LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Events, circumstances, ankles,
knees and shoulders continue to twist in the wrong direction for Kentucky
football coach Joker Phillips.
It's been tough enough for Phillips to win games – and
admirers. It's gotten enough tougher since he started losing players faster
than your teenager loses his cell phone. Kentucky sits at 1-4 as it prepares
for a visit by Mississippi State Saturday – and you can' tell the players
without a radiologist.
Now it is quarterback Maxwell Smith who is gone -- again.
Smith returned from a separated shoulder. He likely won't be able to return
from torn ligaments in his left ankle. Surgery has been scheduled for Smith.
Freshman Jalen Whitlow is the UK quarterback. Patrick
Towles, another freshman, comes off the redshirt list to become the team's
second quarterback – and Phillips says that does not mean Towles will only
appear in the usual back-up role. Towles will play.
Losing Smith diminishes Kentucky's passing game. It should also
diminish the pressure on Smith to win five or six games, but Kentucky fans
don't appear to be of the mind to cut Phillips much slack. Opposing teams don't
care who gets injured, but home fans should.
The Wildcats were already undermanned because they're almost
always undermanned in the Southeastern Conference. But the list of injuries
that Phillips has endured this season reads like the script from Rick Pitino's
last two Louisville basketball teams:
*Safety Glenn Faulkner, one of the highest ranked recruits
in Phillips' 2011 class, has missed all five games with an ankle sprain.
*Defensive back Dakotah Tyler is out for the season with an
ACL injury.
*Running back Josh Clemons, expected to be UK's starter, has
not played all season because of a knee injury.
*Defensive tackle Mister Cobble has missed the last two
games with health issues.
*Marcus Caffey, expected to be a starting defensive back,
was declared academically ineligible on the eve of practice last August.
*Halfback CoShik Williams has missed the last two games with
hip problems.
"It's football," Phillips said at his press conference Monday. "We
understand that injuries come with it.
"I was talking today,
imagine in '05 when you had all those injuries. What was the end
result? Created a lot of depth. The depth didn't show up till the
next year, but we did create a lot of depth."
Some will interpret that as
Joker pushing for his chance to return for the 2013 season.
That's a call for UK
athletic director Mitch Barnhart to make. But the circumstances – and twists
(ankles) and turns (shoulders) -- of
this season have not done Joker Phillips any favors.
Copyright 2012 WDRB News.
All Rights Reserved.
Joker Phillips and Kentucky football have lost quarterback Maxwell Smith to ankle surgery.
