Himmelsbach | Towles' comeback a rarity

It's easy for a four-star high school quarterback to assume he will always be viewed and treated like a four-star quarterback. He was the star in youth leagues and the star in high school and the star during the recruiting process.

And then he gets to campus and is surrounded by others who are quite similar. And there can be just one starter. And sometimes that can be a cold reality.

So it was with the University of Kentucky's new starting quarterback, redshirt sophomore Patrick Towles. He arrived with accolades and expectations, and he wanted to start right away. He can't be faulted for that.

During his freshman year, though, he threw just 40 passes and had just one touchdown. Then last season, under a new coaching staff, he was third on the depth chart. He ultimately redshirted.

With underclassmen Jalen Whitlow and Maxwell Smith then ahead of him and wunderkind Drew Barker on the way, it once would have been difficult to envision this kind of ascension for Towles. Yet here he is. This is his team now.

"A lot of people, a year ago when he was told that he was not gonna be in the mix, could have put their head down," Wildcats coach Mark Stoops told reporters on Monday. "They could have quit, could've transferred. Or they face it and get improvement. And he worked."

Yes, much of the fan base was hoping Barker would seize this job, partly because of the curiosity generated by his hype, and partly because he signified the start of this new era. As a society, we have an inherent fascination with the future, with looking ahead to what comes next. That's particularly common in sports, especially when there are struggles to leave behind.

In this case, Barker was new and Towles was old. He was a Joker Phillips recruit, and if he couldn't do enough to see the field over the past two seasons, could he really ever become a star?

But Towles worked with private coaches to refine his mechanics — notably his footwork and his release — and perhaps most importantly, he remained committed to UK despite a mercurial beginning.

Stoops and offensive coordinator Neal Brown, meanwhile, labored over this decision for months, and on Monday they were confident their choice is the correct one.

"I think he's excited," Brown said of Towles. "He worked hard for this. What I told him, though, 'This is just the start. You've got the opportunity, let's see what you do with the opportunity.' "

For Towles, the early season schedule at least appears favorable — well, as favorable as one can be in the SEC. Western Kentucky — which defeated UK each of the past two Septembers — is gone. And the Louisville game will not be played until November. So the season starts with two winnable games against Tennessee-Martin and Ohio, and then Florida is followed by Vanderbilt.

Towles should at least have a couple weeks to get comfortable and build confidence. Although it seems he has been in Lexington for ages, he still has three years of eligibility remaining. So there is a very real chance this could be the start of a sustained run as UK's starting quarterback.

Of course, there is also a chance Stoops makes a change four weeks into the season. The life of a starting quarterback can be fickle, especially when playing for a program that is still trying to find its way.

But expect this coaching staff to stick with Towles as long as possible, because if there is one thing this program needs above all else, it is consistency. Now Patrick Towles gets his chance to show that he can provide that, a chance to show that he was worth waiting for.

Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at 502-582-4372 by email ahimmelsbach@courier-journal.com and on Twitter @adamhimmelsbach