Derrick Locke

Kentucky running back Derrick Locke will play in the 2011 Under Armour Senior Bowl Jan. 29th at 4 p.m. in Mobile, Ala., on the NFL Network. “Derrick is an exciting player to watch because he has such great speed and vision when running the ball,” Senior Bowl President Steve Hale said. Locke rushed for 887 yards and 10 touchdowns this season despite missing four games due to an injury. He had five 100-yard rushing efforts this year and one 100-yard receiving game.

LEXINGTON - He had to virtually talk his way on to the Kentucky football team, yet Derrick Locke will leave the Wildcats with his name etched in the record book and with the knowledge that he has become one of the most productive all-around players in Kentucky football history. “I was confident I could play. One thing I do have is a lot of confidence. I just basically asked coach (Rich) Brooks to give me a shot. He said he had not seen a highlight film like that, and he was surprised I didn’t have all these offers,” Locke said.

Team Records and Series Notes Kentucky is 2-0 on the season. Louisville is 1-1. Kentucky won its fourth-consecutive home opener. Kentucky leads the series 13-9. The Wildcats have won three in a row vs. Louisville. Kentucky is now 50-29-5 vs. teams from the current alignment of the Big East Conference. Kentucky has won 16 consecutive non-conference games, the longest since a 17-game streak from 1954-60. Kentucky returns to action at home vs. Florida on Sat. Sept.

The next one counts. The Kentucky football team turned the corner during fall workouts with its final scrimmage of the preseason Saturday and turns its attention to Saturday's against Miami of Ohio at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati. The Wildcats competed against each other for nearly two hours on the Tim Couch practice field, which has a turf installed similar to the one at Paul Brown Stadium. Kentucky coach Rich Brooks feels good about his team's direction heading into the season opener.

Former George Rogers Clark standout and current Western Kentucky tight end Tristan Jones returned close to home Saturday night and played his first-ever game at Commonwealth Stadium. Jones spent some time with sports editor Keith Taylor before his team headed back to Bowling Green Saturday night. How did you enjoy playing at Commonwealth Stadium? "It was good to come back home and play against UK and seeing everybody again. As a team, we thought we could play with them.

Five former University of Kentucky players will get their chance to compete at the next level. DeQuin Evans, Mike Hartline, Derrick Locke, Ricky Lumpkin and Chris Matthews each signed free agent agreements Tuesday, one day after the NFL lockout ended. Kentucky football coach Joker Phillips was pleased to see five of his five former players receive offers from the NFL. “I am very happy that these five guys are going to get their chance at playing in the National Football League,” he said.

The first meeting on the football field between the University of Kentucky and Western Kentucky University proved one the Hilltoppers from Bowling Green would probably soon want to forget. The UK defense continued its standout play, and the offense overcame a sluggish start in the first half for a 41-3 victory, with Kentucky tailback Tony Dixon notching two rushing touchdowns. "Overall, I was pleased with our performance," said Kentucky Head Coach Rich Brooks in the post-game press conference.

Kentucky running back Derrick Locke returned to the practice field Tuesday after missing the past three games with a stinger in his right shoulder. Locke is listed as questionable for Saturday’s contest against Charleston Southern. Since defeating South Carolina three weeks ago, Kentucky has lost its past two games and stands at 4-5 on the season with three games remaining. Locke remains the team’s leading rusher and coach Joker Phillips welcomed Locke’s return to practice.

When Kentucky was preparing to play in the Liberty Bowl, offensive coordinator Joker Phillips didn't mince words about the Cats' need at running back for next season and beyond. "We have one running back (Alfonso Smith) right now going into next season. Most teams go into a year with five or six backs on scholarship. Now we would only have two (Smith and Derrick Locke) for next year. We have to get some big guys that can stand physical play," said Phillips. Kentucky already had a commitment from Dakotah Tyler of Indianapolis, a 6-5, 210-pound running back, then.

He grew up a Florida and Florida State fan, but 175-pound running back Khalid Thomas had a bigger tie to Kentucky - his brother, Kadeem, is a freshman linebacker for the Wildcats - and now the Tallahassee standout has decided he also wants to be a Wildcat. Thomas rushed for 958 yards and 16 touchdowns on 133 carries last season for Godby High School and also had 421 yards receiving. On defense, he made 17 tackles and had two interceptions. He will be a four-year starter at running back and three-year starter at defensive back, but he's projected as an offensive player in college.

Kentucky coach Joker Phillips says that while current Green Bay rookie standout Randall Cobb was UK's most dynamic player last season, the player the Wildcats miss the most this season is quarterback Mike Hartline. That's right. Not Cobb, perhaps the nation's best all-purpose player in 2009 and 2010, but Hartline, the quarterback who often was criticized but seldom praised by Kentucky fans. “Everybody talks about Randall. We've been studying this thing. The guy who made the huge difference, Mike Hartline,” said Phillips.

LaRod King says it's not hard to evaluate how Kentucky's receivers played in Thursday's 14-7 win over Western Kentucky or what lies ahead for that group. “We have no choice but to get better. This was probably our worst game ever,” said King, who had two catches for 41 yards and one score, after the game in Nashville. “It was as simple as that. I can't explain it or make excuses. We have to come out and take this as a lesson learned.” Several UK¿receivers, including King, dropped passes.

NASHVILLE - A team that has been to five straight bowl games and aspires to play in an even higher level bowl this season does not rebuild when it loses key players. Or at least it shouldn't. Kentucky didn't go into Thursday's season-opening game with Western Kentucky Thursday sounding like this was a rebuilding year, either. Instead, it was going to be more of a remodeling season where the pieces were shifted around to produce an even better look. Oops. It didn't exactly look that way, especially at halftime of the eventual 14-3 win when UK was lucky to have a 7-3 lead despite having all of 35 total offensive yards - and 14 of that came on the one touchdown run by true freshman Josh Clemons.

LEXINGTON - About this time a year ago, Kentucky running back Derrick Locke was predicting that true freshman running back Raymond Sanders was a potential star. Now that Sanders goes into the 2011 season as the Wildcats' No. 1 tailback after the graduation of Locke, he also has a prediction about a soon-to-be-star in freshman Josh Clemons, another Georgia running back. “He is a smart back. He reminds me of me. He comes in and is anxious to learn,” Sanders said. “He is a big, strong guy that is hard to tackle.

LEXINGTON - For as long as he can remember, Raymond Sanders has been told why he's too small to be a big-time football player. Yet going into his sophomore season, the 5-8 Sanders is poised to be Kentucky's starting tailback after a solid all-around freshman campaign in which he ran for 254 yards and three touchdowns on 68 attempts and caught 16 passes for 114 yards and another score. “I have been dealing with that my whole life. My mom always told me it was not the size of the dog but the size of the fight in the dog,” Sanders said.

Kentucky running back Derrick Locke said it has been a “long process” to endure, but he's glad to finally have a free agent contract signed with the Minnesota Vikings. “Me and my agent came up with this, so this is where I¿am headed,”¿Locke said Tuesday morning. “I am just going to try and make the best out of it. This has been such a long process with the lockout, but I¿just had to make a decision and go with it.” Locke was UK's leading rusher in 2009 and 2010, but went undrafted after some concerns were raised during physical examinations before the draft.¿However, he was rated as one of the top available free agents because of his speed and special teams versatility returning kickoffs and punts and agreed to terms shortly after the free agent process started Tuesday.

Five former University of Kentucky players will get their chance to compete at the next level. DeQuin Evans, Mike Hartline, Derrick Locke, Ricky Lumpkin and Chris Matthews each signed free agent agreements Tuesday, one day after the NFL lockout ended. Kentucky football coach Joker Phillips was pleased to see five of his five former players receive offers from the NFL. “I am very happy that these five guys are going to get their chance at playing in the National Football League,” he said.

HOOVER, Ala. - Tim Couch, a former No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, might be a bit biased when it comes to evaluating Kentucky coach Joker Phillips, especially when it comes to his recruiting ability. “Joker is an outstanding coach and recruiter more than anything. I have known him for years because he actually helped recruit me to Kentucky back in 1995,” said Couch, who was here working for Fox Sports South at the Southeastern Conference media days. “He does a great job relating to the players very well.

LOUISVILLE - Chuck Smith knows Kentucky fans were disappointed with the way Kentucky played in January's BBVA Compass Bowl loss to Pittsburgh. However, he says it was not just fans who were upset. “There is not one person that was part of the University of Kentucky that was satisfied with going 6-7 (last season),” Smith, UK's recruiting coordinator/linebackers coach, said during a talk Tuesday to the Louisville Quarterback Club. “That is not acceptable. That is going to change.