KSR Today: Camps, Workouts, and Radio Debuts

There is a calmness around KSR HQ today with the radio show on a five-day vacation and little to no action coming through the UK Athletics newswire. On the show, Peter Burns will make his KSR debut as the first of five fill-in hosts this week while Matt Jones is away. Be sure to show him lots of love for voluntarily filling the seat. Give him a call if you’re able.

Over on campus, John Calipari’s new basketball team is still getting settled in from last week’s move-in, while Kentucky’s football program hits an important date on its calendar. Things are pretty quiet everywhere in between, but we still have matters to address, topics to discuss, and other random things I used to fill space on this new Monday edition of KSR Today.

Kentucky Football begins summer workouts

Over at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility beside Kroger Field, Kentucky Football begins its summer grind today with the first day of summer workouts on campus. Players are not allowed any live-action coaching from Mark Stoops and his coaching staff, but they can take instruction from the strength and conditioning coaches as part of their offseason workout program, in addition to actual football so long as coaches are not present. It’s an NCAA rule.

Though limited, summer workouts are especially vital to a quarterback and his pass-catchers. For Will Levis, the coming weeks are an opportunity to build working relationships through passing drills with his wide receiver targets, both new and old. Tayvion Robinson and Dane Key are two of the newcomers to a Kentucky summer; Dekel Crowdus, Chauncey Magwood, and Keaton Upshaw are some of the returners who need to get further acquainted with QB1.

Bulking up the Big Blue Wall and the younger talent through Kentucky’s depth chart is extremely important during summer workouts too. It all begins today.

Sunday Night Lights spotlighted the future

Today is Day 1 of summer workouts for Kentucky Football but yesterday was a busy recruiting day on campus. On Sunday, Kentucky held its Sunday Night Lights camp for high school football players seeking instruction from Kentucky’s coaching staff, in addition to a facility tour and conversations about the recruiting process.

With hundreds of participants, it’s a big day for the Kentucky coaches to identify prospective student-athletes and to pull back the curtain on the program. KSR’s own Nick Rouch attended (he did not participate, although he would have if given an invite or a fake birth certificate) and he wrote a thorough recap of Sunday Night Lights observations.

You have my attention with Moe Williams’ kid.

Sunday Night Lights in photos

Want to see the sights from Kentucky’s Sunday night camp? KSR’s Sunday Night Lights photo gallery is up on Facebook with images from Aaron Perkins.

While you’re at it, follow Kentucky Sports Radio on Facebook if you’re not already. And while you’re at that, follow the KSR YouTube page. Let’s just promote everything. KSR Instagram. You on TikTok? I got one of those.

Pangos All-American Camp continues in Las Vegas

More summer camp!

Out in Las Vegas, many of our nation’s top high school basketball prospects are competing in the 2022 edition of the Pangos All-American Camp. A unique camp because it puts summer Nike/Adidas/Under Armour affiliations aside, Pangos welcomes top-rated prospects of all shoe varieties for three days of basketball at Bishop Gorman High School.

Kentucky targets in attendance include Robert Dillingam, Justin Edwards, JJ Taylor, and Andrej Stojakovic, to name a few. Jack Pilgrim wrote a full Pangos primer for Kentucky observers.

Ugonna commit?

From out in Vegas, class of 2023 big man Ugonna Kingsley told On3, “I’ve been wanting to go to Kentucky all my life,” and I couldn’t resist the easy headline.

A little about Kingsley: he’s from the Putnam Science Academy pipeline that produced Hamidou Diallo and he plans to start taking college visits soon. He’s the third-ranked center in the class.

Golden State won Game 2 of the NBA Finals

Sunday night’s Game 2 was a blowout as the Warriors evened the series with the Celtics at one game apiece in the NBA Finals. Golden State went down early, but pulled away for a 107-88 win in the Bay highlighted by Jordan Poole’s halfcourt heave to complete a third quarter run.

Jordan Poole beats the Q3 buzzer!

The @warriors end Q3 on a 19-2 run 🔥 pic.twitter.com/jsPrjwODaK

— NBA (@NBA) June 6, 2022

Now the series heads to Boston for Game 3 set for Wednesday night at 9 PM. The Celtics are laying 3.5 points.

Seven years ago, American Pharoah won the Triple Crown

Since it’s a pretty slow day in Kentucky sports, let’s look back at American Pharoah’s run at the Belmont on its anniversary. With the win, American Pharoah became the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years.

Peter Burns guest hosts KSR

You have until 10 AM to get your radio dial tuned into however you consume Kentucky Sports Radio. The SEC Network’s Peter Burns will make his debut as guest host and we’re excited to hear what he has to say for two hours.

Call in and give Peter some love and some fun talking points from the show’s audience.

Just doing a little weekend reading to get ready for hosting @KySportsRadio on Monday pic.twitter.com/CTyCmxuTB8

— Peter Burns (@PeterBurnsESPN) June 4, 2022

Have a nice day and Go Cats.