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SawyerSmith
- position Quarterback
- height 6-3
- Weight 219
- class Junior
- Hometown Cantonment, Fla.
- Previous School Troy
- High school Tate
UK Career
- Played two seasons at UK after transferring from Troy where he played three seasons
- Saw action in nine career games with three starts, all coming in 2019
- Completed 57 of 125 career passes for 690 yards and four touchdowns
- Became just the second UK quarterback since 1993 with two passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown in his first career start (Florida 9/17/19)
- Graduated in July of 2019 from Troy with a degree in social science … Graduated from UK in December of 2020 with a master’s degree in kinesiology and health promotion
2020 – Senior
- Practiced with the team
2019 – Junior
- Played in eight games with three starts
- Completed 57 of 125 passes for 690 yards and four touchdowns
- Saw his first action vs. Eastern Michigan at the start of the fourth quarter after an injury to starting QB Terry Wilson
- His first pass at UK was a 54-yard touchdown throw to WR Ahmad Wagner … Completed 5 of 9 passes for 76 yards and two touchdowns in the game vs. EMU
- Missed two games with injury (Georgia and Arkansas)
- Made his first start vs. Florida, going 13-of-35 for 267 yards and two touchdowns
- Became just the second UK quarterback since 1993 with two passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown in his first career start … The other to accomplish that was Jared Lorenzen vs. Louisville in 2000 … His 267 passing yards are the most for a UK quarterback in his first career start since Patrick Towles vs. UT Martin in 2014 (377)
2018 – r-Sophomore (Troy)
- Played in all 13 games, taking over as the starting quarterback seven games into the season after junior Kaleb Barker was lost for the year with a knee injury
- Went 5-2 as a starter
- Completed 144 of 229 passes with 1,669 yards and 14 touchdowns
- Also rushed 74 times with 191 yards and one rushing TD
- Named MVP of the Dollar General Bowl after leading Troy to a 42-32 win over Buffalo
- Completed 31 of 44 passes for 320 yards and four touchdowns, and added 191 rushing yards and a score
- In Troy’s victory over South Alabama in the “Battle for the Belt” tossed three touchdown passes
- Rushed for 56 yards against Georgia State, including a 63-yard rush, which is the second longest run by a Troy quarterback in the school’s Division I history
2017 – Sophomore (Troy)
- Redshirt season
2016 – Freshman (Troy)
- Played in six games as Troy’s backup quarterback
- Completed 18-of-25 attempts for 181 yards
- Threw a 47-yard touchdown pass on his first collegiate attempt; the first quarterback in Troy’s recorded history to do so
- Completed all seven of his passes for 86 yards against Austin Peay
- Also rushed 19 times for 73 yards, including a 7-yard touchdown against UMass, which followed a 41-yard run
High School
- Finished with a 27-9 record as a three-year starter
- Two-time PNJ All-Area pick
- Earned all-state and all-district honors as a senior
- Led Tate to the Florida 6A semifinals as a senior for the first time in 10 seasons; the Aggies finished the season 10-3
- In his junior and senior seasons, combined to pass for 5,627 yards and 47 touchdowns
- Also rushed for 1,063 yards and 20 touchdowns in those two seasons
- Graduated as the No.33 ranked dual-threat quarterback according to 247 Sports and the No. 36 QB by ESPN
- Threw for 2,304 yards and 19 touchdowns as a junior in addition to rushing for 440 yards and seven touchdowns
- Also an excellent baseball player
Personal
- Born in Pensacola, Florida
- Son of Johanna and Billy Smith
- Brother, Austen, played baseball at Alabama and with the Miami Marlins organization
Sawyer Says
- He chose Kentucky because it was a good fit and a good opportunity to play in the SEC
- His sports hero is Joe Namath because he’s tough, cool and a winner
- Most people don’t know he was offered a baseball scholarship by a rival SEC school as a freshman in high school
- The best advice he’s ever received is “you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take” – Wayne Gretzky and Michael Scott
- The three people he would invite to his fantasy dinner are Elvis, Max Duffy and Billie Eilish