Kentucky cornerback motivated to play Bulldogs

College football fans in Georgia may not have heard of Kentucky’s Trevard Lindley but you can bet SEC offensive coordinators know who he is. They have to be sure to account for the cornerback, who has been wreaking havoc in the Wildcats’ secondary for the last three seasons. Phil Steele tabbed the 6-foot, 175-pound playmaker from Hiram as a first-team, preseason All-SEC player this year and he was named one of 13 candidates for the Jim Thorpe Award this week. He already holds the school record for pass breakups (32), has nine interceptions and 146 tackles in his career. This season he leads the SEC and is tied for ninth nationally in passes defended. His four interceptions ranks fourth in the league and 17th nationally. He has started every game for Kentucky since showing up in Lexington from Hiram High three years ago.

Staff writer Chip Towers caught up with Lindley by telephone this week as the Wildcats prepared for Saturday’s game against Georgia.

Q: I’m assuming the Georgia game is one you look forward to?

A: Oh yeah, of course. I’m from Georgia so I get pretty motivated to play them. They recruited me but they never offered me. I went to one of the games my senior year.

Q: What has been your biggest highlight against Georgia?

A: The only one of I can think of was that game [in 2006] when I had an interception. That’s the only real highlight I can think of. I remember Matthew Stafford rolled out and was throwing to a receiver and he overthrew the receiver and I caught the ball. [The interception sealed the Wildcats’ 24-20 upset win in Lexington].

Q: Are you friends with anybody on the Georgia team?

A: I know Dannell Ellerbe, the linebacker. He’s about the only one. One of my teammates from high school goes there and they’re roommates. So that’s how I know him.

Q: I understand that you’re into the arts. What kind of artist are you?

A: I draw. I do cartoons and I paint a little bit. That’s all really. I’m an art major. Actually it’s called art studio.

Q: Are you planning to do something professionally in the arts when your football career is over?

A: I’m hoping to design games one day, video games. That’s the plan.

Q: Does that mean you enjoy playing video games?

A: Yeah, I play video games from time-to-time. My favorite one was “Call to Duty” when it came out. Sometimes I play online against other people.

Q: What are your thoughts on Georgia’s offense?

A: Basically we’ve got to go out there and shut down their running game and force them to pass the ball and we should be in pretty good shape. They can catch the ball and hold onto it pretty good. They usually don’t drop a lot of balls. No. 1 [Mohamed Massaquoi] and No. 8 [A.J. Green], those are their go-to guys. We’ve got to be ready. They throw a lot of deep routes and stuff like that.

Q: How do you like living in Lexington?

A: It’s all right I guess. It’s really not that spectacular really. Got a lot of horses and horse-racing. I’m not really that into it but it’s pretty cool I guess. Pretty cold in the winter.

Q: You guys are obviously bowl eligible for the third straight year you’ve been there. What are your goals the rest of the season?

A: We’re just trying to win games. We want to go to a better bowl. Basically we’ve got to win this week to do it.