Sept. 7, 2010

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky football team returned to the Nutter Training Facility practice fields Tuesday, starting preparations for Saturday’s matchup with in-state rival Western Kentucky University.

“It was really upbeat and we had a physical practice,” Phillips said. “We introduced some different things on Tuesday and we have to be better as far as understanding our assignments and the new looks that we are going to see every Tuesday. Every week you are going to see different looks, we just have to be more in tuned with that.”

Phillips was happy with how the team responded from such an emotional win last Saturday against Louisville, saying that he really liked the team’s energy, enthusiasm and effort.

A lot of talk after Tuesday’s practice was about the development of junior wide receiver Matt Roark, who had a career game against the Cardinals on Saturday. The native of Acworth, Ga., made three catches for 47 yards, including one catch at a key point in the game where Roark dodged would-be tacklers down to the one-yard line.

“He made a couple of plays that will hopefully help his confidence,” Phillips said. “Same with special teams, he made some plays on special teams Saturday and he was inconsistent on special teams (in preseason practice). I guess you can call him what many say is a ‘gamer’ but we want to see it out here (on the practice field).”

The head coach also said that freshman tight end Jordan Aumiller did practice Tuesday after Phillips said on Monday that he was day-to-day with a sprained foot.