KSR Today: Mark Stoops talks Florida, new injury report, and Kenny Brooks has jokes

Good morning, folks! I’m back in the saddle after spending the last two days in Birmingham, AL with my good friend Jack Pilgrim. We played some Top Golf while on our adventures, and I have photo evidence of the beatdown I laid down on KSR’s basketball beat writer. Feel free to ask him about it. But more importantly, we were down in Alabama to cover the annual SEC Media Days, which wrapped up yesterday afternoon.

We’ll talk a little bit more about that in just a moment though. First, let’s talk pigskin. Kentucky has another important SEC showdown coming up this Saturday in Gainesville. The Wildcats head into the Swamp to take on Florida in a game that now has UK viewed as the favorite, which was not the case to start the week. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. EST on the SEC Network.

To help prepare us for what’s in store, we’ll hear from head coach Mark Stoops one final time after today’s practice to get his thoughts on the matchup.

We also heard from members of the defense after yesterday’s practice. Defensive coordinator Brad White was joined by defensive line coach Anwar Stewart and a few players to talk about the Gators. This is a group that will go up against DJ Lagway, who will start his first-ever SEC start after the QB ahead of him went down with an injury.

Dive into those interviews below and then read up on the rest of this morning’s news and notes.

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First Availability Report ahead of Florida

The first of many Availability Reports this week was released by the SEC last night. As expected, cornerback Maxwell Hairston is listed as out. Tackle Courtland Ford and tailback Chip Trayanum could make their season debuts on Saturday night in Gainesville. Below is Kentucky’s full report from last night. We’ll have another one later tonight.

• Jayvant Brown | LB | Out
• Maxwell Hairston | DB | Out
• Darrion Henry-Young | DL | Out
• Josaih Hayes | DL | Out
• Tavion Gadson | DL | Out
• Chip Trayanum | RB | Questionable
• Terhyon Nichols | DB | Questionable
• Jacob Kauwe | K | Questionable
• Keeshawn Silver | DL | Probable

Billy Napier‘s football team is also dealing with some significant injuries at the moment. Starting quarterback Graham Mertz is out for the season and the Gators might not have RB1 Montrell Johnson Jr. in the lineup against Kentucky.

Kenny Brooks has jokes at SEC Media Days

Kenny Brooks comes off as quiet, but don’t ever mistake that for a lack of confidence. The man oozes swag and it shows whenever he actually does voice his thoughts. We saw another example of that during SEC Women’s Basketball Media Days on Wednesday. Brooks came out firing with a perfect joke at John Calipari‘s expense.

“When I got to Kentucky, Calipari was there,” Brooks joked. “Cal stayed for a week. I told everybody that the town wasn’t big enough for the both of us. So, I ran him out.”

Brooks said much more than just that zinger though. He also talked about his coaching philosophy, his swaggy Big Blue Madness entrance, his thoughts on the rising popularity of women’s basketball as a whole, and plenty more. Brooks brought down veteran guards Georgia Amoore and Dazia Lawrence with him to Birmingham, as well. You can hear everything they had to say over on the KSR YouTube channel.

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Boyle County WR flips to Kentucky

Boyle County‘s do-it-all superstar, Montavain Quisenberry, officially announced his flip from West Virginia to Kentucky yesterday. It marks the second commitment of the week for Stoops and Co. after Dyllon Williams pledged to UK on Monday.

Quisenberry is a three-star class of 2025 prospect ranked No. 790 overall by the On3 Industry Ranking. Although undersized at 5-foot-9, 175 pounds, he’s the most talented player in the entire state of Kentucky and plays for the state’s top-ranked school. A very quiet kid by nature, Quisenberry’s game is anything but. He can pass, run, and throw.

Quisenberry is the 20th player to join Kentucky’s Top 25 2025 recruiting class. The Wildcats now have four wide receivers committed and three players from the state of Kentucky.

A new KSR WBB podcast

Need more Kentucky women’s basketball content? How about a brand-new KSR podcast dedicated to nothing but that exact topic? KSR’s Phoenix Stevens and Katie Hutchison have released the first episode of the Memorial Memo, which aims to cover the program in all facets — from the on-court play to behind-the-scenes info to recruiting intel, Phoenix and Katie will talk about it all.

Dive into episode one below, or go listen on the KSR podcast feed through your preferred podcast platform. To kick off the debut of the show, they spent the episode talking about Media Day, Big Blue Madness, and ZaKiyah Johnson‘s recruitment.

Kentucky VB bounces back against Tennessee

After getting swept at home on national television by a talented Texas squad over the weekend, Kentucky volleyball (10-7; 4-2 SEC) bounced back in a much-needed way last night. The Wildcats took down Tennessee in four sets (25-21, 14-25, 25-22, 25-21) to get back on the right path in the SEC.

In what was the first start of Asia Thigpen’s college career, the freshman didn’t disappoint. She recorded 15 kills to just one error, hitting .583 on the night with eight digs. Kentucky hit .340 on the night for 63 total kills and just 12 hitting errors. Craig Skinner’s team will return to action on Sunday to take on Alabama in Tuscaloosa with a 3:00 p.m. EST start time on the SEC Network+.

For a full recap of Kentucky’s win over the Volunteers, click the link here.

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Fresh 11 Personnel in your feed

As we inch closer to kickoff on Saturday against Florida, the 11 Personnel duo of Nick Roush and Adam Luckett put on their podcasting hats to break down the Gators. In this week’s episode, they talk about…

• A new message away from Kroger Field.
• Injury Report Reaction: Chip Trayanum time?
• Will DJ Lagway get the Anthony Richardson treatment?
• What happens between now and the next bye?
• Two Kentucky Football Recruiting Flips

Tipoff for UK-Gonzaga announced

And it’s going to be a late one, folks. The game takes place at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle on Saturday, Dec. 7, and the local tipoff is set at 7:00 p.m. This means East Coasters will stay up until at least midnight with the game not starting until 10:00 p.m. EST in Lexington. It’ll be broadcast on ESPN2 and is the only game on the schedule this season with a tipoff scheduled for after 9:30 p.m. EST.

Gonzaga will start the season ranked No. 6 in the AP Poll while Kentucky checks in at No. 23.

Mark Stoops is 9th-highest-paid CFB coach

USA Today released its annual college football coaches’ salary database yesterday, which wasn’t exactly the ideal time for Kentucky fans to be reminded of how much the head football coach makes per season, especially after a loss to Vanderbilt at home. Stoops is currently the ninth-highest-paid coach in college football. This year he is set to make $9,013,600, a smidge over the $9 million Lane Kiffin earns in the No. 10 spot.

Stoops’ buyout through Dec. 1 is $44.4 million. Thankfully it’s not as high as Kirby Smart’s though, who has a buyout with Georgia worth a staggering $118 million.