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Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 12-25-2015, 09:37 AM:

Phillips posted this on Twitter: “The last 3 years have meant everything to me. I've decided to transfer to keep playing. I will always love you #BBN.”

Earlier this month junior Patrick Towles, who started 22 games in 2014 and 2015, announced he was leaving for Boston College. That leaves two quarterbacks at UK — redshirt freshman Drew Barker, who started the final two games last season, at UK along with walk-on Davis Mattingly. However, Ohio prep standout Gunnar Hoak, a three-star prospect, is scheduled to arrive on campus in January.

Four quarterbacks have now transferred from UK since the arrival of Mark Stoops — Jalen Whitlow, Max Smith, Towles and Phillips. Phillips was actually signed after Stoops was hired, but he committed when Joker Phillips was still the coach and graduate from high school to enroll early at UK just a few weeks after Stoops and Brown arrived at UK.

Kentucky will also have its third offensive coordinator in the last three years in 2016. Neal Brown was in charge in 2013 and 2014 before leaving to become head coach at Troy. Shannon Dawson called the offense in 2015 but has been fired. Stoops has yet to name a new offensive coordinator.

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Posted by Tiptree (Member # 844) on 12-25-2015, 10:51 AM:

Wow. I guess I am surprised these kids wait so long to decide to bail.

Whitlow, Smith, Towles, and Phillips. That is a bunch of solid QBs that we have let slip through our fingers. In the case of both Smith and Towles, the transfer occured after a late-season QB change. Something is really amiss in the UK program.

Posted by Old Norm (Member # 1482) on 12-25-2015, 12:02 PM:

The thing that is amiss with UK football is the same thing that is wrong with all but about a dozen of college basketball teams. The elites get almost all the top talent, and everybody else gets the "scraps". UK football is among the "scrap" collectors.

Posted by Bama Cat (Member # 153) on 12-25-2015, 12:36 PM:

Me thinks something is amiss with all these prognosticators who tell us UK has these top recruiting classes since Stoops has been here. Is someone trying to snow us? [Confused]

[ 12-25-2015, 12:37 PM: Message edited by: Bama Cat ]

Posted by EnterpriseCat (Member # 2881) on 12-25-2015, 02:30 PM:

Texas A&M and UF have QB's transferring too. It's not just the Cats.

Posted by ukcatfannfl (Member # 1425) on 12-25-2015, 05:20 PM:

The better the class the more those individuals want playing time - don't play me then I will leave and go someplace where they will. (I haven't seen these qb's go to bigger and better programs - not like ala is lining up to sign them)

Which means we have gone from cellar dwellers to mid pack players! (with bigger ego's)

[ 12-25-2015, 05:22 PM: Message edited by: ukcatfannfl ]

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 12-25-2015, 05:50 PM:

When you recruit against Bama, LSU, Florida, Tennessee, and the other SEC schools we don't have a chance in hades to recruit even close to them. Kentucky just doesn't have the talent in the state and probably never will. You have to go back close to 40 years to find where we had a great season. The rest of the seasons been horrible seasons with just a couple 8 win seasons thrown in and it doesn't look any better for the future.

Posted by Old Norm (Member # 1482) on 12-25-2015, 09:02 PM:

Even when we do have talent in the state, they go to the big football schools. Who was that kid that went to Alabama last year, even though Stoops flew to several of his high school games? Was it Harrison?

Posted by ukcatfannfl (Member # 1425) on 12-25-2015, 10:26 PM:

Maybe Damien Harris, Norm he played some special teams for them..

Posted by Old Norm (Member # 1482) on 12-25-2015, 10:51 PM:

Yep. That's the one.

Posted by boomdaddy (Member # 2644) on 12-26-2015, 07:46 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by Old Norm:
Even when we do have talent in the state, they go to the big football schools. Who was that kid that went to Alabama last year, even though Stoops flew to several of his high school games? Was it Harrison?

Damien Harris was rated as one of the best running backs to ever come out of the stat of Kentucky. I don't blame him for going to a storied program, innstead of his home state. I do think it was crappy of him to go to just about every home game in Lexington and act like he was coming here.

The staff saved a spot for him and then he picked the other school. There was video of him cheering and celebrating, when a top recruit picked Bama at an all star game. When I saw that, I knew where he was going. That may have been a month before his announcement.

[ 12-26-2015, 07:47 AM: Message edited by: boomdaddy ]

Posted by GA Cat (Member # 642) on 12-28-2015, 09:29 AM:

Right now the problem is getting the best out of the players we have, and I don't think we are doing that. Our recruiting classes have improved by leaps since Stoops arrival, but the "on the field" product is no better. I was excited about the Stoops hire, but I have lost that excitement and here is why.

Every year he has been unable to commit to a starting quarterback during or after spring practice. They go into ever fall with no clue who the "on the field" leader will be. The results are predictable. We win early against lesser talent, but don't do so convincingly. The mounting number of wins builds excitement, and then we hit the meat of the schedule and we start to implode. We play some teams close, but cannot close out those games. Closing out close games requires leadership and calm. We have neither. Stoops end game clock management is horrendous.

At the end of this past season, he starts Barker twice. Barker does nothing unique or special and he declares him the starter for next year. I don't blame Towels or Phillips for leaving. I also don't blame them for speaking up.

Stoops came in talking about the time that it takes to build a program, but when the seat got a little hot, he fired is OC, whom he praised a week early, after only one year. You would think he would give him the same time that he required for himself.

I personally believe that Stoops is holding back our offense. He is a defensive minded coach that has had two air raid style OC's and both have run ultraconservative offenses under Stoops. Personally, I believe Stoops is bringing in these high flying OC's and then clipping their wings. I would bet that Dawson wanted to go is the primary reason he is gone. I think Stoops is trying to get these air raid OC's to "tone it down" and keep the defense off the field, which is why we don't see these coaches running more tempo. That is just my opinion.

In my opinion, Stoops was good defensive coordinator who was not ready to be a head coach. He needed to go down to a lower level conference and be a head coach where there was less pressure and competition and work his way back up. I believe the issues at UK lie with the head coach, not the OC.

Posted by boomdaddy (Member # 2644) on 12-29-2015, 09:38 AM:

The only QB that I miss is Whitlow. He would have made a great receiver.

Posted by Bama Cat (Member # 153) on 12-29-2015, 12:36 PM:

I believe that firing the OC was just putting a band aid on the problem. He had to offer up some kind of sacrificial lamb or he would be heading out the door. Trying to place the blame on someone else will not get Stoops a free ride with the fans. As we have heard before, talk is cheap, and that is all we've gotten since he's been here. I hate to say this since I am a game day worker for the football games but it's an embarrassment when we lose a game like we did with L'ville. Stoops better get that bowl game this next year or he could be looking for a new home.

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 12-29-2015, 12:46 PM:

Bama, that's exactly the way I feel. You could have Bear Bryant coaching and Knute Rockne the assistant and we would have not won with talent we have had through the years.

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 12-29-2015, 01:13 PM:

To continually get good talent every year you have to get most of your talent from the state from where your team is. This is our problem as Norm and a couple of us have pointed out. Kentucky has little to no talent most every year and when a good one comes along they don't want to play on a losing program. It will be like turning a ocean liner around in a creek to get the talent needed for Kentucky to be a SEC contender on a yearly basis or even for a few years for that matter.

Posted by Old Norm (Member # 1482) on 12-29-2015, 01:13 PM:

It's up to the coach to recruit the talent. Case in point; we went from Gillispie to Calipari: Success overnight. I do realize that football and basketball are a lot different. I also realize that it's a lot easier to get a really good basketball coach to come to Kentucky, and almost impossible to get a top notch football coach here.

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 12-29-2015, 05:53 PM:

Basketball is a bit different as you need far fewer players. We also have reputation since the days of Rupp that gives us a huge advantage in getting more than our share of talented recruits.

Posted by rlt4uk (Member # 3194) on 12-29-2015, 06:06 PM:

Ga cat, what you said in your post, is the exact same way I feel. I believe the head coach is holding us back by butting into the offense. Hire the OC and let him do his job.

Posted by EnterpriseCat (Member # 2881) on 12-29-2015, 07:11 PM:

Until we get SEC caliber linemen, we'll be bottom feeders. I also noticed Phillips possible transfer schools were pretty weak. A sure sign that he wasn't SEC talent to begin with. As Norm said, until we start getting top players, we're going to struggle to be competitive.

Posted by GA Cat (Member # 642) on 12-30-2015, 09:40 AM:

I don't believe that talent is the sole issue. I hear this all the time, but from 2013 through the 2016 class, we have out recruited Louisvile every year but one. We have been in front of Iowa two out 4 years. We have been withing 10 spots in the rankings of TCU. We have have been on par with Wisconsin.

I know that these are not SEC classes, but we shouldn't be loosing to WKU, Louisville, Vandy, and other schools. We should be fielding teams that are competitive with the talent we have. To me, coaching is a major issue.

Posted by EnterpriseCat (Member # 2881) on 12-31-2015, 10:36 PM:

Ga Cat, I agree that coaching is an issue, but our offensive and defensive lines are weak. That's where the recruiting should be focused.

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 12-31-2015, 11:08 PM:

Any Cat fan who is watching Alabama annihilate the best of the Big Ten has to realize we are never going to win the SEC football championship. We don't have one player that could make their second team.

Posted by Old Norm (Member # 1482) on 12-31-2015, 11:13 PM:

I just logged on to post about that very thing. Alabama annihilating Michigan State. It's absolutely no contest. Alabama is the Kentucky Wildcats basketball of football!

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 01-01-2016, 12:05 AM:

I hope Bama does the same thing to Clemson. They sure can play football and like Norm says they are just like our Cats in basketball.

Posted by EnterpriseCat (Member # 2881) on 01-01-2016, 12:47 PM:

MSU should have yelled "Uncle" about midway through the 3rd quarter.

Posted by m hamilton (Member # 127) on 01-01-2016, 07:52 PM:

Yeah, if you don't think talent makes a difference, Bama had 3 times as many players who are 4 and 5* that did MSU, it showed it's ugly head on the field too!

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 01-02-2016, 10:42 AM:

Bama year in and year out has to be the premier team in college football.

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 01-02-2016, 10:46 AM:

Since 2010 Bama has played in 4 National Championship games. They have won 3 of them and play in their 4th one on January 11th against Clemson.

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 01-02-2016, 10:50 AM:

In their history Bama has played in 65 Bowl games with their 66th one coming up on the 11th of the month.

Posted by m hamilton (Member # 127) on 01-02-2016, 10:51 PM:

This Alamo Bowl is going into triple overtime!

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 01-03-2016, 09:09 PM:

Wow, has to be some kind of record.

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 01-03-2016, 09:11 PM:

TCU you came back from a 31-0 score to win the game in OT.

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 01-03-2016, 09:13 PM:

TCU tied record for the largest deficit overtime to win a bowl game.

Posted by m hamilton (Member # 127) on 01-03-2016, 09:45 PM:

I'm sure the Oregon Duck fans have to be sick!

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 01-04-2016, 12:14 PM:

They had their chances just didn't finish well.