Brooks: Despite win, improvement still needed for UK

A decisive 27-2 victory in a rivalry game usually means there isn’t much room to improve.

Don’t tell that to UK football head coach Rich Brooks though, who believes there is always something to improve on. If any week is the most important for UK to improve, Brooks thinks this week is the best.

“In between week one and two the young guys got a chance to experience their first game and then watch themselves on film and see what they did right and wrong,” Brooks said. “Sometimes it takes them to see themselves for what you’re trying to say to click with them, and I’m not hoping to go from night to day, but I’m hoping for twilight for our offense.”

Despite the dominance shown by the Cats’ defense against Louisville, Brooks said there is an absolute need to keep raising their level of intensity.

“We started out with a pretty good defense performance and what we can’t do is get satisfied with it,” Brooks said. “We got a whole lot of work to do with this whole football team, just not the offensive side of the ball.”
Senior defensive tackle Myron Pryor, who starred in the Louisville game, said if the defense wants to keep improving and playing at a high level they must keep their focus with everything they do, whether it’s on the practice field or in the film room.

“We need everyone to keep doing what we did before the Louisville game,” Pryor said. “The big thing is to keep everyone healthy. If we can stay healthy and stay focused, we can be dominant.”

The Cats did a good job of staying injury-free during the Governor’s Cup battle and received good news as freshman wide receiver Aaron Boyd, brother of former UK quarterback Shane Boyd, was cleared for contact and practiced for the first time since being diagnosed with mononucleosis on Aug. 8.

While welcoming back the freshman wide receiver, Brooks and the rest of the Cats are happy to have Pryor back to 100 percent, as well as having a healthy Ricky Lumpkin and Corey Peters. If the three can stay healthy, Brooks is very confident in the play of his trio of defensive tackles.

“I’m just hopeful Pryor can have a healthy year,” Brooks said. “And if he does, you won’t see the 72-yard touchdown returns, but you will see some great plays. It’s great to have Ricky back and give us that rotation so we can keep Myron and Corey as fresh as possible, too.”

While many saw the struggles in the running game against Louisville and began pointing fingers at the offensive line or the backs with the ball, Brooks made it known he believed the running woes fell on the whole team. He was especially adamant about the need for the wide receiving corps to work on their blocking ability.

“The backs have to hit the hole when the hole is there and not hit a pile, and the line has to create more holes,” Brooks said. “But the receivers must block. Everyone talks about the passing game, and the receivers have to remember to block because you don’t make long runs without the defensive backs not tied up.”

Freshman wide receiver/quarterback Randall Cobb, who is expected to see more time at receiver this week, said all the coaches made sure to stress the importance of everyone helping the running game.

“Our coaches are hard on us because we know what we have to do. We’re just not doing it right now,” Cobb said. “We have to be more focused in meetings and practice and go out and get the job done.”
Brooks would even like to see some improvements and help from Big Blue Nation this Saturday as the Cats take on Norfolk State.

“We need our fans rocking ‘n’ rolling,” Brooks said. “We need it really noisy when Norfolk State is on offense and let’s get everyone fired up.”

Pryor wins Defensive Player of the Week

Senior defensive tackle Myron Pryor was named the Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Week after his performance this past week against  Louisville.

Pryor had three tackles, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and his first career touchdown. His forced fumble in the second quarter also led to a score.

Pryor, a Louisville native, is the first UK defensive tackle to win the award since Dean Wells in 1992, and he’s the first UK player to win it since Wesley Woodyard garnered the award last year following the Cats’ win over Arkansas.
“I feel great about it because of all the talent in the SEC,” Pryor said. “When the coaches told me today at practice I was just in shock. I still am a little.”