LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The vibe around Mark Stoops and his University of Kentucky football team has been terrific.
Vibrant. Energizing. Inspiring. Dynamic.
You get the picture. Not only are the Wildcats ranked in the AP Top 25 preseason poll for only the fifth time in program history, they’re a consensus Top 25 team, cracking the Top 25 in nearly every ranking.
They’re 20 1/2-point favorites in their season opener against the Miami Redhawks two weeks from tonight at Kroger Field in Lexington.
There is serious talk about a 9- or 10-win season. A bowl game is simply assumed.
ESPN.com released its list of the top 100 players in college football. Florida didn’t have any guys ranked in the Top 50. Neither did Ole Miss or Mississippi State, two other teams on UK’s schedule. Tennessee had one Top 50 nominee.
Kentucky had two — quarterback Will Levis and halfback Chris Rodriguez.
And last week, in the most surprising development of all, anecdotal evidence from social media suggested more UK fans sided with Stoops over basketball coach John Calipari in the aftermath of their social media dustup about whether Kentucky was still “a basketball school.”
What more could anybody want?
Just this: Clarity on the drama surrounding Rodriguez and his availability for the start of the 2022 season.
Stoops and athletic director Mitch Barnhart need to speak against DUI with the same blunt conviction they showed while pushing back against Calipari’s faux pas of calling Kentucky “a basketball school.”
Two weeks from the start of the season, what is unknown is Rodriguez’s status with the team. Stoops has steadfastly declined to discuss the situation, even after Rodriguez accepted a guilty plea for charges of careless driving and operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol on May 8.
That’s an Old School PR approach. Keep it out of the headlines. Try to maintain privacy. Ignore the critics. Memories will fade. Headlines will disappear.
But the media world resists a vacuum, especially around a program with plans to do big things in the Southeastern Conference.
Can Kentucky deliver those big things without Rodriguez?
How many games will he sit? What is the player’s view of the situation? Is there more to the story than what happened on Kentucky Derby weekend?
On Friday, Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio, delivered the latest and most specific insight into the matter when he tweeted that Rodriguez will miss either the first three or four games, which would include UK’s SEC opener at Florida Sept. 10.
Jones tweeted that the punishment involved the DUI as well as “another situation.”
And that the punishment will come from “the university” not the football staff.
In other words, the specifics remain less than specific.
What is specific is this: The Rodriguez situation is one of at least three involving alcohol and members of the Kentucky football program over the last 15 months.
Receiver Rashaan Lewis pleaded guilty to driving under the influence following his arrest in downtown Lexington last March. According to the arrest citation, Lewis had a blood alcohol concentration of .153, nearly twice the legal limit. Lewis remains with the team as a back-up slot receiver.
In May 2021, Kentucky receivers coach Jovon Bouknight was arrested on DUI in Kenton County, Kentucky. That charge was later dismissed as Bouknight pleaded guilty to charges of driving more than 25 miles over the speed limit with an open alcoholic beverage container in the vehicle.
Bouknight was demoted to a quality control assistant coach before he left to become the passing game coordinator at Marshall.
Rodriguez, Lewis and Bouknight were fortunate. The only injuries came to their reputations.
There were no tragedies, like the two football players who were killed (including Arthur Steinmetz, a UK lineman) when former Wildcat offensive lineman Jason Watts drove drunk in 1997.
Or the tragedy that took the life of Marco Lee Shemwell, the 4-year-old boy who died after being struck by an impaired driver (a UK student, not a football player) while the child exited the parking lot with his father and brother on Cooper Drive following a game in September 2018.
Very sad. Very avoidable. Very much worth remembering.
There’s a long list of reasons to be excited about Kentucky football this season. The vibe is terrific. The outlook is encouraging.
But it would be even greater if Stoops could connect with more members of his program about the consequences of their actions off the field and becoming not just better football players but better citizens.
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