Thursday, April 08, 1999
Spring football a time for big dreams at UK
Young team seeking repeat of '98 success
BY NEIL SCHMIDT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Last season was a time for big talk and big dreams. Hal Mumme bought his Kentucky football players “1-1-99” T-shirts that helped them target, and eventually reach, a New Year's Day bowl. This year's goal?
“It's kind of encoded,” Mumme said Wednesday, smiling. “There's kind of an enigma factor to this deal.”
And to this team.
UK has the fewest returning starters, 11, of any Southeastern Conference team, so spring practice resembles a casting call. In addition to auditions, the Wildcats are enduring the last strain of growing pains from a wild winter:
Big success, with an Outback Bowl bid; big tragedy, in the Jason Watts car crash that killed teammate Artie Steinmetz and a friend, Scott Brock; and big headlines, with quarterback Tim Couch leaving early for the NFL.
And now, big expectations.
“What's amazing is seeing a changeover from people in terms of (UK) basketball,” tight end James Whalen Jr. said. “They're saying, "I can't wait for football season to start,' and basketball season hasn't even ended. That's never happened around here before.”
UK gained more yards and scored more points in its 7-5 season last fall than any other team in school history, gaining national attention with All-Americans Couch and wideout Craig Yeast. Commonwealth Stadium is undergoing a $24 million, 10,000-seat expansion.
“Kentucky's now on the map,” junior-to-be safety Willie Gary said. “But this is probably a critical year for us.
“If we have a losing season, people will say, "Kentucky was only good one year.' But if we show people we can win ball game after ball game, that will show this program is here to stay.”
Twenty seniors are leaving, including Yeast and the entire offensive line. Of the 85 scholarship players UK will have this fall, 62 will be either freshmen or sophomores.
“I think they know they can win,” Mumme said. “Our biggest problem is that number: 62. Even given that, we've had a lot of guys play that played as freshmen or redshirt freshmen.
“We're youthful, but there's a lot of experience in the youth. I think they drew some confidence from last year. We just have to have some great enthusiasm and overcome whatever inexperience we have.”
The defense returns seven starters, plus Gary, who started in 1998 before suffering a season-ending knee injury in the fourth game.
Offensively, the attention has been focused on finding a replacement for Couch. Dusty Bonner, a sophomore-to-be, is back in a duel with redshirt freshman Mike Scipione, who Mumme said played well enough Wednesday to loosen Bonner's hold on first string. Whoever wins this spring battle will have to contend with Highlands' Jared Lorenzen when practice resumes in August.
The Wildcats will wear a chip on their shoulder pads, trying to prove they can win without Couch.
“Tim was an excellent quarterback, but one man doesn't make a team,” defensive tackle George Massey said. “Just be cause people doubt our youth doesn't mean we can't get back to where we were last year.”
The players insist the tragedy of the two deaths pulled them together. There is no shortage of sincerity in their hugs and high-fives.
They recognize the future for the opportunities it affords.
“Everyone wants us to go back to a bowl,” Massey said. “Whatever people's expectations are, ours are higher.”
HARP RETURNS: Chase Harp, who announced Monday he would transfer after being asked to switch from quarterback to tight end, has changed his mind. The redshirt freshman from Danville, Ky., returned to practice Wednesday, playing tight end.
“He wants to think it over more,” Mumme said. “If he stays or still ends up leaving, we'll be (here) for him either way.
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