Landon Young honors Schlarman’s memory after Kentucky win. ‘Somebody that truly loved us.’
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Game day: Kentucky 38, Vanderbilt 35
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-Vanderbilt football game at Kroger Field in Lexington, Ky.
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Landon Young started Saturday’s game against Vanderbilt by walking onto the field wearing No. 65 in honor of UK offensive line coach John Schlarman, who passed away Thursday at age 45.
Following Kentucky’s 38-35 victory over the Commodores — with Young wearing Schlarman’s old number from his own UK playing days the entire game — the senior offensive lineman from Lexington joined Dick Gabriel and Jeff Piecoro on the UK Radio Network postgame show to talk about the Wildcats’ win in honor of their beloved coach.
Here’s what Young had to say on the show, starting with his comments on being able to wear No. 65 in honor of Schlarman, who battled cancer over the past two years:
Landon Young: “That was a huge blessing for me — and a huge opportunity — to be able to recognize somebody that truly loved us and loved the game, bigger than anything. Of course, he loved his faith and he loved his family the most, but — right after that — it’s every single one of us. And it was absolutely a blessing to be able to wear that number out there today.”
On how he thought the offensive line responded Saturday, which began with touchdowns on each of Kentucky’s first three drives: “I think that in the first half we came out and we were just on fire. We wanted to play for John. We wanted to be able to go out every single drive and score, because I know that’s what he wants. I know he’s looking down on us and coaching us up from heaven, saying, ‘You need to do this. You need to switch this.’ After we got back out of the half, of course there were a couple drives there that did not turn out how we wanted to be. But I think we were able to respond to adversity well. We were able to still be dominant on the offensive line. I think we were making big holes, driving guys downfield, and doing what Coach would love at the end of the day.”
On getting to 300 rushing yards being a major, weekly goal for the UK offensive line, and getting to 308 yards Saturday: “Yes, sir. We have a group of running backs that loves to run behind us. And it feeds us when they’re in there just (playing) hard-nosed football, running guys over and getting that extra couple yards after contact. It just fuels us even more. We want to go out and, of course, as offensive linemen, do our job at an elite level every single play. But when those guys are coming through there and they’re just crashing helmets and getting those extra yards that we need — it just fuels us even more. So we had a really good offense. We have really good guys running the ball behind us. And that’s just part of the game. That’s what we love. That ground and pound game.”
On some of the younger offensive linemen playing well as UK had to deal with injuries heading into this game: “Absolutely. That’s what Coach Schlarman always preached to us: ‘When somebody goes down, your number is gonna get called eventually. And you have to be ready to get your number called.’ Especially Quintin Wilson — to be able to come in at that left guard, where he’s played center all throughout the time he’s been at UK. And to come in and be able to play such good ball at left guard was really, really awesome to see. And it gives me a lot of hope for these next years coming up — and even the rest of this season — with what these young guys are able to do when they’re getting their numbers called and getting put in the game.”
On Terry Wilson’s play — 13-for-15 passing with another 83 rushing yards and three total touchdowns — after being sidelined with an injury: “Absolutely. Especially after missing a game and being pulled out of one game and getting some different options on the field. That man has been dedicated to really getting out there, proving his stuff, and winning football games again. And not that he wasn’t that before, but I just saw the determination in his eyes. And I saw the heart for that. And I saw that he wanted to play for everybody else. Everyone wanted to play as a unit today. We had something that weighed heavy on our hearts and we were all down about, but the only way to really recover back from that is to have people with like minds around you — be able to use that teammate to sort of boost you back up.”
On an extremely emotional week coming up with memorial services set for Coach Schlarman, followed by a game against Alabama next Saturday: “We definitely have to be able to take the time that we need to go to the services and be able to grieve and be able to get that past, but at the same time we have to remember what Coach Schlarman would want. We have to know that Coach Schlarman — more than anything — would want us to go out on that field and play football and do it at the best of our abilities. He wouldn’t want us to feel sorry for ourselves. For goodness sakes, the man never felt sorry for himself either, and he was battling cancer for two years. Whether he just got out of surgery or he was taking chemo treatments, putting poison into his body — he was out there every single day because of the team. Because he wanted to make us better men. Because he wanted to make us better football players. And that he wanted what was best for the team, and he knew that him being there was what was best for it.
“But we’re just gonna have to do it. We’re gonna have to take that time, and then we’re gonna have to refocus and use it as motivation. It’s something bigger than football every single week, and this is just proof that you can’t take for granted of the situations that you have. You can’t take for granted of the opportunities you have. You have to take every single one of those and run with them like it’s your last. Because you never know when your last one is.”
This story was originally published November 14, 2020 at 4:47 PM.
