Aug. 20, 2009
LEXINGTON, Ky. – A pair of senior linemen, Zipp Duncan and Corey Peters, have been elected by their teammates as permanent captains for the 2009 Kentucky football team.
“Both Zipp and Corey have demonstrated a lot of leadership in the offseason,” Coach Rich Brooks said. “They were leaders last year. Both are intelligent young men and obviously have the respect of their teammates, not only for how they conduct themselves on the field but I’m sure how they conduct themselves off the field.”
“It’s definitely a huge honor anytime you’re elected to a leadership position by your teammates,” Duncan said. “It means you’ve gained their respect and their trust. I feel like as a leader you need to be a guy that shows up every day ready to work and sets a good example for the younger guys. I feel proud of my teammates electing me to that position.”
“It was definitely a pleasant surprise,” Peters said. “Apparently there are some guys looking up to me that I didn’t know were, so it’s another item that’s fueling me to work harder in practice and give my all to the team. I just do my best to try to lead by example. I’m not a very rah-rah vocal guy but I do my best and work as hard as I can.”
Duncan has definitely shown a team-first attitude during his career. He redshirted as a defensive end in 2005, played tight end the next year, then moved to offensive guard the last two seasons. He agreed to another position switch this year, this time to offensive tackle. Peters has been a stalwart at defensive tackle during his career, starting the last two seasons.
Duncan came to UK from Elizabethtown (Ky.) High School and Peters is a graduate of Central High School in Louisville. While there has been a Kentuckian as captain in 14 of the last 16 seasons, it’s the first time since 1992 that all of the permanent team captains have been from the Commonwealth.
“We’ve had a lot of good players from the state of Kentucky that have helped us win three straight bowl games and now we have two that have been elected captain and hopefully leading us to our fourth,” Brooks said. “I think it speaks volumes to the type of football played in this state.”
“Any time you have the opportunity to represent your state school that’s a huge honor,” Duncan said. “That’s what Coach Brooks told us during recruiting, that he’s going to try to get the best players out of Kentucky that can represent our school, just to do that is an honor.”
“I think it’s more so a credit to the coaches,” Peters said. They’ve done a great job tapping into the talent in Kentucky. You look at the trend of the last couple years, as far as recruiting, Kentucky has gotten commits from most of the top prospects here. It’s a great honor being from Kentucky.”
Two-a-Day on Thursday: The Kentucky football team practiced for a little over an hour Thursday morning with a longer session slated for the afternoon.
The Wildcats worked on special teams during the morning practice, along with some 11-on-11 pass drills. Coach Rich Brooks reported that wide receiver Chris Matthews and quarterback Mike Hartline continue to look good.
Brooks also said that wide receiver/quarterback Randall Cobb, who has been sidelined by a back injury, will resume running in the next day or so. Defensive end DeQuin Evans (hamstring) is sitting out Thursday and hopes to return to practice on Friday. Tailback Jonathan George has sustained what appears to be a high-ankle sprain, with confirmation on the diagnosis expected by Friday.
