What UK's plan to play 'several quarterbacks' at Missouri might mean

Jon Hale | Courier Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Kentucky Football | Eddie Gran prepared to play multiple QBs UK offensive coordinator Eddie Gran is making no promises, but he confirmed the staff is preparing to play multiple QBs at Missouri.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky football team will play multiple quarterbacks at Missouri on Saturday.

Unless it doesn’t.

After telling reporters at his Monday news conference that quarterback Terry Wilson would start but the staff would prepare the backups to play during practice, UK coach Mark Stoops went a step further during his Monday night radio show to say he expected to play “several quarterbacks” at Missouri.

“You hope he gets off to a fast start and goes and rolls,” Stoops said. “We have a lot of confidence in Terry, but I also have a lot of confidence in Gunnar (Hoak) and Danny (Clark), and I would love to opportunity to get to see those guys play as well.”

The picture only grew muddier after Tuesday’s practice when offensive coordinator Eddie Gran, quarterbacks coach Darin Hinshaw and Wilson took their turn in front of cameras. (Hoak and Clark were not made available for interviews despite requests from multiple reporters.)

“You can’t guarantee anything, but we are prepared for it," Gran said.

What should we make of Kentucky’s quarterback situation? Here are three possibilities.

Related: Mark Stoops: Terry Wilson still the starter, but Gunnar Hoak on notice

Take comments at face value

Kentucky enters the week ranked 124th of 130 teams in the country in passing yards per game (127.3) with five of the six teams behind it running the triple-option, run-heavy offense.

In the 14-7 win over Vanderbilt, Wilson completed just 3 of 9 pass attempts for 18 yards. Kentucky’s previous game, an overtime loss at Texas A&M, saw Wilson complete 13 of 20 passes for 108 yards with 54 of those yards coming on one short pitch ahead to Lynn Bowden.

So, it’s easy to see why the Kentucky coaches might be considering playing a backup quarterback against a Missouri defense that ranks 35th nationally against the run and 121st against the pass.

“The bottom line is Terry Wilson has been our starting quarterback and he’s 6-1 as a starter, but there’s a certain point where we can improve at the position and we’ve got to create competition to do that and that’s what we’re doing,” Hinshaw said. “It’s a healthy room; they all care about each other; they all want each one of them to do well and that’s huge.”

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Reports from coaches and Wilson about his practice work have been generally positive all season, even as he has struggled passing the last two games. But perhaps Stoops and company have seen enough to believe there is no quick fix to whatever has kept Wilson from “pulling the pin” to make passes to open receivers in recent weeks and anticipate needing to throw more to win Saturday.

That’s the simplest explanation: Wilson hasn’t been passing well, and Kentucky’s offense can’t be one-dimensional in a pivotal three-game stretch with the SEC East title on the line.

Read more: How long has it been since Kentucky football's defense was this good?

A spur for Wilson

Of all the people speaking about the quarterback situation this week, Wilson seemed the most confident about his standing.

“I know that we’re competing,” he said. “We’ve always battled, as soon as I got here. But I haven’t been told anything about a quarterback battle.”

Many have assumed a lack of confidence has led to Wilson’s reluctance to throw in the last two games, but Wilson has said that's not the case. He did acknowledge two turnovers in the first four plays against Vanderbilt likely affected his decisions for the rest of the game, considering he and star running back Benny Snell were having little trouble gaining yards against the Commodores on the ground and wind gusts reached up to 50 mph.

What does Wilson think has been the difference between his earlier successes, like the 151 passing yards and two touchdowns at Florida, and the last two games?

“I had more fire in me,” he said. “That’s what I need to get back in me. But the coaches are doing a good job on trying to spark some fire under my butt so I can keep going. We’re 6-1. Just trying to do anything we can do to win. But I’ve definitely seen that; I had more juice. I was just out there playing ball.”

Making it clear Wilson’s job is not safe seems like a good way to light that fire this week. Seeing Hoak and/or Clark in a game would only further pound home that point.

“You give the guys a chance to compete every day,” Gran said. “You’ll see how Terry reacts and we’ll move forward. Everybody is excited about it and everybody is on board and we’re all in.”

See also: For Kentucky to stay in SEC East race, passing game has to improve

Mystery for Missouri

Stoops revealed that he expected to play several quarterbacks during the opening segment of his weekly radio show, well before questions had even been submitted by fans. Had he wanted to avoid the topic, he could have easily told host Tom Leach before going on air.

But by publicly suggesting multiple quarterbacks will play, Stoops forced Missouri to spend time this week preparing for different styles.

Defending Wilson is difficult enough given his scrambling ability — and it’s important to note that despite the passing struggles he ranks second among SEC quarterbacks with 395 rushing yards — but now Missouri coaches have to consider what UK’s offense might look like with a more prolific passer in the game.

And make no mistake, whether that would actually be the case remains a mystery given how little Hoak (8 for 14, 127 yards) and Clark (one game, no passes) have played.

“Gunnar, I think, knows this offense like the back of his hand," Gran said. “I really believe that. Danny, I don’t think is quite as far along as Gunnar, but he’s working every day to get better.”

What if Hoak and Clark don’t prove to be demonstrably better passers than Wilson? After all, there’s a reason Kentucky coaches named Wilson the starter and have stuck with him this long.

Missouri coaches can’t assume that to be the case though, and have to prepare for worst-case scenarios.

Stoops, Gran and Hinshaw also made it clear as of now there is no specific plan to get a backup in for a particular series or point in the game, adding additional mystery for how the rotation might look.

"I think of it as ‘Terry, you’re going to take the first snap. Go take the bull by the horns and go out there and go play like Terry Wilson’s capable of playing,’" Hinshaw said. "…Then the other guys get ready to play. We’re going to go over the game plan individually with all of them and what they have in what situation. Some of them might be different form one quarterback to another, but … they have to go in and go contribute and go lead this offense to a victory."

Read more: What you need to know about Kentucky football's 2019 recruiting class

Jon Hale: jahale@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @JonHale_CJ. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/jonh.