NEWSSTAND (8/8): Lots of scoop, hoops preview, OL talk, depth chart talk
Insider Notes for basketball recruiting and football's preseason camp. Thoughts on the offensive line and Quinton Bohanna's emergence. Previewing Tai Wynyard's '17-18 season and much, much more.
CAMP INSIDER NOTES
CatsIllustrated.com has been in contact with sources close to the Kentucky football program or with unique knowledge and insight on particular players or position battles.
Here's what we've been hearing.
LINK: Camp Insider Notes: What we've heard from sources lately
UK-OHIO STATE AGAIN?
Oak Park, Mich., 2020 offensive lineman Justin Rogers has yet to start his sophomore year of high school, but already has several offers including his most recent one from Ohio State.
“That’s a big step in my life - it’s my first Big Ten offer,” Rogers noted. “They are up there and I have a whole lot of interest in them.”
LINK: The next Kentucky-Ohio State recruiting battle could be for a Michigander
WYNYARD PREVIEW
Cats Illustrated will preview every scholarship player on the 2017-2018 Kentucky Wildcat's basketball roster.
The series will take start from the veterans and work its way down to the freshmen. Every weekday will be a new a player and older previews will be linked. On Monday August 7th Cats Illustrated previews Tai Wynyard.
ZION DOMINATES
The most profound takeaway from the adidas Nations Global championship game Monday is the one you’ll have the toughest time believing is true.
Zion Williamson isn’t fully in basketball shape.
Yes, the same Zion Williamson who finished top three in scoring at the event, despite playing with four other five-star recruits, the same guy who literally looked inside of the rim on at least two in-game dunks on Monday and the same one who scored 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and was subsequently named MVP in USA 2018’s 108-79 romping of Asia Pacific.
LINK: adidas Nations: Zion Williamson dominates to help USA win the title game
BOHANNA'S STRONG START
CatsIllustrated.com publisher Justin Rowland offers his take on some of the biggest stories from camp.
First up, what should we read into Mark Stoops' praise for Quinton Bohanna?
LINK: Rowland's take on what to make of recent praise for Quinton Bohanna
ALUMNI CHARITY GAME
Some of Big Blue Nation’s favorites will don “Kentucky” across their chest once again for the annual UK Alumni Charity Game.
On Aug. 25 in Rupp Arena, fans will have an opportunity to enjoy some of the top talent to come through the UK men’s basketball program when Kentucky hosts the 2017 UK Alumni Charity Game. This year’s event will feature two games, with a Legends Game starting at 7 p.m. and the UK Alumni Charity Game tipping off at 8 p.m.
REVISED OUTLOOK?
Kentucky's offensive line was very good last season. It exceeded almost everyone's expectations.
Expectations have been sky high for the group heading into 2017, but have circumstances created the need to reevaluate how we think about the group up front?
LINK: Is it time to change how we think about the offensive line?
BASKETBALL INSIDER NOTES
The AAU season is over and most camps are coming to a close, which allows prospects to focus on their recruitment.
Well, maybe some. Others will just take a clean break from basketball and enjoy being a kid for a few weeks before school starts. However, many will take a break from playing basketball but focus on where they may be playing in the future.
Over the next few months Kentucky will host over a dozen prospects and we may just be a month or two away before the Cats land their first 2018 commitment.
PUTTING IN WORK
In some other years, maybe a lot of other years, Jamin Davis would need to make a big impact for Kentucky this year.
He's physically advanced, has an understanding of the game and a knack for making plays, and he enrolled a semester early. He's 20 pounds bigger than he was before he got into the weight program in Lexington at the start of this year.
But this year Kentucky has a strong starting corps of linebackers and quality depth, too.
So Davis is putting in work, learning from veterans and waiting his turn.
PROJECTING DEPTH
There were few surprises in the way the first-and-second units lined up during Kentucky football's first open practice of preseason camp.
But with coaches using the first couple weeks of the preseason to gain an extended look at several freshmen who might contribute this fall, changes could be coming on the depth chart.
BIG SHOES
Kentucky freshman wide receiver Clevan Thomas says when he enrolled early at UK so he could participate in 2017 spring practice, he did not ask to wear the most prestigious jersey number in recent Wildcats football history.
“I didn’t ask, didn’t say anything,” Thomas said last week. “But I’m proud they picked me to wear No. 18.”
LINK: Cobb, Boom and Tamme wore No. 18. Does Kentucky’s new 18 fit the mold?
WORLD CHAMPION
Omar McLeod, who serves as a volunteer assistant coach on the Kentucky track and field staff and trains under UK head coach Edrick Floréal’s tutelage having competed collegiately for Arkansas, became world champion in the men’s 110-meter hurdles on Monday.
LINK: UK Volunteer Assistant Omar McLeod wins 110-meter hurdles gold