Question: "Why is UK so young this year?"
Answer: "I don't know. It just happened."
Guess who said this.
Question: "Why is UK so young this year?"
Answer: "I don't know. It just happened."
Guess who said this.
Kentucky is usually pretty bare in terms of talent. Occasionally there will be a five-star player come out, namely Tim Couch, Micah Johnson, and Brian Brohm, but for the most part, Kentucky usually has to fight off other SEC schools for that talent. The most recent top prospect to come out of the state, Lamar Dawson, went to USC to play for Lane Kiffin. Kentucky has built pipelines in surrounding states, namely Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. It's mostly SEC schools as Kentucky is usually left settling for players who were likely spurned by their home state school and this gives them a chance to play twice a year in front of friends and family.
By contrast, look at WVU. West Virginia has the same in-state talent problem that Kentucky has. Occasional five star recruit (Josh Jenkins the most recent), but WVU has done a much better job recruiting in surrounding states (Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania) or building pipelines previously in Florida (Doc Holliday) and Texas (Dana Holgorsen).
The difference though is that WVU's primary focus is football. They are successful enough in basketball to keep the fans happy, but football is the cash cow. In Kentucky, football is secondary to basketball, but to an extent. As long as we aren't getting embarrassed on a weekly basis and make it to bowl game, fans are happy. If WVU finished 6-6 this season, fans would be calling for Holgorsen's head.
I only mention WVU because I live here and I've found myself following the Mountaineers more the past two seasons with Kentucky falling into a probation-like team. It is possible for Kentucky to win in football, but it starts with putting fans in the seats and that starts with bringing in a whole new regime. It may take five years or so, but I believe it could happen.
Back to back 3 and outs by the defense? Uhhhh
Unfortunately Morgan Newton is starting at QB, and he still can't throw a simple screen
Embarrassing
This is why I fault Joker Phillips. Newton and Mossakowski were both 4-5 star QB's, depending on which scouting service you use. Mossakowski is now gone and Newton has been benched in his senior year. He hasn't even progressed since his freshman year.
I'd like to see UK hire somebody who will implement the Air Raid offense. If anything, it would be exciting, and UK has the players to run it, especially with Max Smith and Patrick Towles. A pro-offense doesn't work when you are recruiting against the rest of the SEC in a talent-poor state and settling for everybody else's sloppy seconds.
Good job Vandy!!!
Too bad we can't fire that ass Barnhardt too. In his pre-game comments he thanked the "true fans" for showing up. WHAT AN ASS!! WOW!
Reds Fan Since 1971
I'll have more in the WVU thread, but until Joker and Barnhart are fired, I am done with Kentucky in football. I still bleed blue in basketball, but I can't force myself to pull for a laughingstock anymore while nothing gets done about it. I was at the WVU game and there is such a difference in the two programs its not even funny (even with the loss today).
I don't ask for much. Six wins a year and a bowl game will keep me happy, an occasional upset as well in the SEC. The other comment from Barnhardt pissed me off even more that fans who don't like Joker have an "agenda". Closet term for "racist"?
I just read this post on WCN and thought I would share it. This sums up how I feel about Barnhardt:
How well has he done really?
He hired a guy from the west coast and out of retirement, and basically lucked out when he turned out to build a decent foundation.
He made the worst hire in UK history - an alcoholic sociopath - without doing any due dilligence.
I don't care what anybody tells me - he was basically forced to hire Cal. If he wanted him so badly, he would've at least considered him the first time, which he didn't. He hired him the second time to save his own skin. Then, when Cal does get here, it's obvious that the two dislike each other. Cal won't even let him have anything to do with the day-to-day operation of the basketball program. He should be thanking his lucky stars and kissing Cal's rump every day.
Then he does the idiotic "head-coach-in-waiting" thing, which turns out to be the nuclear dumpster fire that we find ourselves in now.
He sucks at raising donations and mingling with the boosters and higher-ups in social settings. Mix in the lame stalling attempts in regards to building new facilities, the almost non-stop potshots and arrogantly backhanded comments towards the boosters and fan base as a whole, and the raising of ticket prices and parking passes for all revenue-generating sports in a recession (while seeing no benefits from it), then you've got what equals to be a turd.
Let's put it this way: if the CEO of a Fortune 500 company made the "little" parts of the business succeed while completely failing and running the main revenue generator run into the ground, he'd be fired instantaneously. There's no difference here. Whatsoever. Anybody who disagrees is what's wrong with this football program. Call me nearsighted if you will, but Mitch Barnhart needs to hit the road.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw9oX-kZ_9k
I'm not denying the rest, but it's like the analogy made. Barnhart has made the "little" parts of the business succeed while running the main revenue generator into the ground. Womens basketball and baseball are the "little parts", football is one of the main revenue generators, and the other has been taken away from him.
What sent me over the edge was the comments yesterday during the postgame show. The fans are staying home for a reason, and I really don't know if this team has hit "rock bottom" yet. I do hope Mitch clarifies his statement about "personal agendas", because reading between the lines, that's the race card.
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