VAUGHT: Don't write off Walker Wood at Quarterback

By LARRY VAUGHT

Don't write off Lexington Lafayette graduate Walker Wood eventually playing quarterback for Kentucky.

He threw for 8,230 yards and 74 scores and ran for 4,199 yards and 73 touchdowns at Lafayette and was named the Paul Hornung Award winner that goes to state's top prep player by the Louisville Quarterback Club after throwing for 3,047 yards and 30 scores as a senior.

The 6-0, 190-pound Wood is a versatile athlete. He's had two surgeries on his throwing shoulder the last two years.

"I would just like to see him take a jump this fall camp where he can compete with the other quarterbacks," Darin Hinshaw, UK's co-offensive coordinator, said.

Kentucky returns starting quarterback Terry Wilson and graduate transfer Sawyer Smith of Troy started seven games last year and has taken over 600 Division I snaps. The Cats also have true freshmen Amani Gilmore and Nik Scalzo on the roster now.

"I have to get them all ready. There have been seasons where I had to play a fourth string quarterback to get to bowl games," Hinshaw said.

With all that competition, some have speculated Kentucky might opt to move Woods to another spot -- or he might want to move.

"He is a very good athlete. We have not talked to him or as a staff about him playing another position," Hinshaw said. "It has happened before (with a player changing positions), so it could happen.

"I would really prefer him to be the great quarterback we recruited. He has just gone through injuries. It can take time to really perform as a quarterback but when he had his surgeries he went back, which is normal, and now he just needs time to progress.

"But he’s a very good athlete and very good quarterback."