Stoops more comfortable with Barker's health this week

By: LARRY VAUGHT

Kentucky coach Mark Stoops says he’s talked with starting quarterback Patrick Towles about how he’ll handle that position this week.

“He understands that. He accepts that. He’s got to go out and perform and produce just like everybody else on our team,” Stoops said Monday.

Kentucky has lost four straight games and Towles has six interceptions and just one touchdown pass in that stretch. He was 8-for-21 for 96 yards with two interceptions in last week’s loss at Georgia.

Stoops said after the game that he would evaluate playing redshirt freshman quarterback Drew Barker this week at Vanderbilt. He says the quarterback reps will be handled differently in practice with Barket getting more time.

“Drew gets quite a few snaps throughout practices anyway. In the way we rotate guys, he’s in there quite a bit with the ones anyway because with the receivers, a lot of times we just sub them in and continuously rotate them. It’ll be slightly different,” Stoops said.

Towles said after Saturday’s game that if a quarterback change was needed to let UK win, he would understand.

“I think Patrick will be fine. I think one thing about him is he’s been resilient and he’s had some good games and some bad games. Again, it’s not all on him,” Stoops said. “We need to play better around him. Certainly offensively when you put on that film and look at the play of the other 10 guys, it was not up to par as well.”

Another problem Saturday will be that Vanderbilt’s defense is not only one of the best in the SEC, but one of the best in the nation. The Commodores have struggled offensively, but not on defense.

Could that make it harder to go to Barker, who has played just sparingly?

“It’s crossed our mind. It’s difficult. We’ll see how the week goes. Whoever gives us the best chance to go into Vandy and win will take the first snaps. And if both guys are – if we feel confident in both guys, or if one’s struggling, we’ll go to the other,” Stoops said.

The Kentucky coach said he is more comfortable with Barker, who played briefly late in the loss at Mississippi State three weeks ago and injured his shoulder.

“He wasn’t at full strength with the zip on the football last week, but he was ready to play. This week, I expect him to be further along physically and ready to go. I think he’s handled it very well. He’s worked hard. He looks comfortable at practice. He’s still learning and growing just like the whole team,” Stoops said.

He says Barker can add “quick decisions” to the offense if he plays.

“We all know that’s important and I think one thing you see from him at times you really like is he’s decisive in what he’s doing,” Stoops said.