By Nick Gray

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For a 20-year-old who has thrown 40 passes in a UK uniform, sophomore quarterback Patrick Towles has run the gamut of the emotions attached to an in-state quarterback geared to lead an SEC program. This time last year, he was an afterthought on the quarterback depth chart.

“Last year, I guess around this time, the race was between me, Jalen (Whitlow) and Maxwell (Smith),”  Towles said. “(Head coach Mark Stoops) brought me in there and was like, ‘Hey, you’re doing a good job but there’s still some stuff you need to work on before you can really make a run at this thing.’ I said, ‘All right, got it.’ So this entire time I went out and fixed everything that he had said.”

Towles worked out with independent quarterback coach Donny Walker throughout the offseason to fix things such as quick release and accuracy. Now UK’s starting quarterback heading into Saturday’s opener against UT-Martin, Towles can exhale.

“Relief,” he said. “I’m super excited. It’s a great opportunity. It’s something that I’ve wanted for my entire life. To have this kind of opportunity is awesome.”

Towles almost had an opportunity during his freshman season — his first collegiate drive ended in a touchdown against Mississippi State. But he was injured later in that game, and never really regained consistent

playing time throughout the rest of his freshman year, even though Jalen Whitlow struggled to throw the ball and Maxwell Smith battled injuries.

“I didn’t think that at the time, but that’s the way the chips fell,” Towles said about not getting much time. “That’s what I have to do. I just have to react to what happens. This Saturday will be the first time I’ve been on the field since Tennessee a year and a half ago, when I played in Knoxville. So it’s going to be a little different, but it’s going to be fun. I’m excited about it.”

The offense changed when offensive coordinator Neal Brown came to UK with Stoops, and it allowed Towles to be more comfortable with the ball inside the “Air Raid” spread system.

“As a freshman, it’s hard to learn that offense that I had to learn my freshman year – or attempted to learn my freshman year, I guess it’d be better to say. With this, with the spread, I can – I try to, at least – I’d like to say I can run the ball a little bit when I have to.”

And Brown sees that comfortability, especially when Towles became the starter after the second week of preseason practice.

“I think he carried himself like the starter,” he said. “Not that the other guys didn’t, but I always thought he carried himself like the starter. So I haven’t seen a huge change. I think he’s a little bit relieved. A little bit of pressure has been taken off him.”