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KSR Today: More Ole Miss prep, recruiting period updates, and NFL season-opener

Zack Geogheganby: Zack Geoghegan09/04/25ZGeogheganKSR
Photos of Lane Kiffin (left) and Jalen Hurts (right) via Imagn Images
Photos of Lane Kiffin (left) and Jalen Hurts (right) via Imagn Images

Good morning, folks! Preparation for Kentucky’s massive Saturday showdown against No. 20 Ole Miss is rolling right along for the Wildcats. On Wednesday, local media met with Brad White and the Kentucky defense as they talked about the Rebels’ high-scoring offense (Lane Kiffin ran up the score to the tune of 63-7 in last week’s opener vs. Georgia State, for those who don’t already know). Ole Miss racked up 695 yards on 81 plays in the blowout win.

“We understand what they can do,” White said. “I think when we played them last year through four or five games they were at 650 (yards per game). So they’re averaging 45 more now.”

As of Thursday morning, the betting line remains the same over at BetMGM — Kentucky is still a 10-point underdog. This is a potential season-defining matchup for Mark Stoops and the Wildcats. A win puts Kentucky in a position to go 6-6 or better. A loss could have them fighting like hell to get to five wins. We’re just two sleeps away from kickoff at Kroger Field (3:30 p.m. ET | ABC).

[Bio Blast: Ole Miss Rebels]

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First SEC Availability Report of the season

Last season, the SEC instituted a new policy that requires schools to submit official availability reports. With Kentucky vs. Ole Miss serving as the only intraconference SEC matchup of Week 2, we received our first of several Availability Reports on Wednesday night. Of note, a trio of Wildcats has been ruled out, starting DL Mi’Quise Humphrey-Grace is probable, and running back Jamarion Wilcox, who is suspended indefinitely, is listed as questionable. Another updated report will come out on Thursday night.

Join the KSR Happy Hour this afternoon

With football season in flux, we’ve changed up our weekly podcast schedule a bit. KSR’s Happy Hour (sponsored by our good friends at Country Boy) show is now on Thursdays, and we’d love to have you join in the live feed to talk about whatever ridiculous topics we can come up with. We’ll be going live over on the KSR YouTube channel around 4:00 p.m. ET. Come hang out with Tyler Thompson, Drew Franklin, Jack Pilgrim, and me as we drink Country Boy and talk nonsense.

Pope and Co. on the recruiting trail

The fall recruiting period opened up the moment the calendar crossed over to Wednesday, Sept. 3. Kentucky head coach Mark Pope, who was recently named to the NABC Board of Directors, and his assistants — literally — wasted zero time meeting with their favorite recruits in person. The UK coaching staff made stops all over the country on Wednesday and plans to do the same again throughout Thursday. We have a running Live Blog you can follow along with to stay up to date, but to make it easy on you this morning, I’m just going to list the targets we know have been visited/plan to be visited by Kentucky coaches.

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.

An update on Andrija Jelavić

Kentucky associate head coach Alvin Brooks III joined KSR on the Sources Say Podcast earlier this week to talk some ball. Among the topics of conversation was the play of Croatian big man Andrija Jelavić, who only recently made his way over to the United States. Both on and off the floor, Brooks is happy with how Jelavić has made the transition thus far.

“He’s fit right in from the team retreat to practices. And he’s very talented. He’s a very talented player,” Brooks told KSR. “For his size, he can do some things that a lot of people his size can’t do. Obviously, he’s just one week in, so now he has to do it another week and another week and another week. But he has a lot of talent to work with.”

Basketball season is still several weeks away, but you just can’t help but get excited with this group.

Photo via Chet White | UK Athletics

The NFL season begins tonight

The defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles will open the NFL’s 2025 regular season tonight against the Micah Parsons-less Dallas Cowboys. Philly, which will unveil its title banner ahead of the game, is the betting favorite to win it all again this season. Kickoff is set for 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC with the Eagles entering as an 8.5-point favorite. I have Dallas’ kicker, Brandon Aubrey, on my fantasy team, so I’ll be hoping for as many Cowboy field goals as possible while cheering on the Eagles to win by 40.

PJ Washington sticking around in Dallas

ESPN‘s Shams Charania reported Wednesday morning that PJ Washington and the Mavericks have agreed to a four-year, $90 million contract extension that will kick in beginning with the 2026-27 season. The 27-year-old was set to be an unrestricted free agent next summer, but will now stick around in Dallas long-term. According to ESPN‘s Bobby Marks, Washington will make $19.8 million in the first year of his deal and $24.6 million in the final year. He is now officially ineligible to be traded during the upcoming 2025-26 campaign.

Washington, who played two seasons at Kentucky (2017-19), is coming off arguably his most productive stretch as a pro yet. The 6-foot-7 forward averaged 14.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per outing while shooting 38.1 percent from deep for the Mavericks last season. He’ll be paired alongside the likes of fellow former Wildcat Anthony Davis, Dereck Lively II, and number one overall pick Cooper Flagg in the frontcourt.

Kentucky women’s soccer back in action

After dropping its first game of the season over the weekend, a 2-1 loss to Illinois, Kentucky women’s soccer (5-1-0) will look to bounce back at The Bell later tonight. The Wildcats host Mercyhurst (7:30 p.m. ET | SEC Network+) as the non-conference schedule begins to wind down. UK currently leads the nation in corner kicks per game while also leading the SEC in shots, goals scored, and points. After Mercyhurst, the ‘Cats will close out the non-conf on Sunday afternoon against No. 20 Ohio State in Lexington.

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2025-09-09