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Not to interject facts but if you look at the stats from last season you will find that Johnson is tied with the second most fumbles at 10 and behind two guys with 11, Thomas for GT and Hurts for Bama. Tied with Johnson is McSorley at PSU, Evans at VT, Dobbs at UT and Fine at North Texas. The group with 9 includes QB's at Texas A&M, USC, FSU, Hawaii, and BC (Towles). Lamar Jackson won the Heisman with 8 fumbles.
What you may notice is that there are a lot of great football programs and teams on that list. If you let your QB freelance and use his arm with the chance to run always on the table the ball is usually in a perilous position. That seems to be modern offensive football. Ball security is a big deal no doubt but evidently a lot of top coaches are willing to tolerate fumbles if the QB can score points with the offense by directing the offense successfully. He doesn't need to be a great passer or runner he just needs to be a great leader and use the tools at his disposal. With a lot of help from Gran and Hinshaw, Johnson did something really remarkable by running that limited offense successfully and saving this coaching regime, in my opinion. While he obviously isn't Peyton, Peyton didn't win a championship while Tee did and no one in their right mind would put Tee in the same universe as Peyton as a QB talent.
Johnson must improve his short game because defenses can take away the run and sometimes the deep ball like GT did. If others can play defense like that and Johnson can't beat them with short and mid level passes then he will be replaced. If he is adequate passing the ball and we win he will be the QB. He is well liked and respected by the team and coaches. He earned that too.
Johnson named the starter before practices even begin. Id say Stoops and Gran agree with me.
Read up on Dusty if you really think he was "never heard from again"! D11 player of the year two years in a row and much much more that I don't feel like typing. Dusty was a heck of a player!Ever heard of Dust Bonner and Jared Lorenzen? Mumme was being a little too loyal to Bonner because he had a decent season in 1999. But, there was a lot of pressure from the fanbase and the administration to play Lorenzen in 2000. Dusty Bonner is never heard from again and Lorenzen is one of the all-time best at the position for UK.
My point is simply, coaches don't always make the right decision from the beginning. Now, I don't think the same talent disparity exists between SJ and Barker or Hoak.
In the end, I want UK to win no matter who the QB is. Again, I'm not a SJ hater. If he kicks ass this year, awesome!
There are people on this board that are hoping for Johnson to fail. Please understand that if he fails then thecseason is doomed because our backups are not ready for SEC competition. Stephen Johnson won 7 games last year while Drew Barker won none. Gunnar Hoak is a freshman and needs seasoning to play vs the SEC and win. Stephen Johnson will get the job done. The best way for Kentucky to have a chance at the East Title is stability at QB. Our running game is our strength and Johnson provides the best mobility of the 3 QB's.
Great post.@Gabewcat - There may be people on the board who want to see SJ fail, but I haven't read them in this post. Most everything in this post has focused on wanting SJ to succeed, but expect coaches to have a shorter leash than previous years because of the drop-off after the starter.
I agree 100% with your statement about the importance of stability at QB. But, I disagree that different qb's early in the season leads to a doomed season. Ala has done it the 2 out of the last 3 years. (Hurt was not even the starter in game 1 last year. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong. If he did start, then he was pulled early for another QB.)
Like you, I think Stoops will settle on one predominant QB because of the stability factor. I just don't expect it to be settled before game #1. I don't care if it's Johnson, Barker or Hoak. Each bring a different element. Iron sharpens iron, so I expect fall competition to make all 3 of them better.
I have zero problems if SJ takes command of the position as long as he's improved in some areas. I like him as a player. But, there's no denying that we have to have better QB play to climb that next tier in the SEC. (Btw - that can be said of most positions on our team.)
Read up on Dusty if you really think he was "never heard from again"! D11 player of the year two years in a row and much much more that I don't feel like typing. Dusty was a heck of a player!
And I didn't intend to belittle your post, really I didn't. As far as talent,I know Jared had a much stronger arm than Dusty but there is so much more that makes for a successful QB and I know I am probably in the minority to believe that pulling DB for Jared may have been the biggest blunder Mumme made at UK, he lost many on the team with that decision!Ok, how long did he play in the NFL? Lorenzen at least got the opportunity before he ate his way out of a career. My point wasn't to belittle Dusty Bonner, he had a good college career. But, if you're comparing him to Lorenzen talent-wise, I don't get that.
I actually watched Dusty play I didn't have to read up on him. If you watched them both play, the talent disparity was more than evident.
And I didn't intend to belittle your post, really I didn't. As far as talent,I know Jared had a much stronger arm than Dusty but there is so much more that makes for a successful QB and I know I am probably in the minority to believe that pulling DB for Jared may have been the biggest blunder Mumme made at UK, he lost many on the team with that decision!
Mumme's worst decision of all-time was letting Claude Bassett decide who was going to kick field goals vs Louisville. Remember when Bassett chose Brandon Sanders to kick the game winning field goal from 18 yards out and thevkick was blocked. That was the end of Sanders career at UK.
The limited time he played on a weak team proves nothing of the sort.Barker proved when he played he could not go beyond the 1's read, can't make decision quick enough.
It simply would not be football season if there was not angst in the UK fanbase about the QB position. I really believe the last year there was no "QB anxiety" was in Andre Woodson's last year!
Johnson just lead UK to its' first winning season since 2009 (?) and fans are wondering about the QB position. With the possible exception of Steve Spurrier, coaches are very reluctant to change QBs as long as you are winning. Could the QB play be better? Of course it could. But at the QB position "winning" transcends stats. JMO
Peace
What? We have arguably one of the best LB and Secondary units in the SEC....we are an SEC defenseThe problem with testing UK qbs in practice is UK's defense is so poor any qb might look great in practice. Proving to be the best choice will only come against an SEC defense.
That might be a whole lot more revealing about the qb and receivers. I'm more concerned about the ground game. If it's clicking the passing is probably going to take care of itself.
What? We have arguably one of the best LB and Secondary units in the SEC....we are an SEC defense
We are returning the 2 top tacklers in the SEC, 2 excellent JR CBs, and 2 excellent pass rushing OLBs. So what exactly makes us not a "SEC" defense?Dream on. With our projected defensive line production those two groups are going to be very busy in SEC and OOC play with any team that can field a runner.
But I gave you a "like" for your attitude.
Dream on. With our projected defensive line production ...
Probably all the near bottom SEC defensive stats. As discussed in another thread individual tackles are somewhat meaningless relative to team defense.We are returning the 2 top tacklers in the SEC, 2 excellent JR CBs, and 2 excellent pass rushing OLBs. So what exactly makes us not a "SEC" defense?
Why would you think the DL play would regress going into this year, if anything there should be at least some improvement and a new scheme. I dont get the pessimism in your post
We are returning the 2 top tacklers in the SEC, 2 excellent JR CBs, and 2 excellent pass rushing OLBs. So what exactly makes us not a "SEC" defense?
Why would you think the DL play would regress going into this year, if anything there should be at least some improvement and a new scheme. I dont get the pessimism in your post
UK Team Defense:Probably all the near bottom SEC defensive stats. As discussed in another thread individual tackles are somewhat meaningless relative to team defense.
And I don't think a new scheme is going in; just a new DC running what Stoops wants run. Over the years it has been my observation that defensive improvement happens more frequently with better talent in the game than more experience. JMO
Peace
Some of my pessimism is that most of the tackles are coming 4 to 8 yards downfield. There's more but that gets into either naming names or alluding to individual players on defense.
This threads not worth that. It's interesting although it's a same ol', same ol' quarterback discussion. Only the names have changed.
UK Team Defense:
Tackles: 4th in SEC
Pass Yds/Game: 5th in SEC
Interceptions: 7th in SEC
Sacks: 11th in SEC
Fumble Recoveries: 10th in SEC
Rush Yds/Game 12th in SEC
So sure, some team stats (mostly rushing and DL based problems) are near the bottom but we are not a bottom feeder SEC defense.
LeBlanc specifically said that we are going to have a much more aggressive DL scheme that focuses on penetration and getting after the QB.
Just a marginal increase in DL production will pay dividends across the entire defense.
What can I say, I always have my UK blue shades on over my eyes lol.UK Team Defense:
Tackles: 4th in SEC
Pass Yds/Game: 5th in SEC
Interceptions: 7th in SEC
Sacks: 11th in SEC
Fumble Recoveries: 10th in SEC
Rush Yds/Game 12th in SEC
So sure, some team stats (mostly rushing and DL based problems) are near the bottom but we are not a bottom feeder SEC defense.
LeBlanc specifically said that we are going to have a much more aggressive DL scheme that focuses on penetration and getting after the QB.
Just a marginal increase in DL production will pay dividends across the entire defense.
You would fall on a grenade for your buddies' without batting an eye. I'm giving you another "like" because you deserve it for being so loyal.