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Sanders ‘Looked Good’ in Return to Practice
Kentucky travels to face top-20 ranked South Carolina on Saturday at 12:21 p.m. ET
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The
University of Kentucky football team began preparation Tuesday to face
its third-consecutive top-20 opponent in No. 18 South Carolina on
Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium at 12:21 p.m. ET. UK faced then-No.
15 Florida two weeks ago before battling No. 1 LSU last week in Baton
Rouge, La.
UK head coach Joker Phillips said after
practice Tuesday that he was again pleased with his team’s enthusiasm
and effort in the game, but the Wildcats are still not executing in
some areas the way he is wanting.
“I think the enthusiasm
and like the effort, but we have to execute better,” Phillips said.
“That has been the story on Tuesday, but again, some of it is expected
and some of it is not. When you have a new gameplan some of that is
expected, but when you are doing some of the things over and over that
is not expected. We have to get better tomorrow.”
Good
news out of practice Tuesday was that sophomore tailback Raymond
Sanders practiced and looked good, according to Phillips. Phillips said
he has been pleased with how Sanders has handled his rehabilitation
following knee surgery. Sanders, who started the first two games
at tailback before sustaining an injury vs. Central Michigan, might
play this Saturday at South Carolina.
“Raymond looked
good today,” Phillips said. “It is amazing how fast he healed. He did
everything except for contact and looked good running. He took reps
with the ones (first team) and if he doesn’t swell we expect him to go
this weekend.”
Although Kentucky took down a top-10 ranked
South Carolina squad last season in Commonwealth Stadium, Phillips
doesn’t think it will give UK an advantage in this year’s game. The UK
coach said both teams are different this year and the situation is
different.
“This is a different team,” Phillips said about
how last year’s win could help the 2011 team’s confidence. “We still
have some guys on the team from last year and they do too, but they are
a different team too. We are playing them at their place and they will
be a little more confident coming in at home and actually will be
jacked up because they are coming off a loss. Last year, they were
coming off a huge, huge win (over Alabama). We expect to get their best
game this week.”
Phillips said Kentucky expects another
loud and hostile crowd on Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium, saying it
is one of the loudest stadiums he has attended. Phillips was an
assistant coach at South Carolina in 2002.
“It is
definitely one of the loudest stadiums,” Phillips said. “I was down
there for a year as a coach and I understand how jacked up those people
get down there. They have great fans and the (state) fair is usually
going on (next to the stadium) and it will be crazy down there like it
is every week. It is an SEC atmosphere.”
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