Jasper Johnson’s decision and start of the NFL season

Good morning, folks! We have a fun day ahead of us…

Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. Five-star shooting guard Jasper Jansen Johnson will announce his college decision this afternoon. Johnson is ranked No. 11 in the 2025 cycle by On3 Industry Ranking and will choose between Kentucky, Alabama, and North Carolina. The announcement ceremony will take place at Woodford Couty High School in Versailles, KY. The actual event will begin at approximately 2:15 p.m. EST, and Johnson’s commitment will be made at approximately 2:32 p.m. EST. It is NOT open to the public.

And unless something crazy happens between now and this afternoon, Johnson is expected to choose the Wildcats. Alabama was his first-ever Division I offer, and he grew up a North Carolina fan, but family ties to the University of Kentucky and the chance to play for the school he grew up at, down the road, will ultimately be hard to turn down (no money helps either).

This has been a mixed recruitment drive in recent months, with all three of Johnson’s favourites battling for the lead in the public eye. But head coach Mark Pope has the Wildcats in a great position to get his commitment. If we do, we’ll create a two-man recruiting class that also includes four-star centers Malachi Morenowhich is ranked 25th.

KSR will be live on the ground in Woodford County to keep you updated on all the happenings.

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Major recruitment week for Pope and staff

Putting the Jasper Johnson situation aside, this week is still a major recruiting phase for Kentucky’s new staff. Since Monday, college coaches have been traveling across the country to visit their top recruiting targets at home/school. Pope and co. included.

Kentucky coaches have already made pit stops this week to watch the four-star SG Braylon Mullinsfive star PF Kaleb Wilsonand 2026 five-star SG Caleb Holt. And yes, they went to see Johnson at Overtime Elite, along with four-star 2026 PG Tay KinneyThey will visit more prospects today and Friday, including the five-star PG Mikel Brownfive star PF Chris Cenac (who had just scheduled an official visit to Kentucky), four-star SG Brayden Burriesand others.

Stoops’ Final Thoughts on South Carolina

Now let’s move on to football. We’re just two sleeps away from Kentucky hosting South Carolina on Saturday afternoon on ABC. The Wildcats continue to trend as a roughly double-digit favorite to beat the Gamecocks, who narrowly escaped with a Week 1 win over Old Dominion. A win for the Wildcats creates a potential College Play Day Next week the confrontation is scheduled, when world number one Georgia comes to town.

But South Carolina needs to be addressed first. We’ve been hearing from the players and coaches all week as they prepare for a hugely important early season game. Yesterday, we heard from the defensive coordinator Brad White and members of Kentucky’s defense. We’ll hear from head coach later today Mark Stoops as he gives his final thoughts before the match. As always, we will post his comments on the KSR YouTube channel as soon as possible.

While you wait, listen to everything Coach White, Zion Children’s Res, Tre’vonn RybkaAnd JQ Hardaway had to say about this week of training and what we could expect from the Gamecocks.

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The first-ever SEC injury report is out

The Southeastern Conference recently introduced a new injury report “availability reports” system that is supposed to provide some transparency into who is available and who is not in the league. The first-ever official report was released last night, and Kentucky has a few members on the list — also fewer than South Carolina.

Kentucky:

South Carolina:

• Jakai Moore | OL | Away
• Emory Floyd | DB | Questionable
• Bangally Kamara | LB | Doubtful
• David Spaulding | DB | Doubtful
• Gilber Edmond | EDGE | Doubtful
• Bryan Thomas Jr. | EDGE | Probably

KSR Game of the Week on its way to NKY

The KSR Game of the Week heads to Northern Kentucky for the third primetime showdown of the 2024 high school football season. After spending the first two weeks in Bowling Green and Lexington respectively, we now head just across the border into Southern Ohio to take a look at a Top 15 matchup.

This Friday we get a sneak peek at #8 Cooper Jaguars (2-0) and the No. 13 Ryle Raiders (2-0). Cooper will host with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. EST. Both schools have dominated the first two weeks of the season — Cooper winning by a combined 83-6 and Ryle by a combined 76-22.

Tomorrow night we can expect a good match under the floodlights. Even the Massey Ratings can’t pick a clear favorite. The computer system predicts a narrow 28-27 victory for Cooper. KSR will travel to Cooper to get the likes of Austin-Alexander, Cam O’Hara, Jacob Wilde, Dillon Smitand more.

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Show Me Your Tents is BACK

And the first episode of 2024 was hilarious. Also a shoutout to our friends at Country Boy for helping make this happen.

KSR’s Drew Franklin traveled around the outskirts of Kroger Field prior to the season opener against Southern Miss to listen to fans and show them their tailgating setups. There were plenty of impressive tailgates (my favorite is the one that makes noises as people walk by like they’re in a TV show) and even more drunken college kids yelling into a microphone (or megaphone, apparently?).

NFL Season 2024 Starts TONIGHT

I hope you’ve got your Fantasy teams lined up and are ready to rock — NFL football returns tonight. The Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs kick off the 2024 season at 8:20 p.m. EST on NBC/Peacock. The only former Wildcat involved is quarterback Devin Learywho was drafted by the Ravens earlier this year but is not on the team’s depth chart.

Then we see one more NFL game on Friday night (Packers @ Eagles) before a full slate of games officially kicks off the season on Sunday. There are eight games on Sunday with kickoffs at 1:00 PM EST. Football is in full swing here.

Women’s football aims to remain undefeated

For the first time since 2012, the Kentucky women’s soccer team is 5-0-0 to start the season. They’ll look to continue their winning streak tonight when Murray State (3-2-1) comes to the Bell Soccer Complex. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. EST on SEC Network+. Kentucky is coming off its first road win of the season, a 2-1 victory over Illinois last weekend.

If they beat Murray State, the Wildcats would move to 6-0-0, which hasn’t happened since the 2011 season. Current head coach Troy Fabiano has yet to win six straight games with Kentucky. UK is in the top 10 in the country in shots allowed per game with 22. Something special could be brewing with this group.