KSR Today: Recapping a WILD Monday, preparing for SEC Opponent Reveal, South Carolina & more

Mondays during the season are always busy, but yesterday was bonkers for a variety of reasons, the least of which is Saturday’s game at South Carolina. On Monday, we found out Kentucky’s three annual SEC opponents, that Cutter Boley is officially the starting quarterback, Reed Sheppard will be the starting point guard in Houston, and, the granddaddy of them all, that Bruce Pearl is retiring from coaching and leaving his son the keys to the Auburn Basketball program.

That’s a lot to unpack — and we’ve got a loaded agenda today — so let’s run through some quick hitters before moving forward with our Tuesday.

Bruce Pearl is out, Steven Pearl is in

By far the biggest news of the day was Bruce Pearl announcing he is retiring from coaching, effective immediately. There have been rumors that Pearl was considering leaving coaching for a career in politics for a while now, but Pearl dismissed that in a lengthy goodbye, saying that he’ll instead take an advisory role at Auburn. His son Steven has been named his successor, signing a five-year contract at the age of 38 with zero head coaching experience. I’d love to see that buyout.

The timing is certainly interesting. The news came on the same day that Division I programs were allowed to increase their practice time from eight hours per week to 20 hours. Steven Pearl has been on his father’s staff since he took the job in 2014, so there is continuity, but technically, each Auburn player will have a 30-day window to enter the transfer portal should they choose to. There’s a lot of talent on the Tigers’ roster, including Tahaad Pettiford, one of the SEC’s top guards, so it’ll be interesting to see whether or not the same roster takes the floor in six weeks on opening night.

Cutter Boley is QB1

On the football front, we got another surprise when the depth chart actually broke some news. Cutter Boley was listed as QB1 on Monday, with Zach Calzada “or” Beau Allen listed as his backup. In his press conference, Stoops said that Calzada is not 100%, but he believes in Boley, who impressed vs. Eastern Michigan.

“We’ve been very confident in Cutter, and I’ve also told him the whole time, ‘You’re going to get your opportunity. It’s about what you do and how you play when you get that opportunity.’ I thought he did some very good things in this last game, it’s a lot to build on, and he’s getting more confident, more comfortable with every rep.”

Now, Boley is officially the guy for Saturday night’s game at South Carolina. Stoops said they’re already pumping in crowd noise to prepare him and the rest of the offense for what should be a wild scene at Williams-Brice Stadium. Boley is no stranger to tough environments, playing at Florida and at Texas last season. South Carolina is coming off back-to-back SEC losses, and quarterback LaNorris Sellers looked good on Saturday, so the crowd in Columbia will be worked into a frenzy by the time the ball is kicked at 7:45 p.m. ET.

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.

SEC annual opponents revealed; the rest coming tonight

Tonight, the SEC will reveal each team’s opponents for the next four seasons as part of the shift to the 9-game conference game model. Chris Low beat them to the punch on Monday by sharing each team’s annual/”permanent” opponents for the next four years. Kentucky drew Florida, Tennessee, and South Carolina. Not an easy trio, by any means, but at least the Cats avoid playing Georgia every year?

We’ll find out the rest tonight on a special edition of SEC Now at 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network and ESPN2. Under the new format, each school will play its three annual opponents and six more SEC teams each year in addition to three non-conference foes, one of which must be a Power Four team. The new format will allow each team to play every other SEC program at least once every two years and every opponent home and away in four years.

SEC Annual Opponents through 2029

• Alabama – Auburn, Tennessee, Mississippi State
• Arkansas – Missouri, Texas, LSU
• Auburn – Georgia, Alabama, Vanderbilt
• Florida – Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky
• Georgia – Auburn, Florida, South Carolina
• Kentucky – South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida
• LSU – Arkansas, Ole Miss, Texas A&M
• Mississippi State – Ole Miss, Alabama, Vanderbilt
• Missouri – Arkansas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma
• Oklahoma – Texas, Ole Miss, Missouri
• Ole Miss – Mississippi State, LSU, Oklahoma
• South Carolina – Georgia, Kentucky, Florida
• Tennessee – Alabama, Vanderbilt, Kentucky
• Texas – Texas A&M, Arkansas, Oklahoma
• Texas A&M – Texas, LSU, Missouri
• Vanderbilt – Tennessee, Mississippi State, Auburn

The KSR Football Podcast reacted to it all

While the news about Bruce Pearl was breaking, the football podcast crew was live reacting to the rest of the happenings of the day, including Boley being QB1 and a huge test at South Carolina. Check it out below. It’s good to have the crew back together.

Bush Hamdan after practice

With the bye week over, we’re back to our normal game week schedule. That means that offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan and members of his unit will talk to reporters after practice this afternoon. Stoops said that the locker room was excited for Cutter Boley when he was named QB1, so I’m looking forward to hearing the players share more of their confidence in QB1 going into Columbia.

More surprises from basketball practice, hopefully?

Speaking of practice, the Kentucky Basketball team has been hard at work, taking advantage of the extra time they’re now allowed during the fall practice period. Mark Pope celebrated by sharing a 30-second clip of Kentucky’s first practice on Monday; that afternoon, the Cats made the short trek to Rupp Arena for practice No. 2, which we got a glimpse of thanks to Kentucky’s social media team. Former Cats Tayshaun Prince and Rajon Rondo even stopped by, which seems like a bit of Kentucky Basketball fan fiction.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kentucky Men's Basketball (@kentuckymbb)

Randall Cobb, Tayshaun Prince inducted into Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame

There’s a reason Prince is in town. He and fellow Kentucky great Randall Cobb will be inducted into the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame tonight at Freedom Hall in Louisville. Both were All-Americans during their time in Lexington, Prince leading Kentucky to three Sweet 16s and an Elite Eight from 1999-2002, and Cobb playing quarterback, wide receiver, and returner under Rich Brooks and Joker Phillips. Both also went on to impressive careers in the pros, Prince playing 14 seasons, mostly with the Detroit Pistons, and winning a world championship, and Cobb playing 13 seasons, mostly with the Green Bay Packers, and earning a spot in the Pro Bowl.

Congrats to two Kentucky legends, who will be honored tonight in Louisville. They can swing by Lexington anytime they want.

No. 22 Men’s Soccer vs. No. 12 Louisville

Also in Louisville tonight: a top 25 men’s soccer showdown. No. 22 Kentucky faces No. 12 Louisville at 7 p.m. at Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium. Kentucky (4-0-2, 1-0-0 SBC) is coming off a 3-2 win over UCF in its Sun Belt Conference opener on Friday, while the Cards (5-2-0, 1-2-0 ACC) are coming off two straight losses to ACC foes, No. 24 Virginia and Notre Dame. Kentucky leads the series 15-10-5 but Louisville owns the last two, winning in 2023 and 2024.

You can watch it live tonight on the ACC Network.

Sources Say with Mikhail McLean

We’ve got a special treat for you on the KSR YouTube Channel tonight. Kentucky assistant Mikhail McLean sat down with Jack Pilgrim and Shawn Smith for a new episode of Sources Say, which will air at 8 p.m. ET. Jack will hopefully share some new notes from Kentucky’s first two days of practice. Those will drop first on KSBoard, so if you haven’t joined the club yet, what are you waiting for?

Want more Kentucky basketball intel? Join KSR Plus for access to bonus content and KSBoard, KSR’s message board, to chat with fellow Cats fans and get exclusive scoop.