Pennsylvania quarterback Stone Saunders with family and friends on his official visit to UK.
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops made it clear after UK’s season-ending loss to Louisville that he felt comfortable going forward with freshman Cutter Boley at quarterback.
The true freshman played well in the second half against both Murray State and Texas. That earned him a start against Louisville where he had issues before being knocked out with a concussion.
“I have a lot of confidence in Cutter. We’ve got to make sure we build a very good team around him. We have to make sure that we have strong competition,” Stoops said after the Louisville game.
Georgia transfer Brock Vandagriff started the first 11 games but Kentucky’s offense was one of the last productive in the nation. Stoops has not revealed what Vandagriff plans to do but it is obvious he’s not being counted on at UK.
Stoops signed two quarterbacks — Stone Saunders of Pennsylvania and Brennen Ward of Ohio — on Wednesday. That would give UK a redshirt freshman and two true freshmen at quarterback going into next season unless Gavin Wimsatt returns for another season — and Stoops has not indicated that is going to happen. That’s why he indicated he might get another quarterback out of the transfer portal to “have some stability” at the position.
“When you’re counting on the two true freshmen coming in, I haven’t seen them yet. Not at all. We’ve watched them throw and believe in them or we wouldn’t sign them,” Stoops said. “But I think we all know you need to have at least two or three quality quarterbacks to be on your roster.”
Saunders already has the state record for touchdown passes with 202 going into this weekend’s state championship game. His 13,432 career passing yards also have him within range of the all-time state record depending on how he does in the title game. He set the state championship game record with five passing touchdowns in his sophomore year.
He is a four-star recruit by ESPN, which selected him to the ESPN 300 top players in America. His college offers included Georgia, Louisville, Miami (Fla.), Michigan and Texas A&M along with others.
Ward, a three-star recruit, ranks as the No. 3 quarterback in Ohio. He threw for 1,200 yards and 12 touchdowns in eight games. As a junior he completed 155 of 229 passes for 2,482 yards and 27 scores. He picked Kentucky over Missouri, Virginia and Boston College.
“Stone, there is so much film on him. He’s thrown for so many yards. He should break the all-time yards in Pennsylvania. I think he already has the touchdowns,” Stoops said. “He’s just got so much good film out there. Just a ball player, you know, and so he’s just a guy who just doesn’t take long to put on the film and like the way he plays ball. Obviously throwing for that many yards and touchdowns you see he can distribute the football.
“Brennan (Ward) came into camp and we watched in person. No disrespect, I don’t mean this in a bad way, but probably didn’t play on as good of a team. Was impressive with his skillset in person.”
8 Responses
It is a shame Stoops signed a Quarterback who has thrown for so many yards and Stoops doesn’t use the passing game. Just goes to show that Stoops has no sense, is lazy, and has no idea how to get the best out of players.I don’t know who is more stupid Stoodge Stoops or Barnyard Barnhart for handing out the ridiculous contracts
Is a tie. They both get 100% of the votes.
I was thinking the same thing on his usage of quarterbacks. He recruits a complete opposite qb from what he wants to run. He’s looking for Lynn Bowden that can throw the ball, but isn’t everybody? There are not very many of those out there.
I don’t think Stoops has any idea of what he wants, how to get there, or what kind of assistants he needs working with the offense.
I think you are leading the pack in stupid Ricky
Ahhhh, ok coach🥸
Sumrall just turned down jobs, he will be in after the failure of Stoops. Stoops is way overpaid, he should pony up half of his ridiculous salary. He has failed. He only had a couple of 10 wins with an easy schedule. He cannot win SEC games. Fraud.
Stoops has accomplished a lot since his hiring but has also started to dip back in the wrong direction yes but,It may not be just him.he needs plays that works with the qb you have for sure..that goes on the o c and regardless of the passer,if the ol doesn’t give him the time needed to get it off and they didn’t,that’s where I’d start getting help and building the line up first and foremost ..
You’re correct Wes but the decline started a long time ago (about the time of Stoops divorce). IMPO I think he was having a little success and he took his eye off the ball and NIL caught him flat footed and unprepared. Just ask yourself how many QB’s where recruited vs how may left the program, even before NIL. In large part the successful QB’s were developed by other teams and transferred in. Stoops doesn’t value the QB Position because the QB simply is a vehicle to hand the ball off to a running back in his system. It does not matter who he gets for an OC because Stoops basically does not understand or appreciate the passing game. Proof of point: The successful passing OC’s under stoops are gone and the ones that stayed are ground game guys – like Stoops.
NIL has acerbated the problem. For all of the Stoop’s family football acumen they all operated in the "football" side of the game – not the business side, say like the pros. Stoops has had a steep learning curve regarding NIL not to mention an underfunded collective as compared to other SEC schools. High School recruiting is one thing but NIL is a skill set all to its own. I think this season has finally exposed just how far behind the curve the Stoops Inc. Brand is. This has been coming for a while and the doors finally blew open this year.