He’s realistic about how difficult it can be for a true freshman linebacker to play in the Southeastern Conference. However, Trevin Wallace is also confident he can be a contributor for Kentucky this season.
     “I know it is pretty tough to do as a freshman and that most freshmen playing in the SEC are probably at safety, corner, running back, maybe receiver,” Wallace said. “The SEC is the top conference at linebacker. Playing as a freshman is kind of ridiculous right now.
     “It is crazy but I feel real comfortable about it. I feel I can play. I want to play. However, I am also fine with getting gradually brought in at the middle of the season to get experience.”
     The 6-2, 220-pound Wallace says senior middle linebacker DeAndre Square has helped him more than any other player and has become his mentor.
     “He is real smart and someone I really look up to,” Wallace said.
     Square likes what he has seen from Wallace.
     “I like his size and love his confidence. He also listens and is not a guy who thinks he knows it all. I think he’ll be an important part of the defense,” Square said.
     Linebacker coach Jon Sumrall recruited Wallace out of Georgia and said as soon as he signed that he anticipated he might play this season — and that was before an injury to Ole Miss transfer Jacquez Jones gave Wallace a chance to work with the first-team defense in practice last week. Wallace was the top-rated defensive player in UK’s 2021 signing class and 247Sports Composite Rankings rated him as the fourth best defensive player ever to sign with UK.
     “He’s not only a great player but he busts his butt to prepare and get ready,” Sumrall said. “He’s also really, really smart. He knows what he is doing.”
     Wallace has run the 100-meter dash in 10.8 seconds and the 200 in 22.09. His best long jump was 23 feet, 4 1/2 inches.
     “I just ran track to help my football speed because if somebody is faster than you and you want to keep up with them you have to get faster,” Wallace said.

     Kentucky has a lot of young defensive lineman that coordinator Brad White is counting on this year but he also says senior Abule Abadi-Fitzgerald is going to be a “major factor” for UK.
     “He is a massive individual,” said White. “He is starting to understand what we are asking of those guys.”
     He played in 13 games as a redshirt sophomore in 2019 and played in five games last season.
     He came to the United States from Nigeria and was always a basketball player until he tried football in high school. He had 39 tackles, nine tackles for loss, two sacks, 13 quarterback hurries, two forced fumbles and one interception as a senior in high school.
     “Early on it was very developmental for him (at UK),” White said. “The big thing for him is he just needs to continue to try and stay healthy. If he stays healthy, he is a guy who is going to be able to help us.”
     White remains optimistic that freshman Jamarius Dinkins and Kahlil Saunders can contribute along with a group of second-year players — Justin Rogers, Sam Anaele, Octavious Oxendine and Josaih Hayes.
     “They are all making strides and coming into their own,” White said. “Each has to find some sort of niche. They are all unique and different in their own way. Throw in Kahlil who has got length and a little twitch in his body that you want. He’s a young pup but both he and Jamarius are what you are looking for. They step off the bus and look like SEC linemen.

     Sometimes I think we can all forget that major college athletes are not that much different from a lot of us.
     Sophomore libero Riah Walker could be a key player for the UK’s defending national champion volleyball team. That doesn’t scare her. But guess what does? Frogs.
     “I hate them. That is my biggest fear,” Walker said. “Growing up in Florida, frogs have always been traumatic to me. I have just always been scared of them. They are just slimy and jump on you. Fortunately I have not seen any frogs in Kentucky and hope I don’t.”
     Yet she had no fear at age 7 when her sisters influenced her to start playing volleyball.
     “My two older sisters started playing when they were young and I wanted to be like them, so I started playing,” Walker said. “My older sisters tried basketball and soccer and didn’t like them. I just went to volleyball.
     “I played with my second oldest sister in high school and club because I always played up. She reminds me of (former UK All-American) Madison (Lilley). She was a setter and was always on everyone. She was tougher on me because I was her sister but that gave me thick skin.”
     Her oldest sister played beach volleyball at Florida International University.
     “I played beach volleyball when I was younger but liked indoor more, so I just stuck with that and I am glad I did,” Walker said.

     One receiver who impressed offensive coordinator Liam Coen before preseason practice even started was Chauncey Magwood, who started 58 straight games at Georgia powerhouse Lee County High School.
     “Coming into ninth grade I was not expecting that. Playing in summer camps I stepped it up, somebody got hurt and I ended up being one of the receivers. It prepared me for this,” Magwood said.
     Coen was impressed with the way Magwood worked to learn the playbook during the summer and he has continued to impress in practice to where he likely will be in the playing rotation Sept. 4 against Louisiana-Monroe.
     He says what he went through as a high school freshman has helped him at UK.
     “You have players from all over the country and I have to work to be in a position to play. If I don’t put in the work, I am not going to play. I get that,” Magwood said.
     Magwood had to move to quarterback his senior season. He threw for 938 yards and 12 scores and also ran for 643 yards and six 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.
     “My (high school) coach talked to me and said Lynn Bowden did the same thing his last year (at Kentucky) to help the team by moving to quarterback,” Magwood said. “We ran a lot but I didn’t run a lot myself like Lynn Bowden did. We had a great backfield and our coach didn’t want other teams to just expect me to run.”
     Magwood was still ranked as one of the nation’s top 100 receivers in his recruiting class by ESPN and Rivals despite not playing receiver in 2020.

     Kentucky football commit Grant Bingham of Johnson Central opens his season with two games in Lexington. Johnson Central played Aug. 20 at Henry Clay and will play Friday, Aug. 27 at Lexington Catholic — two easy chances for UK fans in central Kentucky to see him play.
     Johnson Central coach Jim Matney says his 6-6, 300-pound all-state offensive lineman is a “solid player” that continues to try and get better.
     “We are trying to get him ready for UK,” Matney said. “We have had several kids out of the mountains do well in the line in college including recently with the boys from Belfry at Louisville and UK. A lot of schools are having success with mountain kids and he will be one because he’s a tough kid.”
     Matney understands it’s important to let Bingham work on skills he’ll need at UK.
     “We want to have him ready for Kentucky so we work on his overall package. He does not do a lot of pass blocking with us. We try to put in some extra time (with pass blocking) to get him ready for college,” the Johnson Central coach said. “He’s not had any letdown in his workouts since he committed to Kentucky.
     “He has been pretty level headed despite turning down Notre Dame, Michigan, Miami and others. He’s a little bigger now but it is good weight he has put on. You can see he is thicker.”

  Quotes of the Week

Quote of the Week 1:

     “We all know what he can do. Look at Auburn, Ole Miss and halfway through the Mississippi State games last year and he was playing as well as any defensive lineman in the SEC before he got banged up. His body, his conditioning are at an elite level. We need him to perform at an elite level,” UK defensive coordinator Brad White on senior defensive lineman Josh Paschal.

Quote of the Week 2:

     “I think this is one of my favorite parts of the year. The first few weeks on campus are always the most fun. You are meeting freshmen, meeting transfers, meeting new people. It is just a fresh start and you are ready to see what next season will bring,” UK All-American catcher Kayla Kowalik on school starting at UK.

Quote of the Week 3:

     “Kentucky gives me so many clothes. I have all kinds of brand new Nike clothes and I am going to wear that if you give me new clothes. Kentucky makes me happy and I am happy to represent Kentucky that way,” UK golfer Jensen Castle on wearing UK gear during her U.S. Women’s Amateur championship win.