A closer look at Kentucky's strength and conditioning leaders for football, basketball recruiting, wide receiver recruiting notes, questions facing UK at the start of fall camp, Benny Snell in the context of the Cats' history and Matt Elam.
There's no shortage of topics in today's CatsIllustrated.com Newsstand.
EDMOND, HILL WORK WELL TOGETHER
At the beginning of 2016, Kentucky announced that it had hired strength coach Mark Hill away from Indiana.
He joined Corey Edmond's strength and conditioning program in Lexington as part of a unique situation with two men heading the operation.
Hill had previously worked around Mark Stoops at the University of Arizona. But his connections to the current regime in Lexington run a little deeper than that.
"My history starts with Coach Edmond from when he coached me in college and helped me get into the profession," Hill told CatsIllustrated.com as part of an exclusive interview that included Edmond this week. "We both worked with Bob Stoops and when Mike Stoops got the head coaching job at Arizona, Coach Edmond went as his head strength coach and he hired me as his first assistant."
LINK: Chemistry, shared history help Edmond, Hill make unusual S&C program work
RIVALS HOOPS ROUNDTABLE
"The point guard dominoes are due to fall in the coming weeks and, just as we described in this week’s #TwitterTuesday article, all it takes is one to commit before the real drama begins. Immanuel Quickley is likely headed to Kentucky as I would be very surprised if he ends up anywhere else. ..."
HORSE WITH THE CATS (Kentucky Wildcats TV)
SURPRISED BY STIR
Last week when ESPN's Rece Davis visited Kentucky he tweeted a picture of a weight room poster that had Kentucky on one of the four lines.
Corey Edmond and Mark Hill, the two men who head the UK football strength and conditioning program, didn't back down from their decision to put that poster up.
CatsIllustrated.com had an opportunity for an exclusive interview with Edmond, who rarely does interviews, and Hill, who was hired before last season to bolster UK's strength program.
Naturally, one of the first topics to arise in the conversation was the poster, that generated a lot of support from Kentucky fans but some snide comments from rivals.
LINK: UK strength coaches surprised by stir over weight room poster
TOUGHEST GAMES
The season is inching closer each day and CatsIllustrated.com will be providing wall-to-wall coverage of Kentucky's preseason preparations once camp begins.
Here we're breaking down Kentucky's 2017 football schedule by ranking each of the Cats' games by degree of difficulty.
LINK: Ranking UK's 2017 football games by degree of difficulty
PREVIEWING THE GAMECOCKS
Will Muschamp unexpectedly led South Carolina to a bowl game in 2016. Now in his second season with the Gamecocks, expectations are a little higher for the former Florida head coach.
South Carolina had more question marks than perhaps any other SEC East team last season, but the Gamecocks found some answers on both sides of the ball and were picked to finish fourth in the East by the league media.
Kentucky has won three in a row against South carolina. The two teams will play in the third game of the season in Williams-Brice Stadium. If the Wildcats are to truly contend in the SEC East, it’s crucial they beat the Gamecocks in their SEC opener.
LINK: UK football opponent preview: South Carolina Gamecocks
RECEIVER RECRUITING NOTES
Late yesterday at the House of Blue subscribers read a couple of notes related to UK's recruitment of wide receivers.
BEST EVER?
Kentucky Football has been blessed with many talented running backs down through the years. Slashing runners, speed backs and power runners litter the list of the Top 10 running backs of all-time at UK. Players like Moe Williams, Rafael Little, Mark Higgs, George Adams, Derrick Locke, Boom Williams and Artose Pinner to name a few.
LINK: Could Benny Snell be the best running back in UK history?
ELAM CARES, STOOPS SAYS
"Matt cares. He cares a great deal. He wants to be successful. He knows this is going into his senior year. He’s working hard. As a matter of fact, just this morning I saw him out there,” Stoops said.
“We tried to give them a little less on their plate this week because we’re going to be kicking it up full-notch here come this weekend, but he was out there along with some fellow defensive linemen working hard.” ...
ARE THERE ANSWERS UP FRONT?
Depth and experience have been two buzz words this offseason for Mark Stoops and his staff. And while it’s largely true for Kentucky, no one has hidden the improvements the Cats still need to make on the defensive line.
LINK: Kentucky’s defensive line is a question, so who will be an answer up front?
TIRED OF LOSING
Anthony Davis says the New Orleans Pelicans are "tired of losing" and have the roster to do something about it.
That is, if they can find a new offensive scheme that suits their mixture of incumbent starters and recent acquisitions.
LINK: Anthony Davis: Pelicans 'have the tools' to be winning organization
FIVE QUESTIONS
The NCAA’s decision to eliminate two-a-day practices from preseason football camps means Mark Stoops’ Wildcats will have almost a week longer than previous years to prepare for the 2017 season when camp opens Sunday.
If Stoops and company are to build on 2016’s breakthrough season and even contend for a Southeastern Conference East Division title, they will need to put that extra time to good use.
Here is a look at five questions the Kentucky football program must answer before the Sept. 2 opener at Southern Miss.
LINK: Five questions facing Kentucky football in preseason camp
CAN BOOM MAKE THE BENGALS?
Despite rushing for 1,170 yards last season, Kentucky running back Stanley “Boom” Williams went undrafted when he decided to turn pro after his junior campaign.
The 5-foot-8, 196-pound speedster out of Monroe, Georgia quickly signed a free agent contract with the Cincinnati Bengals, however, and he starts his quest to make the 53-man roster when the team opens training camp Friday at Paul Brown Stadium.
LINK: Boom Williams’ prospects of making the Cincinnati Bengals roster
ODD LOGIC
A reminder that the same UK athletics program that just raised student basketball ticket prices $5 ranked 13th in revenue for 2015-16, the latest numbers available, according to USA Today.
What it said: UK hopes asking students to pay more for tickets will encourage more to actually attend the game.
LINK: UK’s odd logic for student ticket price increase, plus more notes
