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Lost in the sea of speculation concerning Saturday’s Kentucky-Tennessee football game is that it’s the final college game for UK’s seniors. Two of them are Danny Trevathan and Winston Guy. They just happen to be the Cats’ two leading tacklers and best defensive players. In fact, flying home from Connecticut on Sunday, a UK fan from Breathitt County who sat beside me on the plane, had a question: “Who is going to make tackles for us next year?”

Here are videos of Trevathan and Guy talking Wednesday about Saturday’s final game.

Continue reading ‘Videos: Trevathan and Guy talk about Saturday’s finale’

Jarnell Stokes

Touted Memphis basketball prospect Jarnell Stokes, who has taken an official visit to Kentucky, doesn’t have a place to play his senior high school season. His hardship appeal was denied by the Tennessee high school athletics association board of control on Monday. He had been ruled ineligible after transferring from one school to another.

The  Memphis Commerical Appeal quotes Stokes’ father, Willie, as saying it is possible his son might graduate from high school early and enroll in college in January. ”It’s an option,” said Willie Stokes. “He’s an honor student; he’s been taking honors classes all this time. We haven’t seriously discussed him to college mid-year but that is a possibility. We will discuss those things (Monday night).”

• Jarnell Stokes ineligible for senior season, reports Memphis C-A.
• Calipari building a Hall of Fame resume, writes Ron Chimelis of the Republican.
• Chris Thomas has Kentucky among his top three, reports Zagsblog.
• Kentucky only team that can stop Kentucky, writes Brendan Prunty of Star-Ledger.
• Kentucky football has losing streak on brain, reports Jen Smith of H-L.
• For Joker, it’s all about Tennessee, says Mark Story of H-L.

ESPN’s SEC blogger, Chris Low, is upset that UK linebacker Danny Trevathan is not among the 12 semifinalists for the Butkus Award.

An excerpt:

Still, there hasn’t been a more consistent linebacker in the SEC to this point than Trevathan, and it’s also hard to imagine a more valuable player to his defense than Trevathan. He’s second only to his teammate, Winston Guy, in total tackles and is averaging 11 per game after leading the league with 144 tackles last season. Trevathan is probably underrated because of the Wildcats’ struggles this season as a team, but the coaches who’ve played against him will tell you that he’s the real deal.

Chris is correct. Trevathan’s play is even that much more impressive considering how many snaps the Kentucky defense has had to endure. In the 54-3 loss to South Carolina, the UK defenders were on the field for 91 snaps. Last Saturday’s Jacksonville State game was the first this year in which Rick Minter’s unit played less than 60 snaps.

Video of UK linebacker Danny Trevathan modeling the new black uniforms for media, and talking about the unis.

Ryan Mossakowski

Big Blue Links for Wednesday:

• Mitch McGary and T.J. Warren to visit North Carolina this week
• DaJuan Coleman to visit Ohio State on Sept. 23
• Former UK quarterback Ryan Mossakowski happy to be back on his game
• Offensive line gets poor grades in opening win over Western Kentucky
• My notes column: Lack of practice showed in O-line’s performance
• Central Michigan to have all three of its linebackers for Kentucky game
• New faces will attempt to spark Kentucky offense is Game 2
• Danny Trevathan glad to finally here a Kentucky defense won a game
• Ronnie Sneed, Martavius Neloms among unsung heroes on defense
• Cats’ O-line not the strength of the team quite yet
• Should Joker Phillips consider changing his message?
• With UK looking for receivers, why not Aaron Boyd?
• Since 2007 with UK football, we have witness a tale of two units
• Dominican Republic team will advance to tournament semifinals

Short videos from today’s UK football press conference. First up is Larry Warford, followed by Winston Guy and Danny Trevathan.

Big Blue Links for Wednesday:

• Derek Willis visits Louisville, but UK in contact, reports Jody Demling of C-J.
• Matt Moore of CBS Sports says Kentucky and John Calipari is the new NBA nexus.
• A pond bonds UK’s offensive line, writes Jen Smith of the Herald-Leader.
• Barnhart and Gray head to Columbus to look at arena, reports Jerry Tipton.
• My Wednesday column is on UK’s special teams coach Greg Nord.
• Football teammates discover they are related, reports Aaron Smith of the Kernel.
• Kentucky looking to be more offensive, writes Randy Beard of Courier and Press.
• Trevathan understands athletics and academics go together, reports Larry Vaught.
• Mosley leading secondary the “Kentucky Way,” writes Eric Lindsey of Cat Scratches.
• A Sea of Blue looks at the UK running backs.
• WLEX’s Mary Jo Perino looks at the UK tight end situation.
• Wildcat Blue Nation asks (facetiously) why hasn’t Calipari done more?

Danny Trevathan, right, flips his hair at Media Day. (H-L photo/Hannah Potes)

ESPN.com is picking the top 25 players in the Southeastern Conference. Blogger Edward Aschoff puts Kentucky linebacker Danny Trevathan at No. 17. The senior jumped seven spots from last year’s pre-season list.

Aschoff writes: “Talk about someone having a true nose for the ball. Trevathan has accumulated 226 tackles in the past two seasons and has been the best player on Kentucky’s defense in that time. Trevathan doesn’t just find players with the ball, he flies at them with his 6-foot-1, 234-pound frame.”

In other words, Trevathan is fearless. Today, at Media Day, Trevathan said he was not concerned so much with his own improvement as with the defense improving. He said that this season his individual goals are not nearly as important as team goals.

Kentucky players Stuart Hines and Danny Trevathan, along with head coach Joker Phillips, talk about their recent trip to Ethiopia.

Click here to see this video on YouTube.

Here is the Kentucky cover for Athlon’s annual college football yearbook.