Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: Starting Quarterback Edition

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the Big Blue Nation, and welcome to the Tuesday Morning Quickies.

Today’s big news is the announcement of a starting QB for this weekend, Terry “Touchdown” Wilson. The battle for QB this season, like many seasons before, seems to have been nip and tuck with both Gunnar Hoak and Wilson performing well. I personally like the choice because of the extra dimension Wilson brings to the table. I have no idea if we’ll see Hoak on Saturday, but when asked about it, Mark Stoops said:

Take from that what you will.

I’m headed to Sin City (that Las Vegas, for all you people from Shelbyville) today and will be flying back Saturday afternoon. I don’t know if I’ll be able to catch the game or not, but I’m going to try.

On the bright side, it’s the finals of American Ninja Warrior (shout out to ANW Nation, who covers that sport for SB Nation) and that’s happening in Vegas. Maybe I’ll get a chance to see the set. Petra and I love to watch ANW, and last night’s beginning of Stage 1 was as fraught as any I’ve ever seen, including a rare broken bone.

Anyway, moving back to the Wildcats, I expect and hope for a big game from Benny Snell, and I hope the loss of Landon Young doesn’t show up too much (as in a bunch of hard hits on the quarterback or poor blocking on the left side of the line). That’s going to be something to watch closely.

Tweet of the Morning

Man, that’s good to see. Sucks about Landon Young, though.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Terry “Touchdown” Wilson will start at quarterback on Saturday for Kentucky. More here.
• Offensive line coach John Sclarman has some serious medical issues, and the fact that he’s undergoing chemotherapy points to you-know-what. The “C-word” is particularly nasty to UK right now considering Josh Paschal’s recently diagnosed malignant melanoma.
• John Clay and Mark Story discuss all the UK football news from Monday.
• The new redshirt rule might give UK fans a look at some newcomers this season we wouldn’t otherwise see. Here’s a look at who they might be.
• Your first look at Kentucky’s depth chart for the season opener, courtesy of Jen Smith at the Herald-Leader.
• Downward trend in college football attendance affecting Kentucky, as well as other SEC schools.
• What to know about Terry Wilson, Kentucky’s starting quarterback.
• Central Michigan’s coach, Johon Bonamego, thinks he’ll see both Terry Wilson and Gunnar Hoak this Saturday.

Kentucky basketball

• Emily Carson from Sports Illustrated writes that Kentucky has a lot riding on Keldon Johnson:

Johnson’s senior year highlight reel is basically two minutes of monster dunks and insane alley-oops that showcase his strength in transition and under the basket. Johnson led Oak Hill Academy to a 42–1 season that ended in the semifinals of GEICO Nationals, averaging 22.1 points, 7.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game as a senior. He can defend as well as he can move, showing aggressiveness on both sides of the ball.

No doubt, Johnson is an important piece to Kentucky’s puzzle for this season. I think his intangibles add almost as much as his undeniable skill; aggressiveness, leadership, fearlessness on both offense and defense. I believe Johnson to be one of the two or three Wildcats most critical to Kentucky’s success.

• 5-star 2019 recruit Cole Anthony still has UK on his list. He’s the top point guard in the class, and the son of former UNLV star Greg Anthony has no clear favorite.
• Two of UK’s 2019 recruits are ranked in the top ten. Dontaie Allen has moved into the top 100.
• Kentucky is very, very interested in Oscar Tshiebwe. He looks for all the world like Sagaba Konate to me.
• Will Quade Green be “every coach’s dream” this year?

Other Kentucky sports

• UK Gymnastics releases their 2019 schedule.

Links posts

• The Leach Report: Tussday Wildcat Links

College football

• Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts are co-starters at QB for Alabama. Man, this is one of Nick Saban’s most difficult dilemmas, and it’s probably going to end badly for somebody.

College basketball

• Can Zion Williamson actually live up to his billing at Duke? Maybe. I think he’ll be good, and so will Duke, but man, they are thin in the front line. Williamson is going to be asked to play power forward, which is not likely to be his NBA destiny.
• Can 5-star recruit Simi Shittu lead Vanderbilt to a turn-around this season?
• 63% of college coaches asked don’t think another college coach will be charged in the FBI basketball scandal.
• Five ways the NBA could end the one-and-done.

Other sports news

• Virtually the entire SEC decided to name a starting quarterback yesterday.
• Important rule changes for college football in 2018.

Moving fair catches to inside the 20 on kickoffs is probably the most obvious, and if eliminating dangerous kickoff returns is the objective, probably the most effective.

Other news

• Uh oh. Jurassic Park is starting to look uncomfortably closer to reality than many have believed…
• New study finds key to long life is being lazy. Well, I guess that means 100 years is not beyond my reach, after all.
• Can Mars be terraformed? Ask me again in 50 years.
• Physicists say they’ve come up with a mathematical model for a time machine. But will it be as cool as this one?