Kentucky Football Countdown: 64 days till Kickoff

On3 imageby:Nick Roush07/01/22

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The Fourth of July holiday weekend is upon us, which means we are at the unofficial midway point of the summer. Kentucky football season is creeping near, now only 64 days away.

Rocking No. 64 on this year’s Kentucky football squad is Alex Bascom. The 6-foot-5, 275 pound senior defensive tackle from Louisville St. X chose to walk-on for the Wildcats over opportunities at Butler and Jacksonville. Bascom is a mainstay on the Dean’s List. A little more about No. 64:

2021 Statistics

Wan’Dale Robinson broke multiple receiving records in 2021. He also had the longest rushing attempt of the season. He took a jet sweep 64 yards down the field on the second play of the game against Missouri to help the Cats take a quick 7-0 lead. The Kentucky football team was victorious, 35-28, now winners of six of the last seven games against the Tigers.

Josh Paschal had 15.5 tackles for loss, netting –64 yards for UK opponents in 2021. It’s the sixth-most TFLs in a single-season. He’s tied for third in school history with 37 career TFLs.

Against New Mexicos State Josh Ali caught two touchdowns for a career-high 164 receiving yards. Ali was only seven yards away from a top five single-game receiving performance in school history.

History Made in 1964 Kentucky Football Season

The Charlie Bradshaw era did not feature a ton of highlights, but there was one big moment. In 1964 Rick Kestner put together an out of this world performance against the top-ranked team in the country. The offensive end caught nine passes for 185 yards and three touchdowns in a 27-21 victory over No. 1 Ole Miss. To this date, only Craig Yeast in UK’s 1998 Air Raid with Tim Couch has more receiving yards in a game than Kestner.

The win over Ole Miss was the second of three UK wins over the No. 1 team in the AP Poll (1951 vs. Oklahoma, 2007 vs. LSU). Kentucky followed up the 1964 win over Ole Miss by blanking seventh-ranked Auburn 20-0 at Stoll Field to climb up to No. 5 in the AP Poll. That momentum came to a screeching halt a week later at Florida State, starting a four-game skid for Charlie Bradshaw’s Cats that finished 5-5.

Outstanding Kentucky Football Stats

Nobody has made more tackles in a Kentucky uniform than Jim Kovach. From 1974-78 he had am absurd 521 career tackles. To reach that milestone he recorded more than 140 tackles in three separate seasons, highlighted by 164 tackles in 1978. Surprisingly, it’s not the most tackles in UK single-season history. That title belongs to Marty Moore after he had 183 tackles in 1991.

Speaking of 164, that is exactly how many receiving yards Garrett “Juice” Johnson had against Louisville in 2016, opening the game with this memorable gem. Juice ranks fourth in school history with 2,089 career receiving yards.

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2024-03-28