UK football notes: Transfer Heard's big debut cut short by injury

Scoring two touchdowns on your first two carries at Kentucky was something that couldn't be scripted, but it happened to Nebraska transfer Braylon Heard.

In his only two rushes of the day, the junior ran 73 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter and 43 yards for a score in the second quarter.

He rolled his ankle on the 43-yarder and did not carry the ball again.

"Just trying to be efficient with each carry," he said, matter-of-factly, of his two runs for 116 yards. "That's all."

While maybe Hollywood couldn't script something like that, UK offensive coordinator Neal Brown said they happened because Heard stayed with his script.

"The two runs he had that he broke were extremely disciplined runs," Brown said. "The thing that's going to be encouraging to me is we turn on the video tomorrow and here's Braylon doing the thing exactly the way we coach it. Exactly, to the 'T' the way we coach it. Boom, big plays."

Heard attacked the double team the way he was coached: patiently.

"If you're disciplined, pay attention to details, it turns into big plays," Brown said.

Heard had a compression boot on his right ankle after the game, but he said it was precautionary. The running back said he could've played in the second half if the game had been close.

"The ankle's fine," he said. "I twisted it a little bit."

Offensive line 'spectacular'

There were doubts about Kentucky's offensive line, especially when it was announced the Wildcats would have to play two redshirt freshmen (Kyle Meadows and Ramsey Meyers) on the right side with the one-game suspension of two-year starter Darrian Miller.

But the line held, allowing UK to run for 234 yards without allowing a single sack. Last season the group allowed 37 sacks for 239 yards, both were most in the Southeastern Conference.

"Our offensive line played absolutely spectacular," quarterback Patrick Towles said. "I wasn't sacked. I was hit a couple times but nothing too bad. It starts with them, always, up front. They played great, so they allowed me to do what I did today."

Elam's opener

There was one series for UK defensive tackle Matt Elam where he was in the game for 11 straight snaps.

A little gassed, he looked over at line coach Jimmy Brumbaugh at one point and wondered whether he would take him out.

"He kept me in," Elam said. "It was a test to see how good I could go and how long I could go. I stayed in there. I didn't want to come out. I just stayed in there and tried my best. But I was a little bit winded. Eleven straight plays is kind of a lot."

Coach Mark Stoops said it was good to see the player, who arrived on campus at 390-plus pounds but says he was down to 360 as of game time, make some plays.

"He's a work in progress like I said but it was a good start for him," Stoops said. "When he's directly over center, he's very disruptive. He needs to learn how to play when he's shaded a little bit in our throw-down stuff."

This story was originally published August 30, 2014 at 7:15 PM with the headline "UK football notes: Transfer Heard's big debut cut short by injury."