Jojo Kemp believes win over South Carolina could be a full-circle kickstart for Kentucky from 2014

“I came here to change the program around, and that’s what we’re doing. We’re changing the game. Why not Kentucky? Why not us?”

Those were program-altering words shared with the world by Jojo Kemp in a sea of black with Big Blue Nation storming the field following the Wildcats’ 45-38 upset victory over South Carolina in 2014. Mark Stoops was in his second year in Lexington, knee-deep in the middle of one of the toughest rebuilds in recent college football memory, selling a dream with nothing more than blind faith to show for it. He went 2-10 in year one, but recruiting was historically good and Kentucky was a signature win away from the snowball really picking up speed.

Insert Kemp, who ran for 131 yards and three touchdowns on 17 rushes, averaging 7.7 yards per carry in the double-digit comeback victory in front of a sold-out, blackout Commonwealth Stadium crowd. With the game on the line, the second-year running back put the team on his back and fought his way down the field and into the end zone over and over. When it comes to inspirational individual efforts, there aren’t many better than what No. 3 gave the Wildcats that night in Lexington.

The WildKemp was born.

“It was just one of those things where, man, the stadium was just electric, man,” Kemp told KSR on Wednesday. “I just didn’t want to let the team and the fans down, it was something that I had to get done. I had to get it done. The fact that we were running the Wildcat the whole entire game, and everybody in the country knew that I wasn’t throwing the ball, it’s one of those things where you gotta figure it out and get it done.”

The heroic effort left him huffing and puffing on his back, struggling for air. He had to get carried off the field by the team’s strength coach at one point, begging for a break.

Then Neal Brown sent him right back out there — with Big Blue Nation giving him the inspiration to finish the job.

“I remember looking at the sideline, tapping my helmet like, ‘Just let me off one play,'” Kemp said. “… And then I break that long run. I don’t know if you guys remember, but I was on the sideline laid out, gassed. Next thing you know, I start hearing the chants, ‘Jojo! Jojo! Jojo!’ And I’m just like, ‘Alright, alright. You got your rest, now get up. Let’s do it again.'”

Part of what made that night so memorable beyond the win itself or Kemp’s individual performance was the start of Grove Street Partying in Lexington. Nothing forced or desperate, just an organic moment between the players and the fanbase as Waka Flocka Flame hit the speakers. The Wildcats danced and the crowd went wild, that moment becoming a Kroger Field tradition every year since.

You just had to be there.

2014: Kentucky vs South Carolina.

The FIRST EVER Grove Street 🔥

The Day a Tradition was Born 💯 pic.twitter.com/u3opMbNqF6

— Blue Chips Media (@BlueChipsBBN) September 23, 2025

Kemp wasn’t pleased the 2025 season opened with no Grove Street Party.

“People, including myself, were going to have a panic attack,” he said. “It was like, ‘What’s going on? Where’s our theme? What’s changing?'”

It was important to him because it was a part of Kentucky football history, the birth of a new era overlapping with his career night as a Wildcat. He was the face of a tradition.

“It was a part of the culture that we created,” Kemp said of Kentucky’s anthem. “It was one of those things where it just happened naturally and organically, one of those songs where we had a memorable game that made a mark in our history.”

Fortunately, it’s back, just as he believes the Wildcats can be coming off the 4-8 season and an up-and-down start in 2025. This game at South Carolina on Saturday is a full-circle moment for that, in a way, as Kemp sees it.

That win in 2014, along with the one a year later in Columbia that saw Kemp rush for 78 yards and a score in the 26-22 victory, are among his favorite moments at Kentucky. He takes pride in sending Steve Spurrier to retirement.

“I think that was the game. He said, ‘Alright, I’ve had enough of this. I’m going to retire. I can’t beat Kentucky, I think it’s time to hang it up.’ That’s my claim of fame.”

What will this group’s claim to fame be? In the same spot against the same opponent, can they use a win over the Gamecocks to kickstart the turnaround Stoops desperately needs? Last year’s 31-6 loss at Kroger Field was the final straw for a portion of the fanbase and the start of the downward spiral in the head coach’s second-worst season of his career.

A win at Williams-Brice Stadium could change everything.

“We definitely got over that hump. And now, I think we’re a little bit further than that. We want to get to a bowl game, but now, let’s start competing for some SEC championships. Let’s start competing for some playoffs. … Let’s have that old culture here. Let’s come out with a little swagger about ourselves. Let’s go out and get a victory over South Carolina.”

Why not Kentucky in 2025?