Randall Cobb

The UK staff has been disappointed that none of the young receivers have stepped up this spring, but a “walk on” made the most significant contributions for a squad that has been thin on kids who can catch a football.

Nick Melillo, made a name for himself yesterday…The 6’2”, 215 lb, former Trinity star, caught 4 passes, 2 of which went for touchdowns, to help keep the game close. Rich Brooks was effusive in singing his praises, “One guy stepped up from nowhere and made some plays and that was Melillo, so guess what, he’s going to move ahead of some scholarship players right now. He deserves a look and deserves to move up the depth chart.”

Mike Hartline had a sub-par performance missing on 8 of his first 9 passes, but in all fairness, the Blue Team was stacked with such defenders as Jeremy Jarmon, Trevard Lindley, Micah Johnson, and Danny Trevathan, and the offense had Cobb. Between missing the long passes, and seeing the short ones dropped by the receivers, Mike had a difficult day with his playmaking, even though he would wind up with superior numbers on paper to Fidler…

Will Fidler, the oft forgotten backup to Hartline/Cobb, had his best day ever as a wildcat, leading the Blue team on a 12 play 93 yard scoring drive on the Blue’s first possession, that set the tone of the game, and contrasted with the difficulties that Hartline was having completing a pass early on, even though Fidler competed only 4 more passes the rest of the way.

Brooks reportedly had a meeting with the Newton family this weekend, whose son, Morgan, is one of two high profile QB’s recruits the cats have signed for the fall. Brooks is said to have stated: “GET READY” when speaking to Morgan and his dad, which indicates that Rich has no problem throwing the freshman signal caller into the thick of the QB race.

Brooks told the Newtons that Morgan absolutely had a chance to be the starter in the fall.

PLAYER STATISTICS:
RUSHING
White – A. Smith, 18-67; Conner, 10-33; Bowland, 1-4; McCaskill, 1-minus-11
Blue – Allen, 16-96; C. Williams, 7-56, TD; Cobb, 1-6

PASSING
White – Hartline: 17-33, 208 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT
Blue – Fidler: 10-24, 110 yards, 2 TD, INT

RECEIVING
White – Melillo, 4-43, 2 TD; A. Smith, 3-54; Drake, 3-22; Bowland, 2-17; McCaskill, 2-17; Conner, 1-29; Adams, 1-18; Boyd, 1 -8
Blue – Cobb, 4-70, TD; Grinter, 2-26; Roark, 1-9, TD; Bogue, 1-7; Allen, 1-0; C. Williams, 1-minus-2

Wednesday morning at the annual “Pro Day” workout for professional scouts, the 2008-2009 UK Football Seniors put their talents on display…Nutter Field House was the site, and while there weren’t as many scouts there as there was last year when we had six seniors, there were representatives of 18 professional teams and the Kentucky Horsemen…

Myron Pryor is the highest ranked Wildcat on the board and he expects to go in the middle rounds or as early as the third round…HE was pleased with his drills… “I went up there focused and had a mind-set that I was better than anybody else out there,” he said. “The main thing I’m working on now is getting in shape. The rest of it I think I have pretty much down.”

University of Kentucky senior linebacker Braxton Kelley ran the 40-yard dash for NFL scouts, but the biggest story may be that senior running back, Alphonso Smith ran a 4.27 forty. Official times were suspect, since each Scout had his own stopwatch, but that is in keeping with some of the, “4.2 range of times”, that Smith has notched…The fastest graduating senior on the board was David Jones who posted a 4.34 forty time…

Rich Brooks said Jeremy Jarmon, Trevard Lindley, and Micah Johnson, all who tested NFL waters, along with junior defensive tackle Corey Peters, should give the Cats a strong 2009 draft class. Johnny Williams, Gary Williams, and Liberty Bowl Hero Ventrell Jenkins also worked out for the Pro Scouts.

Three of the Wildcat seniors Myron Pryor, Tim Masthay, and safety Marcus McClinton had been worked out previously by The Scouts in February at the official NFL combine. Those players joined in for the additional evaluation.

The NFL Draft is scheduled for April 25-26, and Rich Brooks thinks that the 2008 seniors will add to the success of the UK senior class of 2007. Seven senior Wildcats from the ’07 team were drafted or signed as free agents, six of whom made it onto a roster in the NFL.