Report: Cobb to see back specialist

Posted at 6:02 p.m. EDT – Eric Lindsey, UK Media Relations

I’ve been pulled away from football practice the past few days with prior obligations, but news came out Tuesday afternoon that wide receiver Randall Cobb is in Georgia seeing a back specialist.

The sophomore wide receiver has been battling a lower back injury for much of the week and has been limited in practice. There is no indication of the severity of the injury, but Brooks said he hopes to have him back Wednesday.

Also, wide receiver Aaron Boyd returned to practice Tuesday after serving a week’s suspension for a violation of team rules.

 

Paxton’s return, freshman influx makes UK instant SEC contender

Posted at 5:55 p.m. EDT – Eric Lindsey, UK Media Relations

Gary Henderson might have grown a few more gray hairs Monday night. He might have even sweated out a few pounds of stress in the process. But the anxious moments Monday were all worth it once the midnight deadline passed.

The news was simple yet possibly program-changing – James Paxton was returning to UK. Coming with him were five highly talented recruits capable of building a team around.

Henderson admitted there were some tense moments during a restless Monday night as they awaited word on some of their prized players. The Cats lost two players – pitchers Steven Inch and Keith Butler – to major-league contracts, but by in large, UK’s monumental night has made UK’s pitching staff one of the best in the conference and quite possibly the nation heading into 2010.

“It is fair to say that outside of a game, (Monday’s MLB deadline) is just about the most important day of the year,” Henderson said. “It goes a long way in defining the parameters of your club.”

The funny thing is Henderson would trade nights like Monday’s every year if it meant he would receive annual star-studded talent like the one he’s getting this year.

“There is some stress, but at the same time there is a lot of excitement and it kind of just comes with the territory,” Henderson said. “We would absolutely like to have guys who have been in our program go in the first 40 picks each season, no question about that.”  

 

The impact James Paxton will have will no doubt change the landscape of not only Henderson’s team, but the entire SEC. Instead of having to retool the starting rotation, one that looked like it would be devoid of two starters , Henderson now has two ace-like starters at his disposal in Paxton and sophomore Alex Meyer.

Both hurlers are capable of taking the ball in a must-win situation.

“What it does is give you some structure,” Henderson said. “It gives you two guys back in familiar roles with experience who have been through the conference and know what to expect. Both get a chance to improve on last year’s performances.”

Paxton admitted that Monday was full of its stressful moments. There was undoubtedly a rewarding contract for Paxton on the table, but the chance to compete for an SEC title and an opportunity to work with Henderson and his coaching staff for one more year was too much for the southpaw to pass up.

“It was definitely part of the decision,” Paxton said. “We are going to have a great team at Kentucky this year. I have a feeling we are going to have the ability to do some great things.”

“The coaches at Kentucky have been really good to me,” he said. “They have helped me a lot, mentoring me and teaching me the game of baseball. It has been a great experience at Kentucky and that made it a lot easier to come back for my senior year, knowing that I would get to work with such a good coaching staff again.”

The hard-throwing lefty was one of the most prized prospects in college baseball last season. Scouts lined ballpark fences on the weekend to watch Paxton pitch, and rarely did he disappoint. The 6-foot-4, 215-pounder went 5-3 in 2009, fanning 13.2 hitters per nine innings pitched – the third-best mark in the NCAA.

Paxton had his rough outings. He gave up nine earned runs in a loss to South Carolina and he later surrendered eight runs in the last series of the year against Florida. Those were largely responsible for Paxton’s 5.86 ERA, but he still has plenty of things to improve – and prove – in college ball.

“I think there are plenty of things to improve upon,” Henderson said. “Number one would be a development of a changeup. The second thing would be efficiency and then continue to improve upon command of the fastball in the strike zone. If he can improve on those things, we are going to be in pretty good shape.”

With Paxton and Meyer locked into the one and two starting spots, Henderson’s only concern will be replacing All-SEC pitcher Chris Rusin. Henderson has plenty of candidates capable of filling that role, including Braden Kapteyn, Logan Darnell and junior-college transfer.

Where Monday night’s news will really have an impact on is the trickle-down-effect to the bullpen. Because of injuries, youth and inexperience, Henderson’s pitching reserves were thin in 2009.

Henderson, a pitching coach by nature, loves lefty-on-lefty matchups and righty-on-righty matchups, but his ability to throw pair certain pitchers with hitters last season was impaired because he simply didn’t have enough arms to go to last year.

With the return of Paxton, a healthy sidewinder in Nick Kennedy, the eligibility of Little and the addition of three highly-touted freshman arms – Jordan Cooper, Taylor Rogers and Sam Kidd – Henderson won’t have that problem this spring.

His only problem will be finding enough innings for one of the deepest pitching staffs in all of baseball.

 

College GameDay visits Lexington Feb. 13 for UK-Tennessee

Digger Phelps and the rest of the ESPN College GameDay crew will visit Lexington on Feb. 13.

Posted at 1:29 p.m. EDT – Eric Lindsey, UK Media Relations

It just keeps getting better for the men’s basketball team.

Just a day after ESPN announced its Super Tuesday schedule, the Worldwide Leader of Sports released its 2010 College GameDay schedule, which will be highlighted by the Kentucky-Tennessee game on Feb. 13 at Rupp Arena.

Rece Davis, Digger Phelps, Jay Bilas, Hubert Davis, Bob Knight and the rest of the GameDay will make a pit stop in Lexington for the nationally televised game at 9 p.m.

The popular ESPN show will broadcast two live one-hour shows from Rupp Arena on Feb. 13. The first one will be aired at 11 a.m. ET, followed by the 8 p.m. broadcast just before the 9 p.m. tip.

 

Majority of freshman class opts to play at UK

Posted at 10:28 a.m. EDT – Eric Lindsey, UK Media Relations

James Paxton wasn’t the only coveted player to postpone his professional career to play at UK. Five of UK’s seven incoming signees opted not to sign major-league contracts, instead choosing to play baseball at the University of Kentucky.

Jordan Cooper (RHP), Taylor Rogers (LHP), Sam Kidd (RHP/OF), Luke Maile (C) and Brian Adams (OF; also plans to play for the UK football team) all opted to play baseball at UK, in addition to the return of James Paxton.

Sixth-round Philadelphia Phillies pick Steven Inch (RHP) and 24th-round St. Louis Cardinals selection Keith Butler (RHP), both who signed to play at UK, inked contracts with their respective MLB teams and will not play ball for UK.

The return of Paxton along with the five freshmen instantly makes Kentucky a contender in the Southeastern Conference. What once was a thin pitching staff instantly becomes a deep and talented collection of hurlers with the boost of Paxton and the freshmen.

I’ll have more on the baseball news later, but for now, I’m off a 10:30 a.m. meeting.

 

Morning Coffee

Posted at 10:14 a.m. EDT – Eric Lindsey, UK Media Relations

UK HIGHLIGHT – SUPER SCHEDULE: Plenty of UK news to pick from on a rather busy Monday. There was the shocking and largely impactful decision by pitcher James Paxton to return to the UK baseball team for his senior year (post below and more to come) and football stories as usual, one here (Lexington Herald-Leader) and here (Courier-Journal).

But the news everyone has been dying to hear is the men’s basketball schedule. We reported on the four ESPN Super Tuesday games here on Monday, but Jerry Tipton from the Lexington Herald-Leader talked to Nick Dawson, ESPN’s senior manager of programming for college basketball, who acknowledged the desire to put UK basketball on TV as much as they possibly could.

“I think they understand the impact (John) Calipari has had before even coaching his first game,” Whitworth told Tipton.

In case you missed the release of the four ESPN nationally televised games on Monday, the Cats – who received a league-high four games – will play at Florida on Jan. 12, at South Carolina on Jan. 26, against Mississippi on Feb. 2 and at Mississippi State on Feb. 16.

All four are must-see games. After a relatively down year in 2008-09, the Southeastern Conference could very well challenge to be one of the top conferences of the year. Even with the loss of Nick Calathes, Florida should be very strong and always presents intriguing matchups with UK; South Carolina, as UK fans know after last season, is a team to be reckoned with and will compete for the SEC East crown again behind Devan Downey; and Mississippi State, a team more people should be talking about, returns virtually its entire SEC Tournament winning team from 2009 and will be favored to win the West.

Of course, with the unveiling of the four ESPN games, the rest of the schedule is getting very close to coming out. The Big Blue Sports Network will reveal the 2009-10 schedule via TV special in the near future. Expect an announcement very soon.

SEC HIGHLIGHT – SIDNEY CLEARS FIRST OBSTACLE: Speaking of Mississippi State, top 20 recruit Renardo Sidney is one step closer to playing basketball for the Bulldogs after clearing his first obstacle, according to Kyle Veazey of the Clarion-Ledger.

Veazy reported Monday that Sidney was academically certified by the NCAA’s Eligibility Center, allowing him to enroll at Mississippi State and start attending classes. Before Sidney becomes eligible, he must clear an amateurism inquiry, which will likely be his biggest hurdle yet.

If Sidney can play, Mississippi State will be the hands-on favorite to win the West, and they’ll likely give Kentucky a run for the overall SEC crown.

As noted a few paragraphs above, the Bulldogs will return basically every key player from a team that marched through the 2009 conference tournament. Jarvis Varnado will return as the go-to man in the middle, and around him will be an arsenal of capable scorers in Barry Stewart (12.4 ppg), Ravern Johnson (12.1 ppg) Dee Bost (10.9 ppg) and Phil Turner (8.5 ppg). Add Sidney to that mix and the only problem head coach Rick Stansbury will have is finding enough basketballs to get his players the shots they deserve.

NATIONAL HIGHLIGHT – FAVRE WON’T GO AWAY: No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Sorry, I had to vent my frustration. Why, you ask? Well, for the 182nd time in the last 24 months, Brett Favre is considering un-retiring and making a return to football, according to a column from Jay Glazer of FOXSports.com.

 

If you read this on a daily basis, you know how annoyed and tired I am of this story. I thought it was over a month ago, but I should have known better. Favre can never get enough.

 

I hate to even put it on here, but I can’t deny the significance and impact it will make if he does return. Glazer’s column isn’t a report – only a column with his opinion. But the fact that anonymous Minnesota Vikings were quoted as saying they believe it’s already a done deal leads me to believe the Favre saga is far from over.

 

 

Monumental day for UK baseball

First-round pick James Paxton has elected to return to UK for his senior season.

Posted at 1:10 a.m. EDT - Eric Lindsey, UK Media Relations

Gulp!

That was the sound of Southeastern Conference opponents and the rest of baseball when the MLB signing deadline at midnight came and went without even a drop of ink from Kentucky pitcher James Paxton. The left-handed pitcher decided to postpone his major-league career to return to UK for his senior season.

Read the full news release here.

Paxton, a supplemental first-round pick by the Toronto Blue Jays, instantly becomes one of the top pitchers in collegiate baseball in 2010. The southpaw ranked third in the NCAA in strikeouts per innings (13.2) in 2008, striking out 115 in 78.1 innings. His return to UK with fellow pitcher Alex Meyer will create one of the best one-two pitching punches in the SEC, and quite possibly the nation.

Quite frankly, few expected Paxton to return when the Blue Jays selected Paxton in the 2009 MLB Draft. Although his ERA (5.86) was a bit bloated in 2009, he was one of the most highly coveted pitchers in all of college baseball. Scouts lined up by the dozens to watch the southpaw pitch, and rarely were they disappointed.

Paxton, whose fastball has touched as high as 96-97 mph, will take what could have been a cloudy starting pitching rotation and make it one of the most formidable in the conference. Instead of having to replace two starting pitchers, head coach Gary Henderson has two ace-like pitchers at his disposable in Paxton and Meyer. What once looked like a possible starting pitching overhaul will now be one the team’s greatest strengths.

"Paxton, a junior left-hander, rocketed up draft boards midway through the spring by running his lively fastball up to 97 mph and showing an above-average curveball, but he struggled down the stretch and finished with a 5.86 ERA," said reporter Aaron Fitt of Baseball America. "Paxton will team with righthander Alex Meyer to form one of the nation’s most talented one-two punches in the Kentucky weekend rotation.

With Paxton back in the rotation, Henderson will only have to replace All-SEC pitcher Chris Rusin. Several guys, including Braden Kapteyn, Logan Darnell and junior-college transfer Matt Little, will be in the mix for the third weekend starting spot.

Plenty more to talk about, including the rest of UK’s draft class and their statutes to come later Tuesday. We haven’t received official word on the seven signees and Brian Adams, but we’ll confirm later today and talk about what it all means to the program. Also, I hope to talk to Henderson and possibly Paxton before the day is over with, so keep an eye out for that.

 

Post-midnight draft update

Posted at 12:20 a.m. EDT - Brent Ingram, UK Media Relations

Still keeping a close eye on the draft signings as they are piling in now after midnight. The MLB Draft signing deadline was officially at 12:01 a.m. EDT, so expect word on the status of UK pitcher James Paxton - a supplemental first roud pick of the Toronto Blue Jays - in the near future.

News of the signings are starting to roll in as it was just reported by Baseball America's Aaron Fitt that No. 1 overall selection Steven Strasburg has signed a MLB contract for over $15 million with the Washington Nationals.

Stay tuned for updates or check Baseball America for a complete resource.

 

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