John Calipari at the barbershop's Wednesday Morning Wakeup

@MrsTylerKSR

John Calipari is currently working his way across the country to check in on his top prospects in the 2017 class, arguably his most important recruiting class since he's been at UK given the total roster overhaul after this season. Over the weekend, he checked in on Mohamed Bamba, Kevin Knox, John Petty, Trae Young, and PJ Washington. On Monday, he saw Hamidoi Diallo, and yesterday, he visited Lonnie Walker and Tremont Water, with one of those visits taking place in a barbershop: https://twitter.com/UKCoachCalipari/status/775842738889687044 Tweets like this one are one of the many reasons I love John Calipari. Despite his fancy threads and hair, Calipari is a salt of the Earth guy and loves nothing more than getting to know players in their own habitats, even if it's a barbershop. The picture has been cropped to make sure the recruit in question isn't shown, but that sure looks like Lonnie Walker's hair in the mirror on the left. Regardless, what a cool move by Cal, and I can only imagine the barbershop sounded like this during the visit: https://youtu.be/Il9jJObx7FE Today, Calipari is expected to return to Pennsylvania to visit Quade Green, one of four point guard targets in the class. Calipari's main priority at the position is Trae Young, and word is his visit with Young over the weekend went extremely well. In fact, if you really want to read the tweet leaves, this one by Young yesterday is interesting: https://twitter.com/TheTraeYoung/status/775717956839845888 Why is that interesting? That's also the name of John Calipari's new book. Coincidence? Maybe so. But maybe not. With our recruiting roundup over, let's move on to the other news of the day...

Kentucky's 2017 football schedule was released last night

Given the current state of the program, it's hard to look ahead to next season, but man, traveling to Southern Miss and then hosting Eastern -- a team that Kentucky was lucky to beat last year -- doesn't sound like an easy start; however, that's probably just my recent pessimism talking.

New Mexico State star RB Larry Rose III did not practice yesterday

If you're looking for signs of optimism heading into Saturday, New Mexico State's star running back Larry Rose III's status for the game is still in question. Rose, who racked up 1,651 yards last season and was named an AP All-American, hasn't played a snap yet this season because of sports hernia surgery and did not practice yesterday. So, there's that. Meanwhile, the forecast for Saturday still looks pretty grim:

Mark Stoops will be on the SEC Coaches Teleconference this afternoon

I'll be on the call to bring you his remarks around lunchtime.

Did you see Duke's having a Pro Day?

The Blue Devils are inviting NBA scouts to practice on October 19 and 25 then barring them from practice the rest of the season. Hmm. I wonder how Coach K came up with that one. By the way, John Calipari's third annual UK Pro Days will take place October 9-10 at the Joe Craft Center. You know, coincidentally.