Kentucky Football Not Taking Music City Bowl for Granted

The Music City Bowl matchup has become a punchline for some college football fans. It’s also an after thought for some players. That’s not the case for the Wildcats that practiced today at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility.

“Everybody who’s in that room playing in that bowl game wants to be there,” senior captain Kenneth Horsey said Monday afternoon. “There’s no guys thinking about leaving, there’s no more worrying about the future, there’s no more looking about the past. Everybody in there right now is 100% committed to making sure that the University of Kentucky is ready to go and we can win this bowl game.”

The timing of the bowl game and the opponent are a sticking point for many across the BBN. The Music City Bowl falls at the same time as the annual basketball rivalry game against Louisville. It also is a matchup against the team Kentucky faced in the postseason last year, Iowa. Some may not like it, but Vince Marrow wanted to play in Nashville on New Year’s Eve.

“I remember when we first got here, we were just trying to get to a bowl. I don’t care if i was just down the street. But I think the Music City Bowl is a good bowl, I don’t know what people are talking about,” said the Big Dog.

“For me personally, our fans may get mad, but I hoped it was Nashville so a lot of our fans can drive and don’t have to spend all that money. You can go down and come back, it’s like another home game. I was really hoping it would be (Nashville). Iowa, they’re a Big Ten team, they’re one of the top teams and anytime you go up against Coach (Kirk) Ferentz and them it’s a great opportunity.”

It’s an opportunity Horsey once thought he may never have. In the spring of his senior year of high school, he had a medical emergency that forced him to undergo open-heart surgery. Fortunately, the procedure saved his life and still allowed him to play football. He’ll never take the game for granted again.

“I learned firsthand that every opportunity to step on the field is a privilege. It’s a gift. I experienced it firsthand how quickly that can be taken away from you…

“There’s a lot of taking this bowl game for granted, no matter if it’s that fans, the players, everybody’s gotta realize that all of this is a blessing. All of this is a gift. If somebody were to tell you that you could only go see one more Kentucky game in your life, would you care who we played against? No, because the true fans, the true Kentucky fans love to see us give our hearts and souls no matter what. We could be playing outside in the parking lot at 8 o’clock in the morning. It doesn’t matter. Every time we get to do this is a gift and we have to understand that.”

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Destin Wade Time in the Music City Bowl?

Vince Marrow was willing to share that he will be calling plays in the Music City Bowl. He was unwilling to say who will be the starting quarterback, but he did offer a few hints. Kentucky’s associate head coach said freshman Destin Wade performed well over the final month of season in practice.

“Destin really started coming on probably the last four weeks of the regular season,” Marrow said.

Marrow, Scott Woodward, Josh Estes-Waugh and the rest of UK’s offensive coaches will not completely rebuild Kentucky’s offense ahead of the Music City Bowl. However, Marrow did mention some specifics that could lead Kentucky fans to believe the legs of Destin Wade will be put to good use against Iowa.

“We add just a little bit to go to the quarterback’s strength,” said Marrow. “The greatest thing about our offense is we got Eddie Gran still who is in here, so you can always go in the archives and play that type of quarterback. But when I recruited Destin Wade, he’s a winner. That’s what people don’t realize. He’s a winner and won a very high league. He can make every throw, he’s athletic so we’re just going to put a little bit in. You put a little bit of the offense we had with the last coordinator and then you go with that.”