With a few hours to decompress following UK’s narrow 14-3 victory over Western Kentucky, head coach Joker Phillips held his weekly teleconference. Here are some notes and quotes from his comments:

• Having had the chance to watch tape from last night, Phillips reiterated that the offensive line did not play up to expectations. “The offensive line did not play well at all,” Phillips said. “They’d be the first to tell you that.” The unit was slated to be the strength of this year’s team, but injuries plagued the group during fall camp, but Phillips refused to accept that as an excuse. Tackle Billy Joe Murphy, the lone starting offensive lineman to avoid injury during camp, sustained a sprained MCL on Thursday night and his status is unknown.

• Quarterback Morgan Newton was another player to sustain an injury Thursday. On the first drive of the game, he sprained his thumb on an opposing player’s helmet. He was evaluated at halftime and Phillips said he was actually surprised he returned. Phillips praised his toughness and also said that the tape showed Newton didn’t play nearly as badly as his numbers suggest. “He threw the ball a lot better than his stats read, but he’s also got to get better,” Phillips said. “He missed some easy throws, but (I’m) proud of the way he performed in the second half because we weren’t expecting to have him.”

• Last on the injury report was defensive end Collins Ukwu, whom Phillips said was playing at a very high level before leaving with a bruised shoulder. He will receive treatment all week and is considered day-to-day. Fortunately for all the Cats who are banged up, UK has a couple extra days to rest before playing Central Michigan next Saturday in the Commonwealth opener.

• A pair of freshmen caught my eye last night: tailback Josh Clemons and linebacker Alvin Dupree. Clemons was the talk of camp, earning raves for his SEC-ready body and running ability. He earned the backup role behind starter Raymond Sanders and Phillips said that he will get even more opportunities moving forward. “I thought he played pretty well,” Phillips said. “He was a guy that was seeing cuts and seeing things really well. We’ve got to get him there a little bit more because I thought he blocked well, he understands our schemes (and) he can catch the football, so he definitely deserves to play more.”  Dupree was only recently moved to linebacker on a full-time basis, but his athleticism was on full display on a couple nice plays in pursuit against Western Kentucky. Phillips said that Dupree would have been a good tight end in time, but playing him at linebacker allows him to move immediately to No. 2 on the depth chart and No. 1 in some packages.

• Another position where a freshman or two could soon make an impact is at wide receiver. UK’s top four returning targets at the position (La’Rod King, Gene McCaskill, Matt Roark and Brian Adams) combined for just six catches and failed to make plays on a few well-thrown balls by Newton. Although the freshman (Daryl Collins) initially thought most likely to make an instant impact is out for the year, look for others like Demarco Robinson and Rashad Cunningham to get opportunities. “We have to find a group of wide receivers that can make plays,” Phillips said. “I think we had the separation we need to make the plays, but guys have to make the plays for us.”