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Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 08-18-2014, 09:38 PM:

He has the job now but like Brown told him he will have to keep proving himself on the field to keep it.

After coach Mark Stoops and offensive coordinator analyzed data going back to Kentucky’s winter workouts and through Saturday’s scrimmage, they came to the conclusion that sophomore Patrick Towles should be the starting quarterback.

Stoops announced the decision on Twitter before Monday’s open practice not long after he had messed with Towles for just a few seconds and indicated he wasn’t going to be the starter in the battle he had with freshmen Reese Phillips and Drew Barker.

“He was relieved. I let on for a moment that it was going the other way. But I couldn’t do that too long because he’s been through a lot. I didn’t have the heart to drag that out for more than about five seconds. But like I said, it was close. He won the job and I have a lot of confidence in him, but I really like the way he went about his work for the past year,” said Stoops.

The 6-5, 238-pound Towles, who was not made available to the media Monday, completed 11 of 15 passes for 126 yards in UK’s spring game and led three scoring drives. In Saturday’s scrimmage, he threw an interception that was returned for a score but came right back to lead two scoring drives.

While Stoops continued to say each quarterback did certain things well and that he knew no matter who won the job that UK’s quarterback play would be improved, he said Towles did a “very good job” to win the starting spot.

“I have a lot of confidence in Patrick. He’s worked extremely hard. I said it to you all before that I was proud of his work ethic. 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. They could have quit, they could have transferred,” Stoops said. “Or they face it and get improvement. And he worked. And I’m proud of that.

“I like the fact that he just went to work to get better. I think that sends a good message to the rest of the team. But the truth is that he won the job. It wasn’t just for that reason alone. He won the job. It was very close, but he ended up being the winner. He won it over all three other quarterbacks.”

Brown did not want to say he was relieved to have a starter.

“I think it’s good that the team needs to know, the fan base needs to know who we’re going forward with in the Martin game, but I wouldn’t say necessarily relieved,” Brown said.

Towles went out during the offseason and got extra work with two quarterback gurus — one in Kentucky, one in California.

“To me the biggest thing that Patrick did is he looked himself in the mirror. I think the easiest thing to do in our society today is, ‘It’s everybody else’s fault.’ You know? When you don’t get what you want, when you don’t get instant gratification, well who’s fault is it? It can’t be mine. What he did — and it took him a little bit to get to this point — what he did is he basically looked himself in the mirror and said, ‘What I’m doing off the field, what I’m doing on the field is not good enough for me to be the starting quarterback at the University of Kentucky. So what can I do to change that, to change the outcome?’” Brown said.

He went out and got a lot of drill work. We focused on fundamentals, which was really important to him. He went out and got some extra work, and he was productive. At the end of the day this business is on production. He was productive in live scrimmage situations, the most productive, and that’s why he’ll start week one.”

“Obviously he got all the reps — or, I’ll say probably 90 percent of the reps with the ones today. That’s the way we’ll move forward going into game week,” Brown said.

Brown said Towles was excited Monday when he got the news about starting, but the offensive coordinator also had some advice for him.

“What I told him though: this is just the start. You’ve got the opportunity, let’s see what you do with the opportunity,” Brown said.

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[ 08-18-2014, 09:53 PM: Message edited by: catmandoo ]