UK Coach Rich Brooks said the emotions are overflowing as he gets his team ready for the season opener against Miami University on Saturday at Cincinnati’s Paul Brown Stadium. The Wildcats are going for a school-record fourth consecutive bowl bid and can’t afford to stub its toe against the RedHawks. 

“I’m anxious, kind of frustrated, antsy, I’m kind of nervous, I want to go play,” Brooks said. “A lot of our team is in the same mood if you will. Every game is important when you’re trying to establish consistent postseason play in your program. Every game is important when you’re trying to make a bigger run in your league.”

Preparations haven’t been easy since Miami is welcoming in a new coach in Mike Haywood.

“We’re going into this game a little blind,” Brooks said. “We’re not sure exactly what to expect because of the new coaching staff. We’re just kind of winging it if you will in preparations. I’m sure we’ll have to do some adjusting early in this game. I’m sure we’ll be surprised with a few things.”

The Wildcats enter the game with a streak of 14 consecutive non-conference wins, the second-longest streak in the nation and the longest for the school since a 17-game streak from 1954-60.  

“I think we’re continually trying to raise our team to the level of the upper half of the SEC, and when you do that you should be able to do pretty well against the rest of the non-conference schedule. That doesn’t mean you’re perfect, but certainly we have more talent that I would call SEC-caliber than we had three, four years ago, that should translate into more wins.”

The depth chart for the UK-Miami game has been released. Junior Paul Warford is listed ahead of Randall Burden at cornerback. At center, Marcus Davis is listed ahead of Matt Smith at center. The expected starter at center, Jorge Gonzalez, will sit out the game for a violation of team rules. Ross Bogue is No. 1 at tight end ahead of T.C. Drake, with Randall Cobb and Chris Matthews listed as the starting receivers.

Junior college transfer DeQuin Evans is starting at one defensive end, with Collins Ukwu and Chandler Burden bracketed at another.

Alfonso Smith is listed No. 1 at tailback ahead of Derrick Locke, Moncell Allen and CoShik WIlliams

The University of Kentucky is more than a two-touchdown favorite in its opener against Miami University on Saturday at Cincinnati’s Paul Brown Stadium. The Las Vegas odds released early Monday have the Cats a 15-point favorite against the RedHawks, who were 2-10 last year and have a new coach in Mike Haywood.

We’re a little more than a week away from the Kentucky football season opener with Miami University in Cincinnati’s Paul Brown Stadium.

The Wildcats began fall classes on Wednesday, and practices shifted from the afternoon to mornings on Thursdays. UK had a full-contact practice on Thursday before going to just helmets and shoulder pads on Friday.  The team will take part in its final fall scrimmage on Saturday, and Brooks said the team will begin preparations for Miami and setting the depth chart.

Brooks is clearly tired of all the preseason chitter-chatter.

“I’m tired of answered questions,” he said following Thursday’s practice. “I’m ready to play.”

With kickoff a little more than a week away, follow me @chipcosby on Twitter to get live UK football updates from practices, press conferences and games.

If you’re like me and on the road quite a bit, I also recommend picking up the ESPN MVP package.  As a Verizon Wireless customer, I got ESPN MVP on my ENV 3 phone and it keeps me up to date on scores and other sports news. There’s also a Kentucky football team page on ESPN MVP with information, stats, etc. on the Wildcats.

The University of Kentucky football team got the day off from practice on Wednesday in order to get settled in during first day of classes for the fall semester. Meanwhile, Coach Rich Brooks was addressing a crowd of about 800 at the Jefferson County  UK Alumni kickoff luncheon at Louisville’s Downtown Marriott.

Nuggets from the luncheon:

-Brooks is extremely high on junior-college transfers DeQuin Evans and Chris Matthews.

Of Matthews, Brooks said, “We haven’t had a receiver like him since I’ve been here. He’s 6-6, runs in the 4.4 range and goes up and catches the ball.

Brooks on Evans: “He’s going to shock a lot of people, I promise you.”

-Brooks also said that he expects 7-8 true freshmen to see action this season.

Kentucky junior receiver Randall Cobb returned to practice Tuesday after missing the past week with back problems.

“Randall’s working on his conditioning right now,” UK head coach of the offense Joker Phillips said. “He took some contact, we ran some of the Wildcat package with him. The biggest thing for him is to get the conditioning right now because we’re going to do a lot of things with Randall Cobb.”

Fidler No. 2 QB for now

Brooks said that junior Will Fidler is ahead of freshmen Morgan Newton and Ryan Mossakowski in the battle to be the No. 2 quarterback behind starter Mike Hartline.

“Right now the backup quarterback is Will Fidler,” Brooks said. “He’s earned it. He’s played the best at this point. The question is who would be third and if that battle continues, to see if they can close the gap or not (with Fidler).”

Brooks said that the staff will continue to evaluate Newton and Mossakowski to see if they can get themselves ready to play, but Brooks said that at least one, and possibly both quarterbacks could redshirt this season.

“It just depends on what kind of progress one of them would make in the next month,” Brooks said.

Kentucky redshirt freshman receiver E.J. Fields will miss most of the 2009 season with a torn ligament in his foot. UK Coach Rich Brooks said Fields is scheduled to undergo surgery on Thursday.

Fields, a 6-foot-1, 198-pounder from Frankfort, redshirted last fall but was challenging for a spot in the wide receiver rotation. Fields will be ineligible for a second consecutive redshirt but could potentially apply for a sixth year of eligibity after his senior season.

Brooks also said that junior running back Derrick Locke should be ready to go for the Sept. 5 opener against Miami University. Locke had missed some earlier practice time with swelling in his surgically repaired knee.

UK has two other backs nursing ankle sprains: senior fullback John Conner and freshman tailback Jonathan George. Brooks said that he won’t know until later this week if Conner’s injury will put him in jeopardy of missing the Miami game. Brooks ruled George out for the opener.

Brooks pointed out that Kentucky has an open date following the Miami game before its home opener with Louisville on Sept. 19 and can take its time regarding decisions about who will redshirt and who won’t.

“In my mind, we’ve got almost a month to make those decisions,” Brooks said. “Injuries and a lot of things can change. We’ll just try and get through the first game and make some determinations.”

Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger is reporting that Kentucky has picked up a pair of verbal commitments from Wynford (Ohio) teammates Tyler Brause and Teven Eatmon.

Brause, a 6-foot-5, 225-pounder who played quarterback in high school but is likely to switch positions in college, is listed as a three-start recruit by Scout.com and had scholarship offers from Maryland, Syracuse, Iowa State and Stanford.

Eatmon was given one star by Scout and had offers from Iowa State, Syracuse and Louisville.

UK also got a ’soft’ commitment from Murfreesboro (TN) defensive lineman Tim McAdoo last week. McAdoo, listed as 6-2, 310, has an offer from Louisville and said he will continue to consider other schools.

Kentucky now has six known commitments: Eatmon, Brause, McAdoo, LaGrange (Ga.) kicker Joseph Mansour, Georgia running back Raymond Sanders and South Carolina defensive end Justin Henderson.

University of Kentucky wide receiver Randall Cobb missed Tuesday’s practice to see a back specialist in Columbus, Ga. Cobb is scheduled to return to Lexington on Wednesday and could be back on the practice field by Thursday.

UK Coach Rich Brooks said that a recent MRI revealed no disc problem or other major issues with Cobb’s back. Cobb scrimmaged Saturday but hasn’t been able to practice this week. When asked if the injury was serious, Brooks replied, “It’s serious enough that he couldn’t practice and we need to get it straightened out. We just have to see what (the problem) is. If it’s just muscle spasms we need to get him in a stretching routine that will help.”

Junior tailback Derrick Locke returned to practice after sitting out with swelling in his surgically repaired knee. Brooks said Locke was fine for the first portion of practice but was held out of the second half after the knee flared up. Brooks said Locke’s issues are common for a player returning to strenuous action after a major surgery.

Also, sophomore receiver Aaron Boyd returned to practice after being serving a one-week suspension for violating team rules.