While the injury did happen and shortened his career, dude did not perform in high school at all to warrant the rankings he got.
Portal QB to UK??
- Thread starter mg0721
- Start date
Honestly, I don't know. I don't think he had NFL abilities, which Towles absolutely did, had Towles been more consistent, but I do think that Barkers first half against Southern Miss could have been an sign that he would have had some very good games at UK if healthy.
Towles definitely had potential. His family are huge UK fans, so I know they definitely wanted to succeed here.
Barker got the ball for a handful of games in 2015....and he was not impressive vs. Towles. The stories that he was o pace to be amazing...is UK mythology. Same as Mossokowski was going to be unreal if not for injury.
Not to mention the fact we have the worst WRs in football.
There will have to be some monumental portal moves to bring a great QB here.
It cannot be overstated how bad our WRs are.
On the flip side, how do we attract WRs without a QB? If Stoops and Co can pull this* off, which I believe they can, it will be an incredible feat.
* I don’t mean this Brock guy, I just mean any QB with a decent pulse, plus WRs to match.
Please expand on 'this system sucks'. For whatever reason, I tend to agree with almost everything you post (obviously you're brilliant) and I have some big reservations about this system, also. Would like to hear yours to see if we're, once again, on the same page.
I think the best thing to do is to sign a portal guy that fits your system instead of trying to make him fit. I’m not sure if Leary ever took a snap under center before he came here and he also played in an up-tempo offense, basically the opposite of what we do. That’s not a slam on him, just saying that it doesn’t matter how highly someone is rated in the portal or out of hs if they’re not a fit for what you’re trying to do. There’s not a lot of difference between Georgia’s offense and ours so a guy like Vandergriff would be a smooth transition imo.
I agree. Vandergriff seems to fit the system well. Probably even better than UGA as Smart seems to like game managers where arm strength is secondary. You can do that when you have a nfl line and 6 5 start rb’s.
I’ve decided that the rankings of QBs who aren’t the top 10 HS QBs in the country is impossible. It is all guess work. HS defenses, especially DBs, don’t give enough quality looks to a QB to really tell how good he is. Essentially any HS who 6’1 or taller and has a good arm can get a 4th star if they camp well. Comes down to football knowledge and only 1 out 10 seem to have it by the time they get to college.
Rankings are too guided by arm strength and athletic ability and not enough by accuracy and field vision.
I find the landscape of college football today of NIL and Portal to be stupid personally.
1. It de-values high school recruiting and development of players over time (which I think overall is something Stoops does better than most SEC schools).
2. So UK (and any other schools) can do a crap job of recruiting and developing QBs from high school/JUCO and who cares. The Beau Allen, Sheron, Hogan, Wade, etc...QB recruiting and development has been an utter failure by Stoops, Gran, Coen, Scangerello, etc.... But it doesn't mean anything...you just go get another schools' QB and hope to shine him up enough.
3. Lets be honest.....for decades the schools that got the most talent out of high school usually won. (Bama, UGA, Clemson , Ohio State,....even in years past FSU, USC, Florida, etc..) would be the title winners. Sure some schools never lived up to recruiting rankings (Notre Dame, Texas AM, etc...) but they coached up their kids . But the thought know that Bama, UGA, Ohio St, etc...still get all the best recruiting classes....and when they have a roster hole....they just go shopping off their competition to fill those holes (RaRa Thomas and Lovett from Texas AM and Mizzou respectively)...last year Bama nabs up Gibbs, Burton, Stein to start at RB, WR and Tackle.
So this boils down to who has the best AAU/Travel ball squad of basically mercenaries with no allegiance to a program. Is that really all that big of an accomplishment? I just think my connection to UK is lessened and the football team will turn more into the alienated basketball program the Cal has created that culture. I just think the whole system is absurd.
Thats a question that has been IGNORED since Stoops has been here.
My bad - in your previous post I thought the 'system' you thought sucked was our offensive scheme, not NIL, etc.
NIL and transfer portals have seriously eroded my enjoyment of CFB. Before 25/85, the elite schools could sign everybody and keep the little guys from signing them. Now, the elite schools can just buy the top players and, as you said, give enormous amounts of money to poach great players off other rosters. With stupid money that AL, TX, MI, OSU, OU, GA, USC, et al, are willing to cough up, there is almost no chance for a UK to ever truly compete for conference titles. We can't out recruit and we can't outspend. No chance for us and all those like us. This system will kill parity and CFB if allowed to continue as it stands now.
Towles played for 3 OCs in 4 years. This killled his development as a qb. He had a huge arm and very mobile and was a big guy. I had heard he was also hard headed as well which hurt his development as well.
Fellah, let me introduce you to a gentleman named Bo Nix and his story of the offensive coordinators he played for over 6 yrs
I suppose you’re referring to me. I said we can’t attract high level high school qb’s. Most of our freshman qb’s are Kentucky kids. Tim couch and J-loads don’t come around too often in this state. Stoops has been fantastic at bringing in portal qbs.
Our system isn’t really a system. It’s a pro style offense. It’s a base offense, a balanced offense.
I have in another thread, but like someone said he played in a small private school for his dad. Put up big numbers. Committed to Lincoln Riley at OU but wanted closer to home. Signed with UGA and that's about it. Hasn't played much and when he did it was mostly with all backups and him handing the ball off killing clock. Good arm, very mobile, not a great release has a little hitch, no idea how accurate he is because he hast thrown enough to get a reading on that part of his game.
Far from terrible luck, it’s coaching that doesn’t develop them.
You'd think after 6 years he could do better against 19-20 yr olds than he did at 19. Huh?
Wanting Howard too but it would be typical Stoops to bring in a QBack that has never played.
With the portal these days, QB is basically free agency year after year. The programs looking to stay relevant or compete at high levels are looking for experienced options. But yeah, we've failed to adequately develop backups who reach a level to take over the starting role at some point. But i'm just pointing out we aren't isolated in doing this. Lots of schools have been relying on the portal. Unless you're Bama or UGA who can land multiple 5 star top rated HS QB's then just pick and choose, Those schools like us are going to pick up their leftovers. Lots of QB's thrived after transfers. Joe Burrow, Justin Fields, Levis, Jaden Daniels, Caleb Williams, Jaxson Dart, Brady Cook to name a few. and lots of QB's will be transferring and lots of high level programs will be starting transfer QB's in 2024. I want the best QB to fit our program who can give us at least two years ideally, though I don't disagree that we need to prepare the backups better in hopes we can have some reasonable assurance of a succession plan at some point.
I've always thought of Stoops as a poor man's kirby Smart in that their coaching styles are very similar, just Smart has infinitely more talent to work and execute it. Georgia doesn't play to blow teams out of the water and put up 50-60 points every game, and when they do it's typically because of a huge talent discrepancy and mismatches on display or a myriad of mistakes by their opponents. But if Stoops could build a program to that level, UGA would be what it looks like.
Do you think Stoops and staff give out QB scholarships with the intent that none of them ever turn into contributors?
-burrow never played much at osu.
-I'm in agreement that cms needs to re-focus and improve his product.
^that said...some folks live to be miserable and bitch about everything.
-I'm in agreement that cms needs to re-focus and improve his product.
^that said...some folks live to be miserable and bitch about everything.
Yeah man if only Devin Leary started a game or 2 before getting to Lexington, I'd have made all the difference.
Thanks again for sharing your brilliant football knowledge with all of us, we truly aren't worthy.
You aren’t worthy. You are a moron. Leary had played and we know it. But look how he went through the season. He regressed. We have no backup quarterbacks ever. Stoops has never developed a qback in his time here. If the Georgia guy excites you you then so be it, but he does nothing for me. We need a proven qback and make sure he is coached to his strengths unlike Leary. He should have been in a quick offense which is what he excelled in prior. I wish to God Stoops would have taken the A&M job and then maybe you and a few of his other jock sniffers could have gone with him.
But other schools keep qbs and develop them, why can't we? We bring in kids but they never see the light of day. We bring in high school kids but every spring we are now clamoring to the portal to fill the gap. Its a very poor way to take a program higher. You are gambling on a free agent when you can work with a kid and get a polished player who knows the system, knows the guys, and just needs playing time.
Do they ever go somewhere else and excel? That would be the indicator to me.
Last edited:
Maybe it's our offensive schemes that have kept qbs away...I just don't think this kid is a P5 qb
Stevie Wilson wasn't all conference, but was pretty doggone good. Big heart.
Point made but if you are sitting behind a player for two years and probably don't get 1st team reps then are actually being developed? You have wasted those years and not been given the coaching to get better to show it someplace else.
Similar threads
