UK head coach Rich Brooks danced around questions concerning his uncertain future with the Cats at his Monday news conference.

When asked whether Saturday’s game against Tennessee would be his final one in Commonwealth Stadium, Brooks didn’t give a definitive answer.

“As far as whether I’m coming back next year, I’m kind of like that old Energizer bunny,” Brooks said. “I might need to get some batteries recharged. We’ll talk about that at the appropriate time.”

Before the season, Brooks announced he would not entertain questions about his future with the program during the season as he tried to focus on football. Brooks has never publicly announced whether or not he would return to coach the Cats beyond this season.

UK head offensive coach  Joker Phillips, who performs the duties of most offensive coordinators, has been named successor whenever Brooks decides to step down.

When pressed on the issue, Brooks became irritated and said he didn’t want to focus on anything other than the week’s upcoming game.

“I’m not going to answer anything about that anymore,” Brooks said. “I’m going to talk about Tennessee. No charging the batteries, no coming back next year, none of that junk, OK? This is not the appropriate forum. We have a huge football game with a lot at stake and we’ll address those issues at the appropriate time. Thank you.”

After the conclusion of the press conference, Brooks returned to the podium and reiterated his desire to keep his team from being distracted during preparations this week.

“One of the things that bothers me and has bothered me this year are distractions that take away from what we’re looking at,” Brooks told the media in a stern voice. “And I can go back no further than the Mississippi State game and the ‘Blackout’ game, which I knew nothing about, OK? I don’t want any distractions on us this week about, ‘OK, is coach coming back? Is he not coming back?’ I have three years remaining on my contract and there’s a clause in that contract that says in December they’re supposed to tell me what they want to do moving forward, OK? So we’ll wait for all those things to happen. But I don’t want this week to be about, ‘What’s he doing?’ I want it about Tennessee! Thank you.”

UK prepares for senior night with streak on line

As the Cats go through their final week of regular season practice, 26 seniors will hold Saturday in special regard. They’ll be honored before the game in Senior Day ceremonies before UK will try and beat Tennessee for the first time since 1984.

A win over the Volunteers would have UK finish second in the Eastern division of the Southeastern Conference thanks to a tiebreaker against Georgia. A loss would drop them to fifth in the division, due to similar tiebreakers against Tennessee and South Carolina.

“I think this class could make their own identity, if you will, rather than just going to the fourth straight bowl, if they were able to beat Tennessee and finish second in the SEC East,” Brooks said.

Brooks said this class has been a part of several big wins and has broken several streaks holding the program back. With all that in mind, senior defensive tackle Corey Peters said a win over Tennessee would be one of the biggest in his time with the team.

“(Beating Tennessee would be) much, much, much better (than beating Georgia),” senior defensive tackle Corey Peters said. “Not only for bowl implications, but because of the streak and senior night and all the different factors going into it.”

Having a chance to end the streak against Tennessee and finish second in the East might have seemed far-fetched when many of the players first committed to the Cats, Brooks said.

“Most of them came in here prior to some of the success,” Brooks said. “They bought the vision and the hope to do something here at Kentucky. And this class arguably has done more than anybody in maybe over half a century in their four years in the program.”

Senior offensive guard Christian Johnson said while preparations for Tennessee will be just like any other week, a win over the Vols wouldn’t be just another win.

“Every game we prepare for the same,” Johnson said. “After the game, that’s when all the celebrations come out. If we win that game, they’re going to tear Lexington apart. I feel like the fans and the citizens of Lexington are going to run this city crazy until the sun comes up, and I want to be a part of it too.”