All things political are discussed on this thread.

Keep it civil, please.

An “unexpected” 14 degree drop in temperature between 2003 and 2018. Neptune’s 40 earth-year summer is confusing researchers. They expected a gradual increase in temperatures. Then, between 2018 and 2020, there was a raise by 20 degrees. This kind of polar warming has never been seen on Neptune until now. Neptune’s average temp is a chilly -340 degree Fahrenheit. Researchers still don’t know what is causing the temperature shifts.

A new era

Anyone know anyone who has been in a religious cult? I have a distant cousin who is in one that appears to be sort of a doomsday cult. There are exit support groups on it. It appears to be mostly a money grab on the part of the cult leaders. They are required to tithe up to 30% of gross income per year. The exit support group says if they've been in it more than a year or two, good luck trying to reason with them. This person seems happy, so I've decided to just let it go. She seems to be very much under the control of the "church" on all of her decision making.

Just interested to see if there is an concern or if they were just FaceTiming as a long shot attempt by auburn

We've already played Georgia(#1), Ole Miss(#5/6) and still must play Texas and Tenn, both ranked in top 5. If those rankings hold up we will have played an entire fourth of our regular season schedule against top 5 teams. I wonder when that has ever happened before. That is a brutal schedule, but if we could win one or both of those remaining games, beat U of L, and win the games we'll be favored in, it would be a really good season, given how we bombed out against S. Car.

This isn’t anything sports related at all. I’ve lost two really good friends in the last couple of months. It’s almost always inevitable as you get older that you drift away from those friends from high school a bit. Whether it’s because of living further apart or life just getting in the way.

Losing that second friend today is hitting me hard and really putting into perspective that we can’t let that happen. We have to make more of an effort to keep in touch with those that we care about.

I’m gonna miss these gentlemen immensely because they were a part of a lot of great times in my high school years and the years after. There’s only 2 of us left from that group of 4 that were always together now. RIP Ricky and Miles, you will be missed and always have a place in my heart.

Feels really weird to post this so early, but by popular demand I am getting a jump on things. Obviously, regardless of what happens this weekend (or next) we've had an oustanding year. Co-SEC Regular Season Champions and most SEC wins in UK baseball history. Huge accomplishments from Mingione, SEC COTY, and his team. I am not sure how much crow is left, but looks like I need to go back for seconds. Still, I think all of us want to see UK being consistently a contender and the next step in that process is 2025. Here is a very very early look of what that might look like. I'll try to continue to update as more information comes in throughout the next weeks/months. Also, as usual, if there is anything I have gotten wrong, please reply and correct me and I will be more than happy to fix it.

No Eligibility:
Ty Crittenberger (OF)
Nick Lopez (DH)
Ryan Nicholson (1B)
Mitch Daly (3B)
Rueben Church (3B)
Grant Smith (SS)

Cameron O'Brien (P)
Dominic Niman (P)
Johnny Hummel (P)
Trey Pooser (P)
Ryan Hagenow (P)

Draft Eligible:
Pitre (2B) - Drafted 58th overall.
Burkes (C)
McCoy (OF)
McCarthy (OF)
Waldschmidt (OF) - Drafted 31st overall
Herrera (UTL)
Higdon (OF)

Smith (P)
Hogan (P)
Moore (P)
Robinson (P)
Hise (P)
Byers (P)
Nove (P)
Frieda (P)

A lot of names here, but I just don't see a ton of them drawing a ton of interest from the major leagues at this point and time. I highlighted the two most likely to take the leap to the MLB, but I could also see Pitre taking a long look. Smith taking a long look and possibly Hogan. Burkes is an interesting one as at the end of last year I had him on my likely to leave list and do not have him there this year. Burkes is a RS Junior this season, so he can return next year but there are some advantages to trying to get drafted in your junior year and going rather than coming back for a senior year. One of those being that you have more leverage for some more money if you can threaten to return to school.

Departing/Transferring
Skowronski (UTL)
Howe (P)
Higdon (OF)
McCarthy (CF)
Fawley (C)
Smith (RHP)
Schramm (OF)
Frieda (RHP)
Applegate (RHP)
Hise (RHP)
Lafferty (RHP)
Bowen (UTL)

Depth Chart:

1B: Hage, Brown, Koontz
2B: Bell
SS: Gargett, Hindle, Franklin, Lawrence
3B: Herrea
C: Burkes, Small, Pelletier
RF: McCoy, Hansen
CF: Cameron, Montoya, Marcy
LF: Pratt, Harris
DH: Hage

First thing to note is that this isn't a depth chart in the sense that I think these people will start as much as it just is a glance at where I think guys might be competing for playing time. Obviously, things change a lot if certain players decide to leave/return and there are a lot of guys who could play multiple spots.

I want to note here that I am not sure if Gargett, Hindle and Cameron will classify as redshirts. I know the rule now is that you can play a certain number of games in a season and still redshirt, but I am not sure if they fall under that. I am going to still list them as redshirts because I think that they likely did, but I could be incorrect here.

A lot of yellow here indicating that we could be a really young team next year. The fact that there are a lot of yellow spots leads me to believe that UK will likely dive deep into the transfer portal to find some older guys to plug into some positions where they might not feel they are strong/deep. 1B looks like a place where we might have a need as does LF. Right now, I just don't have anyone in my head that fills that hole in left. Even Pratt and Harris kind of seem to fit the RF mold more than LF given their size as freshmen and UK has only sparingly used freshmen under Mingione, so I am inclined to believe that they'd have to be real special (or UK real desperate) for those guys to become everyday starters in 2025.

Pitre going so high in the draft takes him off the board for UK in 2025. That was likely, but not a foregone conclusion. So, UK will need to replace their steady Eddy at 2nd. That will be a tall task given that Pitre was not only a fantastic defensive 2nd baseman, but also a strong hitter near the top of the lineup.

Key:
Freshman
Redshirt Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Grad Student
JUCO/Transfer Portal

PITCHING

Friday Starter:
Saturday Starter:
Sunday Starter:

This is scary. No one at the moment appears to be a clear favorite to land in these roles, at least to my knowledge. UK brought in transfers, and of course, there will be development with returners. However, UK returns just 1 start. Not 1 starter... 1 start, out of 60. Cooper Robinson holds that lone start. However, it is unlikely that he fills one of these roles (he's started just 3 games over 3 years, 1 per year). Most of our guys that are incoming transfers, to my knowledge, don't appear to have been starters from their numbers. So, UK might be looking at returners to fill these roles. Hogan would be a guess of someone who might step into one of them. After that... well, someone more connected to me will have to fill in those gaps.

Weekday Starter:

Anyone's guess here. Last year we went with a redshirt freshman with Lafferty. Lafferty headed to Pitt, so he's no longer an option, but I could see UK working another RS freshman in this role. I could see someone like Cleaver stepping into this role. Still, there are a ton of options here, so the fall will be telling.

Relief:
Jake Titus (RHP)
James McCoy (RHP)
Hayden Smith (LHP)
Robert Hogan (RHP)
Raymond Saatman (RHP)
Cooper Robinson (RHP)
Evan Byers (LHP)
Jackson Nove (LHP)
Jacob Price (RHP)
Ben Cleaver (LHP)
Evan Hart (LHP)
Tommy Skelding (RHP)
Nile Adcock (RHP)
Scott Rouse (RHP)
Nic McCay (RHP)
Ethan Walker (LHP)
Oliver Boone (RHP)
Chase Alderman (RHP)
Cole Hentschel (LHP)
Simon Gregersen (RHP)
Adam Hachman (RHP)

We lose a whole lot of reliable arms to graduation, but we get a chunk of them back. Hogan returns and he has the most innings out of the bullpen this year with 36. Nove isn't far off at 27.2. Byers has also been leaned on heavily. We also have a lot of lefty options, which we don't always have.

Rouse was a starter at Radford, but the ERA doesn't jump out at you as being overly impressive at 5.94 with 69.2 innings pitched and 14 appearances. 78 strikeouts and 33 walks.

Adcock will be a junior next year (I believe) and is 6'2 180. Not the ideal makeup for a starter, but he was a starter in JUCO, starting 13 games and having a 2.92 ERA through 74.1 innings pitched with a real good 94 strikeouts. Walked just 25. I think he's heading to UK, but a google search has very few mentions of him that link him to Kentucky. Basically one article by DT and this thread. Other articles don't seem to mention him. So, can someone confirm?

FRESHMEN

Tyler Bell (SS) - Drafted 66th overall - still heading to UK.
Leighton Harris (LHP)
Bradley Ferrell (RHP)
Nate Harris (OF)
Zak Spurrier (RHP)
Nolan Belcher (C)
Logan Grubb (LHP)
Tristan Hunter (RHP)
Aidan Larkin (SS)
Hayden Mains (RHP)
Khaleel Pratt (OF)
Jack Sams (SS)
Cameron Owens (SS)

Obviously Bell hasn't signed at this time, but being taken so high is a very big indication that the team feels like they can and will sign him. So, I would next expect him to make it to campus.

A week ago Stoops said he was healed and working out with team and would be ready to play soon. Now he's saying he doesn't know what his status is and can't say when he will play. I also hear rumors that he may not play all year. Does anyone know what's really going on here. This sounds like some stuff we used to hear on the basketball program. Has he rei-injured the hand, something else or is something else going on. I AM Not saying something is but this doesn't sound right.

I thought it was time to start a new thread since that one had been going on for almost a year now.

1. Their QB seems very slippery - Afari as spy for many plays? Making him throw from the pocket - I feel he can hurt us if we let him improvise too much.
2. I would think/hope we have physical superiority so straight ahead running, play action off of successful running game? I hope we don't have to dig too deep into the playbook to put together several scoring drives.
3. OL needs to continue to improve and eliminate the blown assignments.
4. Working some other option off the one play that Wimsatt runs to include a misdirection handoff, quick slant, etc. IIRC, way back in days of yore when Tommy Frasier was running NE's offense, there were several plays a game when he'd fake handoff and then take 2 steps back to throw. It was very effective as he was seen as a runner first and the defense would key on him keeping the ball. If we install something like this, we could definitely use it against other opponents.
5. Vandy looks like they're well coached so we can't be arrogant or flat. Have to play our game, score some TDs and not let them hang around deep into the 4th.

Whole lot of very interesting deep dive stuff on UK's wide receiver play through five games here.

It is impressive that we rushed 47 times for only 93 yards, but still found a way to win. A very gutsy performance !! GO CATS !!

Hey y'all... Just wanted to drop you an early note that we will have a practice report with Mark Stoops today. This is the only day this week that they'll be doing media over there, so hopefully we'll get some good info. Stoops is slated to speak to us around 5:30 ET. Stay tuned for the latest news and notes...

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MARK STOOPS Q&A:

* Beautiful week for practice, great for our spirits, getting good work done. A lot of young guys getting extra reps, older guys getting healed up.

* On recruiting this week with the new expanded scholarship numbers on the horizon… Kinda waiting to hear a final ruling on that, but approaching it as if they’ll have an opportunity to add a lot of good players, both in HS and the portal.

* On rallying around Hairston last week and his status… Doing better. Out for now. Will have updates on him later.

* Much cleaner with their communication since the SC game. A big key to their operations and execution.

* On 3rd down defense… Just executing and doing better in those areas they didnt do well last year. There’s no hiding in that situation. You just have to go win.

* On OL improvement… Really paying off. Would stilll like to run it better, but playing strong competition. Pass pro has gotten much better. Happy with that.

* On coverage last game on back end… Really competed. Grinded, fought, sometimes out on an island.

* On Oxendine… Relentless. Personified what we talked about going into that game. Challenged him after some lulls earlier in the season.

* On Dane Key… Very self-motivated. Driven to work on his craft.

* Nothing new on Chip Trayanum, but Stoops noted he wasn’t out there today.

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Sleepers Media is reporting Wilson has cancelled his visit to Alabama. They are basically predicting a commit to UK. The interesting thing is WHY they believe he cancelled.

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Kentucky had Mikel Brown and Chris Cenac on campus over the weekend. They’re also in the thick of it with Acaden Lewis and Caleb Wilson. Will give some updates on the latest on all of them.

Visits: UK sources believe the visits went very well, which isn’t an uncommon answer ever following an OV. They think they laid out everything well and made positive strides in the relationships.

Mikel Brown: One source with knowledge of the recruitment told me “UK is making a push” before mentioning other schools, but then mentioned Georgia Tech and Louisville as well, two schools I’ve heard a lot about with Brown. That source said “I think he and Jasper could play together”. Another source believes Alabama will make a push. Worth monitoring. Not ready to get hopes up over this one yet.

Chris Cenac: Kentucky has some more juice here than I thought. Kentucky, Houston, LSU, and Tennessee are the schools I’ve heard the most buzz about this week. Don’t want to get the hopes up of people here either.

Acaden Lewis: I only see Kentucky taking one of Brown and Lewis. Kentucky has been the talk of the town in this recruitment the last couple of weeks, but I caution folks to not count out UConn. They’re on him hard. Interested to see if the Duke visit can change anything, but UConn has the second most buzz this minute on my end of things.

Caleb Wilson: More of the same here. Think Kentucky is in a good spot currently but can see things moving and shaking over time. Wouldn’t trade spots with anyone if I was the Cats.

He was with Dave Baker and they were recruiting in Florida.

I met him at a restaurant.

Is UK after any recruit in Florida.

Can anyone read the tea leaves to my dream?

TIA BBN and SKOL!!!

Business trip to Miami, thinking about swinging by Gainesville for the UK game. Plenty of tickets to be had, but hotels nearby are insanely priced so that’s kind of a disconnect. Any thoughts or recommendations on where to stay, etc? Thinking about Ocala, not sure if we could easily Uber or need a rental car etc. Feedback welcome. Thanks y’all

I would suggest a player going down with injury that entails stopping the clock to either be required to sit out the rest of the possession or even the quarter. This would protect kids that actually are hurt and eliminate some of the benefit of clock stoppage.
Of course if you are Bama or Georgia you would simply be inserting another 5 star.

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Their depth took a hit with that one.

I miss his recruiting post etc... I hope he is doing well !!!

LFG!

I know some of you don't like him, but Trilly has a verry good prediction rate. Maybe Acaden wanted this out with Brown visiting right now?

I have some friends who live in Oxford and of course they are saying Brown pushed off to catch that pass, and they are saying the reversed call was a catch ! I countered with our first field goal was a result of a big time hold on Dane that the zebras swallowed the whistle on. They allowed them to have their hands on us all day. A push off is warranted given how handsy they were IMO. Thoughts ?

10 teams, PPR.

Last season:


My team this season (8th pick of 10):

QB: Mahomes, Burrow
RB: Elliott, Hunt, Mostert, Jones II, Pollard
WR: Hill, Jefferson, Thielen, Boyd, Beasley
TE: Goedert, Engram
K: Tucker
D: 49ers

I'm really happy with my team, though I really want Tee Higgins. And I'd love to try to squeeze Mac Jones in (he's available), but simply don't have the room.

I'm glad that football's back. Let's see your team(s)!

Spoke with recent UK DL commit Nicholas Smith who says he's up to 295 pounds....