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UK Football: Knee injury has UK's Locke out for season

October 21, 2008|LARRY VAUGHT

LEXINGTON - Kentucky won't have its leading rusher and second leading receiver the rest of the season.

Sophomore running back Derrick Locke has torn both the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his knee and will have season-ending surgery in the next week.

Kentucky's top receiver, Dicky Lyons, had injured his knee a week earlier and is set to have surgery Tuesday.

"Obviously, he is out for the year and that really hurts us," said Kentucky coach Rich Brooks.

Kentucky quarterback Mike Hartline says the Cats have no choice but to adjust to playing without two talented players. Lyons was hurt against South Carolina and Locke hurt his knee returning a kickoff in the first half of last week's win over Arkansas.

"Obviously you would rather have both those guys on the field with you," Hartline said. "But now we just have to have other guys play a more prominent role and move forward. There's nothing else we can do."

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Defensive tackle Myron Pryor is "probably out" for Saturday's game at Florida because of a sprained ankle.

"He can barely get up on his toes. The high ankle sprain has stricken another player on our team," Brooks said.

Brooks said that will make a huge dent in UK's defensive front where Ricky Lumpkin had been rotating with starters Pryor and Corey Peters.

"Myron has been so productive and then you lose the rotation we had been using to keep both Peters and Myron fresh. We had been rotating Ricky and had a nice three-man rotation," Brooks said. "(Shane) McCord will be the next guy who has played some. He has done some good things, but he is not at the level of those three guys."

Linebacker Micah Johnson also remains doubtful for Saturday's game after re-injuring his ankle.

On the good news side, Brooks said offensive guard Stuart Hines did return and play five snaps against Arkansas with no problems and will be available at Florida. Starting offensive tackle Justin Jeffries could also possibly be back after missing two games with a knee injury.

Game time: Kentucky's Nov. 1 game at Mississippi State was not selected to be televised and will now start at 2:30 p.m.

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