John Clay’s Sidelines

Here is video from head coach Rich Brooks, defensive coordinator Steve Brown and head coach for offense Joker Phillips after Kentucky’s 24-13 win at Vanderbilt.

Here’s head coach Rich Brooks’ opening remarks in his post-game press conference.

Continue reading ‘Video: Brooks, Brown and Phillips after Kentucky win’

Here’s post-game videos from after Kentucky’s 28-26 loss at South Carolina on Saturday.

Head coach Rich Brooks gives his opening remarks:

Defensive tackle Corey Peters talks about his game and says, sad to say, that some fans are probably happy that Mike Hartline was injured.

Continue reading ‘UK videos from Saturday’s post-game’

Big Blue Links for Monday:

• My column saying that Sunday’s loss by the Bengals was reminiscent of UK’s 2002 “Bluegrass Miracle” loss to LSU.
• Chip Cosby of the H-L writes on Kentucky’s depth at running back.
• Chip’s Sunday notebook reports that UK football coaches hit the recruiting road during off week.
• Mark Story of the Herald-Leader writes on the Lexington connections for U of L quarterback Justin Burke.
• Jerry Tipton of the H-L reports that John Calipari is used to criticism.
• Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News reports that UK basketball did report a secondary violation to NCAA.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Calipari hoping to close some recruiting deals’

UK defensive coordinator Steve Brown talks about his defense after Saturday’s win:

After today’s scrimmage at the Nutter Training Facility, UK defensive coordinator Steve Brown says he wasn’t happy with the tackling of his second-teamers, but talks here about the first-teamers and how the middle linebackers looked considering Micah Johnson sat out with a strained foot.

Georgia's A.J. Green makes the winning catch Saturday. Photo by David Stephenson.

Writing this morning’s column about the failures of the UK defense brings up the old saw about when is being critical being too critical? They’re just kids, after all. It’s college. Isn’t knocking the team after a tough 42-38 loss to Georgia on Saturday, kicking the Cats while they’re down?

Goes back to one of Michael Kinsley’s axioms when it comes to column writing: “If you worry too much about going too far, then you won’t go far enough.”

Besides, it’s no great shame for this Kentucky defense to fall short of the 1977 edition. That UK defense was better than good. It was really good. It had Art Still, Jerry Blanton, Mike Siganos, Dallas Owens, Mike Martin, just to name a few. It had a terrific coordinator in Charlie Bailey. No team scored more than 21 points on Kentucky that season. Six teams were held to single digits. The Cats shut out Georgia and Virginia Tech back-to-back on the way to a 10-1 record.

The current Kentucky defense started out along the same path, holding Louisville to just two points, Norfolk State to three, Western Kentucky to three. True, Norfolk is a I-AA school and Western is making its way into I-A for the first time, but it’s hard to shut down any opponent for 40 minutes these days, no matter the level. Steve Brown’s unit held up well in the SEC opener at Alabama, technically allowing just 10 points, given that the Crimson Tide’s other touchdown came off a Mike Hartline fumble.

But, even without the two blocked punts that set up short scores in Gainesville, the Kentucky defense did little to stop Florida. In fact, when Brown was asked Saturday if the game was humbling, he replied, “The Florida game should have been humbling.”

Continue reading ‘When is critical being too critical?’

Make it back-to-back days that UK football coach Rich Brooks has not been in the best of moods. Though hardly awful, Brooks wasn’t sun-and-games during his Monday press luncheon. He followed that up with a near terse press briefing after today’s practice. That can only mean one of two things, or both. Like most Americans, Brooks isn’t happy watching his financial portfolio take a swan drive. Or there’s a big game Saturday. The second is definitely true.

If you’re interested, here’s the audio following Tuesday’s practice:

• Brooks talks about practice, injuries, and Derrick Locke’s complaint about the running game. Spoiler alert concerning third topic: He’s not pleased. It’s short and not particularly sweet. (3:31)

• Defensive coordinator Steve Brown talks about his team’s pass rush and the challenge of facing South Carolina. (4:05)