Cat Scratches
Interactive Twitter Facebook

Recently in football Category

The University of Kentucky celebrated its 146th May Commencement on Sunday. (photo by Mark Cornelison) The University of Kentucky celebrated its 146th May Commencement on Sunday. (photo by Mark Cornelison)
During the University of Kentucky's 146 May Commencement on Sunday, 49 UK student-athletes received degrees. Forty-seven earned undergraduate diplomas and two received graduate degrees.

(Note: Includes student-athletes who received degrees after their completing eligibility.)

Baseball
Thomas McCarthy
Zac Zellers (Will complete coursework this summer)

Football
Aaron Boyd
La'Rod King
Quentin McCord
Craig McIntosh
Kevin Mitchell
Matt Smith
Taylor Wyndham
(Note: 2012 seniors Mikie Benton, Gabe Correll, Gene McCaskill, Morgan Newton, Cartier Rice, Collins Ukwu, Steven Duff and Sam Simpson graduated previously.)

Gymnastics
Caitlyn Ciokajlo
Storey Morris
Whitney Rose

Men's basketball
Twany Beckham
Marquis Estill
Jon Hood
Jarrod Polson (Graduated in three years)
(Note: Jamal Mashburn also received an honorary doctorate of humanities.)

Men's golf
Joseph Barr

Men's soccer
Pedro Andreoni
Gabriel Conelian
Barry Rice

Men's swimming and diving
Jon Bullock
Jon Keltner
Ben Russell

Rifle
Heather Greathouse

Softball
Chanda Bell
Kara Dill (Graduate degree in exercise science)
Alice O'Brien
Erika Silence

Track and field
Katy Achtien
Keith Hayes
Ben Mason (Will complete coursework this summer)
Chelsea Oswald
Shiara Robinson
Josh Nadzam (Masters of social work)
Danielle Sampley
Rashaud Scott
Samantha Stenzel
Hiruni Wijayaratne
Megan Wright

Volleyball
No graduates this weekend, but seniors Ashley Frazier and Christine Hartmann had already graduated.

Women's basketball
A'dia Mathies
Crystal Riley

Women's golf
Megan Moir

Women's soccer
Natalie Horner
Brooke Keyes

Women's swimming and diving
Megan Eppler
Lindsay Lash
Mandy Myers
Sherrill Thompson

Women's tennis
Khristina Blajkevitch

Mark Stoops still has more than 7,000 fewer followers than fans who attended the Blue/White Spring Game, but he's doing well for himself nonetheless.

Barely six months into his tenure as Kentucky head coach, Stoops has more than 43,000 followers, enough to rank him 10th among all college football coaches. Stoops is sixth among Southeastern Conference coaches.

Kelly Hines from the Tulsa World posted the rankings he compiled:

1. Les Miles, LSU: 105,760
2. Brian Kelly, Notre Dame: 91,042
3. Butch Jones, Tennessee: 75,300
4. Mark Richt, Georgia: 65,240
5. Bret Bielema, Arkansas: 57,958
6. Jim Mora, UCLA: 49,239
7. Steve Sarkisian, Washington: 46,377
8. Hugh Freeze, Ole Miss: 45,098
9. Dan Mullen, Mississippi State: 44,697
10. Bo Pelini, Nebraska: 43,162
11. Mark Stoops, Kentucky: 43,068

Since Friday morning - when Hines originally posted the rankings - Stoops has narrowly passed Pelini, his friend and former high-school teammate.

A few days removed from being taken by the Lions in the third round, Larry Warford seems to be the rare draft pick that avoids criticism. The former star Kentucky guard has been well-received by Detroit fans and media alike and the consensus seems to be that he fills a need and will quickly compete for a starting role.

Here are a few links by which you can judge the reaction yourself:

Detroit Lions fill massive need with massive guard prospect Larry Warford
(Justin Rogers, MLive.com)

In three seasons as the starting right guard for the Wildcats, he led the SEC interior blockers with an 88.47 percent grade for blocking consistency, and registered 36 touchdown-resulting blocks and 125 knockdowns.

Detroit released starting guard Stephen Peterman at the start of the offseason and Warford is expected to compete for that opening on the right side.

"I think he definitely competes for it," general manager Martin Mayhew said. "You know, he's got some stuff to learn. He's got to clean some things up. But I think he's got a chance to compete as a starter."

Larry Warford is the big body the Lions need in the interior of their o-line (Tim Twentyman, Detroitlions.com)

The Lions are expecting Warford to come in and compete right away for their vacant right guard spot, but he said he's just worried about getting better every day.

"I don't want to talk about me starting," he said. "I just want to come in and compete as hard as I can, keep working and hopefully learn from the best there about playing in the NFL."

Detroit Lions' Larry Warford 'dominant' on Kentucky's offensive line, Mike Mayock says (Josh Slagter, MLive.com)

The Lions selected Riley Reiff with the 23rd overall pick in 2012, and he could start the season now at tackle if Warford is able to start.

"This is one of my favorite football players in the draft," NFL Network's Mike Mayock said. "You want to talk about a big, square, stout son of a gun. This is him. Every tape I put on, he was dominant."

Warford measures at 6-foot-3 and 332 pounds. He's made the All-SEC second team the past three seasons.

Get to know Larry Warford: Detroit Lions get dominant offensive guard in third round (Gillian Van Stratt, MLive.com)

In related news, Warford was the only Wildcat chosen in this year's NFL Draft, but he won't be the UK player to get a chance to live out his dreams at the next level. Soon after the draft's conclusion on Saturday, Martavius Neloms (Lions), Matt Smith (Atlanta Falcons) and Collins Ukwu (Minnesota Vikings) each announced on their Twitter accounts that they signed as free agents. Congratulations to all four.

One final note on the 2013 NFL Draft: Florida State led all schools and set a school record with 11 players chosen this weekend. Of those 11, seven were coached by former defensive coordinator and current UK head coach Mark Stoops, who attended the draft on Thursday and saw two of his players - defensive end Bjoern Werner and cornerback Xavier Rhodes - go in the first round.

Warford Detroit-bound after third-round selection

| No TrackBacks | 1 Comment
The Detroit Lions selected former Wildcat Larry Warford with the No. 65 overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft. (Britney McIntosh, UK Athletics) The Detroit Lions selected former Wildcat Larry Warford with the No. 65 overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft. (Britney McIntosh, UK Athletics)
Expecting to hear his name called between the second and fourth rounds of the NFL Draft, Larry Warford was planning to forgo the watch parties potential draftees typically attend.

Nervous and excited to learn of his new team and home, Warford simply wanted to pass the time the best way he knew how.

"My dad wants me to come down and have a party with the family and all that but I kind of don't want to do anything for it," Warford said on Tuesday. "I kind of just want to sit at my house and play video games."

For this, Larry Warford was happy to put down the controller.

The Detroit Lions selected Warford in the third round (No. 65 overall), making the star offensive guard the highest-picked Kentucky player since Randall Cobb in 2011 and second-highest in a decade. Warford is the first UK offensive lineman to be chosen in the draft since both Todd Perry and Chuck Bradley were selected in 1993.

If the Lions are right about him, Warford will be playing for a long time.

"Warford was made to play guard in the NFL," Lions head coach Jim Schwartz said in a press conference after Detroit selected Warford.

Warford is expected to compete for a starting spot immediately on a team that ranked 23rd in the league in total rushing yards in 2012. According to NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock, Warford is more than capable of winning the job.

"This is one of my favorite football players in the draft, Larry Warford from Kentucky," Mayock said. "And you want to talk about a big, square, stout son of a gun, this is him.

"Every tape I put on he was dominant."

Making that all the more impressive in the competition Warford was facing on a weekly basis. He credited going head-to-head with the Southeastern Conference's top defensive tackles for preparing him for the next level and his performance against them caught the eye of ESPN's Todd McShay.

"This guy has faced some big-time defensive linemen and he won the vast majority of his one-on-one battles," McShay said. "He is a phone-booth player. He's gonna get into the pads of defensive linemen and once he's locked on, forget about it."

Warford did not allow a sack during his senior season en route to receiving All-SEC honors for the third year in a row. All his accolades - which include a third-team AP All-America nod - make him one of the most decorated linemen in school history.

At the next level, he only figures to build on his Wildcat legacy.

"I just want to represent my university," Warford said. "It's a great place I've had so much fun and I have gotten a lot out of it and to represent UK in the draft it means everything to me. This is something that I really have been wanting to do and take a lot of pride in."





Larry Warford is projected to become the first UK offensive lineman selected in the NFL Draft since 1993. (Chet White, UK Athletics) Larry Warford is projected to become the first UK offensive lineman selected in the NFL Draft since 1993. (Chet White, UK Athletics)
Typically, NFL teams wait until later in the draft to go after offensive guards. As Larry Warford said earlier this week, tackle has always been the "glamor" position on the offensive line.

This year, however, is different.

Thanks to one of the strongest classes at the position in recent history, four guards were selected in the first round of the NFL Draft of Thursday night. And as a result, Warford is the top guard prospect left on most draft boards.

In fact, Athlon has him as the top prospect left regardless of position:

1. Larry Warford, OG, Kentucky
There are very few sure-things in any NFL Draft much less after the first 32 picks. Warford is a plug-and-play stud at guard who isn't far behind both first-round studs Chance Warmack (TEN) and Jonathan Cooper (ARI). He was widely considered by opposing coaches as clearly the best player on a team with little to no support. And he still produced at an All-SEC level despite the struggle of his team. He is productive, powerful, game-ready and a steal in Round 2.

The draft will resume at 6:30 p.m. ET on Friday (ESPN and NFL Network) and Warford could have his video-game playing interrupted early in the evening.

With spring practice in the books for all 14 Southeastern Conference schools, head coaches from around the league called in Wednesday morning and early afternoon for the SEC Football Spring Coaches' Media Teleconferenc. Included among them was UK's Mark Stoops, who addressed the spring as a whole, the quarterback position and his early recruiting success. Here's everything he had to say:

On his first spring at UK and how the team progressed ...
"I was encouraged with the first spring. I felt like things went well. I was impressed with our players. I felt that they had a great attitude and were embracing the process. Really happy with their attitude and the way they're going about their business. Encouraged with the spring game and our fans and the fan base is awfully hungry to help us be successful. That was evident with their support at the spring game. So overall I'm pleased with the way things are going."

On what makes Vince Marrow a good recruiter and whether he recruits only in Ohio ...
"Yeah, I've got him just in Ohio right now. And what makes him a great recruiter I think is just his ability to make everybody feel comfortable. He's very good at just building relationships. He works at it extremely hard and he has a lot of ties to Ohio. He's lived in three or four different parts of Ohio. He grew up in Ohio and went to the same high school (Cardinal Mooney) that I did, so Vince knows me very well. He knows how we want to go about our business in recruiting. And so I think just with his work ethic and his ability to build relationships are some of the best qualities he has."

On whether Georgia is an area he plans to recruit ...

"Absolutely, yes. We are currently recruiting Georgia. Yes."

On whether he sees any separation in the quarterback battle after watching tape ...
"Well I think it's very fair to say that Jalen (Whitlow) had the best spring game and did some awfully good things. So I think, yeah, I gotta say that Jalen had the best spring game and did some awfully good things. With that being said, it's still an open competition there."

On where UK will need the most help from newcomers next season ...
"Well, obviously we need help in every position. We need to improve across the board. But what stands out to me right now is the skill positions, both on offense and on defense. We need to get a lot better in the secondary and we need to get a lot better at wide receiver."

On Josh Clemons and Dyshawn Mobley ...
"Yeah, Dyshawn, he was a good back. He just really did some good things and I was impressed. I feel like he's a physical guy up about 215 pounds and gives us a little physical punch and also got some good speed. So I was impressed with him. Who else did you ask about? (Clemons) Josh is, again, a pleasant surprise. I think with coming back off a knee injury, I really just was impressed with him. He also had a good spring game. We did not practice him back-to-back (days). We gave him, if we did have a back-to-back practice, we just practiced him one of the other to try to let that knee heal up a little bit in between practices and all that. But again, a big physical guy that's got some good vision, so I was happy with Josh."

On what Clemons and Mobley stepping up means for Justin Taylor ...
"He's got a lot of work to do. So we'll see."

On whether he will be at the NFL Draft with three potential high picks from his 2012 Florida State defense and whether that is a selling point in recruiting ...
"Yeah, I am going to be there for the draft and supporting those players, a couple of them, and come up and be with them. So I wanted to be there to support them and their family. I don't know if it's a selling point or not, but I'm really doing it because of my relationship with these guys and I've been with them the last three years and really think the world of them and want nothing but success for them. So that's the reason I'll be at the draft."

On whether he has been surprised with how well 2014 recruiting has gone ...
"I've been very encouraged with recruiting since I've been to Kentucky. I feel like we're getting a good reception and I feel like the coaches are working extremely hard. The coaches have the ability to get in there and build some relationships and earn some trust from some of these recruits. So overall I've been very pleased with 2013 and the start of 2014, yes."

On whether he is focusing on any positions in 2014 ...
"We really need a lot of help in every area. So I feel like we need help across the board, but we need to continue - it's hard to say because we need help everywhere, but we certainly need some help in the skill positions like I mentioned. I think really defensive back and wide receiver we need to upgrade there."

Larry Warford is expected to become the first UK offensive lineman to be drafted into the NFL since 1993. (Britney McIntosh, UK Athletics) Larry Warford is expected to become the first UK offensive lineman to be selected in the NFL Draft since 1993. (Britney McIntosh, UK Athletics)
With the NFL Draft just days away, Larry Warford is desperate for ways to pass the time. UK's former star offensive guard knows he's about to receive life-changing news and he's trying everything he can think of to occupy his racing mind..

"Play bass guitar, fish, video games, workout," said Warford. "Just anything to get my mind off of it. Might go driving for no reason. That's really it. Just lay down and try to relax."

But how can he relax when in just a couple of days he will be living in a completely new city surrounded by a wholly unfamiliar set of coaches and teammates? Warford literally has no idea where he will be headed come this weekend when his name is called, whenever that may be.

As of now, he doesn't even know where he will be when he gets drafted. In fact, he may just keep playing video games until he gets that phone call.

"My dad wants me to come down and have a party with the family," said Warford. "I kind of don't want to do anything for it. I kind of just want to sit at my house and play video games or something like that because I'm just going to be nervous the whole time."

One thing he will be doing is a virtual certainty: Warford is going to be selected in the NFL Draft (Thursday-Saturday on ESPN and the NFL Network). When that moment comes, he will become the first UK offensive lineman to accomplish the feat since Todd Perry and Chuck Bradley in 1993.

Scouts and analysts have Warford projected anywhere from the second to fourth rounds in a draft heavy with talent at offensive guard. Teams that he has worked out for and talked with on the phone have given him a similar feel.

While he's nervous, it's not about his ability to compete at the next level. After four seasons as a Wildcat, Warford has solidified himself as one of the top offensive linemen in this season's draft class after earning All-Southeastern Conference accolades the last three seasons and becoming an All-American along the way.

It's been his time as a Wildcat and the tutelage of former offensive line coach Mike Summers that have helped him reach this point.

"I'm a lot more confident in myself," said Warford. "I'm very critical of myself still, but when I first got to UK, I thought that I wasn't great at all. I went from high school to college and I wasn't dominating like I was. I failed to realize there's a lot better talent in college.

"Having gone through my years at UK these last four years and steadily becoming a better player, I've gained a lot more confidence in myself."

There was talk about Warford potentially declaring for the draft after his junior season, but he knew that he still had plenty of improving to do before he was ready for the NFL while his confidence continued to blossom.

"I wasn't ready last year to come out as a junior. I had a lot to work on," said Warford. "I feel like through this season, I got to play against a lot better (defensive) tackles with the addition of Missouri and going out to play Florida and Georgia. Those guys had a lot of great d-tackles, so I got to improve my game a lot. It's helped me out a whole bunch."

While confident in his abilities, Warford's humility and desire to continue to improve has put him in this position to have his named called at Radio City Music Hall in New York City this weekend. And even when he gets that call, he'll still go out there and show his team that he has something to prove.

"I knew that I had a lot to work on. I still believe I do," said Warford. "I'm not a perfect offensive lineman. Nobody is. There's always something to work on. Honestly, from keeping that point of view throughout my entire career at UK has helped me progress as a play and become a good one. I'm just going to try to keep that mentality and never become complacent with where I'm at."

Where he's at now and where he's been seem like lifetimes away, though he played high-school football just down the road at Madison Central High School in Richmond, Ky.

His high school coaches implored Warford to try and improve his body composition and conditioning, things he continues to work on as he prepares for the NFL. At that time, Warford had no idea what to expect going into college. Looking back, he wishes he would have listened.

"It would have made my life easier as a freshman," said Warford. "Coming in and doing the conditioning tests, it just woke me up that I needed to do something about my condition when I first got here. If I would have listened to them a little bit more and ran a little bit more, I wouldn't have been hurting for that whole first year."

Back then, heading into his freshman season and playing football for Kentucky was the unrealized dream. Now, he's ready to play the game professionally in the NFL. That thought, though the moment is just days away, is still taking some getting used to.

"It's still kind of like a dream. Since it's not (at Kentucky), it doesn't seem like it's real," said Warford. I'm getting all these calls from these teams asking me for my information for draft day, and it's like, 'Oh, I'm here now.' It's only a couple of days away. The fact that it's getting so close, it's becoming a reality."

Despite not reaching the level of team success he would have liked over the past two seasons, Kentucky will always be special to Warford as his home and place where he matured and developed as not only a football player, but as a man. This is why when one team decides to draft "Larry Warford from the University of Kentucky," that will be his proudest moment as his life changes forever.

"I just want to represent my university. It's a great place," said Warford. "I've had so much fun and I've gotten a lot out of it. To represent UK in the draft, it means everything to me. It's just something I've really been wanting to do and take a lot of pride in."

Video: Spring game 2013 Cat Walk

| No TrackBacks | Add a Comment

NOTE: Attendance figures in the video above have not been updated after spring games completed during the weekend of April 20. Stay tuned later today for a complete attendance update.

Video: Who's next? - Wide receivers

| No TrackBacks | Add a Comment

Recent Comments

  • Steve in Dayton: Thank you, Neal. We all look forward to an exciting brand of football. If we can be exciting and competitive, read more
  • Ben: Good luck to Wiltjer! Looks like a great prospect with good genes. read more
  • Ben: Kentucky have struggled a bit this season and not made it easy for themselves. read more
  • Guy Ramsey: You are of course right. That should have said "Elite Eight" and has been changed accordingly. read more
  • BDWELLS: UK DIDN'T GO TO A FINAL FOUR IN 1992. read more
  • Emy: Thanks for checking! :) read more
  • Guy Ramsey: I believe the shirts were specially made for this trip in a limited quantity, but I will double check. read more
  • Emy: What an amazing group of young men!!! Can you please please please tell me where to get one of the read more
  • Jeffrey Wills: So happy for the these three young men to have this life changing experience. As a UK fan, season ticket read more
  • Mike Polston: Hey good work guys. Come north a little ways and you will find several hundred of the Army Kentucky National read more