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  • Conversation with 2015 QB Jarrett Stidham



    He’s originally from Kentucky, loves the offense Neal Brown uses and was impressed by the buzz about Kentucky football during a recent camp at UK.

    That’s why Texas junior quarterback Jarrett Stidham has UK on his list of potential college choices along with others such as Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor and Oregon.

    The 6-3, 185-pound Stidham, who runs the 40-yard dash in 4.6 seconds, has the accuracy, arm strength and ability to read defenses that have vaulted him to the No. 2 dual-threat passer rating in the nation by 247Sports.com even though he played receiver, not quarterback, last yer for Stephenville High School.

    “It was kind of a one-time thing with me at receiver,” said Stidham. “I’ve always grown up playing quarterback, but the team needed me at receiver last year.”

    It worked out well as he had 50 catches for 800 yards and 11 scores and was named the district newcomer of the year. He also played some defense.

    “Last year helped me as a quarterback because it gave me a different perspective on the whole deal of playing quarterback,” Stidham said. “As a receiver, I got a feel for how defenses play and now I can help new guys play receiver better. I can help them if they are having trouble, so playing receiver really did help me.”

    Stidham and his brother were born in Corbin — “the whole side of my dad’s family is from here” — and he lived there “two or three years” before moving to Richmond. Later the family moved to Texas.

    Stidham visited with his grandmother, uncle and more in Corbin during his recent trip to Kentucky to attend UK’s football camp last week and then spent time with friends in Richmond.

    “We got back and forth between Corbin and Richmond quite a bit when we are in Kentucky,” Stidham said.

    He got to meet former UK quarterback Tim Couch, a Leslie County native, during UK’s camp.

    “Some people from Leslie County came up to me and my dad and talked to us about how they knew the name Stidham and were going on an on,” the Texas quarterback said.

    Stidham isn’t positive why he’s become such a big recruiting target considering he played receiver last year.

    “My high school coaches have a lot of ties to bigger schools in Texas and they told a bunch of college recruiters to watch out for me — or that is what the college coaches have told me,” Stidham said. “The college coaches came and watched my spring ball during my freshman year. I went to a lot of camps last summer and then a bunch came this past spring to watch our practices.”

    Kentucky offensive coordinator Neal Brown and receivers coach Tommy Mainord were the “very first ones” to recruit Stidham when they were at Texas Tech.

    “Last year I would go to Texas Tech and watch games and watch how their offense played,” Stidham said. “I absolutely love the offense they run. It’s the kind of offense I would like to play in one day.”

    He says the combination of being from Kentucky — Stidham says he still calls Kentucky home — along with being a “huge SEC fan” are reasons he’s interested in UK but the main reason is Brown’s offense.

    “I just enjoy the offense they run,” Stidham said. “Then when I got here, I was so surprised by the overall atmosphere around UK football. You think of Kentucky and you think basketball. Now that (Mark) Stoops and Brown are in, they are changing the whole face of Kentucky football. You could tell something was in the air. I saw some of the (20)14 kids (who have committed to UK) at camp. They are some good athletes. For Kentucky football, it’s not like they got highly recruited athletes like that every year. You could just tell it was different, and exciting.”

    Stidham says UK’s overall recruiting could make an impact on his college choice, but that he can’t let that overly impact his decision.

    Stidham visited defending national champion Alabama recently and was “thoroughly impressed” by the facilities.
    “I loved the coaches there. They are real down to earth. It was definitely something I enjoyed,” Stidham said.

    However, Alabama doesn’t run the type offense Stidham likes.

    “We run a complete spread offense (in high school). It’s not all no-huddle stuff, but most of the time it is no-huddle. It is a complete spread offense,” Stidham said.

    He thinks of himself as a “pass first” quarterback but admits running is a “big option” for him.

    “Running ability is one asset I have,” Stidham said. “In talking to coach Brown, I like how they want a quarterback to run through his progressions and then take off (running) if nothing is there. That’s kind of how I am. If I see a guy open, I go there. If not, I take off and run. That’s a big asset in the spread offense.”

    Stidham isn’t sure when he’ll make a college choice, but he’s in no hurry.

    “I honestly don’t want to make an early decision,” he said. “A bunch of 2015 kids are committing. I could if I wanted. But I just want to enjoy this process and have a great relationship with coaches and schools. I want to take it all in. Maybe a year from now I will be ready to make a decision going into my senior year. I will see how this fall goes and then start narrowing things down in the spring when I can go to some spring games and practices.”

    Stidham plays basketball, but he’ll be doing that only one more year.

    “This will be my last year playing basketball because I want to graduate mid-term of my senior year so I can get to college and go through spring ball. For a quarterback, that’s just something you need to do,” he said.
    Comments 1 Comment
    1. Terry Blue's Avatar
      Terry Blue -
      Will be interesting to see if Elijah Sindelar will committ to someone earlier than Stidham
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