First Down Kentucky: Wednesday Night Football Notes

Hello friends. How are you? I hope your week has been filled with excitement. The city of Louisville has been buzzing ahead of the PGA Championship. I’ve had the pleasure of doing radio shows out there all week and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever covered. The scale of the event at Valhalla is enormous and a little bit overwhelming, but nonetheless exciting. It’s taken up a lot of oxygen, but there are still a few newsworthy events happening around the world of college football.

Kentucky made headlines with two games announced to start the conference schedule on the new SEC on ABC. It will take some time to adjust to SEC football without CBS, but starting the season with a pair of games on broadcast television is a welcome change of pace. Here’s what else is happening around the world of football.

Kentucky has ELITE Linebacker Play

Earlier today Mark Stoops was ranked by CBS as one of the top 25 coaches in Power Five football. On3 is diving even deeper.

During the offseason, Jesse Simonton ranks each position group in college football. Despite Deone Walker‘s presence, Kentucky did not make the cut on the defensive line. However, Kentucky does have the eighth-ranked group of linebackers in the country.

Although the Wildcats must replace Trevin Wallace, UK still boasts one of the best linebacker units in the SEC with a pair of super-seniors in D’Eryk Jackson and Daveren Rayner coupled with the addition of All-SEC transfer Jamon Dumas-Johnson from Georgia. 

Jackson led the ‘Cats in tackles (89) in 2023, while Dumas-Johnson was an All-American in 2022 and is among the most proven linebackers in the country after starting multiple years on a championship defense. Kentucky is also excited about the emergence of redshirt freshman Grant Godfrey, who made the move to off-ball linebacker this spring and will see snaps in a backup role. The fact that JJ Weaver will oftentimes leave his edge spot and drop into coverage as a traditional SAM backer makes UK’s unit all the more formidable.

Jesse Simonton, On3

Kentucky Cornerback Lands in the Big 12

Almost every departing Kentucky Wildcat has a new college football home. Jordan Robinson started his career at the Division II level, then spent two years at Kentucky. After failing to consistently crack the rotation, the 6-foot-4 cornerback hit the transfer portal and landed at Cincinnati. He’ll have two years to play for Scott Satterfield’s program.

Speaking of Cincinnati, a Queen City native is hanging up the pads. Former four-star running back JuTahn McClain spent four years with the Wildcats. After going through Senior Day ceremonies, he hit the transfer portal but did not resurface anywhere. He recently shared on Instagram that he’s pursuing professional opportunities as an entrepreneur in the insurance game.

Of the eight players who entered the transfer portal following spring practice, Raymond Cottrell is the only one still searching for a college football home. He visited Arizona State a few weeks ago but has not announced a commitment.

Dabo Swinney is still Full of It

Four schools did not accept any new players from the transfer portal. Three were military schools and the other was Clemson. Dabo Swinney hears the criticism from some and he feels it’s unwarranted. In fact, he thinks they deserve a trophy for being the kings of the transfer portal. Swinney successfully found the hill he’s willing to die on.

Dabo Swinney asked on ACC PM about Clemson being the only non-service academy to take zero transfers for 2024. Says it wasn’t intentional, they looked at a few guys. Also: “Every player is technically a transfer. We just signed a whole class of guys transferring from high school” pic.twitter.com/DeDbSDUBcC

— Chapel Fowler (@chapelfowler) May 15, 2024

Florida gets a Big Recruiting Win

Billy Napier has struggled to pile up wins, but the Florida coach has done what his predecessor failed to do. The 2024 recruiting class headlined by DJ Lagway finished in the Top 10. Now the Gators have one of the best players in the transfer portal coming to Gainesville.

Cormani McClain was a Top 15 player and the No. 1 cornerback in the 2023 recruiting class. After one year in Boulder, he’s returning to his home state. He has the chops to be an All-SEC cornerback this fall at Florida.

Kentucky has won three straight games over Florida. Facing a difficult road schedule this fall, winning in The Swamp might be the best chance for the Cats to win away from Kroger Field, a task that’s much easier said than done.

Watching NFL Football is getting Expensive

After successfully stealing some of the NBA spotlight on Christmas Day, the NFL has decided to make it a new tradition. Even though Christmas falls on a Wednesday, the league announced two games will be broadcast on Netflix, and they plan to play on the holiday over the next two seasons. The Steelers and Chiefs kick things off this year at 1 pm EST, followed by the Ravens vs. Texans at 4:30 pm EST.

Plainly put, this is getting ridiculous. Streamers are overtaking the TV landscape. In addition to the games on traditional broadcasts, the NFL will be played on Netflix, Amazon Prime, ESPN+, and Peacock. All for what? Streaming was initially a great alternative to cable. Now you need four streaming services to watch the NFL. What if instead of buying four or five different streaming packages, they were all included with one purchase? Cable had it figured out.