Oct. 13, 2008
Head Coach Rich Brooks
Opening Statement…
“Injury update, Justin Jefferies and Stuart Hines will be out, although I thinkboth of them will have a chance to be back next week. We will see how their rehabgoes this week. Bad news on Dicky Lyons Jr., an MRI revealed a posterior andmedial collateral tear. He will have surgery a week from now when the swellinggoes down and it will end his season. Michael Schwindel, DeMoreo Ford, MauriceGrinter and Micah Johnson are questionable. None of these players will practicefully tomorrow and we will see how they feel Wednesday.
“In looking at Arkansas, they are a team that has improved tremendously since the start of the season. One of the things that you have heard me talk about the last several years is that if you are not getting better throughout the season then somebody is gaining on you. That is one of our challenges right now because we haven’t got much better going through the year as we have needed. Arkansas clearly has improved since they started the year. They had a very impressive win at Auburn . The score was close but the game really wasn’t because Arkansas dominated on Auburn’s home field. We are going to have our work cut out for us. They have a very big offensive line and a good running back in Michael Smith who also catches the ball a lot coming out of the backfield. Casey Dick is having his most impressive year that I have seen him have in the conference. Defensively they are playing some young people and playing aggressively. This is a huge challenge for us to get on the winning side of things in the SEC.”
On the loss of Dicky Lyons Jr.…
“I feel very bad for Dicky. He has had a great career and made some great plays.He is a crowd favorite and has meant a lot to this program. To see (his career)end in this manner is disappointing.”
On what losing Lyons Jr. does to the receiver rotation…
“It is obvious that there are a lot of snaps and catches that need to be madeout there now that Dicky is missing. This is a great opportunity for our youngreceivers. Somebody has to step up and fill the void. That is the nature of sport.When somebody goes down, someone has to step up and fill the void. Obviously,we would like to have our running game take a little bit of heat off of our passinggame. In the last couple of games we have ended up throwing the ball out of necessitybecause we haven’t been able to run it like we can. I would like to have morebalance. That is part of the improvement thing that I was talking about before.We need to make some rapid improvements that we haven’t been making from gameone to game six, so far.”
On his judgments of the offense after playing against tough defenses the past two weeks…
“It makes it a little difficult on the offensive side to judge but going forwardI don’t see a lot of weak defenses that we are going to play. There are not alot of those in our league. Arkansas held Auburn to under 200 yards of totaloffense and that is good.”
On what the Dicky Lyons Jr. injury means for Randall Cobb…
“Obviously, it would be easier to give him (Randall Cobb) more snaps at quarterbackif Dicky was healthy. He clearly had become our second-best receiver in his firstgame after the injury and probably right now he is our best receiver.”
On using his running backs more in the passing game…
“You saw that a little bit last week with Locke and Smith in the same backfieldat times. You could see more of that going forward. The thing that we have todo is get our best and most productive players on the field. In what slots andwhat positions and how many reps is something that we have to work on.”
On Randall Cobb’s injuries…
“He hurt his good ankle in the game. He bruised his left hand. His body is assore as it has ever been. That is what happens when you end up being a prominentplayer in the SEC. You have to understand that he is a freshman and he is notbig in stature, but he has a big heart and a lot of ability. We just have tobe smart on how we use him.”
On if Lyons Jr. could come back to mentor the younger receivers…
“I would hope that he would be comfortable to come out and do things like that,but he is going to be limited in mobility, getting to class and studying. Heis scheduled to graduate on time and we need to make sure that happens. It willbe a little while before he wants to come out and stand around and help a littlebit. He doesn’t need to spend much time on his knee before and after surgery.”
On Lyons reaction when he discovered the severity of his injury …
“He is devastated. You know how much this football team means to him. He is justdevastated. It is a tough thing. I don’t think that this is how anybody envisioned(his career) would end for him here at Kentucky.”
On the quarterback’s pass reads…
“Some go from short to deep and some go from deep to short. It depends, Mikehas taken the attitude to `be needy, not greedy’ and has come off of that sometimesas well. He has had times when he has gone with the shorter route even when themedium route is open. Last week we coached him on his grip and that may haveaffected his throwing a little bit.”
On how Hartline is developing as a quarterback…
“It’s a tough thing. If you are the quarterback and things aren’t going well,then it is frustrating. He is giving everything he has and is working hard toget this thing going. Like I said many times before, the players around him needto help more as well. It is never easy to follow two years of great productionand then not have it. Every year brings different challenges to a football team.It is a tough thing, but that is part of playing the position. You have to takethe heat and criticism and then step up and figure it out.”
On the similarities between Head Coach Bobby Petrino’s system at Arkansas and Louisville…
“They are very similar, there may be a little bit more movement with the quarterbackfor his throwing spots. There is still tight end involvement, zone play, angleblocking, a productive run game, a well-designed passing game and a good, throwingquarterback.”
Defensive Lineman Ventrell Jenkins
On Kentucky ‘s defensive performance against South Carolina …
“We saw the mistakes that we made on film, and they weren’t big ones. Some of the mistakes would be a man out of the gap or a man not doing their job. We don’t feel like our backs are against the wall, we just feel like we need to compete and get better. Defensively, we have a new attitude this year and we will never be satisfied. Especially dealing with a coach like Coach Rick Petri, no matter how good you do or how many positive things you do, he’s still going to find things to harp on. The attitude is that we can do better.”
Linebacker Micah Johnson
On the team’s mentality…
“We have to continue to get better, continue to improve. Close games, we haveto start pulling them out because Alabama and South Carolina were two close lossesthat we could have won. We just have to keep getting better at practice. We can’tget down on ourselves.”
On Arkansas …
” Arkansas is a good team who started off slow, but they’re bigger and betternow. It’s going to be a tough game. There’s not an easy game from here on outfor the rest of the SEC. Every game is going to be tough, and we’re going tohave to have the same mental preparation.”
On missed opportunities in the game against South Carolina…
“We had them in tough situations, third and 15, third and 12, third and 17. Itwas just the minimal mistakes. If we can’t execute on third down like we havebeen doing, it’s going to be tough for us to win games. We have to get the defenseoff the field. Guys are getting tired and worn down as the game goes along. Wejust have to eliminate the minimal mistakes and get off the field quicker.”
On the defense helping the offense…
“We’re a team but the defense right now is the strong point of the team. We haveto help pick up the offense. There will be times when the offense has to pickthe defense up because the defense is playing bad. We just have to try to balanceit out. There is no room for mistakes at this point with any team we are playing.There’s no easy win, no easy game from here on out.”
On getting tired towards the end of the game…
“It’s tough, but that’s what off-season is for. That’s what all the conditioningis for, what the two-a-days and camp is for. You have to be able to go for alonger period of time. Last year we had two overtime games against LSU and Tennessee. Guys have to be ready for that.”
Cornerback David Jones
On the remainder of the season …
“We control our own destiny. We’re not going to go into any game and think thatif we don’t win our season is over. We still have a lot of games left.”
On if the loss against South Carolina affected the team’s confidence…
“If anything our confidence level is higher. We just know what we have to do.We lost two close games to No. 2 Alabama and to a great South Carolina team.I think we know what to do right now. We have to work harder in those games andcome out victorious.”
On the team’s morale after the loss to South Carolina …
“We’re not feeling good about the fact that we lost, but we know what to do.We know we can’t sit back and say `We got beat two times.’ Two years ago we werethree and three and went to a bowl game. Last year at this time we were fiveand one. This year we are four and two. We control our own destiny. It’s notover. We’re still here to play. We know what we have in front of us.”
On any frustration after the game against South Carolina …
“There was a lot of frustration whenever you have your number one receiver goingdown. Everyone knows that (Dicky Lyons) doesn’t go down, and doesn’t get hurt.It was hard seeing him go down and seeing his facial expressions. We all knowwhat we have to do and where we are. We lost two close games, and you can’t losethose close games. I think we’re going to go out of here and into practice tomorrowand play better.”
On the defense and offense being in opposite situations in past years…
“Our first goal on defense is to win. Our second goal is to get off on thirddown. We didn’t get off on the third down, so that wasn’t helping our offense.I think we all need to go out there and continue to work harder. We know nowwhat we have to do. We just have to continue playing.”
Tailback Alfonso Smith
On his thoughts of this week’s game after watching tape of the Arkansas-Auburn game…
“In the SEC, on any given week any team can come out and beat anybody. As yousaw in the LSU and Florida game, I don’t think that anybody would have expectedthat kind of game.”
On where the team is mentally right now…
“The team just needs to come together and play together the best we can. Everybodyis down after two hard losses. When you lose close games like that it is hardon you. Everybody on this team wants to win and we need to come out and practicehard and get a win. I was worried at first that some people might start pointingfingers but after yesterday’s practice I could tell that everyone is coming togetherand committed to sticking together. The team seems more focused on working hard.”
On how the offense feels about its progress so far this season…
“I feel that we are letting people down because the defense is going out thereand working really hard and our offense isn’t doing what we should do. We aremaking improvements though and working hard to get better. We are playing a lotof young guys, so we are going to have to speed up the learning process, includingmyself as well.”
