KSR Today: Gator Bowl Practice begins in Jacksonville

Good morning, Big Blue Nation. Happy Boxing Day to our friends in England (last year’s trip to London showed us there are more than just a few!). The day after Christmas can always feel like a letdown — or a hangover if you overindulged — but the holidays aren’t over just yet. A lot of you have this entire week off, so let today’s rundown feel like a little bit of a structure in an otherwise untethered time. Believe it or not, plenty is going on.

Let’s start in Jacksonville, the site of Friday’s big bowl game.

Kentucky Football begins practice in Jacksonville

The Kentucky Football team spent part of its Christmas day getting back to business. Yesterday, the team left for Jacksonville, where they’ll spend the week preparing for Friday’s Gator Bowl matchup vs. Clemson. Today, the team will hold its first practice at the University of North Florida. Afterward, they’ll take a tour of the Mayport Naval Station, which Google tells me is the third-largest Fleet Concentration Area in the United States. The naval station’s harbor can accommodate 34 ships and has an 8,000-foot runway that can handle any aircraft in the Department of Defense inventory. Neat, right?

After touring the naval station, the team will head back to their hotel to pack backpacks for Blessings in a Backpack, a non-profit organization that feeds school children across the country. Other bowl events this week include a night at Top Golf on Wednesday, press conferences on Thursday morning, and a pep rally on Thursday night. KSR will have boots on the ground starting tomorrow, but we’ll be bringing you updates from today as we see them on the interwebs. Football is near.

John Calipari’s Call-In Show is tonight

The Kentucky Basketball team got to spend Christmas with their families, including Big Z, who is back in Croatia. Before everyone parted ways, John Calipari sat down with Tom Leach to tape an episode of his call-in show, which will air tonight at 6:00 p.m. on 630 WLAP and UK Sports Network affiliates. We’ll bring you the highlights tonight.

The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear! pic.twitter.com/SbEWQno6XV

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) December 24, 2023

ICYMI, Kentucky moved up in the AP Poll

Waiting under the tree for the Wildcats yesterday was a brand-new AP Ranking. The Cats are No. 8 in the latest AP Poll, their highest ranking of the season. Kentucky is one of only three SEC teams in the AP Top 25. Tennessee moved up two spots to No. 6 and Ole Miss is No. 24.

I’m not exactly sure why the AP voters are so high on the Vols, whose only ranked win is over Illinois, alas, they are the cream of the Southeastern Conference crop in the eyes of the AP voters. Five other squads (Auburn, Texas A&M, South Carolina, Mississippi State, and Alabama) received votes. We should receive a new USA Today Coaches Poll today.

Three Bowl Games to watch

Need a football fix? There are three bowl games today, all on ESPN.

• 2:00 PM: Bowling Green vs. Minnesota – Quick Lane Bowl (Ford Field, Detroit, MI)
• 5:30 PM: Texas State vs. Rice – SERVPRO First Responder Bowl (Gerald J. Ford Stadium, Dallas, TX)
• 9:00 PM: Kansas vs. UNLV – Guaranteed Rate Bowl (Chase Field, Phoenix, AZ)

Better yet, get out of the house and come watch the games at KSBar. Three people will qualify for $5,000 in our Hero Bowl Challenge.

The radio show is off today

The radio crew has one more day off before returning to the studio, so enjoy whichever “Best of” episode Shannon the Dude picked out.

Also, if you missed it yesterday, this video of Freddie Maggard, who is color blind, seeing colors for the first time thanks to Dr. Jeff Klosterman, is pretty special.

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