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Morgan Newton, BBVA Compass Bowl Practice
A year ago the Kentucky offense was struggling for any productivity for a number of reasons from a banged up offensive line to receivers who dropped passes to lack of a playmaking running back to the inconsistency of quarterback Morgan Newton.
Now the Cats are coming off a 47-point game that featured pinpoint passing by sophomore quarterback Maxwell Smith, clutch catches by receivers and numerous big plays. Kentucky has changed to a hurry-up, quick passing offense to take advantage of Smith’s accuracy and decision making.
But what does that mean for UK’s other quarterbacks?
Senior Newton started eight games in 2009, backed up Mike Harline in 2010 and was the starter last year until he was hurt. Now that he failed to beat out Smith, UK coach Joker Phillips is using him at other spots and will continue to do so. He even made a key block on a receiver screen Saturday that Demarcus Sweat turned into a touchdown.
“We have to try to figure out different ways (to use him). Again, it's just hard,” said Phillips. “We've got just small packages. He didn't get a lot of reps last week, maybe five to 10 reps last week at the things that we asked him to do. And asked him to do the block on the perimeter, on the touchdown. I don't know if he practiced that one time.
“Some of those things he shouldn't have to practice if you've been the quarterback around here. But we'll continue to build on the packages that he can do. Last week he was more in the bunch package and running routes, and then we get in the game, and he didn't run any routes. He blocked the whole time and did a really good job.
“He was at times a little bit more explosive than even our tight ends. And we don't really know how strong he is. I think he's a really strong kid. Nobody knows because quarterbacks don't work out like the tight ends, but I think he is a strong, physical guy.”
Phillips’ theory is that Newton is too talented to stand and watch, especially as a senior. Nothing wrong with that thinking. It’s creative and Newton certainly has shown he wants to play and contribute. He’s still No. 2 on the depth chart at quarterback if something does happen to Smith.
True freshman Jalen Whitlow of Alabama had an impressive preseason camp. Now he’s No. 3 on the depth chart, but with Newton opting to play other positions he likely will get more reps at quarterback than Newton and could truly be Smith’s backup. In fact, both Newton and Whitlow were in the game together against Kent State, something Phillips said was more coincidence than planned.
“We didn't have a package for both of them. It was just, ‘Hey, Morgan, you go in at H‑back right now, and we wanted to get Whitlow a series (at quarterback). We'd like to have gotten Whitlow a series even earlier. We just didn't do a good job of scoring enough earlier or getting them stopped early enough,” Phillips said.
What did Whitlow do to elevate himself above Patrick Towles, the record-setting freshman from Highlands who was Kentucky’s Mr. Football last year when his team won a third straight state championship?
“It's different. Different quarterback. Again, we have to get the third guy ready, and I just think a guy (Whitlow) that can win with his legs and some of our passing game, I just thought he would be the guy we'd go with,” Phillips said. “It has nothing to do with the future, but we just thought we had to make a decision, and we made the decision to go with Whitlow.”
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