First Down Kentucky: Brock Vandagriff for Heisman?
The conclusion of the Kentucky Derby means that it’s time to shift gears into Summer Radio™. What exactly does that mean? Hopping on a hype train for months of college football hot takes.
Hope springs eternal during the dog days of summer. Optimism wins the day, as it should. If you can’t spend an offseason compounding excitement for your favorite team, why even be a fan? Sometimes this leads to some radical optimism and that hyperbole is perfectly acceptable. On the first day of Summer Radio™, we’re receiving some radical optimism from a surprising source.
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach is writing spring practice overreactions for every team in his way-too-early Top 25 and the piece he penned for Kentucky is a doozy: “New quarterback Brock Vandagriff is a sleeper Heisman Trophy candidate.“
“Vandagriff, who transferred to Kentucky from Georgia, is going to be an interesting case study this season. Was he simply blocked by Stetson Bennett and Carson Beck at Georgia? Or was he not good enough to lead an SEC offense? We’re about to find out at Kentucky, where the Wildcats have turned over their offense to the former four-star recruit,” writes Schlabach.
“Vandagriff might not have the pocket presence of former starter Devin Leary, but he’s going to be a lot more mobile than his predecessor. It’s hard to take too much from Kentucky’s spring game — nine defensive linemen were out with injuries — but it was evident that quarterback draws will become a staple of the offense. Vandagriff threw two touchdowns and limited his incompletions. So far, so good.”
It’s hard to argue with the ESPN author. This look screams Heisman.
There’s a New Bowl on the Block
The Arizona Bowl has always been pushing the envelope in postseason football. For the last two years, the game was broadcast by Barstool Sports. When that agreement ended, they took some inspiration from the “Rob Gronkowski presents the LA Bowl.” Next year teams from the MAC and the Mountain West will compete in the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice.
“We are a little different from all the other bowls. We’re not afraid to take risks and do things outside of the box,” Kym Adair, the executive director of the Arizona Bowl, tells Yahoo Sports. “An alcohol brand has always been off the table for us until recently. Everybody in the stadium is drinking a beer or cocktail. It’s time for the industry to evolve.”
Also included in the article from Ross Dellenger: “Fans should expect to see a halftime or postgame concert and, perhaps, an Impala roll across the field at some point.”
Kentucky Football + Kentucky Derby
Mark Stoops’ Kentucky football program is a friend of the horse racing industry. Keeneland has been a spring recruiting hub for the Cats, Will Levis once brokered a deal with Claiborne Farm’s stallion War of Will, and the coaches often rub elbows with the biggest players in the horse industry. That was evident this week when just a few days after losing by a nose in the Kentucky Derby, Sierra Leone’s connections were hanging out with Vince Marrow.
Dru Phillips: Steal of the NFL Draft?
The NFL Draft feels like it happened 100 years ago. Nope, that was just 10 days ago. Many publications are still rolling out some reflective pieces. Tre Sikkema of PFF shared his best pick for each round of the NFL Draft and he believes Dru Phillips was the top pick of the third round.
“The Giants drafted Deonte Banks in the first round of last year’s draft and now add more youth to that group early in the third round this year,” writes Sikkema. “His career-best 23 defensive stops led all SEC cornerbacks in 2023, and his 72.9 PFF coverage grade was also the best mark of his career.”
On This Day in 1998
Not a Baseball Guy by any means, but that was a little different in 1998. In the midst of my middle league heyday, we were on the verge of watching a historic home run chase between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire. It was all kicked off by a pitcher. On May 6, 1998, rookie righthander Kerry Wood struck out a Major League-tying 20 batters for the Chicago Cubs. Televised after school on WGN, the performance by Woodzilla was unforgettable and a bit of a one-hit-wonder, thanks Tommy John surgery the following season. Wood had a few more decent seasons, but nothing compares to what happened on this date 26 years ago.
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