Wednesday's Football Practice Notes

With only a couple days until Kentucky travels to Missouri for the first time since 1965, head coach Joker Phillips met with the media to discuss everything going on with his football team. First, the injuries situation looks a little better for Saturday's game. S Tay Neloms practiced in a limited role, but should be able to go versus the Tigers. CB Cartier Rice, who re-aggravated a hip injury versus Georgia, practiced fully and G Zach West was held out. The biggest news today is that QB Patrick Towles practiced today and, according to Phillips, took a lot of reps. Phillips doesn't know exactly how the rotation will be come Saturday, but thinks it will be similar to the Mississippi State game where Towles and Jalen Whitlow split series. Phillips also touched on Mizzou's offense, Towles performance in practice, and the limited playing time of the young wide receivers, Sweat and Legree. Have a look. ****************************** -Since QB Maxwell Smith went down with an ankle injury, Kentucky has wanted to be a dominant run team. After a couple games struggling to do so, things finally broke for the Wildcats last Saturday against Georgia. The Wildcats rushed for 200-plus yards and RB Jonathan George was a big reason why they were able to do so. "It was a huge confidence booster to be able to establish the run game so early in the game. Previous games we've started off slow, but to come out on the first drive and execute it helped us for the rest of the game," George said. -George expects the run game to continue to bet the focal point even with a great passer like Towles coming back. "The run game is still going to be a priority. Even with him back we've got to continue to establish the run game." -During last week's preparation for Georgia, C Matt Smith said the offense was changing the run scheme a bit to try to have more success. Whatever they did seemed to work and Smith expects more of the same production. "As an offensive line we had one of the best practice we've had in a long time. We want to continue to have the same success, but all starts with us."