Junior WR Keenan Burton will be keeping a blog during his trip with the UK Football Team to the Music City Bowl. Check back for updates.
Tuesday, Jan. 2
What?s up Wildcat fans!!!! Welcome back to Lexington from Nashville, site of the 2006 Music City Bowl. In case you missed it, YOUR Kentucky Wildcats defeated the highly-favored Clemson Tigers to take home the trophy.
Initially, Lamar and I had decided that our last blog entry from Nashville would be our last but, considering the performance from your Wildcat football team and its dedicated fans base, we thought another entry was in order.
It was an amazing experience to walk out on that field and see the stands. It was like just one big bowl of blue and Cat fans. It was just such a nice thing to go to a bowl game with so much fan support that it feels like a home game. I had about 20-25 family and friends there supporting me and that meant a lot to me to know that I had such good family crowd there. I know after seeing all the UK fans there on Friday that our fans are going to be behind this team for a long time and I definitely think that a ticket to Commonwealth Stadium next fall is going to be a hot item!!!
This win ranks right up there in my memory with the Georgia game. We have had several moments this season which have just been spectacular to be apart of and this win over Clemson was right up there. It is just something that we have not achieved in so long, to win a bowl game and end the season on a win. It is just such a special feeling to say that we have turned the corner and made the program better.
Andre? Woodson played an amazing game. He was very accurate and did an excellent job commanding the huddle. His leadership has been a true blessing to this team and I am grateful to get to play with such a skilled, mature quarterback. The poise that he showed during the game, especially after a few sacks, are a good example of what an excellent quarterback he has become.
Our defense has continued to step up and play excellent despite some criticism. Wesley Woodyard, Trevard Lindley, Braxton Kelley, Marcus McClinton and all the guys on that side of the ball continue to amaze me. They shut down two of the best running backs in college football and just played an amazing game. Those guys and the coaching staff deserve a lot of credit for forcing Clemson to play the type of game we wanted them to.
This win is a wonderful piece of the puzzle in building for next season. We have created high expectations and a high standard of excellence. We expect to get back to a bowl game and that is a measuring stick that is now set for us. We need to put the win behind us now and start focusing on taking care of business during the winter to prepare for another great season in 2007.
Right now I am just working out, staying in great shape and enjoying the break from school. I have always had a dream to play at the next level of football and I feel like my time at Kentucky has helped me prepare for that level. I plan on meeting with Coach Brooks, Coach Joker, and Coach Sanders to get their input and see what they think about my future. I am just going to wait for some information from the NFL advisory board regarding where I could potentially be taken in the NFL Draft and then make a decision from there. While I certainly want to play at the next level, I love the University of Kentucky and would be honored to suit up at Commonwealth for my senior year. I will spend some time with my family, friends, and coaches to gauge just what the best decision is going to be for my future. The key is to take everything in perspective and make a sound, mature decision.
Tonight we have another bowl game, the Orange Bowl featuring Louisville. My buddy Mike Bush is down there right now with the team and they are all excited to get to play in a BCS game tonight. He told me he was becoming a dolphin from all the swimming he has been doing on the Miami beach ? not a bad place to spend some time!!!!
Thanks for all the support you Wildcat fans have shown us over the season!!! Enjoy the new year and we will see you at Commonwealth this fall!
Thursday, Dec. 28
What?s up Wildcat Fans!!! Welcome back to my last blog entry before the big game.
We went to Dave and Buster?s last night to relax a little bit with the Clemson team. We had a NASCAR race tournament on some video games and freshman quarterback Mike Hartline stepped it up and came in first for us to win the tournament. We had free cards and games to play as well which made it even more fun. It always stinks going to a place like that where you have to pay to play those games, so it was a nice change to play everything for free. It was just a good experience to get out and relax a little bit.
We had our walk through and photo day at the Titans field and it was exciting to walk out on LP field for the first time. The atmosphere of an NFL field is way different in college. You think about all the great players who have played on that field. It is a good experience to go to a pro team locker room, home or away. They have real nice facilities and it will be a good experience to suit up there tomorrow. It kind of fulfills a childhood dream for a lot of guys. It was cool to see a patch on our jerseys before the photo day, knowing that we had made it here. But it is not just getting here, we want to win the game.
It means a lot to send the seniors out on a high note. They have worked so hard to get to this point and it is a special thing to come out and finish the deal for these guys. It will be like a home game tomorrow, in a big stadium with lots of Wildcat fans. It will be very exciting to get the game started and underway. Everyone talks about the Big Blue Mist that has rolled into town, swamping Nashville. It will be exciting to see all that blue there tomorrow, there to support us.
It is time to get back on a regular schedule for the game, no more fun activities. It is time to get down to business, prepare, focus, relax and get mentally tuned in. It is like playing a Friday night game, you do all your pregame rituals and you just have to get locked in and get ready.
Clemson is going to be a tough team. They seem focused and prepared. They haven?t been doing much talking, at Dave and Busters or Wildhorse Saloon. They are going to be ready and are going to focus on our defense a lot. They know we have an athletic defense and they expect us to come out and be a physical team.
Less then 24 hours till we kick off the Music City Bowl. I am so excited to go out there and play in front of all our fans and supporters. Remember to yell loud and show support to your Wildcats for all their hard work over the last days, weeks, months, and years. Do not forget the seniors and all the adversity they have faced over the years.
Thanks Cat fans for being there with us all season!! We look forward to taking LP field tomorrow and seeing all our fans swarming the stadium to cheer on their Wildcats!!!
Wednesday, Dec. 27
Welcome to Nashville, home of the 2006 Music City Bowl, featuring your Kentucky Wildcats vs. the Clemson Tigers. Lamar Mills and I will be blogging this week to try to give our dedicated fans an inside look at the festivities of bowl week.
We arrived in spurts Monday, leading up to a team meeting at 9. I rode down with wide receiver Andre Henderson, defensive back A.J. Grigsby and my dad. I spent a couple days in Louisville to celebrate the holidays and we all rode down in my car, getting here about 7:45.
This hotel is amazing, I have never seen anything like that. There is a lot of beautiful scenery, with a ton of stuff to see and do. You know you are in a big hotel when you have to look at carpet colors to know if you are in the right section of the hotel.
Practice is going very well, everyone is really anxious to play the game on Friday. We have been having a lot of fun but are staying focused on the task at hand. It is pretty fun, being in a new setting instead of Lexington. Rafael and I switched jerseys for yesterday’s practice, trying to throw some people off and have a little fun while we are here.
Clemson is a great team, we are going to have to bring our “A” game. They are athletic, physical, big, and they are probably should be playing in the BCS. We will have our hands full but I have confidence in this team, our coaching staff, and our fans.
We went to the Wildhorse Saloon last night for a team welcome party. We had a karaoke contest featuring a few of our guys. It was exciting to see Marcus McClinton up there singing. I knew when they said Marcus McClinton was singing that we had it in the bag. After we won that event, we also took the rib-eating contest. I didn’t think that Rafael could eat anymore because before he went up there he was complaining about how full he was on the other food. Then he went up there and came in second, eating nine ribs in two minutes. It was kind of tense to hang out with Clemson because they are your opponent and you don’t want to buddy up with them too much but I think both teams had a good time.
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes breakfast was a blessing and we had a blast there. The speaker, David Ring, was amazing and he makes you look at things a lot different then I have in the past. He was born with cerebral palsy and some of the things that he has had to overcome are truly amazing. It makes you realize that you can’t take for granted your health and your ability to have a positive impact on others’ lives. Before that, we had speaker from both teams share some testimony. Mike Aitcheson was our speaker and C.J. Spiller spoke for Clemson. Seeing Mike up there speaking was encouraging to me because I have seen all the things he has overcome in college. I am just proud of him and am glad to have had the opportunity to hear him speak.
Stay posted for more updates and we will see you in a sea of Blue come Friday!!!!
