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Chris Fisher ●
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Jimmy D101718 said...
Party was at the Hillary J. Boone Center. Food, beverages, and film on each signee began the evening . Also video on the coaches and what they did throughout the day. There was an intro for Coach Stoops by Mitch Barnhart. Coach recognized a great number of people who had helped out in the last two months which he said "had been a blur". Important day for him because his son attended his first day of school in Lexington. He Talked about the recruits and you could just feel his elation about what had been accomplished. He then introduced his assistants and they introduced their families some of which had not yet arrived in Lexington. Coach Elliot and Coach Brown then went through each player with accompaning video. Coach Elliot talked of recruiting Hatcher and Timmons before Coach Brown Arrived. Coach Brown reiterated his statement that "had Timmons been from any state other than Kentucky, he would be top fifty. Only screwup was the video showed Reed and another 4 star as commitments and, of course, Reed went elsewhere and the other is visiting this weekend. All and all an enjoyable evening.
Thanks for posting Jimmy. Feel free to do so more often
Chris Fisher ●
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Chris Fisher ●
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tgh3316 said...
Ok folks I finally had 30 mins to sit down and write up and little report of everything I heard. Much as Jimmy D and Catfan6 stated the night was a big success. This was by far the biggest crowd they have had for a signing day party. In fact, it was so big that they had to move it from Malone's Banquet to Hillary J Boone Center to be able to accommodate everyone in attendance.
First off, there is definitely a new air and swagger amongst this coaching staff. All the coaches I spoke with have great energy and enthusiasm that I can't say I saw a lot from the last 2 coaching staffs. With so many of the coaches being in the 40s or much younger, you can tell these guys are eager to make a mark and show what they can do.
I had a chance to speak with almost all the coaches with exception of WR Coach Tommy Mainord. By far the most impressive of all the coaches I spoke with, including Coach Stoops, was Def Coordinator DJ Elliott. DJ has that IT factor you look for in a coach. You could tell how excited he was to be a UK and how happy he and the coaches were to pull off such a strong class in such a short amount of time. The one comment he made that made the biggest impression on me was when he told me "I know you are going to love what Coach Brown is going to do on offense, but wait and see how much better we will play on defense. Coach Stoops and I are going to make this defense look totally different and have you excited about our defense and its future" He did say we might not have all the personnel that we need right now, but it is on the way or will be here real soon. Just from talking to Coach Elliott for 10-15 mins I did I can tell that guy is going to be successful. I fully expect him to be a HC somewhere in the very near future. Where ever he gets hired that school should be very happy with him as their new HC.
On to the Coach Neal Brown. I really enjoyed talking to Neal and what he is expecting to do next year. One of the first things he said was "I can tell you one thing, we are going to have some fun on offense. It is going to be a lot like when I played here and we are going to throw it around and score some points. We may not be able to stop a few teams, but we sure as hell will score quite a few on them." He is definitely a little more quiet and reserved than Elliott or some of the other assistant coaches, but he is loving being back in Kentucky. Asked him about 2014 QB Drew Barker and he said UK is very much in the mix with him. As I am sure many of you have heard, USCjr is the other major player. The thing that both Coach Brown and another coach told me is that his dad LOVES UK and Barker was raised a UK fan. Neal thinks when it is all said and done that could be the major factor that helps steer him to UK.
The other two coaches that where most impressive outside of Elliott were RB Coach Chad Scott and TE Coach Vincent Marrow. Both were really easy to talk to and guys you can tell that the recruits will love having recruit them. Chad Scott is a younger guy that can really relate to the kids. He is close enough to their age that he understands what they like to hear and what is important.
One of the most interesting things both Scott and Marrow said was how much weight these kids put into the twitter stuff. Obviously as coaches they can’t say much to the kids about it or make a big deal about it, but both of them said that one of things that so many of the recruits commented on was how they couldn’t believe how crazy UK fans were and all the twitter followers and love they got from BBN. The coaches had to down play it, but the kids would show them there twitter profile and tell the coaches man I just gained 500, 1000, or 2000+ followers in the last week or so b/c I am coming on a visit or named UK as a leader. The coaches won’t be able to promote that out in public, but apparently it was a BIG deal for a lot of these kids and ones in the future.
Chad Scott shared a pretty cool behind the scenes story of one of things they had to do to get RB JoJo Kemp. Chad said they really had to convince JoJo just to consider UK. The biggest thing for them was getting the in-home with he and his family. Chad said JoJo originally had UK visiting them in the afternoon of the last day coaches could be in contact with recruits before a dead period started. So on that day Chad and Stoops were set to do their visit, Chad told Coach Stoops we have to wait till tonight before we do our visit and be the last guys in there. Chad talked with JoJo and told them they were going to be running late to do their visit and they were going to have to push it back. JoJo and his family originally gave them some pushback and just told them to get their as quickly as possible. So in the meantime Chad and Stoops literally sat outside his house and watched as other coaches went in and out of their house doing their in-homes. Finally Chad and Stoops talked to JoJo and let them know they would finally be there be there at about 9:30pm as the watched what they assumed the last group of coaches to leave their house. Coach Stoops and Chad finally rolled in about 9:45 and stayed almost till midnight so no other coaches could talk or call them before the dead period started. Stoops and Chad gave JoJo and his family the full court press and told him he had to be a CAT and that they needed him more than any other recruit they were going after. They basically told the kid if you come to UK, we are going to give you every opportunity to play from Day 1. From what Chad and Neal said they fully believe that will be the case too! Pretty cool knowing how that all went down.
Ok, I have a few more things I will try to add later tonight or tomm, but gotta run to go to my son’s bball game. I hope this is what you were looking for! GO CATS!!
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tgh3316 said...
Chad Scott shared a pretty cool behind the scenes story of one of things they had to do to get RB JoJo Kemp. Chad said they really had to convince JoJo just to consider UK. The biggest thing for them was getting the in-home with he and his family. Chad said JoJo originally had UK visiting them in the afternoon of the last day coaches could be in contact with recruits before a dead period started. So on that day Chad and Stoops were set to do their visit, Chad told Coach Stoops we have to wait till tonight before we do our visit and be the last guys in there. Chad talked with JoJo and told them they were going to be running late to do their visit and they were going to have to push it back. JoJo and his family originally gave them some pushback and just told them to get their as quickly as possible. So in the meantime Chad and Stoops literally sat outside his house and watched as other coaches went in and out of their house doing their in-homes. Finally Chad and Stoops talked to JoJo and let them know they would finally be there be there at about 9:30pm as the watched what they assumed the last group of coaches to leave their house. Coach Stoops and Chad finally rolled in about 9:45 and stayed almost till midnight so no other coaches could talk or call them before the dead period started. Stoops and Chad gave JoJo and his family the full court press and told him he had to be a CAT and that they needed him more than any other recruit they were going after. They basically told the kid if you come to UK, we are going to give you every opportunity to play from Day 1. From what Chad and Neal said they fully believe that will be the case too! Pretty cool knowing how that all went down.
This is great stuff...thanks.
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Chris Fisher ●
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SIgning Day party last night?