Clemons makes early impact for Cats

One week after rushing for the game-winning touchdown in UK’s week one match-up with Western Kentucky, freshman running back Josh Clemons was back at it again for the Cats against Central Michigan.

Clemons followed up his 11 carry, 39-yard performance against the Hilltoppers, which included his 14-yard scamper to the house to seal the game for the Cats, with 14 carries, 126 yards and another game-winning touchdown against CMU Saturday.

Clemons’ achievements on Saturday earned him SEC Co-Freshman of the Week honors for this week.

“Once you work hard at practice and get the schemes down it’s, kind of easy to perform out there on game day just knowing what you’ve been taught,” Clemons said.

Late in the third quarter of Saturday’s game, with the score tied at 13, Clemons took a hand-off from junior quarterback Morgan Newton and followed his blockers to the left side of the line, only to be stopped in his tracks by a swarm of Chippewa defenders who almost certainly would bring him down for a loss on the play. But when it was all said and done, Clemons had escaped past the outstretched arms of the defense and was sprinting down the right sideline on his way to an 87-yard touchdown run that would put UK ahead for good.

Clemons’ run was the fourth longest in UK history, and the longest run by a Cat since 1970. It was the longest touchdown by a UK freshman in the history of its football program. In addition to rushing for the game-winning score in each of the Cats’ first two games, Clemons leads the team in rushing with 25 carries for 165 yards, an average of 6.6 yards per carry.

Although sophomore Raymond Sanders spent the summer atop the running back depth chart coming out of spring practice, Phillips and his staff knew they had a potential program-changing back in Clemons. Through just two games, Clemons has asserted himself as a legitimate offensive weapon on a UK offense searching for a play-maker.

“He was the back that showed up every day, didn’t miss a day. So he’s really durable, really understood our offense,” Phillips said. “Then when we went into our first scrimmage, some of the cuts he made — his vision, his balance, those things, his ability to secure the football — those are the things that told us that we thought he could be a pretty good back for us.”

This week’s opponent, arch-rival Louisville, has excelled at stopping the run thus far in 2011, despite struggling against division I-AA Murray State and a loss at the hands of Florida International. The Cardinals have allowed just 94 rush yards per game through their first two games, allowing just 2.5 yards per carry. For UK’s slow-starting offense to be able to move the football against the Cardinals they will have to establish a running game, a responsibility that will rest on the shoulders of the freshman Clemons and his veteran offensive line.

“(Clemons) is a special player. The thing is, (the touchdown run) may not have been the cleanest blocked play of the day, and he was able to clean it up for us and bust it out for a big run,” senior guard Stuart Hines said. “We feel like any of our running backs are capable of doing that.”

Clemons wasn’t the only Cat to receive weekly honors following the Central Michigan game. The College Football Performance Awards named UK senior linebacker Danny Trevathan Honorable Mention Linebacker of the Week after he led UK with 13 tackles, three and a half for loss and a dazzling one-handed interception in the second quarter against the Chippewas.

Along with Trevathan, senior punter Ryan Tydlacka was named Honorable Mention Punter of the Week and sophomore kicker Joe Mansour was named Honorable Mention Kickoff Specialist of the Week. Both Tydlacka and Mansour received their respective honors for the second week in a row.