Kyra Elzy, Darian Kinnard, Keldon Johnson, new SEC football coaches and more notes
Random notes:
▪ You know you’re playing women’s basketball in the SEC when you play four straight games against opponents ranked in the AP Top 25. Ranked 10th in this week’s poll, Kentucky’s women defeated then-ranked No. 10 Arkansas last Thursday and No. 12 Mississippi State on Sunday. The Wildcats play at No. 8 Texas A&M on Thursday, then play host to No. 5 South Carolina on Sunday.
▪ Though there is plenty of season left, I don’t know how new UK women’s coach Kyra Elzy could have done a better job.
▪ The thinking was Kentucky would lose four-fifths of its Big Blue Wall. Now Darian Kinnard and Luke Fortner are both returning. That means new offensive line coach Eric Wolford will be afforded three returning starters.
▪ Kentucky hired Los Angeles Rams assistant quarterbacks coach Liam Coen as its new offensive coordinator. LSU is reportedly interested in Panthers quarterbacks coach Jake Peetz for its OC opening.
▪ Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports ranked the Gator Bowl No. 11 out of the 25 bowl games. Of Kentucky’s 23-21 win over North Carolina State, Fornelli said, “The Gator Bowl was what could be described as a good, bad game.”
▪ How I’d rank the first season for new SEC football coaches: 1. Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss; 2. Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri; 3. Sam Pittman, Arkansas; 4. Mike Leach, Mississippi State. Sizable gap between No. 3 and No. 4.
▪ Early rankings for new SEC football coaches for 2021: 1. Bryan Harsin, Auburn; 2. Clark Lea, Vanderbilt; 3. Shane Beamer, South Carolina.
▪ Interesting move by Lea, hiring Barton Simmons, director of scouting at 247Sports, as the Commodores’ GM for football. Lea and Simmons were high school teammates.
▪ The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman claims that Sayre football coach and former Marshall star Chad Pennington could be a candidate to be the new head coach at his alma mater.
▪ Auburn bought out its head football coach for $21 million. South Carolina bought out its head football coach for $15 million. Texas bought out its head football coach for $15 million, plus $9 million more for his assistants. But there’s not enough money for the players.
▪ Keldon Johnson’s current NBA numbers with the San Antonio Spurs: 16.2 points per game, 7.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists. Johnson is shooting 43 percent from three-point range. As a rookie last year, Johnson averaged 9.1 points and 3.4 rebounds.
▪ Count me among those not surprised by Immanuel Quickley’s early success with the NBA’s New York Knicks. One of the best basketball IQs in the Calipari era. He’s averaging 10.0 points and 1.3 assists.
▪ Former North Oldham star Justin Powell, averaging 11.7 points and 4.7 assists per game as a freshman at Auburn, is day-to-day after hitting his head on the floor during the Tigers’ 68-66 loss to Texas A&M on Saturday. Auburn is to play at Ole Miss on Wednesday.
▪ Tennessee has hired lawyers to help with the school’s internal investigation of the football program concerning possible NCAA violations. If Jeremy Pruitt is canned, might the Vols go after former Texas coach Tom Herman or former Auburn coach Gus Malzahn?
▪ If someone had told you that the NCAA would hold March Madness in just one state, would you have guessed North Carolina? Greensboro, North Carolina?
▪ That Kyler Murray-Tim Tebow commercial for Nissan where Murray anticipates what Tebow is asking before he asks it, is really good.
▪ And former Lafayette star Jedrick Wills is excellent in the Progressive Insurance commercial in which he is playing video games with Baker Mayfield at Mayfield’s house, aka the Cleveland Browns stadium.
▪ For we long-suffering Cleveland Browns fans, it makes perfect sense that Coach Kevin Stefanski will miss the franchise’s first playoff game since 2002 because of a positive COVID-19 test.
▪ Happy birthday to Lou Carnesseca, the former St. John’s basketball coach whose team, led by Chris Mullin and Walter Berry, beat Kentucky in Joe B. Hall’s final game as coach, on the way to the 1985 Final Four in Rupp Arena. Little Louie turned 96 on Tuesday.
This story was originally published January 5, 2021 at 4:10 PM.
