By LARRY VAUGHT

larry@amnews.com

Wide receiver Quentin McCord is proud that he started the pipeline from LaGrange, Ga., to the Kentucky that has brought players like Wesley Woodyard, Braxton Kelley and Demoreo Ford to the Wildcats.
“I love it. It seems like something I started because I was the first guy to come up here and now a lot have done that,” said McCord, a former UK player who was a seventh-round draft pick of the Atlanta Falcons in 2001. “It is a testament to what coach (Steve) Pardue is doing there to get those guys ready for the next level.”
The pipeline added another link Wednesday when LaGrange kicker-punter Joe Mansour committed to Kentucky over LSU and Florida. Mansour, who runs the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds, hit a 52-yard field goal while attending UK’s camp last month.
“I think it (the pipeline) will continue and we can even get more. The better UK does, the more guys from LaGrange will want to come. The more we can get here, the better and bigger fan I become of Kentucky football,” said McCord, who had 112 catches for 1,743 yards at UK.
McCord, 31, played three years for the Falcons. He had 23 catches for 427 yards and one touchdown. He was on the Oakland Raiders’ practice squad in 2004.
After not playing in 2005, McCord signed with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League in 2006. He also spent time with the Edmonton Eskimos.
Recently he came back to Lexington and is now playing with the Lexington Horsemen and quarterback Jared Lorenzen, his ex-Kentucky teammate.
“My first game with the Horsemen was the most fun I have had since high school. I love playing with Jared. It was flashbacks to my senior year here at UK,” McCord said during a break from working at the Dennis Johnson Football Camp here earlier this week.
“I think I can do this for a while. It depends on how my body holds up. I don’t think it will be much wear and tear. The game is not that demanding. I can do this, but I take a day at a time like I do my life. Whatever opportunities present themselves, I will take them.”
Basketball was always McCord’s first love before he realized he wouldn’t be big enough to be a big-time player.
“I played and played until I realized I wouldn’t grow any more. Then I concentrated on football, and once I dedicated myself, I always saw myself on the big stage every day. It motivated me, even in high school. It helped me to work hard and stay consistent because I knew I wanted to eventually be in the NFL,” McCord said.
He’s actually dropped his weight from close to 200 pounds in his senior year at Kentucky to about 180 now, and says he is also faster now than when he played for the Wildcats.
“When you are young, you eat wrong. You eat a lot of fast food, pizza. You drink a lot of soft drinks,” he said. “Playing in the league and being around older guys, you learn to take care of your body. I started shedding bad weight and put on healthy weight. That’s why I feel like I am getting younger even though my age says different.”
McCord is proud of what the UK football program has done recently under Rich Brooks, but he’s hoping for even bigger things in the future.
“I am proud of program. It has been going up since I left. My senior year we were 2-9. We had the talent, we just didn’t put it all together at one time,” he said. “Now guys are playing together and playing good team ball, especially on defense. The defense is so exciting. When I was here, it was all about the offense with coach (Hal) Mumme. But I know defense wins championships.
“If the defense steps up and keeps getting better, hopefully we will bring a national championship here to Kentucky. That is what I want. I don’t want to settle for just regular bowl games, the mediocre bowl games. I think we should get primed for a national championship game.
“I think a lot of former players are talking that way now. We are all excited over what these guys are doing. It really makes us proud, but it also makes us wish we could have done that, too.”
McCord, who is taking classes to finish his degree while his wife works on her doctorate at Louisville, is glad he’ll be closer to the UK program again now that he’s here and not living in Atlanta.
“I get to be here and face to face with it, so I know what I am talking about. It has been a while, but it is like I fit right in. It’s like the puzzle pieces just went right back together when I came back. I am having fun with it and can’t wait to do anything I can to help these guys,” he said.