Training Camp

RICHMOND - Chukki Okobi says he's the same football player he was before he earned the big ring on his right hand. But his old coach says that ring helps Okobi get through to young players in a way few others can. Okobi, a center with the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers, brought his ring and his expertise to the Danny Hope Lineman Camp at Eastern Kentucky University Friday. "I'm not in there to take over the camp," Okobi said. "I just kind of add my two cents here and there.

Dennis Johnson has never met Micah Johnson or seen him play football, but he soon hopes to have a chance to meet with the Fort Campbell star. "I would love to sit down and talk to him, maybe even mentor him a little, and do whatever I can to help him. He's kind of in the same position I was. I know what that is like," Dennis Johnson said. "I would love to get with him because obviously he's got a lot of talent and is the kind of player we need at Kentucky. If I can do anything to help him, I would love to do it. " Dennis Johnson certainly should have some words of wisdom that Micah Johnson can use because they come from similar backgrounds.

LEXINGTON - If Rick Petri had his way, he would be working his normal 18-hour day trying to get the University of Kentucky football team ready for it season opener Sept. 4 against Louisville. That's what a coaching staff does the first two weeks of preseason practice when it is evaluating new players, working with returning players and preparing for the first game. But when Kentucky's practice ended Tuesday, Petri headed for the shower and went home to rest. To rest? What coach does that?

Coach Phil Martelli said he wanted to emphasize full-court pressure when he put together the USA Under 21 World Championship team. He made that point even clearer Sunday when four of the 16 players he kept in training camp to compete for the 12 roster spots were point guards. Kentucky freshman Rajon Rondo is one of the four, just as he predicted he would be during a telephone interview from training camp in Dallas Friday. Martelli said then it would be ideal to keep only two point guards, but Memphis sophomore Darius Washington, Connecticut junior Marcus Williams and Oregon junior Aaron Brooks are all among the 16 players left from the original 20 that started training camp last week.

5K training camp offered McDowell Wellness Center, will offer a 5K Training Camp. An informational meeting about the camp is scheduled 5:30 p.m. Aug. 3 at the Wellness Center, 1107 Ben Ali Drive. Training sessions will begin 6:30 p.m. Aug. 8, and will be held each Monday, Wednesday and Friday through Sept. 16. The Training Camp will focus on preparing runners for the Constitution Square Festival 5K. The camp is geared to individuals who do not run regularly and will need general conditioning as well as coaching through the running experience.

He's gone overseas to play twice after injuries diminished his chances to make a National Football League roster. However, former Kentucky receiver Aaron Boone believes this is his year to finally become a NFL player. Boone will report to the Carolina Panthers training camp July 29, barely one month after he finished helping Berlin reach the NFL Europe World Bowl final for a second straight year. "Right now I am just taking some time and doing nothing," Boone said via telephone in Utah where he's visiting with his brothers.

LEXINGTON - He's not quite ready to say his football career is over, but Dennis Johnson is preparing for that possibility. Johnson, the former Harrodsburg High School and University of Kentucky standout, hopes an NFL team will call soon and invite him to preseason training camp. If that happens, he remains confident he can earn a roster spot. "If it happens, it happens. If not, then football has been good to me my whole life. I've been blessed. I'll just have to move on and take care of my family," said Johnson.

Bobby Leffew now has his chance to become the first Boyle County football player to participate in a National Football League training camp. Leffew will fly to Chicago Thursday to try and earn a roster spot with the Chicago Bears during a three-day minicamp that ends Sunday. "They have two spots left on the team. They called four guys and I am one of the four," said Leffew Monday. "The four of us will compete for the two spots. They have told me I will be on the team, but I have to go up there and make a good showing.

The 5th Regiment Colored Cavalry, organized more than 140 years ago at Camp Nelson in Jessamine County, was made up mostly of black men who agreed to join the Union Army rather than continue to be slaves for large landowners in Kentucky. More than 1,400 men left their homes, took their families with them, and joined the Union unit Oct. 30, 1864. They mustered out a year and half later in Arkansas. At least 200 black men from Danville joined Union forces at Camp Nelson, but James Hunn, a Danville Civil War buff and genealogist, said names of most of them are not known.

LEXINGTON - Andrew Hopewell hoped this could be the year he would emerge as more than a special teams specialist for Kentucky. Instead, it has been a season without many highlights for the former Danville all-state player. "Team-wise, things could be a lot better," Hopewell said as the Wildcats prepare to host Georgia Saturday. "There is tons of room for improvement. " He still believes he had a chance to make a "season-changing" play against Alabama when he came through the line untouched so quickly that he could have tackled the punter.