UK at Mississippi State
Both Kentucky and Mississippi State are both in a fight to get bowl eligible.
Kentucky stands at 5-3 while Miss St is 3-5. Kentucky has the Bulldogs, the Georgia Bulldogs, the Tennessee Vols and the Vanderbilt Commodores left on the schedule. Kentucky believes they can win any or all of their remaining games. Georgia is obviously the longest of longshots remaining on the schedule. Tennessee has beaten Kentucky 20 plus straight times, but they appear pretty far down this year so there’s a chance.
The best options for getting bowl eligible for the Wildcats are the Vandy and Miss St games. Neither one is a given, but Kentucky has had recent success against both programs.
Kentucky needs to continue that success. But to do that, they need their roster as healthy as possible.
Kentucky comes in with it’s talented defense very banged up, but all 11 starters are able to play Saturday. For the first time since the Middle Tennessee State game, the Wildcats will have all 11 opening day starters available. Miss St has struggled on offense, like the Wildcats all season. You can expect Kentucky to hold Miss State’s offense under 300 yards and under 17 points.
On offense, Kentucky’s expecting a jolt of energy from newly named starting quarterback Randall Cobb. Still, this is Cobb’s first road start as a quarterback in the SEC. He says he’s not nervous and he wasn’t rattled by the Swamp, so he should be fine in Starkville. The question is can he get some movement out of his offense?
All five original starters are now available for the offense since Garry Williams went down in the Norfolk State game. Bowling ball back Moncel Allen appears poised to carry the running load for the Wildcats, with Alfonso Smith and Tony Dixon backing him up. At receiver, Kyrus Lanxter may make his return. The starters are expected to be junior EJ Adams and freshman Gene McCaskill. Both have played well recently and are expected to play big roles Saturday afternoon.
If the Wildcats can move the ball and keep the field position in their favor, Kentucky should win the game. But if the Wildcats turn over the ball more than the Bulldogs, then it will be difficult to win in Starkville.
My prediction?
Kentucky 23 Miss St 14
Hansbrough Out
When Kentucky opens the season in Chapel Hill to play the North Carolina 
Tarheels, the Heels may be without their star, Tyler Hansbrough.
Hansbrough is suffering from a stress reaction condition in his right shin. If it’s not properly treated, it could lead to a stress fracture.
Good luck to Tyler, and here’s wishing him a speedy recovery.
Back and Forth Continues
Kentucky and coach Gillispie were able to hold their Midnight Madness early, because of an NCAA loophole allowing individual instruction for two hours a week.
The NABC fought to stop it earlier and it appears they’ve gotten their way. The NCAA has now closed that loophole.
I’m sure Gillispie has something else up his sleave to counter-act this ruling.
Additionally, it appears the NCAA will also close the loophole that allowed UK to pay Daniel Orton’s father more than $6000 to speak as an expert at several UK camp appearances.
Gillispie, a very creative coach with the rules will definitely find other legal ways to recruit that few others are privy to.
Gillispie’s Practices? Perpetual Motion
Just from reading a few practice reports, I’m pretty impressed with what I’m hearing.
Kentucky hadn’t had open practices since the Pitino years. They were high energy and known for pushing the players to their limits. Gillispie’s practices are no different. They move seamlessly from drill to drill. When somebody messes up, they run sprints.
Even the managers and support staff are active. Wiping sweat and cheering on the players.
Everything about the practice is go-go-go.
According to Matt May, it appears the starters (today) are Patterson, Stevenson, Meeks, Miller and Porter.
Liggins is impressive as a freshman. Galloway is disappointing at this time. Harris is out with the sprained knee, so he isn’t participating in the drills. AJ Stewart and Jared Carter are running sprints.
Here’s Tipton’s take.
Abdul Gaddy to sign with the Huskies
Looks like it is over before it began. UK would have loved to land Gaddy, I’m sure. Unfortunately, he chose to remain on the west coast.
U-Dub is a solid program, though. Lorenzo Romar is an outstanding recruiter and if he becomes the same kind of Xs and Os guy, he’ll have no problems becoming one of the top coaches in the nation. It doesn’t hurt to add a stud like Gaddy to the roster, though.
UK Football: Player Health
According to Matt May, Micah Johnson will play Saturday. Mo Grinter and 
Marcus McClinton will also see action. Justin Jeffries is expected to start at his old right tackle position.
Myron Pryor is expected to be available, but he may only see limited action.
Also, we’ll see Moncel Allen starting at running back, which is a welcomed change. Allen is a hard runner and will definitely gain some yardage. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him gain 75 yards or so.
Randall Cobb is handling the quarterback position well and is expected to be unfazed by the cowbells at Mississippi State. Especially after his cool hand at the Swamp last Saturday.
BIG Update…
I was out yesterday and unable to provide updates. Sorry to those who read, and I’ll be sure to amek up for it today. The biggest news of the day yesterday was football related.
Jeff Drummond on TCP spoke with South Carolina offensive tackle, JK Jay. Jay is indeed making a visit to Kentucky, probably for the Georgia game on November 8th. Jay is one of the best tackles in the nation and could walk in and start from day one with his strength and skills. He doesn’t have any other visits planned and he was previously committed to Clemson until Tommy Bowden’s dismissal.
Brian Eldridge of the Kentucky Sports Report spoke with the coach of Lexington point guard Vee Sanford. Sanford’s a rising prospect who could become a very good college point guard. His shooting ability and his athleticism make him a hot commodity.
Scout.com is reporting UK will be getting a visit from defensive tackle Darrius McMullin, a 6-foot-2 275 defensive tackle. McMullin is committed to Vandy, but he plans to visit both Kentucky and Ole Miss. Kentucky is in need of linemen on both sides of the ball. So McMullin is a guy UK needs on campus.
The worst news of the day is that Kentucky commitment David Sims has now made Georgia Tech option 1B behind Kentucky after his visit to Atlanta. He came away impressed and the Yellowjackets want him as an option QB. Kentucky MUST make a big impression on him to keep him in the fold when he visits November 8th.
Kentucky added yet another Lagrange football player to it’s recruiting list. 6-foot-3 athlete Demetri Merritt is UK’s newest commit. The general thinking is that Merritt will grayshirt, prep or go JUCO before making it to UK. Either way, it keeps UK’s pipeline to LaGrange open and it’ll help when UK begins to recruit Jamius Gunsby.
Michael Hartline took a chance yesterday to apologize to his teammates for his comments Tuesday. Most people think that this was a force apology because Hartline still doesn’t see what he did wrong. The next few weeks will tell the tale of Hartline’s future at Kentucky.
Solomon Hill listed Kentucky along with Southern California and Georgetown as his leaders. He seems to have Kentucky running in third place. But a lot can change if Gillispie can get him on campus. That remains to be seen.
The Great Pumpkin Busted?
Another of my fellow bloggers has a blog saying his sources say that 
Phil Fulmer is out at UT after the UK game.
Take that with a grain of salt.
Hartline Not Handling Demotion Well
After being demoted to 2nd string, Hartline made comments to the media today. They weren’t comments you’d expect after hearing him speak earlier in camp and up until the last couple of weeks.
But the writing has been on the wall for Hartline over the last few weeks. Now it’s out in the open.
“It stinks,” Hartline said, reacting to Coach Rich Brooks’ decision to start freshman Randall Cobb this Saturday at Mississippi State. “No one ever expects to win a starting job and then lose it because guys around him aren’t performing the way they should.”
It’s obvious that Hartline feels like his teammates let him down. But he has to take personal responsibility for his own shortcomings which were very obvious. Even Hartline saw the change coming.
“No. Not at all. I saw it coming sooner or later,” he said. “The worst part about it for me is that there was nothing I could have done to get better on the practice field, and if we’re not productive at other places, we’ve got to do something.”
Even after that, Mike full of praise towards Randall Cobb and his abilities.
“Randall is doing a great job,” Hartline said. “He went out there against Florida and had a lot of success. He does things that I just can’t do, and that’s the great thing about being that kind of athlete.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens. It was clear that he’s lost his teammates confidence on the field. Can he get back on track off the field?
Hill interested in the Wildcats
Jeff Drummond of The Cats Pause spoke with former Arizona 
commitment, Solomon Hill yesterday evening.
Hill confirmed his interest in Kentucky, along with USC, Washington, Washington State and Miami. He plans to make some visits before the end of the early signing period.
If that’s the case, Hill needs to get on it. The signing period starts very soon.
The 6-foot-6 swingman averaged 16 points, 8.5 boards and five assists for Fairfax in Los Angeles. Rivals rates him as the number 3 small forward in the country.
Kentucky is also expected to touch bases with Abdul Gaddy, another Zona decommit.
Other Notes:
Basketball – 2010 recruit Ian Miller is off the board. The 6-foot-3 combo guard committed to Florida State yesterday.
Football - Rich Brooks announced that aside from Cobb taking over at quarterback that Gene McCaskill and EJ Adams would be starters against Mississippi State.
Football – Micah Johnson and Myron Pryor are both still nursing injuries. Johnson is questionable for this Saturday’s game. Pryor is out. Maurice Grinter, Justin Jeffries and Marcus McClinton are all questionable.
Basketball – Harrison Barnes, the dynamic swingman, has narrowed his list of suitors to Duke, Florida, Kansas and Iowa State. UK no longer involved.
