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Kentucky Wildcats name Patrick Towles starting quarterback

By Patrick Schmidt

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Kentucky named Patrick Towles as their starting quarterback after beating out Drew Barker for the job.

As quarterback competitions continue at places like Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon and UCLA, among other places, the Kentucky Wildcats know who will be under center for their season opener as Patrick Towles got the nod from head coach Mark Stoops on Monday.

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The decision to start Towles isn’t a shocking one after he started for the Wildcats last year and completed 57.3 percent of his passes for 2,718 yards, 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He led them to a hot start with a 5-1 record but couldn’t get Kentucky into a bowl game after losing the final six games of the year.

Expectations will be for Towles to avoid the second-half slump he and the team had last year as Stoops looks to get the Wildcats to their first bowl game since Joker Phillips led the 2010 team to the BBVA Compass Bowl against Pittsburgh.

Towles was pressed for the job by former four-star recruit and redshirt freshman Drew Barker who is the team’s quarterback of the future, but at least for now, he won’t be the quarterback of the present. He’ll still challenge Towles for the job throughout the season and if Towles isn’t producing and the team is struggling, Stoops could have Towles on a short leash and turn to the talented Barker.

Do you think Towles will be good enough and have enough help around him to lead Kentucky to a bowl game in the competitive SEC East?

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