Gerald Mincey, right, with his brother, Daniel, a freshman offensive lineman at UK. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Who will be the most confident player on the field when Kentucky plays Southern Mississippi Saturday night?
I think it will be UK starting offensive tackle Gerald Mincey, a Tennessee transfer who has been talking smack since arriving in Lexington in January and said would go “bust them in the mouth” when it plays in Knoxville Nov. 2.
He was doing a little more Vol-bashing this week when asked about the temp UK would have this season under new offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan.
“We’ve gotta run outside zone to the right and then we’ve gotta hurry up to the ball. When we had the scrimmages, we’ve seen that we can actually catch the defense off guard and stress the defense out and then throw it over the top,” Mincey said this week.
“We just all bought into the system. And we all bought into what it takes to prepare to have our offense — our rule is to just to be the No. 1 offense in the SEC. I think we have a good group of guys right now that we can do that (with) and we just gotta keep working.”
Mincey didn’t hold back when asked specifically if UK’s tempo would be faster than Tennessee, which has one of the fastest paces in the country.
“Probably a little faster, we are going to see on Saturday. Probably a little faster, we’re going to try to really push the tempo,” Mincey said.
And how does he see this season going?
“Us just buying into the offseason training and to what the coaches have for us, we’re going to shock the world, best believe it,” Mincey said. “If we just do what we have to do, with our technique and our fundamentals, we’ll move anybody off the ball. That don’t matter if it’s Kentucky’s defense (in practice), Bama’s defense, Tennessee’s defense. We’re just going to go out there and play hard.”
While that provides bulletin board material for future opponents, Mincey even talked trash about the UK defense this week.
“We just go out there and kick the defense’s ass every day,” Mincey joked.
Want more? Consider this confidence:
“With our O-line, you could even put Coach Bush out there and have 200 yards,” Mincey said, referring to Hamdan. “On the O-line, we just gotta play together, first things first, and play hard.”
4 Responses
Happy for his confidence. Players need big-time confidence when they line up against many super-talented SEC opponents.
The real test is in the 60 minutes. Stay focused, don’t look back if UK makes a costly mistake.
The fight in the trenches will either make or break UK this season. With Walker & other powerful DL players, UK should be able to dominate in 8 to 10 games, play at least even in 2 games and hopefully surprise UGA & TX by outlasting them the full 60 minutes.
We will know a little bit about UK after game 1 and will know a whole lot aftet game 3. Until then, it’s all locker locker room hype and bulletin board talk.
These results will be needed just to even dream of being competitive in the SEC.
>40 UK
< 10 So Miss
It’s great to be confident. I’d just like for it to be a quiet confidence. There’s no need in antagonizing people.
I fully agree!
They might be the best offensive line in Stoops tenure. The spread is tricky. They could score a garbage touchdown or 2 at the end of the game. I know if we get up by 21 we need to start funneling the younger guys in the game and that gives us points but it’s crucial for experience in case of injuries. Brock throws for 300 yards. Dane Key has 100+ yards. Patterson gets close to 100 yards. Our defense completely dominates this game. Weaver gets 2 sacks. Kentucky 48- Southern Miss 17. First team defense only gives up a touchdown.