By LARRY VAUGHT
He’s the highest ranked player that coach Mark Stoops has brought to Kentucky and picked the Wildcats over Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State from the 60 scholarship offers he had.
Offensive lineman Kiyaunta Goodwin was ranked as the No. 5 offensive tackle and No. 30 player based on ratings of multiple recruiting services. The 6-8, 355-pound Goodwin enrolled at UK in January and made a “big” impression on coaches and teammates during spring practice.
“He is going to be a really good football player and is a really nice guy who is eager to learn,” said center Eli Cox. “We are trying to make that transition easy for him. He has had to learn how to grind with (academic) tutors, practice and just being on campus.
“He just loves to sit up in the film room all the time, just kind of learning the game as best he can. He’s going to turn out really well.”
New offensive line coach Zach Yenser calls him a “big son of a gun” who has done well in his short time at UK.
“When he knows what he’s doing, and he’s right about 95 percent of the time now, he’s very, very talented,” Yenser said. “Every day he’s on the field, he picks up a bit more and that’s really encouraging from a young guy.”
Goodwin more than held his own during spring practice to impress coaches and teammates. He was a solid second team tackle who has a chance to be in the playing rotation next season. The freshman even said during his first media interview near the end of spring practice that he wanted to see JJ Weaver, one of UK’s best pass rushers, lined up against him as often as possible.
“I love to compete. I feel like it brings out the best out of me,” Goodwin said. “When I’m being challenged, that’s when I’m at my best.”
Weaver said Goodwin is with strength coach Corey Edmond daily and is always one of the first players in the weight room.
“He’s a dog. He’s working on losing the weight he needs to. I’m proud of him,” Weaver said.
Goodwin knows Yenser worked with nine-time Pro Bowl tackle Trent Williams of the San Francisco 49ers before coming to Kentucky. Offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello was also with the 49ers last season. Goodwin understands the opportunity he has being coached by those who worked with Williams, a former All-American at Oklahoma.
“Trent Williams is my favorite offensive tackle in the league, so having two guys that worked with him, I’m able to ask a lot of questions about the stuff that makes him as great as he is,” Goodwin said. “I’ve obviously watched a lot of his film and stuff, trying to bring his game into mine. Having two guys that worked with him over the last couple of years is amazing.”
Goodwin has talked to Williams several times trying to learn all he can from him.
“His independent hands and his down block are some of the things I’ve brought into my game,” Goodwin said.
Senior guard Kenneth Horsey likes what he has seen of Goodwin’s game.
“He’s very passionate. He’s willing to put in the work. He’s very coachable. He’s ready to listen to anything. If we have any positive criticisms or anything like that, and even if we have to dump on him at times, he’s very accepting of that because he knows he’s not a finished product,” Horsey said.
“He knows at the end of the day, high school is just the beginning. There’s always room for progression, there’s always room to grow and he understands that. He’s ready to put in that work and I love to see him work because he’s working on himself every day.”
Goodwin said just being at UK has been amazing for him.
“Just to get around the guys, to practice, to be in the facilities all the time — I’m used to seeing it, but being here every day and actually being able to take it in and enjoy it as a player is amazing,” Goodwin said.
He understood college football would have a faster pace and harder practices, but that was fine with him.
“I was just ready to get here and help the team any way I can. I didn’t have a certain mindset other than just to help,” he said.
Oscar Tshiebwe admits his father “is my hero” and laid the foundation for his strong faith in God that he has been sharing in various ways across the state since Kentucky’s basketball season ended.
“He was a pastor. I grew up in the church (in the Democratic Republic of the Congo),” Tshiebwe said. “He was always trying to help everyone.”
His father was poisoned and died when Tshiebwe was only 12 years old.
“I was mad at God. My daddy was helping people and God took him. But I kept talking to God and my father told me to never lose God right before he passed. I never forgot that,” Tshiebwe said. “I always remember him telling me when you give everything to God he is going to help you.
“My dad said if you lose God, you lose everything. That’s why my dad is my hero.”
Tshiebwe joked that his mother, who still lives in the Congo, really didn’t understand the significance of the season he had where he led the nation in rebounding and was the consensus national player of the year. However, he knows his father would be much prouder of how he’s sharing his testimony than his basketball accomplishments.
“He would be very proud because the only way to God is through Jesus Christ. My dad showed me this way because it is the true way and I believe Jesus Christ is the teacher. We have a great life through Christ. My dad taught me that and I never forget that,” Tshiebwe said.
That’s why Tshiebwe never seems to have a bad day and even accepted the losses UK basketball had in its last two games.
“When you are in the spirit of God, you know God never had a bad day. Every day you should rejoice and enjoy. Even when we lose, I know it is part of the game and we should just be happy and move on,” Tshiebwe said.
Tshiebwe admits he never anticipated he could have the type of basketball season he had but also never thought he would have such a platform to share his faith with so many people.
“I know the spirit of God will speak to me when I talk. I read the scripture and will share the good word. God says not to worry because he is going to speak through me,” Tshiebwe said. “This is special and incredible to do this. I am just so excited to do this in Kentucky because I really do love Kentucky so much.”
There was no way Kentucky All-American catcher Kayla Kowalik was going to match the numbers she had last season when she led the nation in batting average at .495 and set school records also for consecutive games with a hit (26), runs scored in a season (79) and hits (100). She also had a career-best .993 fielding percentage.
This season she is hitting “only” .415 with 54 hits in 40 games but coach Rachel Lawson believes her senior has been playing well while dealing with some changes this season.
“Last year she had video game numbers,” Lawson said. “We knew that would be hard to replicate.”
That’s why Lawson felt it was not right last year for Kowalik to not get more national awards for what she did but the UK coach knew the thinking by some was that Kowalik still had another year to play. Lawson said award voters didn’t know how “special” Kowalik’s season was in 2021.
This year Kowalik has had more “stress innings” — a term Lawson likes to use.
“She has had to catch new pitchers, different pitchers. That keeps her mind at a high level and she never gets to relax during a game,” Lawson said.
“In the new era of NIL (name, image and likeness), she is incredibly popular. At Louisville there were a ton of kids coming up to say hi to her. She gets that all the time. Before games, during games and after games. She loves it and is an incredible ambassador for the game.
“I am not saying it is a level of distraction. She is handling it fine. She just has a lot on her plate.”
She went through a six-game stretch against Ohio State, LSU and Ole Miss where she had only two hits and went hitless in four games — a rarity for her.
Kowalik responded with two hits in the final game against Ole Miss and then had a double against Louisville.
“I am just hoping she remembers what she is capable of doing and takes that forward,” Lawson said. “We certainly believe in her and know what she means to our team.”
Bam Adebayo was a standout at High Point Christian Academy in North Carolina when he picked Kentucky over Duke and North Carolina. He was a one-and-done player who was a first-round pick of the Miami Heat.
Adebayo has become a NBA All-Star and fixture with the Miami Heat. Recently he discussed how the culture at Kentucky shaped him — and let him financially secure his mother’s future like he wanted to do — in an interview with JJ Redick’s The Old Man and the Three podcast.
“The biggest thing is we all had to sacrifice,” Adebayo said. “So what you’re doing in high school does not matter, basically. We’re starting fresh. It felt like a fraternity process, how I put it to a lot of people, knowing like fraternity processes and how they go.
“You’re there for like (months), you can’t say anything about it. It strips you down to you, and that’s what it did to a lot of us at Kentucky. Just going through that pressure as an 18-year-old kid, having to hold this standard for a university and the history they have behind it, the dudes that went to Kentucky before me and how they performed.
“Everybody’s going to the Elite Eight, Final Four. Some got to the national championship. Some won, some lost. So seeing that, it was like, from the time I stepped in, I knew it was a standard for me. And then I was always going to be held to that standard.”
Colleges now have the option to pay athletes up to $5,980 per year as a reward for academic performance thanks to a federal ruling in August, 2020, that was upheld by the Supreme Court and according to ESPN’s Danny Murphy, Kentucky is one of only 22 FBS-level schools planning to do so.
Other SEC schools who told ESPN they are also going to pay academic bonus money are Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, LSU, Missouri, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee.
“Schools are now permitted to provide financial awards for academic achievements by their student-athletes. It is up to each school to determine its own standards for awards – for example, maintaining eligibility, reaching a certain GPA, earning conference honor rolls, progress toward graduating, achieving graduation, etc,” Tony Neely, assistant athletics director for athletics communications and public relations, said.
“UK Athletics plans to make awards for academic achievements and we are in the process of determining the standards.”
Kentucky All-American swimmer Riley Gaines didn’t know anything about the academic incentive money until a few weeks ago when swimmers at the SEC Championships were talking about money they had received for their first-semester grades.
“I have been told allegedly we are going to get a lump sum at the end of the year,” Gaines said. “We are supposed to get about six grand ($6,000) at the end of the two semesters. I believe they (UK) want to give it all to us at the end.
“I don’t know any other school doing it that way in the SEC. I had a friend from Missouri who asked me at the SEC Championships what I was doing with my academic money. I told her I didn’t know what she was talking about.
“Six grand is not life changing money but it is still a lot to a college senior. I asked my coaches and they did not know about us getting the money. If UK is doing this, I think telling athletes before finals would be a great incentive.”
Other athletes with grade-point averages over 3.5 also have said they “had no idea” about potential academic bonus money.
Quote of the Week: “Always believe in yourself. If somebody says you can’t do it, then you have no choice but to prove that you can. Always work on your craft and keep those who want to see you succeed around you. Other than that, believe in yourself always, like never doubt yourself, because as soon as that happens, you won’t achieve what you want,” WNBA No. 1 draft pick Rhyne Howard’s advice to young girls.
Quote of the Week 2: “It’s awesome just being able to have that connection already. It’s only spring. We’ve got a lot more time to get that connection even better before the first game, so we can go out there and score a lot more of those,” UK freshman receiver Dane Key on his relationship with quarterback Will Levis.
Quote of the Week 3: “He is as athletic as any player who I’ve coached and has really begun to come into his own on the court. He has all of the tools to be successful in this game, but his willingness to share and be a great teammate is a difference-maker,” John Calipari on UK forward Jacob Toppin after he put his name into the NBA draft.