Rather than seeing a struggling UK football program, here’s a more positive approach from a variety of sources.

-- Backing Brooks: Mitch Barnhart has never wavered in his support of Rich Brooks and nothing he has seen this season has made him back off his commitment to the new coach and his staff.

“I think Rich is the kind of stubborn, ornery, tough-minded competitor that you have to have to win in this league. You can’t win in this league without that mentality,” Barnhart said. “He’s a good recruiter. He’s assembled a great staff. I think people are quick to jump to a two- or three-game conclusion and that’s not fair.

“We are in this for the long haul. We’ve got probation and sanctions to work though. He understands what it takes to build from the ground up. We have some solid players now, but we’ve got to grow for the future with a firm foundation of recruits. We’ve got to be good at who we bring in.”

-- Kentucky backer: Gerry DiNardo has been head coach at Vanderbilt, LSU and Indiana and has played against Kentucky each year he’s been a head coach.

While some Big Blue fans might wonder about the direction of the UK football program, DiNardo has been impressed by what he’s seen.

“I see the institution progressing. Sometimes it isn’t always about people, and I think people misunderstand that,” DiNardo said before Indiana played Kentucky. “I can remember when I played my first game against Kentucky. I can tell you regardless of who the coach is, the stadium’s bigger, the facilities are improved, it’s big-time college athletics.

“They have gone through a transformation in a positive way for their institution. They have been through three coaches (in four years) and they will go through three more coaches (in the future). That university has made a decision to transform their football program and, in my opinion, have been successful in doing so.”

-- Backing Begley: Kathleen Salas, a librarian at Johnson Elementary School in Lexington, liked a note about UK placekicker Taylor Begley’s impressive grade-point average and academic progress in a recent issue.

“Nice article about Taylor! What’s even more incredible about him possibly graduating in four years, considering the demands on football players, is that electrical engineering is considered a five-year program. Wow!” wrote Salas.

-- Backing Barnhart: Paul Schuler sent his son, Joe, to Kentucky this year to play for Brooks. The Evansville linebacker was expected to be one of the true freshmen to play this season. Instead, he’s being redshirted, a decision that was fine with both the player and his parents.

Paul Schuler says their family has been impressed by Mitch Barnhart since Kentucky first started recruiting his son. That includes Barnhart’s faith.

“In this day and age of Christian-fobia in the news media, it is refreshing to have someone like Mitch, who in a prominent place makes no mistakes about what motivates him to live his life like he does,” Schuler said. “I believed he was a man of faith and integrity then (when his son was being recruited) and I believe he is the same today.

“He is the major reason that Joe stayed committed to Kentucky, because we knew he would do what he said he was going to do.”

-- Backing Hudson: Wide receiver Chris Bernard would like to have more passes thrown his way. But he also understands the importance of a balanced offense and establishing the run.

“With the quarterback we have, we should be throwing the ball. But we can’t throw the ball if we don’t have a running game,” Bernard said. “I wish we could just spread the field and throw it around, but if we do that, teams could all just blitz us. It would be tough on the offensive line to pick up all the blitzes. Or teams would just drop eight back in pass coverage. We don’t have to average 250 yards a game rushing, but we’ve got to be able to run and once we do, people will see just how good this system can be.”