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LOUISVILLE — He knows the state well, but that doesn’t mean Neal Brown didn’t relish an opportunity to spend most of Friday in Louisville.
The new Kentucky offensive coordinator along with head coach Mark Stoops and defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot made an appearance on a live radio broadcast attended by hundreds of UK fans, met with former UK players and then spoke to a crowd of more than 800 at the Jefferson County UK alumni luncheon.
“There’s a lot of good high school being played in this city. This is the biggest media market. Obviously, we want to make our presence (known). Obviously, we’ve got a rival here. We want to get in this area and make some noise,” said Brown.
“All of these luncheons and charity events we’ve done this summer have been great turnouts. Fans are very excited. It’s big to get into the biggest media market in the state. The Jefferson County Alumni for them to show up in record numbers gives you a lot of energy, to go back and tell our guys about the enthusiasm.”
However, that enthusiasm comes with a price — likely unrealistic fan expectations for a team that finished 2-10 last year and likely will be short on depth and talent at many positions.
“I think there’s heat all the time. It’s good. It’s a lot better than nobody caring, I’ll tell you that,” Brown said. “The interest level is high. The fan base has an understanding of where we are at. It’s going to be a process and there’s going to be some stepping stones and some building blocks in this process.
“The product we’re going to put on the field, they’re going to be proud of. The kids are going to work hard. We’re going to be exciting to watch on offense.”
Brown continued one other stance he’s taken since he left Texas Tech to bring his fast-paced, productive offense to Kentucky. He made no excuses for the lack of depth or talent he inherited.
“We’ve got to take what we have and mold them in the best-functioning unit. It doesn’t do any good for the players to mold to my system. I’ve got to mold my system to our players,” Brown said.
Sounds simple, but often coaches try to make players fit a system even when they don’t and that fails. Ask former UK coach Joker Phillips.
That doesn’t mean Brown is short of questions about the UK offense going into the Aug. 31 opener against Western Kentucky in Nashville.
“I think the biggest thing — and it’s no secret — is wide receiver. We don’t have a single guy back who’s caught a touchdown pass in a game,” Brown said.
Think about that? Brown runs a pass-oriented offense and UK lacks a returning receiver with a touchdown catch. That has to be troubling for him.
“I think our leading receiver has in the upper-20s in catches. So I think that’s the biggest concern,” Brown said. “I’m excited about those guys. It’s been a fun experience getting to go back and work with a lot of youth. We’re going to have four guys back who are no more than a sophomore on scholarship and we brought four guys in, so it’ll be a trying time, but it’ll be a lot of fun. I think those guys are going to be a live group from what I saw, but I think that’s probably the biggest question mark without question.”
The good news there is that Brown said UK “brought four guys in.” That has to mean he still expects junior college receiver Javess Blue to finish his academic work and be on campus soon along with freshmen Ryan Timmons, Jeff Badet and Alex Montgomery who have been in Lexington all summer. But Blue is older, bigger and more experienced — and a huge need for Brown’s Kentucky offense.
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