CatsPause.com - Brooks cites mistakes despite victory

September 6, 2009

Matt May
CatsPause.com Senior Writer

Rich Brooks was noticeably agitated and unsettled leading up to Kentucky's season opener, an understandable product of not having seen his team line up against someone else. With the Cats' 42-0 blanking of Miami (Ohio) on Saturday one would think Brooks' nerves have calmed a bit.

That would be a mistake.

Speaking on his Sunday teleconference Brooks said the victory was nice but there is a lot of work to be done before the Cats take the field against rival Louisville on Sept. 19 in Commonwealth Stadium.

"We got a game under our belt, got a good win," Brooks said. "Now we can go about correcting things that a lot of players were seeing for the very first time because they played extensively for the very first time in a real game. All the stuff we talk about in practice now we can put it on film. They films don't lie, they expose the really bad things you do and show the very good things you do.

"There were a lot of mistakes technique-wise. If we don't correct those things they will cost us football games. We had a perfect storm, we were able to get a good win to start the year but we have a ton of things we can correct and get better at. The improvement and progress of this team will be determined by how we handle and address correcting the mistakes we are making."

One area of particular concern was the defensive end position. The coaching staff knew it would be a challenge to replace departed starters Ventrell Jenkins and Jeremy Jarmon but he stressed the trio of DeQuin Evans, Collins Ukwu and Chandler Burden must be more productive moving forward for UK to be at its best defensively. Those three combined for just three tackles against Miami.

"We did not get the upfield pass rush I had hoped to get," Brooks said. "Their left tackle is very good, probably as good as a lot of guys we'll face all year long. We did not play with the speed, we didn't get off on the snap as well as we need to and we were a little tentative at both end spots. We need to pick up our play in that area."

With a bye week the Cats will be off Monday, practice Tuesday through Thursday and then be off again Friday and Saturday before beginning normal game preparations for Louisville next Sunday.

Linebacker faces surgery
Outside linebacker Danny Trevathan will undergo surgery for a fractured wrist on Monday and will face at least one week without contact. The sophomore played in the opener with a cast on but will have the injury repaired during the Cats' bye week.

"The thing that is a new thing reporting to you is Danny Trevathan will have surgery on his wrist (Monday)," Brooks said. "He has a fractured bone in the wrist and played with it in a cast. He'll have a pin inserted into the bone and will have no contact for at least one week."

Trevathan had five tackles, including a tackle for loss against Miami (Ohio). Brooks did not say what his status would be for the Louisville game.

Become a TCP premium subscriber and get more inside scoop on today's teleconference in The House of Blue.

Matt May is the football beat reporter for The Cats' Pause. If you have questions or comments about the Cats e-mail him here.

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