The Front Page

• Luke Fortner had a shiner on his right eye that he received at the 3:53 mark of the second quarter. He is playing well at the center position.
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• Darin Kinnard had a terrific wham block on a Chris z Rodriquez run. The offensive line is playing well and can block anybody, notwithstanding, it being a tough job.
• Starting left guard Kenneth Horsey is part of a unit known as the Big Blue Wall. The uniqueness of that is the offensive trench-men in most cases are the least noticeable group on the team.
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• How the late John Schlarman brought notoriety to those groups of guys. And in a recent interview, Horsey’s voice indicated their admiration for the former offensive line coach when he got melancholy in conversing about their former leader and developer.
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• Horsey said it is a pleasure blocking for Chris Rodriquez and the entire running back room.
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• He expressed the versatility of running back JuTahn McClain and how offensive coordinator Liam Coen is drawing up for play’s for him.
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• UK has to be a good landing place for high school offensive linemen knowing the notoriety the Big Blue Wall would bring them.

Make no mistake, I’m not the new Allan Cutler that was the master in bearing bad news. Cutler and I were friends but on a different spectrum. In the 13-years I was a WVLK sports analyst, I was always lauded for my objectivity, pushing my Big Blue loyalty aside. So, now let’s tell it like it truly is.

The Good

• Wan’Dale Robinson is the real deal. He can run, he can catch, and he is versatile. He can get open on any route and not only that he has shown that with the ball in his hand he is dangerous – the jet-sweep.

• The offensive line (Big Blue Wall) line is still effective in the running game though at times they are a little shaky in Pass Pro.

• Two other receivers (Isaiah Epps and Josh Ali) have stepped up to the plate. Tight ends have for the most part done their jobs.

The Bad

• When there was talk of Will Levis’ inaccuracy and he working with a bio-mechanic to improve his accuracy, my red flag went up. Still in the interest of fairness, I waited until I witnessed a practice session. All the talk of him having a cannon was correct, however, I witnessed a worrisome flaw in his short-pass accuracy. So far that is bearing itself out and deems it as being a problem going forward against good SEC teams. IF, not corrected? Perhaps, this is why they keep the media away. Against FCS ULM his percentage started out an excellent 69.2 and has since fallen off to 61.9; 56.1 in conference play with 6-interceptions overall. Stoops said they are going to be working HARD to correct that in this week's practice. There’s an old proverb – Pride before the fall! Enough said.

The Fortunate

• Kentucky can take pride when addressing their fans on the defense. The UK defense is very good and could border on being great before the end of the season. It’s not perfect at the present in that there are not enough forced turnovers. The tackling is very good – they rally to the ball well and their open-field tackling is very good. Before the season there was some consternation about the cornerback play but their allowing of chunk-plays (over 25-yards) has been limited. Teams are going to learn to stop picking on Carrington Valentine. Senior Tyrell Ajain has been solid.




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