Debate: Jalen Whitlow offers Cats more consistency
October 29, 2013
As the game clock struck zero against Mississippi State University, UK fans were left looking at the loss column increase to six on the season.
A match, which many considered to be a winnable game before it began, was added to the “just not good enough” category when it ended.
One word that comes up in every instance under those “just not good enough” games is consistency, or more accurately, the lack thereof. It is an acceptable excuse to rely upon early on in a season. But there gets to be a point where the excuse of inconsistency just becomes “noise.” We are at that point in the season.
The Cats have not been very consistent all across the board. The rushing has been anemic, ranking next to last in the SEC. They also rank next to last in the conference in first downs, and dead last in third-down efficiency (25 percent). The most glaring aspect of the team lacking consistency, however, is at the most important position in the game of football: the quarterback position.
Sophomore Maxwell Smith appeared poised to take the starting job after fellow sophomore Jalen Whitlow was inefficient in UK’s season-opener against Western Kentucky University. Smith began his starting tenure lighting up the stat sheet against Miami University, throwing for 310 yards and three touchdowns.
In four starts since then, however, Smith has been inaccurate with his passes and inefficient at moving the ball down the field. Smith’s most striking act of inconsistency is in his completion percentage, as he ranks next to last in the SEC in completion percentage with a 54.8 percent.
True, Smith almost never turns it over, only throwing one interception in the entire season. Keeping the ball away from the defenders does not do much good, however, if it is just punted back to the other side thanks to multiple incompletions and few drive-sustaining first downs.
Meanwhile, Whitlow has been mostly subjugated to coming into games off the bench to add a “different pace of offense” to the team. While he has fared a little better than Smith in completing his passes and moving the ball down the field, Whitlow has nearly half of the passing attempts that Smith does and is seen as more of a running quarterback than a passing quarterback.
Neither quarterback has gotten the amount of time in a game needed to develop into a full-blown starter. Experience matters when developing a starter, and constantly subbing in two different quarterbacks in a game is not the typical, or preferred, way to do it. S
o the question remains: Who should be the consistent starter? Smith, who is clearly the more passing quarterback of the two (stats aside), or Whitlow, whose legs add a different and slightly more productive style of offense to the team?
As the starting quarterback job remains foggy, one thing is clear: The system of two different quarterbacks in the offense has not and will not bring consistency to the position. As long as the clear starting job remains void, UK will continue to be inconsistent at the head of the team, and fans will continue to hear and grow sick of the “noise” after every “just not good enough” loss.
Click here to view Kernel Sports Editor Nick Gray’s opposing argument, on why Max Smith should be UK’s starting quarterback.