Coordinator breaks down Kentucky QB battle
Kentucky football still has plenty of unanswered questions heading into 2014 – coach Mark Stoops and his staff's second season in Lexington – but none bigger than this: Who'll start at quarterback?
While third-year sophomore Patrick Towles emerged from spring practice with a slight edge over redshirt freshman Reese Phillips and true freshman Drew Barker, and although he's the only one of the three with game college game experience, he has hardly won the job. Stoops and offensive coordinator Neal Brown declined to name a starter after a month of spring practice and Brown, in an interview with The Courier-Journal this morning, still wasn't ready to do so.
"I think all of them have an opportunity. I'm not sitting here today knowing who our starting quarterback is going to be," Brown said. "Coach Stoops and I discussed it and felt like where we're at is: Reese was the most consistent on an every-day basis, Patrick played a little better in the scrimmages – especially the spring game – and then Drew was kind of right on their heels and he had a year less in the system.
"So we're excited about the improvement they made and we wanted to see from April 29 or whenever the spring game was until now, when we start practice Aug. 4 – that's a big-time window of time – who has made the most improvement since then, and then can they carry that into the early part of camp."
Brown said he met with all three quarterbacks after spring ball and gave them a list of things to work on during the summer, when Brown and the UK coaches cannot be involved with any drills involving a ball. As for what he likes about each of the three contenders, Brown broke it down for The Courier-Journal:
* On Towles: "Mentally, he's in a much better place and fundamentally he's in a much better place, which led to playing at a much higher level in spring. If you're just talking about pure quarterback traits, he's got ideal size (6-5, 238). He's a better athlete than most people realize – he can run and showed that a couple times in the spring game. He runs the ball better than what you'd think looking at him. He's got a huge arm, very strong arm, can make any throw you want him to. And he's a smart kid. Those are all good traits."
* On Phillips: "I like Reese's demeanor a lot. He's the same every day. I really feel like going into games he's going to be the same regardless of who we're playing and what situation. I don't think he's going to be in awe of anything. I don't think any situation is going to be too big for him. I think he's going to be flatline, and I think that's really important. He's a tough kid, mentally and physically. He's a kid that's a natural leader; people are drawn to him. He's got a really quick release. He throws the best ball probably of the three, as far as being catchable. He's the most accurate."
* On Barker: "Drew, he's got the quickest release of the three. Really, really talented. Can run with the football – is a natural runner, not necessarily a fast guy, but a good, natural runner. Can make all the throws. At times he showed the ability to be accurate the football and give guys a chance to run after the catch this spring. I think that'll improve as he knows what to do more and as he gets more reps. He's also a really smart guy. He picked up our stuff really quick."
Whoever wins the job, Brown said he's confident Kentucky's quarterback play will be improved over 2013, when his "Air Raid" offense ranked 100th nationally in passing yards and 97th in passing touchdowns. None of the three players in the mix this year played last season. (Towles completed 19 of 40 passes for 233 yards and a touchdown in five games as a freshman before redshirting in 2013.)
"I told them that I was happy with the improvement they made. I thought fundamentally they made a lot of positive gains" during spring practice, Brown said. "We'll be better. And it's not a knock on who we played last year, but we're just going to be better around (the quarterback). We're going to be better in the interior of the offensive line. Our center and our two guards are going to be a lot better.
"We're going to have more depth outside if we can stay healthy at receiver. I feel like we've got two really good players at receiver in Ryan Timmons and Javess Blue. We've got some other guys, like Jeff Badet, that keep getting better. And I feel good about our ability to run the ball with our depth at running back. So we're going to be better everywhere else, so naturally the quarterback position is going to be better.
"But I also think we're going to be fundamentally better at that position. And then we've got more time in the system. We've got more time. Even if Drew ends up winning, he got a lot of reps in the spring (and will get) a lot of reps in the fall. So, yeah, I do feel like we'll be better."
If it seems like Brown is forgetting someone in this discussion – other than 15-game starter Jalen Whitlow, who transferred this spring after being asked to play wide receiver – he isn't. Junior Maxwell Smith, who has thrown for 3,070 yards and 21 touchdowns in three partial seasons at UK, is still on the roster.
Smith has battled injuries in his throwing shoulder his entire career and finally had major surgery to repair it this offseason. He sat out spring ball. So what's the latest on him?
"If he's healthy, he'll be in the mix," Brown said. "Right now he's released to throw the ball; he's on a pitch count; he's limited. I don't think he's really let it rip yet, just talking to him. I can't watch him, so I don't know for sure. But if he's in a position to be healthy, then we'll put him in the mix."
Brown said he was impressed with both Smith's play and his toughness late last season. He completed 25 of 38 passes for 254 yards and two touchdowns – with a bum shoulder – in the season finale against Tennessee.
"He's a great kid. He's just been unlucky," Brown said. "You go back and watch some of his stuff at the beginning of 2012 and, man, he did some really good things."
Smith completed 68.5 percent of his passes for 966 yards and eight touchdowns in the first three games of that season before getting hurt.
"You feel bad, because he's a really smart kid; he's really well liked on the team. He's going to be a really good football coach at some point if that's what he wants to do," Brown said. "But you do – you do feel for him. He had a significant shoulder injury and he's worked extremely hard rehabbing it, and if he's healthy, he'll be in the mix. If he's not – he's going to be fine, it just might not be in time for the start of the season."
* For instant updates on the Wildcats, follow me on Twitter @KyleTucker_CJ. Email me at ktucker@courier-journal.com.