Garrett Witherington believes his versatility is one of his best strengths, but he also knows to play on the defensive line in the Southeastern Conference that he has to improve his size, speed and strength.

The 6-foot-5, 290-pound defensive lineman from Birmingham, Alabama, recently gave his verbal commitment to Kentucky after taking an official visit in mid-June when defensive coordinator Brad White and defensive line coach Anwar Stewart showed him how they planned to use him.

“They kind of see me like a hybrid. They liked how versatile I am and that I can play multiple positions. I could play end, tackle or nose,” Witherington said. “Even at 290 (pounds) I can play multiple positions.”

He’s been working on his quickness and recently started taking Pilates, a mind-body exercise that enhances muscle tone and stability.

“It should help me get more flexible and able to bend more. I am excited to see how much it will help me over the next few months,” Witherington said. “There is somebody here who does it for a bunch of football players, but I am the biggest guy in the class.”

Witherington took an unofficial visit to Kentucky to watch the Wildcats beat Southern Mississippi to open the 2024 season before taking his official visit to UK in June.

“Everything is just awesome at Kentucky, from the locker room to the weight room to the practice fields. It was all awesome and impossible not to like,” Witherington said. “For me, Kentucky was just the best of all worlds. It’s a SEC football school with great coaches. All the coaches are great people who know a lot about football. And the relationships the coaches and players have with each other was so neat to see. They all get along so well.”

Like almost every youngster in Alabama, Witherington admitted the dream was to play for Alabama or Auburn.

“My mom went to Auburn and my dad to Alabama, so it was pretty split in my house,” Witherington said. “Now I am happy to beat up on both of them. I had some tough choices on schools, but Kentucky just stood out and my parents are super happy. They were both cheering when I made my announcement.”

Witherington also plays on the offensive line at tackle or tight end at times for Briarwood Christian.

“I can catch passes, too. I caught a touchdown pass two years ago in the playoffs. I blocked, ran a route and they just threw it up to me and I caught it,” Witherington said. “But mainly I am a blocker. We had a running back committed to Jacksonville State and when we needed a few yards I just told him just to run behind my butt.

“Playing offense and learning how to block helps me know how to beat blocks. It teaches me where to hit them (offensive linemen) and what time to hit them to get them off balance. It helps me learn how to find holes and pinpoint where I need to get to on defense to get a tackle or sack.”

Witherington grew up also playing basketball and baseball, but football was his true love. He started playing tackle football in kindergarten.

“My dad got me started playing as soon as he could. He played football growing up and wanted me to play,” the UK commit said. “I was always a big kid. I was 5-foot-8 in fifth grade. I was always taller and bigger than everybody else, but there was just something about football that I always loved.”

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Chad Greenway was a three-sport high school athlete in South Dakota who became an All-American linebacker at Iowa before playing for 11 years in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings.

His oldest daughter, Maddyn, is a five-star basketball sensation in Minnesota who already has won four state titles and scored more than 4,000 points. She’s playing this week with Team USA in the FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup. She’s also verbally committed to Kentucky.

Like her father, Maddyn Greenway is a versatile athlete. The 5-8 standout has 155 career goals and could become the state’s all-time leading soccer goals scorer her senior season.

She won the 300-meter hurdles at the Minnesota Class AA state track meet for the second straight time this year with a time of 42.57 seconds — the best time of any female runner in the state to set a new Class AA record. She also was on the winning 4×400 relay team — along with her younger sister Beckett — for the second straight year and ran the anchor leg as the team set a Class AA record with a time of 3:54.

If that wasn’t enough, Maddyn Greenway was sixth in the state long jump with a leap of 18 feet, 4 inches.

“We kind of knew the hurdles record might be coming,” Chad Greenway said. “I was a hurdler and triple jumper (in high school). I still have the triple jump record in South Dakota. (My wife) Jenni was the head track coach and I helped with hurdles and jumps. Maddyn ran one of the fastest times in Minnesota history and her sister Beckett also did very well for an eighth-grader.

“My family is deep into track. We want our kids playing multiple sports in different environments. In track, it’s more individual and you have to rely on yourself.”

Maddyn Greenway doesn’t spend a lot of time thinking about what she has accomplished in multiple sports and the legacy she could potentially leave as the best all-around female athlete ever in Minnesota.

“For me, it’s just about the work. It is kind of amazing that I have succeeded in sports that I won’t do at the next level,” she said. “I just set my mind to do my best. In soccer, it’s to be the all-time top scorer. In track, it was to get the state championships, something I wasn’t sure I could do.”

She didn’t reclassify to get to UK a year early because she wanted “one more year of memories” in high school.

“I think 100% when I get to college and just concentrate on basketball I can be an even better player,” Greenway said. “The time I take away from basketball now is great for me, but in college I will have more time to train. My parents have both been a great influence on me. Dad is a little harder on me, but I am super grateful to them both.”

Her father is also convinced his talented daughter has not hit her peak in basketball either.

“She has never totally focused on basketball. She has not trained as much as some other kids,” Chad Greenway said. “But we didn’t want her peaking at 16. You want to do that when you are older and that’s why we love (UK) coach (Kenny) Brooks and how he can take her game to the next level.”

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Former University of Kentucky player Darius Miller played for coaches Billy Gillispie and John Calipari, two very different types of coaches, at UK. Now he’s enjoying what former Wildcat Mark Pope is doing as Kentucky’s coach.

“I love his approach to the game. I feel like he’s like a mad scientist in the way he’s got it down to a science, but he’s also a genius with how he does it,” Miller said. “I can really appreciate that as a guy who studies a game, who really appreciates guys who study the game. I love that about him.

“I feel like he paid attention to the small details. There’s been plenty of games where we’ve seen us struggling in the first half and then in the second half they come out and look like a totally different team. I think that says a lot about his leadership and his coaching ability. But I’m a fan.”

Miller said he “loved” Calipari even though he’s now at Arkansas. Miller played on Calipari’s 2012 national championship team.

“As everybody knows, he’s done a lot for me and I wish he would have ended on better terms (at Kentucky),” Miller said. “I think if he had to go, I think this is the next best thing (as UK’s coach).

“A former player (Pope) who understands the expectations, understands the University of Kentucky, understands how big the program is to everybody in the city and the state. So I love it. I love what he’s brought to the university so far.”

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Amelia Hassett finished her first season at Kentucky averaging 8.6 points, 7.9 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.3 blocks, 1.0 steals and 33.1 minutes per game. She also made 55 3-pointers, the third best total on the team.

She started all 31 games for coach Kenny Brooks even though she dealt with an illness in February.

Brooks believes Hassett will be more “comfortable” this season — her senior year — after going through a year of Southeastern Conference play after two years of playing in junior college.

“Obviously, we were hard on Amelia last year just because we needed her to guard the best player, rebound the basketball on both ends and then make shots while playing 30-some minutes a game,” the Kentucky coach said.

“I thought she had a tremendous year. She really did. I think now, with added help and her being able to be more natural in her position, I think she’s going to be a lot more productive for us.”

Hassett, called “Millie” by UK coaches and teammates, never seemed to have a bad day and was always smiling on and off the court.

“She’s very happy to be here. She just walks into a room and you immediately smile,” the Kentucky coach said. “I thought she had a really good year last year. I’m excited for her to be able to play off of everyone here now and have some more help where she can be fresher.”

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Sean Woods has a lot of experience as a college basketball player and coach. However, he knows coaching La Familia, UK’s alumni team, in The Basketball Tournament (TBT) that starts next week is a bit different.

“They are pros. So instead of having to go over things a hundred times when you’re dealing with kids, these guys, you just tell them what to do and how you want to do it and they pick it up much easier,” Woods said. “It’s less teaching and more direction as far as what your philosophy is more so than teaching every little thing in high school and then also teaching everything more in college.”

Woods worked as an assistant coach under Tyler Ulis last year when La Familia reached the Final Four of the event that pays $1 million to the winning team. He was primarily the defensive coordinator for that team.

“As a coach, you want other guys to help and have input. They’re giving their time and effort, so they want to show what they can do and what things that they know,” Woods said. “You want to give your assistants an opportunity to have their platform.”

La Familia opens play July 18 against Stroh’s Squad at 9 p.m. in Memorial Coliseum. If the UK team wins, it will play again July 20 at 2:30 p.m. The regional title game will be July 22 at 6 p.m.

Former Kentucky players on the roster are Ansley Almonor, Willie Cauley-Stein, Archie Goodwin, Aaron Harrison, Andrew Harrison, Doron Lamb, DeAndre Liggins and Kahlil Whitney.

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Quote of the Week: “Kentucky is not a losing team. I feel like they’re a winning team in history, so eventually they will get back to winning and I want to be a part of it whenever they’re on their upswing and help the team do it,” Texas high school senior defensive lineman Ben Duncum, on why he committed to UK.

Quote of the Week 2: “We’re gonna be the best defensive team in the country. It’s gonna be a battle, who’s gonna be the Defensive Player of the Year in the SEC, because it could probably be anybody (from Kentucky). Teams are going to have a tough time,” Kentucky junior center Reece Potter, on his expectation for his first season at UK.

Quote of the Week 3: “They know the culture. They’re going to constantly remind guys of the culture here. The leadership that they have, they just try to bring it to everyone else. They know all the plays, they know where players have to be, stuff like that. They’re just doing a good job at that, just telling us what to do,” Alabama transfer Mo Dioubate, on how UK’s returning players help newcomers.