By TIM WHITMIRE
AP Sports Writer
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) – For those accustomed to the practice fieldperfectionof Tim Couch, Kentucky’s initial spring football practice Monday offered somestrange sights.
Overthrown receivers. Busted plays. The occasional wobbly pass.
Still, as the competition to replace Couch at quarterback got under way,coach Hal Mumme said he was pleased with the performances by Chase Harp andDusty Bonner.
“I saw some good things,” Mumme said. “Some of the things that don’tnecessarily look so sharp are because we’ve got some other new guys outthere.”
Working behind an offensive line that returns none of last year’s initialstarters and with a fairly young corps of receivers, Harp and Bonneralternatedrunning the Kentucky passing offense in 6-on-6 drills Monday. A thirdquarterback candidate, Mike Scipione, worked on the side with the secondstring.
Scipione gets a chance to throw on Wednesday, when he and Bonner willsharethe passing snaps, and again on Friday, when he and Harp will run the passingoffense while Bonner takes it easy.
A similar rotation will be employed each of the four weeks of springpractice, or until Mumme anoints a starter.
“We’re just going to have to evaluate this over the next couple of weeks.Hopefully before the spring, one of them will rise,” Mumme said. “If not,we’ll go into the fall looking more for the freshman to rise.”
“The freshman” is Jared Lorenzen, the Kentucky signee who quarterbackedHighlands High School to an undefeated season and last year’s state Class 3Afootball title and was chosen Mr. Kentucky Football for 1998.
Lorenzen, on a break from school, attended Monday’s practice withHighlandsteammate and fellow Kentucky signee Derek Smith. The two watched the drillsandpicked up a few pointers from the coaching staff.
Neither Bonner nor Harp ran the Kentucky offense with the well-oiledprecision of the NFL-bound Couch, who left after leading Kentucky to a 7-5record and an Outback Bowl berth in his junior season.
Still, Mumme took note of the fact both quarterbacks completed morethan 60percent of their throws.
“Until we decide who the starter is, some of this is not going to look aspolished as it did with Tim,” he said. “When you put all the reps on one guy,he’s going to polish up pretty quick. If you’ve got to split reps, you’re notever going to be real polished. What you’ve got to do is you’ve got to see iswho’s going to make plays and perform. I thought both the guys we featuredtoday made some plays.”
