KSR Today: 2 more sleeps until Kentucky football…

Good morning, folks! It certainly doesn’t feel like football season in the Bluegrass when you stick your pinky toe outside any air-conditioned controlled building, but football season waits for no one — sorry Mother Nature, that includes you. Two days from now, Mark Stoops ‘ Kentucky team will take Kroger Field to face Southern Miss in the 2024 season opener.

Speaking of Stoops, we’ll hear from him one final time this afternoon before Saturday’s game. He’ll finish off what has been a week-long media tour with the coaches and players. We heard from Stoops first on Monday during his press conference (and the Mark Stoops Call-In Show later that night) before offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan and a couple of players took the podium on Tuesday. Yesterday (in addition to the SEC Coaches Teleconference ), we spoke with Brad White and the defense, along with quarterback Brock Vandagriff , who is just as excited about Saturday as we are.

While you wait to hear from Stoops again later today, you can listen to everything White, Vandagriff, and Co. had to say about the Week 1 matchup below. From there, we’ll dive into the rest of this morning’s news and notes.

Deone Walker is coming on the radio show this morning

Make sure you’re tuned into the KSR Radio Show this morning, especially once the second hour begins. A special guest by the name of Deone Walker will make an appearance to talk some football. The projected first-round NFL Draft pick will come on the show at 11:00 a.m. EST to chop it up with the crew. Drew Franklin and Adam Luckett will be leading today’s show, so expect plenty of football conversations from start to finish.

At 6-foot-6, 345 pounds, is Walker the biggest radio guest that KSR has ever had? He’s certainly up there.

Take advantage of our KSR+ KICKOFF SALE to get bonus coverage of the Cats, including game threads, in-depth scouting reports, and the latest recruiting and roster intel. Use promo code KICKOFF24 for 50% off the annual price.

Mark Pope was at the US Open/is way taller than Pat Kelsey

And he was sitting in Novak Djokovic’s box alongside his wife, Lee Ann, while watching Djokovic advance to the third round of the US Open with a win over Laslo Djere. Even more notable, the Popes shared the box with Utah Jazz/Utah Hockey Club owner Ryan Smith. Why? Not a clue, but it sure is interesting to see them together. Send some of that BYU NIL money this way, Ryan.

We all need to see Pope playing a bit of tennis now. We know his daughters are big into the sport. Or do we think he’s more of a pickleball guy?

But that wasn’t the only Pope Spotting on Wednesday. The Kentucky men’s basketball head coach was also side-by-side with new Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey at the Leadership Louisville Luncheon. Governor Andy Beshear was even there. But all we care about is how funny it is to see Pope and Kelsey stand next to each other. The jokes write themselves sometimes.

Football season tickets are SOLD OUT

Congratulations, Big Blue Nation! You helped set a new record in the Mark Stoops era. Kentucky football sold 40,800 season tickets this year, 600 more than the previous year. All 6,500 student season passes also sold out. This was a good year to surpass that mark too as Kroger Field will feature some upgrades such as a new LED light system.

Single-game tickets are still available though, including for Saturday night’s matchup with Southern Miss. They won’t last long, so head on over to Ticketmaster if you need to make a last-minute purchase.

KSR Game of the Week: Trinity @ Frederick Douglass

We’ve got another top-five matchup in the state going down tomorrow night. After Frederick Douglass opened the season with a win over Bowling Green at WKU in the first KSR Game of the Week, we’re featuring the Broncos once again as they’re set to host the Trinity Shamrocks under the lights in Lexington.

Douglass moved up to No. 2 in KSR’s statewide rankings as a result of the win over Bowling Green. They actually swapped spots with Trinity — now ranked No. 3 — after the Shamrocks picked up a win over a ranked Bryan Station team. KSR will have plenty of boots on the ground at Frederick Douglass High School to bring you all of the action, including the performance of four-star Kentucky EDGE commit Cedric Works , who now plays for the Broncos.

For a full preview from Daniel Hager, click here . Kickoff on Friday night is set for 7:30 p.m. EST.

New episode of 11 Personnel in your feed

The 11 Personnel crew of Nick Roush and Adam Luckett got in front of the microphones for one final pregame podcast. In the leadup to Saturday’s opener, they spent the episode talking about Southern Miss challenging Kentucky in the trenches, the Wildcats’ ability to run the ball, where UK has the best advantage, the betting spread, and much more.

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Randall Cobb made his Out of Pocket debut

Former Kentucky football legend Randall Cobb is back in the spotlight once again, but this time, the roles are reversed. Instead of being the one playing on the field, Cobb is now the one talking about what’s happening on the field. Yesterday, he made his debut on the SEC Network’s Out of Pocket alongside friend of the program Alyssa Lang.

He’s going to be pretty good at this whole personality media thing.

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