Check out the weekly quotes from the UK football press conference on August 28 to see what coach Hal Mumme and his Wildcat players have to say about their season opener this Saturday, September 2, at Louisville. Kick off is set for 7 p.m.
Coach Hal Mumme
On opening day:
“It’s a fun time. We can hardly wait. I usually have a nervous breakdown the Thursday before a game, but I had minelast Thursday. We just have to get in three good workouts this week. We’re pretty anxious to go play.”
On injuries:
“Kenneth Grant will not play; he has a high ankle sprain. So that will be a week-to-week deal. Dougie (Allen) hasdone great. He’s made (Dr.) Darren Johnson our favorite guy. We’re healthy other than that. Antonio (Hall) is fine. Hehas practice the last three or four days. This week will determine what Coach (Guy) Morriss decides to do (with him).Louisville did a great job twisting on us last year, so that will be a concern for us. They twist the ends and the tackles.That will be our biggest concern with him. We’ll see how he does in practice this week.”
On Jared Lorenzen’s progress:
“He’s gotten a lot better at field generalship. I am very pleased that he has taken over that role. He’s done a good jobwith his training and on his academics this summer. He’s more of a positive lead by example guy, but he can getfired up now and then. I think you’ll see some emotion out there. Of course, he’s still a redshirt freshman. Last year atthis time, we had nine new guys on offense. We don’t have that problem this year, so that will help him. I think you willsee him emerge. He’s done a good job with his play calling and is ahead of that curve. He has done a good jobgetting to know his receivers. He knows how hard he has to throw it to some and how soft he has to throw it to others.He’s done a good job with his pocket-feet and learning our offense. Learning our offense is like learning a foreignlanguage. You have to be able to talk it. You have to be able to speak it in fairly noisy, high-tension moments. Youhave to be able to, in just a few seconds, communicate with 10 other guys. “
On Lorenzen’s first collegiate start:
“I told him he needs to get over the jitters, to go out there and have fun. I told him not to put a lot pressure on himself.He’s a great talent and really enjoys playing the game. I just want him to have a fun time playing it. The quarterback inour system should be the guy who is having the most fun on the field.”
On scripting for Lorenzen early in the season:
“We thought about scripting the whole game when we decided to go with him. He had such a great camp, we areprobably going to script less. He’s come a long way (at checking off). That has been a surprise. We’re pretty pleasedwith what he has been doing in practice. Now we hope he can do it in a game.”
How important is the Louisville game in the long term:
“It’s always important. It’s a rivalry game. It’s our first game of the year and we would like to get off to a good start.We just try to take it one game at a time, one week at a time, and not look at it too far down the road. Louisville’s agood football team, an experienced football team. They beat the heck out of us last year. We’re going to go overthere and try to give a better effort than we did last year. It’s the only game we have to play this week, so it isimportant.”
On the game’s matchups:
“(Antonino) Roundtree and (Rashad) Holman are two great corners for them. They play a lot for them. UL has a greatmiddle-linebacker who has been starting for them since he was a freshman. They have Kennedy back at defensivetackle. They’ve got a great defensive front. John L.’s managed to get his defense to the style of play he likes with thepeople he likes to play. They are going to very much be a force to contend with. With their offense, you have toreplace a guy like (Chris) Redman. But they have Arnold Jackson and Zek Parker who made a lot of plays for them.It’s a big challenge for our guys. They have three interior lineman, the two guards and center, just licking their chopsto teach two freshmen (Jeremy Caudill and Dewayne Robertson) a lesson or two.”
On the UK offensive line:
“They have improved over last year. Now we are able to add Antonio Hall to that mix. Keith Chatelain and AaronDaniel are doing a nice job. We expect to roll some people in there so we don’t have the same five guys in there for80 or 90 snaps.”
On how he feel’s about the kicking game:
“I’d still like to avoid it if I could.”
On what concerns you most about Louisville:
“I’m more concerned about how we play. They have a good football team. They have a great scheme. They do agood job coaching and are very difficult to prepare for from an offensive standpoint because they do so manydifferent things on defense. Offensively, they’re like us. They like to throw the ball. They mix the run in nicely. What Ireally worry about is us rather than the opponents. I can’t control that, but I can control how we play. In last year’sgame we were a bit lethargic. We didn’t play with enough intensity.”
On the running game:
“We would like Derek (Homer) to be the outside runner in the sweeps and draws. Artose (Pinner) is the first backwe’ve had here with a little bit of size and can pound it in the middle. We are anxious to see how he does.”
On what he has done differently this fall compared to last:
“We’ve lightened up our workouts. I’ve shortened them. We gradually lengthened them over a period of three years,and felt like last year we were a little dead-legged. We’ve called off a couple of practices and have given them threedays to get their legs back under them. Now we’re hoping to have a real good week of preparation.”
On the receiving game:
“We’ve had seven guys at wide receiver who have had a really great camp. I don’t know who will emerge. At tightend, Derek Smith, Chase Harp and Bobby Blizzard have all had a great camp. I would like to see us get the ball tomore receivers.”
Players
Omar Smith
Senior, RT
“We hope to come out strong and hopefully, we’ll play well enough to win. We’re going to play typical UK football,hard and tough, and take it one game at a time.”
“This is just like any game for us and we feel that they are all big. The fact that we’re in different conferences doesn’tmean anything because it is a big in-state rivalry. We will be motivated to play. We’ll just try to play up to ourcapabilities and hopefully come out with the win.”
“Louisville has a real good team. They came in and beat us bad last year and they have a lot of starters returning. Weexpect another good effort from them because they are a talented and well-coached team. We will just have to takecare of things from our end.”
“I don’t know exactly how big Jared (Lorenzen) is, but he has great mobility. We don’t play much differently in front ofhim than we did for Dusty (Bonner).”
“We’re older and wiser this year, but we’re also a lot stronger. We were embarrassed about allowing nine sacks toLouisville last year so we hit the weights hard to avoid something like that again. We’ve really prepared ourselvesbetter for the start of the season this year.”
Grayson Smith
Senior, DT
“This is my fifth year here at UK and we are 2-2 against Louisville so this is the rubber match. We were a littledead-legged last year, but we’ve cut back on the length of our workouts and it’s amazing how fresh we all feel.”
“We are really excited about starting this season. I just can’t wait for Saturday, my blood’s boiling.”
“Jared is a good kid and he has a good head on his shoulders. He seems really relaxed in there and he handles thepressure really well.”
Jimmy Robinson
Senior, WR
“We are very serious about this game. We really need to take care of this game and get the season off to a goodstart. U of L was a great team last year and I’m sure they are a great team this year. We just need to take care ourbusiness and play our game.”
“Jared (Lorenzen) is a humble guy and didn’t take us long to accept him as our quarterback. It has been different toget used to Jared just because he is a left-hander and his ball has a different spin. He can put the ball in areas thatTim (Couch) and Dusty (Bonner) couldn’t just because of the velocity that he gets on his passes.”
“U of L has very good corners in Roundtree and Holman, but we just need to focus on what we need to do. We can’tcontrol what they do so the best way for us to make sure we get our job done is to play our game.”
Derek Homer
Senior, Halfback
“Many of our players took Louisville lightly last year. We felt like we had a lot of experience last year, with skilledathletes in the positions. We thought that we could come out with the win, but Louisville came out ready to go.”
On last year’s game: “Louisville came out ready to play and they had a lot of experience. We expected a win last year, but they came outready, and they won the game.”
Eric Kelly
Senior, Cornerback
“We will be more prepared for Louisville this year because we started working on things for this game earlier than wedid last year, which really makes a big difference.”
On Kenneth Grant not playing:”We have a pretty responsible guy in Willie Gary, who will go out and play hard. Grant is a loss, but we do havesomeone who can replace him.”
“I always felt like I was a leader, but now I finally realize what it is like to be a leader. It takes a lot more than what Ihave been doing. I am getting after the younger players more. Last year, I might say something to them in the lockerroom and hoped they would listen, but now I am getting on them every time we practice. I want them to understandhow important this game is, and the season, too.”
Marlon McCree
Senior, Linebacker
“We have a great team and we cannot wait to get out there and let everybody see us. We have great leadership onthis team and great coaches. We just want to make sure that we are prepared to go out and play like we are ableto.”
“It is really hard to not be anxious this week. You have to keep a lid on things, stay focused, and keep yourconcentration so that you can go out there and have some fun.”
“Louisville is a great football team, so if we don’t come out there ready to play, then it is going to be a repeat of lastyear and we don’t want that to happen again.”
“We always care a lot about this game because it is an intra-state rivalry. We have to hear about it all year long if youlose to Louisville. You hear, You beat LSU, but, you lost against Louisville. You beat Arkansas, but, you lost againstLouisville.’ We are just going to have to go out and do our best.”
