Kentucky Players Drafted, Blue-White Game Action

A big weekend in Wildcat football saw a player transition from Saturday to Sunday, as Myron Pryor went to the New England Patriots with their 6th Round selection. Pryor, one of dozens of SEC players to hear their name called in Radio City Music Hall, was the only University of Kentucky player to get the nod. For those curious what opposing offenses are going to be looking at next year...


Congrats to the big fella, and here's to the chance that maybe, just maybe, he will help me not despise the Patriots as much as I do.

A host of Wildcats also have signed undrafted free agent deals as well. Among them: S Marcus McClinton (New England), P Tim Masthay (Indianapolis), and LB Johnny Williams (Jacksonville). Check out their new threads...

Outside of the draft, there was also a Spring football game, as the Blue team defeated the White team 28-23. From all indications it was a nice afternoon of football that showcased some surprises, most notably the play of reserve QB Will Fidler. Solid play from the defense, Randall Cobb, and the run game all gave the 20,000 or so fans on hand reason to smile.

Coach's Brooks' comments after the game...

Opening statement…
“Injury wise-it doesn’t appear that we had anything serious. E.J. Adams had a slight AC strain in his shoulder on a pass that he caught. Alfonso Smith sprained his arch in his foot. Danny Trevathan, on that last scramble by Mike Hartline, got a little bit of a hip pointer. Coshik Williams bruised the other shoulder, it wasn’t the same one. That was the extent of the injuries. From that standpoint it has to be the best spring that I’ve ever had as far as no serious injuries. So, from that standpoint it was excellent.

“I thought the effort all spring was excellent. Today, it’s never going to look as polished as you want when you mix and draft your team. Coach (Steve) Brown is 2-0 now in this game. So, he’s feeling pretty good. I think that there were a lot of good things that happened out there. There are some things that we obviously need to get better at. I think our fans got a great opportunity to see some new faces who will be doing some big things for us this next year. I was very pleased with the energetic crowd, and a very big crowd. I think it was the biggest crowd I’ve seen for a spring game since I’ve been here. It was fun for them I think, and it was fun for the players.”

(Editor’s note: spring game records are incomplete, but today’s attendance of 20,200 is the second-largest in UK history based on available information. The known record is 20,325 in 1987.)

On how the draft was constructed in allowing the Blue team to have Trevard Lindley, Micah Johnson, Jeremy Jarmon and Randall Cobb…
“You have an old draft guy on that side of the ball. Steve Ortmayer has run a lot of drafts in his day. It just works out how it works out. Joker (Phillips) had the first pick. Then each side got to take two at a time. So, hey, how it works is how it works. It ended up being competitive. It didn’t look like it would be in that first quarter. But, (Mike) Hartline, after what I thought was a shaky start throwing the ball, came back and did some very good things. He showed the competitor that he is when he brought his team back there in the second half. It was, I think, an entertaining game. Spring games are not always a really good, polished game. There were some turnovers. Most of them (turnovers) were by back-up players. The two interceptions were off of tipped balls.”

On the play of Will Fidler…
“I thought Fidler played the first quarter, and the first drive in particular, as well as I’ve ever seen him perform. Will’s problem isn’t arm strength. It’s usually been making the right decision, making it on time and he showed definite improvement in that area today. He started off like gang-busters. He had a pretty good guy to throw to (Randall Cobb) who made a few good plays. The one play Randall made reminded me of the one Dicky Lyons made when it was thrown behind him and he reached up and tipped it to himself and then turned it up the field and got some extra yards. Those are the kinds of plays that we need our receivers to make from time to time. Randall is obviously going to be a big-time playmaker and can help any quarterback I think look better. But, Will did a really good job early. He got some balls batted down later, which is not all his fault. We’ve got to get our offensive line a little more aggressive in getting the defender’s arms down. I thought he clearly closed the gap. And there was a gap. I feel much, much better about Will Fidler after this scrimmage. Obviously, he got the win.”

On the development of the receivers this spring…
“They’re not where I’d like them to be. We had a few guys make some plays. We had a young man not too many people knew about, but we knew about him in the last two or three weeks who has been impressive is Nick Melillo. He has put himself in a position where he is going to be looked at very hard in the fall. He doesn’t drop anything. He is physical. He plays hard. He plays fast. I’m encouraged from what I’ve seen from him. We did have some of our signees here today. I’m anxious to get them in here, one of them in particular was out here today a 6’5 200-pounder who runs fast -- junior college player Chris Matthews. It is going to be a lot more competitive. Some people in the receiving position helped themselves today and some people were either stagnant or took a step back. That’s what the competition will be all about. There are some plays, in particular early, that I wasn’t happy about Hartline all spring were his deep throws. Today they were similar. They floated a little bit too much. I will say this, the wind was blowing very hard and made it extremely hard to throw deep. When you do throw deep it better be a tight spiral or the wind is really going to take it over. That’s what happened on several of those deep throws. One of the balls that was intercepted down in the endzone our receivers have to come back and compete for that ball and not allow an interception. Although the defender made a good play, I thought the receiver did not compete for the ball as he should have.”

On the play of the linebackers…
“How long has it been since Kentucky had a linebacker fast enough to return kickoffs? (referring to Danny Trevathan) That’s the encouraging thing about the speed of our team. We graduated a couple of really good linebackers in Braxton Kelley and Johnny Williams and now you put Sam Maxwell and Danny Trevathan on the field. I promise you, as good as those two guys were who graduated, these two guys filled it up this spring. They had great springs. Trevathan can run now. He got a little worn down and he still has some things to learn but, he is a playmaker. He not only has speed, he not only is tough he is instinctive. That’s a great combination of things to have.”

Kentucky Football Practice Report: April 8th

The Kentucky defensive line went from dormant to dominant during a mini-scrimmage at the end of Wednesday morning’s practice at the Nutter Training Center.

“I’ve been very upset with our D-line. I’ve been on them for three or four days about getting off on the ball and finally they did today,” Coach Rich Brooks said. “Obviously, our offensive line wasn’t quite ready for that, so that’s the tempo we need to practice … get our line ready to see full-speed, get-off-the-ball pass rush.

“We need to see that type of energy from our defensive front,” Brooks continued.“It was nice to see Wyndham and Ukwu (redshirt freshman defensive ends Taylor Wyndham and Collins Ukwu), two guys I wasn’t very happy with the first three or four days on their ‘get off,’ turn that dial up today and show they have some capabilities of really helping us this year if they’ll continue to play at that level.”

The Wildcats return to practice Friday morning. The first full scrimmage is set for Saturday.

Mason to Tight End: Redshirt freshman DeAunte Mason has moved from quarterback to tight end, Coach Rich Brooks announced following Wednesday’s practice.

“We knew he had an athletic ability when we recruited him, and we were going to give him an opportunity to play quarterback, but at this stage it doesn’t look like he’s going to be in the mix so we just need to try to get him in a position where he can have a chance to be successful,” Brooks said.

Mason, a 6-3, 220-pounder from Nashville, Tenn., was “Mr. Football” for Tennessee Class AAA as a senior at Pearl-Cohn High School. He went through a redshirt season at UK in the fall of 2008.

Spring Practice Calendar: Practices are open to fans. Practices are held at the Nutter Training Facility unless noted otherwise. Practices might be moved indoors to the Nutter Field House in case of bad weather.

Fri. April 10 - 9 to 11:15 a.m. (tentative)
Sat. April 11 - 10 to 11:40 a.m., Commonwealth Stadium (tentative)
Mon. April 13 - 9 to 11:15 a.m. (tentative)
Wed. April 15 - 9 to 11:15 a.m. (tentative)
Fri. April 17 - 9 to 11:15 a.m. (tentative)
Sat. April 18 - 10 to 11:40 a.m., Commonwealth Stadium (tentative)
Mon. April 20 - 9 to 11:15 a.m. (tentative)
Wed. April 22 - 9 to 11:15 a.m. (tentative)
Fri. April 24 - 9 to 11:15 a.m. (tentative)
Sat. April 25 - Blue/White Spring Game, 1:30 p.m., Commonwealth Stadium

Spring Practice Is Upon Us

As the Cardinals begin the arduous task that is preparing for their 2009 season through countless drills, practices, scrimmages, etc. that will culminate in the Spring Game on April 11, the fans are left seeking answers to numerous questions. First and foremost, is who will step up for the Cardinals as viable replacements. On both sides of the ball and even on the sidelines there are notable vacancies, changes in assignments, and a lack of familiar faces.

Gone, as most know, is head man Brady Hoke, who left before BSU's last game against Tulsa. But also gone are several key assistants, a strength and conditioning coach, 4 offensive line starters, both starting corners, and most importantly, an NFL-caliber QB in Nate Davis. This is a cupboard that has been raided... and thoroughly.

The glimmer of hope for the Cardinals is that the groceries left in the pantry have among them several quality ingredients. MiQuale Lewis, Sean Baker, Dan Ifft, Myles Trempe, Briggs Orsbon, and Alex Knipp. Also up on the shelf though, and what will turn out to be vitally important to this 2009 supper, will be the new additions. Ingredients whom are as of yet, untested, yet show potential.

OTP has received the spring prospectus for the BSU Cardinals, and within it we've found some exceptionally curious things...

• Ian McGarvey is not listed on any depth chart or prospectus that has anything to do with the 09 season. Whether or not this punishment is of the temporary variety or of the permanent rendition, we won't know for a while. Suffice to say that Ian is in Grandpa Stan's doghouse and will probably be residing there for the foreseeable future.
• The Cardinals return 7 players on defense who started at least half of the 08 season. There are significant losses, but this is a defensive unit that has the pieces to be just as solid as last season. On offense, the future is not as bright, as only 4 starters return.
  
• Listed as QB1 on the depth chart is Kelly Page. Not surprising, as Page was sort of expected to be the starter by fall, but I would have thought going into spring ball young Mr. Page would have been listed as numero dos. Freshman QBs normally have a bit of a learning curve, and I can only think that Stan Parrish's offense applies in spades, but Page has had a redshirt year to get ready. It's time for him to make his mark.
  
• There's a nice write up on all the incoming recruits and I stand by an earlier prediction that this particular class will be a part of at least one MAC Championship while they are on campus.

The most interesting thing in the spring prospectus is Stan Parrish's Q & A. I'm not sure who posed the questions, or who prepped Stan on the answers, but here it is in its entirety...

Q: One of the biggest tasks will be replacing Nate Davis at quarterback. How do you think having a new head coach and a new quarterback will affect the team?
A: "I would not think of me as new in regards to coaching the quarterbacks. We will not have a new coach, but we will have a new quarterback. We have to get that position taken care of right away. We will have an open competition at that spot, as we will in a lot of spots this spring. Kelly Page will have the chance to win the quarterback starting position. He has earned that right with how he handled himself in his redshirt season in 2008. Tanner Justice has been a part of our program for a while now, and he has got to be a coach on the field and in the film room. He knows the system better than the other guys and he will need to teach them by example. Aaron Mershman is a student-athlete who began at Ball State in January and is here and ready to go. This will be an important spring for him. We have to find out what they can do, and what we have in our system that works for them. Our system has a lot of choices in it, and like every year, we will had some new wrinkles.

We have two quarterbacks who are very young in the system and one who has been around a little while. None of them have very much game experience, but I fully expect these guys to be ready by opening night."


Q: Ball State lost a big part of the offensive line, including four starters. How do you go about replacing that part of the team?
A: "Those lineman were the reason we were able to have success last year. We have a lot of work to do with the offensive line and finding the right combinations of players. We have a few players in the program who have been around a while, but are lacking that game experience. We will get them as many reps as possible this spring. Our offense will have a lot of expectations because of the success we have had recently, so we have to rebuild quickly. I have a lot of concerns with the number of starters we lost on offense. We have to get the new guys in there and get them going. We have done a good job of redshirting guys and getting them experience in that setting. Our practices are intense so there will be nothing new to them from that standpoint. The offensive lines progress will be a big key for the 2009 Ball State football team."


Q: MiQuale Lewis was a big part of the offense a year ago and is one of the team’s top returnees this season. What will he mean to the team in 2009?
A: "MiQuale Lewis is an outstanding player who is versatile and can help us in many ways. With that being said, we have got to block so the backs can run. We have got to protect the quarterback, so he can throw to the receivers and give us some options in the running game. The running backs and receivers should be the strength of our offense next season, but it all starts with that offensive line."


Q: Where do you see the defense for the upcoming season? What are the strengths and weaknesses on that side of the ball?
A: "We have a ways to go to be the defense we want to be. Coach Graber is the best defensive coordinator I have ever been around and is an outstanding secondary coach, so he will have his work cut out for him. We lost our top three cornerbacks, so we have moved some personnel around to help at that spot. We are not very big up front defensively, so we are going to have to play very sound. I will give Coach Graber a lot of latitude to get the defense where it needs to be. You do not lose as many players as we have on defense and not expect some growing pains. But we have to grow quickly. We lost some quality seniors, but we have to transition with our new players."


Q: What do you want to get accomplished this spring:
A: “We are excited to get to the field and coach these guys. We have new coaches, new players, and this is a new team.We have to do a good job coaching these guys in the spring, so we know where we are when fall camp starts. We are going to be a very young football team, but we want to be a good young football team. To help both the offense and the defense, the kicking game has to be the best in the Mid-American Conference. We will put a great amount of emphasis on the special teams. We lost a senior class that won more games here than any before it. We need to worry about nothing but getting better every day."

A decent first impression on Stan as the head coach, as he mixes in some typical coach speak with some pretty frank evaluations of the current personnel. The bottom line for these Cardinals, as Spring Practice begins to write the newest chapter in BSU Football history, is that they are an exceptionally young bunch in certain areas, and exceptionally seasoned in others. They are a mix of young and old, of leadership and eager to be led. If Stan Parrish and his newly assembled band of merry assistants can somehow gel this team sooner rather than later, maintain the momentum from the first 12 games of last season, and set the expectation of continued successes, then the 09 Cardinals can be just as successful as the 08 version.

It is a time for optimism, though guardedly so, from Cardinal Nation. Regardless of what happens over the next thirty days or so of organized practice, the 09 Cardinals are 0-0 and stand just as good a chance as any other team to win a MAC Championship. Fight team, fight.