Kentucky Wildcats

Phew, it has been a long time since we last engaged!  I could not be more excited about this football season, and getting the opportunity to cover SEC teams.   Of course I'm excited about sharing my blog each week with pictures and stories from the sidelines :)

My weekend started with a 5:30 am flight from Charleston to Kentucky, followed by our Coaches meetings at the Joe Craft Center on the UK campus. 

It's always nice getting the one on one time with the Coaches, and since I covered Rick Minter when he was with Lou Holtz at USC, it was nice to reconnect with the Defensive Coordinator. 

The discussions were centered on simplifying the UK defense and giving the Wildcats their best chance to win. Coach Phillips said " If you can't get lined up then you never have a chance to be physical."

Head Coach Joker Phillips had a lot to say about his starting quarter back Maxwell Smith.  When I asked Coach when he knew Smith way the "Guy" he said it started last year when  Maxwell just began to carry himself like he was "The Guy"! 
When I asked Maxwell about this he said: "After the Mississippi State game I approached the job as though it was mine! I thought why let the job get away from you!"  The young man had over 400 yards passing and 4 touchdown on the night!

Defensive Coordinator Rick Minter stressed COMMUNICATION between his defense.  Minter wanted to minimize problems from the previous week, and he told us that he takes full blame for a poor defensive effort in week one.  Coach Minter said he is ready for his kids to have fun again and play with Enthusiasm.  From the sidelines, I can report that there was a lot of communication between personal and their position coaches to make sure they knew what was coming next.  As for the fun, it was clear they were starting to have fun again, by the smiles and high fives between the coaches and the players!

A Couple elements outside of football popped up.  Anthony Davis, Team USA Olympic Gold Medalist, former Wildcat, andthe  number one draft pick to the New Orleans Hornets made an appearance and stepped on the field receiving a loud roar from the crowd.  USA, USA, USA!!

And John Calipari made some time to talk with me about replenishing his basketball team for 2012 and how crazy his upcoming recruiting schedule is....NOT to mention, his Wildcats open up play on the road against Maryland and Duke!! In Coach Cal fashion, he's always a cool dude and in command, saying "we play who we play, but we better win by 20 or Kentucky fans get up set with me!"

As for feature stories, most material was in game action and injury updates, but Kent State did have one interesting story from their sidelines; Pat McShane Offensive Line man...

Pat was recruited to play at Indiana University, but after a series of Death's among family members and close friends at school, McShane had to step away from the football field.  Just as he was headed back for his sophomore year at IU he only got a few hours down the road, when he turned the car around and headed back home.

He knew he needed to work and go to school, so when he chose Kent State it was simply out of convenience, as football was the farthest thing from Pat's mind.

However, life has a funny way of working out and when Pat was visiting with some buddies from IU he found out that Brian George who was one of his coaches at IU was now at Kent State.

So Pat realized his heart and mind was ready for football again, and got up the nerve to phone George.  The meeting was set up between Coach Hazell and Coach George. You could only imagine what Coach Hazell thought when a 300 pound lineman standing 6'4" tall stepped in his office.  It was a NO BRAINIER!  Pat McShane is back to living his dream of playing college football!

In the  3rd quarter the Wildcats seperated them selves from the Golden Flashes and went on to win 47-14.

Up next FAU @ Georgia. 7:30 Kickoff on CSS