Cats Have Their QB1: Stoops Tabs Wilson
On Monday, Mark Stoops answered the question everyone has been asking this offseason.
“Terry Wilson will open up game one as the starter,” Stoops said at his first weekly press conference of the 2018 season. “He’s won the quarterback battle.”
The battle – between Wilson, Gunnar Hoak and Danny Clark – began at spring practice and lasted all the way through fall camp. It ended with a series of in-person conversations over the weekend, as Stoops summoned the two finalists, Wilson and Hoak, to his office.
“We made the decision over the weekend,” Stoops said. “I brought both quarterbacks in Friday after practice and I had a face to face with them and just told them what I was thinking and when I was going to make that decision. Just so they understood where they were at. And I told them I would call them over the weekend and bring them back to the office and tell them face to face.”
Though Stoops had to tell Hoak something he didn’t want to hear, the redshirt sophomore took the news just as his coach would have expected he would.
“I have great respect for all of our quarterbacks,” Stoops said. “I feel like we have a great quarterback room. With the other quarterbacks, with Gunnar and Danny in particular, they’ve put up a great fight and they’ve done a lot of things in a lot of ways to win the job as well.”
But Stoops and his staff went with Wilson for a reason in replacing Stephen Johnson, who led UK to back-to-back bowl games.
The redshirt sophomore – one of the top junior-college prospects nationally in last year’s class – might be in his first year on campus, but Wilson has the ability to be a dynamic playmaker. He threw for 2,133 yards and 26 touchdowns last year for Garden City and added 518 rushing yards.
“He’s a dynamic guy but we haven’t seen him full go because he has not been live since he’s been here,” Stoops said. “So, kind of interested to see how the year goes, myself. See what he can kick that thing out to and how fast he can run when it’s in the open field.”
Wilson might be the best runner of the bunch, but that’s hardly the only reason he won the job.
“It wasn’t about just the legs,” Stoops said. “That’s always a piece of it but it’s about operating within the offense and you’ve heard me talk for a year now about being improved and trying to build on the passing game, as well.”
Earlier in camp, Stoops mentioned the possibility of playing both quarterbacks even after naming a starter. Monday, Stoops wouldn’t say one way or another whether that will happen come Saturday at 3:30 p.m. against Central Michigan.
“I don’t know how that’s going to play out,” Stoops said. “I cannot say that right now or today. Those players understand that. I’d like both guys to play. I think both guys have earned the right to get the opportunity to play, but you understand and I understand and they understand that sometimes that’s not a possibility.”
That’s borne in large part out of a desire to give Wilson the best possible opportunity to succeed.
“I’ve also been very loyal to the starting quarterbacks here. They have not been on a short leash, and we’ve been very supportive of that until it gets to a point where we absolutely have to make a change or take another look,” Stoops said. “So I want to be loyal to the starting quarterback and give him every opportunity and not have him looking over his shoulder as well.”
At the same time, Hoak will need to be ready. He need only look back two years ago on how the player he was battling to succeed came into the starting role.
“I think it was the second game that Stephen Johnson went in after Drew (Barker) got hurt and really never gave the job back the rest of his time,” Stoops said. “So you don’t know how these things are going to play out and I just encourage all of our players to keep on having a great team attitude.”
He anticipates no issues with that.
“They’re unbelievable kids,” Stoops said. “The quarterback room right now is incredible. … I’m impressed with all those guys and I’d like to see them continue having that positive attitude.”
