By Keith Taylor
Special to NKyTribune
Kentucky will be without its top running back Saturday at Georgia.
Stanley “Boom” Williams injured his elbow in Kentucky’s 52-21 loss to Tennessee last week. Williams had 12 yards on four carries before leaving the game late in the second quarter.
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said Monday there’s no timetable for Williams’ return to the lineup.
“Boom will be out,” Stoops said. “Boom has an elbow injury. It will be week-to-week, but he is out right now.”
Williams, the team’s leading rusher with 428 yards on 75 carries this season, missed Kentucky’s 34-27 win over Eastern Kentucky on Oct. 3, because of “personal issues.”
Backup running back Mikel Horton will start in place of Williams against the Bulldogs. Horton filled in for Williams in the second half against the Volunteers last week and rushed for a career-high 109 yards on 14 carries. His longest rush went for 21 yards.
Horton said he “felt comfortable and confident” in the backfield last week and added the Cats “tried to block out” not having Williams in the lineup in the second half against the Vols.
“I’m just going to take whatever opportunity I get and take advantage of it,” he said. “The opportunity I got (Saturday), I took advantage of it and there’s more to come. I’m going to work harder to make Kentucky a perfect program.”
Horton said Kentucky’s offensive issues are more related to execution as opposed to the team’s mental approach.
“I don’t feel like mentally is what is really messed up,” he said. “It’s what we want to do as a team. Coaches can coach the game. It’s not a magic play that can win the game. It’s not a magic call that is going to stop the offense or defense. We have to take the steps to be a program that we said we want it to be. I feel like we are taking steps, but we have to make those steps count. Don’t go down but up, be consent with it, not shaky with it.”
Youth movement: Stoops shook up the depth chart in the secondary, inserting freshmen Derrick Baity and Mike Edwards in place of veterans A.J. Stamps and Cody Quinn.
Keith Taylor is a columnist and senior sports reporter who covers UK sports for KyForward.com