Fans will be able to follow along every step of the way as Mark Stoops' first Kentucky recruiting class comes together on Signing Day.

On Wednesday, Feb. 6, UKathletics.com will provide up-to-the-minute news on UK football's big day with a special Cat Scratches live blog and a live stream hosted by Dick Gabriel. Bookmark ukathletics.com/signingday, your home for the latest news on Signing Day.

Cat Scratches will be reporting live from the Nutter Training Facility on Signing Day, which is sponsored by Kentucky Farm Bureau. The live blog will begin at 8 a.m. ET and continue until late Wednesday morning or early afternoon. As soon as National Letters of Intent are received and processed, Cat Scratches' live blog will be the first to officially report the news.

In addition to news of the signees and bios and videos for each of the newest UK student-athletes, fans will also be able to interact with members of Stoops' coaching staff. Several of the assistant coaches will sit down with Cat Scratches to discuss the latest signees and answer fans' questions and comments in a real-time format.

Fans can submit questions and comments during the live chat beginning at 8 a.m. Questions will be posted pending approval of the moderator.

UKathletics.com will also be broadcasting a live stream of the day's festivities. Gabriel will serve as the host of the event and will conduct live video interviews with Stoops and UK assistant coaches.

Later in the day, UKathletics.com will carry a live stream of Stoops' Signing Day news conference at 3 p.m. Cat Scratches will have additional posts throughout the day.

Set a reminder below to join the live blog and tag your tweets with #WeAreUK to talk about the newest crop of UK football stars.

The Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers had just finished the first half of Super Bowl XLVII. Viewers in Lexington were still glued to their televisions in hopes of seeing the best commercial of the night as they waited for Beyonce's halftime performance.

The screen then turned dark. With a bell ringing and sirens wailing, Kentucky fans heard the familiar voice of Mark Stoops. It took a moment to register, but they eventually realized what they were watching. Social media outlets began to buzz with excitement and disbelief about the fact that a UK football Super Bowl commercial had just aired.

Jason Schlafer was not surprised. He had been involved in every step of the decision to purchase the advertisement after all. In fact, 2013 wasn't even the first time he had been a part of such conversations.

"We consider having a Super Bowl ad every year," UK's senior associate athletics director of corporate and university relations said. "But we were just waiting for the right year and right situation to do it because it's a different investment."

The reason it was a different investment is not that UK's marketing department would completely alter its budget by airing it - the 30-second local spot came at a cost of approximately $10,000 through a media buyer. Instead, the decision was between the "impact" of a local Super Bowl ad and the "frequency" of the hundreds of other spots that $10,000 can buy.

Ultimately, the prestige of being associated with the biggest event in American sports and the excitement that Stoops' arrival has infused into the program made the opportunity too attractive to pass up. Around 10 days before Super Bowl Sunday, Schlafer and UK pulled the trigger. A week and a half, however, is a very short time period to put such a spot, particularly one of the caliber that such an investment demands.

"It was important to us to create a spot that was produced at the level of a Super Bowl ad so that you weren't watching the game on a large HD TV with HD sound and it was this noticeable locally produced-looking thing," Schlafer said.

Assistant athletics director of marketing and licensing Nathan Schwake was tasked with leading the creative process. Partnering with Cornett Integrated Marketing Solutions - the Lexington-based company with which UK works on most of its advertisements - Schlafer and Schwake had another decision to make: serious or funny.

Some of the most memorable ads in Super Bowl history are remembered for their humor - think "Terry Tate Office Linebacker" - but that wasn't the way to go.

"We were looking for something hard," Schlafer said. "As we turn the page on a new football era, we have yet to see the results on the field. But all the other indications are that this is hard-nosed football program into the future. We wanted something that mirrored that."

Using audio clips from Stoops' introductory press conference with some of his words displayed in front of a digital version of Commonwealth Stadium, the ad came together between Tuesday and Friday of Super Bowl week. Once the decision was made to purchase the spot, Schlafer knew it would be executed well.

"Nathan Schwake drove the creative on this and he's super talented in taking a brand statement and giving the direction to turn it into a visual," Schlafer said. "So I wasn't surprised in how well it turned out, I wasn't surprised that it could be pulled off, but I was certainly impressed with the pressure to perform how well everyone did perform."

Once there was a finished product on Friday, UK's social media team conceived plans to share it so that an audience well beyond Lexington's city limits would get to see it. At the same time, they closely guarded the secret. Schlafer wanted it to be a surprise so that reaction would be spontaneous.

"We intentionally did not communicate that it was going to happen until after it happened so that we could gauge that," Schlafer said. "No one was anticipating it and then they saw it and I couldn't have been more pleased with the feedback we got initially."

Beyond monitoring Twitter, Facebook and YouTube - where the video surpassed 16,000 views by Monday afternoon - UK had a more concrete way to measure the advertisement's impact.

During the final seconds of the spot, "UKFOOTBALLTIX.COM" appeared on the screen. The URL was created specifically for the ad and routed to a page where they could purchase and renew 2013 season tickets. Heavy traffic on the page overwhelmed the ticketing software at times and several fans committed purchasing new season tickets and several more renewed for next season.

It's clear why UK waited until now to make a Super Bowl commercial.

This week's Signing Day is akin to a national holiday for football fans in the South. And for the first time in a long time - perhaps ever - Big Blue Nation has a widespread case of that fever, thanks to the early work done by new coach Mark Stoops and his staff.

"In just a short time, Mark Stoops has created a little buzz for Kentucky. If he can have any success on the field next year and have something to sell, it'll be a like James Franklin at Vanderbilt. Everyone said, 'Let's see what happens when he gets his teeth kicked in during the season.' But he didn't get his teeth kicked in and he had another good recruiting season," said MrSEC.com editor John Pennington on Friday's "Leach Report" radio show.

Pennington says getting in the door with higher-rated prospects is the first important step in trying to help the UK program make that long-awaited move to a higher level within the toughest league in America.

"It's clear he has a vision and he can pitch it to kids and get them to listen and that's step one," said Pennington. "But if he can get something to show them - this upset, getting to six wins and a bowl game - that's going to take things (to a higher level).
"They've gone out and found a guy who can excite prospects and you haven't had that in a while at Kentucky. Just getting in the living room is the first step and he's clearly shown he can do that. And I think putting money into facilities is going to help as well."

Updating UK's efficiency

After wins at Ole Miss and Texas A&M, Kentucky has moved up to third in the SEC in adjusted points per possession, kenpom.com's measure of offensive efficiency that takes into account strength of schedule. Anything over 1.0 is considered good and the Cats are 1.114 for all games. South Carolina and Auburn, UK's opponents this week, rank 10th and 11th in the SEC, respectively.

Florida leads the SEC in both offensive and defensive efficiency. The Gators are in an otherworldly realm in league games alone, with an offensive efficiency rating of 1.204 and a defensive rating of 0.778.

Harrow's progress at point

When you're in a line of succession that starts with Derrick Rose and includes the likes of John Wall and Brandon Knight, the bar is always set high for a John Calipari-coached point guard.

Ryan Harrow struggled in his UK debut and then was sidelined for several weeks with a health issue. Since returning, the improvement curve has had a few dips but the Cats have also played some of their best basketball when Harrow has played his best, with last Tuesday's win at Ole Miss being the latest example.    

Teammate Brian Long says the ups and downs come with the burden of responsibility that position demands at UK.

"I feel like being the point guard in Coach Cal's system is the hardest thing to do.  Watching Marquis (Teague) from the beginning of the year, he struggled and then we couldn't have won in the end without him," Long noted.  

Why is the position so hard to master?

"Because you have to control, know when to let go, when to pull back. You have to control everybody. The ball is in your hands 80 percent of the time probably. So you just have more decisions to make than anyone else," Long explained.

Noel's defense about more than blocks

Nerlens Noel is no longer on pace to break Rajon Rondo's freshman record for steals but there's a good chance he'll end up second, as he needs just 19 more to pass John Wall's 66.

That's impressive stat to many but you get the sense his coach is not as overwhelmed by it. Calipari says trying to steals can lead to cheap fouls, as we saw at Ole Miss.

"If there's a deflection and you can get a steal, great," Calipari said, "but I don't want (him) playing to steal."

Polson staying a factor

Jarrod Polson's junior season started with a bang when he came off the bench to play a key role in the Cats' win over Maryland. And 20 games into the season, he remains a key player in coach Cal's rotation.

Calipari says it's all about "energy" for the junior from Nicholasville, KY.

"He just plays with energy and when you have a bunch of guys playing tentative - because of how they're playing (individually) - you put him in the game and he really stands out, because he is going to play hard every time out," Calipari said on the UK-IMG Network pregame show Tuesday night.

The commercial above was shown during the Super Bowl in Lexington. To purchase 2013 UK football season tickets, visit UKFootballTix.com.

Jen Smith of the Lexington Herald-Leader was in attendance at a Tuesday meeting of the University of Kentucky athletics board. The big news from the day was a more detailed timeline for the planned renovations to Commonwealth Stadium that were announced on Jan. 11.

According to Smith, officials reported that the initial planning phase for the project is underway. UK will seek final approval for the football upgrades as well as two other campus-related projects In March. (UK President Eli Capilouto and Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart are encouraging alumni, fans and others to voice their support by contacting their local legislators.)

After that is done, a design team will begin the work that will include, according to (UK executive vice president for finance and administration Eric) Monday , 16-20 private suites, new home team facilities, 2,000 club seats, concession, restroom and security upgrades, a new team store, press facilities and a full-service kitchen.

"This project is focused on two ideals: to increase our competitiveness as well as fan satisfaction," Monday said.

The project will get underway this calendar year and is to be completed in the fall of 2015 or early spring of 2016, according to the report.

Link: Stadium renovations, timeline given at UK board meeting

For more on this, visit www.BBNunited.com.

So who do you like in the Super Bowl between San Francisco and Baltimore?

When we put that question to former UK and NFL star Marty Moore, he didn't hesitate in his response.

"San Fran. The way (quarterback Colin) Kaepernick is going and their defense, I just feel like they're going to win. Coming back from 17 down to win a game, they've shown a lot of resiliency. I really like their team right now," Moore said in a recent appearance on "The Leach Report" radio show. (Moore and other former NFL players from Kentucky are hosting a charity Super Bowl event this weekend and details will follow at the bottom of this post).

Moore played in two Super Bowls for the New England Patriots and they won the second one over St. Louis in 2002. At Kentucky, Moore set tackling records and helped lead the Wildcats to the 1993 Peach Bowl.

And given his experience on that side of the ball, you're probably not surprised to learn that he gives UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart a thumbs up for going in search of defensive-minded head coach to lead the program in a new direction.

"We've had this offensive mindset for a decade or more and in the SEC, you have to play defense. You have to be a defensive-minded guy to try and stop some of these teams.  To be able to win games at the end, we have to play defense," Moore said. "If you recruit an athletic defensive kid, you can always find a spot for him on offense. Just being able to scheme and do things that will keep us in games, I think that's going to be something we haven't had in a long time at Kentucky. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the changes he makes with the personnel that we have to make us competitive in the fall."

Stoops is off to a great start in upgrading the recruiting efforts at UK and Moore knows that is where the turnaround in his alma mater's gridiron fortunes will start.

"I like the fact that there are a couple of former players on the staff. We gotta win back the state and bringing in the former players helps in that regard. Getting the in-state recruits is key and having the ties (to Florida, Ohio, etc), that helps as well," he noted.   "It's a different kind of recruiting philosophy. Change was needed and I'm looking forward to seeing how spring practice goes."

Moore helping host Super Bowl watch party for charity

How would you like to watch the 49ers-Ravens matchup in the Super Bowl alongside guys who played in the big game?

That's what the seventh annual "Party with the Pros" event at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Lexington is all about. Moore and other former NFL players who suited up for college programs here in Kentucky will be there to mingle with fans, as well as raise money for a good cause. Proceeds will support Visually Impaired Preschool Services.

"It's a fun, nice event and you can enjoy the night and don't have anything to clean up," Moore said, adding that kids may not remember these guys from their playing days but they can still enjoy hearing their stories. "There's a lot of Super Bowl rings that float around there. The kids really enjoy it. We're old-timers but we wear our jerseys and tell war stories and I think it's a fun event that supports a great cause."

Tickets are $45 for adults, $25 for children and can be purchased at the door on Sunday. To get more information, check out partywiththeprosky.com.