Oct. 27, 2014
LEXINGTON, Ky. – After rushing for a career-high 76 yards and two rushing touchdowns and passing for a career-best 390 yards with two touchdowns through the air, University of Kentucky sophomore quarterback Patrick Towles has been named to the Paul Hornung Award Week Nine Honor Roll, it was announced Monday morning by the Louisville Sports Commission.
This is the first time Towles has been named to the honor roll, which honors student-athletes each week before giving out a season-end award to the most versatile player in major college football. Towles was named to the list along with Nebraska running back Ameer Abdullah and Utah State running back/linebacker Nick Vigil.
Towles had a career outing with 477 total yards in Kentucky’s loss to top-ranked Mississippi State. Towles was 24-of-43 passing for 390 yards with two touchdowns and connected with nine different receivers. He logged 76 yards on 23 attempts and a pair of scores on the ground, which included a career-long rush of 48 yards in the third quarter. He also caught one pass for 11 yards. Towles accounted for four plays of more than 40 yards, including a pair of touchdown tosses that went for 58 yards or longer.
The sophomore’s big game placed him in elite company as he became only the third quarterback in program history to pass for 365 yards or more three different times in the same season. The other two quarterbacks to claim that honor were Jared Lorenzen and All-American Tim Couch.
For the season, Towles is 163-for-271 for 2,077 yards and 12 touchdowns. Those numbers are the best for a UK quarterback since Mike Hartline in 2010. Led by Towles, Kentucky has posted 440+ yards of total offense in three games vs. Southeastern Conference foes this season for the first time since 2001. UK’s 253 points scored this season in just eight games is also more than it posted each of the last three seasons.
The season-end award is voted on by fans, who can vote as often as once every 24 hours at www.paulhornungaward.com for players who were on the preseason watch list or who have been named to a weekly honor roll. A finalist will be chosen in mid-November with fans then getting a chance to vote from a group of finalists.
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