Randall Cobb

LEXINGTON�¿ - Kentucky football coach Joker Phillips is willing to try anything to get his team back on track. It's obvious the Wildcats miss Randall Cobb, but Morgan Newton figured to pick up where Mike Hartline left off last season, leaving Phillips and his staff looking for the next big playmaker to fill the void vacated by Cobb. Five games deep into the post-Cobb era, Phillips is finding out that Hartline was a bigger part of the team's success and just as much of a valuable contributor as Cobb.

D.J. Warren was a two-time all-state player at Alcoa (Tenn.) where he played defensive end, linebacker and running back for teams that went 44-1. He certainly has football in his bloodline, too, because his cousins are former UK star and current Green Bay standout Randall Cobb as well as Brandon Warren, who played at Florida State. Warren, a freshman, has become Kentucky's No. 1 fullback and quickly adopted to college football just as former Alcoa players have. Here are insights he shared about himself and Kentucky: Question: How much influence did it have on you that former Alcoa players Kyrus Lanxter, Randall Cobb and Tyler Robinson all came to Kentucky before you?

LEXINGTON - If anyone can understand the pain/embarrassment that the Kentucky offense is feeling, it could well be linebacker Danny Trevathan. After all, even though Trevathan has been a star player, UK's defense has struggled many, many times during his career to stop opponents when the offense has scored sufficient points to win games. Last week, though, it was the UK¿offense that had its problems in Kentucky's 14-3 win over Western Kentucky and that inept offensive performance has many Kentucky fans wondering about the rest of the season.

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.

Willie Taggart hopes Kentucky will see a noticeable difference in Western Kentucky on Thursday compared to last year, when the Wildcats blitzed the Hilltoppers 63-28. “Our guys got bigger and stronger and faster, and now it's time to go on the football field and do something. The thing I want Kentucky to say after the game is that this team was totally different than what they played the year before,” the Western Kentucky coach said. WKU did break a 26-game losing streak last year, but still finished just 2-10 and was last in the Sun Belt Conference standings.

It's time for football in the Bluegrass. Kentucky will play its only weekday game of the season against Western Kentucky University Thursday at LP Field in Nashville. Although the timing of the season opener has disrupted the team's normal routine, it hasn't taken away from the excitement of kicking off a new campaign. “We're excited about playing,” Kentucky coach Joker Phillips said Monday. “We've been beating up on each other for a month now. It's game week. You can feel it around our place with our players, especially our older players, and it's starting to rub off on some of these young kids that understand how to handle themselves and prepare themselves for what is game week.” Phillips, now in his second season at the helm, will have a new quarterback - Morgan Newton - and a new running back in Raymond Sanders, but will be without sensational playmaker Randall Cobb.

Kentucky football coach Joker Phillips kept Kentucky's bowl streak alive in his first season as coach of the Wildcats. Phillips defeated Louisville, knocked off South Carolina, the team's first-ever victory over Steve Spurrier and led Kentucky to a school record fifth consecutive bowl appearance. In his second season, Phillips has a chance to win eight games, providing the Wildcats win a couple of marginal games and stay away from potential letdowns during the course of the season.

LEXINGTON¿ - For the first time in his college career, Kentucky quarterback Morgan Newton doesn't have Mike Hartline looking over his shoulder. Newton, a backup to Hartline in his first two seasons with the Wildcats, enters the season as Kentucky's starting signal caller. Despite playing behind Hartline the past two seasons, Newton started the last eight games in 2009 and compiled a 5-3 record, one of which was an exciting 21-14 victory over Auburn, the Cats' first win over the Tigers since 1966.

LEXINGTON - Even though he wasn't exactly sure what would happen the first few weeks of practice, freshman receiver DeMarco Robinson couldn't wait to officially start his University of Kentucky football career. “I think I definitely have a chance to play (this season) if I just learn the playbook and get the plays down,” said Robinson at UK's Media Day before freshmen were put off limits to the media. “I have to work hard and then I could maybe play if all goes well. The playbook is pretty thick, but it shouldn't be too hard to learn.

LEXINGTON - Even though he wasn't exactly sure what would happen the first few weeks of practice, freshman receiver DeMarco Robinson couldn't wait to officially start his Kentucky football career. “I think I definitely have a chance to play (this season) if I just learn the playbook and get the plays down,” Robinson said at UK's media day. “I have to work hard and then I could maybe play if all goes well. The playbook is pretty thick, but it shouldn't be too hard to learn. I will get it because I want to play.