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Kentucky Wildcats Broadcaster Tom Leach · The Craig Way Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Time Leech who joined us on the hotline right now. Time.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: I appreciate the time we had and visited why I
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: look back over our text to see the last time
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: we were texting each other three years ago. Time.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Oh wow, I know.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: I know time does move, doesn't it. But yeah, and
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: I imagine we'll be texting and contacting one of the
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: other one another a little more frequently these days with
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Texas now in the SEC. But I wanted to get
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: your thoughts on the Wildcats, on the football team that'll
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: be coming in to Austin to take on the Longhorns
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: on Saturday afternoon. I didn't even realize until it through
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: the game notes on both sides that only the second
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: ever meeting in football in the first since nineteen fifty one.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: And fortunately we could say that was before either of
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: us were around. But how what's your take on this
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Kentucky team that's been described as dangerous, especially against the
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: better teams they play this season.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they've been enigmatic, for sure. They beat Old Myths
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: in Oxford at the end of September and played great,
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: you know, played exactly how they needed to, which their
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: defense was playing spectacularly well at that time, and they
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: took good care of the ball, made a few big
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: plays and hurt themselves. And previous to that, a few
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: weeks previous to that, had played Georgia to a one
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: point game here at Lexington, and so everybody went into
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: October riding high and then Kentucky started shooting itself in
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: the feet with both hands. They turned it over four
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: times in the first five games. I think they've turned
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: it over twelve times in the last five games. And
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: that's just killed a team that is, you know, struggled
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: offensively for the most part, very good defensively for most
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: of the year, have gotten beat up in the second
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: half of the season. But last week they had a
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: game against an SCS opponent at Murray State and that
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: was coming off an open day, so Stoops took advantage
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: of the matchup to rest guys that if they were
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: playing Texas would have played. And so they're hoping that,
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: you know, a lot of these key defensive guys will
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: be back and if not one hundred percent, at least
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: be able to make an impact. And if they are,
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: then they ought to have a chance to hang in
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: there with their defense and then to see if they
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: Kentucky's script would be like the old miss script. Good defense,
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: keep it close into the fourth quarter, don't turn it over,
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  Speaker 2: and try to make a big player too and pull
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: it off, pull off an upset and you know they're
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: not gonna you know, outscore Texas forty to thirty five.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: You know, Kentucky hadn't scored twenty in any SEC game.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: But they do have a good defense when they're healthy.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Well. And the other thing that comes to mind on this,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: and I've heard coaches talk about this all along, is
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: what it does that cause his turnovers, whether they're unforest airs,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: whether they're forest airs, and you know that sort of thing.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: In the in the Texas Arkansas game last week, they
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: had Alfred Collins forced to fumble by reaching in the
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  Speaker 1: swat as a receiver starting to go by. That's a
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: forest turnover. Sometimes it's the unforced there what's been coach
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  Speaker 1: Stoop's take on how First of all, you want to
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: avoid turnovers, obviously, but in terms of the unforced era
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  Speaker 1: as opposed to the forest era.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's been forced. They've had a you know,
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  Speaker 2: a few deflect you know, skips off a receiver's hand, interception,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: that kind of thing. But they have a first year
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: starting quarterback, Brock Vandergriff transferred in from Georgia and this
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: is first year starting and he is still not where
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: they need him to be. Holds onto the ball a
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: little too long, you know, was kind of locking in
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: on some receivers earlier. I think they thought in the
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: Tennessee game at the start of November when they played
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: the balls close, it was like twenty eight eighteen, but
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: Kentucky was right in it until the fourth quarter, and
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: they thought they thought in the Tennessee. They thought in
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: the Tennessee game that Bush Hampton, the offensive cordiator, told
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  Speaker 2: me he thought it was the best command of the
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: whole operation that Brock had in that game. And then
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: he got a head injury in the game and had
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: to go out and was very iffy on whether or
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: not he was going to play in the Murray State game,
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: ended up playing a half. So they hope he's back
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: to full strength now because they thought he was playing
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  Speaker 2: one of his better games down at Tennessee and spreading
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  Speaker 2: the ball out a little bit more to other receivers
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  Speaker 2: and uh, you know, making good decisions and checking it
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  Speaker 2: down when he needed to. Again had intended to hold
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: onto the ball too long. So they've been talking to
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  Speaker 2: him at you know, take what's take the easy pass.
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  Speaker 2: If the first option is not there, you know, just
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  Speaker 2: take the checkdown to running back and get two or
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: three yards and let's run the next play. And they've had,
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: you know, problems with sacks. Some of that's the offensive line,
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: some of it's the quarterback holding it, hold under the
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: ball too long. But I know Arkansas lived in Texas,
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  Speaker 2: lived in Arkansas's backfield last week, and Tuck he had
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  Speaker 2: some issues protecting against Murray State. So they're definitely gonna
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: have to, you know, have one of their better games
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: in the offensive line to have a chance.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: All right, now, you're going to have to help me
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  Speaker 1: on your senior running back. The pronunciation of.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: That name, it means Sumo carn Bay.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Of course it is so Demi Sumo karg may Is
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  Speaker 1: is fifty one yard shy from getting a thousand for
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  Speaker 1: his career, and he leads a team of five hundred
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  Speaker 1: rushing yards and five touchdowns. Tell long worn fans exactly
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  Speaker 1: the type of running back he is and what Texas
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: will be looking at there.
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  Speaker 2: He's a who's a running back who can get you
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  Speaker 2: some tough yards, goods out of the backfield, makes very
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: few mistakes as a veteran, and just a solid guy,
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  Speaker 2: but doesn't have the you know, he's not a home
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  Speaker 2: run hitter. Uh, not gonna be a guy that's gonna
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  Speaker 2: get you. In fact, he didn't have one hundred yard
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  Speaker 2: rushing game for his career. In the last two weeks,
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: they've had a red shirt freshman, ja Marian Willcox, who
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: has started to gain the trust of the coaches where
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: they can leave him out there longer, and because of that,
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  Speaker 2: he's got some of that big playability and he's had
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  Speaker 2: some big runs and he's had two straight games over
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  Speaker 2: one hundred yards, and he's giving him a little pop
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  Speaker 2: in the running game that they didn't have before. Demi
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  Speaker 2: was a guy who rarely lost yards and got some
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: tough yards for them. But Willcox is a guy that
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  Speaker 2: can you know, break one for you know, take it
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  Speaker 2: all the way from the you know, Kentucky's side of
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: the fifty, and they didn't have that for much of
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: the year. So that's a little extra pop for the
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: offense in the running game.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Visiting with Tom Leech's played by play voice of the
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: Kentucky Wildcats here on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred zone.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you about a guy on the defensive side,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: because here in Austin, the anchor of the secondary for Texas,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: and you can look at different anchors. Anchor on the
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: defensive front probably would be Alfred Collins. The anchor in
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: the linebacking corps would be just a sophomore in Anthony
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Hill who's playing really well. But the anchor in the
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: second here is no question, it's the six year senior
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Jade Baron, who is probably going to be a FOURP
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Award finalist. He'd had a marvelous game last week when
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: the interception and a pass broken up and a force
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: fumble and a sack and all kinds of stuff. He
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: filled up the stat column. But then I looked at
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: a guy like Maxwell Hairston, who had five picks last year,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: and he's had a pick six his sixth career interception
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: that coming against Ohio, and he's had to miss five
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: games because of injury, but he returned last week against
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Murray State. How much of a boost can Maxwell Harriston
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: give the Wildcat secondary back in the lineup.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: Big one, He's, you know, an NFL caliber corner and
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: now he got to get back and get some snaps
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: under his belt, and so I would think he would be,
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  Speaker 2: you know, back to where he was in September when
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  Speaker 2: he was starting and was thought to be in all
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: sec kind of cornerbacks. So big health there. They also
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: got back a guy in the defensive line, Josiah Hayes
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: last week. He had an achilles injury in the spring
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: and there was a thought he might not play at
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: all this season. Last week he had been working his
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: way back, so they put him out there and he
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: did great. And he's you know, a three hundred pounder
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: on the nose, so that gives them another fresh body
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  Speaker 2: to rotate in in a defensive line. So you know,
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: they're getting healthier defensively. They had a bunch of guys
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  Speaker 2: out last week. They're leading tacklers. Unfortunately lost to the
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: season a linebacker, Derek Jackson, but the guy who's replaced
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: him has now had two starts under his belt and
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: he's played well, Domus Johnson, who transferred in from Georgia there.
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  Speaker 2: So getting Harston back is a big help. Adding Hayes
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: as a plus, and mainly if they can just get
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: you know, most of their starters back out there, other
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: than Jackson, who they knows out for the season, then
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  Speaker 2: they have a chance, I think, to put up a
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: good fight with their defense.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: Let me shift gears on you now. Well, first of all,
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  Speaker 1: the one other thing I want to ask you, what
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: do you feel is most important for the Wildcats to
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  Speaker 1: do on Saturday to give themselves a real shot to
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  Speaker 1: win this game?
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  Speaker 2: Have one or fewer turnovers would be probably right at
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  Speaker 2: the top of the list, because they just don't have
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: the offensive firepower. We're against that Texas defense where you
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: think they're gonna you know, score thirty points. So they've
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: got to be able to take good care of the ball,
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  Speaker 2: help their defense by getting some first downs and at least,
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: you know, if they don't get a threat to score,
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: be able to you know, keep Kentucky in a favorable
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: position field position wise. And if they can do that,
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: a healthy defense should be able to keep them in it.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: And then at that point, you hope Barrion Brown could
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: break a kick return or you know, you get a
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: break on a route there's a guy wide open and
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: you you know, steal a touchdown somewhere and then you
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: make a driver to they've got a really good kicking game,
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: so if they can get to about the thirty five
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  Speaker 2: to forty yard line, they feel pretty good about getting free.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: So they've had some issues finishing off drives where they
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: get to about the midfield of the forty five and
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: they couldn't finish it off. So I bet I answer
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: your question. It starts with just, you know, limiting turnovers
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: and not giving Texas anything easy.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Visiting with Tom leads here for a couple more minutes. Now, Tom,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: I want to get your thoughts on Kentucky basketball, knowing
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: what it means obviously in that state and a lot
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: of us, a lot of us really came away impressed
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: with Mark Pope and what he did at BYU. We
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: saw it firsthand when Texas played out in Provo last year.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: How about the transition and how it's worked so far.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: I know you've got a game tonight against Lipscomb. How
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: about your thoughts on the transition under coach Pope now
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: that he's got the Cats in the top ten.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: It's kind of funny. On a Thursday night, it started
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: to leak out that Mark Pope was going to be
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: the guy and Kentucky had made a run at Scott
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: Drew and was unsuccessful. The fans were pushing for them
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: to try to throw all the money they could round
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: up at Danny Hurley, and I don't think that was
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: going to happen. You know, Nate Oates was a popular name.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: He was locked into a big contract, and all of
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: a sudden, the named Mark Pope started to circulate. And
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: the immediate reaction, I give you an example, you'll kick
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: out of this at a listener to my radio show
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: the morning after the story started a leak out. So
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: on a Friday morning, listener sends me an on social media,
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: this is a disaster fire, Mitch Barner. So a few
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: hours pass, Rick Patino puts out a video about how
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: great Mark Pope's going to do, and Mitch went on
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: a statewide radio show and talked about what he liked,
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: and within four hours, the same guy sent me another note,
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: I'm on board with this, let's roll, And that was
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: That was kind of how the whole fan base went
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: in the span of about twelve hours. And once they
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: once they made the U turn, they jumped in with
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: both feet because he's a you know, he was a
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: captain of the championship team in ninety six, and then
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: once Mark started talking and doing appearances and putting his
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: team together, he hit every Mark so to speak with
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: what he said and what he did. And I joke,
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: for the buddy of mine, it's a shame they have
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: to play games because you know he's doing everything right,
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: and eventually they'll they'll lose, and we don't know how
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: good they're going to be yet. So you know, then
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: when you go in and beat Duke, well, I still
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: think they're going to lose games. But you know, if
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: you're a Kentucky fan, you could at least hope it
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: may not be for a while. So it's really gone
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: away amazingly well and it's just funny how quickly it turned,
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: you know, within about twelve hours.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's happened down here with football. You can trust
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: me on that one. Tom Leech is the play by
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: play voice of the Kentucky Wildcats. The Cats will be
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: here on Saturday to take on the Loghorns at two
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: point thirty here and we look forward to it. Tom.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: As always, it's great to visit with you. I appreciate
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: you taking a time and look forward to seeing you
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: down here in the Capital City on Saturday.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: Let me give you one note I've found in doing prep.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: I went back and looked up some details in that
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: nineteen fifty one game. Yeah, Bear Bryant coach Kentucky. At
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: the time, we were talking a lot about turnovers. There
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: were ten in that game. Kentucky had six, Texas had four,
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: and Kentucky missed an extra point and that was the difference.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: And it was played in front of a robot crowd
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: of forty seven hundred. I saw at DJIL forty seven
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: hundred at old Memorial Stadium, which has now been redone
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: and reconfigured and all that kind of stuff. State, same
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: physical structure with a lot of add on and improvement
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: and celebrating its one hundredth year this year. So that's cool. Hey, Tom,
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: thanks so much again. I appreciate you joining us, and
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: we look forward to it on Saturday.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: Sounds good, looking forward to it. Craig.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: That's Tom Leech's play by play voice of the Kentucky Wildcats.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: We'll have more coming up here on Sports Radio AM
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: thirteen under the zone of the iHeartRadio app.