In this Saturday edition of the CatsIllustrated.com Newsstand you can help fill your morning with all the latest on Kentucky's football program with the season just a few weeks away.
Nick Haynes' weight struggle, Bunchy Stallings' NFL dreams and Mike Edwards' expanding role.
Plus, an SI profile of P.J. Washington, expectations for Kevin Knox and much more.
STAFF ADDITION
CatsIllustrated.com is very pleased to announce that long-time Kentucky media figure Jeff Drummond is joining the site's staff as managing editor.
Publisher Justin Rowland and basketball recruiting analyst T.J. Walker's positions will remain unchanged.
Drummond joins CatsIllustrated.com as the site's new managing editor and will have a key hand in helping to produce basketball, football and baseball content. He'll also be on the ground day-to-day in Lexington covering Kentucky's athletic programs.
Beyond that, Drummond will interact with site members, especially at the House of Blue forum, where he's already well-known as an established and respected media figure and commentator on all things UK.
LINK: Jeff Drummond joins T.J. Walker and Justin Rowland on CatsIllustrated.com team
BAKER PREVIEW
Cats Illustrated is previewing every scholarship player on Kentucky's 2017-2018 basketball roster.
Part five of the series is on Jemarl Baker. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound guard from California was never thought to be a major target. Once committed to the California Golden Bears, Baker decommitted after Cuonzo Martin left for Missouri.
Baker was recruited to Kentucky because of his shooting ability. Will that be his ticket to playing time this season?
BLOWING UP
When it comes to the Commonwealth's Class of 2019 talent, Tanner Bowles is playing catch up in terms of name recognition.
He hasn't been in quite as many headlines as fellow Kentucky prospects like Stephen Herron (Michigan commit), Jacob Lacey (Notre Dame commit) or four-star offensive lineman Bryan Hudson.
But Bowles' offer list is blowing up and it's well past time for him to start being mentioned as one of the state's better linemen in quite some time.
LINK: Glasgow's Bowles is blowing up, calls Schlarman a 'tremendous' OL coach
VERSATILE WASHINGTON
It should come as no surprise to college basketball fans that freshmen have come to possess a significant portion of the star power in the sport. Just look at this year’s NBA draft, where the first upperclassman was not selected until Duke sophomore Luke Kennard with 12th pick. So while some returning players will undoubtedly have a major impact in 2017–18 season, it’s important to get to know the new faces who may come to occupy the spotlight.
With that in mind, SI.com will be introducing you to the top 25 incoming freshmen in college basketball and breaking down the impact those players could have this season. We move to Kentucky’s P.J. Washington, the No. 14 overall recruit.
LINK: Versatile P.J. Washington a Key Cog in Kentucky’s Latest Reloading Effort
MAKING IT WORK
If you think recruiting is easy work, think again. It’s not a matter of one, two or even a whole cast of assistant coaches looking over film, shooting the breeze and deciding whose social media direct messages to slide into.
There’s a bigger, broader and less public operation that includes a lot of people who put in countless hours of work.
LINK: It takes a staff full of little-known hard workers to make recruiting work
SOMETHING TO OFFER
While staff continuity has been one of the themes going into the 2017 season, it’s almost easy to forget that there are two new leaders of position groups in Dean Hood and Derrick LeBlanc.
Their backgrounds are very different, but each was hired this offseason by Mark Stoops in the hopes that they would train the players well under their watch, provide expertise in meeting rooms, and help attract top talent.
CatsIllustrated.com spoke with UK director of recruiting Dan Berezowitz on a whole range of topics (as you’ve probably gathered by now), and one of the questions that we put to him was about Hood and LeBlanc, and what each has brought to the table, particularly as recruiters.
LINK: What Dean Hood and Derrick LeBlanc bring to UK as recruiters
BAD LOOK
Some Kentucky football fans wear that ‘long-suffering loyalty’ tag like a badge of honor, and understandably so. It’s harder to be a Kentucky football fan than a Kentucky basketball fan, frankly, and it’s a different experience.
LINK: Lagging ticket sales hurt that 'long-suffering loyal' UK football fan narrative
PAYING OFF
In just more than a year on the job Kentucky defensive backs coach Steven Clinkscale has already made his mark as a recruiter.
When he was hired, few probably would have imagined that he would have successfully led the charge for one of the top two players in Michigan, offensive and defensive lineman Marquan McCall, one of the Midwest’s top linebackers in DeAndre Square, and a big-time interior line prospect from Cincinnati in Quintin Wilson.
EXPERIENCE MATTERS
Kentucky's young receivers have generated a lot of positive chatter in the early part of camp. Here Justin Rowland gives his take on what to expect from the group in 2017, where to look for real production and who probably needs more time in the program.
WORLD FINALIST
Kentucky alumna Kendra Harrison advanced to her first IAAF World Championships final in the 100-meter hurdles at London Stadium on Friday.
The road to the final was paved with some unanticipated peril, but perhaps as a sign of how far Harrison has come in her still young professional career, the two-time NCAA Champion found a way to overcome.
The field had to be recalled to the blocks upon the first start gun firing, but a green card was issued to the field. On the restart, Harrison got out of the blocks well, but then flew into the first hurdle. She did well to stay in contention, and finished third in semifinal three with a 12.86 time to qualify as the second non-automatic qualifier by just a 0.01-second margin.
PRACTICE REPORT
Slowly but surely, Kentucky senior Nick Haynes is adding back weight after dipping below 260 pounds in the tug-of-war between managing Type-1 Diabetes and playing offensive guard in the Southeastern Conference.
LINK: Nick Haynes working his weight back up, Benny Snell gets Bo Jackson comparison
Yes, managing his Type 1 diabetes has dropped UK offensive lineman Nick Haynes to less than 260 pounds this summer.
Just don’t expect Haynes to voice the same fears some fans have after learning of his less-than-ideal playing weight.
BIG PLANS
When you think of the last name Stallings and college football in the SEC most probably think of Alabama Coach Gene Stallings. But this year Kentucky fans the name is Bunchy Stallings.
Both Coach Stallings, or as my grandfather called him “Cousin Gene,” and Bunchy have something in common though, having lived for a time in the state of Alabama. Bunchy said he gets asked about Gene Stallings quite a bit, but he says football is in his blood with both his Dad and brother having played in the NFL.
LINK: Bunchy Stallings wants to experience NFL like his father and brother did
WHY THE MOVE?
It seemed odd to hear that Kentucky’s coaches were pondering a position switch this season for a player who earned All-Southeastern Conference honors last season.
But that’s exactly the direction they’re heading.
Junior Mike Edwards is on the move, but he’s not going too far.
LINK: Mike Edwards was All-SEC last season. Why the position change?
QUICK FIX?
The most notorious special teams moment of new UK assistant coach Dean Hood’s career came while he was not even paying attention.
Then the head coach at Eastern Kentucky, Hood, who was hired as UK’s special teams coordinator in February, was talking on the sideline late in a 2013 blowout of rival Morehead State when he heard players on the field scream, “Alert, alert,” the signal for a unique fake punt play EKU punter Jordan Berry had been conditioned to audible into when one of his outside gunners was left uncovered.
