UK Football: Cobb, Locke give Cats potent 1-2 punch

UK Football: Cobb, Locke give Cats potent 1-2 punch

By LARRY VAUGHT
larry@amnews.com
July 24, 2010

HOOVER, Ala. — When it comes to Randall Cobb and Derrick Locke, Joker Phillips doesn’t mince words.

“Those are two dynamic players. No question about that. I think the coaches in this league think so, too. They named them both on the (all-conference preseason) first team,” the Kentucky coach said last week during the Southeastern Conference football media days.

“We have to get the ball in their hands. We did last year. Those two guys are the reasons we had the rushing stats we had and why we had the number of wins we did. We have to do the same this year.”

Both have been proven playmakers for the Wildcats.

Cobb, a junior, was second in the SEC in touchdowns, third in punt returns, fourth in all-purpose yardage and seventh in scoring last season while playing receiver, quarterback and kick returner. He had 39 catches for 447 yards and four scores last year and ran for 573 yards and 10 scores. He also averaged 12.8 yards per punt return and 26.5 yards per kickoff return. He has 1,533 rushing-receiving yards and 24 scores in 23 career games.

Locke, a senior, has rushed for 1,731 yards — 10th on UK’s all-time list — and has scored 15 total touchdowns. He has returned one kickoff for a score the last two years and is the only UK player ever to have two 100-yard scoring returns. He was sixth in the SEC last year with 907 rushing yards and six touchdowns.

Both were named to the media’s all-SEC first team as specialists as well as to the second team at their respective positions.

“They are great people, and I am honored for them just to be my friends,” defensive end DeQuin Evans said. “Offensively, they are beasts. They work tremendously hard and it shows on game day with the big plays, spectacular catches, long runs, good blocks they make. They are the kind of guys you want on your team.

“They are great leaders, too. The main thing about them is that they come to work every day. That’s important because when they work, they bring players along with them. That is what makes them leaders. They don’t just try to get themselves better. They try to get the whole team better.”

Phillips says he’s not going to shy away from getting the ball to Cobb as much as possible.

“Definitely Randall Cobb will be a force in the league, no question about that. He's got to get the ball in a number of different areas, whether it be special teams, punt returner, kick returner, whether he's lined up at quarterback, receiver,” Phillips said. “He's one of the most dynamic players in this league.”

Cobb even recently volunteered to play defensive back.

“We're not ready to do that yet. But he's a guy that has to touch the ball, and has to touch the ball in numerous positions,” Phillips said. “We don't always want where Randall Cobb is always lined up on the same formation on all the same side. I think it makes it easier for teams to defend him and harder for us to get the football to him.”

Cobb doesn’t expect to take as many snaps in the wildcat formation this year that normally ended up with him running the ball and taking big shots from SEC defenders.

“I have never taken so many hits. You will never be 100 percent healthy in the SEC. You have to take care of your body, but it still hurts,” he said. “We got a lot out of that package last year, but the best way to have success is to expand other things in the regular offense.

“The wildcat was designed to catch teams off guard. We used it too much as a package, and you cannot win in the SEC like that. I think our offense will be better and we won’t have to use it as much. We have depth across the field. If our front five (offensive line) does its job, we will be great.”

Locke won’t contradict anyone who rates him and Cobb as one of the SEC’s most potent offensive combinations. However, he knows “a two-man show” won’t win in the SEC.

“I feel like we are up there. I am not going to say where I feel we are. Everybody knows Cobb makes plays and I make plays,” Locke said. “He wants to make more plays and I want to make more plays, but we want everybody around us to make plays to.

“We don’t want to be a two-man show because you can only go so far with that. I might get injured. He might get injured. You never know. It is the SEC, and you get pounded.

“If you want to survive the season, limit your reps as much as you can. Of course, you have to have the ball in the hands of your playmakers as much as you can, but we need other guys to step up. We have been encouraging that all summer.

“I have been telling my running backs that all summer. Who is going to take some snaps? Can I get on the sideline for a few plays and let you get snaps? Make me push myself.

“Me and Randall are trying to do that. He is trying to get his wide receivers involved, and I am trying to get everybody involved in making plays. If we are going forward, then it can’t be a two-man show.”

Vanderbilt linebacker Chris Marve, who has had over 100 tackles each of the last two seasons, says no one in the SEC doubts the talent Locke and Cobb have

“They both had big games last year when Kentucky beat us,” Marve said. “Randall Cobb is tough to bring down. He is fast, physical. He is a good player. You have to game-plan for that type of player. Derrick Locke is a pretty good player as well. He’s really fast and explosive. He’s stronger than you think, too.

“Every team in the SEC has great skilled guys, great linemen and great players. That is what the SEC is. I can’t say any combination is better than any other one, but they are a pretty good team. They are very tough to stop, and I don’t think anyone looks forward to really having to try and stop them.”

Copyright: AMNews.com 2010