New faces will attempt to spark offense in game two

UK’s offense still has plenty of work to do.

Look back at the box score from Thursday’s game and the numbers are staggering — 33 rushes for 93 yards, seven completions on 18 attempts for 97 yards, three turnovers and just 14 points. For the game, the Cats offense gained fewer than 200 total yards against a Western Kentucky defense that allowed 380 yards and 33 points per game in 2010.

The offense looked so bad, WKU sophomore linebacker Andrew Jackson questioned UK’s SEC status from the sideline during the game.

With a banged-up offensive line and a stable of inexperienced running backs, UK will need their passing game to set the tone on offense and put more than two touchdowns on the board. Junior quarterback Morgan Newton felt pressure from WKU’s defensive front all game long, but even when Newton was able to find his receivers, they struggled to hold onto the ball to complete the pass. Without any threat from the passing game, WKU was able to load up the box to stop the run, stifling the Cats’ offense in its tracks.

“It is important for us to look cleaner offensively,” football head coach Joker Phillips said. “We still have to play with the same energy played on defense, on special teams and every phase, and we have to be better on offense.”

But Phillips also said that receivers were still dropping too many balls in practice, a sign that they haven’t improved as much from Thursday’s game as the coaches would have liked. As a result, Phillips has shaken things up at the position, to an extent, and will be giving new guys an opportunity to earn playing time on Saturdays.

“Some of the younger guys got more reps than they have been getting, and it will continue to be like that,” Phillips said. “We have to find out who our best three or four receivers are.”

Phillips never specified which receivers would be getting more reps in practice, but he mentioned freshman wide receiver Demarco Robinson’s name in his postgame press conference as someone he’d like to see touch the ball more on offense. Robinson caught zero passes in the team’s first game and only touched the ball once on an end-around that resulted in a five-yard loss.

Other wideouts who may see increased playing time are sophomore Brian Adams and junior E. J. Fields.

Lots of talk circulated about Adams — also a starting outfielder for UK’s baseball team — making more of an impact on offense in 2011.

Adams managed to catch one of Newton’s seven completions against WKU for a four-yard gain, but with his 6-foot-4 frame and incredible speed, Adams has the ability to make plays if given the opportunity.

Fields, who sat out Thursday’s game for disciplinary reasons dating back to an incident from last season, has excelled on special teams when he has been healthy enough to play, but has rarely seen the field with the offense. If he can display a change in attitude from last season and prove he can stay healthy, the former high school track star could get the nod from Phillips to line up at receiver.

But if any members of UK’s youth movement at the position want to increase their playing time, they will have to earn it in practice and validate it on Saturdays. Until then, it’s unlikely that Phillips and his staff will announce any personnel shake-ups at wide receiver as the team progresses through its week of practice.

“It’ll be a surprise, I really don’t know honestly,” junior wide receiver La’Rod King said of who fans may see lining up at receiver on Saturday. “We’re still at practice, guys are taking spots every day so I really don’t know.”

As for the more experienced wide receivers, Thursday’s game was a humbling experience. Outside of a nice completion to senior Gene McCaskill over the middle for 34 yards and the touchdown toss from Newton to King — a 31-yard completion — the Cats managed just five other completions for a total of 32 yards for the game.

The players, including King and McCaskill, said they learned from the game and will use it as motivation, but are also trying to put the subpar performance behind them and focus on playing better against Central Michigan.

“The offense really took (the game) personally,” McCaskill said. “You could tell at practice how focused everybody is as far as no talking, the tempo and getting back to the huddle and taking everything more seriously.”