:52
Speaker 4: Away from.

00:41:55
Speaker 5: U'se what you?

00:41:55
Speaker 4: Got use what you?

00:41:56
Speaker 5: Get?

00:41:57
Speaker 4: Yeah What it's been fun watching you two giggle. Together Seen ron like this in a. While let's keep joining us in that.

00:42:03
Speaker 2: Family ever SINCE i moved here in ninety, six and they've been so good to me over the, years his mom and, dad and, uh it's kind of proud moments to watch him And derek, both you, know grow up and now they're now they're old, men now their old timers like me now, Right, oh, NOW i appreciate.

00:42:16
Speaker 5: IT, ma i' precid you guy happened? Us LIKE i, Said ryan's been a good friend of my friendly for a long. Time i'm re covering us on on the. NEWS i still got some of the.

00:42:22
Speaker 2: VHS i was there your high school When herricksburg played for the state, title, yep and you came out of the locker. Room you looked right in our camera and, Said i'm gonna win this for my. Daddy, yep you sure, did and we didn't and he.

00:42:33
Speaker 4: Didn't we'll be back, tomorrow Right rod on my hand back over to. You so are you driving? Arow anything to tease what's going?

00:42:40
Speaker 5: On?

00:42:40
Speaker 2: Uh we Got Jojo.

00:42:42
Speaker 4: Kidder you're supposed to be here tomorrowfully at Cass bardrill For wednesday