A SEASON ON THE BRINK FROM INSIDE THE HUDDLE

The first in a series with a first hand view from inside the huddle on the1955 football team that played under head coach Blanton Collier in his second year at Ky.

In the summer of 55 I was asked by the majority owner, publisher, and editor of what was probably Kentucky’s largest weekly newspaper, to write a weekly article on the 55 Ky. football team as they went through the season. The publisher wanted something that the Courier Journal did not have, a inside view–sort of a one up situation.

I was concerned about my writing skills since my English 1a and 1b grades were less than superior but the publisher said you get the info together and I will edit it if that’s ok”??? I agreed–and away we went–

The predictions listed in the upcoming series are those made in that column every week. So stay tuned it should be fun. If it isn’t blame it on bill he asked me 6 times.

Those weekly predictions were not just mine but the team’s predictions.

Each week the seniors and about 10 juniors would get together and write the article. I would do that by asking “how do you see this game”??? The answers were very good, deep thinking on everyone’s part. Then I would say “so you are saying this is going to be a hell of a ball game”??? This will be a “take no prisoners game???” An all out brawl??? Score predictions?? Opponents strengths, never list weaknesses.

Then I would write the comments with the prediction and have it picked up at a store in Chevy Chase on Wednesday for publication on Friday.

Background
The team was lead by 13 seniors and a large talented junior class. The senior class came in 52 except one player who came in 51. That senior class had played a lot of minutes along the way. The junior class came in 53 during coach Bryant’s last season at Ky and had played a lot of minutes also. The sophomore class was large but untested in any way. Freshmen were not legible for varsity play in 54, the last year for that was 53. Lou Michael’s looked good in spring practice and would play several minutes. Several other players had possibilities. Some would have to step up and play. so freshmen were not legible in 55.

About 60% of the players would go both ways. Obviously qb’s would not play on defense due to injury risk. A number of soph lineman would play on defense but few would play on offense due to complicated blocking schemes and play learning. A number of sophmore backs would play on offense but few on defense due to pass coverage and play reading problems.

Leadership we had 13 seniors and a talented junior class. Senior bob hardy at quarterback was a 5 year man who had spent 3 years under coach Bryant and 54 under coach Collier, seldom got rattled, seldom made mistakes was in command, called “paddle foot” but now and then picked up a few on the run when other things were shut down. Co-captain and leader.

Senior end Howard Schnellenberger played both ways. Started the third game as a freshman and every game since. Lead the team in minutes played in all 3 years to date and was expected to do so again in 55. Co-captain and a great leader.

The team was organized and confident not cocky the seniors and juniors were experienced and had been through the wars. There were no superstars on this team but instead a group of hard practicing and hard playing group of “blue collar players” who wanted to win and played hard.

The 55 coaching staff had settled in and adjusted-,the full offense and defense had been installed in spring practice.

The 54 season had been “helter skelter” for the team and staff thru no fault of their.

Coach Bryant had suddenly departed in early April 54 for Texas A&M. Coach Collier came on board around April 20th or so and started assembling a staff, but spring practice had not been held and it had to start and quickly coaches or no coaches. So spring practice started and coach Collier continued to hire coaches but there was no other choice than to revert back to the 53 season for offense and defense.

The summer came and then fall practice started. Coach Collier had a full staff of good coaches but several didn’t know the players they would be coaching. 2 a days started with the introduction of a new offense and new defense was attempted but it didn’t mix well with 2 a days and hot weather. So back to the old system with a plan to slowly introduce new plays as we went along. This cost the team a lot of problems and probably at least 1 loss in early season but by mid season everything was pretty much in and the team started cooking. The record in the second half of 54 proves it and the players liked the new offense.

If we are going to play the “blame game” here we probably must blame coach Bryant for not departing in Dec 53 after the season ended or in early 54 after the bowl games. Seldom does a major college football coach depart after late January of any given year.

But 54 was now in the rear view mirror and it’s 55 and looking forward.

Every year all college teams have a few holes to plug due to losing starters and backups so departing starters must be replaced as well as back-ups. I remember a couple of years ago when Locke was #5 on the depth chart at the start of the season but by the 7th or 8th game he was starting you have to be ready.

Incoming classes have to be inducted. They have a hard time adjusting to the speed and agility of the seasoned players.

So the sophomore class of 55 was untested, untried and some of them would have to step up.

Known soft spots.

#1–Back ups at quarterback, some talent but untested and unproven.

#2–Defensive backs, ome sophomores would have to step up. Scary

#3–Back ups at end. We had 3 solid both way ends. We lost one solid 2 way end due to an off campus incident. There was 4-5 sophomores there who were not impressive in spring practice. A couple had to step up.

It is very hard to get “rookie” sophomore players to step up at the following positions.

#1–Defensive secondary–pass coverage and run support.

#2–Offensive line–blocking schemes and various calls.

#3–Kick coverage of any kind “rookies” get over anxious, get out of their lane,lose their spacing instead of staying home. That’s how they run the big one back on you. Unless you have a kicker who kicks the ball a mile high and a cover guy that is a track man who arrives the same time as the ball and creates a fumble,.Stay at home, keep your spacing andstay under control. You’ll get your shot and you won’t have egg on your face and the opponent points on the scoreboard.

The hardest positions to fill.

#1–Defensive backs–most people want to be a quarterback.

#2–Quarterbacks–a mouth full to swallow.

#3–MLB//signal caller–another mouthfull

Toughest position to play.

#1–Quarterback–key to the offense–hours and hours and hours of study and practice.

#2–MLB//defensive signals–key to defense–about 80% of quarterback hardness

#3–Defensive backs–you either get it or you don’t–must have great reaction and agility–you gotta want to play it baby.

Multi Sport Atheletes

In days past it was not unusual for athletes at college to play more than one sport. There was more time available, they played fewer games and each individual sport was less demanding than today.

So lets try to name some of the multi-sport athletes at UK.

#1–Has to be Ermal Allen. Was all conference in football, basketball, track, and golf. Later played for the Browns backing up Otto Graham. Then was asst. coach at UK for several years. Then asst. head coach for the Cowboys. This will be hard to top.

#2–Wah Wah Jones. All conference end in football. All American in basketball and baseball (all conference in both) played for the Indianapolis Olympians in the NBA.

#3–Al Bruno. played football and basketball on both national championship teams in 1950 (only player to accomplish that) played and coached football in the Canadian league for some 40 years–

#4–Frank Ramsey. Played basketball and baseball. All American basketball in basketball and played for Celtics for years. Was the original 6th man in NBA–

#5–Bill Evans. Played basketball and tennis at UK. Played on the great 53-54 team with Ramsey and Hagan. Played on the 54-55 and 55-56 teams with Bob Burrows and was captain of the 56 Olympic team that won the gold. Was all SEC and SEC men’s champion in tennis.

#6–Lou Michaels. Two time All American football player. Played in the NFL for years. In the college football hall of fame. Played some baseball and threw the shot put in college (very good).

#7–Allen Feldhouse–played basketball and baseball at UK.

#8–Dom Fucci. Played both football and baseball at UK and was All American in both. Played several years for the Lions (kicker). Played pro baseball (catcher) in triple AAA. ) Couldn’t hit the hook. Was an asst coach at UK.

#9–Ralph Beard. Played basketball and baseball. Was Mr. Basketball in 1961.

#10–Randy Embry. Played basketball and baseball. Randy also won a state title in baseball at Davies Co. and is the only Mr. Basketball to coach a Mr Basketball (Branden Davenport 1997).

#11–Cotton Nash. Played Basketball and baseball. Three time All American in basketball and all SEC three times. Played basketball for the Lakers, SF Warriors and the Colonels in the ABA. Played minor league for the White Sox and Twins.

UK 70 Vandy 60

Did anyone wonder what would happen if UK hosted Vandy, Ogilvy had to sit out with a bum heal, and 2 Pat would pretty much take the day off? I didn’t. But if you did you now know the outcome. And to UK’s credit, it had enough to step up, make adjustments, and get the win. To be honest, UK still had plenty to bust the game open. It just didn’t have enough to sustain it. Or maybe, this is part of the learning process for these Cats. Lets face it, these guys aren’t used to having big leads on good teams.

To be honest, Meeks didn’t have a real good day but the hustle on offense was there. The D end? I thought he really stunk it up. Vandy did a lot of moving picks. UK (ie: Meeks) did a horrible job of staying close to his man as they moved and the picks came so late that it didn’t even matter. And when I say close, I mean he usually trailed his guy by four or five steps. Totally unacceptable..

But on to the good news. No, on to the absolute greatest of news, and it can be summed up in one word. Liggins. He was the difference maker. Not in the whole game, mind you, but in the second half. It reminded me of the year UK woke up at the half during Vandy and played an unrelenting finish up to NCAA tournament time. The spearhead then was Hawkins and the spear head this time was Liggins. In this game, we got to see what a difference Liggins can make when he plays stunning D, within the team concept, and looks to make others better. In the process of making others looked better, HE looked like an All Freshman candidate. The kicker? He did it scoring all of one point. The 20 point lead came as a direct result of his second half play. I also thought Miller looked much better and his rebounds were key. With both Patterson and Stevenson no where to be found on the boards, the others, including Miller did just enough to almost even out the rebounding battle. But if Liggins can give 20 quality minutes, UK would take one of the questions going in to the year and place a huge SOLVED stamp on it. I can certainly see Porter starting, Liggins in middle relief, and Porter closing as a huge weapon going forward if Liggins did, in fact, figure it out in the second half of Vandy.

I was worried about Vandy. UK hangs its hat on playing smart and so does Vandy. Sometimes these type games come down to who plays the smartest. So even when I heard Ogilvy would be out I was worried. And the way UK left guys open for 3s early was exactly what I was worried about. But UK adjusted and I thought the D, minus Meeks, was very good after the adjustments.

Now its on to the ugliest team in the league (country?). Their colors are ugly, their players are ugly, their house is an ugly Rupp knock off, their coach is butt ugly and their cheerleaders are ugly. Most importantly, their play is ugly. It’s sad when the best looking thing about your program is your hound dog mascot. It’s really really sad. Anyway, it’s time for Patterson to clock back in and go to work simply because UK is simply much prettier.