CatsPause.com - UK Football: Sunday Notes & Photos

August 9, 2009

Jeff Drummond
CatsPause.com Publisher

The Kentucky Wildcats were back on the field Sunday afternoon for the hottest day of what has been an amazingly mild summer in the Bluegrass State.

And UK coach Rich Brooks loved it.

"We need it," he said, "because the first game is at noon and on an artificial surface (at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati).

"There is a difference (in the surface). Our artificial surface today was 98 degrees where it was around 88 on the grass. You know you're going to get a lot more heat, and we need to be prepared for it."

Brooks said the Cats aren't quite conditioned for the heat at this point due to working out all summer in low- to mid-70s temperatures.

"It sagged a little bit, both groups," he said. "You could tell (the heat was a factor). There were a few guys that didn't quite make it through the practice. We had to pull them off and cool them down. (Receivers) Eric Adeyemi and Chris Matthews struggled a little bit with it today."

Kentucky donned shoulder pads for the first time in three workouts to date. "You can get a lot more done and tell a little more when you get the line blocking in 9-on-7 and team (drills)," Brooks noted. "You can see more. It was actually pretty good from that standpoint."

Senior tailback Alfonso Smith was held out due to soreness in the modicular bone of his right foot, a nagging injury that has flared up on occasion since the spring.

Smith said he hopes to return to action on Monday, but Brooks was a bit more cautious. "You always worry about it when it happens after the second day of practice."

Click here to view the full TCP practice report on the House of Blue

Click here to view today's TCP Photo Gallery

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