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Author Topic: Kentucky should stick with Towles at quarterback in 2015
eleem
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posted 03-18-2015 04:29 PM      Profile for eleem   Email eleem   Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The Kentucky Wildcats are running out of margin for error.

The Cats are entering Year 3 of the Mark Stoops era, and while no one in the Bluegrass is suffering an anxiety attack over UK’s failure to appear in a bowl game the last two years, it’s imperative the Cats reach the postseason in 2015.

Not only have the other third-year SEC coaches — Arkansas’ Bret Bielema, Auburn’s Gus Malzahn and Tennessee’s Butch Jones — all appeared in a bowl game, they’ve all already won one. Stoops has only won seven total games in his two years at UK. Those other three coaches all won at least seven games last year alone.

Fans and administrators knew the process of rebuilding Kentucky’s program from the ashes of the Joker Phillips era would take time, but reaching the six-win plateau is a major milestone in the rebuilding process that fans are hoping to finally reach in 2015.

Stoops has enhanced Kentucky’s recruiting efforts ten-fold, and he teased fans with five early wins last fall only to drop six straight to end the season 5-7. Fans know a bowl is just on the horizon, and they’ll expect postseason play when the new season begins in September.

Thus, Stoops must deliver this fall. He cannot afford another losing record, no matter how much growth the team shows. It’s time he deliver results in his third year on the job. After all, more than 85 percent of the conference earned bowl berths last year. All he’s really being asked is to move the UK program out of the bottom 15 percent of the conference.
This spring, Stoops and new offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson are allowing returning starting quarterback Patrick Towles and redshirt freshman Drew Barker to alternate practices with the first-team, implying both are in an open competition for the starting job this fall.

But they shouldn’t be. The job should be Towles’ and Towles’ alone.

I understand the desire to give Barker a hearty number of reps this spring to get him up to speed on Dawson’s offense. He is, after all, the only other scholarship quarterback on the roster other than Towles.

And I understand Dawson’s desire to see as much of Barker as he can so he knows what he’s got in both his quarterbacks.

But to give him 50 percent of reps with the first team throughout the entire spring is overdoing it a bit. Kentucky ought to be building off Towles’ growth last season, his first as a starter.

lINK

Posts: 13248 | From: flatwoods,ky. | Registered: Oct 2000  |  IP: Logged
Green-Bean
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posted 03-18-2015 06:06 PM      Profile for Green-Bean   Email Green-Bean   Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I AGREE 110 PERCENT WITH THIS.

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I was Born A Wildcat!
That's All I'll Ever Be!

Posts: 2290 | From: Newport Ky. | Registered: Mar 2014  |  IP: Logged
catmandoo
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posted 03-18-2015 09:28 PM      Profile for catmandoo   Email catmandoo   Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
It's good they give them both a lot of reps and the best man wins.

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http://www.ukfightsong.com/

Posts: 186357 | From: st. augustine florida 32092 | Registered: Mar 2001  |  IP: Logged
boomdaddy
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posted 03-19-2015 06:51 AM      Profile for boomdaddy     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I don't agree with the author of that article. He is not a current D1 football coach and I doubt that he has ever coached even on the high school level. He is a writer. In his opinion, he believes the last season's starter should be anointed the starter, without a challenge.

I am sure Mr Levine has a few credentials that he can list, where he has written a book and a few blogs about football. I guess that makes him an expert, regarding football in the SEC.

No, I have never written a book about football and don't write for a blog, but I believe every team needs to have competition at every position. If players were just handed the starting spot, they do not have to worry about doing their best every day in practice. The chance of another player taking your spot is a huge incentive and drives even the best players to up their level of play. All we have to do is look at how driven the UK basketball team is this year, with the players knowing if they don't bring it, they will be sitting on the bench.

There has to be a competition. Winning your job by default is not a motivational tool.

Posts: 8791 | From: paris, ky | Registered: Mar 2006  |  IP: Logged
Bama Cat
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posted 03-26-2015 09:24 AM      Profile for Bama Cat   Email Bama Cat   Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
From watching Towles up close last year you could see there were times that he made bad decisions and bad passes. With him not being able to connect with receivers in tough SEC games he shows that he should not be looked upon as the only choice we have. Barker was as heralded a recruit as Towles and he should be given an equal chance to see what he can do. There is a difference this year in the way games are scheduled to be played. We have SEC games right off the bat and non-conference games in the second half of the schedule. Therefor we won't be jumping out to the same 5-1 record we had last year. In fact we will probably have a losing record for the first 8 games of the schedule. If we go to a bowl game we will have to be better than 2-6 after the first 8 games. Good luck.
Posts: 14120 | From: berea, ky, usa | Registered: Sep 1999  |  IP: Logged
catmandoo
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posted 03-26-2015 05:25 PM      Profile for catmandoo   Email catmandoo   Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Bama, the coachs seen both of them in practice every day and if Barker was the better of the two he would have played.

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Posts: 186357 | From: st. augustine florida 32092 | Registered: Mar 2001  |  IP: Logged
boomdaddy
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posted 03-26-2015 06:26 PM      Profile for boomdaddy     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Nothing wrong with red shirting a true freshman. He is available this year and has a new coach to impress. I would say he has a fair shot.

I will support whomever wins the job, but I hope the starter does way better than what was done last season.

Posts: 8791 | From: paris, ky | Registered: Mar 2006  |  IP: Logged


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