Just want to pass along that my family got to interact with the Sheppard’s and Oscar and you couldn’t ask for two better young men. They are phenomenal Christians and representatives of the University of Kentucky.

It was a well put together event and the passion that Jeff and Stacey have for their faith and UK is incredibly genuine. So refreshing. Thankful my son and daughter were able to experience such a unique environment.

A beautiful night that really made me proud.

Cheers and proud to be Wildcat.
KB

Losing some top NFL talent to low/no state income tax states.

"On Monday former New England Patriots coach and general manager Bill Belichick explained that states with millionaire surtaxes like Massachusetts are at a disadvantage in attracting the best free-agent players."

".... pro athletes make team decisions for many reasons, from championship prospects to management to weather. But most have a short career horizon for high-dollar earnings. The state tax delta is not a rounding error. Jared Walczak at the Tax Foundation calculated in April that Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow will pay an estimated $3.59 million in state income taxes in 2024 in Ohio, but if he played for the Jaguars in Jacksonville, Fla., he’d pay $379,000. A player making $50 million would pay $4,968,457 playing for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s home-state Vikings compared to $586,902 on that same contract at the Dallas Cowboys.

Those are eye-watering numbers, but the same tax calculations exist for all taxpayers. High-income earners have more flexibility than most to relocate. Democrats who think surtaxes on the affluent make good policy might reconsider that line of scrimmage."

Cats on 53-man-rosters:
Josh Hines-Allen - JAX
Wan'Dale Robinson - NYG
Will Levis - TENN
Ray Davis - BILLS
Mike Edwards - BILLS
Za'Darius Smith - CLE
Bud Dupree - LAC
Luke Fortner - JAX
Dru Phillips - NYG
Trevin Wallace - PANTHERS
Keidron Smith - DEN (Shoutout to Smith for making the 53-man-roster)
Carrington Valentine - GB
Brendan Bates - NYJ (Shoutout to Bates for making the Jets' 53-man-roster)
Brandin Echols - NYJ
Darian Kinnard - PHI
Jamin Davis - WASH
Landon Young - NO
Josh Paschal - DET

Cats on Practice Squads:

Chris Rodriguez - WASH
Lonnie Johnson - PANTHERS
Tashawn Manning - CIN
Devin Leary - BAL
Phil Hoskins - DAL

Injury Reserve:
Jeremy Flax - MINN

18 on 53-man-rosters, 5 on practice squads, 1 on injury reserve

I'll update this as the season goes along.

So it's that time of year....we're bored....Stoops has made comments. I truly believe that it's going to be sooner rather than later when it comes to Stoops leaving here or retiring. Many just name names....it's not going to be easy to replace Mark Stoops, but I think it will happen. But I'd like to discuss options if we do have to move on....because he was on the way out last year. So realistically....who are the options?

Please none of the "aww durrr why you making this thread!" and negativity....just a message board offseason hypothetical. I just wanted to see what you guys think...



-Jon Sumrall: He's the fan favorite. He had 2 solid years at Troy and has shown some fire. Can he keep it up at Tulane? We all know him and know he'd be the favorite once is opens. He can recruit...we know that. I would like to see how he puts a staff together and what his plan would be as far as being a program CEO. I mean say he has a 5-7 year at Tulane...would he be the top choice next offseason?

-Neal Brown: He's a really good football coach. Offensive minded guy. He's taken a hit as he took on a tough WVU job with them having to compete in the Big 12 with fewer resources than most in that league. A 9 win season last year and they were in the race for a Big 12 title game berth. He did some big things at Troy against big time teams. Lets see if they have another strong year....I really loved his QB development and the skill guys brought in on his watch....Neal with more resources would be that offensive coach we'd like....

-Gerad Parker: Actually played for Mumme, Morris, and Brooks. He actually was Jon Sumrall's teammate & they graduated together. He has some really good experience being a P5 assistant for the last decade. He served under David Cutfliffe at Duke, James Franklin at Penn State, & was the OC at Notre Dame last season...where they were the 8th best scoring offense in the nation. He's at Troy now and can really show what he can do....keep an eye on him.

-Will Stein: He's coaching at Oregon on one of the best staffs...but he was the guy calling plays. A lot of experience in the Texas area. People will say that he's a Louisville guy....but that's not true all the way. His dad played football at Kentucky and he had season tickets to Kentucky his whole life....he dreamed of playing at KENTUCKY. We didn't offer him and Louisville did. But don't think this job wouldn't be appealing. It's a SEC job that will pay....in the stadium he grew up dreaming of playing in.....plus the Louisville job isn't coming open while Brohm is there anyways.

-Alex Golesh: Former OC at Tennessee under Heupel and current USF head coach. A lot of P5 experience and had the best turnaround in the nation. A top notch recruiting coach. Fun offense. I think he'd be the type of guy we need in Lexingon. I pray Florida doesn't hire him next season....

Is he with a team for training camp?

On the team and what I think is going to be our biggest asset. Experience.
This is the 9 upperclassmen combined then average stats off that per game for all of their careers.

Games played- 845
Avg games played in career- 93.9
Minutes played- 20742
Avg minutes played per game- 24.5
Points scored- 7900
Avg points per game scored- 9.3
Rebounds- 3218
Avg rebounds per game- 3.8
Assists- 1560
Avg assists per game- 1.8
Steals- 654
Avg steals per game- 0.8
Blocks- 518
Avg blocks per game- 0.6

If the 9 upperclassmen just avg what they have done career wise and I'm sure some will do better or worse it looks like this.
220.5 mpg(I know it's only 200)
83.7 ppg
34.2 rpg
16.2 apg
7.2 spg
5.4 bpg
Not counting anything we get from Chandler, Perry and Noah.

A quick mention about deep ball stated that accuracy was 'inconsistent'. TBH, I don't really care. Seems we fell in love with throwing the bomb the past few years and it was, for the most part, a wasted play. Here and there we'd hit one but I'd guess we connected on <20% of those types of throws. I'd MUCH prefer seeing WRs and TEs hit in stride in the seam or in space and go for YAC rather than airing it out several times a game with very limited success. Yes, I know you have to threaten a defense with a long throw every now and then to keep them honest. But, imo, we were not very effective in the long game and tried it way too often. Are you threatening the defense by very rarely connecting on a long throw more than not throwing long except once in a blue moon? I don't know. But, I'd much rather be very effective in the midrange passing game to entice safeties to creep up and then throw over them maybe 3 or 4 times a game. I may be exaggerating, but it seemed like Coen called 6+ long throws every game and it just wasn't effective for the most part.

Catsillustrated and the House of Blue are by far my favorite site for all things UK, and I understand that it appears UK and CMS are keeping everything close to the vest this season ... but I can't remember when we have ever received less information about injuries (Courtland Ford and Christman for examples) or overall status of who will play and who will not. CMS can be as low key or secretive as they will, but it appears to me that either these questions are not being asked or if they are, not being answered ... and if they are not being answered then I'd like to know that. This really got me thinking more about this when CMS had his annual Louisville luncheon and statements today, and so far, no mention by JRow or Jeff . . . what's going on and/or what am I missing this season??? GBB🏈

No Bueno.

Obviously did us in. Was it just lazy coaching, lazy players, or some other X factor? Its not like the kids were slow or unathletic, so what was it?

Probably the biggest question human beings have ever asked …

The team will be wearing helmets this season with QR codes on the back of the helmet. You scan the code and it takes you to their NIL collective to make a donation. Personally I hate it but its a solid idea that I’m sure others will follow.

We all have varying opinions on what is successful when it comes to our basketball team. Some place more emphasis on the regular season and some the tournament. I'm just curious, as a fan base, which option do we think is more successful?

.... dies after first day of workouts.