Quarterback Barker adjusting to role as backup

By Derek Terry

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On Monday afternoon, UK head coach Mark Stoops announced that Patrick Towles would once again be the Cats’ starting quarterback after beating out freshman redshirt Drew Barker.

The news wasn’t shocking considering Towles, a junior from Fort Thomas, Ky., started in all 12 games last season and threw for 2,718 yards and 14 touchdowns. Towles’ production tampered off at the end of last season however, allowing Barker to have a shot at taking over the quarterback position.

Barker, who offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said was “highly consistent” throughout fall camp, couldn’t do enough to unseat Towles’ efficiency and experience.

“He’s playing at a really high level,” Dawson said of Towles. “When you factor in as far as experience, how he’s matured since I’ve been here, which both of them really have, but just the overall consistency of play is better. I say that, but it’s not like Drew was playing bad. Its just Patrick is playing really, really well.”

Barker, a former four-star recruit and high school All American, gave credit to Towles winning the job, despite feeling that he had improved tremendously over the past year.

“It was going to be hard to beat out his experience obviously,” Barker said. “He did a great job. He’s been playing great and I have nothing but good things to say about him. He just had a great camp and it was going to be hard to beat him out.”

Barker’s attention now turns to being the backup. While working with the scout team last season, the 6-foot-3, 225-pounder knew that playing time was unlikely. This season however, he’s one injury away from being the leader of the offense.

“You have to prepare like you’re the starter,” Barker said. “Anything could happen. Even if I’m not playing, I have to prepare so when Patrick comes off the sidelines, I can tell him what I’m seeing or what the defense is doing. I just have to do anything to help out.”

Battling for the quarterback position for the first time in his career showed Barker how far he’s come in his time at UK.

“I learned that I can play at a higher level than I originally thought I could,” Barker said. “In the spring and last fall, I had some good moments, but I was also really inconsistent. Really, working on consistency was the big thing. I learned that I can be consistent at this high of a level in the SEC, so that was really encouraging for me.”