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Tuesday Post-Practice Interview Notes

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Photo by Jacob Noger - UK Football

While the Big Ten and the Pac-12 chose not to play college football this fall, the SEC and the Kentucky Wildcats are gearing up for a very difficult schedule. One that includes five preseason AP Top-25 teams.

What is the best way to gear up for the challenge ahead? Practice. Practice. Practice.

We caught up with the offensive side of the ball on Tuesday afternoon including offensive coordinator Eddie Gran, and key seniors Justin Rigg and Josh Ali.

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Eddie Gran

“For Sure, We Want to Develop the Passing Game”

While Lynn Bowden and the Wildcats enjoyed much success with the running game last season, Gran wants to get back to a more balanced attack with a healthy Terry Wilson. For comparison, in 2018 Wilson threw for 1,889 yards alone, while Kentucky only threw for 1,478 yards last season.

“Since I’ve Been Here, This Is the Fastest We’ve Installed [an Offense]”

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Gran emphasized how quickly this team has picked up the offense, five practices to be exact. This a feat that Gran explained has never happened in his time at Kentucky and is promising after missing practically all of spring practice.

Beau Allen Has Done Some “Really Special Things”

Accuracy, Ball Delivery, Understanding the offense. Three things that Gran complimented a freshman Beau Allen on. Gran emphasized that he “loves” what he has seen thus far, and that Allen is a “[football] junkie”. Sounds like good things are to come when Allen is given his chance.

Justin Rigg

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Expect to See Two and Three Tight End Sets

Tight End has been one of Kentucky’s strongest positions in recent years, and this season does not appear to be much different. With proven players Justin Rigg and Keaton Upshaw, and top-20 recruit and now redshirt sophomore Brenden Bates, the offense will have a lot of versatility.

Justin Rigg Is Ready for Movies

For tight end Justin Rigg, one of the biggest consequences of the coronavirus has been the shutdown of movie theaters. While movie theaters are looking into opening back up, Rigg is does not think he will be able to go given the circumstances. However, he is hoping to be able to stream new movies from home and so are we, erll maybe not the new Batman movie.

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Josh Ali

Terry Wilson and Josh Ali Have Been Rekindling Their Connection Throughout Quarantine

In his interview, Gran said that Ali is “certainly is the number one guy out there right now”, and it is important for him and Terry to find that chemistry once again. Ali explained that they have just been “playing catch”, finding their timing and perfecting route since the start of summer.

Ali Claims His Is the Best Defensive Back Group in His Fours Years at UK

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“I feel like out of all four years, this is the best (defensive back) group that I’ve had competition with. Brandin Echols, Fats — I don’t know his real name, we just call him Fats — Kelvin Joseph from LSU. He’s doing really great, he’s really physical. Vito (Tisdale) is doing really good right now, he’s really physical. Even the front four is crazy. Sometimes we don’t get off plays because of those guys. I feel like the defense all around is doing a great job.”

That’s a heck of a statement, when you consider that Ali has lined up against the likes of Mike Edwards, Lonnie Johnson, Derrick Baity, Chris Westry and Darius West in practice. Just WOW!

The product has yet to be truly seen on the field, but Stoops and company could very well have their most talented roster in his time at Lexington. Yet, early on it sounds like iron is sharpening iron at practice. It’s getting exciting in Lexington!?

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Jamon Dumas-Johnson: A NFL Draft Steal

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Kentucky Wildcats linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson (2) makes the sign of the cross while taking a knee before the game.
Carter Skaggs | Imagn

Before he transferred to Kentucky, Jamon Dumas-Johnson was an All-American at Georgia, with waves to at least test the NFL draft after winning a National Championship. However, with the decision to play his last collegiate season as a Wildcat, Dumas-Johnson was a cornerstone piece for the Kentucky defense, finishing the season with 7.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks during his 11 starts for the team. 

His athleticism spoke volumes at Kentucky football’s NFL pro day, where current NFL draft boards now list the linebacker as one of the best athletes at the position and has earned himself a “top 10” feel ahead of the draft. Before pro day, publications such as Bleacher Report had him listed as No. 13 at his position. 

Dumas-Johnson proved himself with the highest vertical jump (37.5) and the longest broad jump (10.60) out of the Wildcats who competed in said events, and ran an impressive best 4.50 40-yard dash. At 245 pounds, he also managed to press 16 reps of 225, which could technically be “better” compared to NFL standards, but is impressive nonetheless in hindsight.

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At 23 years old, this linebacker exploits explosiveness, agility and can hawk down any playmaker on the field. Out the 31 NFL teams that attended the event (a Cleveland Browns representative did not attend), one will be getting a prize steal of the draft with Dumas-Johnson. 

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Alex Raynor: A Rare Gem In This Year’s NFL Draft

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Kentucky Wildcats place kicker Alex Raynor (16) lines up a kick.
Jordan Prather | Imagn

Alex Raynor had an illustrious season for Kentucky last year, being named to First-Team All-SEC, as a finalist for the Lou Groza award and as SEC Special Teams Player of the Year.

As the record holder for the longest field goal in program history, and arguably one of, if not the, most consistent kickers to ever be a Wildcat, Raynor now looks to the NFL Draft in the next chapter of his book. 

Recently, at Kentucky football’s NFL Pro Day on Tuesday, March 11, Raynor kicked off the event with his workout. 

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Although he would miss a routine kick for him inside of the 45, he would continue to move back, nailing a 55-yard kick and nearly making a 60-yard kick. 

The best moments of his workout came when Raynor would line up behind the UK logo inside of Nutter Field House and would nail a 65-yard field goal.

That, although it’s an indoor kick and is not faced with the NFL pressure, would be one of the longest field goals in NFL history. 

Historically, it’s extremely rare for kickers to be drafted any higher than the 6th, more commonly going in the late rounds on the third day. 

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However, Raynor would hold as one of the rare occasions to go higher than projected, due to his historic year as a Wildcat.

Wherever the young man from Georgia ends up in the pros, don’t be surprised if you hear his name every reoccurring Sunday.

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The State of Kentucky Football

Following their worst season in nearly a decade, Kentucky Football faces a steep rebuild and rising expectations.

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Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops has been linked to the Texas A&M job.
Chet White | UK Athletics

After charting a 4-8 record in the 2023-24 season, including a 1-7, second-to-last finish in the SEC, Kentucky Football looks lost for the first time in a long time.

It can be argued that the program never really broke through to the “higher echelon” of college football in the first place, but even then, they’ve been consistently better than they were historically known to be. Until now.

With that aforementioned .333 record, the Cats weren’t able to earn a bowl game. That marks the first time since the 2015 season that Kentucky Football won’t appear in postseason competition, and, excluding the 2020 season (for COVID-related reasons,) it’s also the only time the Wildcats have finished under .500 since then.

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What about the last time the team had less than five wins? 2013, in Stoops’ first season. The deeper you dig, the worse it appears.

Losing to Louisville in blowout fashion at the end of last month felt like the straw that broke the Cats’ back. It was clear that whatever would happen next wouldn’t be simply transitional, and thus far, the early offseason has evidenced that.

The Big Move

It began with an exodus. Star wideout Barion Brown elected to transfer to LSU for his senior season. His receiver running mate, Dane Key, left for Nebraska. In addition to the team’s two primary deep threats, Chip Trayanum, the promising back and former Buckeye who spent much of this year battling injuries, took his talents to Toledo.

In total, the Cats have lost nearly two dozen players to the transfer portal, and that’s not even counting the guys headed to the NFL draft (like Deone Walker and Maxwell Hairston,) as well as the graduates.

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To put it bluntly, next year’s team will share little more with the players from this past season than the blue and white on their jerseys. It’s a brutal overhaul, though one Coach Stoops and his staff are trying to get the jump on, to their credit.

Fresh Faces

Among a growing list of incoming transfers, a few names in particular stand out. Chief among them is Zach Calzada, a quarterback whose upcoming season at Kentucky will mark his fifth year playing football in his third different jersey.

The journeyman spent this past season at Incarnate Word, where he threw for 35 touchdowns and only nine interceptions. He completed 344 passes on the year, almost doubling that of his previous two. 

Before his two-year stint at IW, Calzada spent the beginnings of his college career at Texas A&M where, among a mixture of steadily improving statistics, he led the Aggies to an impressive home win over the still Saban-led Alabama Crimson Tide. Whether or not his recent success in the Southland Conference will translate back to the SEC is yet to be seen, but, at least on paper, this pickup makes sense for Kentucky following a year of unsparing QB play across the board.

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Along with Calzada, the Cats have hauled in J.J. Hester, a 6 ‘4 senior receiver from Oklahoma, Dante Dowdell, a power back coming off a 12-touchdown season for Nebraska, and Sam Greene, a defensive end transferring in from USC, among a handful of others. We’ll have a team. 

Though, even considering the roster turnover, that wasn’t the question. That still remains, “what will that team do?”

Potential vs. Progress

Kentucky is 18-25 in their last three seasons of football; a steady decline that has been made worse by the fact that the program’s outlier 10-3 finish in the 2021 season has since been disqualified by the NCAA due to a rule violation. All in all, the last half-decade has been, at best, barely getting by.

How long will this trend continue? The only thing we know for sure is that nobody is sure. Answering that question requires the analysis and knowing of many moving parts, not all of which are at widespread disposal.

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But this much is clear: the longtime variable nature of Kentucky Football came to a head this year, and the product we’re about to see is going to have to be radically different from the one we’ve just seen in order to right this ship.

For better or worse, the 2024-25 season will likely go down as the most important yet in the Stoops era at UK.

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