Spring Preview: Quarterback

Kentucky football figures to see a lot of change during the 2021 season, from a new offensive coordinator and a quarterback competition to the need to replace long-time contributors on both sides of the ball, many of whom were part of some of the best seasons in the program's modern history.

One way we'll get you ready for the start of spring football is by shining the spotlight on each position group.

Quarterback competition will dominate the spring discussion

There are plenty of angles to cover this spring. What kind of season could Chris Rodriguez be capable of? How will the Big Blue Wall go through it's transition period? How does UK replace stars like Jamin Davis and Kelvin Joseph?

But no question will get more attention than the battle for the starting quarterback position.

It has been about a decade since Kentucky got really great passing numbers out of the quarterback spot. Many fans are jaded. The breakdown of the passing game led Mark Stoops to conclude he needed to find a new offensive coordinator, as difficult as that was for him given the relationship with Eddie Gran.

Fans eager to know who will lead Kentucky into the future should probably be braced for the likelihood that we won't get all the answers this spring.

Penn State quarterback transfer Will Levis is finishing his degree in Happy Valley. That means he will miss spring practice. The positive there is it guarantees Levis will be eligible this fall as a graduate transfer. But of course it sets him back compared to the other quarterbacks who will use the spring to learn Liam Coen's offense and begin to work themselves into it.

Levis is a big X-Factor even though he's not in spring practice. One might ask, how likely is it that either Joey Gatewood or Beau Allen would have been Penn State's No. 2 ahead of Levis on the depth chart last season? If you can't say either would have, then there's a real chance Levis factors heavily into the starting job this fall.

But Gatewood, Allen, Nik Scalzo, and Kaiya Sheron have the benefit of learning the offense a semester before Levis.

While many fans are expecting the spring battle to be between Gatewood and Allen, it's fair to say that Scalzo and Sheron are simply unknown and could impress starting with a fresh slate provided by a new coordinator.

What we learned last season

It would not be fair to judge either Gatewood or Allen much based on what we saw last season.

Both were thrust into a difficult situation: An offense struggling, lacking confidence, without many good options at receiver and with a fan base demanding results. Gatewood faced Georgia, one of the nation's best and most talented defensive teams. He also saw a half against Missouri in a game that was dominated by the Tigers, and with UK appearing a step slower than usual.

The sample being so small certainly doesn't help the overall numbers for Gatewood. When he was pressured he completed 2/13 passes for 10 yards and a pick. He was also sacked five times in 43 dropbacks. The receivers didn't help, dropping three passes.

Gatewood's average release time was 2.38 seconds from when he received the ball. That is almost identical to Terry Wilson's 2.37 seconds.

His sacks occurred after 4.14 seconds on average, which indicates that there's room to improve at getting rid of the ball when things break down. He wasn't getting rocked right after the snap. Coverage and/or holding the ball too long were factors in every sack of Gatewood. For context, 4.14 seconds per sack would have been the highest qualifying number in the nation if he had a qualifying number of dropbacks.

Gatewood must also find a way to thrive running play action. That is going to be a very big part of Kentucky's offense and he was only 2/9 on play action throws in 2020. For comparison, Terry Wilson was 39/68.

Gatewood took off to run only 6.50 seconds after the snap which indicates he was not looking to scramble. That means he was inclined to stay in the pocket to make the play work, but for someone with dual-threat potential perhaps he needs to consider taking off a bit sooner in the play. That's reinforced by the fact that he was only 5/16 with a 14.6 NFL passer rating on plays that kept him in the pocket for more than 2.5 seconds.

The coaches themselves talked about Gatewood's need to get rid of the ball quicker.

Almost everything was short and over the middle of the field. Gatewood didn't stretch the field. But again, how much of that was Gatewood and how much was the rest of the offense?

Allen completed 3/7 passes for 40 yards. He completed a nice out pattern to the sideline against Vanderbilt as the highlight of his season.

Gatewood was billed as a tall and rangy quarterback classified as a dual-threat not because of great quickness or blazing speed but as a long strider who could coast a bit on the edge and both absorb and deal out contact running inside. But he didn't have much success eluding pressure or moving the ball forward with his legs. That doesn't mean he still can't have a dual-threat future in some respect, but he will need to find out what he does well and build on that.

Last year probably wasn't a good situation for any quarterback to be thrown into and so it might not be helpful to project forward based on what happened in 2020. That doesn't mean we can throw the film out, because it's the only measurement we have of any kind regarding the players' athleticism or arm talent.

Cats Illustrated's Take

This is probably the most wide open and consequential recruiting battle on the team. This is a pivotal time with players going through walk throughs as the new offense is installed. Liam Coen has openly wondered how much under center action Kentucky will show this year since some players have never done that before and it may not be as important as other aspects of the offense. Anyone who is convinced they know how the quarterback situation is going to shake out should probably tap the brakes and leave more room for uncertainty.

On the bright side there's plenty of prospect pedigree in the quarterback room with two former four-stars in Gatewood and Allen plus Penn State's No. 2. But there are a number of different outcomes that will play a big role in shaping Kentucky's season.

Gatewood and Levis give Kentucky more of a running threat than Allen would, but Allen has some intangibles in the passing game that could help his case.