Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: Back To Work Edition

It’s back to work time for the Big Blue Nation after the long Labor Day holiday. I hope you all had a pleasant one. Looking forward to a short week.

Tweet of the Morning

Mark Stoops said on his weekly radio show tonight that WR Javess Blue and RB Braylon Heard were not able to practice today. Still day-to-day

— Jeff Drummond (@JDrumUK) September 1, 2014

But later, he said they felt better today, so that’s a good sign.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• John Toth named offensive lineman of the week. Congratulations.

• Best case/worst case for the Ohio Bobcats. I think Kentucky handles this team fairly easily, despite the fact they have an outstanding coach. But the defense needs to show more.

• Kentucky offers a scholarship to one of the country’s top cornerbacks.

• Stoops’ pre-Ohio news conference.

• Sizing up the start by UK’s young receivers. I was particularly impressed by Blake Bone’s effort.

• Matt Elam talks about his debut in Blue and White.

• Patrick Towles talks about the offensive line, calling them "spectacular."

• Mark Stoops and Damien Harris share a "bro hug" on the Catwalk.

• Kentucky’s defensive line needs work. Yeah, but I think they will be the unit to improve the most over the season.

• Jay Greeson at the Times Free Press was fairly impressed by Kentucky this Saturday.

Kentucky basketball

• Jayson Tatum has Missouri and St. Louis on his list along with Kentucky and other bluebloods.

• Kentucky makes Brandon Ingram’s final six. He’s scheduled a visit for Big Blue Madness.

• ESPN is doing a 30 for 30 on the 1992 Kentucky-Duke classic. It should happen in March sometime. I don’t care if they show "the shot"; I’m so freaking over that. Saturation viewing of it has reduced my sensitivity to nil. But my wife still complains.

Other Kentucky sports

• Cat Scratches has a nice article on freshman soccer player Charlie Reymann.

• UK Hoops gets Tennessee and South Carolina twice next season. That’s always tough.

Links posts

• John Clay’s Big Blue Links

• John Clay’s SEC Links

• The Leach Report: Tuesday Wildcat Links

College football

• Neyland was "magical" in Tennessee’s opening win.

• A closer look at the projected 2015 backfields for Damien Harris’ five finalists.

• Twitter skills are important for college football coaches.

• Charlie Strong’s debut in Texas was a successful one.

• SEC Takeaways. Athlon is not impressed with Kentucky’s lopsided win.

• LSUFreek strikes again over at EDSBS.

• SEC morning football links at ESPN.

College basketball

• Remember Jimmer Fredette?

Other sports news

• Former South Carolina QB Connor Shaw added to the Browns’ practice squad.

• Jodie Meeks wants to bring some Kobe Bryant work ethic to Detroit. Consider:

  "Practice was at 11, we had to be there at 10. Well, I wanted to get there at 10," Meeks said. "He was already there fully dressed and sweating. I got to the locker room at 9:30, got on the court at 10, and he had been there an hour and a half working on stuff.

  "I was like, ‘Man, it is true.’ This guy is working like this and at the time he was 34 years old. He felt like he still had a lot to prove, and he was still trying to prove people wrong. I was like, ‘Man, great player….’

  Indeed.

• Randall Cobb will be returning punts again this season. The reason is, he’s just so darn good at it, they can’t find anyone to replace him.

Other news

• Suddenly, reclining seats in aircraft are a big deal, and yet another flight was diverted because of it.

  Here’s my position for what it’s worth: When you pay for your seat, you pay for the full function of that seat. If another passenger doesn’t want the passenger in front of them to recline, they may make a polite request that they refrain, and the passenger may or may not accept. If not, the passenger in back must suffer the inconvenience and/or discomfort. He has no right to special accommodation for which he did not pay.

  The "Knee Defender" is an absolutely unethical device that should be banned and confiscated if brought on board an aircraft in America. For those who hate recliners, request an exit row, pay for an upgrade, ask nicely and hope for the best, drive, or take a bus. I might add that if you offer the person in front of you a little cash to surrender his right to recline, that might work out better for you. But no passenger has a right to deny another passenger the full function of the seat — they are granted that by contract with the air carrier. Objectors should make other accommodations or be arrested upon landing for failure to obey a flight attendant.

• A 10-year old rescues a 3-year old from drowning. Good on ya, kid!

• Smokin’ Joe Frazier is getting a statue in Philadelphia.