UK Football Team Doctors Excited for Bowl Game
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 22, 2016) – It’s been six years since the University of Kentucky football team played in a college bowl game and this year's team doctors from the UK Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine also are excited about the trip. After a 7-5 season, including four wins against SEC teams and a win over in-state rival University of Louisville, the Cats are making a trip down south. UK will play Georgia Tech in the Tax Slayer Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 31. The team doctors responsible for keeping the team in tip-top shape and ready for another win include:
Dr. Darren Johnson, chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, who for 20 years, has worked as the head team orthopaedic surgeon with UK football. The upcoming bowl game will be the eighth one he has had the chance to attend. Johnson has appreciated the way fans have rallied around the team; he thinks it helps the team feel encouraged and motivated. He’s especially looking forward to the game because he thinks it will be a chance for everyone to really see how much work goes into a winning season. “No one knows how many hours these people put in to make this all happen,” Johnson said.
Dr. Robert Hosey, professor of Family and Community Medicine, has been with UK since 1998. He has worked as a team doctor since joining the department and began working with UK Football in 2002. While transporting what Hosey described as “essentially a traveling sports medical clinic” can be difficult, he says the athletic training staff does a great job making sure they have everything they need to ensure the team is in tip-top shape. Hosey is looking forward to traveling to Florida. This is the first time he’s had the change to attend a bowl game since he began working with the football team.
Dr. M. Kyle Smoot, associate professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine and Family Medicine, is in just his second year at UK. However, this isn’t the first team he’s worked with, or the first time he’s attended the Tax Slayer Bowl as a team doctor. The last bowl trip he made was with the University of Iowa when they played in the same bowl in 2014.
MEDIA CONTACT: Olivia McCoy, olivia.mccoy1@uky.edu, (859) 257-1076