Drew Barker set to make his first career start
Dale Zanine | USA Today
Mark Stoops will hand the offense over to Drew Barker this week as the redshirt freshman is set to make his first career start against Charlotte this Saturday. Barker is listed as QB1 over Patrick Towles in the new Kentucky football depth chart.
Other notable moves include: Ryan Timmons back at punt returner and Mikel Horton sharing the top running back slot with Boom Williams.
38 Comments for Drew Barker set to make his first career start
Here’s a question- How many drops does it take until a receiver no longer starts? How in the world is Dorian Baker still starting? Don’t get me wrong- it’s not that I don’t want Baker to play but at the very least why not put him on the bench for a while to “work on it” and give Bone or Williams an opportunity to catch it.
Exactly. How will changing the starting QB make the receivers not drop balls thrown right into their hands?
This isn’t Patrick’s fault.
I can’t agree more bench Baker for all of the dropped passes and the missed blocks.
Bout time, i know it’s not just towles, but Barker looked better against Vandy. I don’t know why they took him out.
It only took 10 games and 9 months since Spring to figure this out.
Good Luck. Don’t be shocked if Charlotte beats UK.
Going to start Barker against a team that we are favored by 24 points and we will win big and the fans will say, should have been starting from day one . Should have started him against a good team to be fair, but i understand he has to try something.
We were favored by several points over Eastern Ky. with Towles at QB. Lucky to win.
I’ll be interested to see if wide receivers catch ball better with QB that can throw a spiral. Stoops waited 8 games to late to make this change but thank God he finally did. Give Barker a fair chance and don’t pull him after bad play. Let Barker play entire game, don’t alternate with Towles. Maybe this will be a shot in arm for team.
Charles Walker is better returning punts than Timmons, he may be the most overrated player on our team.
I can’t believe that there was anything that Timmons could have done to be inserted back at punt returner. UK must be last in he country in punt return yardage.
The big news here is who really gives a fluck. The season is in the toilet and nothing matters at this point with the most pathetic coaching staff in college football.
I endorse this statement. Too little, too late.
Really? If we beat Charlotte and Louisville, we go to a bowl game, which is about as much as anyone should have expected coming into this year.
^ Because that isn’t going to happen. Not even in the Twilight Zone would such an unlikely ending occur.
No, this is a good move to let him play against a team we should beat by 35. He’s only thrown 19 college passes! Let him play and let him make a few mistakes as Towles consistently shoots us in the foot. When he came in against Vandy, the team looked a little rejuvenated. I kind of think the O was down and out on Patty Ice. Go Cats!
Finally, but much too late to be meaningful……..
So it only took a five game losing streak for this coaching staff to learn that it needed to make some major adjustments? I find that very odd. Now, maybe they will figure out why they are not successful with player development. If so, the program might progress. I do not have high hopes.
my guess.. announcing it this early after they went back to the “hot handed” Towles against Vandy is an attempt to give fans a reason to come to the game on Sat against Chump U. This coaching staff, especially both the OC and DC have turned this team into a dumpster fire! Stoops, who was a DC should have known we don’t have the talent to run a 3/4 yet, take a Lesson from Vandys Coach and start taking control of your own D. Maybe you wouldn’t look like an unorganized idiot every game if you had something to focus on. And find a 12 year old Madden prodigy to start calling the plays on Offense. Dawson is both arrogant and incompetent. Actually all of the coaching staff is! Should have hired experience assistants, not cheap hopefulls
Thank God it’s Basketball Season now. Because both of my football teams (Wildcats and Browns) are officially dumpster fires at this point.
UK and Cleveland are your teams??? Damn… I’m so sorry your sporting life turned out that way…
Wow! People on here talking like Barker didn’t even throw the pick six that costed us the game. Mind Blowing!
I guess people remember the pick in the end zone by Towles that didnt help win the game either. This whole team is Mind Blowing.
“Costed”? Really? Are you 5 years old?
What’s mind blowing is that you apparently watched the game, but couldn’t wrap your head around the fact that there was no one play that “costed us the game.”
Barker was playing in his first real game against one of the better defenses in the SEC. It’s pretty dumb to blame Barker for the loss considering Towles played the majority of the game and was only 10-26 for only 67 yards, 0 tds, and an interception himself that cost us points.
If Dawason is calling the plays, it doesn’t even matter. Changes need to be made at the OC position at the end of the season, but i doubt that will happen.
*Dawson
Good to get Drew a game under his belt before playing Louisville, but my question is why isn’t JoJo getting more carries? I feel like every game
Good to get Drew a game under his belt before playing Louisville, but my question is why isn’t JoJo getting more carries? I feel like every game they put him in late in the game and he has success. Why not try earlier? I mean, Boom is a playmaker, but I’m just not so sure he is an every down back. He tries too hard to make plays sometimes, and it costs us bad. Also, I’m 100% on the bench Baker campaign. He’s a selfish player.
Boom needs to quit hesitating and get north and south faster. running backwards as he did several times in the vandy game is not helping 17 Yard loss on a running play is totally UNACCEPTABLE.
Why Why Why would Timmons ever get the opportunity to ever return a kick again? I have never seen another kick returner that consistently makes as many poor decisions and has fumble hands as Timmons. I thought walker and King did a good job returning kicks Sat.
The move is long past due. Towles has been an abysmal failure at his position. He had a decent game against MO, but that is it and everyone making excuses or deflections for him is laughable. Yes, Barker has thrown 2 interceptions so far, but can we pretend he would come out of the gate with experience, no!? That long pass on target and on line that dropped into the hands of the receiver running full stride is something Towles hasn’t done.
I agree Boom needs to get more carries so does Jojo and Conrad. Conrad can be a star, but he is being used as a blocker instead. Play calling has to improve NOW and defense has to be even better than it was against Vandy the last two games.
More untrue statement by an ignorant fan or troll, doesn’t matter, still just a stupid person. Towles has hit many different receivers in stride last season and this season, as a matter of fact, which you troll know nothing about, Towles hit Timmons with the perfect pass on the first drive against Vandy, but has happened way to many times this year, it was dropped. That being said its time for the real fans to support Barker and get out to the game. I will say this both Towles and Barker will see more competition coming in next year in Hoake and Jones, better not be partying with the low-life in Richmond or going hunting in the city.
If you look at the replay, Barker was hammered as he threw the long ball. It likely would have been well over-thrown if he had gotten it off cleanly.
I’m not positive this change will result in good wins, but at least Barker is more fun to watch. He gets the ball out much more quickly than Towles does, which takes some of the heat off the O-line, too.
Somewhere, Phil Jackson is reading this article and yelling for his staffers to get all the tape he can on Murray.
I think it is more likely that Towles is the starting QB for another FBS team next year than Kentucky going to a bowl this year or next year.
This is a weak ass coaching cop out. All the fans down on Towles are idiots and apparently blind. OC calls have been horrible. WR’s can’t catch. No QB throws a perfect ball every time. The true Div 1 WR’s make catches when their hands touch the ball. Some balls are supposed to be thrown behind the WR. That doesn’t mean they’re uncatchable. Our offensive line has been atrocious. Either with lack of protection or boneheaded offsides and holding. I’m actually happy they’re giving Towles a break. Don’t know how he was ever expected to get into a rythm when every TD throw was dropped, every big play followed by a hold, etc……..Stoops making the change on a game we’re picked to win by 22 takes the heat off the coaches for the time being. When we play Loserville, the truth will be evident.