KSR Today: Football Visitors, Finals, and Basketball Leftovers
Good morning, friends, and happy Tuesday. On the basketball front, it’s a quiet one as the players take finals and we wait for Saturday’s game vs. Ohio State. On the football front, we’re once again waiting for more chaos to break out as the program hosts two very important visitors from the transfer portal. That’s where we’ll start today’s rundown.
Two very important quarterbacks in town
Monday was a busy day for the Kentucky Football program, which added two players from the portal, both on the offensive line. Arkansas offensive guard Joshua Braun got the party started Monday morning, and Bowling Green tackle Alex Wollschlaeger quickly followed suit. Both are plug-and-play starters on Kentucky’s Big Blue Wall, which is in desperate need of a rebuild.
That brings Kentucky’s total number of commitments from the transfer portal to four:
- Sam Greene | EDGE | USC (12/14) | Film Room
- Landyn Watson | LB | Marshall (12/14) | Film Room
- Joshua Braun | OG | Arkansas (12/16)
- Alex Wollschlaeger | OT | Bowling Green (12/16)
With help coming to the offensive line, the staff is also looking to add to the quarterback room. Duke transfer quarterback Maalik Murphy arrived on campus for a visit yesterday. The former Top 200 recruit started his career at Texas and transferred to Duke in 2024. You can learn all about Murphy in this bio blast from Adam Luckett.
Incarnate Word quarterback Zach Calzada is another name to keep an eye on. He arrives for his official visit today. Calzada stepped down to the FCS level after stints at Texas A&M and Auburn and officially entered the portal on Monday. While the staff believes in Cutter Boley, the quarterback room needs experience, and Murphy and Calzada are candidates to fill that role.
For more on the quarterback situation and the latest on who else the Cats are targeting in the portal, I’ll direct you to Adam Luckett’s Tuesday morning portal notebook on KSBoard.
Two staff developments to monitor
The ACC could give to Kentucky in the form of Duke quarterback Maalik Murphy. Will it take in the form of a big-time assistant on Mark Stoops’ staff?
On Monday, Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson stepped down. As you might recall, Brad White is a Wake Forest alum, meaning he could become a candidate for the opening. White has been a hot name in the coaching carousel for years, most recently linked to the Florida State defensive coordinator job, which went to Nebraska DC Tony White. Seeing White’s name pop up on a Wake Forest coaching hot board wouldn’t be surprising.
Meanwhile, we’re still waiting to hear if anything will come of Saturday’s report that Bill Belichick is targeting Vince Marrow to join his staff at North Carolina. Monday came and went without any news or even rumblings about what the Big Dog would do, which was both comforting and worrisome. Nothing has happened yet, but if Vince truly isn’t entertaining the offer, you think he’d let people know by now.
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11 Personnel going live this afternoon
It’s clearly a busy day on the football front. Nick Roush and Adam Luckett will go live for a special edition of 11 Personnel this afternoon. Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel and turn your notifications on so you can get an alert the second the show starts. If you can’t watch live, catch the replay afterward or the audio-only version wherever you get your podcasts.
Quick-hitters from a newsy basketball Monday
As mentioned, it’s finals week at UK, so the basketball team’s focus quickly shifted from the big win over Louisville to schoolwork. During his call-in show on Monday night, Mark Pope said the team will head to New York on Thursday to prepare for the CBS Sports Classic game vs. Ohio State. It will be a special trip for Pope, who grew up in the New York area and lived in the city with Lee Anne and his daughters before deciding to drop out of Columbia Medical School to get into coaching. The Popes have some special activities planned for the team in their favorite city, which I’m sure we’ll see plenty of photos and videos of on social media.
That was just one topic from a fun hour of radio with Pope last night. Among the others: Lamont Butler’s incredible performance vs. Louisville, the letters the former players wrote to the current Cats about the rivalry, the possibility of alternate uniforms, and what a “championship chest” is. Jack Pilgrim has the full recap here.
Other quick-hitters from Monday:
- Kentucky is up to No. 4 in both polls: The Cats rose a spot in the AP and Coaches Poll to No. 4, one of eight SEC teams in the Top 25
- Lamont Butler named SEC Co-Player of the Week: If you ask us, Butler deserved the award outright, but shares it with Auburn’s Johni Broome, who had 21 points and 20 rebounds in Auburn’s win over Ohio State.
- Pope still working on series vs. St. John’s: Kentucky’s schedule makes it tricky, but Pope “desperately” wants to get St. John’s on next year’s schedule to bring Rick Pitino back to Rupp
- The Sit vs. Stand debate took center stage: The fan who was asked to sit down in the lower arena by a police officer on Saturday called into KSR to share his side of the story.
Jack and Shawn Smith discussed Pope’s comments, the Louisville win, what lies ahead in New York City, and more on a new episode of Sources Say. While we’re talking videos, don’t miss Steven Peake’s feature on the win over the Cards, a great way to relive a fun Saturday evening.
College Basketball on TV today
Lots of ranked games tonight, including North Carolina vs. No. 7 Florida in the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte. The Gators are one of three undefeated teams left in the SEC alongside Oklahoma and Tennessee.
- 7:00 PM (SECN+/ESPN+): Western Carolina vs. No. 1 Tennessee
- 7:00 PM (ACCN): George Mason vs. No. 5 Duke
- 7:00 PM (ESPN): North Carolina vs. No. 7 Florida
- 7:00 PM (SECN+/ESPN+): Southern vs. No. 17 Ole Miss
- 7:00 PM (ESPN2): No. 20 Michigan State vs. Oakland
- 7:00 PM (CBSSN): UNLV vs. No. 22 Dayton
- 7:00 PM (SECN): No. 25 Clemson vs. South Carolina
- 7:30 PM (SECN+/ESPN+): Central Michigan vs. Mississippi State
- 7:30 PM (SECN+/ESPN+): Jacksonville State vs. Missouri
- 8:00 PM (SECN+/ESPN+): Georgia State vs. No. 2 Auburn
- 9:00 PM (SECN): Stetson vs. LSU
- 9:30 PM (BTN): Prairie View A&M vs. No. 18 UCLA
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