Barker gets starting nod

By: LARRY VAUGHT

Redshirt freshman quarterback Drew Barker will get his first collegiate start Saturday when Kentucky hosts Charlotte.

Junior Patrick Towles had made 21 straight starts over the last two seasons but was temporarily replaced by Barker in last week’s loss at Vanderbilt. Barker threw his first scoring pass on his first series before throwing an interception that was returned for a score on the next series.

“It was good to get him some more reps and to get him some more game experience. He went in there in the first possession and gave us a little spark. Led us down the field for a touchdown. It was good to see,” said Kentucky coach Mark Stoops Monday. “We’ve been talking about this for a long time and a lot of times it comes to players around him making plays and doing things for the quarterback, but it’s time for Drew to get the start. That’s the bottom line. He’s done some good things. He’s earned the right and he’s going to start this week.”

Stoops said he wasn’t sure about who would start at quarterback yet for the final regular-season game against Louisville.

Towles has completed 55 percent of his passes for 2,077 yards and nine scores.  However, he’s thrown 13 interceptions. Barker is 13-for-19 passing for 107 yards and one score with one interception.

Towles seemed to handle the decision to start Barker fine. He posted on Twitter Monday for the first time in nine days and offered this support to Barker: “Can't wait to see @D_Barker7 ball out on Saturday! I'm behind you 100%!”

Stoops plans to let Barker play through “ups and downs” until last week when he gave Barker a chance after Towles threw an interception.

“In all the other games since I’ve been here, when the starter was starting he had the opportunity to go play the game unless some drastic things happened. So, he’s not going to have a short leash. He will have the opportunity to go out there and go through some ups and downs and play throughout the game,” Stoops said. “Whether Patrick gets in or not, I can’t answer that. We’ll see. He’ll prepare that way. That’s for sure.”

The Kentucky coach said Barker has been waiting for this opportunity after Towles won the starting job in preseason practice.

“I know he’s been anxious, as he should be. As I said throughout the year, I really like the way he’s been preparing, I like the way he’s been practicing and getting ready,” Stoops said. “I told him a long time ago that he needs to worry about himself and prepare to be the best quarterback he can get and sooner or later – I pointed at the stadium as we were meeting in my office – ‘You’re going to get this opportunity in here, and what you do with it is up to you.’

“I told him yesterday. I know it took a little longer than he anticipated to truly get the keys to the car but he has them now. So, let’s see what he can do with it. I’m excited to watch him play.”

Nothing wrong with that. It should help Barker that Kentucky is almost a four-touchdown favorite over Charlotte, which has just two wins and easily will be the weakest team UK has played this season.

“I think it’s certainly easier to put Drew in a situation to play a non-conference opponent than on the road in the SEC. It certainly does come into the equation, but that hasn’t been the determining factor. I’ve always told you, and it’s been true, I’ve started the guy that we believe gave us the best opportunity to win. Now it’s Drew’s turn,” Stoops said.

It will also help Barker if the Kentucky coaching staff makes better decisions during game and the team does not look so disorganized. The Cats got a delay of game for having 10 players on the field on a field goal attempt. They had to call a timeout once before punting and got another punt blocked. Vanderbilt scored a touchdown on a trick play when UK left a receiver at the sideline uncovered. Late in the first half on fourth and one near midfield, UK couldn’t draw Vanderbilt offside and then threw a deep pass that was incomplete to set Vandy up in great scoring position. And three times Kentucky had a first down inside the 5-yard line that resulted in a field goal, turning the ball over on downs and an interception.

“Again, the game (at Vanderbilt) comes down to wins and losses in critical situations. There were plenty of those,” Stoops said.

True, and Kentucky lost almost every one of them.