Knowing the words “all-time leading scorer” will likely be in front of her name for a long time when anyone writes/talks about Kentucky women’s soccer still has “not sunk in yet” for senior Jordyn Rhodes.

“Honestly, I am still trying to soak it all in,” she said. “I can’t focus on that because our team is doing well and I love that. It definitely makes it more enjoyable with what I have done because the team has been more successful and there’s not a big focus on my success.”

Rhodes became UK’s all-time leading goals scorer recently with two goals in a win over then No. 9 Alabama – UK’s first win over a top-10 team since 2014 – that earned her SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors. That gave her 45 goals, one more than Kim LaBelle had during her UK career that ended in 1997.

Rhodes, a fifth-year senior, isn’t sure why she is such a prolific goal scorer.

“I obviously put in a lot of work to get here. I find myself in good positions and I am able to finish thankfully,” said Rhodes, who has a SEC-leading five game-winning goals this year. “I have not always been able to do that. I had to practice a lot and develop my game.”

The Lebanon, Ohio, native intended to be playing at Indiana, not Kentucky, before a coaching change brought her to UK.

“I was committed to Indiana. There was a coaching change and I knew it was not going to work out,” she said. “The former coach (Ian Carry) at Kentucky reached out to me and offered me a spot on the team and I took it. All that happened really quickly. I had committed to Indiana my sophomore year and then all this happened my senior year in about a two-week period.”

She had been part of an under-17 national championship team out of Cincinnati in 2017, but Kentucky never recruited her until after her decommitment from Indiana.

“It was kind of weird the way it happened,” Rhodes admitted.

Lebanon is only about 2 1/2 hours from Lexington, but she did not grow up a UK fan. Her family was more into the Cincinnati Bengals and Cincinnati Reds than college sports.

“But I have converted a lot of people there to UK fans now and there already were a lot of Kentucky fans from where I am from,” she said. “I have always had a great support system with family and friends and that has not changed. They are proud of me and proud of our team.”

Rhodes has been at Kentucky along with some of the all-time best female athletes at UK – Rhyne Howard was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft, Madison Lilley was named the nation’s most outstanding player when UK volleyball won the 2020 national championship, Abby Steiner was named the 2022 most outstanding track & field athlete, Kayla Kowalik became softball’s all-time hits leader and Jensen Castle won the USA Women’s Amateur.

“It’s been very crazy. All those girls are incredible athletes,” Rhodes said. “I have had the privilege to meet a few of them and consider them good friends. It’s an honor to be recognized with them, for sure.”

The resurgence of the women’s team has created more fan and media attention this season. Kentucky is 8-0-5 overall and 2-0-4 in Southeastern Conference play after a 2-0 win over Vanderbilt on Sunday. Rhodes did not score, but added her third assist of the season to go with nine goals.

Kentucky men’s basketball coach John Calipari has even attended matches and praised the team on social media this season. Former Calipari assistant Rod Strickland’s daughter, Tanner, is a freshman midfielder on the team and has started every match.

“The fans have been incredible and that makes it so much more enjoyable for us, whether fans know it or not,” said Rhodes, who has scored at least six goals in each of her five seasons. “Calipari has definitely helped with the crowd. Everyone is trying to find John in the stands, but we are good with that.”

Rhodes is working on a master’s degree in health promotion after already earning her kinesiology degree, but has no idea about her career path after her UK soccer career ends.

“I am just trying to focus on this season,” Rhodes said. “I will cross that bridge (about her future) when I get to it, but right now I am just enjoying what we are doing.”

•••

Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook editor/publisher Chris Dortch has not seen 7-foot-2 Croatian Zvonimir Ivisic play in person, but he has watched numerous tapes of the newest member of UK basketball.

“He is unbelievable and a huge difference maker based on seeing him against international competition,” Dortch said. “I cannot truly relate that competition to SEC basketball, but it is easy to see he is a big-time rim protector. He is a great rim runner and lob catcher. He can also shoot the 3.”

Dortch admitted that Ivisic does remind him of former Gonzaga star Chet Holmgren, the second overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.

“But he is maybe even stronger and more nimble than Holmgren,” Dortch said. “If Kentucky gets him eligible – and it looks like he is – it will add to a team that at one time people were panicking over because of the lack of players Cal had at one point this summer.

“If Ivisic is as good as what I saw on tape, and I like to think I know talent, I can’t see him being anything but a huge help.”

Kentucky assistant coach Orlando Antigua agrees with Dortch.

“Zvonimir is a unique player that can play a couple positions. He is very skilled and mobile and has a great motor with incredible length, which allows him to be a great rim protector,” Antigua said.

Blue Ribbon has Kentucky 11th in its preseason poll. Six SEC teams are in the top 25 with UK ranked below Tennessee (6) and Arkansas (8). Texas A&M (17), Alabama (19) and Mississippi State (20) are also in the top 25.

“We know it is going to be a tough league,” Dortch said. “I think this will be Rick Barnes’ best team at Tennessee. They have a 6-5 freshman, Freddie Dilione, who is throwing passes like Pete Maravich did. (Zakai) Ziegler, who tore his ACL late last season, is already back on the court doing some things. They have (Santiago) Vescovi and (Josiah)-Jordan James back. They added two shooters they desperately needed.

“Arkansas never ceases to amaze me with what they do with transfers. I think they are going to be loaded and I look at them as a team that could compete for the (national) championship.

“It’s just a loaded league and Kentucky is going to be able to play with anybody. Do they have a guy like (Anthony) Davis who can dominate? I don’t know. Maybe Ivisic will be that guy.”

•••

When Trevor Wallace was coaching his son Trevin, he would not “allow him to be average” because he knew his son had “greatness” in him.

“Then one day when he was 10 he told me, ‘Daddy, one day I am going to repay you and take care of you,’ ” Trevor Wallace said.

Based on how the Kentucky junior linebacker has played this season, he likely will have to consider putting his name into the 2024 NFL Draft. He’s been among the team leaders in tackles and tackles for loss and has been one of the leaders on UK’s highly-ranked defense.

“We have mentioned a couple of things (about the draft) based on what he does this year and what level we are looking at for next year,” Trevor Wallace said. “He wants to be better than last year to determine what he should do.

“Anything he does best for him longevity-wise will be based on what is best for him and what he thinks. He will talk to his coaches about everything and what is best for him. But that’s all for after the season ends, not now. He just wants to win games and be the best player he can be right now.”

Wallace is the team’s third-leading tackler with 31 stops in six games that includes five tackles for loss and 3.5 quarterback sacks. He’s also forced a fumble and made an interception.

•••

Kentucky might not have beat No. 1 Georgia, but Georgia coach Kirby Smart certainly knows what a special player UK defensive lineman Deone Walker is and said he was “extremely athletic for a large man.”

Smart even said UK does more with Walker than what he did with Jordan Davis, one of the nation’s most dominant collegiate defensive linemen and the 13th pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.

“They don’t play him at the zero nose. They move him out to the five technique. They dropped him against Florida on the interception play. It’s amazing, you’ll see a human being at 6-6, 350 (pounds) dropping,” Smart said before the game.

“And they mix it up with the guy. He’s a talented player. We recruited him here. He’s gotten better. He’s kind of a wrecking ball in there. He knocks people back.”

Walker did have two solo stops, two assists and one pass deflection against Georgia, but he also had a costly personal foul penalty that did not go over well with UK coach Mark Stoops. However, Smart made sure to talk to Walker on the field when the game ended.

•••

Like almost every other major college football player, Kentucky running back Ray Davis hopes to play in the NFL and certainly has made NFL scouts pay attention to him with his play so far this season. Still, the 5-9, 215-pound Vanderbilt transfer knows the more versatile he can be, the more valuable he will be to NFL teams.

That’s why during an appearance on the SEC Network he said he would rather make a “highlight catch” than a big run.

“I want to show how versatile I am. I’m not just a one-dimension back. I can do it all. I can pass-block, I can catch and I can run. Also, the defensive coordinator, you gotta pick and choose. Either you’re gonna stop the run or stop the pass. I can do both,” Davis said.

“I can go out there and line up in the slot and I can give your safeties and linebackers some work, or I can get up behind the box and run it.

“Just having that ability to be multidimensional – I never want to put myself in a box. You look at the running backs in the NFL today, that’s the way it goes – being able to be a three-down back and being able to do a lot of different things.”

Davis was UK’s best offensive player in the lopsided loss to Georgia. He ran for 59 yards on 15 carries and had two catches for 36 yards, including a 26-yard reception that he had to break tackles and weave his way through defenders to find the end zone.

He leads UK in rushing with 653 yards and eight touchdowns on 91 carries, an average of 7.2 yards per catch. He also has 13 catches for 182 yards and four touchdowns.

Davis used current NFL running backs David Montgomery of Detroit and Maurice Jones-Drew of Jacksonville as models for the type of player he wants to be. He especially likes the way Montgomery plays.

“He has that ability to be a hard-nosed runner. He can get up to his second level. I like what he does,” Davis said on the SEC Network.

However, Jones-Drew is from California like Davis and the UK running back feels a connection to him.

“I love what he did at UCLA and I love what he did with the Jaguars. He had the heart-over-height demeanor going into the league and he was just dominant,” Davis said.

•••

Quote of the Week: “We are going to handle adversity better than we did a year ago. I will not tolerate any dissension. Put it on me. We have a huge game coming up (against Missouri). We can’t let them turn one into two (losses). We have to respond better and I think we will,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops, on his team’s loss to No. 1 Georgia.

Quote of the Week 2: “This dude’s a mix of Wan’Dale Robinson, Lynn Bowden, Benny Snell and The Hulk. The dude is a real beast,” former UK all-SEC tight end Jacob Tamme on the SEC Network, on UK running back Ray Davis.

Quote of the Week 3: “He’s an invaluable piece of this defense. Invaluable. I think a lot of times if you don’t make some splash plays, you’re just steady Eddie. People say that’s not cool or that’s not hip. Trust me, as the guy who’s calling the plays, you rely on that. That’s an anchoring force,” UK defensive coordinator Brad White on linebacker D’Eryk Jackson, who had 11 tackles against Georgia.