Joker Phillips held his weekly press conference (video above) ahead of Thursday night’s season opener against Western Kentucky in Nashville. In the way of breaking news, there is not much to report, but here are a few storylines that came to light on Monday.Depth chart taking shapeFor the first time since the beginning of camp, a full depth chart was released. With three days to go before the opener, it is obviously subject to change, but there is a lot of information to be gleaned from the preliminary depth chart.The first thing that jumps out to me is how much experience is at the top of the roster. Among 12 listed starters on offense, there are four seniors, five juniors, two sophomores and one freshman. On the defensive side, there are even more veterans. Listed first on the depth chart at 12 starting positions are seven seniors, four juniors and one sophomore.Although experienced, the two-deep depth chart is not without young talent. Most notably, freshman Josh Clemons is listed second at tailback behind only Raymond Sanders. Clemons has been raved about by coaches and teammates for his physical tools and his spot on the depth chart is confirmation of the hype.Joining Clemons in the backfield is freshman D.J. Warren, who is listed first among fullbacks. Warren has been talked about during camp as the future of the fullback position at UK, but it looks like he is also the present. The Wildcats still figure to use a great deal of tight end heavy sets in run situations, but Phillips said they won’t be afraid to use Warren either.”We’re not going to shy away because we have a young guy at fullback,” Phillips said. “We’ll play him. The reason why he’s there is because he’s talented enough.”On the other side of the ball, sophomore defensive tackle Donte Rumph is the youngest listed starter. Rumph had a two-year journey after high school to get to UK and made 12 tackles in 2010, but is being looked to as a key cog on the defensive front. Phillips reported that Rumph has been dominant at times in camp, giving the Wildcats a kind of player they haven’t had in a while.”He’s 325 pounds, really strong, explosive, understands how to come out of his hips, use his hands, get off blocks,” Phillips said. “He’s an SEC three technique. He’s what we see every week. It’s a look we hadn’t seen here in a long time.”With the amount of looks UK will show defensively, Rumph won’t be on the field all the time. When he is, along with fellow sophomore defensive tackle Mister Cobble, he’ll be very important to what the defense tries to do.Western Kentucky a ‘barometer’ for CatsThe Hilltoppers may have been 2-10 under first-year head coach Willie Taggart in 2010, but they will present challenges, particularly in the running game. Running back Bobby Rainey returns for his senior year after rushing for 1,649 yards and 15 touchdowns last season. Rainey tallied 183 of those yards and a pair of touchdowns against the Wildcat defense last season, something that Phillips said cannot repeat itself.”You cannot allow a team to rush for that many yards on you,” Phillips said. “Rushing yards demoralize you.  You’ve got to stop the run.  When people are able to line up and run the ball on you, it’s a slap in the face.  Last year was a slap in the face the way they ran the ball on us.”UK’s offense bailed out the defense, outscoring the Hilltoppers 63-28. With new co-defensive coordinator Rick Minter having installed his new scheme, this game gives the Wildcats a chance to see the progress they’ve made.”This is a good game for us trying to see how much we’ve improved,” Phillips said. “I really think that we’ve improved a lot, but this game will be a barometer to see how much we’ve improved.”UK has had to settle for intra-squad competition since fall camp started and the team is excited about finally facing another opponent.”We’re excited about playing,” Phillips said. “We’ve been beating up on each other for a month now. It’s game week. You can feel it around our place with our players, especially our older players, and it’s starting to rub off on some of these young kids that understand how to handle themselves and prepare themselves for what is game week.”Offensive line headlines injury reportOutside of losing freshman wide receiver Daryl Collins to a season-ending knee injury, UK has escaped serious injury since the beginning of fall camp. However, the offensive line has been consistently banged up. Compared to a couple weeks ago when four of five starters were out with injuries, the group is significantly healthier, but guard Stuart Hines and center Matt Smith are still recovering.Hines only recently returned to practice and has done so successfully, but he will likely not start the opener. Sophomore Kevin Mitchell will go in his place, but Hines is expected to dress and see game action. Smith will be handled in the same way, with senior Jake Lanefski expected to fill in when Smith cannot play. The good news is that, with the number of injuries on the line during camp, Mitchell and Lanefski have played significant time with the first team.Wide receiver Gene McCaskill and defensive tackle Donte Rumph are both projected starters who missed time earlier in camp due to injury, but both have returned to full-speed practices and are not expected to be limited on Thursday. Other players who have missed practice time recently include tight end Tyler Robinson and safety Taiedo Smith. Both are expected to play.