Oct. 20, 2008
Head Coach Rich Brooks
Opening Statement…
“The news is not good on Derrick Locke. He has an ACL and MCL tear and will undergosurgery at a later date. Obviously he is out for the year. Myron Pryor is probablyout this week. We will wait another 24 hours to see for sure, but he can barelyget up on his ankle. The high ankle sprain looks like it has stricken anotherplayer on our team. Micah Johnson probably won’t practice tomorrow as he re-aggravatedhis high ankle sprain. David Jones probably won’t practice tomorrow with hishyperextension elbow bruise. Marcus McClinton probably won’t practice tomorrowwith a strained MCL. Robbie McAtee has some swelling in his knee and probablywon’t practice tomorrow. Everybody else just has bumps and bruises. The goodnews is that Stuart Hines actually returned to action last week and played fivesnaps. He will be available on the offensive line. Without any setbacks we couldalso have Justin Jeffries back this week.”
“We hope we can have a good week of practice. We know how good of a team Florida is. They put a whipping on LSU a few weeks ago and they are coming off a bye week to face us. They are a team that has as much speed and talent as any team in our conference. They have playmakers on offense, and they really got on track against LSU. Defensively, they are one of the fastest defenses in the conference. This will be a big challenge for us to go on the road and try to get something going offensively, and for us to play well on defense, which is a difficult matchup for a lot of teams, including us.”
On if Florida is better than they were last year…
“I think that their defense is clearly better than it was last year. Having put51 points on LSU, I would have to say that their offense is too. But it didn’tlook like their offense was better than it was a year ago early on, but PercyHarvin being hurt had a lot to do with that. He is an explosive football playerwhether running or catching the ball. He is really something special.”
On whom Tim Tebow reminds him of…
“I don’t think he remind me of anything. I think that he is fairly unique atthat position. History showed last year that what he did had never been accomplishedby another quarterback. Not only does he have the finesse, but the strength andhis ability to stay healthy make him a unique individual.”
On improving the offense…
“We need to continue to get the ball down the field. For five minutes we lookedlike we had an offense this last week. We need to build on that, as well as howgood our running game looked in the first half. I think we would have lookedbetter if we would have had more opportunities in the second half, but we didn’tget the ball very much. On the three scoring drives with a total of six playsit doesn’t let you see what you really have. I wouldn’t be upset to continueto see that, however. It is going to be difficult. It is difficult to move theball when you have experience on offense let alone when you have inexperience,especially with the defenses we have in this league.”
On conducting more of the hurry-up offense…
“We would like to do that, but it is not just Mike Hartline, it is all the otherinexperienced parts of that offense (and) getting their communication down. Itis easier to do that at home because the noise isn’t that much of a factor. Weshowed early on that we had difficulty communicating with our receivers at Louisvilleand at Alabama . I would like to do more of that because we have done that thelast few years with Andre’ Woodson. But, you have to have all parts of that offenseunderstanding that rather than the one guy running it.”
On who will get Derrick Locke’s carries now that he is out…
“Moncell Allen will get more carries and Tony Dixon ran better than he has runin a while, so I am hoping that he will have more spring in his step. That wouldbe very helpful, because of his experience, to get that quick and explosive abilityhe has back. Alfonso Smith will be a much bigger factor going forward as well.”
On what Alfonso Smith brings that some of the other running backs don’t…
“He is bigger and one of our fastest players. That was shown in his 71-yard touchdownreception last week. He did what we have been asking our backs to do, which isbreak tackles and once he broke the tackle he was gone. There wasn’t anyone whowas going to catch him.”
On the relationship developing between Mike Hartline and Randall Cobb…
“Mike has been a student of the game and Randall is mature well beyond his years.He (Randall) has that ability to focus and concentrate and know that even ifhe is not the primary receiver, he can do something that affects the defenseand how they will react. He has a purpose with everything he does.”
On Randall Cobb’s ability as a freshman…
“I don’t think that you find very many freshmen that have the maturity, dedicationand leadership at that age. A lot of them might learn it through their freshmanand sophomore year and show signs of it their junior and senior year. But, fora freshman to come in and be that savvy and mature is not a common thing.”
On the play of Gene McCaskill…
“He has been able to get open a little bit and there are several things thatwe are looking for out of our receivers: One, catch the ball when it is thrownto you. Two, get some separation and get open. Three, you have to know what youare doing. Some of them are doing a better job of getting open and catching itand some are catching it when it is thrown to them, but not getting open.”
On if he thought that the Arkansas game was a season-turning game…
“Stay tuned. We will see if it is season-turning or not. Every week becomes important.When you lose a game by three points on the road and seven points at home, alot of people might have thought that was good for Kentucky football, but that’sno longer true. We see it as we lost two games that we had a chance to win, andif you lose another one your goals get closer to not being accomplished.”
Quarterback Mike Hartline
On preparing for the upcoming game against Florida …
“It’s one of those games, going to Florida , and not having beaten them in 21meetings, we’re really going to try to control what we can this week. That meansnursing our injuries and trying to match their intensity on (our) offense. Theyhave a great defense and incredible speed. We have to prepare very well. Afterthe game against Arkansas , I just had a talk with the guys and said, `We can’thave these types of games where we win in the very end.’ We have to match ourintensity in practice to our intensity of the game. That means going all fourquarters. This week is definitely going to be one that involves more focus andconcentration on who we are playing, how we’re playing, and what we’re playing.”
On coming off the fourth-quarter win against Arkansas …
“It definitely gives us good momentum going into next week. It just shows usthat is how we are capable of playing. We can play that way. We just have toplay for the whole 60 minutes. It’s strange because once we get our momentumgoing on our offense and when we pick up the tempo as far as going downfield,it seems that we play better. We have to use the talent of who we have. We needto get (Randall Cobb) the football. He’s an extremely athletic guy. We have topersevere through our injuries and do everything necessary in preparation forFlorida .”
On his emotions after the Arkansas game…
“It was great beating Arkansas the way it happened. My emotions were kind ofall over the place, but I couldn’t help feeling that I wanted more out of that … Weneed to expect more out of ourselves. We can’t put ourselves in that situation.I’m proud of our offense and the coaching staff sticking with us. We didn’t quit.The guys were (saying), `We have five minutes left and we’re only down by twotouchdowns. This can still happen.’ I’m very proud of how we persevered and howwe showed what kind of offense we could be.”
On how he deals with the pressure of being quarterback…
“I don’t really go onto the websites or read the newspapers. If it’s in frontof me I’ll take a peek at it. As far as staying away from the media, it’s somethingthat naturally happens. I come here and answer the questions. I’m not afraidto do that. I just keep playing my game. That’s what I’ve always been focusedon trying to do. I feel that if I break down, the whole offense will break down,or things won’t get better. I just have to keep my poise and keep relaying whatI see to my coaches and having confidence in them. We just have to stay patientwith it because it will come along. We just have to keep pushing and fightingand things will go our way.”
Strong Safety Matt Lentz
On the win against Arkansas …
“It was a great SEC win, and we showed a lot of character in the comeback. Itwas exciting in the locker room afterward, and we were really happy because wenever gave up in the game.”
On the Florida game…
“I believe we can win at Florida as long as we stayed focused. We need to payattention to the film and just stick to our assignments.”
Wide Receiver Dicky Lyons, Jr.
On coping with a collegiate career-ending knee injury…
“The injury is upsetting and everyone is asking me if I have a lot of pain. I believe that pain only hurts if you can’t handle it, and I can handle. The pain also goes away when my team goes out and plays like they did on Saturday. I’ve probably gotten 1,000 e-mails, and I have a ton of family members who care about me. I can’t go anywhere without people thanking me. I want everyone to know that the pleasure is all mine, and I’ve loved every minute of playing for the Kentucky Wildcats. I’m proud to be a member of this program, and I’m glad to be a part of it for the rest of my life.”
On rehabbing from the injury…
“Trying out for the NFL is my goal. My recovery is based on how hard I rehab and how bad I want it.”
On Randall Cobb and the team honoring his number against Arkansas …
“It was on honor for Randall Cobb to wear my number on his jersey Saturday. When I walked into the locker room I saw that the team all had my number on their armbands. I told them that I appreciated it, and it made me want to be on the field even more.”
On Kentucky ‘s comeback against Arkansas …
“The comeback was great. I was on the microphone with the ESPNU announcers and I told them that the team wouldn’t give up. As soon as I said that, Alfonso Smith scored his touchdown.”
Defensive Tackle Corey Peters
On where would you rank the Arkansas game on your win meter…
“It’s definitely a top-five win. We just kept fighting and never gave up.Everyone was talking on the sideline saying we still can win this and not togive up.”
On how does it feel now that the defense has made improvements over previous seasons…
“It feels great, but it also puts a lot of pressure on us. Our margin oferror is really low and everything we do, we have to be smart.”
On Florida …
“They are a really well-coached team. They have a lot of fast guys out there,(and a) good scheme that works. We’re just going to have to do our best.”
On the team playing Florida with a couple of banged-up players…
” We have a lot of depth right now, and we have guys that will step up to the occasion and make plays.”
Linebacker Johnny Williams
On Florida ‘s quarterback Tim Tebow…
“Tim Tebow is a tough player, and I give him respect for that. We need to keephitting him and keep going at it. They use him in a lot of different ways, andwe need to pay attention to the small details to play well.”
On Florida ‘s offense…
“I believe playing against different spread offenses has helped us to prepare.Spread offenses are tough and we know what they can do.”
