Congrats to the big fella, and here's to the chance that maybe, just maybe, he will help me not despise the Patriots as much as I do.
A host of Wildcats also have signed undrafted free agent deals as well. Among them: S Marcus McClinton (New England), P Tim Masthay (Indianapolis), and LB Johnny Williams (Jacksonville). Check out their new threads...
Outside of the draft, there was also a Spring football game, as the Blue team defeated the White team 28-23. From all indications it was a nice afternoon of football that showcased some surprises, most notably the play of reserve QB Will Fidler. Solid play from the defense, Randall Cobb, and the run game all gave the 20,000 or so fans on hand reason to smile.
Coach's Brooks' comments after the game...
Opening statement…
“Injury wise-it doesn’t appear that we had anything serious. E.J. Adams had a slight AC strain in his shoulder on a pass that he caught. Alfonso Smith sprained his arch in his foot. Danny Trevathan, on that last scramble by Mike Hartline, got a little bit of a hip pointer. Coshik Williams bruised the other shoulder, it wasn’t the same one. That was the extent of the injuries. From that standpoint it has to be the best spring that I’ve ever had as far as no serious injuries. So, from that standpoint it was excellent.
“I thought the effort all spring was excellent. Today, it’s never going to look as polished as you want when you mix and draft your team. Coach (Steve) Brown is 2-0 now in this game. So, he’s feeling pretty good. I think that there were a lot of good things that happened out there. There are some things that we obviously need to get better at. I think our fans got a great opportunity to see some new faces who will be doing some big things for us this next year. I was very pleased with the energetic crowd, and a very big crowd. I think it was the biggest crowd I’ve seen for a spring game since I’ve been here. It was fun for them I think, and it was fun for the players.”
(Editor’s note: spring game records are incomplete, but today’s attendance of 20,200 is the second-largest in UK history based on available information. The known record is 20,325 in 1987.)
On how the draft was constructed in allowing the Blue team to have Trevard Lindley, Micah Johnson, Jeremy Jarmon and Randall Cobb…
“You have an old draft guy on that side of the ball. Steve Ortmayer has run a lot of drafts in his day. It just works out how it works out. Joker (Phillips) had the first pick. Then each side got to take two at a time. So, hey, how it works is how it works. It ended up being competitive. It didn’t look like it would be in that first quarter. But, (Mike) Hartline, after what I thought was a shaky start throwing the ball, came back and did some very good things. He showed the competitor that he is when he brought his team back there in the second half. It was, I think, an entertaining game. Spring games are not always a really good, polished game. There were some turnovers. Most of them (turnovers) were by back-up players. The two interceptions were off of tipped balls.”
On the play of Will Fidler…
“I thought Fidler played the first quarter, and the first drive in particular, as well as I’ve ever seen him perform. Will’s problem isn’t arm strength. It’s usually been making the right decision, making it on time and he showed definite improvement in that area today. He started off like gang-busters. He had a pretty good guy to throw to (Randall Cobb) who made a few good plays. The one play Randall made reminded me of the one Dicky Lyons made when it was thrown behind him and he reached up and tipped it to himself and then turned it up the field and got some extra yards. Those are the kinds of plays that we need our receivers to make from time to time. Randall is obviously going to be a big-time playmaker and can help any quarterback I think look better. But, Will did a really good job early. He got some balls batted down later, which is not all his fault. We’ve got to get our offensive line a little more aggressive in getting the defender’s arms down. I thought he clearly closed the gap. And there was a gap. I feel much, much better about Will Fidler after this scrimmage. Obviously, he got the win.”
On the development of the receivers this spring…
“They’re not where I’d like them to be. We had a few guys make some plays. We had a young man not too many people knew about, but we knew about him in the last two or three weeks who has been impressive is Nick Melillo. He has put himself in a position where he is going to be looked at very hard in the fall. He doesn’t drop anything. He is physical. He plays hard. He plays fast. I’m encouraged from what I’ve seen from him. We did have some of our signees here today. I’m anxious to get them in here, one of them in particular was out here today a 6’5 200-pounder who runs fast -- junior college player Chris Matthews. It is going to be a lot more competitive. Some people in the receiving position helped themselves today and some people were either stagnant or took a step back. That’s what the competition will be all about. There are some plays, in particular early, that I wasn’t happy about Hartline all spring were his deep throws. Today they were similar. They floated a little bit too much. I will say this, the wind was blowing very hard and made it extremely hard to throw deep. When you do throw deep it better be a tight spiral or the wind is really going to take it over. That’s what happened on several of those deep throws. One of the balls that was intercepted down in the endzone our receivers have to come back and compete for that ball and not allow an interception. Although the defender made a good play, I thought the receiver did not compete for the ball as he should have.”
On the play of the linebackers…
“How long has it been since Kentucky had a linebacker fast enough to return kickoffs? (referring to Danny Trevathan) That’s the encouraging thing about the speed of our team. We graduated a couple of really good linebackers in Braxton Kelley and Johnny Williams and now you put Sam Maxwell and Danny Trevathan on the field. I promise you, as good as those two guys were who graduated, these two guys filled it up this spring. They had great springs. Trevathan can run now. He got a little worn down and he still has some things to learn but, he is a playmaker. He not only has speed, he not only is tough he is instinctive. That’s a great combination of things to have.”
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