Terry Wilson - what should we expect?

[AgainstTheWind]

I would appreciate comments about his passing ability and what we should expect as the year goes along from those who have coaching/evaluation experience. I don't pretend to know that much about him except he is a young athletic quarterback in the SEC. I would think we need three things from him... (1) Limit turnovers (2) Be a threat (hitting one is a bonus) to thrown the deep pass (3) Be a threat to run the ball.

 

[know1]

I feel like he already has a decent deep ball. Maybe just a bit more loft, but he connected on two long ones at Florida. Some of the others have been very near misses.

I think his medium range passing game needs to improve, but it's possible I'm forgetting some of those at Florida and Murray and Central Michigan.

What concerned me during the Mississippi State game was that he didn't take off running when there was clearly room to make a first down and he threw about 3-4 balls to receivers that he shouldn't have because they were double covered, etc. So basically decision-making stuff.

I think he's our guy and just the threat of him breaking a long run with that speed is a weapon on its own.

He's been doing a pretty good job all things considered. And I was one who thought he actually looked good in the Central Michigan game and the Florida game.

 

[Kentuckynerd]

I think he is getting better each game with his awareness and ability to hold onto the football. He will continue to grow and be a star QB at Kentucky.

 

[Deeeefense]

He's still a bit raw in some areas. For instance they had a perfect tunnel screen play called Saturday and the TE came open with 4 blockers in front and Wilson throws a bullet at him that bounced off his hands. Terry needs to slow down just a little and put touch on some of those type passes.

 

[catben]

Like all new QB's playing against SEC defenses he needs to:

-recognize what the defense is trying to do before each snap and adjust accordingly
-make the right reads in the RPO
-go through his progressions quicker
-not force throws to blanketed receivers
-NEVER FUMBLE
-throw to where only your man can catch it

He's improved each game in all of the above. His upside is through the roof!!

 

[dallasg23]

He has a rocket arm. Needs some touch but he is close. Just few right off the fingers tips the last 2 weeks. Right now he is a game manager who is a missed tackle away from breaking one every play.

 

[vhcat70]

He has a rocket arm. Needs some touch but he is close. Just few right off the fingers tips the last 2 weeks. Right now he is a game manager who is a missed tackle away from breaking one every play.

Agree, but think is long touch is still fairly erratic. Missed Baker long by 2 feet but then got him in the corner to set up TD #1. Missed one by five yards - couldn't tell if he was trying to go longer or shorter. Then there was the INT. WIP for me.

 

[mrschwump]

TW's making excellent progress, on his way to being a top SEC QB.

 

[SPECT imaging]

I would appreciate comments about his passing ability and what we should expect as the year goes along from those who have coaching/evaluation experience. I don't pretend to know that much about him except he is a young athletic quarterback in the SEC. I would think we need three things from him... (1) Limit turnovers (2) Be a threat (hitting one is a bonus) to thrown the deep pass (3) Be a threat to run the ball.

Wilson is a fast athlete with little experience. He is unpredictable at this point. A dual threat who could gain 350 yards of combined run-pass offense in a game, or could have trouble with a pass rush and throw three interceptions. The more he plays, the better he will get.

 

[BIGCAT4LIFE]

Manage the game, take care of the ball, and be a team leader. Don’t take any sacks or negative plays.

 

[dallasg23]

Agree, but think is long touch is still fairly erratic. Missed Baker long by 2 feet but then got him in the corner to set up TD #1. Missed one by five yards - couldn't tell if he was trying to go longer or shorter. Then there was the INT. WIP for me.

Agree. They stayed in a cover two most of the night, makes it tough to throw the fade. But he will get it eventually and I think when he does a light will come on and it will be dangerous.

 

[Bluedad2]

I would appreciate comments about his passing ability and what we should expect as the year goes along from those who have coaching/evaluation experience. I don't pretend to know that much about him except he is a young athletic quarterback in the SEC. I would think we need three things from him... (1) Limit turnovers (2) Be a threat (hitting one is a bonus) to thrown the deep pass (3) Be a threat to run the ball.

He's got such tremendous athleticism and balance which you can't teach. What also can't be taught, except through time and experiencing real game situations, is pocket awareness. I've noticed he waits a second later than he should once that pocket starts to collapse. He will get used to the speed eventually and reverse or roll his way out of trouble more efficiently. On a side note, I would like for Gran to come up with more plays with designed rollouts. Getting him in a rolling pocket where DB's have to acknowledge his running threat and come up- or stay in their zone/man puts tremendous prsssure on a defense.
Last- I'm sure he walks into every pass play with a hot read. ie: the Corner or first man outside the box. Nothing but time and repetition in practice and games working with his receivers gaining their timing and trust will improve this.
I'm excited that he has 2-1/2 years to accomplish all this.

 

[jnewc2]

I think some of y’all need to consider he was playing a hell of a defense the other night. He made a few bad throws, but watching a replay of that game he did a hell of a job managing it. He stayed poised and hit most of his throws when he needed to, even with a couple NFL defensive linemen barreling down at him and little to no separation with his WR’s. He also made several timely runs to extend drives or get important yardage. That was a hell of a defense he was playing and he managed to stay poised and make positive plays throughout the game.

 

[Horhay961]

I'm confident in Wilson. I think at this point in his career he's doing as good as one can expect. Of course, there are going to be ups and downs, even the great QB's have bad games. As long as he continues to work hard and keeps improving he'll be just fine in this league.

 

[AgainstTheWind]

I have to believe he will determine how far we go against teams like Georgia, Texas A & M etc. Hope he develops quickly.

 

[Xception]

I expect Terry to throw 13 touchdowns per game in gale force winds and driving rain/with hail. Anything less than that and I’m not going to give him credit at all.

 

[jnewc2]

I expect Terry to throw 13 touchdowns per game in gale force winds and driving rain/with hail. Anything less than that and I’m not going to give him credit at all.

Stoops was joking about it on his show tonight. A lot of our fans still have the basketball on grass mentality. They want the Tim Couch days of us throwing 6 TD passes and losing games 50-40. If we don’t have a QB lighting it up through the air they grow restless. They don’t realize that you don’t win games in the SEC doing that stuff. Go ask Mizzou how basketball on grass is working out for them. Terry is the most talented QB we’ve had since Woodson, but our fans would drive him out of town if they had the chance. They want basketball on grass and 60-50 shootouts.

 

[maverick1rw]

The best is yet to come IMO.

 

[billoliver40]

He is progressing. He will go up against some teams with better talent (Georgia, aTm) as well as teams with better defensive coordinators...South Carolina for one.

At this time next year, it will likely be the Terry Wilson show IF HE CONTINUES development.
Ball security and decision making are experience things.

Looks like the staff is all in on him. We sink or swim with Wilson at the helm.
So far, it's been swim.....but even great QBs can have those dreaded 4turnover games.

 

[DCFseattle]

At this point, I have no idea.
I mean, he's athletic as hell and he's been painfully close on some deep balls. But he's a redshirt sophomore with 4 games experience. I don't know if the coaching staff even knows at this point.

 

[3kidsandme]

I would like to get a consistent 200 yards per game with good efficiency. If he can do that passing wowzer

 

[Levibooty]

There is a large difference between being a talented athlete and a talented QB. I think Terry is already a talented athlete playing QB, he will need to improve his accuracy and polish his decision making ability to become top end QB. He has very little SEC/Div 1 experience so he could improve immensely or not.

 

[Wall Knight Teague]

Stoops was joking about it on his show tonight. A lot of our fans still have the basketball on grass mentality. They want the Tim Couch days of us throwing 6 TD passes and losing games 50-40. If we don’t have a QB lighting it up through the air they grow restless. They don’t realize that you don’t win games in the SEC doing that stuff. Go ask Mizzou how basketball on grass is working out for them. Terry is the most talented QB we’ve had since Woodson, but our fans would drive him out of town if they had the chance. They want basketball on grass and 60-50 shootouts.

Fans would drive him out of town if they had the chance?

What unadulterated bullshit.

 

[aikenite4uk]

Right now, Wilson is playing like a more athletic Stephen Johnson....with considerably more gamebreaking potential with his wheels. He has 243 yards rushing for the season and could conceivably be a 1000 yard guy. He has shown the ability to make some plays down the field in the passing game. People complain about his accuracy but the stats say he's at 67% completion percentage so he hasn't been terrible. Too many interceptions (4) given his number of attempts.

I think we can beat most of the remaining teams on our schedule with Terry playing the game manager role. However, beating the elite teams like UGA, A&M, and a high level bowl opponent are going to require him to up to continue to improve as a passer. Before the season is over, we're going to be playing from behind and we'll need him to lead us with his arm.

 

[ukalumni00]

For KY to have a special Season he has to get better. That said, he is doing fine. Think we need to pump the brakes on wanting him to progress faster right now. Needs a lot of game experience. Think he will be much better next season which the offense will really need with Snell likely gone.

 

[STL_Cat]

Stoops was joking about it on his show tonight. A lot of our fans still have the basketball on grass mentality. They want the Tim Couch days of us throwing 6 TD passes and losing games 50-40. If we don’t have a QB lighting it up through the air they grow restless. They don’t realize that you don’t win games in the SEC doing that stuff. Go ask Mizzou how basketball on grass is working out for them. Terry is the most talented QB we’ve had since Woodson, but our fans would drive him out of town if they had the chance. They want basketball on grass and 60-50 shootouts.

I don’t find this post to be rooted in reality at all. I think what we may have fans going, you know what with this defense and running game if Terry Wilson could progress to the point where he’s a reliable and accurate thrower of the football, then look out! Because that’s really the only thing based on what I’m seeing right now that might be a flaw on this team. And to be clear I’m a TW fan. He’s electric with the football but still incredibly raw as a QB. And you have people running TW out of town? You think our fans are restless? Our fans are as happy as they’ve ever been in my lifetime right now. And I’m no spring chicken.

Good grief.

 

[Comebakatz3]

Right now for me it is just that I want him to make the simple throws and the simple plays and limit mistakes. He doesn't have to be perfect and doesn't have to sling it all over, but he (like someone else mentioned) needs to hit that tunnel screen and loosen up a defense that has their ears pinned back. He needs to hit the open receiver when the defense loses them. Just some simple stuff to keep the ball moving and keep the defense honest. He does that and with his wheels and Benny's, then our offense should work pretty well.

 

[mbc82584]

I would appreciate comments about his passing ability and what we should expect as the year goes along from those who have coaching/evaluation experience. I don't pretend to know that much about him except he is a young athletic quarterback in the SEC. I would think we need three things from him... (1) Limit turnovers (2) Be a threat (hitting one is a bonus) to thrown the deep pass (3) Be a threat to run the ball.

Terry is fast, very fast. His entire football career he has been double spied and that has led to a majority of his passes being easy 15-20 yard out patterns. Even ball control issues, especially fumbles, didn’t matter all that much because he was blowing people out and rarely getting hit.

Now he’s being asked to share with Benny. For our offense to succeed, we cannot have 9 people in the box regularly. That means Terry has to become more of a threat on 5-10 yard throws...slants, crosses especially. He is learning to be more efficient and accurate on these, while also learning to deal with a game where he is no longer light years faster than everyone on the field.

He’s obviously getting better, still just a RS sophomore. If we continue to build support around him I think he will be a star the next two years.

 

[STL_Cat]

Terry is fast, very fast. His entire football career he has been double spied and that has led to a majority of his passes being easy 15-20 yard out patterns. Even ball control issues, especially fumbles, didn’t matter all that much because he was blowing people out and rarely getting hit.

Now he’s being asked to share with Benny. For our offense to succeed, we cannot have 9 people in the box regularly. That means Terry has to become more of a threat on 5-10 yard throws...slants, crosses especially. He is learning to be more efficient and accurate on these, while also learning to deal with a game where he is no longer light years faster than everyone on the field.

He’s obviously getting better, still just a RS sophomore. If we continue to build support around him I think he will be a star the next two years.

We need more posts like this, and less posts like the hyperbole and derision before you with dude saying "our fans would run Terry Wilson out of town" because we aren't scoring 50-60 points. Good post. 100% agree.

 

[Blueaz]

I feel like he already has a decent deep ball. Maybe just a bit more loft, but he connected on two long ones at Florida. Some of the others have been very near misses.

I think his medium range passing game needs to improve, but it's possible I'm forgetting some of those at Florida and Murray and Central Michigan.

What concerned me during the Mississippi State game was that he didn't take off running when there was clearly room to make a first down and he threw about 3-4 balls to receivers that he shouldn't have because they were double covered, etc. So basically decision-making stuff.

I think he's our guy and just the threat of him breaking a long run with that speed is a weapon on its own.

He's been doing a pretty good job all things considered. And I was one who thought he actually looked good in the Central Michigan game and the Florida game.

There was a poster after FL complaining about all the “overthrows”... I’m sure he is happy now... lol

To me it looks like confidence. He uses pretty good mechanics in short and intermediate throws, BUT He is not stepping into those long balls, and not having a solid follow through. He is using arm and trying to place it.
I am sure the coaches see this and are trying to get ways to get him more comfortable/confident

 

[shutzhund]

I don’t find this post to be rooted in reality at all. I think what we may have fans going, you know what with this defense and running game if Terry Wilson could progress to the point where he’s a reliable and accurate thrower of the football, then look out! Because that’s really the only thing based on what I’m seeing right now that might be a flaw on this team. And to be clear I’m a TW fan. He’s electric with the football but still incredibly raw as a QB. And you have people running TW out of town? You think our fans are restless? Our fans are as happy as they’ve ever been in my lifetime right now. And I’m no spring chicken.

Good grief.

I have a feeling for what he posted. Some, not all, are still lost in the "air raid" infatuation. It hasn't been long ago that power football was not a fan favorite and the pocket passer was all the rage.

Wining has them on the band wagon but just barely. They still love the statue in the pocket high scoring and losing record teams. That's not Terry or this team.

 

[STL_Cat]

I have a feeling for what he posted. Some, not all, are still lost in the "air raid" infatuation. It hasn't been long ago that power football was not a fan favorite and the pocket passer was all the rage.

Wining has them on the band wagon but just barely. They still love the statue in the pocket high scoring and losing record teams.

I think, could be wrong, that the people infatuated with the “Air Raid” style offense may have been under the impression that that was the only way UK could win in the SEC. The thought being we can’t power up and play the other SEC teams at “their games.” We needed to do something to differentiate ourselves.

Obviously, what we are seeing this year is showing that this isn’t necessarily true. I’d be willing to bet that 95% of the people that thought we couldn’t do it and therefore were infatuated with Air Raid are so pleasantly surprised right now. I’d bet 95% of those people are glad to be proven wrong. You think there are people, ANY people that would prefer a high scoring offense and a losing record? Please. Literally nobody wants that.

Our fans would run Terry out of town if they could because we’re not scoring 60? That’s a damn joke and you know it.

 

[JC CATS]

Like all new QB's playing against SEC defenses he needs to:

-recognize what the defense is trying to do before each snap and adjust accordingly
-make the right reads in the RPO
-go through his progressions quicker
-not force throws to blanketed receivers
-NEVER FUMBLE
-throw to where only your man can catch it

He's improved each game in all of the above. His upside is through the roof!!

Agree! Well never fumble in 3 years may be unrealistic

 

[MediCat]

Terry is fast, very fast. His entire football career he has been double spied and that has led to a majority of his passes being easy 15-20 yard out patterns. Even ball control issues, especially fumbles, didn’t matter all that much because he was blowing people out and rarely getting hit.

Now he’s being asked to share with Benny. For our offense to succeed, we cannot have 9 people in the box regularly. That means Terry has to become more of a threat on 5-10 yard throws...slants, crosses especially. He is learning to be more efficient and accurate on these, while also learning to deal with a game where he is no longer light years faster than everyone on the field.

He’s obviously getting better, still just a RS sophomore. If we continue to build support around him I think he will be a star the next two years.

This is a great post. Successful athletes progress in college. The really special ones progress much faster than the others. That “could” be TW. He certainly looks to be getting better every game out.

Fans need to understand that we can’t judge TW by his passing yards. His job in our system is not to be a prolific passer. His job is to manage the game, make reads and keep defenses honest.

I am excited that we get to experience a season with no QB controversy. I suspect the team (and TW) are all better for it as well.

 

[southindycat]

I would like to get a consistent 200 yards per game with good efficiency. If he can do that passing wowzer

Averaging 200 on 60% with 1.5 TD and .25 INT while netting 80 on 12 carries with .25 fumbles against SEC competition would be solid.

 

[NavyCat88]

So far, we're getting the maximum of what we could have reasonably expected from him (considering he is taking his first snaps in DI...the SEC no less), and that is:
1. Speedy QB on the ground able to move the chains with his feet, AND
2. Serviceable QB through the air able to manage a game....potentially lose a game, but not win a game on his QB talent alone.

IF he improves incrementally, we could really have a significant contributor by late season.
NEXT YEAR I see him as a potential game changer....able to not only manage games but win some from the QB position.

GBB!

 

[shutzhund]

I think, could be wrong, that the people infatuated with the “Air Raid” style offense may have been under the impression that that was the only way UK could win in the SEC. The thought being we can’t power up and play the other SEC teams at “their games.” We needed to do something to differentiate ourselves.

Obviously, what we are seeing this year is showing that this isn’t necessarily true. I’d be willing to bet that 95% of the people that thought we couldn’t do it and therefore were infatuated with Air Raid are so pleasantly surprised right now. I’d bet 95% of those people are glad to be proven wrong. You think there are people, ANY people that would prefer a high scoring offense and a losing record? Please. Literally nobody wants that.

Our fans would run Terry out of town if they could because we’re not scoring 60? That’s a damn joke and you know it.

I think, could be wrong, that the people infatuated with the “Air Raid” style offense may have been under the impression that that was the only way UK could win in the SEC. The thought being we can’t power up and play the other SEC teams at “their games.” We needed to do something to differentiate ourselves.

Obviously, what we are seeing this year is showing that this isn’t necessarily true. I’d be willing to bet that 95% of the people that thought we couldn’t do it and therefore were infatuated with Air Raid are so pleasantly surprised right now. I’d bet 95% of those people are glad to be proven wrong. You think there are people, ANY people that would prefer a high scoring offense and a losing record? Please. Literally nobody wants that.

Our fans would run Terry out of town if they could because we’re not scoring 60? That’s a damn joke and you know it.

You are putting someone else's words in my mouth. "Our fans running Terry out of town" is what another poster said. Not me.

However, it's a very recent phenomena that a double threat qb has been appreciated and he still is on thin ice with RR's offensive coordinators. They have one foot on the bandwagon and one still on the curb.

The body of your post was good right up to the end and then it sucked.

 

[KyCatFan]

So did we ever get "Smith" sent back where he came from?

 

[littlecreek]

Remember, he’s just a Sophomore!

 

[crestcat]

Inconsistency