No bigger Towles supporter than Jared Lorenzen

By: LARRY VAUGHT

Jared Lorenzen will be making his first trip to Harrodsburg Friday, and he hopes it is memorable for him and a lot of other Kentucky fans.

He’ll be part of the Kentucky Sports Radio show at Klosterman Eye Associates (125 Collins Drive) from 10 a.m. to noon along with Ryan Lemond and Drew Franklin. The show airs locally on WHIR (1230 AM) as well as statewide on a network of stations.

“I am really enjoying doing stuff with KSR,” said Lorenzen, a former star quarterback at Kentucky. “They have kept me relevant. Matt (Jones), Ryan and Drew have had me doing pregame radio stuff. It is a lot of fun. I do a KSR podcast with (former UK quarterback) Freddie Maggard, Nick Roush and either Drew or (Danville native) Tyler Thompson. We do talk football, but we also talk a lot about Freddie’s bath habits and how he’s retired and hangs out at the Versailles Kroger. But it is so much fun.”

Working with Lemond has been a unique experience because Lemond covered Lorenzen for WLEX-TV not only at UK but also during his stellar prep football and basketball career at Highlands.

“I kinda always knew Ryan, but I’ve got to know him really well the last two years. His son, Michael, always liked me and followed me when I played with the Lexington Horsemen. I did his birthday part one year when he was about 5. They don’t get any better than Ryan.”

Lorenzen is looking forward to interacting with fans again Friday, especially since Harrodsburg has sent numerous players to UK to play football.

“In between breaks, people kind of want to know the same things. Most of the questions come about the Florida game or LSU game (two UK losses during his career), but these remotes are a lot of fun. You don’t get to sit in front of 50 to 100 people or more and talk every day,” Lorenzen said. “They are coming to a radio show to listen to people talk on the radio. It’s kind of weird, but that’s KSR.

“I love talking to fans. I think it is fun to sit back and hear them. I come from the ex-athlete side and it is kind of cool to hear what they have to say. People respect my opinion, which I love, but if I get a different way of looking at something through them and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

What he won’t really get a different look at is UK junior quarterback Patrick Towles. Like Lorenzen, he played at Highlands. Lorenzen refers to him as a “little brother” and considers him “family” on and off the field.

“I am going to fight tooth and nail for him,” Lorenzen said. “I am going to give him every last shot to make it. But I think I do that for every quarterback at Kentucky. I get grief that I do not want (Drew) Barker to play. I know what it is like to want the other guy to play. But support makes you play better. When Drew gets his shot, I will his back.”

For now, he’s biased toward Towles and freely admits it.

“Every game at the end of the third quarter I watch one series and leave. My heart won’t take it,” Lorenzen said. “I just want him to do so well. The problem is I have no control. I can’t control him or the team.

“So far I would say he has played okay. I would say above average overall. Just like any quarterback, there are some throws he would want back. I had a ton I wish I had back. I look back as a Monday morning quarterback and wonder why he did this or that. But I am not in the film room.”

However, Towles has also thrown a few passes out of bounds, a big no-no on Lorenzen’s mind.

“I walk up to him and ask him what Jared has always told him. He says, ‘Hard to complete a throw when it is out of bounds.’ I have preached that to him. Little things like that I see in him I would change,” Lorenzen said.

“But at the same time, we are 4-2. We are a team ahead of the chains. How many people had us 4-2 knowing there are still games left we can win? If we can just one of the next three, it’s going to get even better. I like where we are.”

Lorenzen admits he’s not been around UK coach Mark Stoops frequently. But he is a Stoops backer.

“If he can’t get it done here, it can’t be done,” Lorenzen said. “We have had good recruiting classes in the past and good players, but not at the level he has gotten it to for us. He is perfect for the University of Kentucky. He is rebuilding everything for us right now.

“When he came, there was nothing. Very few Division I athletes. Freddie says all the time we were an OVC team then (talent-wise), and we probably were. What I love is the way his recruiting classes have kind of come together. You go back to Drew’s class and the Twitter account they had. This class really seems together. I put a lot of that on Stoops and give him credit.”