My friend Darren Headrick is one of the finest announcers in the SEC, and he gives us some outstanding insight for Saturday. Among his many duties, Darren is the play-by-play voice of Kentucky’s baseball and women’s basketball teams.
What do you like about the Kentucky team?
Mark Stoops heavily invested in his offensive line over the off-season, returning to his roots: strong, physical play. The Cats have a young, dynamic quarterback in Cutter Boley, who loves to push the ball up the field to his wide receivers, and a 1-2 punch at running back with transfers Dante Dowdell and Seth McGowan. Defensively, the Cats are tough once again, beginning with a physical front. Brad White continues to show he’s one of the best defensive coordinators in the game, letting loose another hungry group on the field.
The success of Mark Stoops, can you talk about the stability and a lot of really good years during his tenure?
Coach Stoops is the winningest skipper in UK football history for a reason. To date, he has guided the Wildcats to two of the program’s four 10-win seasons and eight straight bowl appearances. He snapped Florida’s 31-game winning streak in the series and delivered the Cats’ first win against Tennessee in Knoxville since 1984. He has also shown a track record of getting players to the NFL, including the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Josh Hines-Allen and the Buffalo Bills’ Ray Davis, Deone Walker and Maxwell Hairston.
What is your take on Georgia?
Kirby Smart has done an incredible job molding the Bulldogs into a national powerhouse. You can always expect Smart’s teams to play sound, smothering defense and display an overpowering offense.
What does Kentucky need to do to win?
The crowd and atmosphere is always tough at Sanford Stadium. Getting an early lead would be huge for the Cats. Finding a way to establish the run game will be paramount against a defense that doesn’t yield much on the ground. As always, win the turnover battle and get the game to the fourth quarter.
What would a win in Athens mean for the Kentucky fan base?
The Cats haven’t won in Athens since 2009 and, despite all of the checkmarks, a win over Georgia is the one thing eluding Coach Stoops and Co. A win in Athens would be massive and another major step for the Kentucky program.
Alright, how are the ‘Cats going to be in hoops?
Head coach Mark Pope has assembled another outstanding team for the upcoming season, bringing in dynamic freshmen like Malachi Moreno and Jasper Johnson, and a super-talented portal class. Expect point guard Jaland Lowe to lead an offense that features returning star Otega Oweh, Florida transfer Denzel Aberdeen and Alabama transfer Mouhamed Dioubate. Coming off a Sweet 16 in Coach Pope’s first season, the Wildcats are deep enough to compete with anyone and eyeing a deep run in March.
Assistant Commissioner Headrick, draw up the SEC 9-game schedules, and try hoops and baseball too!
I believe the SEC did about as good a job one can when creating a new 9-game format for football. They were able to keep long-standing rivalries intact, such as Oklahoma-Missouri, Tennessee-Alabama, Georgia-Florida, LSU-Ole Miss and so on. Hopefully, the new rotation of games, coupled with three permanent rivalries, will allow each school to face the entire league over the course of two seasons. I’m fine with the hoops schedule except the longest road trips should be on the weekends instead of weeknights! (But that’s just one announcer’s request.) Baseball, you’ve got 10 series and 15 different opponents. The current format seems the best way, but it’s going to be strange losing some of those yearly rivalries!