University of Kentucky football head coach Joker Phillips said after practice Tuesday at the Nutter Training Facility practice football fields that he believes his team has improved since its loss to South Carolina two weeks ago.
“We had a good practice,” Phillips said. “I really do think that we have improved since the last time we were at South Carolina; (although) it doesn’t matter how much we think we have improved out here (on the practice fields) it only matters on Saturday and we need to see it on Saturday.”
Coming off a bye week, some teams have a tendency to start off slow, but Phillips is not expecting that out of his Wildcats come Saturday.
“There is always concern that you come out flat (after a bye week),” Phillips said.“I expect this football team to come out ready to go. I expect this team to come out with fire right away.”
Phillips praised Saturday’s opponent, Jacksonville State, which enters the game with a 5-1 record and ranked No. 8 in the Football Championship Subdivision.
“They are a really, really good team,” Phillips said about Jacksonville State. “The quarterback (Coty Blanchard) is a really crafty guy that does a good job of running their offense. One of them (tailback Washaun Ealey) scored a lot of touchdowns on us last year (when Ealey played for Georgia) and they have some other guys around them. They have some defensive personnel that are good as well. They scored four touchdowns on defense last week and one was called back.”
Kentucky will return to the practice fields Wednesday to continue its preparation for Jacksonville State.
