Kash Daniel ready to open the next door of his life at Kentucky

By: LARRY VAUGHT

Kash Daniel knew plenty about Paul Hornung, the former Notre Dame and Green Bay Packer star. Now the Paintsville linebacker-quarterback is going to find out even more — plus meet Hornung — after being picked as this year’s Hornung Award winner given to the state’s top high school player by the Louisville Quarterback Club.

He’ll receive his award Dec. 22 in Louisville at Big Spring Country Club.

“It’s a prestigious honor. Great players have won it before me. It’s a thing of pride for me to win it,” said Daniel. “It would not have been possible without my teammates and coaches who put me in position to win and do things on the field. But it is a tremendous honor and I feel very blessed.”

Daniel is verbally committed to Kentucky and plans to enroll at UK for the second semester.

He led Paintsville to 13 straight wins before an injured knee kept him out of a Class A semifinal loss to Pikeville last week. He ran 117 times for 926 yards and 22 scores and completed 73 of 123 passes for 1,319 yards and 15 scores. On defense, he had 158 tackles, including 91 solo tops, and four fumble recoveries.

He thinks that versatility is what helped him win the award over fellow UK commits Landon Young of Lafayette and Drake Jackson of Woodford County. Like Daniel, they have also been invited to play in the U.S. Army All-American Game in San Antonio in January.

“There were a lot of guys in the state capable of winning this award,” Daniel, who said his knee should be back to 100 percent by mid-December, said. “Landon and Drake are great at what they do and they are great friends. No matter where we are, we are always having a good time. It shows a lot they chose me for this award over players like that.

“All my life I trained to be the best player I can be. I believe if I had just played linebacker, I would not be winning this award. Playing offense helped me a lot and let me win this award.”

Recent winners of this award have been Damien Harris, Matt Elam, James Quick and Patrick Towles. The only other player from eastern Kentucky ever to win the award was Tim Couch of Leslie County in 1995.

“I don’t know how people around here are going to react, but I would think they would be pretty excited because I am,” Daniel said. “It’s impressive with the list of people who have won this award.”

Daniel got word about winning the award Wednesday. The night before UK head coach Mark Stoops and defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot were at his home for a visit. Next week he’ll take his official visit to Kentucky.

“It was a great visit. They just sat in the living room and we talked about a lot of things,” Daniel said. “They said they were excited for me to get there and I am just as excited.”

Kentucky went from a 4-1 start to 5-7 finish and blew a 21-0 lead to lose to Louisville in the final game last week. Daniel said he had no question about the program’s future for Stoops or Eliot.

“Coach Stoops told me they were still on the way up and that the season should have ended totally different and the players expected it to be a lot better,” Daniel said. “He just said some things did not go our way and we want to get to a bowl game next year.”

Daniel is not worried about any 2016 commitments bailing on UK because of the 5-7 finish. He said that him, Jackson and Young all “feel good” about how the recruiting class will hold up.

“We had a big group chat going on all the time. After every game, whether we won or lost, we said we did not want to let anything change. We want to be hungry going in. We have a chance to make a change for the better,” Daniel, who went to every UK home game except the Charlotte game the day after he hurt his knee, said.

Daniel said his knee will be 100 percent in time for him to play in the U.S. Army All-American Game and then he’ll report to UK in mid-January.

“I am ready to open up this next door of my life and get right into it,” Daniel said.

He said once he gets to UK, he wants to show others he’s not there to be “mediocre” and that he wants to make a difference at Kentucky. He says bonding with teammates is important just like it was the last four football seasons for him.

“If you have got the guy behind you, you are willing to fight for that guy as well,” Daniel said.

He won’t predict whether he’ll get to play next season even though UK likely will need help at linebacker.

“I can’t predict playing time. It’s about how hard I practice, how hard I hit the weight room and also how hard I hit the books,” Daniel said. “I don’t see myself slacking. But it will be up to the coaches to see if I earn playing time.