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ICYMI: 10 of our most-read Herald-Leader sports stories from last week

Stories by Lexington Herald-Leader journalists, with AI summarization

Here are some of our most-read sports stories from Aug. 18-25. They focus on the start of the UK football, high school football and high school volleyball seasons, along with offseason coverage of UK men's basketball.

Columnist Mark Story offers his game-by-game predictions for Kentucky football.

Jared Peck and Josh Moore covered the first weekend of high school football while Peck also previewed high school volleyball.

And beat writers Jon Hale and Ben Roberts covered the UK football and basketball teams, respectively.

Catch up on last week's top stories below.

Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Stoops on the sidelines during a football game against South Carolina Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024 at Kroger Field in Lexington, Ky. By Brian Simms

NO. 1: PREDICTING EVERY GAME OF UK FOOTBALL’S 2025 SEASON. CAN THE CATS BOUNCE BACK?

With a whopping 50 newcomers on the 2025 Kentucky football roster, I am less certain of what to expect of Mark Stoops’ Wildcats in the coming season than ever before. | Published August 22, 2025 | Read Full Story by Mark Story

Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Stoops during a football game against Louisville, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024 at Kroger Field in Lexington, Ky. By Brian Simms

NO. 2: WHAT IS THE CONTRACT INFO FOR EACH KENTUCKY COACH ENTERING THE 2025-26 SEASON?

Another athletics season for the University of Kentucky is underway. | Published August 18, 2025 | Read Full Story by Cameron Drummond

Otega Oweh is viewed as a legitimate national player of the year candidate going into the 2025-26 season. By Ryan C. Hermens

NO. 3: WHAT DOES VEGAS SAY ABOUT THE UK BASKETBALL TEAM’S OUTLOOK FOR NEXT SEASON?

The start of college basketball season is still nearly three months away, but the betting lines have been open all summer. | Published August 19, 2025 | Read Full Story by Ben Roberts

Lexington Catholic's Ella Blackburn (11), center, reacts with her teammates after winning a point in their 11th Region volleyball tournament championship game against Paul Laurence Dunbar at Madison Central High School in Richmond, Ky., on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. By Ryan C. Hermens

NO. 4: GIRLS VOLLEYBALL GUIDE: LEXINGTON’S TOP TEAMS AND PLAYERS FOR THE 2025 SEASON

Lexington Catholic shook up the Central Kentucky volleyball scene with its first 11th Region Tournament championship win in school history last season. | Published August 18, 2025 | Read Full Story by Jared Peck

Incoming Kentucky men’s basketball forward Andrija Jelavic previously played for Croatia in international youth basketball competitions, as well as for Mega MIS in Europe. By Dragana Stjepanovic

NO. 5: THE FINAL MEMBER OF THE 2025-26 KENTUCKY BASKETBALL TEAM IS NOW IN LEXINGTON

Mark Pope’s second Kentucky basketball team is finally complete. | Published August 18, 2025 | Read Full Story by Cameron Drummond

Sayres Gage Pennington deflected a pass intended for Kentucky Country Day Miles Bahe (8) as Kentucky Country Day defeated host Sayre 31-28 on Friday Aug. 22, 2025 in Lexington, Ky. By Mark Mahan

NO. 6: AFTER A ROUGH START, SAYRE FOOTBALL SHOWS IT CAN STILL HANG WITH THE BEST

If a typical bystander judged Sayre’s 2025 football team by the first two snaps of its campaign, they’d be forgiven for crying out, “Oh, no.” The first snap sailed backward. | Published August 23, 2025 | Read Full Story by Jared Peck

UK WR Cole Lanter (#86) during the media day morning session at Kroger Field on August 1, 2025, in Lexington, Ky. By Tasha Poullard

NO. 7: AFTER WORKING CONSTRUCTION AT KROGER FIELD, COLE LANTER IS BACK WITH UK FOOTBALL

The day before wide receiver Cole Lanter suffered a season-ending leg injury during Kentucky football’s Fan Day practice, the former Boyle County High School star’s spirits were high. | Published August 18, 2025 | Read Full Story by Jon Hale

Jaland Lowe talks with reporters during his first interview session as a Kentucky Wildcat in July. By Tasha Poullard

NO. 8: THE BEST BACKCOURT IN ALL OF COLLEGE BASKETBALL? NOT SO FAST, KENTUCKY

Earlier this summer, Jaland Lowe was listening intently to a question related to Kentucky’s backcourt for the 2025-26 season. | Published August 21, 2025 | Read Full Story by Ben Roberts

UK QB Cutter Boley (#8) looks for the pass downfield during the Kentucky Football Fan Day open practice at the Joe Craft Football Training Center on August 2, 2025, in Lexington, Ky. By Tasha Poullard

NO. 9: WHAT TO MAKE OF MARK STOOPS’ LATEST COMMENTS ON QB COMPETITION, CUTTER BOLEY

Mark Stoops apparently wants you to know he has not named a starting quarterback for the 2025 season. | Published August 20, 2025 | Read Full Story by Jon Hale

Highlands tight end Tayden Lorenzen celebrated scoring the game-winning 2-point conversion in the Bluebirds’ 21-20 victory over Frederick Douglass at Highlands High School in Fort Thomas, Ky. on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. By Charles Bolton

NO. 10: TAYDEN LORENZEN SEALS HIGHLANDS’ DOUBLE-OT THRILLER AGAINST FREDERICK DOUGLASS

Highlands tight end Tayden Lorenzen capped an epic contest against Frederick Douglass on Friday night in Fort Thomas with a pair of touchdown runs and 2-point conversion in double overtime to help the Bluebirds take down Lexington’s Broncos 21-20. | Published August 23, 2025 | Read Full Story by Jared Peck

The summary above was drafted with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists in our News division. All stories listed were reported, written and edited by McClatchy journalists.