KSR Today: School Starts, Football Gets Closer
Good morning and Happy Monday to you, one of my favorite KSR readers. I hope you had a great weekend and stayed healthy out there doing whatever it is that you did.
Today we have a football-heavy set of Monday morning news and notes to get to, but first: Happy Birthday to former UK Basketball players Todd Tackett and P.J. Washington; and a Happy Heavenly Birthday to Kobe Bryant, who would’ve turned 43 today.
KSR’s Maria Taustine celebrates a birthday today too. Maria does all of the heavy lifting behind the scenes, and we appreciate all that she does to keep the operation moving forward. Happy Birthday, Maria!
Now for more to know as you start the last week of August…
Mask policy in Kroger Field
As COVID numbers climb around Kentucky and the globe, UK Athletics is implementing procedures and restrictions to prevent an outbreak in Kroger Field on game days this fall. Kentucky Football games will operate at full capacity in 2021 as planned, but masks will be required in certain areas throughout the stadium due to the recent spike in cases and hospitalizations.
According to KSR’s own Matt Jones, the current plan is to require masks indoors, in elevators, and in crowded areas on Saturdays. UK Athletics lists those areas as, “Restrooms, Longship Club, Central Bank Club, inside of the Lexus Loge, the Central Bank Press Box, all elevators, the KFB Recruit Room, the Player/Guest Entrance, First Aid rooms, offices and any other spaces that are fully enclosed.”
As it stands now, masks will not be required for vaccinated fans when entering, while in the seating bowl, or in individual suites. Unvaccinated fans need to wear a mask at all times both indoors and outdoors, UK notes.
The full COVID-19/mask policy can be found on UKAthletics.com.
Joey Gatewood is officially gone
Kentucky’s quarterback room lost its most experienced backup to Will Levis with the unsurprising departure of Joey Gatewood.
The projected starter until Levis announced his transfer from Penn State in February, Gatewood lost the QB battle over the summer and in the early part of fall camp, leading Mark Stoops to declare Levis the starting quarterback after the first full week of camp. In Stoops’ announcement of QB1, he also shared Gatewood’s intentions of entering the transfer portal to seek other opportunities outside of Lexington.
“I told him how much I appreciated how hard he’s worked. I know he’s been through this before so I knew it would be especially tough. Tough decision, not what he wanted to hear,” Stoops said of his conversation with Gatewood. “We had that discussion, had a good talk. He handled it completely professional and I really appreciate him.”
On Sunday, a week removed from Stoops’ quarterback press conference, Gatewood made his transfer to Central Florida official:
Gatewood will rejoin Gus Malzahn, who recruited him to Auburn out of high school, at UCF. He is seeking NCAA clearance to suit up for the Knights in 2021.
At Kentucky, the former top-50 recruit played in seven games with 25 rushes for 62 yards and 17-of-35 passing for 109 yards with one interception in 2020, his only season with the Cats. He made his first collegiate start against Georgia and completed 15 of 25 passes for 91 yards and no interceptions in the loss.
Good luck to him.
College football begins this Saturday
Believe it or not, we are only five sleeps away from the first weekend of college football. This coming Saturday is the first slate of games with five matchups on the schedule for August 28.
1 p.m. — Nebraska @ Illinois (FOX)
2 p.m. — UConn @ Fresno State (CBSSN)
3:30 p.m. — Hawaii @ UCLA (ESPN)
9:30 p.m. — UTEP @ New Mexico State
10:00 p.m. — Southern Utah @ San Jose State (CBSSN)
It’s not much, but we’ll take it!
Kroger’s KSR Game of the Week announced for Week 2
KSR’s Game of the Week with Kroger is back for another high school football season and this week we’re spotlighting a battle between a playoff contender in Lexington Catholic and a perennial powerhouse from the mountains in Johnson Central.
Johnson Central will travel to Lexington for a second straight Friday after smashing Henry Clay, 60-21, to open the season. The Golden Eagles rushed for almost 400 yards in the win.
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Meanwhile, Catholic is excited for the home opener after defeating Ryle at Ryle, 24-21, this past Friday night.
More on this game to come throughout the week.
NBA G League offered two UK Basketball targets
Kentucky is the presumed leader for five-star shooting guard Shaedon Sharpe and an announcement is expected soon before Sharpe begins his senior year of high school basketball at Dream City Christian out in Arizona. Matt Norlander called it, “the lock of all locks,” when forecasting Sharpe’s recruitment after he shined at the Peach Jam.
Five-star center Derek Lively II is also high on John Calipari and the Kentucky Basketball program, but now the G League wants in on the action for both targets.
Over the weekend, Sharpe shared via social media the news of his offer from the G League Ignite’s developmental program. Lively picked up an offer too, reportedly worth half a million dollars according to On3’s Joe Tipton.
Too late for Sharpe, his path is still likely headed toward Kentucky, but the G League is expected to make the push for Lively even harder for Calipari. Duke and North Carolina are also major contenders for the top big man in the class.
Former Wildcats made a couple of NFL preseason picks
From the National Football League’s preseason, New York Jets rookie CB Brandin Echols made a diving interception against the Green Bay Packers over the weekend. A sixth-round pick from the University of Kentucky, Echols was already competing for a starting role in New York’s secondary before his second preseason game.
This should help his chances:
Later that night, former Kentucky cornerback Lonnie Johnson intercepted a Ben DiNucci pass and took it to the house for six in the Texans-Cowboys game. Johnson’s TD evened the scored in the third quarter, propelling the Texans to a 21-14 victory in Dallas.
UK Fan of the Day photos needed
Last Friday I dusted off KSR’s old “UK Fan of the Day Wants Afternoon Notes” machine, but found that the chamber holding all of the photos was completely empty. For years we had more Fan of the Day photos than any website would ever need, but now the cupboard is bare.
So, if you have any interest in being pictured at the top of an Afternoon Notes post of the future, please send any submissions to [email protected] and I’ll refill the well with clever, creative photos of Big Blue Nation around the globe. Three goggles on the beach? Send it. Family photo beneath the St. Louis arch, doing three goggles? Send it. Your entire wedding party wearing UK jerseys and, of course, doing three goggles? Send. We’ll get ’em in the database for future use.
Everything is getting so nice and fancy around here, I want to make sure we stick to our roots and your random photos were a big part of KSR’s beginnings.
Today is the first day of classes at UK.
Students are back on the University of Kentucky’s campus for the start of the fall semester today. Good luck to the new ones learning their way around and everyone else returning after a weird 2020.
Let’s have a great week, everybody.
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