By LARRY VAUGHT
Four-star recruit Austin Alexander grew up a Kentucky basketball fan in northern Kentucky mainly because his father was a huge fan of the 2014-15 UK team that had Devin Booker, Karl-Anthony Towns and Willie Cauley-Stein.
“I’ve always been a basketball fan. I did not watch too much football and when I did it was probably more Alabama and Notre Dame,” said the 6-3, 242-pound edge rusher/tight end of Cooper High School.
However, he’s watching a lot of football now because he has a long list of Division I scholarship offers, including one from Kentucky.
“UK has been showing a lot of love and made its presence very well known over the past few months. It’s cool getting love from the home state SEC school,” Alexander said.
Alexander is a top 200 player in the 2025 recruiting class in some rankings and a top 20 edge rusher. He had 54 solo tackles, 31 assists, 11 sacks, two tackles for loss, one interception and a blocked kick in 2022 along with 34 catches for 522 yards and six scores. This season he has 33 solo tackles, 16 assisted tackles, eight quarterback sacks, five tackles for loss, two fumble recoveries and one interception he returned 75 yards through eight games and on offense has 42 catches for 742 yards and 11 scores.
He recently made a visit to Notre Dame and also has offers from Purdue, Virginia, Wisconsin, West Virginia, North Carolina, Cincinnati, Maryland, Miami (Ohio), Louisville, Liberty, Illinois, Eastern Kentucky, Duke, Charlotte, Akron and Gardner-Webb.
“I am just relying on God for guidance. He has given me offers and can take them away. I just put in the work and trust God. This has all just been a blessing unfolding for me,” Alexander said.
He has ties to a lot of schools. His uncle is former Boone County star Shaun Alexander who went to Alabama — he was the 1999 SEC Player of the Year — and then played in the NFL for Seattle. His mother also attended Alabama while his dad went to Notre Dame and played in the drum line. His grandfather played football for Bear Bryant at Alabama. His uncle helped connect his mother and father.
The Cooper junior got on UK’s radar with his performance at camp last summer and got his scholarship offer from Kentucky recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow.
Kentucky has verbal commitments in its 2024 recruiting class from two Northern Kentucky senior standouts — Covington Catholic tight end Willie Rodriguez and Simon Kenton offensive lineman Aba Selm. Alexander and Selm have been friends for several years now and that could enhance UK’s chances with Alexander.
“Him and Willie have both been pushing me to go blue for sure,” Alexander said.
Alexander loves being a two-way player and says he has always been a “dominant” player in any sport he’s played.
“It was that way back in Little League basketball. I was a force in middle school football. My dad always coached me and helped me a lot,” Alexander, who could make his college choice as early as January, said. “I just love making plays. I love defense. I love studying the game. I like being a full-time player both ways. I like to make catches or make blocks on offense. It’s definitely a big challenge going both ways but it’s also a lot of fun.”
He’s not the only talented athlete in his family. His sister, Maleah, is a senior soccer and basketball standout. She’s the all-time leader in goals and assists for Cooper soccer.
“My sister is such a great athlete. Ever since I was a little kid we were on the same team at the Y and have trained together,” Alexander said. “During COVID and lockdown, we worked together and went against each other every day. She has made me so much better.”
She has college options in both sports but he feels she’s leaning to basketball.
“I really think she is the best defender in the (9th) region and probably the state in basketball,” the Cooper junior said. “She has all the records for soccer at our school.
Alexander also has a deep love of music. He plays piano and bass guitar.
“I find peace with God and music,” he said. “My dad was big into music and introduced me to music. He’s a big percussionist and his rhythm went straight into me. His extended family is alway singing and making beats. I would like to make music and see what that looks like however I can. I love making and producing music.”
Today he’s more concerned with producing more wins. Cooper is 7-2 after a win over Boone County last week. It lost 28-10 to Ryle and 58-51 to Highlands in a Class 5A district matchup.
Cooper hosts Dixie Heights Friday night to end regular-season play.
Former Kentucky star Devin Booker, who has a four-year, $222 million contract extension with the Phoenix Suns, hopes that freshman guards Rob Dillingham and DJ Wagner can help bring a national championship to Kentucky.
“I’ll be watching those guys closely the rest of their careers,” Booker said at the Suns’ media day.
“I worked out with Dillingham, me and (NBA all-star) Chris (Paul) did because he played with (Team) CP3 for a minute,” Booker said. “ I’ve known little Wagner since he was a little kid, I’ve been hearing about him. I’m excited to see where their careers go.”
Booker was only at UK one year but the Cats started the season 38-0 before losing to Wisconsin in the 2015 Final Four. One of his teammates and friends was Tyler Ulis, who is now a graduate assistant coach on John Calipari’s staff.
“He keeps me updated on everything going on in Lexington,” Booker said about Ulis at his team’s media day. “Those guys are go-getters. Those are the two names (Ulis) is excited for.”
Does Kentucky need to speed up the tempo of play to help quarterback Devin Leary be more efficient?
In SEC games, Leary is 48 of 101 passing for 502 yards and six touchdowns with four interceptions. He has also been sacked a combined seven times in the last two games, losses to Georgia and Missouri.
SEC Network sideline analyst Cole Cubelic said near the end of last week’s 38-21 loss to Missouri that assistant coaches on the North Carolina State staff when Leary was there told him “not going tempo has greatly impacted” Leary’s play at UK.
ESPN/SEC Network booth analyst Jordan Rogers, a former college quarterback, said even though UK has played seven games it “can’t afford not to restructure” its offense before playing its final five games.
“You have got to get your quarterback playing at a higher level. Take some things off his plate pre-snap, simplify things,” Rogers said. “You talk about finding the right quarterback for your situation and the best fit for your system. It’s not about just getting the best quarterback (out of the transfer portal).”
Rogers said UK is still the team that dominated Florida but running back Ray Davis ran for 280 yards in that win.
“You have got to have some balance in your offense,” Rogers said. “If you can’t at least be consistent in the passing game to spread the defense out, it’s just hard to score in the SEC.”
ESPN analyst Jimmy Dykes was at Kentucky for Big Blue Madness last weekend and got a look at 7-2 Croatian Zvonimir Ivisic. The player did not arrive in Lexington until Thursday but Dykes got to watch him work out the next day even though Ivisic did not fully participate in Big Blue Madness.
“What you are going to see is a guy who can really shoot,” Dykes, a former UK assistant coach, said. “He is effortless on the perimeter. He is all of 7-2 and has been on the NBA radar since he was 16.
“Can he add weight? Yes. But he’s the type of kid who is stronger than he looks. He is the kind of rim protector that he has to have.”
Kentucky coach John Calipari obviously is happy to have him on campus and posted several pictures with Ivisic after his arrival. He even posted one of his wife, Ellen Calipari, with Ivisic.
Ivisic is expected to play in Saturday night’s Blue-White Game at Northern Kentucky University.
He might not have been a true freshman that many thought would play a key role for Kentucky this year but safety Ty Bryant of Lexington could be an important backup for UK the next five games.
With safety Jalen Geiger out with an injury, Bryant’s playing time will increase and defensive coordinator Brad White has plenty of confidence in the former Frederick Douglass High School star who has played in all seven games and has eight tackles this season.
“He’s shown it in practice. He’s shown it on special teams and so I’m confident that when it’s his time and his moment … but like at any position, until you step out there and you do it, there’s some unknown,” White said.
“But he knows that myself and this entire team has confidence that when he steps on the field, there’s not going to be any dumbing down of the defense or any of that kind of stuff. He’s got the whole playbook, and he’s ready to execute.”
Cornerback Maxwell Hairston, who made his team-high fifth interception against Missouri, has liked what he’s seen from Bryant, the son of former UK receiver Cisco Bryant.
“I love Ty’s work ethic. He came in here with a great attitude. Just a kid that wants to get better, a kid who wants to learn and he listens,” Hairston said. “Everything that comes to him, he’s gonna take it. He’s gonna do great at every opportunity that he gets.”
Indiana coach Mike Woodson had to compromise on a true home-and-home series with Kentucky to get coach John Calipari agree to resume the series. The schools will play four years starting in 2025 with games at Rupp Arena-Indianapolis-Rupp Arena-Bloomington.
“That was the only way I could get it done,” Woodson said at the Big Ten Media Days. “We’ll move forward probably after that last year of it being in Bloomington, to maybe have it Rupp-Bloomington-Rupp-
Kentucky lost in Bloomington in 2011 and fans stormed the court after the win. The two teams have not met in the regular season since then because Calipari vowed he would not go back to Bloomington, an indication he might not still be coaching at UK in 2028 when the game returns to the IU campus.
The most recent game was in the 2016 NCAA Tournament when Indiana won but Kentucky still leads the series 32-25.
Woodson said he’s “excited” about playing UK again and many Kentucky fans also were excited about the rivalry being renewed starting in 2025.
“We spoke when I first got the job about it. John and I have known each other for many years and I have the utmost respect for him and his coaching and what he’s done over the years as a coach, and I’m sure he feels the same way about me,” Woodson said.
“It was something that had to happen, and we stayed in each other’s ears until we got our ADs together and actually got it done. I’m happy for it because I think the fans want to see that. It’s been so competitive over the years. Fans have become accustomed to playing Kentucky and vice versa, so I think it’s good for basketball, I do.”
Quote of the Week: “We have big games on national TV and I get juiced for that. I also get juiced trying to help kids get where they want to go but I let them know if we win at the highest level, everybody eats,” Kentucky coach John Calipari on the upcoming season.
Quote of the Week 2: “I like to go outside. I don’t play any video games, so I would prefer to be outside whether it is fishing, just hanging out with friends, playing corn hole, playing some sort of outside game and just hanging out with my friends. None of my friends talk about it. We don’t talk about basketball,” Kentucky freshman Reed Sheppard on what he does to get a break from basketball on the Behind Kentucky Basketball podcast with Cameron Mills.
Quote of the Week 3: “I love this team. They’ve been so much fun to coach. They embrace the hard work. This group has organically come together. They took it upon themselves to learn each other, grow and bond and everything didn’t have to be so scripted, which has helped us on and off the court,” UK women’s basketball coach Kyra Elzy on this year’s team.