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UK Football: Phillips says Locke's recovery going smoothly

June 25, 2010

Running back Derrick Locke, Kentucky’s top returning rusher and one of the nation’s elite all-purpose players, continues to recover from a moped accident that left him with a broken bone in his wrist.

“Everything is going smooth. He is back running with us. He is lifting weights with some modifications. He is still conditioning and doing all that we ask of him,” Kentucky coach Joker Phillips said Thursday during the Kentucky Football Coaches Association Summer Clinic at Centre College.

The coaches limited Locke's spring practice workouts to try and protect him from injury, only to have him injured in a freakish accident away from football.

“We did protect him in the spring. He is a guy who is proven and has a lot of wear on his body from his injury two years ago and the pounding that a running back takes in this league,” Phillips said. “We know he is tough and knows what to do. We wanted to find out what some young kids could dom a little bit.

“Then to lose him to a non-football injury, or just setting himself back in the weight room, is frustrating. He was having an unbelievable summer. He had been there every day. I think he is moving in with (strength) coach Rock (Oliver). They have got to be really close friends. This is a little setback, but he is starting to come back and will be fine.”

Rock solid: Phillips continued to sing the praises of strength coach Rock Oliver while talking to the state’s coaches. Oliver left the Cincinnati Bengals and came to Kentucky after Phillips was hired.

“The most important hire we made was Rock Oliver,” Phillips said. “He has changed the mindset in the weight room. The players spend more time with Rock than any coach on our staff.

“You have to be mentally tough in our league, and he makes players mentally tough. Players are buying in to what he says. He is building the mentality that nobody works harder than us.”

Phillips has had “skeletal pictures” taken of players so he can show recruits what Oliver does for players. He used freshman tight end Alex Smith of Cincinnati, who enrolled at Kentucky in May, as an example of what Oliver has already done.

“Alex had a lot of soft in him,” Phillips said. “Now his body is changing because of Rock. And that’s good for us and him. In recruiting, players will see the finished product Rock puts out there and will be impressed.”

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