John Clay's Sidelines

Kentucky’s Jon Hood, currently out after off-season knee surgery, talked to the media today about the road to recovery.

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Big Blue Links for Wednesday:

• Josh Harrellson plays tennis, talks lockout at Fifth Third event
• No timetable for when Jon Hood will have surgery on torn ACL
• Buzzard’s luck appears to be still with Jon Hood
• What Hood’s injury means to him and Kentucky
• Hood injury won’t mean much, says CBS Sports
• Bill Gillispie’s wallet, the sweet return of football and more random notes
• Jonathan Davis’ son wants to make a name for himself
• If you liked blitzing, you will like the new Kentucky defense
• Kentucky football target commits to Memphis
• What SEC football coaches think, but do not say

“I’m just trying to get my Ochocinco on and explore new sports. Maybe next I’ll try golf or something.”

- Josh Harrellson

Jon Hood

Brian Hood, the father of UK junior Jon Hood, said tonight that his son’s torn ACL was the result of a non-contact injury that happened during a pick-up game late Monday nignt.

“He wasn’t hit or anything,” said Brian Hood via phone. “It was a non-contact injury where he just came down wrong, apparently. It was just a freak thing.”

Brian Hood said his son was “a little frustrated and a little upset” but that, “We’ll just try to find something positive out of this and move forward.”

UK announced the injury on Tuesday saying that Jon Hood would undergo surgery once the swelling subsides.

“I think he has a pretty bad bone bruise, which you get from a torn ACL,” said Brian Hood. “I think they just want things to calm down before they do the surgery. There’s no real timetable right now.”

He also said that it was disappointing in that Jon had worked hard all summer, getting his weight up to 215 pounds  while putting on some muscle.

“But there’s been no tears, no pity part,” he said. “He’s taken a lot better than a lot of people would have, probably a lot better than I would have.”

Kentucky sophomore Jon Hood talks about his friend, Josh Harrellson.

Videos from today’s Kentucky basketball media opp previewing Tuesday night’s game with Tennessee.

We have John Calipari, Doron Lamb, Eloy Vargas and Jon Hood.

Video here of John Calipari working with Jarrod Polson, Stacey Poole and Jon Hood before today’s practice. Included in this one-minute clip is Calipari doing his impression of an errrant Hood shot during Saturday’s game against LSU.

Video clips of post-game interviews with Jon Hood, Brandon Knight, Darius Miller and DeAndre Liggins after the win over LSU on Saturday.

Continue reading ‘Videos: UK players after win over LSU’

Videos of Jon Hood, Jarrod Polson and Darius Miller talking to the media this week about today’s game with LSU.

You had to feel good for Jon Hood. The sophomore scored 18 points and dished four assists. He made seven of nine shots, including four of six from behind the three-point line.

Afterward, Hood said he felt pretty confident after the shoot-around, and that “We started to click” in the win over the Bleu Devils. Hood also said that Terrence Jones “is really good when he plays like he did tonight.”

As for himself, Hood said he has worked on his defense, and his ball-handling. “I’ve come a long way since last year as a player,” he said, also crediting the summer basketball he played in China as helping his development.

(AP photo/James Crisp)

Big Blue Links for Tuesday:

Paul Kuharsky of espn.com: “Jacob Tamme is not Dallas Clark, but six catches for 64 yards and a touchdown is a pretty good tight end contribution. (He’s the 27th player to catch his first-career touchdown from Peyton Manning.) . . . Said Manning of Tamme: “It was nice to see a guy that had a calm, cool look to him the entire night. That is encouraging to see.”

Phillip B. Wilson of the Indianapolis Star: “Tamme, who entered with six career catches for 47 yards in his two-plus seasons, had six catches for 64 yards. Both were personal bests, and that TD was the first score of his NFL career. “That’s kind of the neat thing about being a part of this team,” Tamme said. “Whether you’re on the second team, third team, fourth team, you feel like you can go out there and make a play.”

Herald-Leader photo gallery from Kentucky-Pikeville basketball.

Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader: “John Calipari tried to see a 97-66 exhibition victory over Pikeville College on Monday night as the metaphorical glass as half full. And if his team had tried that hard in the game, the Kentucky coach might have been happier with the result. “We really had no fight or viciousness to our game,” he said.  ”We didn’t really rebound. We couldn’t make a three. ”Other than that, I thought we showed some good signs.”

Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader: “The prospect of facing FCS opponent Charleston Southern wouldn’t appear to bring UK out of the doldrums. CSU is 2-6 on the year, 0-4 in the Big South, and was smashed 66-7 by Hawaii in its only matchup with an FBS program. Despite all that, assistant head coach David Turner said Kentucky better be prepared to take the Buccaneers seriously.”

Michael Grant of the Courier-Journal: “UK ripped Pikeville College 97-66 in an exhibition game at Rupp Arena on Monday night before a crowd of 21,127. Coach John Calipari is attempting to build a contender on the fly with several new additions for the second consecutive season. The most high-profile newcomer, Brandon Knight, played as well as advertised.”

Video of Pikeville coach Kelly Wells’ post-game comments.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Tamme shines for Colts; UK’s uneven exhibition’