By LARRY VAUGHT
How would Taylor County coach Sam Marple describe junior offensive lineman Hayes Johnson?
“Hayes is a big boy. He has the size you are looking for in college but he also moves very well,” said Marple. “He has so much potential. He plays aggressively and moves better than a lot of people even though he’s a lot bigger. College coaches see how much potential there is in him.”
The 6-5, 295-pound offensive tackle is one of the top junior prospects in Kentucky. He got a scholarship offer from Kentucky in June of 2021 and has also added offers from Michigan State, Tennessee, Purdue, Cincinnati, Baylor, Louisville and Eastern Kentucky. He’s also been visited in Campbellsville by Alabama offensive line coach Eric Wolford, the former UK assistant coach, and made an unofficial visit to Alabama.
“He is getting a lot of big-time attention. Alabama has rolled through here three times. Michigan has been here. Iowa, too. Kentucky obviously has been here. Somebody is here about every Friday,” Marple said.
“He gets off the ball so well for someone his size. He is very explosive when you are lined up straight up on him. He has that nasty mentality that can change the line of scrimmage and coaches love that.”
Johnson, who turned 18 in August, grew up a Kentucky fan. He played football through fifth grade and didn’t start again until Marple convinced him to play as a freshman. He had played basketball through middle school and he knows that helped his football footwork. He says his AAU basketball coach made him a “better athlete” and everything clicked when he did start playing football again.
“I almost felt like he was picking on me about getting better all the time. I never understood it until after my first sophomore season and started getting a little bit of (college) attention,” Johnson said.
Wolford offered him a UK scholarship but after he left Kentucky for Alabama, Johnson did not hear from Kentucky. He got a text from Wolford inviting him to come to Alabama.
“I went down there and he said you have proved to me you can play. Now you need to prove it to (Alabama coach) Nick Saban. I went to work and just played football and they said they would be recruiting me,” Johnson said.
New Kentucky offensive line coach Zach Yenser had to get his bearings on campus before he reached out to Johnson. When Yenser came to Johnson’s school, the lineman was at Green River Lake turkey hunting.
“I rushed back to Campbellsville to meet him. I enjoy hunting and fishing. It gives me a chance to go and just reflect on everything,” Johnson said. “But I love football more than anything. I don’t know where I would be without football. There’s nothing else I would rather do than play football or turn on film and watch football. It’s nice to do other stuff just to think about something else but football is what I love.”
Johnson is a weight room warrior. He squatted 585 pounds as a sophomore and that helped intensify the interest college recruiters had. A Taylor assistant coach got him in touch with Chris Vaughn of Aspiration Fitness in Louisville. Among players trained by Vaughn are NFL receivers Wan’Dale Robinson and Rondale Moore. He also trains current UK freshman offensive lineman Kiyaunta Goodwin.
“I get to go one on one against some terrific players when I work out there,” Johnson said.
After representing the United States at FIBA AmeriCup 2022 in Brazil, former UK standout Jodie Meeks has ended his basketball playing career. He’s now going to work as an assistant coach for the Birmingham Squadron, the New Orleans Pelicans’ G League affiliate.
During his NBA career, Meeks averaged 9.3 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game and shot 37.1 percent 3-point range in 539 regular season games.
Meeks, 35, has not played in the NBA since 2019 but tried to make a comeback last season in the G League after playing in the NBA for 11 years. He played three years with Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers from 2012-14 and averaged 11.8 points per game and won an NBA championship with Toronto in 2019.
Meeks was recruited by Tubby Smith and played his freshman season for him before Smith left and Billy Gillispie arrived for the next two seasons. However, in spite of Gillispie’s antics/shortcomings, Meeks still had one of the best individual seasons in UK basketball history in 2008-09 as a junior before leaving for the NBA.
He scored 854 points in 36 games — second only to the 948 Dan Issel scored during the 1969-70 season — on a team that did not even make the NCAA Tournament.
“We all heard so many stories about Billy’s antics on the court, off the court, at practice. I really don’t know what to believe but I do know the chemistry was not very good and Jodie still went out and had the year he did,” said Oscar Combs, former Cats’ Pause publisher.
Meeks averaged 23.7 points per game and shot 40.63 percent from 3-point range (117 of 288). He still holds the school record for 3-pointers in one season and is one of only four UK players — Jamal Murray (113), Malik Monk (104) and Travis Ford (101) — to make 100 or more in a season.
Meeks had some sensational games during his record-setting season.
— In a season-opening loss to Virginia Military Institute, Meeks had 39 points.
— Two weeks later he scored 37 against Kansas State in Las Vegas and outscored the entire Kansas State team in the first half.
— Three weeks later he came back with a career-high 46 points against Appalachian State in UK’s annual game at Freedom Hall in Louisville and tied Tony Delk’s single game record with nine 3-pointers.
— Two days later he scored 32 points in only 28 minutes against Tennessee State.
— On Jan. 13, 2009, Meeks had a historic game when he poured in 54 points at Tennessee in a 90-72 win. He went 10-for-15 from 3-point range to set the single-game 3-point mark. He was also 14 of 14 at the foul line that game.
— He made the winning 3-pointer with 4.7 seconds to play to beat Florida and then on Valentine’s Day, he had 45 points at Arkansas.
“That 54-point game at Tennessee was so special. He was just spectacular,” Combs said. “To do that in that atmosphere playing for Gillispie was very extraordinary.”
Meeks was a unanimous all-SEC first team selection and second team all-American. He opted to put his name into the draft and leave UK rather than stay and play for new coach John Calipari like teammate Patrick Patterson did.
That 2009-10 loss in the NCAA Elite Eight to West Virginia 73-66 when it went 4-for-32 from 3-point range. That team had John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, DeMarcus Cousins and Patrick Patterson.
“If Jodie had come back for another year, I think Calipari probably would have won that championship,” Combs said. “The one thing that team was lacking was 3-point shooting and Jodie could always shoot. That 3-point shooting was the team’s only real weakness all year and if Jodie had been on the team there’s no question they would have won the championship.”
Meeks did make one more appearance in Rupp Arena on May 10, 2014, to receive his degree in business marketing after attending classes in the NBA off-season for five years.
Max Duffy finished his Kentucky career as the school’s all-time leading punter with a 46-yard average per attempt in 34 games. He led the nation in punting in 2019 his junior season at 48.1 yards per try and won the Ray Guy Award given to the nation’s top punter. He had a 75-yard punt against Auburn in 2020, the third longest punt in UK history.
Andy Smith, a former UK all-SEC punter and father of UK freshman kicker Jackson Smith, said Duffy had an “unusual” pregame routine that might have been the secret ingredients for his success.
“I remember my first game ever against Central Michigan. I could not sleep. I was so nervous and just did not know what to expect,” said Duffy, who came to the U.S. from Australia to punt in college. “When the game got here, I was so tired I could have slept on the sideline. I knew I had to do something to keep myself going or I was going to fall asleep.”
So what did Duffy do? He got a couple of cans of Coca-Cola and bags of fruit snacks.
“I put them away and I was back fully awake,” Duffy said. “After that every game, I would have a couple of cans of Coke during pregame and about 10 bags of fruit snacks.
“I always did my best when I was jittery, nervous and over aroused. That’s probably why I struggled during (the) COVID (season). I liked the crowd. I would not recommend that sugar overload except on Saturdays for football but it did help make me the punter I was for Kentucky.”
Having point guard Sahvir Wheeler is a “huge” plus for coach John Calipari’s team this season. He led the Southeastern Conference in assists last year after transferring from Georgia just like he did when he was with the Bulldogs.
“The two most important pieces are point guard and big and you have two guys (Wheeler and Oscar Tshiebwe) that are experienced and have had a lot of success that anchor the team,” Kentucky assistant coach Orlando Antigua said. “The other pieces around him are important but experience at point guard is huge.
“He’s an extension of Cal on the court and can answer questions before Cal even asks. You just can’t stress how important an experienced point guard can be.”
Antigua is not worried about Wheeler’s sometimes shaky 3-point shooting. He points out that he steadily improved as the season went on.
“But what people really under appreciate is his value as an agitator on defense,” Antigua said. “He is the point of the spear on defense for us to wear teams down and keep them from getting up and down the court. That boosts defensive efficiency and adds to the offense because you get some high percentage shots off the defense.
“It starts with him wearing guards down and he does that so well. We have got to protect him when he is picking up full court and running so he doesn’t get hammered on screens like he did at times last year.”
Antigua said the Cats want Wheeler to continue to be aggressive even if that sometimes leads to turnovers.
“That comes with the territory of being a point guard. We encourage him to be aggressive and fast,” Antigua said. “Playing fast, his reads have to be faster and teammates have to be in sync with him.
“We want errors of commission but not omission because he is scared and passive and holds the ball to get an assist at the right minute rather than making the first play. We can live with three or four turnovers if he also gets even or eight assists.”
Former Kentucky women’s basketball coach Matthew Mitchell and his wife Jenna have donated $55,000 to a women’s basketball docuseries “If Not For Them.” It is a story about the forgotten women who changed the world through the love of their sport.
“If Not For Them” explores the history of women’s basketball through the eyes of the players, coaches and administrators of the AAU, CIAW, AIAW, NCAA and other organizations. Brenda VanLengen, who is a former NCAA Division I basketball coach turned Emmy Award-winning broadcaster, is producing a multi-episode docuseries tracing the sport from the early days in Iowa high schools to the passage of Title IX and beyond.
VanLengen said the donation by the Mitchells has assured the crew can travel to get final interviews and content needed to finish the project.
“We hope their gift will inspire others to help us continue and complete this important project,” VanLengen, who has called over 1,200 women’s games for various TV networks, said.
Mitchell said it was easy for him and his wife to help tell an “important story” like this.
“Jenna and I are supporting this and we encourage others to give to this incredibly important project. Women’s basketball brought us in contact with some of the most amazing people on the planet,” Mitchell said. “We’ve been inspired by administrators, coaches, players, and fans of our great game. We are indebted to this great game and we are excited to support the storytelling that will bring it to life in an impactful way.”
Mitchell resigned before the start of last season. He reached the Elite Eight twice and was a two-time SEC Coach of the Year.
ESPN analyst and former NFL star Desmond Howard gave a lot of pregame love to Kentucky freshman Dane Key before the Wildcats won 26-16 at Florida and Key had a spectacular 55-yard touchdown catch.
Kentucky recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow, who played high school football in Ohio against Howard, knows it is unusual for a national analyst to heap praise on a Kentucky freshman.
“They (analysts) often look at Kentucky football and wonder if the recruits are that high (in the rankings) when they play in Kentucky,” Marrow said. “We still take players from Ohio but that has gone from about 10 to five (per year) because we are taking five from Kentucky now.
“Dane is going to be a great player here. He has great parents, great people around him. The moment is not too big for him. That catch he made (for a touchdown) was one of the all-time big catches here. He also blocked well. We really got a gem in him.”
He is the first UK player to have a touchdown catch in each of his first two games.
Quote of the Week: “Don’t ever underestimate his heart or ability. He will prove you wrong,” Kentucky Sports Radio’s Ryan Lemond on UK freshman Dane Key after his 55-yard touchdown catch at Florida.
Quote of the Week 2: “I am wondering how I am going to answer all these text messages. I would like to respond to them all but it may take me a couple of days,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops after UK beat Florida.
Quote of the Week 3: “He showed me a lot tonight. His arm is big, even by NFL standards. Powerful athlete with a nasty streak. His release is very fast,” what an NFL scout told NFL insider Jordan Schultz about UK quarterback Will Levis after UK’s win at Florida.