What happens if Mark Stoops ends up in a COVID quarantine? Coach says UK has a plan.
Quick hitters from up Schitt’s Creek:
21. Mike Norvell. The Florida State football coach announced Saturday he had tested positive for the coronavirus. Norvell said he is asymptomatic but is nevertheless self-isolating from his team.
20. FSU’s Plan B. With Norvell sidelined, deputy head coach Chris Thomsen will coach the Seminoles in Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. game versus archrival Miami.
19. Mark Stoops. With No. 23 Kentucky set to open its pandemic-delayed football season Saturday at No. 8 Auburn, I asked the UK head coach at his virtual news conference Monday if the Cats brain trust has a contingency plan in place should Stoops ever have to quarantine this season.
18. The plan. Stoops said he would rely on assistant head coaches Eddie Gran and Vince Marrow to step in. “Certainly (defensive coordinator) Brad White is ready to be a head coach,” Stoops said. “But Eddie Gran and Vince Marrow have the titles (of assistant head coach). So we have some plans in place to make sure that we operate (and) stay as smooth and on schedule as we can.”
.JPG "VincePractice (1).JPG")
17. John Schlarman. In recent years, the Kentucky offensive line coach has battled cholangiocarcinoma. According to the Mayo Clinic website, it is a form of cancer that typically starts in the bile ducts in or around the liver.
16. Special precautions required? I asked Stoops if there would be unique protocols designed to protect Schlarman when UK travels to away games during the coronavirus pandemic.
15. A pre-travel test. Before anyone is allowed to join Kentucky’s travel party Friday, Stoops said there will be rapid tests administered for COVID-19. “Everybody that is in contact with Coach Schlarman or any of us will have (a negative) test,” he said. “So we will be as safe as we possibly can on that.”
14. The Kentucky depth chart. In-state freshmen carved out a significant presence on UK’s game-one depth chart.
13. Two true freshmen. The only first-year players to make the UK two-deep are former Lexington Catholic star Beau Allen at quarterback and ex-Bowling Green defensive back Vito Tisdale at nickelback. Both are second team.
12. Three redshirt freshmen. Three more products of Kentucky high school football are among the six second-year frosh who made UK’s depth chart: West Jessamine’s Eli Cox at left guard, Moore’s JJ Weaver at rush end/outside linebacker and Ballard’s Jared Casey at weakside linebacker are also all listed as second team.
11. One high-profile transfer. Ballyhooed LSU transfer Kelvin Joseph — ranked as the No. 55 prospect in the country in the 2018 Rivals 100 — is slated to make his Kentucky debut at Auburn as a starter at cornerback.
10. Davonte Robinson. After the ex-Henry Clay star missed all of Kentucky’s 2019 season after suffering a quadriceps injury, it was nice to see the senior has fought his way back to No. 1 on the UK depth chart at nickelback.
9. Eli Brown. A valuable contributor at Kentucky in 2016 and 2017, the former Warren East High School star transferred to his hometown school, Western Kentucky, before the 2018 season for family reasons.
8. Back from injury. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound linebacker missed all of last year with a foot injury. Through two games in 2020, a now-healthy Brown has 11 tackles with one tackle for loss for the Hilltoppers.
7. Thank you, Eddie Gran? Before Miami played Louisville on Saturday night, did new Hurricanes offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee go to school on the game video from Kentucky’s 45-13 strafing of U of L in 2019?
6. Deja vu. When Hurricanes’ running back Cam’Ron Harris ripped off a 75-yard touchdown run in Miami’s 47-34 victory over The Ville, the play might have looked familiar to UK backers.
5. Seen it before. If you remember the formation Gran used to spring UK’s Kavosiey Smoke for a 70-yard run last season vs. U of L, it looked like a road map for what Miami did to set up Harris’ romp.
The Hurricanes sent all their receivers to the wide side of the field, then ran Harris to the short side — which was again unoccupied by Louisville defenders.
4. Louisville defense. When opponents can continually use formations to get a defense out of balance, you start to wonder if there is a systemic flaw in U of L’s scheme.
3. Malik Cunningham. Louisville’s starting quarterback against Kentucky in 2018’s 56-10 Cats beat down of the Cards went by his middle name.
2. Micale Cunningham. The same player started for U of L at QB vs. UK last year, but was using his first name.
1. Malik Cunningham. The talented U of L quarterback told the television crew broadcasting Saturday night’s Louisville-Miami game on ABC that he is again going by Malik.
Literally, a “player to be named later.”
