0:00

This is Stockyards Bank Sunday Morning Sports Talk presented by the lead Troop Barge Radio

0:06

Network on six point thirty WLAP. Welcome back Stockyards Bank. Sunday One is

0:12

sports Talk. I am Anthony White along with Jack Pilgrim and Larry Valk,

0:16

coming to you from beautiful downtown Lexientucky Clark's Main Street Market Studios, and we

0:22

are talking derby talking Kentucky basketball. But there's also something we've been talking every

0:28

week for the past couple months, both Larry and Anthony. Did you know

0:33

that May is Cemetery Appreciation Month. With that said, thank you to all

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experience that will leave you with a greater appreciation for bourbon history and cemeteries.

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And one day guest will visit for cemetery's visiting the final resting places of Kentucky's

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1:07

the distilled to the departed to the Bourbon Legends Tour. It's a luxury experience

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that will take you back in time and unveil the stories of the most iconic

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figures in Kentucky's bourbon hiss industry. Visit Bourbon Legends Tour dot com. Thank

1:23

you for that, Bo Robinson, Jack Pilgrim. I am going to go

1:27

back to and Larry Vaud. I know we got caught off at the end

1:30

of that. I believe McPeak at. I don't know why to keep saying

1:34

brain station at. Frederick Douglas is spelled p e ak, not p e

1:38

p e e k, so I don't think that they're related, but they're

1:45

both hefty guys, so I was kind of thank you. Maybe they're related,

1:49

Maybe they edded the same table. Jack Pilgrim, we didn't get a

1:53

chance to talk. We added Alvin Brooks. Maybe was it two weeks ago?

1:57

It was the beginning last week. We do our show weekly, so

2:00

a lot of stuff happens on Monday, so it just seems like it's been forever ago. Alvin Brooks to the coaching staff, Mark Fox, Cody Feud

2:07

and Jason Hart do you have insight? I know what I've read and what

2:14

I've heard about the additions the coaches fit perfectly in with Mark Pope is trying

2:19

to do. You can you give us some background on those things for our

2:24

fan base, we can get them more excited than they already are. Yeah.

2:30

The one that you should love and know and really appreciate it is Alvin

2:37

Brooks. A third, that was one that you knew that Cody Bieger from

2:40

from BYU was a layup. That was the guy that was never going to

2:45

leave Mark Pope's side. They've been kind of walking in step with one another,

2:49

hand in hand for the last ten years. They're best friends, and

2:53

you know they just really kind of bounce ideas off one another. That was

2:57

a guarantee. He was never There was no scenario where Mark Pope wasn't going

3:00

to come to Lexington that and Cody Figure wouldn't be along for the ride.

3:05

So that was number one. Mark Fox was one that you know they had

3:09

been closed for a long time. Mark Fox gave Pope his first coaching job

3:14

at UH at Georgia uh and and you know, kind of just paying it

3:17

back to him. Uh And I'd love that addition as an associate to just

3:23

kind of bounce ideas off and be kind of a player developer behind the scenes

3:27

kind of you know, you kind of fill the void, uh that that

3:29

Bruiser Flint kind of had. There's just kind of a good compliment to uh

3:34

to to Mark Pope. And then you know, Jason Hart was a guy

3:37

that comes in highly recommended West Coast guy. Every West Coast person that I've

3:42

talked to, that knows recruiting, that knows the G League, that knows

3:45

how everything operates over there, to say he's the most connected West Coast recruiter

3:50

in the country. Nobody comes close to what Jason Hard is. So to

3:53

kind of unlock a new recruiting base that we really haven't hit a ton.

3:58

We've had some West Coast guys come to Kentucky under John Caliperry, but really

4:01

not, you know, not to the serious extent that that Jason Hart will

4:06

probably be adding. And then the big one. It was Alvin Brooks.

4:10

That was a guy that if you after just a generic basketball mine in in

4:15

you know, National Basketball Circles named the top five assistant coaches in college of

4:20

basketball. Alvin Brooks is one of them. In every single conversation. He

4:24

is an absolute dog on the recruiting trail, very very good relationship builder,

4:29

and you know, just kind of a people person. That's a guy that

4:33

you know, Mitch Barhart wasn't able to steal Scott Drew away from Waco,

4:38

but for Mark Pope to then go back to Waco and then steal Scott Drew's

4:43

number one, his right hand man, to come be the associate head coach

4:46

and a Lexington, I mean, that was as big of an assistant get

4:49

as you could have possibly ask for. If you, you know, talk

4:51

to people in the basketball world, they'll say that he's always on those top

4:55

five list of top assistants in the country, but he has never seen attainable,

5:00

Like he just wasn't a guy that like, yeah, he's included in these lists, but is that a realistic option for Mark Pope to go get

5:06

A lot of people would tell you going into this that there was there was

5:10

no chance he had him made in Waco again, made a ton of money,

5:14

kind of Scott Drew's right hand man. They were really building something special

5:18

down there, and then for Mark Pope to go and steal him away to

5:23

become the number one assistant up here. I mean, it just goes to

5:27

show you a Mark Pope is a recruiter, but be what you know they

5:30

have bruin. I mean, this is a really, really impressive coaching staff

5:33

that he's building. There's still one more spot left that Pope said that he

5:38

is in no rush to add, going to kind of hit pause on things

5:41

and let the roster still up before focusing on that fifth spot. But yeah,

5:46

I could not be more impressed with with the assistant coaching staff. I

5:50

think it's among the best in college basketball by far. Let's get back to

5:56

the phone lines and see what Alvin has to say. Good morning, Alvin,

6:00

how's it going? Good morning? Hello? What you got for us?

6:04

Good morning? Happy? Sinko demayo? Yes I can? Can you

6:09

hear me? Very good? Yeah? I can't thank you a lot,

6:12

Anthony. Here the question to follow what Jack was saying, that the coaching

6:15

staff has filled out, you know, quite nicely. I think that Mark

6:19

Poe probably carefully looked at what he needed in terms of coaching experience, personality,

6:27

and how the coaches would be able to influence the kids to come to

6:30

Kentucky. That they would have to be able to talk about the landscape of

6:35

the city and what it would mean for them and their families. But I

6:40

also wanted to look at it from another standpoint in that he had a bunch

6:46

of guys that was part of the tradition, part of the brand when he

6:50

arrived in Rupperena on that bus. And I don't know if he talked to

6:58

the one particular coach that would come to come to mind is part of the

7:00

brand and one of the unforgettables uh is Sean Woods. And I think that

7:05

that, you know, for having someone from Kentucky uh to be part of

7:11

the brand. Uh. I don't know if he's reached out uh to he

7:15

or to the the uh Derrick Anderson uh to to maybe be part to to

7:20

to bring the put the brand on the bench as well. Uh. You

7:25

spoke a little bit about the kids, the demographic of individuals who look at

7:30

Kentucky as the excitement part belling Ham and look at you know what Pope is

7:34

bringing in. So my question is who has been the fan favorite over the

7:40

last three years? Uh, if you will, would it be Oscar Sweetway

7:45

or would it be Reed Shepherd? Which of those two guys would be the

7:49

biggest fan favorite moving forward. If you have to take a vote, thank

7:55

you for taking my car? Thank you A uh thought, he asked Shawn

8:01

Woods question. And Shawn Woods question has come up from a lot of different

8:07

people, and obviously most people assume it's not necessarily not a good fit.

8:13

But he has had some troubles on his path, and I think some people

8:22

feel like they don't want to have to go through that, considering we're coming

8:26

out of an unhappy relationship. Do you see that any differently? As far

8:30

as Sean Woods being a candidate to be on this staff, I think if

8:35

there's a former player teammate that would be a candidate to be on maybe he

8:39

is a candidate to be on the staff. I think it'd be Scott Paget,

8:43

who's now the assistant coach at Mississippi State. I think if there's going

8:46

to be a Kentucky former Kentucky player that Mark's familiar with on the bench with

8:50

him, I think it would end up being Scott Paget. Whether that's going

8:54

to happen or not, I don't know. I feel like there's maybe been

8:58

at least some prelimitry conversations about it, and I think Mark's not in a

9:01

hurry to finish filling out his staff right now. But Scott would be a

9:07

guy that's been coaching in the SEC. He's very familiar with Mark obviously,

9:11

so he could check some boxes in different ways right there. So there's gonna

9:15

be a former player on the staff. I would vote it. It'll end

9:18

up being Mark Uh, Scott Pageant uh. And before I go to Jack,

9:24

he also asked the bigger fan favorite, Oscar or Reid. I'm gonna

9:35

go with Reid over the Player of the year National Player of the Year.

9:41

Didn't say what he just said, which is the fan favorite? I'm gonna

9:45

go. I'm gonna go with Reid? Yeah. Is Jack Pulgrim? Uh?

9:50

Is there any rumbling? Is there any way you can could be could

9:54

be convinced that Sean Woods would fit in with this, with this staff or

9:58

be a candidate. Probably not. I think the thing is, you don't

10:09

one of my main concerns with you know, when the hire was going through

10:13

and then there was some talk about, you know, bringing it back to

10:15

Kentucky and you know, hidden the nostalgia factor and all that was Mark Pope

10:20

is like three or four human beings worth of nostalgia. Like I think that

10:26

the charisma and the personality and just how larger than life he is as a

10:31

person, he he makes up some ground with nostalgia that I don't think you

10:35

necessarily have to do, you know, have overkill in that department. Like

10:39

I think that he represents Kentucky better than any assistant coach possibly could. And

10:46

and you know, if you're choosing between a guy just for nostalgia reasons and

10:50

Sean Woods or Scott Patty, you know, I love Scott Patch. I

10:54

think there would be fits there, but not to the detriment to what Pope's

10:58

vision and is with his staff and what he's trying to build from a system

11:03

perspective, there's some talk about there's a G League coach with you know,

11:07

the Washington G League team, the Go Gos that you know, their head

11:11

coach. He's a big, you know, kind of analytic guru, you

11:16

know, advanced basketball mind that he could be one of that fifth guy or

11:20

somebody that you know, not saying that's going to be the guy. But

11:24

there's just some whispers and following social media trends and who they're following, and

11:28

you know, those sorts of things uh that he could be the guy.

11:31

And I would rather Pope think, think outside the box and think, Okay,

11:35

what what specific role do we need filled to close this thing out.

11:41

Don't just fill fill it for the sake of filling it for you know,

11:45

a former Kentucky player. If you think that former Kentucky player is the right

11:48

basketball mind, personality fit is going to mesh with the other guys that they

11:52

have on staff by all means, do it, But don't just don't just

11:56

fill the nostalgia void just because you feel like you have to, Because I

12:01

don't want Pope to short change himself for just how valuable he is in that

12:05

department and somebody else can fill in an analytical void or a you know,

12:09

player development void, or whatever he's looking for to close this thing out,

12:13

defense oriented whatever. I just I think Pope, Pope goes above and beyond

12:18

that department where you don't you probably don't need to just add an you know,

12:24

player from nineteen ninety two just for the sake of doing it. So I lean know right now that is Jack Pilgrim, and we have him for

12:31

one more segment. If you have questions for Jack Pilgrim, because after he

12:35

goes off, we will have a little bit of football talk, so if

12:39

you want to get your call in, get it in in the next segment.

12:41

Eighty five nine to eight zero two two eight seven eighty five nine to

12:46

eight zero Cats. We will be back after this year listening to Stockyards Banks

12:48

Sunday when in Sports Talk on news Radio six thirty WLAP. This is the

12:52

home of the Wildcats. Six thirty w LAP. Welcome back Stockyards Banks.

13:00

When the sports Talk, I am Anthony White along with Jack Pilgrim and Larry

13:03

Vaught. Stockyards Bank. It's your trusted partner since nineteen oh four. Head

13:09

on over to syb dot com for all of your banking and financial needs.

13:13

As I stated before the break, we only have Jack Pilgrim for this segment.

13:18

This is the last segment and the phone lines are lit up, so

13:22

let's get to the phone lines and see what Bren has to say. Good morning, BRN. What do you got for us? Hey, Jack,

13:28

Larry Anthony, thank you for doing the show. Jack. I wanted to

13:31

ask you with nil raising every year. I heard Jeff Goodman say that it

13:37

takes about four million dollars to put a Final four team together this year and

13:41

next year, it's probably going to go to about four point five or five

13:45

million. My question is, is Kentucky willing to go to five million with

13:50

NIO? Do you think they can bring it together if that's what it costs.

13:54

And then my second question is do we have really smart people that are

14:01

trying to put together like the nil for the whole fan base all over the

14:05

United States to buy in, like for fifty dollars or one hundred dollars a

14:09

month. Do we have smart researchers trying to put all that together to really

14:16

dig down and find out, you know, that we can all come together

14:20

with the money so that Kentucky will not end up being like the Nebraska football

14:26

is. You know, On's great, but not now because of money.

14:28

I'll hang up and listen. Thank you guys, have a good Sunday.

14:31

Thank you for the car brand. I'm gonna give my two cents really,

14:35

and if you listen to the locker on Wednesday night, we talked the whole

14:39

Larry Vaught. I know we had Jack picklem on the two weeks ago,

14:43

but Larry Vall we talked a whole hour and fifteen minutes strictly inil We started

14:48

off on a topic and staying on there the whole time. And I do

14:50

not think that the University of Kentucky has the right people in order to put

14:56

together their correct collective, and I don't think they want to. That is

15:00

my thoughts. And if we're off the air next week, well we're not going to be off the air next week. If I'm off the air next

15:03

week, somebody give me a job. But Jack Pilgrim, he did ask

15:07

you about the four million dollars. He did ask you about the four million

15:11

dollars five million dollars to win I guess a Final four running basketball or whatever.

15:18

I've heard that as well. Is there any accuracy to that? I

15:24

mean, I don't think it's a specific number that if you hit four million

15:28

dollars you will automatically win a national championship or automatically. I mean you have

15:33

to have the right basketball minds to put together the right roster with those funds.

15:37

So, as we saw last year, nil doesn't really matter. You

15:41

can build the best team in il can buy, and it still doesn't make

15:46

a difference if you if you can't coach them up. So I think there's

15:50

it's kind of a two part thing where yes, I do think those funds

15:54

will be there. I think they are there. I think the excitement that

16:00

think they're combining you know, old boosters that were no longer in the picture

16:03

that we're done with the John Caliperry era and said we're not going to fund

16:07

another dollar for UH for this until Cal Lee's those people are now back.

16:14

And it's not just the Craft, it's multiple UH people that that are now

16:18

back in the picture. And there's just a new found level of excitement with

16:22

with the fans and you know, rallying around, you know, not just

16:26

having Cal's buddy fund fund the roster that that's you know that I think that's

16:30

kind of an underrated thing. That kind of led to some of the struggles

16:33

here down the stretch was you know, they he was trying to hit different

16:37

parts of you know, different pots of money that just weren't necessarily there anymore

16:42

because he was leaning too heavily on his on his you know, rich buddy

16:47

friends, and they kind of viewed it as well, we're not going to just be funding your basketball program year after year after year. Cal didn't feel

16:53

that it was right to go to Anthony Davis and say, hey, the

16:57

money that you've put your hard work an effort into to earn Hey, can

17:02

you give some of that back to the university. You know, he just didn't feel that that was you know, maybe a one time donation for flood

17:07

relief, for tornado relief or something like that, but to constantly, you

17:11

know, like a multi year subscription service to the University of Kentucky. That's

17:17

just not how CAL operated and it just wasn't sustainable. He got some short

17:21

term money, but not long term. And I think the long term people

17:23

are now back in the picture. And if Pope can sustain the fan excitement

17:29

to where you know, the club blue and you know, filling up potentially

17:32

Kroger Field with this fan event on June fifteenth, those things, that's going

17:36

to go a long long way to decide if this program can be you know,

17:40

sustained as one of the top in college basketball or with NIL, I

17:44

think it's possible. I think it's still there's still some work to do because

17:47

there was such an over overhaul of NIL from CAL leaving to where we are

17:52

right now. It's in a good, good spot, not a great spot.

17:56

And I think that if Pope can continue to excite, I think it's

18:00

it's going to stay in a great spot if I guess, if that makes

18:03

sense, I will say that the University of Kentucky really has nothing to do

18:07

with NIL. They can't be involved. If they can't be involved with it,

18:10

but they do have entities that can work together to make sure we get

18:14

the best packages as far as collectives and things for other players. Is why

18:18

you know we have a fifteen club on and W nineteen seventy four. We

18:22

talked to all those people like to I'm not partial to any of them.

18:26

I want these kids to get paid. Larry Vault is not as well.

18:30

But someone needs to come together and get all this money in one pot so

18:33

we can It'll be easier. You don't have you don't pay all your bills

18:38

out of several different accounts. Do you got one account that you pay your

18:41

bills out of? That's what? And do you have your play account?

18:45

But Larry Vaught, I know we only got a minute left, But do

18:48

you think that the University of Kentucky and their constituents have the mental capacity,

18:56

or the want to or the ability to come together anytime soon? Uh with

19:00

the collectives and get this NIL thing together? Yeah? I think it seems

19:04

to be trending in that direction to me. I think the Club Blue that

19:08

is very active right now. It's gonna be a good thing. And I

19:12

think that the folks at UK have realized the need to not have a lot

19:18

of just different individual collectives. I need to try to get this centralized in

19:22

some way. So I think it's gonna it's gonna get better. But again,

19:26

I think kind of what Jack said. I think there's been adequate money,

19:32

even though I guess you could never have too much with the way it is now. But yeah, I think it's I think it's gonna be okay,

19:36

Anthony, all right, that is Larry Vaught, Jack Pierpleman, tell

19:41

baby Billy Man happy first Cenko Demayo tell him Uncle Anthony says, uh,

19:47

he did, didn't. I didn't get a call from him for his birthday, for my birthday, but his dad did call. Enjoy the rest of

19:52

your day. We appreciate you for joining us, Jack. We'll be back

19:56

after this. You're listening to Stockyards Bank Sunday Morning Sports Salt on news Radio

19:59

six WLAP. This is the home of the Wildcats, six thirty WLAP.

20:04

Welcome back, Stockyards Bank, Sunday Morning Sports Talk. I am Anthony White

20:10

along with Larry Vaught. This hour of Sunday Morning Sports Talk is brought to

20:15

you by Country Boy, and we are talking all things sports. We are

20:19

efforting to get Max Stevens, own coach of Marquise Davis from Cleveland Heights running

20:29

back, commit to the University of Kentucky. But Larry Vault while we are

20:33

trying to reach him, and at this point we do have him. Good

20:37

morning, coach Stevens. How's it going. I'm good. How are you?

20:42

I'm doing pretty good. Before we get this conversation started, Larry Vaught

20:48

range this conversation. I am from northeast Ohio with the Twinsburg Chamberlain, So

20:52

I'm a little familiar with that area up there and Kentucky has it traveled up

20:57

there a whole lot. And you produced a product that we can be proud

21:03

of. Oh. Absolutely, He's a good one and coach. So what

21:10

do we what are we going to be looking for? What will the fan base be happy about her? What is what is the fan base gonna be

21:18

excited about about having mister Davis here? Well, I think you know,

21:23

one of the amazing things is if you were to google his name and look

21:29

at his highlights, you know you're going to be impressed. But as impressive

21:36

as his highlights are, he hadn't even scratched the surface last year. He

21:41

there's so many things that he'll do so much better this year. You know

21:48

a lot of people forget last year was really you know, his second year

21:52

of high school football. He didn't play high school football as a freshman,

21:56

and his tenth grade year he was know first team off state guy on defense.

22:03

And then last year offensively, he just took it to another level.

22:07

But you know the most impressive thing about Marquise is uh he runs with toughness,

22:15

He's physically fast, powerful. You know, in my opinion, he

22:21

embodies all the characteristics of what you want and an sec running back. So

22:27

I think he'll have a great future at Kentucky. And uh has And like

22:33

I said, I'm from the area. You've been a little bit older than

22:37

me, so I know what Cleveland Heights has. Cleveland Heights, the school

22:41

system or the school has it. I know. I say that because I

22:45

always tell people that was a rough school when I was when I was a

22:48

kid, when I was in high school. But I know for you to

22:52

have to go there, it kind of you have to have a certain type of grit. That's why you look at the Kelsey Brothers and some of those

22:56

guys. Has the school of all been renovated or just an area or if

23:02

you're still if you're come out of Cleveland Height, you're still getting a gritty, gritty kid. Yeah, I mean, you know, we're entering suburb

23:10

of Cleveland, as you know, and we have some tough, hard nosed

23:15

kids. And you know, I'm going into my tenth season, but our

23:19

first nine seasons, we've placed almost one hundred kids in the various help placed

23:26

over one hundred kids in the various colleges. And that's a testament just to

23:30

the talent that we have coming through in this current senior class, you know,

23:36

obviously headlined by Marquise I mean, there's probably going to be eight or

23:41

nine more D one type prospects to come out of our twenty twenty five class.

23:45

So you know, it's it's you know, it's going to be a

23:49

year going into his senior year where there's extremely high expectations. But we have

23:56

the talent and place where I think, you know, as long as we

24:00

stay healthy we should be be pretty good in the end. And I know

24:03

that, as I stated, I've been here since nineteen ninety five, and

24:10

coaches don't travel that far up North and Ohio a whole lot, maybe Youngstown

24:12

because of Vince and Mark Stoops and those guys. What brought the coaches up

24:18

there was his talent or what brought the coaches up that high and north.

24:26

Well, you know, it's funny because a few years back, coach the

24:29

final one of the staff members at Kentucky always recruited put in the heights during

24:37

my time, and he made the introduction to Vents, Me and Vince,

24:41

and we were talking about one of my linemen and a receiver at the time,

24:48

and then we started talking about Marquise Davis. This is a couple of

24:52

years ago, and Vince has just been on Marquise ever since and has paid

24:57

attention and and you know, they formed a relationship through this recruiting process,

25:07

and Vince got to know his parents very well. You know, Marquise's parents

25:11

has been very involved in the recruiting process. And you know, here we

25:17

are, Well, I did want to ask a little couple. You said

25:22

he also played defense, and I've always always asked people this my first year

25:26

here, I came in as a running back as well. In my first

25:30

week, I got moved the cornerback, which I probably should have stayed at

25:34

cornerback because I did like it. I felt comfortable. There is there any

25:37

chance that Marquise has come in as an athlete or t just strictly running back,

25:41

just because of the skill sets. I think, you know he'll come

25:47

in strictly as a running back. But you know, the amazing thing about

25:52

him as a tenth grader. You know, as I mentioned, he made

25:55

first team off state on defense as a strong safety. This past season he

26:00

played outside linebacker for US, and to be quite honest, is probably one

26:06

of the best defensive players on the field every game. You know. So

26:10

he's he's a tremendous athlete. But you know, this offseason he really focused

26:18

on just getting a little more explosive and faster. He's put on weight.

26:23

I think last year he played typically between one ninety to one ninety five,

26:29

and he's he's two hundred and ten pounds right now, so he's gotten bigger.

26:34

You know, there's not an ounce of fat on his body. He's

26:37

pretty shredded up. So it's gonna be fun to watch this year. And

26:44

also what's going to ask as far as him coming playing running back here,

26:48

is that the size in first year playing, I know, weight two ten

26:56

is a nice sized high school kid. Is he wants to play immediately because

27:02

we do have a lot of young backs him coming in there will be freshmen

27:06

or richhir freshman probably on the same side as him. Is that something that

27:11

he's thought about. Is he looking to come in and making an immediate impact

27:14

or I've had a rich shirt but I wasn't too team either. That's a

27:18

nice sized running back. Yeah. I think you know, one of the

27:25

best things about Marquise or one of his best traits, is that he is

27:30

a very mentally focused, mentally strong kid. And you know, as his

27:38

high school coach, I wouldn't expect him to do nothing but try to compete

27:42

as a freshman in play. Obviously, making that transition from high school to

27:49

college is going to be a lot tougher, a lot more competitive, But

27:56

I think he's ready to compete and ready see where his talent lands him in

28:02

the rotation as a freshman. Obviously, as a as his coach, you

28:07

know my desires that he started as a freshman, or or at worst,

28:11

play quite a bit as a freshman. I know he has some very lofty

28:17

goals that he wants to attain as a freshman in college, and you know,

28:23

I'm pulling for him. But I think he has the right mindset going

28:26

into it. You know, he's very humble, he's not not an arrogant

28:30

kid or anything like that. He knows it's going to be competitive. So

28:36

you know, we'll we'll see see how things unfold. Well, we also

28:41

here have recently throw the ball to the running backs a lot. Is that

28:48

something you all? I haven't watched a whole lot of Cleveland Heights football.

28:52

Is that something all you guys do in your office? Are you going to

28:56

allow him to do different things to exploit his uh, his his resources as

29:03

a running back or yeah? Yeah, so you know, his his first

29:08

two years with us, we were we focused more on running a triple option.

29:15

We didn't pass the ball. I mean, last year we probably only

29:18

threw the ball eight or nine times a game. I think the most we

29:22

ever threw in a game is probably twelve or thirteen times. This year,

29:26

that will change. We're trying to open up our offense a little bit more.

29:33

In fact, we even want to implement some of the offensive concepts that

29:37

Kentucky runs just to kind of help Marquees out to make that transition from high

29:45

school to college. We do want to get him the ball in the passing

29:51

game out in open space. He's got nip defeet. I mean, he's

29:56

a he's a big kid on the high school level, but he's very elusive

30:02

in the open field. And we know people are going to put, you

30:04

know, eight men in the box to try to try to splow down our

30:07

run game. So you know, we definitely have to open up our passing

30:11

game and try to free him up along with some of the other guys a

30:17

little bit more this coming season. Hey, coach, could you talk a

30:22

little bit about the first time that you had Marquise that you were telling me

30:26

when he came out there as a sophomore and you put him out on the field and didn't know a whole lot about him, what he did immediately to

30:32

get your attention. Yeah. Yeah, So this goes back to when he

30:38

came is the very first day of practice. He was a little behind everyone

30:42

else because he was out on the camp circuit. You know, trying to

30:47

make a name for himself and get some exposure. And he shows up and

30:52

we're doing seven on seven, so we just kind of throw him in there.

30:56

You know, we're just in shorts and T shirts. No one knows

31:02

what this kid can do. I mean, he looked the part long story

31:06

short. In the first thirty minutes of practice, kid had four interceptions and

31:10

didn't even know our defensive scheme or anything. So we knew right then and

31:15

there we had something special on our hands. And then later on we started

31:19

giving him reps on offense, and I mean, you could tell that he

31:25

was going to be special. I didn't realize he would be as special as

31:29

he is, but you know, every week you just saw the progression and

31:34

he's just he's an unbelievable athlete. And you know, and I think that's

31:41

a scary part going into his senior year. We have you know, I

31:44

always say, we haven't even seen the best version of Marquise Davis yet.

31:49

Coach I was also curious what persuaded him to come out for football as a

31:53

sophomore. Why wasn't he out there as afresh? But with the ability that

31:57

he has, Yeah, so as a freshman, he played at a different

32:04

school, and for whatever reason, he was playing in what would be equivalent

32:08

to the Cleveland Uni League, a youth organization that they you know, they

32:14

allow kids to play up through ninth grade in the Banham Division. So it

32:22

was just one of those things that I still kind of I'm kind of perplexed

32:25

about it myself, because had he been at Cleveland Heights as a freshman,

32:30

he would have started immediately on varsity. He's just that special of a football

32:37

player or that special as an athlete. But I'm thankful that he's at Cleveland

32:43

Heights now. And you know, be quite honest, we took him off

32:47

of special teams last year. I mean, he'd be our best special teams

32:52

player, to be quite honest, but we got to find a way to

32:54

give him a break at some point. So special teams is when he gets

33:00

break during the game. Coach, I just got a personal question. Since

33:05

I'm up from the area, I'm looking at you all schedule. You play

33:07

some of the people that I played in high school, and it is a

33:09

wide range, Like I don't see Bedford or Garfield or Warrensville, any of

33:15

those schools that are closer to you playing Solin, Hudson, and people out

33:19

toward Twinsburg direction. Are y'all are you are you an independent or are you

33:22

guys still in the are you guys in the conference? So prior to last

33:29

year, we were in the Lake Erie League conference and then we joined what's

33:34

called the Greater Cleveland Conference, which is one of the tougher public school conferences

33:37

in Ohio. You know, we have men or Medina, Shaker, Brunswick,

33:44

Tronsville, Euquid, and et cetera. We've been very fortunate we haven't

33:50

lost the conference game and I think for five years now. Even with the

33:55

transition to the new conference, and then we had to pick up some non

34:00

conference games. This year we played Detroit Martin Luther King, I'm up at

34:07

Wayne State. This year, played River Rouge, which is out of Michigan.

34:12

We played them at Fairfield. This year we played Hudson, who's a

34:15

perennial playoffs UH contender in Division two here in Ohio. We picked up Trotwood,

34:23

who's you know, their perennial playoff team. So yeah, our schedule

34:30

is tough and it's going to be very demanding that this season, to say

34:37

the least. But we have some pretty good talents. So I feel pretty

34:40

good about where we're at. Where we're at, and I did this is

34:44

the last question I have to I don't know, Larry, I did want to ask you. You said he's only played one year, and I know

34:51

you've played at the highest level. Uh, what is his ceiling d or

34:58

do you is there in a magic selling at all for him? For a guy who's played one year All state or one year of school scholastic football All

35:06

State and still rising. Yeah, I mean, this guy's the limit for

35:14

this kid. I mean, for example, like I always tell him he

35:21

left five or six hundred yards on the field last year, and you know

35:23

he was a Gatoray Player of the Year for the State of Ohio ran for

35:28

almost twenty four hundred yards. And what I mean when I say that is

35:32

like Marquise is so physically gifted that you know, on this level, he

35:37

can just kind of bounce the ball, sit outside and he's going to gain

35:42

you know, eight, ten, twelve yards. Whereas this year, the

35:46

hope is, you know, we have to teach him how to read defenses

35:49

a little bit better pre snap and once he gets once he gets the handoff,

35:55

so that you know, like reading linebacker flow and just learning how to

36:00

stick his foot in the ground, cut against the grain, hit the backside

36:04

hole and instead of gaining ten yards, you might go for sixty yards.

36:09

You know, he'll get better at pass blocking, he'll get better at run

36:13

blocking. You know, he's going to definitely be more involved in our passing

36:19

game. So there's so much potential for him to just be better, even

36:27

better than what he was last season. That that's one of the things that

36:32

really makes this upcoming season even more exciting a coach. The last thing I

36:39

would have for you half surprised were folks in your I know, not you

36:44

so much, but just the general folks in your area about that he picked

36:49

Kentucky and didn't go to Michigan, which it seemed like everybody had he projected

36:52

going there. That I was reading, Oh, it was a majors I

37:00

think it since shockwaves through the high school recruiting community. You know, obviously

37:07

he and I and his family, I mean, we communicate all the time,

37:14

or we were communicating all the time throughout the recruiting process, and you

37:20

know, Marquise has been very measured about going through this process and asking the

37:24

right questions he's you know, he's very mature for seventeen year old kid.

37:30

And you know, you read some of the things on social media and people

37:35

attribute, you know, him picking Kentucky over Michigan and other schools because of

37:42

an NIL deal, and that's just simply not the case. In fact,

37:46

he probably if it were about an NIL package, he probably could have gotten

37:52

an even higher package at a couple other schools that I'm aware of. So

37:58

it wasn't about the NIL. It truly was about how he felt he could

38:04

fit in Kentucky's offensive scheme. Uh. It was about his uh relationship with

38:13

the coaching staff throughout this recruiting process. It's about feeling comfortable on his busits

38:20

to Kentucky. You know, people forget man. We like we stopped in

38:23

Kentucky last June on a trip between Alabama and Tennessee, and we spent spent

38:31

a day at Kentucky, you know, looking at the facilities and talking to

38:36

the staff and et cetera. You know, he got a chance to interact

38:40

with with with a couple of the Kentucky players. And I can go on

38:45

and on and on. There's so many factors that went in went into this

38:49

decision. So I wasn't necessarily shocked because I just knew that he was looking

38:55

at the big picture, whereas most people were looking at the small picture.

39:01

And if you look at the small picture, yeah it was a shock,

39:05

but when you look at the big picture, it makes sense for the young

39:08

man. Well, Coach, we have to get to a break. We

39:12

appreciate you for getting up with us and spending some time this morning. We

39:15

look forward to having mister Davis here, and good luck you all this year.

39:19

Oh I think thank you so much. We appreciating you. Guys.

39:22

Ever need anything, let me know, all right, thank you, We'll be back after this. You're listening to Stockyards Bank Sunday Morning Sports Talk on

39:28

news radio six thirty WLA. This is the home of the Wildcats, six

39:32

thirty WLAP. Welcome back Stockyards Bank Sunday Morning Sports Talk. I'm Anthony White

39:38

along with Larry Vault. Like to thank coach Stevens Marquise Davis, UK running

39:45

back commit for joining us this morning. And if you like that, stick

39:51

around because at the top of the hour we will have the big Dog.

39:54

As long as he's he's not hungover from derby time, we'll have the Big

39:59

Dog on here to talk about NFL Draft, UK football and all things UK

40:04

sports. Will be back after this year. Listening to Soccyard's Bank Sunday morning

40:07

sports talk on news Radio six point thirty WLAP