Kentucky Football: Checking in on the First Wildcats Scrimmage

Saturday, Kentucky football had its first scrimmage. Apparently the scrimmage was closed, and the team ran about 140 plays in Commonwealth Stadium.

Joker Phillips declined to discuss how the quarterbacks did, saying he would rather wait until after he has watched the film and gotten a better look. Randy Sanders hinted that Maxwell Smith and Morgan Newton were ahead of Patrick Towles and Jalen Whitlow, which should not be a surprise to anybody.

Reading between the lines, it seems that Newton has still not recovered full arm strength. It's interesting, also, because in Newton suffered the same injury, a torn labrum, as former UK almost-quarterback Ryan Mossakowski, a guy who never fully recovered his arm strength, according to most observers.

The quarterbacks threw two interceptions, one returned for a touchdown, and the other nearly so. Avery Williamson forced a fumble from an undisclosed player, a definite negative, but on the plus side, freshman running backs Justin Taylor and Dy'shawn Mobley were both " impressive."

The worst news of the day was that stud safety Glenn Faulkner suffered what may have been a high ankle sprain. I was really hoping to see a lot of Faulkner this year, and if the report is accurate, he is almost certain to miss the opening game against the Louisville Cardinals.

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Related: Cats Illustrated's practice report (subscription)

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I am particularly encouraged to hear how well Taylor and Mobley performed. These are two guys that I have very, very high hopes for. If they can perform well enough in scrimmages to get some snaps in games, our running back corps could be very tough, indeed. I was a bit concerned that neither would be ready despite their impressive physical and high school statistics, but it seems that fear was groundless. Also, it is encouraging to hear in the sense that Taylor has apparently fully recovered from his knee injury. I have not heard yet about Josh Clemons.

No reported as of now as to how the offensive line performed, but I guess we'll hear about that later. All were all joker Phillips pronounced himself pleased with the performance of the players. It's too early to tell if that's good or bad news.

And in a late-breaking development that I consider really good news:

Phillips: Both freshman backs will likely play this season.

— Jen Smith (@jenheraldleader) August 13, 2012