Expect John Calipari to have a future in the broadcast booth

Sept 8, 2012; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats quarterback Maxwell Smith (11) passes the ball against the Kent State Golden Flashes at Commonwealth Stadium. Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

Kentucky fans are more than ready for the upcoming football season and the return of the “Air Raid” offense.  And apparently the players are chomping at the bit in anticipation as well.  Ashley Scoby  talked to UK OL Zach West about the return of the Air Raid and how OL coach John Schlarman is improving the UK OL:

"It’s not just the wide receivers and quarterbacks who are excited about the Air Raid coming back to Lexington. With Neal Brown and Company arriving at UK, the offensive scheme has switched back to a simpler system that is reminiscent of the old Hal Mumme-led spread offense at Kentucky from years ago. Within this system, players don’t have to think and evaluate as much, giving them time to simply react and play the game. Even offensive linemen are finding this system to be easier as Kentucky enters its second week of spring football practice.  With Brown’s scheme, offensive linemen only have a few formation checks that they have to know and won’t have to make as many calls and check-downs at the line as they’re used to. Offensive lineman Zach West, a Lexington Christian product, said the new Air Raid scheme is easier to pick up on compared to what Kentucky used last year. The pace of practice with the new system is also faster, but that is something West is accustomed to. “It’s the same pace I played with in high school, the exact same system,” he said. “It’s something that’s real exciting and gets everybody motivated to do better.” Something else West is used to by now is offensive line coach John Schlarman. Schlarman was previously at Troy University for six years, helping to lead the team to three bowl games."

 We talked yesterday about the 115 handwritten letters that the Kentucky football staff sent to QB Drew Barker.  And it appears that it made quite the impression on Barker … in a good way:

"“I opened up the mailbox like I do every day, and they started falling out,” said Barker, a four-star player ranked as the nation’s No. 153 junior by Rivals.com. “I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ It was insane what it looked like in my mailbox. It was all crammed in there, and they had a bunch of rubber bands around them. It was pretty awesome, and I was pretty shocked.” All of the envelopes were “customized,” Barker said, with his No. 7 written somewhere on the outside and “my name all decorated,” and each letter had a different message. He said the most pieces of mail he had previously received from a single school was about 50 from South Carolina, and he said he’s gotten 40 a couple times from other teams. Barker said he received about 150 letters in all on Tuesday, including others from North Carolina State, Louisiana State, Louisville, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Mississippi State and more. Those schools all sent one or two pieces of mail apiece. Barker said Stoops, himself, wrote about 10 letters. “I’ve seen some other crazy pictures of guys getting a bunch of letters in the mail, but I’ve never really seen 115,” the said. “That was pretty nuts. I didn’t really know what to think.” Barker shared one of Stoops’ letters. The coach wrote, “Drew, you possess all the qualities that go into becoming a great player and leader. You have the ability to lead this team and this program to places they have never been before. A team, a company or an organization is only as good as the leadership at the top. You are a natural leader. Stay home and lead this team where you want it to go. Coach Stoops.” One letter was marked, “Open this one last,” although Barker said as of Tuesday evening he’d not gotten through the whole big blue stack to know what it said. Barker said UK, with its mail overload, had convinced him that he’s atop the Cats’ player wish list."