Cats shorten receiver rotation

By Jennifer Smith / jsmith3@herald-leader.com

FOOTBALL: Kentucky vs. Clemson
Where: LP Field, Nashville
When: 8:30 p.m. Dec. 27
TV: ESPN

Kentucky's wide receivers are not where Coach Rich Brooks wants them to be at this point in the season.

"At this stage, I'm not as pleased as I'd like to be," Brooks said Thursday after practice. "We have to narrow the group down and judge it by who's stepping up and who isn't."

If practice is any indication, that narrowing process has already started, senior Dicky Lyons Jr. said.

"We had to find out who could play," Lyons said. "The coaching staff has done a great job of finding out who could play and they have cut it down to a few of them."

Last week in practice, a handful of players saw significantly more work with the starting offense and quarterback Mike Hartline, Lyons said.

Those players included junior E.J. Adams, sophomore Kyrus Lanxter and freshmen Eric Adeyemi. Matt Roark and Gene McCaskill.

Getting the extra catches in practice is the only way that this group of young, inexperienced receivers are going to improve, Lyons said.

"It's all about reps," Lyons said. "That's the best way to get better. The best way to learn a game is to get in the game. When they get in the game, I feel like they're going to make some great plays."

Hartline called the increased number of repetitions "huge" for the young receivers and for him as a first-year starting quarterback.

"It's more comfortable for me to see the same guys in all the time than seeing a bunch of different guys every play," he said.

Seeing the group get narrowed significantly has made for better practices, too.

"It's definitely put an awareness in them that they're going to be playing and that they need to step up their games a little more," Hartline said. "They know they can't take practice lightly."

Lanxter, the only receiver other than Lyons with more than four catches this season, said practices last week were much more effective.

"We're getting better every day," said Lanxter, who has seven catches for 89 yards. "You can see the receivers improving."

Before this weekend's games, UK was eighth in the Southeastern Conference in scoring offense (28.3 points per game) and ninth in total offense (336.7 yards per game).

With stalwarts like quarterback Andre Woodson, tight end Jacob Tamme and receivers Keenan Burton and Steve Johnson graduated, UK's air show has been mostly grounded.

In three games this season, the Cats have had only three passing touchdowns and only one of those was by a player (Lyons) actually listed as a receiver on the depth chart. The others were to running back Derrick Locke and tight end Maurice Grinter.

Kentucky needs to get more production out of its receivers as it gets into SEC play, Brooks said.

"I'm looking for two to three guys to really step up," he said.

Lyons believes the coach will get his wish as the new players start getting more practice.

He noted the big difference between playing the game in high school and in college. He called the transition from one to the other "a humbling experience.

"In a high school game, you're the best player on the field every game and you don't have to run your best route every time to get open," Lyons said. "These guys are learning that you have to run your best route every time to make a play at this level."

But Lyons is convinced fewer players getting more receptions will equal more receiving touchdowns soon enough.

"These guys all really want to get to work," he said. "They say, 'Yes, sir' and 'No, sir,' and they've got a really good work ethic. ... These guys are going to get more reps and then the consistency is going to come."