New University of Kentucky Athletic Director J Batt is considered to be one of the best fundraisers in college athletics. In a college landscape where the dollar reigns king, and Kentucky ranked 15th of 16 teams in athletic donations, they needed help in that category.

When you are asking more than you ever have as a university, you most importantly have to give fans a winning product, but you also have to give them incentives to give and make their opinion feel valued. The best way to do the latter is to meet Big Blue Nation and interact with them face to face.

Less than two weeks into his tenure, Batt isn’t waiting for games to meet the fans. He first met some fans at an event at Kroger Field on July 30th, and this past Saturday, joined Kentucky Football head coach Will Stein during tailgate setup day.

Batt and Stein drove around in a golf cart with donuts, surprising fans who were at Kroger Field in the early morning setting up their tailgates ahead of Stein’s first season. The excitement is real, as some fans arrived the night before to make sure they were prepared to set up.

“I want everybody in Big Blue Nation to hear from me directly. They matter the most,” said Batt in an interview soon after accepting the AD position at Kentucky. “This place is special because of them and because of the people, and we’re really lucky to be here.”

The vibe around Kentucky Football’s offseason has been nothing short of positive. We’re seeing and hearing good things out of practice, Will Stein seems extremely confident and the season is less than a month’s time away.

Unfortunately, bad news struck the Big Blue Nation’s timeline on Thursday, Aug. 6.

Hardley Gilmore IV, after returning to the Wildcats for his junior season, has been dismissed from the team after a violation of team rules. Jeff Drummond reported the news first, confirming that the wideout was not on the team’s official practice roster.

Gilmore has been through his ups and downs to say the least during his collegiate career, beginning with his freshman season where he fought through an injury and juggled a misdemeanor assault charge in December of 2024.

He attempted to transfer to Nebraska following the incident, but would return to the Wildcats in the spring ahead of the 2025 season. After a solid sophomore outing, Gilmore would commit to the Louisville Cardinals, flipping over to the Baylor Bears in the transfer portal. After it was all said and done, even going as far as signing with Baylor, he would find himself back on Kentucky’s 2026 roster for the first year of the Will Stein era.

Full details on why he was dismissed from the team have not yet been released, but sources have indicated that it was an off-campus incident that affected his team-affiliated schedule. Time will tell if he will find a new place to call home for the upcoming season.

Some stories in sports are bigger than the sport itself, as is the case with former Wildcat Ray Davis.

Transferring to Kentucky from Vanderbilt for his senior season of college football in 2023, Davis ran for more than 1,100 yards and set the UK single-season touchdown record with 21 TDs. That included one of the best single-game performances in program history against Florida, where he ran for 280 yards (3rd most in school history) and 4 TDs.

His impact on the field made his story that much more inspiring. Being a part of the California foster care system at the age of 8, facing homelessness at the age of 12, Davis beat the odds to get where he is today, a Pro Bowl selection this past season for the Buffalo Bills.

That is a story made for Hollywood, and now Hollywood is making it.

Officially reported by the Hollywood Reporter on Monday, “Breakaway Ray”, a movie on Davis’ early life, is in development.

The film will focus on a 9-year-old Davis growing up in San Francisco, navigating poverty with a mother battling addiction and a father behind bars. A poster for Big Brothers Big Sisters changes everything. After Davis makes the call, he gets paired with a young Google employee named Patrick Dowley, and a brotherhood begins that will shape the rest of their lives.

The talent attached to the movie is no afterthought. Gary Fleder, the director behind Runaway Jury, The Express, and Reacher, is set to helm the project from a script by W. Peter Iliff, the screenwriter of Point Break and Varsity Blues. Blue Fox Financing is backing the project, which carries the support of both the Buffalo Bills and Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.

Fleder emphasizes that the film won’t be a “glossy Hollywood version of a sports legend.” He explains, “It needs grit, urgency and rawness. This film will capture both the harsh realities Ray faced and the quiet power of someone simply showing up.”

“I never would’ve thought in a million years I’d see my story on the big screen,” Davis wrote on X when the news broke. “I’m so grateful to share it on this platform, and this project holds a special place in my heart mentally and emotionally. Beyond excited to see it come to life. All glory to God.”

The film’s team hopes to give attention to the more than 300,000 children currently in the U.S. foster care system. The project will also highlight the importance of mentorship through programs like Big Brothers Big Sisters, which has partnered with the NFL since 2019.

“Breakaway Ray” is scheduled for release in February 2027.