Let’s Talk a Little Football


The Blue / White game is going to be played Saturday at 6 p.m. and if you show up you’ll get some cool free stuff in addition to getting an early glimpse of the Wildcats football team. If you show up early, you can hit up the UK Athletics Super Surplus Sale that’ll be going on starting at 3 p.m. at Commonwealth Stadium. If that doesn’t get you excited then you need to check that pulse, because you’re probably dead.
The reports out of practice this week have been pretty good. Wednesday was the team’s last full pads practice before the Spring Game on Saturday and Joker Phillips said he was pleased with the aggressiveness and the competitive play on both sides of the ball. Friday will be a top heavy run through of things focusing on fundamentals and technique. If the Cats can improve upon their performance from last week’s scrimmage then Joker should have some more things to be excited about. Phillips said he was really pleased with what he saw and he says the coaching staff has identified the playmakers on the team.
Phillips identified wide receiver Demarco Robinson, quarterback Maxwell Smith, guard Larry Warford and receiver Darryl Collins and tight end Ronnie Shield as guys on the offensive side of the ball who have stepped in up this spring. On defense, Avery Williamson, Martavius Neloms and Donte Rumph and Mister Cobble, the big guys anchoring the line, look to lead the Minter’s squad.
We’ll know a lot more after Saturday, but there seem to be a few bright spots to look forward to on the roster. The Cats will have to do something about shoring up the offensive line and finding cohesion on both the offensive and defensive end of the field, but there’s plenty of time to sort it out before September 2nd.
Heads up: We’ve got a lot of UK “fans” who only support the basketball team. If you’re one of those types then you should limit your comments to the posts about basketball. If you’ve got something negative to say purely for the sake of being negative, please take it elsewhere.
69 Comments for Let’s Talk a Little Football
I think this team will be better than last years team. UK didnt really loss anything offensivly and defense has a lot of young playmakers.
Bleed blue all day every day. Go get em cats.
Always hopeful but someone told me that Matt Jones predicted a 6 and 6 season. Wow! I want whatever he is smoking! I think 6 and 6 would be a miracle. We will get blasted by U of L and once the SEC starts we will all be just counting down to Midnight Madness. I predict this will be Joker’s last year.
I think 6 and 6 is doable. Gotta win the first game of the year though.
markp you are a horrible UK fan. The BBN is every sport, not just basketball.
W I have been a UK football fan since Charlie Bradshaw. I know football and Joker is not the answer. Don’t kill the messenger, get rid of the creator of the message and that’s Joker. We should have gotten rid of him after last year.
I have hopes for this team. Joker is going to let a fire under this teams tail because he knows his job is on the line. As long as we stay competitive I am happy. No 30 point blowouts please. Is that too much to ask?
I hope we don’t throw away Patrick Towles’ redshirt during this upcoming 2-10 or 3-9 abomination of a season.
FARCE’t
“Let’s talk about football”… Why?
Football at UK is irrelevant. We have basketball. Let’s stick to that. This coming from someone who loves football.
“We’ve got a lot of UK “fans” who only support the basketball team. If you’re one of those types then you should limit your comments to the posts about basketball. If you’ve got something negative to say purely for the sake of being negative, please take it elsewhere.”
Reading comprehension people.
Is there any coach that could make Kentucky competitive in the Eastern Division of the SEC at least?? It would certainly have to be a guy that would create a buzz in recruits living rooms
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc8crnqKEns
Greatest scene ever from a movie
#13– Only one i can think of, Bear Bryant
Yes, only a “fan” would be upset by watching Choker destroy the tiny bit of gain that Brooks got us.
Love the football team and go to every game and a road game when I can. Having said that, I cannot get excited about this team. Yet. I believe the offense has potential to be good. I believe the defense could be alright. This team can go 6-6 barring injuries on offense like the ones we suffered last season.
I’m hopeful but not going to believe until I see the product in action during regulations season. If Smith has gotten better we have talent at key offensive spots. If the second yr of Minters offense just stays at the same level, this team could be alright this season. Still just 6-6 but better than most are thinking. There is potential for 7-5 but they would all have to rise to their potential.
I personally think the 2012 season could field a good squad. But not sure joker will make it there.
Way to go Matthew. All you football haters can suck a Big Blue one.
For the UK fans who don’t care about UK football or UK football post, just skip them. I don’t read all of KPR posts because some of them I don’t care about or like, I just skip them and don’t comment on them. I like the Football post, Matthew keep up the good work.
I got nothin.
I will take 6-6 right now.
If the Cats can beat UofL there will be a big buzz about Football, but until that happens, Bennett is on most of UK fans’ mind.
I love the football team. Hopefully we can get to 6-6, but I see 4-8 as more realistic.
I am a football guy, and have always absolutely HATED it when people dis football and say we are a basketball school…with that said, and with a heavy heart, I am out on our football team until our administration gets serious about improvement..that means some funding things, and most importantly, firing Joker. He is a horrible head coach…I gave him a chance, hoped he would do well, but the stuff we see on the field is pathetic. Brooks did more with less talent, and Joker has undone all of that. I have purchased season tix for decades. This is the first year that I have decided to do other things with my money. It is sad, because i am so true blue, that I would really like to be able to follow a college football team, because I love the sport…but right now, I have no option. Thanks Mitch.
I don’t “just” support basketball but what do you expect from fans who can see how
This is gonna end? Being a realist doesn’t make you negative. We shouldn’t have to
accept mediocrity in football, we sure don’t in basketball. Pay the money
and hire a real coach who can recruit and win here…it can be done.
why are we talking football?! uk basketball never stops!
comment awaiting moderation? wow, that’s a new one. OK, i guess
We ARE in the SEC. My hope is that the team fights hard the entire game, doesn’t make stupid mistakes, and plays up to their potential. If they lose because the other team has vastly superior talent, then I can live with the results. Just don’t bore us to death or make us say WTF? several times a game.
I love football but that doesn’t mean I have to be positive about this up and coming team. Watching Uk football the last 2 years was like trying to watch a Bengals game in the 90’s….. You start off with good intentions but after your down big you end up watching another channel and just flipping back to see how bad it has gotten. Still love the BBn but we need to CHANGE the offensive play calling.
The comments will be better when next year’s new coach puts a better product on the field.
Censorship; gotta love it.
Any news on Anthony Bennett? hahahah jk
We need a game where “Stevie gets loose” again!!
Mr. Hayes you are fired.
UK football is only irrelevant because we let it be. Show up support this team and don’t write then off yet. Of change is necessary we can make that call in November but it is April and a lot of people have already thrown in the towel. Float like a butterfly Sting like a bee.
Long live the Joker!!! 🙂
At UL, Strong goes 7-6 and loses in the Belk Bowl(and most of their wins where gifts from stupid plays by the other team), and people act like they are going to be in BCS game this year(including Matt Jones). At UK, too many people(including Matt Jones) are tripping over themselves too predetermine the failures of the UK team. With Max Smith as a freshman the offense looked better then with Newton. I am sure he will look better this year then last. I disagree with Matt Jones, in sports and in life, I think that it is better to set your goals a little high and miss then predetermine them low.
I love UK sports! I think the football team can go for 8 wins.! Joker can do it but if they don’t this will be his last year. We have the easiest schedule in conference you can get without them all being homes games! No loosing to Vandy and take care of Georgia at home! Win two on the road and start a win against Tenn and we will be new years day bowling!
I agree with #35, the sky is the limit and nothing else!!
i feel good about this team there young if they stay healthy and the offensive line does well we will be at least back to 6-6 we went 5 -7 with a alot of injuries to some big time players. it dont matter what plays you call as long as everybody does what they supposed to do on the play
Real fans love supporting perennially subpar football.
So excited to watch Clemons take it up the middle on 3rd and 10 with the defense showing zone blitz!
UK has the worst front-running fanbase in the nation. 85 guys from all over the country go out and bust their tails all year for four to five years, wearing KENTUCKY across their chest, and you mongoloids can’t support them. You aren’t a fan, you’re a pathetic bandwagon-jumper. Fans support their team, win or lose, and root on the young men sweating and bleeding on the field for the pride of their school. Big Blue Nation is a myth.
Nothing I love better than the start of football season,,,,,well maybe the end. Both because it means hardwood time. Face it, UK is basketball. Alabama is football. Vanderbilt is student whatever, and so on down through the SEC. Not a regular combo team. Fla would be the closest thing year in year out, but UK the only true Basketball school. Sorry football, that is the way the cookie crumbles.
Talking a little football-promise?
Yeah 41…being a realist means bandwagon…whatever. I’ll tell you what, you tell me, in writing on this post, exactly what you have seen from Joker on the field to create any optimism, and then we will talk…and oh yeah, pay for my season tickets, and I’ll stay on the “bandwagon” for one more year. You can call names all you want…but anybody that knows football can see that Joker is NOT going to turn this around. So, continue your little keyboard tantrum, and we’ll see how many wins we have this….that is all the proof that is needed.
1st game is MEGA IMPORTANT. Win that and a lot of optimism will follow. Lose it or lose it badly and it will avalanche.
Someone got their little bandwagon feelings hurt! Awww, does the truth about Big Bandwagon Nation upset you so badly? I know, I know, you can’t be a bandwagon fan because you’ll totally start coming to games when they start winning again, right?
Hoping we can run the ball for positive yardage…-seriously.
What is the point of sports? To compete and try to win!! It’s unfortunate that everyone but Mitch can see that Joker isn’t putting us in the best position to win. I feel sorry for the players cause they want to win too. I will cheer for this team but for the first time in a long time I can’t get excited about this year. Does that make me a bad fan, because I want my team to win, and think a coach who gets paid millions a year should at least have the team showing progress? I hope I’m wrong and Joker puts things together this year, but I’m not seein it.
If the UKAA would hire a decent football coach and make some intelligent investments, more people would be inclined to be Football fans.
I can only take losing for so long before I lose interest.
I’m not a fan of futility.
Believe we all support UK FB but are realistic about our future. We must stop hiring coaches with our heart and get some fire cracker coach from a Div 2 school like all the great coaches came from …Urban Myers etc. Name coaches like Cury were great recruiters but could not coach. There are some bright minds out there waiting for a call……….
football team will be undefeated national champs this year. there. tired of all the negativity. GO CATS!!!!!!!
UK football will never be good and it’s not Joker’s fault. It’s our fault because we keep electing the same old people to the state Congress who refuse to change the laws that prevent UK from being competitive. If you really love your team contact your legislators and if they don’t do anything, vote them out.
I am heading down to the UK Football Alumni day today that Joker puts on every year. Great to see old friends and teammates. This team will be just fine. Joker has a plan, he is working it and no one wants to win more than he does. So either get on board or shut-up. Players read message boards like this and you negativity is not appreciated by them. They bust their tails out there and it is not fun to come onto sites as big as this one and see the fans bashing them and their coach. I f you are not supportive then don’t buy tickets or go to games, but leave your negativity at the door. These players and coaches deserve more.
People, People — it is all about the “Benjamin”!! Until the Frankfort political heads allow the school(UK) to finance the athletic program in a similar fashion as UL, UK CAN NOT place a product on the football field that is marketable to the “mob”! If, we as the BBN want change, than be the change. Contact you state representatives to make the financing of UK Athletics their choice not someone disconnected from reality.
90% negative comments for UK Football!
joker just blost a game or two less then when rich brookes was coach people acting like we won a ton of game strong went 7-6 with a easy schedule and we went 5-7 so its not much diffrent
wanna win put Jacob Russell in
Hurr durr if your view differs from mind don’t post! Mr. Hays, people are allowed to be pessimistic about this team – there’s plenty of reason to be.
I love Joker and hope we can top .500, but I’d I sit down and look at the schedule, 5-7 or 4-8 seems more likely.. Hard to blame fans for being down on the team.
54, you buy that hogwash about Frankfort standing in the way of UK football? How long has UK sucked in football, 60 years? Barnhart has been here 10 years. WWII was fought and won in three years, it doesn’t take a lifetime to figure things out. Football is not a brand at Kentucky because it is not intended to be. Football is the revenue sport that funds other programs, for UK to actually compete in football would upset the balance sheet. UK football is Hope not championships. Hope sells in Kentucky and is a hell of a lot cheaper than competing in the SEC arms race. Cheer like I do but realize that Kentucky is a SEC doormat by UK’s choice. This is a poor product that UK is selling as SEC football, if it weren’t blue you would laugh.
Our fanbase is quickly turning in to that of the post Petrino years at UL. And that is sad. If there was one thing I could hang my hat on when talking to UL fans when discussing football was that we would do well with attendance, regardless of how well our football team was projected to do. I am hearing more and more UK fans do the same thing UL fans did…not renewing season tickets because they “disagree with Joker being the coach”. Since when is it ever the decision of the fans on who coaches the team? The same fans that blast Joker are the same fans who blasted Rich Brooks in his first 3 years then ended up falling in love with him and ate crow. I support whoever we have at the coaching position…why? Because I am suppporter, plain and simple. Is it frustrating..sure as hell is. But I’ll show up, no matter what. Stick to cheering on basketball…it’s easy to love a winner when they are winning. I bet you pathetic fans turned your back on basketball when Billy Clyde was the HC too didn’t you? It’s ashamed that we have players that come through here like Randall Cobb, Wes Woodyard, Jacob Tamme and numerous others who laid it on the line every freakin day..and we have fans like this, who can’t deal with losing. You are also probably the same fans who when you were kids didn’t make the all-star team and went home crying to your mommy and daddy.
56 – Gabby, thank you for that authentic frontier gibberish.
60 – I don’t think I ever heard anybody criticize Cobb, Woodyard, Tamme, et al, because they gave it everything they could and did so with class. I fully support all players on every team as long as they play hard and play every down to try to win. What I don’t care for is an Administration that doesn’t appear to give it their all so the players have a good chance to win.
60, it’s always been the fans decision who is head coach – the fans fund the team, so if the fans aren’t buying, the coach will change quickly. Point blank, period.
You are a fan….you don’t like Joker. Guess who our coach is? Looks like you didn’t get your wish. OR maybe you aren’t paying enough. Point. Blank. Period
64 see 58. I love Joker. Great guy, Kentucky guy, funny man and has charisma.
I never said it was up to me, an individual fan, who the coach is. But guess what? If enough fans begin agreeing with me, and stop buying season tickets or showing up, if viewership goes down – and it will – when sales tank, they’ll toss Joker. When we aren’t winning(and we won’t be in all likelihood), that’s just how it is.
I love Joker, I’m just not impressed with the product on the field.
65 has this exactly right. The informed, football-genius majority of UK fans should have the power to make coaching decisions! That’s how it’s always done. And if you don’t like the decision that gets made, disrespect the players and boo them at games! That’ll get things done as well. I remember how grateful Randall Cobb was to the fans who won the SC game for UK by booing the team.
62. When you boo at a game…you criticize everyone involved. That includes the players that “gave everything they had and did it with class”. If you don’t think it affects the players on the field when people aren’t in the stands, well then you are dumber than I thought.
All this football team has to do is compete in the SEC. They don’t have to even have a winning record (and haven’t for 35 years). Just go out there and act like you belong on the field. I could care less about Louisville, WKU, and the cupcakes. We are a charter member of the SEC, go prove we belong. Make some noise, show some dignity, here’s your chance to change history. No more excuses UK! Rise, Believe, Operation Win, or whatever, do go something about it!
66, yeah, because when I say that people will stop going to games, that means more people will go to games, and then boo.
Yes. That makes sense. The point is to not go and lower sales, thus forcing the hand of the UKAA and in effect voicing our opinion.