Not only is Kentucky’s new punter a 24-year-old Australian but he also has a nickname — “Bangers” — that comes with an interesting story.
     “When you hear a good song you say that is a ‘Banger.’ I was on a footy (football) trip and we were on a bit of a party bus,” said Wilson Berry. “I was at the front of the bus and I had control of the tunes. Someone was like, ‘That’s a banger,’ and it has just rolled on since then. That is also my Instagram handle if anyone wants to follow it.”
     Witty, charming and older just like Australian Max Duffy was during his All-American career at UK that ended last season.
     Will Wilson get a chance to be on the front of a UK football party bus controlling the tunes?
     “I sure hope so. Hopefully (UK coach Mark) Stoops is giving us some bourbon as well,” Berry said.
     Not sure about Stoops passing out bourbon on a UK football party bus but Berry certainly could help the Wildcats control field position much like Duffy did. Berry’s older brother, Jordan punted at Eastern Kentucky University and is entering his seventh season with the Pittsburgh Steelers where he has averaged 44.4 yards per punt on 385 kicks.
     The Berry brothers and Duffy all were with ProKick Australia that helped place them with American college football teams.
     “Obviously my brother is pretty renowned for his pro style punt and Max had such great years here. It’s good for me to get that mix of flavors and experiences. Any advice is good advice at this point and I am ready to go for it,” Berry said.
     One recruiting service ranked Wilson Berry as the No. 3 punter in Australia and No. 7 overall punter in the 2020 recruiting class. He played three years of Australian Rules Football for Essendon in the Victorian Football League.
     However, he knows going into this season he’s either known as Jordan Berry’s brother or the player following Duffy.
     “It is what it is. It is a good problem to have. It means the others have had success,” the UK freshman punter said. “ In terms of my thing I will hopefully make my own run at it and people will see my own path and hopefully recognize me for that in my career here.”
     His previous career included working as an assistant manager for Grill’d Burgers — a sort of middle class restaurant according to Berry.
     “We had great burgers on the menu. We had one called Mighty Melbourne. I think it is the best burger in the world,” he said. “It has relish as the base. It has mayo on top of the bun and then has a full salad plus pineapple is what I would

Wilson Berry, left, expects to have fun with his younger UK teammates and is not intimidated following All-American Max Duffy. (Vicky Graff Photo)

put on there and that also includes egg, bacon, cheese and obviously a beef patty.”
     He joked that he had told chefs at the UK football facility to give him the cooking tongs to fix the burgers for the team.
     “I am ready to go at it. I am sure they will loosen up after a while and give me a go,” Berry said.
     He could probably teach his younger teammates a lot of other tricks. He’s 24 and six years older than a lot of his teammates.
     “I do have to adapt to everyone being a bit younger. I think it is a good experience,” Berry said. “Having played in another country and coming here I feel a little more settled and hopefully can give advice to the younger guys as well.”
     But what about the best advice he’s said he ever receiver — life’s uncertain, eat dessert first. “It used to be my older brother that would always tell us that one at the dinner table and it just sort of stuck,” Berry said. “That’s it. Enjoy life for what it is each and every day, and enjoy the dessert. I am looking good and ready to go. That’s for sure. Cheers.”

     Kentucky has a lot of intense athletes on campus but none more intense than junior golfer Jensen Castle.
     She needed every bit of that intensity recently during her terrific run to win the U.S. Women’s Amateur championship — something no other UK golfer had ever done. She had to overcome a stress fracture in a rib that had limited her playing time, a 12-player playoff to get into match play and then had to beat three of the nation’s best players to take the title. She also spent several nights sleeping on an air mattress at the home of a friend’s friend because she had not made hotel arrangements for more than three days.
     Seldom did she smile during the eight-day competition, including when she made the winning putt in the title match.
     “Everyone gives me crap for my resting face,” Castle said when asked about her game face on the course. “It's just very … it's just there, and I'm very aggressive and blunt so it doesn't go together very well.
     “But I promise I'm friendly. I mean, I'm very competitive on the golf course. That's only over top of the ball. I like to have fun, cut up, laugh. When I'm over the ball, we're here for one reason. This is business. Get it done.”
     Castle insisted “she smiled more” than what the TV cameras probably showed during the tournament.

     New Centre College assistant basketball coach Mark Schult has worked a camp for former Wildcat Willie Cauley-Stein. Schult was also captain of Covington Catholic’s 2014 state championship team. That’s the same team Kentucky guard CJ Fredrick, a transfer from Iowa, helped win the state title again in 2018.
     Schult knows Fredrick and knows he will be a good fit for Kentucky and the UK fan base.
     “I think they are going to love him,” Schult said. “He is a sharpshooter. He has really picked up his game decision-making and defense. I think he will be a big name for BBN.
     “He is a worker. Those are guys who succeed. He is also the nicest guy you can find. We have worked a camp or two together and he’s great. I hope to get a chance to see him play.”
     Kentucky did play Centre College in a 2017-18 preseason exhibition game.
     “I know that was a great experience for Centre and if that worked out while CJ was there, then obviously I would be all for that,” Schult said.

     Kentucky has moved 6-3, 228-pound Izayah Cummings from receiver to tight end to help offset the season-ending injury to Brenden Bates.
     About 15 years ago then offensive coordinator Joker Phillips decided to move Jacob Tamme from receiver to tight end at the end of his redshirt freshman season. Tamme ended his UK career with 133 catches for 1,417 yards and went on to play nine years in the NFL.
     Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said Cummings volunteered to make the move and looked “surprisingly natural” at the new position.
     “He has that understanding and he fits in better than I thought he would,” Stoops said. “That’s been really good to see.
     “In this system, we’re a little different than we were a year ago as far as the run game and utilizing the tight ends, which is good. Without getting into too much detail, you don’t all the time need to be that 6-foot-5, 260-pound tight end

blocking with the outside zone and not having to dig out these SEC defensive linemen all day long.
     “It’s a little different and you could utilize someone as athletic as (Cummings) is.” Kentucky teammate Wan’Dale Robinson said Cummings reminds him of Florida All-American Kyle Pitts, the No. 4 pick in the NFL Draft.
     “Izayah looks really, really good out here,” said Robinson.
     Stoops could not stop praising Cummings after UK’s first scrimmage, something that is rare for the coach during the preseason. “Here’s a young man that always has a great attitude, works, does everything. He’s just so natural — it’s so friendly to the quarterbacks, somebody that’s that athletic with that kind of catch radius and is so smooth,” Stoops said. “Those big guys sometimes are stiffer than you think. You have a big guy that’s that athletic, it makes a big difference.”

     Kayla Kowalik had an amazing softball season when she led the NCAA in batting average and total hits and was second in runs scored per game. The junior catcher led UK in stolen bases and hit 12 homers to earn All-American honors.
     I wondered if there was someone who inspired her with words of encouragement or motivated her by saying she could not make it big time when she was growing up.
     “I am the kind of person that likes to move on and words don’t really bother me much,” Kowalik said. “When I was young, you are impressionable and softball was really not that serious but I had some people tell me that I could not do things or that I wouldn’t do this or that.
     “I would not necessarily say that is what drives me. I don’t have negative drivers. I have positive drivers and coaches. After that (negative) experience some people helped me out with positive reinforcement and their belief in me is what made me strong.
     “I don’t like to dwell on the negatives. I have done my part to prove that wrong and like to move on. But when you are 10 years old and someone tells you that you are not going to be good and you can’t do something, it is going to stick with you.
     “I am going to be 22 this year and it does not really bother me any more. I think it is kind of funny but I do remember what I was told.”

     Chauncey Magwood has big dreams for his football career at Kentucky and should after what he did at Lee County High School in Georgia. He had to move to quarterback his senior season but was still ranked as one of the nation’s top 100 receivers by both ESPN and Rivals.com.
     He threw for 938 yards and 12 scores in 2020 and also ran for 643 yards and six scores as a senior. He even managed to catch 11 passes for 141 yards and two more scores. He caught 53 passes for 700 yards and 10 scores as a junior, had 68 catches for 958 yards and seven scores in 2019, and even had 33 catches for 388 yards as a freshman.
     But he also headed to UK with the dream of being an engineer and had plans to major in engineering.
     “I had to switch my major. I am into construction and I had to switch because they did not have mechanical engineering,” the freshman receiver said. “That other engineering (civil) is not what I wanted and I didn’t want to struggle my first year of college.
     “I switched to business and my counselor told me I could turn that into engineering or whatever else I wanted to do. I have a lot of things in my mind I want to do besides engineering, so I am sure it will eventually work out just fine.”

  Quotes of the Week

Quote of the Week 1:

     “He is an elite rebounder and a better shooter than many people think. The guy can rebound the hell out of it. He can finish and score around the basket. He has a lot of toughness and can clear out space. He has to improve his passing a little bit but he’s really a good player,” ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg on UK center Oscar Tshiebwe.

Quote of the Week 2:

     “You gotta have some kind of spiritual connection with God. I know for me, that’s how I get through things that are unseen,” UK associate coach Vince Marrow on how he coped with a season that included the passing of John Schlarman as well as COVID.

Quote of the Week 3:

     “This new offense is way more explosive. We have pass plays in crunch time and not just inside zone runs. It’s going to be way different and I think will really spark that fire back in Kentucky fans to where the whole state can rally around the team like it did the Citrus Bowl year,” UK freshman offensive lineman Jager Burton on the upcoming season.