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Drew Barker, Kentucky offense show out in spring game

Keith Farner

By Keith Farner

Published:

Drew Barker found a couple of go-to targets in the passing game, while the Wildcats may have also discovered a pass rusher to carry the defensive line.

In the first offensive series of the Blue-White Spring Game on Saturday, it didn’t take long to see the new wrinkle in the offense: an expanded role for tight end C.J. Conrad. But the first pass fell incomplete and receiver Garrett Johnson also dropped a third-down pass, a problem that plagued Kentucky in 2015.

Barker came back on the next possession and hit Ryan Timmons for a long touchdown.

Barker closed the first half with an impressive 2-minute drill, driving the Wildcats 75 yards in 10 plays for a touchdown, a 19-yard toss to Conrad between two defenders.

Barker, who didn’t play in the second half, finished 12-of-18 for 156 yards with two TDs and one interception.

After the scrimmage, coach Mark Stoops named Barker the starter entering the season.

Overall, the offense looked improved with plenty of depth at running back even without the injured Stanley “Boom” Williams, and those receiving targets for Barker.

Perhaps the biggest play of the game was made by Jeff Badet, who scored on an 85- yard screen pass from backup quarterback Stephen Johnson.

But the first-team defense struggled at times, especially against Johnson, who excelled running the ball on a day quarterbacks couldn’t be hit. And Badet later caught an 11-yard TD from freshman QB Gunnar Hoak.

The two bright spots at receiver were Badet, who finished with three catches for 107 yards and two scores, and Timmons had two catches for 74 yards, including the 64-yard score.

The scrimmage had modified rules as kickoffs and punts were not returnable, turnovers were not live and there was touch football rules on quarterbacks. But the Blue (starters) prevailed over the White (backups), 31-20.

On defense, the bright spot for the starters was DE/LB Denzil Ware who by halftime had 10 tackles and three sacks, and finished with 15 tackles, four sacks in three quarters.

By early in the second quarter, Ware already has three sacks as he excelled against backup offensive tackles.

But that defense allowed RB Ditalian Tobler to score a one-yard touchdown which gave the white team (backups) a 13-10 lead with 1:57 left in the first half. That came after Johnson’s 29-yard run midway through the second quarter, one wrinkle that sets him apart from Barker.

Sihiem King capped a 13-play 75-yard drive for the second-team offense with a five-yard touchdown. King looked like someone who could play his way into the rotation as by halftime, he led the team with nine carries for 84 yards and a TD. But Jojo Kemp also had a solid performance.

Noteworthy

  • Ware had back-to-back sacks for the first-team (blue) defense in the first series against Johnson and the second-team (white) offense. Coby Walker, a sophomore, also sacked Barker. Ware had another sack early in the second quarter. The pass rush was a problem for Kentucky in 2015 as its team leaders had 3.5 and two sacks. As a team, the Wildcats were last in the SEC with 17 sacks overall.
  • With RB Stanley “Boom” Williams out for the spring following elbow surgery, the first-team carries were split by RB Mikel Horton and RB Jojo Kemp. Kemp had 58 yards on five carries in the first quarter.
  • K Austin MacGinnis missed a 52-yard field goal attempt on the first-team offense’s second series. He hit a 29-yarder to start the second quarter to finish an eight-play, 50-yard drive in 2:40.
  • UK reported attendance was 28,441.
  • Johnson started 1-of-4 for five yards, but two of those were drops by early enrollee WR Dakota Holtzclaw.

Stoops’ postgame thoughts

Keith Farner

A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.

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