* Joker met with the media today after practice for his final day of availability before heading to Florida. He opened by joking he hoped one of us would ask him an injury question so he could pull a "Kiffin." Shows he's still keeping a sense of humor despite tough times. 

* Among the big news items today, Joker said RB Josh Clemons will now likely redshirt. His knee just hasn't responded in time to justify using him with several other running backs playing well.

* DT Thomas Chapman was listed on the depth chart this week, but that was more because of Mister Cobble being a little iffy on Monday morning. Cobble is fine now, and UK plans to keep the redshirt on Chapman for as long as possible. They'd like to avoid burning that.

* Joker said QB Maxwell Smith is fine. He had a good day of practice. Shoulder is not aching as much as it was after Saturday's game.

* C Matt Smith and OT Darrian Miller returned to practice, got some reps, and should be good to go. Darrian is about 85% now, Joker said. They've got 48 hours to monitor him and make sure he's OK.

* RB CoShik Williams is doubtful to play. The Cats will go with Jonathan George, Raymond Sanders and Dyshawn Mobley against the Gators. Justin Taylor keeps getting reps in case their ranks get any shorter, but it sounds like they'd prefer to keep him redshirted. Joker said he's kicking himself for not using Mobley more in the WKU game. George played 67 snaps and handled it well, but it was a "missed opportunity for us and for (Mobley)" to get reps and play. 

* Joker said he's really wanting to start running the ball more, but they've been falling behind by multiple scores early and haven't been able to rely on it as much as they had hoped. The backs are averaging some nice yards when they do get it. Ideally, he said they'd like to pass 45 times and run 35 with a 4.5 average in an 80-snap game.

* I asked Joker about FB D.J. Warren's role moving forward with this spread offense. (He was also a good LB in high school, so wondered a little bit if they entertained any thoughts of moving him over to D.)  He said there's still an important role for him, especially in short-yardage situations. They've been pretty bad on fourth downs and around the goal line. Says Warren will be a bigger factor on those plays. 

* Asked about the hurry-up offense in a place like The Swamp, Joker said it helps because they don't have as much verbal communication. Everything's hand signals, and they don't "echo" a lot of signals. Everyone sees the same thing from the sideline. The problem is, Joker added, if a guy makes a play down the field, he's immediately got to get back and get lined up to start getting the signals. 

* Joker was asked about the delay in the WKU game and the clock running down on several occasions. He said it's not been a big problem in their eyes. "For the most part, we've operated pretty good. Down to 2-3 seconds, that's fine. Down to 0, that's not fine." He says they want to go as fast as possible to wear the defense down, but they have to execute in order to do that. There are other times when they want to be slow and keep the same defensive personnel locked in for the other team while they weigh some options from the sideline. "What you're seeing now is, once we look over, they reset their defense and try to change from a man to a zone or a zone to a man. A lot of our calls are base on one safety or two safeties." In order to combat that, the Cats have added a second "look over" that can take the play clock down a bit further.

* Joker said there were 4-5 guys he brought up this week that need to touch the ball more often, including Robinson, Sweat, Collins and Legree. He said we haven't seen a lot of Legree yet, but when he's on the field, he plays as fast as anybody.

* Joker continues to stress getting off to better starts and scoring early. Asked if they script first series, he says they do, but only about 8 plays now, and often times that script is getting changed on the fly due to situations that pop up and change the ideal down and distance.