John Clay's Sidelines

(H-L photo)

Were you a sour soul, you could make the argument that we are all making too much of Kentucky’s offensive performance in the Cats’ 10-7 history-bending win over Tennessee on Saturday. (“Our worst fears realized,” said the losing coach, Derek Dooley, afterward.)

After all, Kentucky gained a grand total of 217 yards of offense. The Cats threw for a ridiculous total of 15 yards. And the Cats still won the game.

Unless you live in a cave, you know that Kentucky did so with a wide receiver playing quarterback. That would be Matt Roark, who may have songs written about him in the near future.

But Roark had three men behind him. One was head coach Joker Phillips, who signed off on the plot. One was Randy Sanders, the offensive coordinator, who devised a game plan. One was wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator Tee Martin who helped guide Roark, who he had coached in high school, through the week.

My one regret from my Sunday column was I did not include the Sanders quote:

I told our guys yesterday and again today: The one thing that can’t be taken from you is memories. You can lose your health, you can lose your wealth, you can lose a lot of things, but you never lose your memories. So we had a chance to go out and make a memory today, and it’s a memory I’m going to remember for a long time.

Click the continue line to see the post-game videos of Sanders and Martin.
 
Continue reading ‘The architects behind UK’s offensive game plan Saturday’

Maxwell Smith

On Manic Tuesday, did not get a chance to post UK offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Randy Sanders talking about his offense and more specifically his quarterbacks. It’s obvious that Sanders believes true freshman Maxwell Smith has talent. The job is coaching Smith to the point where he can recognize defenses and do a better job of getting the offense into better pass protection schemes. In other words, Sanders wants to keep the freshman from getting the freshman killed.

Here’s a transcript of Sanders’ talk with media after Tuesday’s practice and a video of the offensive boss:

Continue reading ‘Video: Randy Sanders talks about his quarterbacks’

UK offensive coordinator Randy Sanders talks to the media about Maxwell Smith and his offense after team’s 28-16 loss to Mississippi State.

Kentucky offensive coordinator Randy Sanders talks about losing Josh Clemons and trying to turn his struggling offense around.

Offensive coordinator Randy Sanders talks to media after his team was held 100 total yards in a 51-point loss at South Carolina.

(AP photo)

As is usually case in such situations, some Kentucky fans are acting as if Randy Sanders had never coached a day in his life, he wouldn’t know a football if it bounced off his hands, that he was fired at Tennessee, and the Wildcat offense has struggled because of his involvement.

This, of course, was the same quarterbacks coach/offensive coordinator who a few short years ago was being lauded for the development of quarterback Andre Woodson.

It’s also the man who schemed an offense that averaged 427.8 yards per game last season, the school’s second-highest total since 2000, Hal Mumme’s final season.

Statistically, Kentucky was fourth in the SEC in total offense last year, behind only Auburn, Arkansas and Alabama.

Continue reading ‘By the numbers: In defense of Randy Sanders’

UK offensive coordinator Randy Sanders talks about his unit, which gained just 155 yards against top-ranked LSU.

Saturday’s Kentucky-LSU game includes several coaching ties between the two staffs.

LSU quarterbacks coach Steve Kragthorpe was Louisville’s head coach from 2007-2009. He was 0-3 against Kentucky during that time.

LSU secondary coach Ron Cooper was Louisville’s head coach from 1995-1997. His team beat UK 13-10 in ’95 and 38-14 in ’96. It lost to the Cats 38-24 in ’97 and Cooper was replaced at the end of a 1-10 season by John L. Smith.

UK assistant Greg Nord was an assistant under both Cooper and Kragthorpe at U of L.

UK offensive coordinator Randy Sanders and LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis worked together for 15 years as assistants under Phil Fulmer at Tennessee.

Sanders and Chavis were assistants on the 1996 Tennesee national championship team quarterbacked by Tee Martin, who is now Kentucky’s wide receivers coach.

As for the head coaches, Joker Phillips said he doesn’t know Les Miles well, aside from their dealings in various SEC coaches meetings. Miles was an assistant in the Midwest and the Dallas Cowboys before becoming head coach at Oklahoma State.

“I know he’s done a good job of keeping players in Louisiana,” Phillips said.

Kentucky offensive coordinator Randy Sanders talks to media after the Cats’ 48-10 thumping by Florida.

Video of offensive coordinator Randy Sanders talking to media after the loss.