Head Coach Rich Brooks
?I want to thank Kroger for sponsoring this luncheon and thank Kroger for all they do for Kentucky Athletics. I also want to thank Dr. (Lee) Todd and Mitch Barnhart with an opportunity to coach a team in a very, very tough conference. A lot of people have asked me, ?What did you find different in your first year after being in the NFL and being away from college football for 10 years?? Really, the only thing I found different was what I had perceived from the outside. One experience going around this league during the fall and going to opposing stadiums, and seeing the electricity and interest in college football in this part of the country is an amazing thing. I want to thank our fans. Without having the success of a Georgia or Florida, we still have a full stadium of fans going nuts and great support for football here. Our goal is to give you something to get really excited about like (coach) Tubby (Smith) has in basketball. We won?t be known as a — quote ? ?basketball school? forever.
?I?m really looking forward to this season. We have a very good recruiting group coming in to join our team. If you look at the players that have arrived on campus in the last year, you?ll see more guys that look like the guys that Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Florida have. That?s what we need more of. We?ve always had some here, but we need more. Certainly with probation being over next year, we?ll be headed further up that road to get closer to the 85 scholarships. We started this fall with 73. Next year our recruiting class will be back to normal, which will be a big boost. I think in the next month or so, you?ll see some commitments to Kentucky football that are pretty impressive. High school football in this state is outstanding. I have really enjoyed watching the progress of it. The thing about our progress is it?s going to be geared a lot to high school football in this state. There are more Division I prospects in Kentucky in the last two or three years than there were five, six, seven years ago. And that is a real credit to the high school coaches and the athletic systems in our state.
?I am very encouraged about our ability to run with the teams in this league better than we did a year ago. We have more explosion and speed and playmaking ability. We?re still a little short on numbers. Our depth should be better on the defensive side. Our depth will be pretty good at wide receiver and tight end. We?ll be a little thin on the O-line and at quarterback in experience. We only have three quarterbacks on scholarship. One is obviously Shane Boyd. Another is Andre? Woodson, a redshirt freshman, and Joe Joe Brown, a true freshman. So, we fall far from the tree when we talk about having experience at that position. That is one of the problems we have to manage as we go forward. We need to get our recruiting classes balanced ? because of the probation ? to where we don?t fall from a senior to a redshirt freshman at a position. We?ll have more people with experience and game-time in the system so if someone goes down we?ll have someone with not only talent, but also experience stepping up to the plate.
?Our players have worked very hard this fall. We have more players coming back to practice than are leaving (because of injury), which is always a good sign. B. Jay Parsons came back yesterday and worked out. Rafael Little got on the field for the first time yesterday. He?s still a ways away from being ready, but he got his pads on for the very first time yesterday. We?ve had some pleasant surprises in our fall camp ? Tony Dixon, I had on defense for a week. Then our running back position got a little thin, I threw him over there in a white jersey and gave him some live scrimmage plays. I left him there because he?s pretty good. He had a high school game in which he rushed for over 500 yards and I know why now. He?s going to be over there for a while.
?We have some things that are unsettled. The return game ? the loss of Derek Abney is going to be a tough thing to replace — but we have some choices. Keenan Burton will be back there. Draak Davis will be back there. John Logan will be back there. Tony Dixon will be back there. At this point, I?m not sure who?s going to carry the load, but the choices are pretty good ones. I?ve been impressed with the progress of our offensive line. We?re getting better there and we have some young people who will play a role there. I just can?t tell you how excited I am to get this season started and to go up to Louisville and try to get things started on the right foot, not like last year when it got off on the wrong foot.?
A question regarding the freshman linemen ?
?We have three linemen. Kane Hanneford has dropped 28 pounds and is still above 350. But he can move. He isn?t a big belly guy, he?s a big human being and he?s going to be good. Micah Jones is getting in shape. We?re talking about a 320-pounder who is very athletic. He?s still in the learning curve in terms of assignments and techniques, but he?s clearly a very talented player. Aaron Miller from up in Grayson is 6-foot-6, 290-pounder, who isn?t as strong as he needs to be right now. But he is probably the most athletic of the guys. He?s one of the more athletic linemen on our team. We?re still in the process of trying to find out who is going to play out of those three guys. I would like to redshirt at least one of them or maybe two. I?m not sure I?ll have the luxury of doing that. We also are in the process of trying to figure that out with some other freshmen. But they are some very impressive linemen and I can say they are among the better linemen on our football team when you think about what they?ll be able to do in a year or two. These guys are big-time SEC linemen.
A question regarding the running back position ?
?Arliss Beach has missed a little time with a shoulder problem, but is back on track now. He?s about 15 pounds heavier than he was a year ago. He broke a lot of tackles in the spring. I think he?s going to have a great year. I?m looking for him to have a breakout year this year. Draak Davis is about 12 pounds heavier and is doing some very impressive things this fall. Then you throw Rafael Little and Alexis Bwenge in there. So, we have some choices there and clearly, we?re going to run the football better than we did a year ago. Our backs will have a lot to do with it, but our run blocking and the line will also be improved.
A question regarding the linebacking corps ?
?I really think that our linebacking crew is very much improved. Durrell White is above 250 pounds now and he played great a year ago. He?s a big-time player in this league in my opinion. I think one of the most improved players on our football team and a guy who is going to make a lot of big plays is Ray Fontaine. He?s the fastest linebacker that we have. He?s been impressive all fall camp as he was late in the spring. Those are the two outsides. Joe Schuler is probably our third guy and (Cedric) Koger is our fourth guy. Schuler has improved dramatically. He?s had a great fall camp. On the inside, Dustin Williams is still doubtful for the Louisville game at this point, unless he makes dramatic improvement on his hamstring. Then we?ve got (Chad) Anderson, we have (Dennis) Johnson who was the biggest surprise in the Spring. Johnson is a guy who walked on from a junior college a year ago. He may to be a starter in the Louisville game. (Jon) Sumrall is greatly improved on the inside. We brought in Gabe Wallace, who we are still in the process of determining whether we?ll redshirt or not and waste his year of eligibility when he probably won?t play that much. We have some good people. Our linebacking corps is light years ahead of where it was at this time a year ago. We?re going to see those backs pounding at us and we need to shut them down. As the year went on last year, we got a little better at it. But that was not the best thing we did last year. We did not stuff the running game as well as we need to in this league, and against Loiusville, who had one of the better running attacks in the nation last year.?
