Josh Clemons (20) carries the ball for Kentucky. (Victoria Graff photo)

By LARRY VAUGHT

Kentucky running backs coach Steve Pardue offered this update on sophomore Josh Clemons, UK’s biggest playmaker last season as a true freshman before he was injured, going into UK’s final week of spring practice before the Blue-White Game Saturday at 6 p.m.

Question: How is Josh Clemons coming along after knee surgery that ended his freshman year after six games when he was leading the team with 279 yards rushing and two touchdowns?

Pardue: “Unfortunately, the trainer spends more time with him than I do. I feel good about him mentally. He is in all my meetings and is with us in groups. The thing about Josh is that he’s a mature kid. A lot of kids his age, they can’t handle being injured. They kind of turn off the learning switch, but he hasn’t. He is pretty much on top of everything. It definitely hurts you not getting reps, but we are all on the same page. We need him in August a lot more than we need him now. If we err, we want to err on the side of caution a little bit.”

Question: If he’s cleared to play in August, how hard will it be for him to get back in game shape physically and mentally?

Pardue: “Again, he is so mature. He takes cares of his body. A lot of it will be when does he get to start training all the time again. I don’t see it being a problem. I really don’t. Again, I learned my first year last year that you can’t have enough of those guys. Really, my goal is to have six guys that I feel good putting in there. So I definitely see Josh being in that rotation of guys.”