Kentucky football’s double dose of good news; Reds’ move raises questions, more notes
Random notes:
▪ Considering Mark Stoops has built a program based on being strong in the trenches, last week was a terrific week for Kentucky football. First, offensive tackle Landon Young announced he will return for his senior season. Then nose tackle Quinton Bohanna announced he will return for his senior season.
▪ Unfortunately, defensive line coach Derrick LeBlanc is not returning. LeBlanc accepted an offer to join new head coach Sam Pittman’s staff at Arkansas. Thought LeBlanc did a terrific job with UK’s defensive front in his two seasons in Lexington.
▪ The Cincinnati Reds’ signing of Japanese center fielder Shogo Akiyama ($21 million over three years) prompts the question of what becomes of Nick Senzel. A college third baseman at Tennessee, Senzel made the move to center field last year.
Eugenio Suarez at third keeps Senzel from moving back there. And Cincinnati signed Mike Moustakas to play second base, a position the Reds were grooming Senzel for before the move to the outfield.
Senzel has had a tough time staying healthy. He played in only 104 games last year, hitting .256 with 12 homers and 42 RBI. But he’s also only 24 years old. There’s been some talk of Senzel being part of a package that would acquire star shortstop Francisco Lindor from Cleveland. The odds of that seem low, however.
▪ The 31-year-old Akiyama will be the first Japanese-born player to appear in a game for the Reds, who have had 2,015 players wear a Cincinnati uniform in a major league game.
▪ More proof that college basketball is deteriorating: Purdue scored just 37 points in a 62-37 loss at Illinois on Sunday. The Boilermakers made only 15 of 60 shots for 25 percent.
▪ Will Indiana basketball ever return to its former glory? Archie Miller was supposed to be the answer, but the IU coach is just 46-33 overall and 18-23 in the Big Ten after Saturday’s 75-59 loss at Maryland.
▪ Former UK baseball coach John Cohen became athletic director at Mississippi State on Nov. 4, 2016. On November 28, 2017, he hired former Penn State offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead as the Bulldogs’ football coach. On Jan. 3, 2020, Cohen fired Moorhead after the coach went 14-12, was deemed not a good fit, and saw his starting quarterback injured by a teammate in a fight before the Music City Bowl, which MSU lost to Louisville.
▪ Mississippi State and Auburn are the only two SEC teams to lose bowl games. The league went 7-2 with LSU playing Clemson in the national title game next Monday. The ACC is 4-6. The Big Ten went 4-5. The Big 12 went 1-5. The Pac-12 went 4-3. I would say the pressure is on Cohen to get it right this time.
▪ It looks like SEC football will be moving from CBS to ABC/ESPN. I know it’s more money and it’s always about money but the league is losing something unique that was having its best game each week as the only college football game on CBS.
▪ Not sure what’s behind the sudden fashion trend of putting numbers on the side of helmets — a la Alabama — but I’m all for it. One of my favorite UK helmets was the early 1960s version which featured a Wildcat’s head on one side and the number on the other of a blue helmet with a single white stripe.
▪ Auburn basketball plays host to Vanderbilt on Wednesday night having won 25 of its last 26 games, dating back to last season. The one loss came by one point to eventual national champ Virginia in the Final Four. Ranked No. 5 in Monday’s AP college basketball poll, Bruce Pearl’s team is off to a 13-0 start this season.
▪ RIP, Sam Wyche, who died last week at age 74. I covered a lot of Bengals game when Wyche was Cincinnati’s head coach from 1984 through 1991. Good or bad, win or lose, Wyche always made things entertaining. He wasn’t afraid to think outside the box.
