From now until the beginning of UK’s football season (September 2 at Louisville), I’ll be counting down the days before we finally see the pigskin again. Each day, I’ll take the number of days left before the season starts, and explain how that number is significant to UK football history (recent or ancient). This is going to be based on both my personal memories and the research I’m able to do, so please forgive me if I omit anything. Hopefully, this will keep the football fans occupied during the long summer months and the non-football fans interested. So, until September 2…

–#44 was the jersey number of one of most people’s all-time favorites when it comes to Kentucky football, Tim Masthay. Masthay will go down as being one of the best punters in recent memory and one of the best all-around people to come through the Kentucky program. His senior year (2008), he averaged a 45.2-yard punt, with a long of 72. (Seventy-two. Yards.) He was also named to the Allstate Good Works Team and has always said he would be a member of the Peace Corps if he weren’t playing football. For the year that he was out of football – after graduation and before he was signed with the Green Bay Packers – he made money by tutoring for $10/hour, while his wife worked as a bank teller. Since then, however, he’s been with the Packers, and money isn’t exactly something to worry about – he just recently signed a 3-year, $1.2 million contract with the Pack.

–Andre’ Woodson went 30/44 in the 2007 UK-Louisville game. So what, you say? The answer is two-fold: Those 44 throws helped Woodson to break the record for the most passes without an interception in SEC history (he finished the game with 257). He went on that season to also break the all-time NCAA record with 325. One of those 44 passes in the Louisville game was also the “Stevie got loose” touchdown that will live an enfamy for… well, ever.

–Freshman running back Dyshawn Mobley rushed for 44 touchdowns during his senior year in Powell, Tennessee (3,068 total yards). Mobley is just one of a pretty deep stable of running backs at Kentucky this year. While the Cats don’t have one clear-cut starter (a la Rafael Little or Derrick Locke), they have some pretty serious depth at the position which always comes in handy when you’re playing in the SEC.

If you know more about Kentucky football than Google and I, feel free to Tweet me football numbers and what they mean to you: @AshleyScoby