By Murray Evans
The Associated Press

LEXINGTON - As the losses have mounted for Kentucky this football season, so have the injuries.

If the Wildcats (1-8, 0-6 Southeastern Conference) had played Monday, they'd have been without 17 starters or key reserves. By Saturday, when his team will host Vanderbilt (2-7, 1-5), Kentucky coach Rich Brooks hopes a good number of those players are healthy enough to play.

Because of the number of injuries, "it's a challenge to try to come up with a game plan that you can put people in a position where they have a chance to be successful," Brooks said.

There isn't a position on Kentucky's team that hasn't been affected by injury this season. The situation is perhaps most desperate at cornerback, where the Wildcats seemed deep entering the season.

Now, Brooks said, "we are almost out" of players at the position. Earven Flowers and Antoine Huffman were the latest to suffer injuries last Saturday against Georgia. Huffman had replaced an injured Warren Wilson, who had replaced Bo Smith, who was injured before preseason practice even started.

Now, Kentucky is down to a converted wide receiver (Karl Booker) and a walk-on (Clem Fennell). Claude Sagaille, a backup safety, probably will move to cornerback this week, and Brooks hopes Huffman's toe injury heals enough for Huffman to play against the Commodores.

"That's about all we can do," Brooks said.

"This is approaching about as bad as it gets, I think," Brooks said. "When you run out of options and players at a few critical positions, it gets a little unnerving."

Brooks would like to promote redshirt freshman Andre Woodson - who had a solid performance in a 62-17 loss to Georgia last Saturday - to starting quarterback, if Woodson's ankle injury doesn't cost him too much missed practice time. Brooks said Woodson probably wouldn't return to practice until Wednesday.

Brooks said it would be tough to relegate senior quarterback Shane Boyd to backup status for Boyd's final home game, but added that both Boyd - who's started every game this season - and Woodson would play Saturday.

The Vanderbilt game would appear to be Kentucky's last realistic chance for a win this season, with a visit to No. 15 Tennessee the only other remaining game on the schedule. Junior wide receiver Scott Mitchell said the players are frustrated, but haven't yet given up hope.

"I feel like I'm in a nightmare," Mitchell said. "I don't feel like we're 1-8. I feel like this team is a real good team and we should definitely have more wins than we do at this point. Any time you play football in front of 60,000 people in that big stadium, you've got to be fired up to play."

It's that kind of attitude that has encouraged Brooks.

"I've been through tough years, but this one is climbing the charts as one of the toughest," he said. "But the light at the end of the tunnel is something that you hang on to. I know there are a lot of people who see only darkness at the end of the tunnel. I see light. From that standpoint, we just keep on keeping on and battle through it."

COOK GRANTED 6TH SEASON: Wide receiver Tommy Cook learned Monday that the NCAA had approved his application for a sixth season of eligibility.

Cook, a 6-foot, 203-pound senior from Victoria, Texas, suffered a knee injury during Kentucky's annual spring football game and hasn't played this season.

As a true freshman in 2000, he was recovering from a broken hand and redshirted. The NCAA does allow players who have, for reasons beyond their control, missed the chance to compete for two or more seasons during their five-year window of eligibility to petition for an extra, sixth season of eligibility.