The House of Blue

News, notes and quotes from Joker Phillips' time with the media on Wednesday:

###Kentucky travels to Arkansas this week and by the sound of it that plane ride is going to have a bunch of kids on it. Phillips said the traveling party will be 68 instead of the normal 70 and that they took 46 freshmen and sophomores when they went to Florida last month. What will that number be this week? Even Phillips didn't want to know: "I'm a little scared to look this week," he said.

###Arkansas throws for 299 yards per game as a team. With Tyler Wilson at the helm that number is 315 yards per game. Kentucky will arrive in Fayetteville with five true freshmen expected to see extensive action in the secondary. Recipe for disaster?

"It's a challenge but it's an opportunity for some young guys that we brought here," Phillips said. "All five of the freshmen are going to play. We expected them to help us this year but didn't expect them to be starting in our fourth SEC game, but we'll throw them out there and see how it goes. Neloms didn't practice. Benton didn't practice, and also Ashely (Lowery) didn't practice. If they can't practice (Thursday) we won't take them (to Arkansas). We'll put those young guys out there along with the veteran Cartier Rice and go play."

###Another byproduct of not having Neloms and Benton is true freshman Zack Blaylock is going to have to make a lot of coverage and alignment calls on the road:

"It's a huge challenge," Phillips said. "The guy who will make most of the calls is Zack Blaylock, a guy who doesn't like to talk. Maybe he could text them during the game. He's got to (talk) this week. He's going to be forced to communicate and try to get them lined up. It's a huge challenge with all the different formations (Arkansas) gives you, but it's an opportunity."

###As for QB, Jalen Whitlow continues to get as many repetitions as he can handle in practice this week as the staff tries to prepare him for his first road start:

"Jalen Whitlow took about 75 percent of the reps and I think that's in order to try and get him ready to operate in this game," Phillips said. "He's been really sharp. We're really just now figuring out what he [i]can do, what he likes, and try to expand on that. The ball is getting out of his hands fast, which is important, and he has pretty good command of it. We have to continue to work him and that's why he's getting 75 percent of the reps.

"I really like how calm he is. I've never seen a freshman that's as calm and laid back, comes off the field and communicate with you what he's seeing. He makes mistakes but he understands the mistakes. How calm he is is one of the things you like about it. He's not a real talkative kid either but he does a really good job communicating. He's really cool. Nothing rattles him."[/i]

###I asked about Patrick Towles, who was again seen leaving Nutter Training Facility on crutches with his ankle in a boot: "He's rehabbing. He's been over here as much as he possibly can," Phillips said. "He's a guy trying to get back as fast as he possibly can. He's told us how fast a healer he is and we'll get to see. I wouldn't put anything past him. The guy is a tough guy, mentally and physically a tough guy."

###Meanwhile, Maxwell Smith is off crutches and just in a walking boot. He told reporters as he left Nutter that he told trainers to get rid of his crutches. When asked for an update it sounds as if there is a possibility - however faint - he could be back for the final two games of the season if rehab goes well:

"That one was probably five to six weeks is what we thought and with five or six weeks what do you do with the last couple of weeks?" Phillips said. "We have an open date in there so we'll have to make a decision. If you're looking at it today and nobody gets injured he's a guy you have to hold, but if something happens down the road and he's the only one who is available he might have to play."

###Since it's the midway point of the season I asked Phillips how coaches handle things when the first half hasn't been anything close to what they had hoped for. Do you 'reboot' the season, so to speak? Do you wipe the slate clean and worry only about how you perform the next six? How do you handle it?

"You can't start from scratch but you try to break the season up," Phillips said. "There is no reset button. We wish there were in this type of season but there isn't. Every Thursday and Friday we do our self-scout to try and find out what we are doing good and what we are doing bad. We try to look at our tendencies."