On Tuesday, the UK football team held a mock scrimmage at Commonwealth Stadium to close their preseason training camp, which lasted approximately three weeks this August. The Cats played the scrimmage in game jerseys and full padding, but quarterback Morgan Newton, despite ditching his red practice jersey for the official UK blue, was still not allowed to be hit.

“This isn’t a scrimmage of trying to find out who’s number one, who’s number two, or fighting for jobs,” UK head football coach Joker Phillips said. “This was a scrimmage to try and get familiar with how the game will be played.”

Phillips and the rest of his coaching staff led the team through different in-game situations to prepare them for regular season play, and placed extra focus on various special teams coverages throughout the scrimmage.

“I’m glad we got through it,” Newton said. “It’s one of those things you’ve got to get through, game situations, some of the stuff you can’t really simulate in practice much, you do your best to simulate them in the mock scrimmage. I’m glad we got through it and everybody was familiar with it and now we can get on to game week.”

Phillips said the official game jerseys and Commonwealth Stadium as the venue for the scrimmage were added into the equation to help prepare his team for the atmosphere of a major college football game, and help ease the jitters of younger players who will be taking an NFL field (LP Field, home of the Tennessee Titans) on Sept. 1 against the Western.

“You don’t want it to be a shock the first time they take the field together as a team,” Phillips said. “This team has not been together (on the field). We don’t need any stragglers. We need to look sharp and we need to look organized. I thought that we did tonight. Now, we have to show them how the layout is going to be at LP Field. Our guys will be ready to go.”

The scrimmage also served as the conclusion to the team’s summer training camp. On Wednesday, the team took a day off from their usual activities for the first day of classes for fall semester. The Cats returned to practice on Thursday, only this time, they turned their full attention to their season opener with their in-state rivals, the Hilltoppers.

“They’re exhausted I’m sure,” Phillips said. “I feel like they’re spent, their minds are turning with different things, but that’s what everyone feels this time of year. I’m sure they’re happy to break camp, so now we’ll just start focusing on Western Kentucky.

“I think everybody is really excited about the game, because this is game week.”