From a steamy Commonwealth Stadium:

• Signees Bubba Tandy and David Washington will go to junior college.
• Freshman wide receiver Nile Daniel is finishing up some academic requirements, but Coach Joker Phillips feels “comfortable and confident that that should get done.” The coach expects to know for sure in four or five days.
• Travaughn Paschal wasn’t signed by UK, but he enrolled and was admitted last week. Phillips said the linebacker will go through training camp and will sit out this year and have three years of eligibility remaining.
• Daylen Hall, a defensive back from St. Xavier in Louisville who got in some trouble over spring break, has been a model citizen, Phillips said, adding that Hall “has done nothing but great things here this summer in taking care of his business in the classroom and on the football field.”
• Defensive tackle Mark Crawford is still working his way onto the team after some disciplinary issues and is listed as day to day. “We understand that young kids make mistakes,” Phillips said. “We’re giving him time.”
• After a minor car accident last week, defensive tackle Donte Rumph will sit out of camp for a couple of days. Phillips said he had a concussion last week in the wreck.
• Listed by their head coach as “day to day” during camp due to assorted injuries are Jake Lanefski, Mister Cobble, Gene McCaskill, James Elliott and Raymond Sanders. McCaskill specifically will go every other day until coaches are comfortable with him going full speed after numerous knee issues.

-The big news was the announcement that junior walk-on Luke McDermott, a Trinity product, would start at defensive tackle.

The 6-foot-1, 265-pound McDermott has played in just six career games, but judging by the reaction from Monday’s press luncheon, he has the respect of his teammates.

“He’s always going to be after it,” fellow tackle Ricky Lumpkin said. “He’s got an engine; he’s got a motor. I’ve seen him get knocked down going through slide protection and he gets up and keeps doing it. He’s got the respect of everybody on the team. It shouldn’t raise any eyebrows, but it will. It’ll be like, ‘Luke McDermott? Who’s that? But they’re in for a surprise. Luke’s going to have a good year.”

-Senior defensive end DeQuin Evans said the defensive line is motivated by comments that were relayed to him by Phillips made by Louisville Coach Charlie Strong regarding the Cardinal offensive line being the strength of his team.

“He said that as the (Louisville) offensive line goes, we go,” Evans said. “My coach always brings that up. I take that as a slight to the defensive line, more than anything. We’re the guys that have got to bang with them up front every play, so we take that kind of personally. I just feel like we’ve got to do something up front about that so that won’t happen.”

-Nick Melillo (ankle), Dakotah Tyler (ankle) out for Louisville.

-After lackluster showing on Saturday, Joker says Cats responded with ‘best mental practice since I’ve been here’ on Sunday.

-Phillips said he expects Louisville coach Charlie Strong to bring plenty of pressure on Saturday. “It’ll be a blitz-o-rama,” he said. “Charlie will blitz as soon as he comes out of the locker room.”

-Phillips doesn’t expect the Cats to be overconfident.

University of Kentucky redshirt freshman defensive tackle Mister Cobble will miss the 2010 season due to academics, Coach Joker Phillips announced at Media Day on Friday.

The 6-foot, 321-pound Cobble had been penciled in as a starter after an impressive spring that saw him finish No. 1 on the depth chart.

“We were counting on him, there’s no question about that,” UK Coach Joker Phillips said.

Cobble will remain in school, practice with the team and try and return to the field in 2011.

“It hit me kind of hard, but it’s a big learning experience,” Cobble said. “I just feel like I let my teammates down. All I can do is right now is work hard and get back in the books so I can get back on the field with my teammates.”

The Wildcats return one starter at tackle, senior Ricky Lumpkin, while senior Shane McCord and junior Mark Crawford saw backup action. Freshmen Donte Rumph and Brice Laughlin could also figure into the rotation.

Kentucky senior running back Derrick Locke said at SE’C Media Days on Wednesday that he believes senior Mike Hartline should be the Wildcats’ starting quarterback. Hartline had a slight lead over sophomore Morgan Newton and redshirt freshman Ryan Mossakowski at the end of spring.

“Honestly, I feel like Hartline is the guy,” Locke said.  “When it comes to spring and stepping up, he had a great spring. He stepped up. He made plays.

You could just look at him and tell how mature he is. You’d looked at him like, ‘Hey, he belongs back there.’ That’s just how I feel.”

Locke stressed that his comments weren’t intended as a slight on Newton or Mossakowski.

“I’m not saying other guys, with Newton, I’m not saying we can’t win with them, but I feel like it’s Hartline,” Locke said. “It’s his senior year. This is all or nothing now, so I feel like he got more to play for. I feel like he’s going to give more out there. And I feel like with that pressure, knowing ‘Hey, if I mess up, this is my senior campaign, somebody else could come in and take my spot.’ He don’t want that, and I know he don’t want that. So I feel like he’s going to play at a level that everybody expected him to play on. No doubt about that — he’s going to make plays, he’s going to make reads, and that’s the big thing. I’m putting all faith into him. If we want to win, I feel like he’s going to be our guy.”

Kentucky junior Randall Cobb has been nominated for the 2010 Allstate AFCA Good Works team, which recognizes community service.

Cobb, who was named to the All-SEC Coaches First Team on Tuesday, has participated in numerous community service projects.

Following a visit with 13 year-old leukemia patient Bradley Wilson, Cobb shaved his head for the his first bowl game as a tribute to the teen. He also mentors local youth, speaking at area schools and visiting patients at regional hospital, and served as guest speaker at a Chi Omega Dinner that benefitted the Make-A-Wish Foundation to support terminally ill children.

The 11-player team will be announced in late November. Past members include NFL quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning, and former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow.

Kentucky coach Rich Brooks and the UK players all say they’re ready to take on No. 3 Alabama and put up a better showing than they did in Saturday’s 41-7 loss to top-ranked Florida.

It will be the highest-ranked back-to-back opponents for Kentucky in school history and a chance for the Wildcats to regain some credibility after the Florida blowout.

We don’t to lose our fan support; we want to keep our fans in it,” said junior defensive tackle Ricky Lumpkin. “Our fans, we love them, they love us. But there’s time where people might think ‘Uh-oh, here comes the old Kentucky’ after a game like that, and we don’t want anybody to think that. We keep talking about competing, but we’ve got to show it and stop losing to the same teams over and over again. We have to change that starting this week against Alabama.”

Brooks called the Florida game one of the most disappointing in his lengthy coaching career.

“Not the loss, but the first 15 minutes,” Brooks said. “We’re a much better football team that that. I thought we were past that kind of crap, but we’re still not past it. I’ve got better players than to have that happen.”

The 2009 Lott Trophy Watch List

University of Kentucky junior cornerback Trevard Lindley has been named third-team All-America  by Phil Steele’s College Football.

Lindley  has four interceptions and 11 pass breakups this season.  He leads the Southeastern Conference and ranks 14^th nationally in total passes defended per game.  A consensus first-team All-SEC honoree, he also was a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation’s top defensive back and second-team All-America by the Walter Camp Football Foundation.

Six University of Kentucky players were named to the All-SEC team selected by Phil Steele’s College Football. Cornerback Trevard Lindley was a first-team pick, with offensive tackle Garry Williams, defensive tackle Myron Pryor, defensive end Jeremy Jarmon, and linebackers Micah Johnson and Braxton Kelley named to the second team.

UK senior punter/kicker Tim Masthay has been named first-team Academic All-America as sponsored by ESPN The Magazine and elected by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

It’s the second consecutive first-team Academic All-America selection for Masthay, who has a 3.81 grade-point average with a major in business economics. It is also his second national honor of the year, as in September he was chosen to the Good Works Team for community service by the American Football Coaches Association.

Masthay ranks third in the nation in punting with 45.5 yards per punt and also ranks second in the Southeastern Conference with 20 touchbacks.

This marks the fourth-straight year that Kentucky has had a first-team Academic All-American, with UK and Penn State being the only teams that have accomplished that feat from 2005-08. In addition to Masthay, UK’s recent first-team Academic All-Americans include tight end Jacob Tamme (2007), offensive lineman Hayden Lane (2006 and 2005) and kicker Taylor Begley (2005).