YOU ARE HERE: Central Kentucky Home→Collections

UK Football: Cobble, four others ineligible

August 07, 2010|By LARRY VAUGHT | larry@amnews.com

LEXINGTON — Once Kentucky coach Joker Phillips confirmed that redshirt defensive tackle Mister Cobble was ineligible, he made sure to emphasize that the Cats were going to look ahead, not back at what might have been.

“We were counting on him, there's no question about that, because he's a good football player,” Phillips said Friday. “We're treating it just like it's a season-ending injury. If you followed us for the seven years, the thing that we have done here is when somebody has gone down, the next guy has stepped up.

“You can remember at Arkansas, Derrick Locke was the fifth-team tailback who came in and was really instrumental in us winning that football game. We're treating this the same. Alfonso Smith at Mississippi State a few years ago did the same thing. Our players understand that the next guy has to step up and it'll get done.”

Phillips said Cobble did not pass enough hours to be eligible, something the player admitted was totally his fault during UK’s Media Day.

“I just didn’t listen and do what I was told. It took me too long to understand how I should be doing things and what it took to make sure I passed enough hours and stayed eligible. It was all my fault for just being too immature and now I’ll pay the price,” Cobble said.

Cobble will remain on the team and could play in 2011 even though he’ll lose a year of eligibility since he was redshirted in 2009.

Cobble was not the only player Phillips confirmed would not be eligible — the Cats lost senior cornerback Paul Warford to academics earlier in the summer.

Defensive lineman Tim McAdoo of Tennessee will go to a junior college.

South Carolina linebacker Farrington Huguenin will go to prep school in North Carolina. “Actually he will play at a school that's not a prep school, but he will also be taking classes from another school. He'll try to get that done in a year,” Phillips said.

Georgia linebacker Jabari Johnson will not go to a prep school or junior college. “He'll continue to take the tests and do correspondence (classes),” Phillips said.

Louisville Central linebacker Tim Patterson is still waiting on a final ruling from the NCAA on his eligibility, but it’s likely he won’t enroll until January because he had knee surgery in December.

“It's only about eight months out (from the surgery). He will continue to rehab that. We'll continue to evaluate his injury and see if he can get himself healthy enough to come in and compete. If not, we'll hold him until January,” Phillips said.

|

|

|