On the first practice day of Kentucky’s off week, head coach Joker Phillips announced some tough news: freshman running back Josh Clemons has sustained a torn meniscus in his knee and will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery this morning.Clemons, who leads the team in rushing, suffered the injury at some point during UK’s loss at South Carolina. He started the game, registering four carries for 10 yards, and tried to play through the injury but was very limited. The freshman had a routine injury evaluation on Sunday and an MRI was scheduled the following day. After the tear was diagnosed during the MRI, he had surgery Tuesday morning.For a team that has dealt with countless injuries on offense and has struggled mightily, the injury to one of its most effective playmakers is a tough one to swallow. Phillips understands that injuries are a part of the game though.”It’s football,” Phillips said. “We understand the game and injuries happen. I’m not sure if it’s buzzard’s luck or not but that’s the way things happen. We feel for Josh and the other guys also because he’s a special guy to all the players on the team.”Raymond Sanders, who recently returned from his own knee surgery, will return to the starter role and will be backed up by Jonathan George, CoShik Williams and Brandon Gainer. On the bright side, Sanders’ injury earlier in the season meant that George, Williams and Gainer have already seen playing time.”We’ve got a couple backs who have played this year because of Raymond’s absence therefore we expect those guys to pick it up,” Phillips said.As for true freshman Marcus Caffey, who has yet to play so far this season, Phillips anticipates he will be held out and his redshirt used.Phillips called Tuesday’s practice and “upbeat” one during which the team worked extensively on fundamentals. The focus right now is on improving the offense and the return game.”We talk about flipping the field and we’ve flipped the field with our punting game and our coverage teams,” Phillips said. “It’s flipped back the other way with the way we’ve played on offense and the way we’ve played in the return game. We’ve got to get better on offense and we’ve got to get better on both return teams.”When it comes to coaching up an offense that’s having trouble moving the ball, Phillips has some experience he will continue to put to use.”I got this job because I took a struggling offense, fixed it and won a lot of games after getting it fixed,” Phillips said. “I’m at that point now. I’ve got to get this struggling offense fixed.”