Jen Smith on UK football

Friends and family of Ashely Lowery are seeing signs that the junior safety is improving daily.

Some are subtle and some are not so subtle.

When fellow Kentucky teammates Zack and Daron Blaylock came to visit Lowery in the north Georgia intensive care unit where he has been since his serious car accident early Saturday morning, one of the twins talked about going to the beach soon.

“Please, take me with you,” Lowery pleaded with a wide smile.

Family friend and spokesman Doug Stutsman said he saw that as a positive sign that Lowery is on the mend after the single-car accident that threw him more than 100 feet from his mangled Nissan Altima.

It seems Lowery is making progress toward getting to the beach one day soon.

He has been discharged from the ICU and will be moved to a regular hospital room on Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s a huge step and once he gets into a normal room and doesn’t have all the tubes and wires and everything connected to him, he’ll be a lot more settled in and relaxed,” Stutsman said.

While there is no timetable, he said the family is hopeful that Lowery might be able to leave the hospital soon.

“We’re hoping by the end of the week. He’s ready to get out of there now,” Stutsman said. “He’s ready to go.”

Visitors to the hospital so far have included defensive end Alvin “Bud” Dupree and the Blaylock twins. Former UK safety Martavius Neloms, who is like an older brother to Lowery, calls several times a day.

An extended visit with Cats Coach Mark Stoops earlier this week “was really great for Ashely.”

There are plenty of physical signs that Lowery is improving as well, including him getting up and out of the hospital bed.

 “He’s gotten up a few times,” Stutsman said. “He’s taken two or three steps. He’s improved a lot compared to yesterday and the day before, it’s just incredible how far he’s come.”

Nurses likely will have him up moving around more once he gets to a regular hospital room.

As for the accident on Saturday, Stutsman said Lowery has no recollection of what happened.

 “I don’t think he’ll ever fully remember it,” the family spokesman said. “He has no clue. We’re just so thankful that he’s even alive and able to communicate at all, we’re not trying to push him to go back to that moment or anything like that.”

Steve Meilinger, a two-time first-team All-American who played on both sides of the ball and was known as “Mr. Anywhere,” will have a permanent location: the College Football Hall of Fame.

Meilinger played at Kentucky from 1951-53 under Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant and helped the Cats go 20-10-3, including an 8-4 mark in 1951 that was capped by a Cotton Bowl win over Texas Christian.

The All-American split time at end, halfback and quarterback on offense; on defense, he played end, linebacker and defensive back – essentially every position on the field except the interior offensive and defensive lines, a remarkable combination.  On special teams, he was a two-year starting punter, and he returned punts and kickoffs.

Meilinger set Kentucky’s career records for pass receptions, receiving yardage and touchdowns, with 75 catches for 1,210 yards and 16 touchdowns. He also rushed 134 times for 714 yards and five TDs, and he passed for 127 yards and a TD.

Meilinger was selected in the first round (eighth overall pick) of the 1954 NFL Draft.  However, he went into the United States Army and spent two years as a Tank Commander in the 100^th Tank Battalion of the 1^st Armored Division.

After his service, Meilinger spent six years in the NFL – 1956 and ’57 with Washington, 1958-60 for the Green Bay Packers and 1961 with the Pittsburgh Steelers – before injuries ended his career.  In 1960, he played in the NFL Championship Game under Coach Vince Lombardi. His career stats include 60 catches for 863 yards and eight touchdowns.

After he finished playing football, Meilinger became a U.S. Marshal. He was one of the original six marshals who founded the Federal Witness Protection Program and eventually became chief deputy of the Eastern District of Kentucky.  After retiring as a marshal, he became a Property Valuation Officer for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Meilinger lives in Lexington with his wife Eileen.

Additional Wildcats in the College Football Hall of Fame include Bob Gain (1947-50), Vito “Babe” Parilli (1949-51), Paul “Bear” Bryant (1946-53), tackle Lou Michaels (1955-57) and Jerry Claiborne, who played at UK in 1946, ’48-49 and was head coach of the Cats from 1982-89.  Bernie Shively, who was athletic director at UK from 1938-67 and head coach of the Cats in 1945, was inducted to the Hall of Fame in recognition of his playing days at Illinois.

Running back Justin Taylor has asked for and been granted his release by Kentucky, a team spokesman confirmed on Monday.

Taylor, a red-shirt freshman from Atlanta who originally had committed to Alabama before signing with UK, had fallen down the Cats’ depth chart.

“We appreciate Justin’s efforts and wish him the best as he continues his career,” Coach Mark Stoops said in a statement.

When asked about Taylor in the post-spring Southeastern Conference teleconference, Stoops said the 5-foot-10 back who ran four times for nine yards in the Blue-White Game, had “a lot of work to do” to earn playing time.

Though no depth chart has been made public, Taylor likely was situated behind seniors Raymond Sanders and Jonathan George as well as sophomores Josh Clemons and Dyshawn Mobley.

UK also has signed JoJo Kemp, one of the nation’s top running backs, according to several recruiting services.

Taylor is the first player to transfer since Stoops took over the program in December. Defensive backs Marcus Caffey and Jonathan Reed both were dismissed for a violation of team rules in January.

Several unpublished reports on Monday had Taylor transferring to South Carolina State, but the sports information director there said he couldn’t confirm anything at this time.

“Per my compliance office, we cannot provide comment on transfers until proper documents have been signed,” spokesman Bill Hamilton said via email. “I am unable to provide any additional details.”

Kentucky just sent out joint statements from the family of safety Ashely Lowery and from head coach Mark Stoops, who went to Georgia today to visit the player after his accident this weekend:

Stoops statement: “I went to see Ashely today and was glad to see him and spend some time with him. We’re thankful for the progress he’s made and are hopeful he will continue that improvement. He’s heard from a lot of teammates and is grateful for all the good wishes and prayers that so many people are offering on his behalf. We ask the Big Blue Nation to join Ashely’s football family in continuing to pray for a speedy recovery.”

Lowery family statement: “On behalf of the Lowery family, we’d like to thank everyone for their concerns and prayer. From Georgia to Lexington, we can’t thank everyone enough. You are like family to us. The only official comment from the hospital is that his condition has been upgraded from stable to satisfactory and his injuries are no longer life threatening. We expect a full recovery. Again, thank you so much for all the prayers and support.”

Kentucky officials confirmed junior safety Ashely Lowery was in a serious automobile accident on Friday night near his hometown of Cleveland, Ga.

The condition of Lowery, a 6-foot-1, 219-pound safety who started eight games last season for the Cats, is not known, football spokesman Tony Neely told the Herald-Leader.

Lowery is in the hospital, but his condition is unknown.

“I don’t have any details at this point,” Neely said. “We’re still in the process of gathering information.”

New coach Mark Stoops, who is at the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, is being kept apprised of the situation.

Lowery started eight games last season for UK and was fifth on the team in tackles with 43. He had a career-high nine tackles against Vanderbilt and an interception. Lowery has been touted by the coaching staff as one of the defense’s emerging leaders.

Several players, both past and present, took to Twitter on Saturday afternoon to offer up prayers and well wishes for the safety from Cleveland, a small town in the far northeastern corner of Georgia.

“Prayers up for Ashely Lowery,” junior linebacker Tre Dunn tweeted. “He was in a car accident and is in ICU! Please take a moment to pray for a healthy and speedy recovery.”

Former UK player Martavius Neloms tweeted that he was struggling to hold back tears and can’t stop thinking about Lowery, whom he said he was with before the accident.

Kentucky officials said they’re monitoring the situation and may release more details if they become available.

Kentucky Coach Mark Stoops was on the SEC Teleconference this afternoon. Here’s what he had to say:

ON HIS FIRST SPRING AT UK: “I was encouraged with the first spring. I felt like things went well. I was impressed with our players, felt like they had a great attitude and were there embracing the process. So I was really happy with their attitude and the way they were going about their business. Encouraged with the spring game and our fans. This fan base is awfully hungry to help us be successful. That was evident with their support of the spring game. So overall, I’m pleased with the way things are going.”

ON TIGHT ENDS COACH VINCE MARROW AND HIS ROLE IN OHIO: “I’ve got him just in Ohio right now. And what makes him a great recruiter is his ability to make everybody feel comfortable. He’s very good at just building relationships. He works at it extremely hard and he has a lot of ties to Ohio. He’s lived in three or four different parts of Ohio. He grew up in Ohio and went to the same high school that I did, so Vince knows me very well. He knows how we want to go about hour business in recruiting, so I think just his work ethic and his ability to build some relationships are some of the best qualities he has.”

IS GEORGIA AN AREA YOU PLAN TO RECRUIT, MAKE PART OF YOUR BASE? “Absolutely. Yes. We are currently recruiting Georgia, yes.”

AFTER EVALUATING TAPE, WAS THERE ANY SEPARATION IN THAT QUARTERBACK BATTLE? “It’s very fair to say Jalen (Whitlow) had the best spring game and did some awfully good things, so I think, yeah. I’ve got to say Jalen had the best spring game and did some awfully good things. With that being said, it’s still an open competition there.”

AFTER HAVING A SPRING TO EVALUATE ROSTER, WHERE DO YOU MOST NEED FRESHMEN OR JUNIOR COLLEGE TRANSFERS TO FILL ROLES? “Obviously, we need help at every position. We need to improve across the board, but what stands out to me right now is the skill positions, both on offense and on defense. We need to get a lot better in the secondary and we need to get better at wide receiver.”

SPRINGS FOR RUNNING BACKS DYSHAWN MOBLEY AND JOSH CLEMONS? “Dyshawn, he was a good back. He really did some good things. I was impressed. I feel like he’s a physical guy, up about 215 pounds. He’s a real physical punch and he’s also got some good speed, so I was impressed with him. … Josh is again a pleasant surprise I think, you know, coming off a knee injury I really was impressed with him. He also had a good spring game. We did not practice him back to back. If we did have a back-to-back practice, we just practiced him one or the other, try to let that knee heal up a bit in between practices. Again, a big physical guy who’s got some good vision. I was happy with Josh.”

WHAT ABOUT JUSTIN TAYLOR? “He’s got a lot of work to do. We’ll see.”

NFL DRAFT STARTS TOMORROW. WHAT ARE HIS PLANS FOR IT, WILL HE BE THERE FOR FORMER FLORIDA STATE PLAYERS? DOES THAT HELP HIM RECRUIT AT UK? “I am going to be there for the draft and supporting those players. A couple of them asked me to come up and be with them. I wanted to be there to support them and their family. I don’t know if it’s a selling point or not, but I’m really doing it because of my relationship with these guys. I’ve been with them for the past three years and really think the world of them and want nothing but success for them. So that’s the reason I’ll be at the draft.”

SURPRISED BY HOW WELL 2014 RECRUITING HAS GONE? “I’ve been very encouraged with recruiting since I’ve been to Kentucky. I feel like we’re getting a good reception. I feel like the coaches are working extremely hard. And the coaches have the ability to get in there and build some relationships and earn some trust from some of these recruits. So overall, I’ve been very pleased with 2013 and the start of 2014, yes.”

IS THERE A PARTICULAR POSITION OR POSITIONS HE’S FOCUSING ON IN 2014 CLASS: “We really need a lot of help in every area. So I feel like we need help across the board, but we need to continue – it’s hard to say, because we need help everywhere, but we certainly need some help in the skill positions like I mentioned. I think really at defensive back and wide receiver, we really need to upgrade there.”

The new numbers are in and it seems Kentucky’s spring football attendance figure wasn’t just a fluke.

As of Monday, the school reported it had sold 35,342 season football tickets, more than double the number of season tickets sold on this date last season, which was 17,647.

The deadline to renew season tickets for the 2013 season was last Wednesday. As of that same renewal deadline mark last season, UK had sold 29,119 tickets, which means there has been a bump of 6,223 tickets, an increase of 21.4 percent this season.

More remarkable might be that UK sold just 38,475 season tickets all of last season, just 3,133 more than it has sold to date with several big pushes to come this spring and summer.

Since the hiring of Coach Mark Stoops, there has been a surge of renewed interest in football, including 50,831 fans showing up at Commonwealth Stadium for the Blue-White Spring Game on April 13. That number more than doubled the previous spring record of 20,325 set in 1987.

It also was among the top spring game crowds in the nation, ranking sixth overall behind Auburn (83,401), Alabama (78,315), Tennessee (61,076), Nebraska (60,174) and Arkansas (51,088).

Kentucky had more fans than heavy hitters like Texas (46,000), Texas A&M (45,212), Georgia (45,113) and Ohio State (37,643).

According to the UK athletics web site, tickets for next season are still available in the lower level endzone ($100 and $300 K Fund areas), upper level sidelines and upper level corner. Tickets can be ordered online or by calling (800) 928-2287. Student tickets go on sale later this summer.

As of late Friday afternoon, Kentucky reported it had distributed 49,000 tickets so far for the spring game. Not included in that figure was an additional 11,000 tickets given out to area elementary and middle school students as part of an incentive-based education program.

If just 50,000 of that total show up, it would more than double Kentucky’s record for a spring game, which was 20,325 set in 1987. It will be more than 10 times the number of fans at Commonwealth Stadum last season (4,500).

For some perspective in the Southeastern Conference, only Alabama (78,526) had more than 46,000 fans for its spring game last season. Other top SEC numbers included Arkansas with 45,250, Auburn with 43,427, Florida with 38,100 and Tennessee with 35,421.

Already this season, Georgia set a new spring game attendance record with 45,113.

Other attendance figures of note from last year include Texas 46,000; Oklahoma 20,000; Clemson 28,000; Louisville 15,000; Miami 10,000.

Oh, and don’t forget former Mark Stoops school Florida State, which had 40,631 fans at its spring game last season.

• Ticket info: Even though more than 40,000 tickets have been distributed, there are still plenty available to walk-up traffic on Saturday afternoon. Tickets are free and available at the Will Call booth (Gate 4) and at a ticket tent between gates 10 and 11 starting at 4 p.m. Lower-level tickets are reserved seating and upper level tickets are general admission.
• Parking: Lots will  open to the public at 8 a.m. on game day and is free. Spots are available on a first come, first served basis. Stadium gates will open for fans at 6 p.m. Several parking structures near the stadium are available should lots fill up.
• Keeneland shutle: For fans attending the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, a shuttle to and from the track will run starting at 11:30 a.m. The shuttle is $1 each way and will do pick ups and drop offs are on the far east side of the Red Lot near BCTC.
• Cat Walk: The Cat Walk is at 5:15 p.m. outside Gate 1.

Coach Mark Stoops discussed the final practice leading up to the Blue-White Spring Game and much, much more. Here’s the transcript:

OPENING STATEMENT: “Good practice. I was very pleased. We had a lot of energy today. No pads, but guys were moving around, executing well on both sides of the ball, enjoying the practice. We got some good work; that’s good.”

ON THE LOUD ROAR AT END OF PRACTICE: “Ah. We were just having a little fun. We started dividing the teams and the guys were enjoying it. I can’t tell you all of that information.”

WERE THEY DIVIDING FIRST AND SECOND TEAMS, LIKE THAT? “Nah. How it’s going to work tomorrow is we’re going to have — I think I said that the other day — the No. 1 offense will be in the white with the No. 2 defense and vice versa.”

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR TOMORROW NIGHT? “Just good football. Good execution, good tough blocking, good tough running, catching the football. On defense, great pursuit. Physical, making good tackles, just good execution on both sides.”

THERE’S GOING TO BE A CATWALK TOMORROW, WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR OUT OF FANS FOR THAT? “That’s new to me. I’m looking forward to embracing that tradition and going through my first Catwalk. I’m excited about that. I’m excited about the energy and really appreciate the great support that we’ve received and from everything I’m hearing about the spring game tomorrow. The team feels that; we’re energized by that. We greatly appreciate that support and we’re looking forward to it.”

WILL YOU DO ANY SITUATIONAL STUFF OR WILL IT BE STRAIGHT GAME FORMAT? “Straight game format. Again, we’re not going to do any of the kicking. We’ve had a few injuries here and there with some of our kickers and things. We’re not going to do any kickoffs or kickoff returns. We’re just going to put the ball down and start. The punting, we’ll just punt it, fair catch it, turn around and go the other way.”

DO YOU HAVE SOME RETURNERS IN MIND? “We’re going to work through a few returners still when we get some looks at some guys tomorrow.”

ARE FIRST AND SECOND TEAMS IN PLACE IN YOUR MIND? “It is. After 14 practices, it is. I know I haven’t released a depth chart, but you all will see it tomorrow who’s on what team. That’s where it’s at right now with the exception of the quarterbacks again. You know the situation there. They’re not going to be on any particular team. We’re going to rotate those guys.”

ON WHO ON OFFENSE HAS CAUSED THE DEFENSE HEADACHES THIS SPRING: “You know, all those guys have done a good job. I thought the O-line has done a nice job of blocking. The running backs have done a good job at different times, but I don’t know if there’s any one guy in particular that jumps out at me.”

ON WHAT UK GOT OUT OF SPRING BALL: “Well, I think first of all we have a good understanding of the base offense and the base defense. That was very important. I think they have a good understanding of the tempo that we want to operate. I think they’ve got a good understanding of how precise we want to be. So we’ve made some good strides in those areas.”

ON BEING HESITANT TO NAME NAMES THIS SPRING. IS THAT A WAY TO MOTIVATE? “Yeah, absolutely, and I think our guys understand that. We’re gaining confidence, we’re getting better, but we also understand we have a long way to go and we’ve gotta stay hungry each and every day or we’re not going to get to where we need to get to.”

ON WHETHER PLAYERS ARE REACTING MORE AND NOT THINKING SO MUCH: “Yeah, I think we’re making some strides. Again, I think with the one group in particular, those guys are getting a good grasp of things and executing much better than the rest of them. The twos and the threes are still struggling in some areas. We need to keep it fairly simple with them. But I think we’re gaining good, solid ones on the offense and the defense.”

IN TERMS OF GAME DAY OPERATIONS, WHAT DOES STOOPS HOPE TO LEARN AS A NEW HEAD COACH? “Yeah, yeah, it is different. Sure, sure. I need to go over things and make sure we’re detailed and all those things. What time we’re meeting, how we’re walking over there, how we’re going to stretch. We’ve got a good staff and we feel like we’re staying on top of those things, but it’s new to me and making sure we’ve got everything covered.”

ON WHETHER IT’S HARD TO KEEP THE STARTERS MOTIVATED WHEN THE BACKUPS AREN’T ALWAYS PERFORMING, PUSHING THEM: “No, it’s not hard to keep the ones motivated. They know. They’ve got coaches crawling up their – getting on them each and every day. So there’s nothing that’s relaxed about any practice. Every rep out here, we take pretty serious and coach them pretty hard.”