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Phillips Expects Clemons to Start vs. No. 1 LSU
Kentucky football team uses crowd noise to help prepare for Death Valley
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The
University of Kentucky football team will travel to Baton Rouge, La.,
on Saturday to face No. 1 LSU for its first true road test of the 2011
season and according to head coach Joker Phillips, true freshman
tailback Josh Clemons is healthy and will start against the Tigers.
“He
practiced all day,” Phillips said about Clemons after practice
Wednesday. “He made it through the practice and he will be ready to go.
Tomorrow will be a practice to make sure everyone understands the plan.
It won’t be full speed but three-quarter speed. He should make it to
the game. He is healthy enough and from what I saw today, he will be
the starter.”
Clemons moved into the starting lineup for
the last two games when starting sophomore tailback Raymond Sanders
incurred a knee injury in the second game of the season vs. Central
Michigan. Clemons has rushed for 200 yards this season and two
touchdowns. Both TDs were the game-winning scores vs. Western
Kentucky University and Central Michigan.
One of the
biggest concerns for the Wildcats heading into the game is dealing with
the crowd noise that the 90,000-plus fans at Tiger Stadium bring on
gameday. The UK staff played crowd noise over speakers at practice
Wednesday to try to simulate what the noise will be like Saturday.
“We
had a lot of crowd noise playing today at practice,” Phillips said.
“I’m not for sure if we can have the same effects that it will be down
in Tiger Stadium, but we did work with it and we didn’t seem to have
any miscues with the crowd noise. Our goal is to get better and improve
and we will see how much we will improve on Saturday.”
Phillips said although it is hard to truly simulate how loud it will be, bringing in the outside noise couldn’t hurt.
“It
definitely helps,” Phillips said when asked how much practicing with
crowd noise helps the team. “We try to put it right behind the
quarterback. That is the way it will seem – like its right in your
huddle. We have to use a lot of signs, especially for the outside guys
and we have to be able to communicate because it is going to get loud.
That is when we have to try to get the momentum back and keep the
momentum.”
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