Offense is moving twords more open wide open passing attacks. Stud QBs want to play in a Lincoln Riley system not a stoops stall ball one. We could have Caleb Williams and our style wouldn't change. Any time we even remotely speed it up and it doesn't work stoops panties get in a wad for the rest of the game.
Why can't we get decent quarterbacks?
- Thread starter AshWilliams
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His last year was 2003 and it was mediocre. I wouldn't put him in the top 5.
Couple of comments on posts above:
1. Randy Sanders was a good coach. However, every single year he and Joker made excuses about why the starting (and #2, #3) QB weren't running the system very well. "It takes 2-3 years to really know this system" is what they kept telling us year after year. Well, in my mind, the 'system' is too damn complicated if someone has to be immersed in it for 3 f-ing years to be able run it. Hell, Leach's system was about 5 or 6 plays with options off of each and his QBs could run it after 3 weeks of practice.
2. Other than Mahomes who is a freak, how many of those wide open, spread, Lincoln Riley/Mike Leach QBs ever make a name for themselves in the NFL - damn few. I watch quite a bit of USC games because I've always liked them and I'm in MST so the Pac12 games start at a reasonable hour. Riley is duplicating at USC what he did at OK: build a great offense built around throwing a ton of passes and pay no attention whatsoever to the defensive side of the ball. USC last year and this year so far consistently gives up 500 yards per game and 35+ points. Caleb Williams will be #1 overall and he may end up being a great NFL QB. But that would make him more of a one-off than all the others who played that system in college.
Personally, I'd like to run Ohio State's system or Michigan's or Florida State's. I think it's more geared to the college game (simpler) and still darned effective (it always helps to have 5* at every position, of course). And, OSU QBs seem to adapt to the NFL systems just fine. I want to win college football games, not necessarily prepare kids for the NFL. If we do both, awesome.
1. Randy Sanders was a good coach. However, every single year he and Joker made excuses about why the starting (and #2, #3) QB weren't running the system very well. "It takes 2-3 years to really know this system" is what they kept telling us year after year. Well, in my mind, the 'system' is too damn complicated if someone has to be immersed in it for 3 f-ing years to be able run it. Hell, Leach's system was about 5 or 6 plays with options off of each and his QBs could run it after 3 weeks of practice.
2. Other than Mahomes who is a freak, how many of those wide open, spread, Lincoln Riley/Mike Leach QBs ever make a name for themselves in the NFL - damn few. I watch quite a bit of USC games because I've always liked them and I'm in MST so the Pac12 games start at a reasonable hour. Riley is duplicating at USC what he did at OK: build a great offense built around throwing a ton of passes and pay no attention whatsoever to the defensive side of the ball. USC last year and this year so far consistently gives up 500 yards per game and 35+ points. Caleb Williams will be #1 overall and he may end up being a great NFL QB. But that would make him more of a one-off than all the others who played that system in college.
Personally, I'd like to run Ohio State's system or Michigan's or Florida State's. I think it's more geared to the college game (simpler) and still darned effective (it always helps to have 5* at every position, of course). And, OSU QBs seem to adapt to the NFL systems just fine. I want to win college football games, not necessarily prepare kids for the NFL. If we do both, awesome.
Fields has his moments..wouldn't say he is fine. Stroud only 5 games in...yet to be determined...looks good so far tho. Miller and Jones didn't pan out. Best OSU pro is Mike Tomczak.
Barker was never an SEC quarterback. I watched him play since pee wee football. I worked with his grandpa and used to sit with him at games. I couldn’t believe we offered him
Yeah, that is why he not only was a four star but one ranked higher than the run of the mill four star. Also why he was the main reason we signed nine other four stars in his class when the most we had signed before he jump started recruiting was three, including Stoops class the year before. He was also having a very good game when he got injured, which ended his career.
He was worth several four stars if he couldn't tie his shoes, because of his recruiting.
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Yeah, it's a bit insane when anyone says Barker wasn't good enough, but it is what it is. I'm sure everyone banked on Tim Couch getting to the NFL when he was crapping his diapers at midfield.
We have signed some decent QB's (ranking wise) over the years. For some reason, we just struggle mightily to develop them. These are the best of the group:
Drew Barker - 4 star - 5th ranked pro style QB in the class
Beau Allen - 4 star - 13th ranked pro style QB in the class
Destin Wade - 4 star - 16th ranked athlete in the class
Cutter Boley - 4 star - 11th ranked pro style QB in the class
Stone Saunders - 4 star - 22nd ranked pro style QB in the class
Hopefully the last 2 turn out to be the ones.
Drew Barker - 4 star - 5th ranked pro style QB in the class
Beau Allen - 4 star - 13th ranked pro style QB in the class
Destin Wade - 4 star - 16th ranked athlete in the class
Cutter Boley - 4 star - 11th ranked pro style QB in the class
Stone Saunders - 4 star - 22nd ranked pro style QB in the class
Hopefully the last 2 turn out to be the ones.
Cutter Boley
Stone Saunders
They qualify as decent quarterbacks.
Are you aware Devin Leary passed for more than 3,400 yards and 35 TDs at North Carolina State in 2021? I am not defending his performance at Kentucky, but I will defend the coaches for having reasonable grounds to expect a good season out Leary. This staff is getting good players. When the players get to Kentucky, it is on their shoulders to perform. Leary is overthrowing wide open receivers. That is on him. Key and Brown have dropped passes on the hands. That is on them.
Joker wouldn't even call a 4 or 5 star player... Didn't believe they'd want to come to UK. He was only a good recruiter of KY kids mostly. Good person? Sure. Genuine. Good WR coach, but we still never landed a true 4 or 5 star recruit at that position that panned out while he was here.
We shouldn't make our past into what it wasn't. I love the players of the past 30 yrs but they were mostly 2 and 3 star rated kids out of HS before Stoops got here. They were special players and people because they worked hard, had heart, and developed, leading the team to play above their grade.
The thing is that alpha dog types want to play around and with other alpha dog types. You have to build to 30+% alpha types on your roster before you start to consistently see the top tier benefits.
We shouldn't make our past into what it wasn't. I love the players of the past 30 yrs but they were mostly 2 and 3 star rated kids out of HS before Stoops got here. They were special players and people because they worked hard, had heart, and developed, leading the team to play above their grade.
The thing is that alpha dog types want to play around and with other alpha dog types. You have to build to 30+% alpha types on your roster before you start to consistently see the top tier benefits.
-Morgan Newton (rated 5 star by someone at some point)
-Ryan Mossakowski
-Terry Wilson
-? The one that transfered in but is now playing TE SOMEWHERE
-Devin Leary
-Ryan Hogan
All were RATED by someone as 4 star QBs out of HS also.
People I knew from NKY told me that everyone in the area knew that there was no comparison between Towles and Barker. Hands down, Towles was better.
Seriously, Drew Barker was great until his injury. Sht happens
Being a successful QB has to have alot of physical skills, but the most important is how quick he can recognize the coverage and know where the weaknesses are. In HS he is dealing with player who are smaller and slower than kids he will line up against and DCs who run simpler defenses than he will see in college. Best arm in the world can't overcome not being able to do those things. Just hard to evaluate that decision making skill in HS.
The proof of that is how few really good college QBs make a name in the NFL where the athletes are better, the defensive schemes more sophisticated, the windows smaller, etc. If you can't know pretty much where the ball needs to go prior to the snap in the NFL, you're destined to be just another QB. The bar is not set as high in college but you still have to process things very quickly and know exactly where to go with the ball in response to what the defense is doing.
The season is almost half over and we've seen nothing impressive out of Leary yet. He's not even consistent.
How many times have we played someone else in the SEC or watched a game on TV and you thought, "Why can't we get a QB like theirs?" Happens to me all the time.
Other teams make passing the ball so easy. When Kentucky completes its a pass its like wow we did that, that was hard.
Seems like things went downhill fast after the EKU and bb-gun incidents lol.
Maybe you're asking the wrong question. "Why couldn't we develop 4 star QBs" might be a better question, since we've had plenty of them.
How many COMPLETELY UNDISCIPLINED events had we had happen in the last 10 years?
-Fraternity party
-bbgun incident
-violations of team rules leading to people being dismissed from the team 2 out of every 3 years
I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but now we're seeing it on the field. It's out of control at this point and there's only one constant.
Leary tried to make something happen after the offense was in trouble. Definitely not the right thing to do.
Wrs still the massive problem. Drops, weak lazy routes, and now fumbles.
Brown needs to not start. Beyond time for a message. Abs isn't ready - he almost got the turf monster on the wide open TD he was handed. Key and Robinson need more targets, but the need overs and sticks rather than constantly going deep.
More than anything, we need to stop the nonsense of not giving Davis the bulk of the opportunities. He's amazing
We're not losing because of little details. We're losing due to general incompetence from top to bottom.
How can you recruit four and five star recruits when you have facilities that haven't had ANYTHING done to improve them in our ADs first DECADE at UK. Joker played Florida his first year with TWO four stars starting offset by two walkons starting. Meanwhile the Florida team had a TWO DEEP that averaged about a five point nine as recruits. Around fifty four stars and a dozen five stars were on their roster. Joker was UK's OC when we upset LSU the year they were the NC, and then injuries killed us because of our lack of depth. What was Stoops (an excellent coach with some support) record his first year at UK with Joke's talent AFTER adding ten four stars to the roster, the same dismal TWO WIN record UK Joker had the year before.
Don't tell me you have never seen the picture of our "recruiting room" that all the coaches recruiting against us had a picture of.
Why would Joker waste his time calling most four and five star players?
