Photo via UK Athletics
At 2 p.m., your No. 10 University of Kentucky Volleyball team takes on No. 6 Nebraska in the Sweet 16 in Minneapolis. Consider this your 30-minute warning.
The ladies swept Murray State and No. 12 Purdue in the first and second rounds at Memorial Coliseum. Now, they’ll face the team that knocked them out of the Regional Finals and went on to win the National Championship last year.
The game will be shown live on ESPNU or WatchESPN.com. Like Karl Towns told the team last night, they have a chance to do something special.
.@KarlTowns said it best. We’ve got a chance to do something special. Our journey continues on the court again tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/YwLd8mvecv
— Kentucky Volleyball (@KentuckyVB) December 6, 2018
@UKAthletics
Josh Allen isn’t the only Kentucky Football player pulling in awards this week. CJ Conrad was named the winner of the 2018 Pop Warner National College Football Award, given annually to a college graduating senior who has made a difference on the field, in the classroom and in his community, and serves as a role model to Pop Warner’s young student-athletes. He accepted the award during the 62nd Annual Pop Warner Super Bowl at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports complex this morning.
CJ’s volunteer work has been well-documented. In what has been dubbed “Tuesdays with C.J.,” he visits the Kentucky Children’s Hospital each week to spend time with patients and make their day a little better. Last year, he befriended nine-year old cancer patient Ryan Cremeens of Richmond, Kentucky, helping him ring the bell at his final chemo treatment and inviting him to run out of the tunnel with the team at the Blue/White Game. He also participated in UK’s annual service trip to the Dominican Republic in 2017.
The list of his good deeds goes on and on, but simply put, CJ is just as good a person as he is a player, and he’s a heck of a player. Congrats to him on the much-deserved honor.
A huge shout-out and thank you to @UKFootball player @cjconrad1 for spending quality time with our kids at @KCHKids this morning! We’re grateful for your visit – and Levi and Sam, pictured here, had an awesome time making slime! @UKAthletics #GetUp pic.twitter.com/ZMoH3yLGcL
— Kentucky Children's (@KCHKids) September 11, 2018
It’s too early for Bracketology, but it’s also a Friday, so what’s the harm in having a little hypothetical fun? Andy Katz just released his new projections for the NCAA Tournament, and I’ll be honest, I don’t mind Kentucky’s draw one bit.
Katz has the Cats as the three-seed in the South Region, with Michigan as the one-seed and Texas Tech as the two-seed:
Michigan is good, but put Kentucky in Louisville and I like their chances, even against 2018 West Region MVP and former Cat Charles Matthews.
Katz’s four one-seeds: Gonzaga, Duke, Virginia, Michigan. Tennessee is a two-seed and Auburn is a three-seed. Check out the entire thing at NCAA.com.
[NCAA.com]
Photo via Endless Motor
Not surprisingly, John Calipari’s going to do a little recruiting during his trip to New York. Five-star power forward Jaden McDaniels‘ high school team plays in the Battle in the Apple at the Barclays Center Sunday evening, and according to Jake Weingarten, Kentucky will be in attendance.
We recently learned that McDaniels, the fifth ranked player in the 2019 class, has had an offer from Kentucky for months, but didn’t publicize it. He’s down to Kentucky, UCLA, Washington, Texas, and San Diego State and has taken his official visits, but according to his family, will likely wait until the spring to decide. In the meantime, visits like this from Cal certainly don’t hurt Kentucky’s chances.
Photo via UK Athletics
Last night, the Kentucky Women’s Basketball team improved to 9-0 with a 75-52 win over Rhode Island.
“I’m real proud of our team for winning tonight,” Matthew Mitchell said afterwards. “I thought Rhode Island came out and played really hard, really tough and on a night where it was tough for us offensively. I was really proud of the hustle and being able to get it done without defense. Good win for us.”
Maci Morris led the way with 29 points, followed by Rhyne Howard with 19. Next up: No. 4 Louisville Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Yum Center.
“It’s a big game, Louisville is a great team,” Mitchell said. “They’re highly ranked, well talented, always well coached. Anytime Kentucky and Louisville play it’s a big game for the commonwealth. It’s always tough to go over there and play; we will turn our attention towards them and see if we can get a good day of preparation tomorrow.”
Beat the Cards.
Kentucky looked better than it has all season in the second half vs. UNC Greensboro thanks in large part to Ashton Hagans. The freshman guard thrived in his role as defensive stopper, holding the Spartans’ hot-handed Francis Alonso to only three points in the second half after he scored 19 in the first.
“It was game-changing,” Reid Travis said of Hagans’ defense yesterday. “When he can disrupt the other team’s point guard like that, make them go into different sets and disrupt like that, it’s going to be big for us because it brings energy to everybody. When you have someone on the ball that’s doing what he’s doing, everyone kind of picks it up, starts to talk more, starts to get more active. So the more he does that, the better our team defense is going to be.”
Is Hagans’ defense the catalyst this team needs to go to the next level? Travis believes so.
“Yeah. He can spearhead it for sure. When he’s out there leading it with his energy, making big plays, doing things like that, you have no choice but to follow suit. When you’ve got five guys on the court doing similar things to what he’s doing, I think that’s really a great defensive team. So we’re all trying to thrive to get to that point.”
Seton Hall’s Myles Powell will be Hagans’ next challenge. Louisville was able to beat the Pirates last weekend by limiting Powell, who averages 22.4 points off 45% from the floor and 35% from three, to 6-19, 2-12 from beyond the arc. Kentucky accidentally had the wrong player on Alonso at the start of last week’s game and got burned. I have a feeling Hagans will be on Powell from the beginning, a task Calipari wants to see if he can carry out for the full 40 minutes.
“Ashton is being more confident because of how he’s playing on defense,” Cal said. “I just told him, if you really like playing, then be that guy. You’re going to play a lot. If you don’t like playing, go over there and joke around a little bit. Do your stuff, make the hardest pass you can make, and then come over here and cheer like crazy.’”
You got this, Ashton.
Good morning, friends, and welcome to the Friday edition of Kentucky Sports Radio, which is coming to you live from the Double Tree Hotel in Binghamton, New York. We’re in the final days of the KSR Road Trip, so tune in to hear about the gang’s adventures and their take on Josh Allen’s big award, Jared Casey’s commitment, and tomorrow’s game vs. Seton Hall.
Join in on the fun by calling (502) 571-1080 or send a text to the KSR Texting Machine at (859) 300-3264.
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@UKAthletics
Before we get into the nitty gritty of things, let’s take a moment to celebrate the best darn defensive player in the nation.
On Thursday evening, Kentucky star pass-rusher Josh Allen took home the Chuck Bednarik Award, given annually to the best defensive player in college football.
The best part of it all? Allen won it on the big stage, winning the award on ESPN’s “Home Depot College Football Awards Show” over two players from powerhouse schools, Quinnen Williams (Alabama) and Christian Wilkins (Clemson).
And boy did he represent the Big Blue Nation well…
Six years ago, Mark Stoops took over an FCS-level program coming off a 2-10 season. Yesterday, he watched his former two-star signee walk across the stage to earn National Defensive Player of the Year honors.
It’s been a long, long ride, folks.
Here’s a running list of Allen’s ridiculous accolades to this point:
- Chuck Bednarik Award (Defensive Player of the Year)
- Bronko Nagurski Trophy (National Defensive Player of the Year)
- SEC Defensive Player of the Year (AP, Coaches)
- First Team All-SEC (AP, Coaches)
- First Team All-American (Sports Illustrated, The Athletic, Pro Football Focus)
- Finalist for the Walter Camp National Player of the Year, the Butkus Award (nation’s best linebacker), the Lott IMPACT Trophy (defensive player of the year) and Ted Hendricks Award (defensive end of the year).
Sounds like a top-five NFL Draft selection to me.
ESPN botches Chuck Bednarik announcement
Before Allen could walk across the stage as the nation’s top defensive standout, ESPN somehow managed to screw up the announcement.
Instead of waiting for the official call, the official ESPN College Football account on Twitter sent out the following tweet:
Doesn’t look like the best defensive player in college football player to me. Imposter.
Josh Allen and Bunchy Stallings earn Sports Illustrated All-American honors
Oh you thought we were done with Josh? Think again.
Sports Illustrated released their college football All-American teams, and No. 41 was selected as a unanimous First Team All-American.
“Underrated no longer,” SI said of the star pass-rusher, “Allen gave Kentucky’s opponents nightmares and boosted his draft stock into the top half of the first round with a dominant junior season in which he finished with 14.0 sacks and five forced fumbles. He is Kentucky’s first winner of the Bronko Nagurski Award, given to the nation’s top defensive player.”
But he wasn’t alone.
Bunchy Stallings was also named a second-team All-American by SI, his second All-America honor following his first-team selection by The Athletic a few days ago.
DeAndre Square makes SEC All-Freshman Team
The honors continue for Kentucky football standouts.
Yesterday morning, true freshman linebacker DeAndre Square was selected to the SEC’s All-Freshman Team after recording a tackle in every game of the 2018 season.
In 11 games, the Michigan native finished with 29 tackles, 2.5 for loss, 3 quarterback hurries, a forced fumble and a pass deflection for the Wildcats.
The future is bright.
Four-star linebacker Jared Casey commits to Kentucky
You know it was a good day in Kentucky football when a four-star linebacker out of Louisville committing to UK is the fifth topic on this list.
But boy is it big for the future of the program.
?% Committed To The UNIVERSITY Of KENTUCKY #BBN??? #KeepDøubtingM? pic.twitter.com/iSNALHTuMi
— Jar?d Çasey? (@jared_casey01) December 6, 2018
Ballard’s Jared Casey, the No. 15 linebacker in the class of 2019, committed to Kentucky over Oregon, Louisville, and Wisconsin, among other schools. Once an Oregon pledge, Casey opted to stay home and play for Kentucky like only the best local prospects do.
If you don’t believe me, ask Vince Marrow.
Love guys that want to stay home and represent the BBN. BOOM.
— CoachMarrowUK (@vincemarrow) December 6, 2018
With the commitment (Kentucky’s 20th overall), UK moves to No. 30 overall in the 2019 national recruiting rankings and gives them one heck of a front seven to work with going forward.
Karl-Anthony Towns talks to the Kentucky volleyball team
The No. 10 Kentucky volleyball girls are set to take on No. 7 Nebraska this afternoon in Minnesota, and former Wildcat Karl-Anthony Towns wanted to give them some words of wisdom prior to the Sweet 16 matchup.
Unfortunately, part of that motivational speech involved a reference to Kentucky’s loss to Wisconsin in the Final Four back in 2015.
.@KarlTowns said it best. We’ve got a chance to do something special. Our journey continues on the court again tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/YwLd8mvecv
— Kentucky Volleyball (@KentuckyVB) December 6, 2018
Kentucky’s match against Nebraska is set for 2:00 p.m. this afternoon on ESPNU. With a victory, the Wildcats will move on to the Elite Eight to take on either No. 2 Minnesota or No. 15 Oregon.
Let’s get it done, Cats.
Vernon Carey commits to Duke
@SIncaabb
Elite 2019 prospect Vernon Carey announced on Thursday he will attend Duke next year. The No. 3 player in the nation chose the Blue Devils over…
Ah, screw it, I’m not going to waste my breath. Duke sucks.
That’s all I have for this morning. Go Cats, and thank you baby Jesus for Josh Allen.
Make some room in the trophy case. Josh Allen was just named the winner of the Chuck Bednarik Award, given annually to the best defensive player in college football. The other finalists were Quinnen Williams (Alabama) and Christian Wilkins (Clemson).
This is the second national defensive player of the year award for Allen, who accepted the Bronko Nagurski Trophy earlier this week. He was also up for the Butkus Award, given to the nation’s top linebacker, but the honor went to LSU’s Devin White instead.
A rundown of Josh’s stats:
- 28.5 career sacks (Kentucky record)
- 14 sacks this season (Kentucky record)
- 11 career forced fumbles (Ties Danny Trevathan for UK record)
- Leads the SEC in sacks, tackles for loss (18.5) and forced fumbles (5)
- Team-high 84 tackles
…and his growing list of accolades:
- Chuck Bednarik Award (Defensive Player of the Year)
- Bronko Nagurski Trophy (National Defensive Player of the Year)
- SEC Defensive Player of the Year (AP, Coaches)
- First Team All-SEC (AP, Coaches)
- First Team All-American (Sports Illustrated, The Athletic, Pro Football Focus)
- Finalist for the Walter Camp National Player of the Year, the Butkus Award (nation’s best linebacker), the Lott IMPACT Trophy (defensive player of the year) and Ted Hendricks Award (defensive end of the year).
If you haven’t yet, I highly recommend reading the profile of Josh by NFL.com’s Chase Goodbread we shared earlier today. It does the best job yet of detailing his journey from a special needs student to an undersized wide receiver to an underrated linebacker to a father, and now, award winner. Soon, he’ll be able to add draft pick to that list. I can’t think of a better representative for the University of Kentucky Football program.
Congrats, Josh.
@Jared_casey01
If you heard the following sentence five years ago, you probably would have laughed: Kentucky football has successfully flipped a four-star linebacker from Oregon.
Two months after he initially committed to the Oregon Ducks, Louisville Ballard’s Jared Casey announced he will be a Kentucky Wildcat.
?% Committed To The UNIVERSITY Of KENTUCKY #BBN??? #KeepDøubtingM? pic.twitter.com/iSNALHTuMi
— Jar?d Çasey? (@jared_casey01) December 6, 2018
Ranked as high as the No. 15 outside linebacker in America by Rivals, Casey went from unranked recruit to four-star prospect in one weekend this spring. Sidelined with a shoulder injury throughout his junior season, he used the Rivals Nashville camp as a platform to launch his recruitment into the stratosphere.
Oregon, Wisconsin, Louisville and many others quickly rushed to offer Casey, but none had a greater impact than the Big Dog, Vince Marrow. Casey wavered on his pledge to Oregon last week, just a day after Marrow conducted an in-home visit. Marrow returned to Louisville Tuesday night to seal the deal.
A versatile athlete, Casey began his career as an inside linebacker, but was bounced outside this season to unleash his pass-rushing capabilities. Casey is equipped with a nice dip and has a habit of making pulling guards look silly.
Casey is the 20th commitment in Kentucky’s 2019 class, which now ranks No. 30 overall. A day after UK lost a four-star commitment, the addition of another homegrown four-star recruit is the best remedy for the Big Blue Nation.
@jared_casey01
For the second time in a week, Kentucky has reeled in another recruit from the city of Louisville that will play in the front seven. After landing the services of hybrid defensive end/linebacker JJ Weaver, Mark Stoops and Vince Marrow picked up a pledge from a versatile linebacker today.
Jared Casey hails from Ballard High School in Louisville and is a 6-foot-3, 220-pound linebacker who can play inside or outside in UK’s 3-4 scheme. After committing to Oregon earlier this fall, the four-star prospect had a change of heart and made the call to stay close to home.
Just like we did with JJ Weaver last week, we’re going to take you into the film room and show you just what type of player UK is getting. In the front seven, you can never land too many blue-chip prospects and Jared Casey has the skillset to be a disruptive force in the future.
Film Breakdown
This past season at Ballard, Jared Casey was used in a multitude of spots for the Bruins but where he was most effective was playing on the edge. At Kentucky, Casey projects to the Sam outside linebacker position that is currently being played by Boogie Watson. At this spot, being an outside pass rusher is a nice threat but you need to be able to consistently set the edge.
When you see the “set the edge” term, it essentially means keeping outside leverage on the offense. Your job as an edge defender is to make sure a blocker or ball carrier is not able to get to the sideline. If you do you job, it should cause the play to turn up field and that’s where the rest of your defense will be to make a stop. Here is Jared Casey showing you some of that ability.
On this sprint out play, Jared Casey fights off two backs and slows down the play. He eliminates any threat for a quarterback run or for one of the backs to leak out for a dump off. Casey throttles down to make sure the quarterback cannot run. This causes the quarterback to gain unwanted depth. Once that happens, Casey bites and forces a pressure that results in an incompletion. Being able to make plays like this are essential for an outside linebacker.
Jared Casey, at times, looks like an SEC outside linebacker right now. He is excellent at fighting off blocks and has the athleticism to bring down mobile quarterbacks and running backs in space. However, he also has the versatility to play inside.
Here Ballard has Casey playing a traditional inside linebacker roll. The four-star prospect reads inside run, fills the gap, and makes a physical tackle. When he gets on campus, Kentucky is going to be able to play the multi-purpose linebacker both inside and outside.
Player Expectations
In 2019, Kentucky will have some solid depth at linebacker. At Sam, Boogie Watson will be entering his redshirt junior season while Chris Oats is set to be a future star after backing up Kash Daniel for one more season. Add in junior college transfer Marquez Bembry at Sam and there will be plenty of time for Jared Casey to develop.
At this current moment, the four-star prospect is a bit of a tweener. He doesn’t have the seasoning required to be an effective Mike linebacker, but he has plenty of time to gain experience. Outside, his pass rushing arsenal is going to need work but he has plenty of time to work on technique.
Kentucky is getting a high ceiling linebacker who could play multiple positions depending on how his body and skill set develops once he gets to the college level. His athletic ability at his size and physicality of playing behind his pads on contact are some very valuable tools. Expect him to redshirt as a freshman, but it should not take him very long to impact the depth chart beginning in 2020. Kentucky landed a top shelf recruit that needs some coaching, but all four linebacker spots have been developed very well since Mark Stoops arrived.
This morning’s radio show was live from the United States Embassy to Canada thanks to Ambassador Kelly Knight Craft, a Glasgow, Kentucky native. Later in the day, Matt interviewed Ambassador Craft for Hey Kentucky! in front of the Canadian Parliament.
Watch below to hear Craft describe the duties of an Ambassador, growing up in Kentucky, and how she’s keeping up with the Cats from afar:
See the full episode at HeyKentucky.com.
Josh Allen just pulled in another national honor. Kentucky’s star pass rusher was just named an All-American by the Walter Camp Football Foundation. Earlier this week, he was also named First Team All-American by Sports Illustrated, The Athletic, and Pro Football Focus.
Allen was also up for the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award, but that honor went to Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa. While he may have missed out on that award, he’s got a chance to win the Chuck Bednarik Award mere moments from now. Cross your fingers.
Former Cat Denzil Ware was suspended from last year’s Music City Bowl; now, we know why.
According to the Courier-Journal, Ware was held out of the bowl game for accepting $1,628 in impermissible benefits from someone fitting the NCAA’s definition of an agent. UK self-reported the violation, which the Courier-Journal obtained in an open records request.
Ware first met the agent, Jordan Reid, as a junior in high school while committed to Florida State. He told UK he viewed Reid as a big brother figure with whom he reconnected during his junior year of college. At that point, Reid and other members of his agency paid for Ware’s meals and gave him money, sneakers, and tickets and transportation to a concert in Cincinnati in January 2017.
According to the document, one of Ware’s teammates accompanied him to that concert and received almost $400 in impermissible benefits. As a result, he was held out of the first offensive series of the bowl game and removed as team captain. The player is unnamed in the report, but the description matches Garrett Johnson, who did not start the Music City Bowl and was photographed at the concert with Ware.
To make up for the violations, UK made the team undergo “in-depth rules education” in March. Ware transferred to FCS Jacksonville State after graduating from UK in May. In eleven games this season, he had 23 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and three sacks.