Saturday Quickies: Nolan Hickman Bombshell Edition

The original plan was to dedicate these Quickies to the 147th Run for the Roses, but a major development happened yesterday afternoon that derailed all of that.

The decommitment of Nolan Hickman came as a complete shock Friday afternoon. John Calipari now is left with no point guards for the Kentucky Wildcats’ 2021-22 season.

Hopefully, the decommitment of Hickman means that Calipari has a major influx of talent at the guard position coming in, because if not, this is big trouble.

Cal shook up the staff because, frankly, he didn’t feel like the staff he had was getting it done on the court. The loss of Tony Barbee appears to be one of the reasons for Hickman’s departure.

However, in an interview with KSR, Hickman’s father made it clear that homesickness played a major role as well.

Remember, Hickman is originally from Washington and played high school ball in Utah, so he’s already been far away from home a lot, and it sounds like he doesn’t want to keep doing that in college.

“He was like, “Dad, I can’t do it to myself.” More and more, he just felt like he didn’t want to be away,” Hickman Sr. told KSR. “He’s actually home for the week, and he was like, “I really have to think some things through. I can’t go through this again, being away, separated from you guys and family.” That’s how we got to this.”

Hickman was also really close with Tony Barbee, who left to become the head coach at Central Michigan. Losing him clearly affected the familiarity Hickman felt he had with Kentucky’s staff, so all of this lumped together helped lead to the decommitment.

I feel that Calipari has a plan and things will be OK, but this could be a major blow if he can’t pull a rabbit out of his hat. This is a pivotal moment in John Calipari’s career at UK after the disaster that happened last season.

Tweets of the Day

Not good.

Quickies

Nolan Hickman’s dad speaks on decommitment | KSR- Calipari has some big time work to do and the options out there are drying up.

Kelvin Joseph is a Cowboy | Cats Pause- It was a weird ride at Kentucky but Kelvin Joseph showed he has the talent to play at the NFL level.

Controversy surrounding Kentucky Derby favorite | SI.com- The owner of Essentially Quality has been accused of some serious human rights violations.

Malathaat wins the Oaks | WDRB- Congrats to all involved! It was a beautiful Oaks Day.

Aaron Rodgers threatening to retire | CBS- I don’t know who is right or who is wrong in this situation but something about Aaron Rodgers have never sat right with me.

Kyle Trask the heir apparent? | ESPN- The Bucs are looking towards the future even in the midst of a possible Golden Age.

NFL Draft grades for the first three rounds | Sporting News- How does your team stack up?

Should Bears fans temper their excitement? | USA Today- I disagree with this. I think Justin Fields was the second best QB in the draft. We shall see.

Former Trinity high school/Purdue str goes to Arizona | CJ- Rondale Moore could be special at the next level.

Special shout out to my twins on their seventh birthday today. Daddy loves you.