Notes: UK football shows up on preseason All-SEC; Gilgeous-Alexander is a ‘hooper’
Some random notes for a Thursday morning:
Who says Kentucky football gets no respect?
The Cats placed not one, not two, but three players on AL.com’s preseason All-SEC offensive team, as chosen by the league’s football information directors.
Offensive linemen Drake Jackson and Darrian Kinnard, along with punter Max Duffy were voted onto the first team. (The team lists the punter with the offense and place-kicker with the defense.)
Only Alabama, with four, had more selections on the first-team offense. Florida’s Kyle Trask was first-team quarterback. Kellen Mond of Texas A&M was the second-team choice.
UK defensive lineman Josh Paschal is a second-team pick on the AL.com preseason All-SEC defensive team, as selected by the league’s football information directors.
Your daily coronavirus freak-out
Our own Jerry Tipton — last seen in a near-starring role on the Eddie Sutton documentary on Monday — reports that the SEC is discussing the possibility of a shorter basketball season.
“I think everything’s on the table,” said Mike Tranghese, the former Big East commissioner who is now a consultant to the SEC. “I think everything has to be on the table. You know, the problem is nobody knows where we’re headed.”
Former UK and U of L coach Rick Pitino tweeted Wednesday that the NCAA should push the college hoops tip-off back to January.
Various outlets reported Tuesday night that we topped 50,000 new coronavirus cases for the first time on Tuesday.
In other COVID-19 news:
▪ I did a blog post about how there appears to be more chatter about the possibility of college football being moved back to spring. Penn State Athletic Director Sandy Barbour said that “would be a last resort” because of the effect it would have on a 2021 fall season.
▪ Brandon Marcello of 247Sports reports that there have been no formal discussions among SEC leaders about a spring season.
▪ John Calipari says wear a mask.
▪ The NFL is reportedly dropping weeks 1 and 4 of its preseason schedule. The league had already canceled the Hall of Fame Game scheduled for Aug. 6. The thinking is that without the usual summer mini-camps and OTAs, players will need more ramp-up time before the start of the season. The preseason schedule will be altered so each team gets one home game.
▪ Former UK, Bowling Green and Spectrum television sports journalist Lyndsey Gough, now with WTOC in Savannah, Ga., announced on Twitter that she has tested positive for COVID-19.
▪ Dr. Stephen Stack has a message:
Some women’s and men’s college basketball notes
The favorite for the 2021 Kentucky Miss Basketball has committed to Tennessee. A 5-foot-6 guard at Franklin County, Brooklynn Miles has cast her lot with the Lady Vols. Second-year UT coach Kellie Harper now has four Top 100 commitments in her 2021 class.
▪ Ben Roberts has updated his popular Next Cats recruiting page.
“To keep track of UK’s ever-changing list of prospective recruits, the Herald-Leader’s Next Cats website has been updated with a master page dedicated to the players known to be on Kentucky’s radar. The new page, which launched this week, contains bio information, the latest rankings, video highlights, and links to expert predictions for more than two dozen UK targets.”
▪ Kansas’ contentious case with the NCAA has been handed over to the Independent Accountability Resolution Process. No surprise there as IARP appears to be the landing spot of choice for programs who have crossed swords with the infractions force in Indianapolis. Memphis and North Carolina State have both had their cases referred, as well.
▪ Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman has hired UC Riverside coach David Patrick as an associate head coach. The 44-year-old Patrick was 27-38 at Riverside. He and Musselman were assistant coaches at LSU in 2015.
News from the NBA bubble
Former Wildcat Shai Gilgeous-Alexander met with the media via video conference Wednesday to talk about the Oklahoma City Thunder’s upcoming return to the court in the NBA. Our old friend Joe Mussato of the Oklahoman reports:
“Honestly, I just wanted to get back to playing basketball,” Gilgeous-Alexander said in a video conference. “For me, there was no second guess at all. I’m a hooper. I love to hoop. Not to say that the guys that don’t want to play aren’t, but for me I just knew I wanted to play basketball as soon as possible.”
You have to love it: “I’m a hooper.”
Some college football notes
If you missed it, Eastern Kentucky has moved its football opener against Western Carolina to Sept. 3 to avoid the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5. It will be the debut of new EKU head coach Walt Wells, who was a quality control assistant under Mark Stoops at UK the last two seasons.
EKU’s 2020 football schedule
- S3 Western Carolina
- S12 @West Virginia
- S19 @Youngstown State
- S26 @Tennessee Tech
- O3 UT-Martin
- O10 @Austin Peay
- O17 Eastern Illinois
- O31 @Jacksonville State
- N7 Murray State
- N14 @SE Missouri
- N21 Tennessee State
In other college football news:
▪ SEC boss Greg Sankey testified before a U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday as part of college athletics’ effort to get the government to do what it won’t do — deal with the Name, Image, Likeness state law requirements.
▪ If you missed it, the SEC Network’s Laura Rutledge is hopping over to ESPN to lead a new “NFL Live” lineup. She’ll be joined by Dan Orlovsky, Keyshawn Johnson and Mina Kimes. Rutledge will continue to be the host of the “SEC Nation” Saturday pregame show.
▪ The wife of former Notre Dame and South Carolina coach Lou Holtz has passed away from lung cancer.
▪ Alabama picked up a commitment from five-star defensive end Dallas Turner out of Florida. ESPN has Turner ranked as the 44th-best prospect for 2021.
“Alabama has now added five prospects since May 15. Earlier this spring, the recruiting class was rated outside of the top 50 nationally in the 247Sports Composite. The Crimson Tide was in the top 20 before Turner’s commitment, but is now ranked 12th.”
▪ Mack Brown continues to get it done on the recruiting trail during his second stint at North Carolina. Tony Grimes, ranked as the nation’s sixth-best 2021 prospect by ESPN, has committed to the Tar Heels. Grimes, who is from Virginia Beach, turned down heavy-hitters Georgia and Ohio State for a trip to Chapel Hill. Even before the Grimes commitment, North Carolina was ranked No. 4 in 2021 recruiting.
▪ Michael Trigg, ranked as the nation’s No. 9 tight end by Rivals, has an offer not only from Auburn football, but Auburn basketball, as well. “I for sure want to play both,” Trigg said.
▪ Utah is keeping defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley, despite reports Scalley used racist language in a 2013 text message. After an investigation, Scalley was allowed to stay on staff, but at a price. Or a reduced price. The school rescinded his new $1.1 million salary and returned him to $525,000. Plus, the school took back its offer for Scalley to be the head coach in waiting under Kyle Whittingham.
By the way, Utah finished second nationally in total defense last year.
Interesting note from the Deseret News: One-third of Utah’s roster is African-American while one-third is Polynesian.
This final note is on fire
Former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville is in a runoff with Jeff Sessions for the Republican nomination to run against Doug Jones for a U.S. Senate seat. Not sure if Tuberville is a hot candidate, but his bus heated up last night.
This story was originally published July 2, 2020 at 7:41 AM.
