UK’s secondary cornered after injuries

At this rate, UK may not have any defensive backs left at the end of the season.

The secondary, which at the start of the season was expected to be a strength of the team, has been rocked by injuries to two of its top players and now looks like a major question mark for the Cats’ game against South Carolina.

Sophomore Randall Burden, freshman Martavius Neloms, sophomore Anthony Mosley and junior Cartier Rice will be UK’s (2-2, 0-2 Southeastern Conference) top corners when the Cats travel to Columbia, S.C., on Saturday. Senior cornerback Trevard Lindley will likely miss the game, and junior cornerback Paul Warford could miss his second straight start with an injury.

“There’s not a lot of starting experience and not a lot of gametime experience in that group,” UK head coach Rich Brooks said.

The loss of Lindley, an All-America candidate who has started 43 consecutive games and is among the most dominating players on the UK defense, is especially troubling. He’s a potential first-round NFL draft pick who can shut down an entire side of the field in the passing game even when covering some of the top receivers in the SEC.

Other players in the UK secondary aren’t so concerned about the losses. Even though senior safety Calvin Harrison will likely have more pressure on him this weekend, he’s still confident in his teammates.

“We still have Randall Burden, who’s been playing real good,” Harrison said. “Martavius showed a lot of promise last week when he got in. That’s tough just to be thrown into a tough SEC game like that, he showed good things in that game.”

Burden, who lost a position battle with Warford in fall camp to start opposite Lindley, has been especially impressive. His teammates have compared him with Lindley, and he should be UK’s top corner on Saturday.

Burden’s performance after Lindley left Saturday’s game, combined with his efforts in practice, have shown players like Harrison that not all the questions surrounding UK’s corners will be difficult to answer.

“(Burden and Neloms) are hard workers, they play hard, they’re physical and they’re not scared to cover anybody,” Harrison said. “They’ve got a lot of confidence in themselves.”

BROOKS STILL LOOKING FOR FIRST S.C. WIN

Even as Brooks works to move the Cats out of the SEC cellar, he’s still had trouble beating South Carolina. He’s 0-6 against the Gamecocks in his tenure at UK.

“I’ve got a lot of monkeys on my back,” Brooks said. “And it’s becoming very apparent that I have a lot of monkeys on my back.”

Brooks said UK’s nine-game losing streak to South Carolina doesn’t bother him any more or less than UK’s unfavorable streaks against Florida and Tennessee.

But senior defensive tackle Corey Peters said this game is more important than Florida or Tennessee. He said beating South Carolina is important because the Cats are always close to the Gamecocks in the standings.

“I think that’s the team that’s been pretty much right above us these last couple years,” Peters said. “This year we’re going to have to try and take that step over that program.”

Brooks did recognize that UK needs to beat South Carolina if the Cats are ever going to move away from 6-6 and 7-5 seasons. Knocking off a school like South Carolina, even though not a perennial power, would still mean a lot for the program.

“All I know is that South Carolina and Kentucky are in the bottom-to-the-middle of the food chain in the SEC East,” Brooks said. “If either one of us want to climb that ladder, we have to beat each other.”