Ranking the quarterbacks Kentucky will face in 2018
When SEC football took a step backward in the immediate aftermath of the program's incredible run of consecutive national championships from 2006-2013, the main culprit might have been a decline in quarterback play throughout the conference.
That was then. This is now.
Last year a number of high profile quarterbacks competed in the conference, from established veterans to the next generation of NFL hopefuls.
Cats Illustrated's way too early preview of Kentucky's 2018 football season is helping you get through the offseason and we'll start previewing some of the top players the Wildcats will face.
First, as always, the quarterbacks.
But since some quarterback situations are unsettled and we're ranking every Kentucky opponent, the ranking goes by quarterback situation rather than individual players.
(Publisher's note: There's a wrinkle as well. At the end of this and all of the other previews in this series, I'll mention where I would rank Kentucky's unit or top performer against the rest of the players listed).
1. Missouri: Perhaps no team in college football improved as much or changed its fortunes as drastically during the 2017 season as Missouri. Second-year coach Barry Odom was good enough left for dead and was pleading with an unconvinced media and fan base that he would right the ship. Sure enough, he did. He can thank Drew Lock's 44 touchdown passes for the turnaround. Kentucky fans saw the beginnings of Missouri's resurgence in the second-half of that narrow win in Lexington. That's when the Tigers got rolling. After that loss to Kentucky, Missouri lost to Georgia (Lock tossed four touchdown passes) and then ripped off an improbable six-game winning streak. Leading receiver J'Mon Moore is gone but more than enough returns and Lock should be a strong All-American candidate.
2. Mississippi State: If there were an available head coaching prospect who might be perfectly suited to build on Nick Fitzgerald's success under Dan Mullen, it might have been Joe Moorhead. Whatever you think about the likelihood of Moorhead staying in Starkville for long whether he succeeds or fails, or how a Northeastern guy fits in Starkville, Mississippi, there is no doubt the man knows how to coach quarterbacks. He turned Penn State's Trace McSorley into a legitimate Heisman candidate going into this season and has promised to do the same for Fitzgerald.
3. Georgia: Bulldog fans have a lot of reasons to be optimistic about the future. Kirby Smart guided UGA to the national championship game in his second season in Athens and followed that up with a recruiting class for the ages. But in the short-term the Dawgs' greatest reason for hope may be the return of rising sophomore quarterback Jake Fromm, who seized the job when Jacob Eason was out and never looked back. He wore the "game manager" label for far too long. Frommhas impressive arm talent and commands the field. Fromm may have to throw the ball more in 2018, but he's probably up to the task.
4. South Carolina: Jake Bentley is now an experienced veteran going into his second offseason as the Gamecocks starter and he has a year and a half worth of starting experience under his belt. Bentley didn't put up monster numbers in 2017 (2,794 yards, 18 touchdowns, 12 picks), but most of that work came after his top target, Deebo Samuel, went out for the year. An experienced Bentley working with Samuel and Bryan Edwards on the outside is a dangerous combination that opposing coordinators will lose some sleep gameplanning for. Bentley was interception-prone on the back half of South Carolina's schedule and his yardage declined at the midseason point, but he should have his best season yet for Will Muschamp.
5. Vanderbilt: Rising junior Kyle Shurmur hit a major road bump towards the end of the season with seven interceptions combined in losses to Kentucky and Vanderbilt, but he only tossed three picks in the Commodores' other 10 games. He also threw 26 touchdowns and took a big step forward after a modest but promising freshman season. He'll have to break in some new receivers, but for Vandy fans inclined to optimism, his return is probably the most promising note for a program that's struggling.
6. Texas A&M: Nick Starkel wasn't always great starting for the Aggies when he took over the job for good in late October, but A&M fans are probably hopeful after he passed for 499 yards against Wake Forest in a Belk Bowl loss. He showed flashes against Auburn and was so-so in other SEC games. It's not a given that Starkel is the Aggies' starter next year, with Kellen Mond again in the fold. Starkel had entered the season as the starter but was injured, and Mond led the team to wins against Arkansas, South Carolina and Florida. Then again, against Florida he was 8 of 24 and only completed 51.5-percent of his passes on the season. Best case scenario: Head coach Jimbo Fisher, known for great work with quarterbacks, builds on Starkel's bowl game success and orchestrates a big jump in production and positive play.
7. Louisville: How do you fill the shoes of Lamar Jackson? Jawon Pass is about to find out. Following Jackson is an unenviable task in some respects, but Pass is a dynamic runner and a talent in his own right. In very limited action last year Pass completed 23 of 33 passes for 238 yards and two touchdowns with no picks. He can run, but he's no Jackson. His most extensive play came against Murray State, so we just don't know much yet.
8. Florida: How quickly will Dan Mullen work his quarterback magic? There might not be a magic wand in his first year, but there is a five-star freshman in the form of Emory Jones, who flipped from Ohio State late in the recruiting process. Jones will have to beat out older players like Feleipe Franks and others, but he's probably the player best equipped to run the kind of offense Mullen likes. Gator fans might just have to ride the highs and lows that come with inexperience behind center because Jones is a big-time talent.
9. Middle Tennessee: Brent Stockstill will return to Middle Tennessee as a senior going into his fourth season as the Blue Raiders' starting quarterback. During his freshman and sophomore seasons Stockstill was lights out, throwing for more than 7,000 yards and 61 touchdowns. His production took a big hit last year. Stockstill's completion percentage plummeted from 67-percent in 2015 to 63-percent in '16 and 57-percent last year. In 2017, he threw only 16 touchdown passes. He battled injuries last year and missed four games, and that helps explains his regression. Stockstill had a separated collarbone and a cracked sternum early in the season. There's still a hope he can return to earlier form.
10. Central Michigan: Former Michigan quarterback Shane Morris had a big year for Central Michigan but he's now gone, leaving the job to towering 6-foot-7 redshirt freshman Tony Poljan, a three-sport star in high school who was a promising recruit. He comes with significant upside but also inexperience.
11. Tennessee: The Volunteers have plenty of questions at quarterback and a new head coach with defensive credentials as opposed to the quarterback whisperers at Florida and Mississippi State who just arrived in their respective positions. New offensive coordinator Ty Helton is bringing a more traditional offense to Knoxville as the Vols move away from the spread of the Butch Jones era. Rising sophomore Jarrett Guarantano was unspectacular in 2017, although he did complete a season-high 78-percent of his passes against Kentucky in a close loss to the Wildcats. He'll be competing with a number of other quarterbacks including true freshman JT Shrout of California.
12. Murray State: Quarterback Shuler Bentley is a redshirt senior and a former Old Dominion quarterback who (as we noted in our Murray State early preview) only threw four picks on 328 pass attempts. He is not a threat to run the ball at all and didn't create a lot of explosive plays. For a program like Murray State to ever threaten an FBS program, they'll need great quarterback play. Shuler is a competent game manager at the FCS level, but the Racers bring up the rear compared to the rest of the quarterbacks Kentucky will face.
Where would Kentucky rank?
A conservative guess for Kentucky would probably place the Wildcats' quarterback situation 10th on this list, ahead of Central Michigan, Tennessee and Murray State. On the plus side, the most relevant offensive staff remains in tact, and Darin Hinshaw has proven he can get his unit to overperform relative to expectations.
Terry Wilson and Gunnar Hoak are battling for the starting quarterback position and the staff feels either can succeed as the number one. Wilson does have more college experience than Emory Jones, a strong contender for the No. 1 at Florida, but Jones is a big-time talent and fits Mullen's offense well.