By LARRY VAUGHT
He’s on the watch lists for several of the nation’s most prestigious awards for linemen after his stellar freshman season at Kentucky but defensive lineman Deone Walker is thinking about more than tackles and quarterback sacks.
“Preseason accolades are not worth anything during the season,” said Walker. “I want to be a captain this year for our whole team. I am trying to stay on top of guys academically, making sure everyone is ready when they come to practice, trying to keep the morale up in our room.”
Kentucky defensive coordinator would like to see Walker make the jump from good player to great player to even elite player this season. The 6-6, 350-pound Walker, who was named a freshman All-American, understands that’s easier said than done.
“You just have to have a great mindset. I have to remember my motivation and why I love football. Just try to remember who I want to be three years from now and keep working to get there,” Walker said.
Walker started 11 of UK’s 13 games last season and had 40 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, five quarterback hurries and two pass breakups. Walker had six tackles against eventual national champion Georgia.
Expectations for Kentucky’s defense are high going into the season but Walker wants that for himself and his team. The UK defense ranked seventh in passing yards allowed, 12th overall in total yards allowed per game, 13th in scoring defense, 16th in defensive passing efficiency and 49th overall in rushing defense last season. The Cats allowed opponents to convert just 33 percent of the time on third down, the nation’s 23rd best mark.
“Expectations have been high but we as defense hold ourselves to the highest standard possible. If you lower the standard, we are going to hold ourselves accountable no matter what,” he said. “We can keep high intensity for four quarters with the depth we have. That’s something all the big teams like Michigan, Georgia do. They have a great D-line and great personnel on their defense and I think we do, too.”
That’s the attitude defensive line coach Anwar Stewart wants Walker to have.
“Deone is elite and can take us as far as he wants but I have to keep him humble. We talk about gratitude and humility in our (position) room all the time,” Stewart said. “The NIL money now does not compare to the money he can make a couple of years from now, I just want to keep pushing him.”
Walker understands why Stewart is hard on him and not prone to throw out praise often.
“He gives respect when it is due. He will tell you when you are doing good and taking steps in the right path,” the sophomore defensive lineman said. “He might not do it publicly but he is a good guy.
“He has great stories. He has been through a lot, seen a lot and knows a lot. He was one of the main reasons I picked Kentucky. He promised my mom he would make sure I was okay no matter what and I knew that was important to her.”
Kentucky freshman tight end Khamari Anderson was Walker’s teammate at Cass Tech in Detroit.
“I knew what type of guy Deone was. He’s a dog,” Anderson said. “He’s God-gifted. He was born with that talent. Nothing he did last year surprised me and he will do even more this year.”
Tennessee football fans don’t have a lot of respect for Kentucky because of the way the Vols have dominated the annual series. Many of those Volunteer fans are also Tennessee Titans fans which poses a bit of a quandary for former UK quarterback Will Levis.
The Titans picked Levis in the second round of the April NFL draft and he’s competing for the backup job going into his first NFL season. However, Levis said recently on “104.5 The Zone’s The Buck Reising Show” live at the Titans training camp that so far all fans had been nice to him.
“I don’t know what it’s like on social media or whatever, but everyone that I’ve met in person, and that I’ve been able to meet and just fan wise — and a lot of them have been Tennessee (Vols) fans — have been very open or very welcoming and loving,” the former Kentucky quarterback said.
“So I mean it’s been great. I’m just gonna go out there and try to make all the supporters of this team as proud as I can with how I play on the field. And that’s all I can do.”
However, he’s not going to abandon his UK roots.
“Obviously, I’ll be a Kentucky guy for life. And with as many Tennessee fans as there are here, it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out,” Levis said.
Rachel Lawson had a lot of extra help when it came to convincing Florida pitcher Julie Kelley to join the Kentucky softball program.
Four of Kelley’s teammates on her AAU team, Fury Platinum, were already Kentucky signees — infielder Cassie Reasner of Alabama along with in-state utility players Emory Donaldson of Ballard, Peyton Plotts of Tates Creek and Ally Hutchins of McCracken County.
“Just hearing them talk about Kentucky meant a lot,” Kelley said. “Then after talking to coach Lawson who is such a great person and what she said, it just sounded amazing at Kentucky.
“Hearing what my teammates said and what their parents said about how great Lexington was and playing in the SEC, I just knew I wanted to go to Kentucky.”
Kelley said the four incoming UK freshmen are all “amazing teammates” who are also very funny. Here’s how she described each of them”
— Donaldson: “Emory was hurt all of the fall, so I met her in the summer. She is an amazing player. You can stick her anywhere and she could play the position. She also has a great bat.”
— Hutchins: “She is so funny. She is a third baseman on our travel team. She always cracks me up and lightens the mood for everyone. In nationals we were playing the No. 2 team and leading 1-0 in the sixth inning and she just made us all take a deep breath and relax. That’s how she is.”
— Plotts: “I only played two tournaments with her because she was hurt but she is a great teammate. It was great having her to cheer me on when I needed it and she also has a very good bat.”
— Reasner: “Cassie one of the best shortstops I have ever had behind me. Any ball that was hit up the middle that I thought was impossible to get, she would dive and get it. We were all shocked by what she did a lot of times.”
Quarterback Devin Leary understands the transfer portal that allowed him to leave North Carolina State to play at Kentucky this season has been “different” for coaches, players and fans. However, he took a business-like approach to his transfer decision.
“Everyone entering the portal has got to weigh their options and know what they want. I wanted to be developed as the best possible player and be able to accelerate on to the next level and be successful. It starts right now and making sure guys around here can rally around me,” Leary said.
He said he knew the only way to earn the respect of his teammates and build relationships with them was to show he was willing to work.
“My job now is to keep my foot on the gas and we can be much better than we were last year,” Leary said.
He knew UK had “awesome” receivers when he transferred along with a tight end room loaded with experience.
“The challenge for all those guys every single time they step on the field is they need to see an upgraded version of themselves,” Leary said. “They have taken on that challenge and my job is to push them and remind them they can always be better than they have been.”
Offensive coordinator Liam Coen knows Leary has a “great way” about him that makes it easy for him to connect with teammates.
“He’s very natural. He’s not a rah-rah guy. He’s not always out in the front being the guy to speak. Devin leads by example and the way he approaches the game,” Coen said. “He also has a really high football IQ and studies the game all the time. I called him (one night) and he said he was watching the 2016 LA Rams ‘Hard Knocks’ (TV show)
“He is all ball but also extremely relatable to his peers and also his coaches. He’s also talented and that makes it fun to work with somebody like that.”
Leary also made a favorable impression in Kentucky’s first scrimmage last week.
“It was really good to see him be comfortable in there,” Stoops said. “There’s things that he did extremely well and there’s some areas where he’ll see that he needs to just be more patient and go through the progression, but we hit some good plays.”
Maybe most Kentucky fans don’t know a lot about transfer running back Demie Sumo-Karngbaye but quarterback Devin Leary does because they played together two years at North Carolina State before independently making the decision to transfer to UK this season.
“Just seeing him take the game in a serious approach, not only at N.C. State, being able to play as a redshirt freshman, but transferring in and doing everything he can to help this offense,” Leary said about his former team.
“Being out there on the field, it makes me realize how much I appreciate the work he has put into his game as well.”
He played in 14 games during his two years at N.C. State and ran for 305 yards — averaging 5.5 yards per carry — and three touchdowns and caught 12 passes for 148 yards and another score.
He was a top 50 running back nationally after his high school career in New Jersey where he had 1,321 all-purpose yards his senior year along with 53 tackles and two interceptions on defense.
Offensive coordinator Liam Coen says Sumo-Karngbaye has a “high football IQ” who can do a lot of things well.
“All he does is watch YouTube videos of football. That is his passion,” Coen said. “He has great hands and I also think he will be good in pass protection. He has the ability to play multiple positions. He could play wide receiver, run, catch the ball out of the backfield. I’ve been really happy with what we have seen from him.”
Vanderbilt transfer Ray Davis is expected to be UK’s starting running back but won’t be a workhorse like Benny Snell or Chris Rodriguez were for the Cats.
“I do have a lot of confidence in the guys we have. How many reps or carries each guy gets I cannot say,” Coen said at UK’s Media Day. “I knew we could hand the ball to Chris and he was going to get four (yards). As a play caller, that was very reassuring.
“How we disperse the carries (this year) might be different. Look at LSU two years ago. We ran for 300 yards and Chris only had 19 carries. Getting guys a lot of work while keeping them fresh through the season is important.”
Quote of the Week: “I like where we’re at; I do. I think we’ve got to keep on track and put the foot on the gas and good things can happen day to day,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said about his team after the first preseason scrimmage.
Quote of the Week 2: They don’t ever show any videos. They don’t have any pictures or trophies out. They loved it but they just don’t live by it,” Reed Sheppard on his parents, Stacey Reed and Jeff Sheppard, not promoting the success they had playing basketball at Kentucky.
Quote of the Week 3: “The kid is so driven. He’s up here early; he’s the last one to leave. He comes to the coaches’ meeting to watch film with the coaches,” UK associate coach Vince Marrow on freshman receiver Anthony Brown.