Johnny Football’s Saturday Night Notes
For the first time in Heisman history, a freshman walked away with the trophy. Texas A&M QB Johnathan “Johnny Football” Manziel beat out Notre Dame LB Mantei Te’o and Kansas State QB Collin Klein to win the most prestigious award in college football. There was no real front-runner for the award throughout the season. Players like WVU’s Geno Smith and USC’s Matt Barkley were seen as leaders at certain points, but those guys never really provided a signature “Heisman moment” for the voters. Manziel, on the other hand, led Texas A&M to a 10-2 record that included an outstanding performance against national championship participant, Alabama.
Manziel was simply magical in the game. Against the number one team and defense in the nation, Manziel threw for 253 yards, ran for 92 yards and found the end zone twice. A signature win against that team (and a very catchy nickname) is exactly the type of thing a Heisman-hopeful needs to capture the nation’s eye. With one game left this season, Manziel has already shattered the SEC record for total offense that was set by 2010 Heisman winner, Cam Newton. It took Newton, a senior, two more games than it did Manziel to reach that amount of yardage, which shows how good this guy actually is. Manziel had one of the greatest regular seasons that we’ve seen in college football, so if any freshman ever deserved the award… it’s Johnny Football.
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-The biggest news of the day is that Kentucky might have found its point guard. In a 74-46 win over Portland, Ryan Harrow dropped 8 points, grabbed 4 rebounds, and had 6 assists with only 1 turnover. For this team to reach its full potential by March, Kentucky has to find a competent point guard to run the show. I believe Harrow is that guy but he has to regain his starting position and find continuity with his teammates before we find out for sure.
-No one wants Harrow to succeed more than John Calipari but Cal is using tough love to get him there. Some players would hate that, but Harrow seems to appreciate it. Harrow sent Calipari a text message earlier this week and thanked him for how hard he is pushing him. Calipari wrote back and told him he’s making strides.
-Coach Cal was particularly happy about how Harrow played against Portland but thought Harrow had a couple of breakdowns in play and sat him down because of it. ”I absolutely jerked him out of the game,” Calipari said. ”The other parts of the game, I thought he did fine.”
–How about Archie Goodwin? Posterizin’ fools.
#Burr #Burr
-Goodwin and Alex Poythress combined for thirty points today. When these guys lead the team in scoring, Kentucky wins. It’s that simple. They can be the best 2/3 combo in the nation if they can be consistent.
-Kentucky’s ’96 National Championship team was honored during today’s game. Here’s a picture of them chilling with Saint Nick during their stay. Santa was happy to see the team, but was quoted as being “overwhelmed” by them. “They all kept asking for an “Andrew Wiggins” for Christmas. I don’t even know what that is,” he said.
-If you didn’t get a chance to watch ESPN’s 30 for 30 “You don’t know Bo”, please do. It’s outstanding. I was born in 1989, the peak of Bo Jackson’s career, so I had no idea how great this guy was. Forget Deion Sanders, Jackson was the best two-sport athlete ever. Our guy, Bomani Jones, gave a significant interview in the documentary and that makes us at KSR very, very happy. We see you, bro! Congrats.
-Looks like Mark Stoops has found his DBs coach:
-Finally, Tommy Tuberville jumped from Texas Tech to Cincinnati today. What does that have to do with Kentucky, you ask? Well, that move could push Neal Brown back to Lexington. Some people on twitter think the deal has already been made and we will see an official announcement next week sometime but KSR hasn’t heard anything yet. Others are reporting Brown is looking for a head coaching gig and has interviewed with both Southern Miss and Louisiana Tech. No one really knows what Brown will do but I’ll say this, though: I believe a guy like Neal Brown can make Maxwell Smith an absolute star, if Smith can stay healthy. I really like next year’s WR corps a lot, too. If Brown happens to be the offensive coordinator next year, expect a lot of points put up by the Cayts.
That’s all for now, folks. Goodnight and Go Cats.
34 Comments for Johnny Football’s Saturday Night Notes
First…
Archie #1 on SC Top Plays!! #brrr
In the likely event that Brown doesn’t come here, I’d love to see a post on the other options for OC.
Deion>Bo
Why do people keep insisting max smith could be a star when he lost to western Kentucky
The picture of Jon Hood make him look like the Caveman from Geico. He needs to cut that off his face.
Congratulations to Johnny Football on winning the Heisman. Gig’em Aggies!! I had the opportunity to attend graduate school at A&M and was so proud of their inaugural SEC year. I had mixed feelings during the Alabama/A&M game. I wanted A&M to win the game but didn’t want to mess up the SEC’s chances of winning the national championship. Well it looks like the SEC will win both the Heisman and the National Championship.
Is that Mills sitting to McCarty’s left? He’s put on a few.
5. Because people are stupid and think throwing for a lot of yards on 50 attempts means you’re great. I like Max and have no problem with him, but people act like we would’ve been a bowl team this year if he didn’t get injured. We lost to WKU WITH him and the primary reason was his 4 INT’s.
#6. Been thinking that for a while myself. He has lost a lot of respect from me because of it.
Stop trying to label Maxwell smith as a star. He may be the best option for a starter next year but he should really focus on getting his degree cause he isn’t nfl material at all. He is completely immobile, he either refuses to throw the deep ball or can’t, and really what makes him “better” is experience not arm talent or athleticism. But all that experience lead to one good performance against a MAC team and two crappy performances against bowl teams that UK should ALWAYS beat. Throwing screens, shallow crossing routes and check downs might get a guy 300 yds passing but that won’t win SEC games. I honestly hope the next coaching staff does a proper evaluation of all our players because jokers staff valued age/experience over talent every time when selecting a starter, and it worked every now and then but UK can’t crawl through mediocre season after mediocre season waiting on the veteran guy to develop. Just look at Texas A&M, if joker and his idiot staff was there you can bet that Manziel would still have a redshirt and one of the two “veterans” he beat out would have lead the aggies to a 7-5 season. Hopefully the next staff will come in with a clean slate and open eyes.
Say Brown does come to Lexington but who’s to say he won’t leave next year and take HC job. Wouldn’t u rather have someone that will stick around for at least 3 yrs.
Put Maxwell in a new system alongwith Towells will be just what
the doctor ordered. I see UK bowling
next year with atleast six w’s.
Let the Stoop’s ERA Begin!
I hope Brown does come to IK. Smith and Whitlow will be studs. Towells better hope grandpa has some funds let over yo help lobby the boy for a job somewhere else. It kills me to here some many people qusetion a coach but are willing to stake yjeir hopes on a third string quarterback on a 2-10 team. When the redshirt was taken of the kid you could see he clearly struggled with the offense. If he was so good why wasn’t he ready. He could have studied on his own but he was waiting for daddy to get him some pt. Towells is the next Bunning I would like to see retire from blowing smoke about what he can do for Kentucky instead of benefitting himself first. Football is a team sport.
# 6 – Hahahaha! You’re right. He looks like some homeless drunk I see often on the streets of Orlando.
Will someone tell Jon that he is so 30 years ago?
Who is the guy in the far right of the picture? At the end next to Walter Mccarty
Can we influence this poll?
http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/post/_/id/57487/poll-who-made-the-best-coaching-hire
Harrow would look alot better if the big men would learn to roll to the
rim and let Harrow throw the lob.
@17, mills
Bo is probably the best 2 sport athelete of all time but the best all around would have to be Jim Thorpe. Where is oliver simmons that we had been hearing rumors was going to be in town?
17 – I was about to ask the same thing. I would have never have guessed Cameron!
We like the look Jon!
Glad Manziel got the Heisman; it belongs to a player in the SEC, Johhny Football Conference.
Harrow does need to get mean, get strong, & get confident.
Looks like Cameron is prepping for the Santa role next year.
Not sure I get the move by Tuberville to UC.
Archie Goodwin had 2 phenomenally nasty dunks
Lets talk about the basketball schedule. Rupp boring as heck (again) schedule EKU and now NKU and not Lipscomb and Portland
Ha! McCarty needs a robe, half glass of scoth and a Sherlock pipe. “Stay thirsty my friends”
What a smooth s.o.b.
Every coach is looking for a head job.
They should open Camp Cal to past players.
The team looks to be in good shape except Mills and Santa!
Deion>Bo
Towles>Smith
Towles will be starter next year