Oct. 7, 1999
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Dusty Bonner is the first to admit he’s no TimCouch.
Still, nearly halfway through his first season as the successor to theNFL’sNo. 1 draft pick, the Kentucky quarterback is showing all the poise,intelligence and skill required to efficiently run coach Hal Mumme’spass-oriented offense.
Through five games, Bonner has completed 69.3 percent of his passes for1,595 yards with only four interceptions. Those are impressive numbers for arecruit who, coming out of Valdosta (Ga.) High School in 1997, was passedup bymost Division I-A programs.
Bonner’s 147 completions and 16 scoring passes are both tops in thenation.Last Saturday, he led Kentucky to one of its most impressive wins in Mumme’stwo-plus seasons at Lexington, a 31-20 defeat of then-No. 20 Arkansas.
“I’m having a blast,” Bonner said. “I love it. I feel lucky … just tobe having the opportunity.”
At 6-foot-4, 225 pounds, Couch was built like an NFL quarterback.Bonner isless imposing at 6-2, 205, and his deep passes have a flutter to them thatCouch’s never did.
Nonetheless, Bonner has shown a talent for reading defenses, audiblingcallsand avoiding turnovers. He’s got more mobility than Couch. And, at 3-2 goinginto Saturday’s game at South Carolina, he has the Wildcats poised to earn asecond straight bowl bid by winning three of their final six games.
“He takes control of everything that’s going on, knows the offense insideand out, and has a command of what everyone’s supposed to do,” Kentuckyquarterbacks coach Chris Hatcher said.
In Hatcher, who started three seasons at quarterback under Mumme atValdostaState during the early 1990s, Bonner might have found the ideal mentor. LikeBonner, the babyfaced Hatcher lacked the classic quarterback physique when hearrived at Valdosta in 1991. There, under Mumme’s tutelage, he won nationalDivision II player of the year honors in 1994 and led the Blazers to the NCAAplayoffs.
Now, Hatcher is playing Obi-Wan Kenobi to Bonner’s Luke Skywalker,teachingthe secrets of the “Air Raid” passing offense to the quarterback he and Mummeplucked from relative obscurity to succeed Couch.
Though Bonner played in a run-oriented offense in high school, Mumme andHatcher liked what they saw and signed him to a scholarship shortly afterMummetook the Kentucky job in December 1996.
Bonner backed up Couch in 1997, then redshirted last season before Couchdecided to leave a year early for the NFL.
It took only two weeks of spring practice for Mumme and Hatcher to decideBonner was their new quarterback. Hatcher said Bonner has been the idealstudent.
“I think the big thing that helps is he believes what I tell him,”Hatchersaid. “As coach Mumme has said, I’m the only guy who’s actually played in theoffense and coached in it. So Dusty believes.”
Though he loved working with Couch, Hatcher takes personalsatisfaction fromBonner’s progress.
“I’ve taken a little more pride in working with him, just because Tim wasalready the heralded guy,” Hatcher said. “Here’s a guy that nobody knewabout.”
