Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the Big Blue Nation, and welcome to the Tuesday Morning Quickies. Today, football is on tap because fall camp has officially begun.
Yesterday, Kentucky named former Tennessee defensive coordinator John Jancek into an off-the-field role on the support staff for the defense. Meanwhile, Vince Marrow thinks that Ohio State’s recruiting strategy is actually helping UK get better players from the Buckey State and surrounds:
“A lot of people probably don’t care for Urban Meyer,” Marrow said of the Ohio State head coach. “I love Urban Meyer, and I’m going to tell you why. He recruits nationally. And Ohio is (one of the highest) producing states in football. I have to tell him, ‘Thank you for not recruiting all those guys.’”
…
“Because if Jim Tressel was still there,” he said, “half of these kids you see out here from Ohio would be at Ohio State.”
Interesting, and I think at least partially true. Tressel was famous for locking up Ohio’s best.
Tweet of the Morning
Gran says signee Lynn Bowden has not arrived yet. Stoops indicated Sunday that he expects ATH will be here this week.
— Jeff Drummond (@JDrumUK) August 1, 2017
That would be very good news indeed.
Your Quickies:
Kentucky football
- John Clay says Mark Stoops no longer has any excuses available. I think he’s right.
- Stephen Johnson begins the camp as #1 on the quarterback depth chart. I like Johnson, especially his leadership and calm demeanor. I love his long ball. But he’s got to do a better job on the shorter routes, especially over the middle, and take better care of the ball. If he can do those things, I don’t think Drew Barker or Gunner Hoak can unseat him this season if he stays healthy.
- JUCO defensive lineman Phil Hoskins is a “full go” and “100 percent” after surgery on both shoulders in the off season. We could really use his help, the defensive line is one of the few places were Kentucky really doesn’t have great returning players and quality depth.
- Early impressions of freshman defensive end/linebacker Josh Paschal are very favorable for Stoops & Co.
- Drew Barker is said to be 100% ready to test Stephen Johnson. That’s good news, it seems our starting quarterbacks get hurt every year.
- Battling through adversity is something Darius West knows a lot about. He’s been repeatedly injured since coming to Kentucky, but finally, in his junior year, he’s healthy and ready to go at safety.
- Looks like a “Where’s Waldo” on Lynn Bowden, UK’s top 2017 recruit.
Of freshmen, receivers Ali and Epps as well as Bryant Koback all had good days today.
— Jen Smith (@jenheraldleader) August 1, 2017
Kentucky basketball
- RJ Barrett, a 5-star shooting guard from Canada and #1 in the class of 2019, is reclassifying to 2018 where he’ll be ranked #2 behind Marvin Bagley. He was a big reason why Team USA under 19 wound up with the bronze medal. Kentucky is one of his favorites, although there are numerous others. More RJ Barrett here, including some very favorable Kentucky comments.
- Coach Cal visited with ex-Cat Jamal Murray. I love the way Calipari keeps in touch with his former players, it’s really good for his image and by extension, the image of the Kentucky program.
- Where will the hopefully-reclassified to 2017 Marvin Bagley go?
Other Kentucky sports
- UK golfer Lukas Euler fell just short of winning the German International Amateur Championship. He lost in a playoff.
Links posts
College football
- SEC sports media is becoming more and more paranoid about LSU’s practice restrictions. Ed Ogeron closed all LSU fall camp practices to the media, the only SEC school to do so.
- Red Cup Rebellion remembers Ed Ogeron, and not fondly.
- The Hugh Freeze stories just get worse and worse.
College basketball
- Five prospects who stood out in Las Vegas. The top two are big UK recruits.
- Jay Bilas takes LaVar Ball and rips him into very tiny pieces. Consider this small taste (hat tip:Hero Sports):
“His ‘talent,’ if you wish to stretch the word, is his shamelessness in saying the outrageous, the outlandish and the demonstrably untrue. He was of little consequence as an athlete himself. I do not know of any major accomplishments in any area of business or entrepreneurship (outside of his Big Baller Brand, built off the talent of Lonzo, his oldest son) worthy of public recognition. Nor do I know of any skill he has demonstrated as a youth coach.”
- Remember Mitchell Robinson, the 5-star center that committed to Rick Stansbury and Western Kentucky? He’s kind of… not there. I heard a little about him at a fraternity golf scramble down in Bowling Green this weekend. He was never right for WKU.
Other sports news
- Jared Lorenzen, the “Hefty Lefty,” has become just a little bit too hefty at over 500 lbs. He says he’s working to get the weight down and get healthier. My feeling is there is a lot of low-hanging fruit there…
Other news
- Some pretty cool science is going to happen during the upcoming solar eclipse, which is going to be best seen in Hopkinsville, Kentucky on August 21st.
- These radio telescopes see almost to the beginning of time.
- A federal judge takes the FAA to task, citing “basic physics” as a rebuttal to their assertion shrinking legroom on commercial flights was not a problem.