WBN Roundtable‏: The Drew Barker Effect

The Kentucky Wildcats got one of the biggest commitments in program history recently as Conner High School quarterback Drew Barker pledged to new UK Head Coach Mark Stoops and became the highest-rated prospects to ever commit to UK since the rise of online recruiting services. We gathered our staff and asked this about the impact of Barker’s commitment:

“How big is getting Drew Barker for the Kentucky football program?”

Darren Durham

Its big. Not only are you landing a 4* quarterback, but you are keeping the best player in Kentucky home. Getting Barker to turn his back on USC after being a near lock for them says that UK won’t back down from anyone anymore.

James Streeble

Drew Barker is a very good quarterback and a consensus four star quarterback but I would not go so far as to call him “The Next Tim Couch” as some have done. I think his importance lies in the fact that Mark Stoops and his staff were able to come in late and steer him away from South Carolina. As we know, Joker Phillips’ staff did not recruit Barker, which led many to think that Kentucky had little to no chance. I also think Barker is important going forward in the recruiting process. Like it or not, high school players like to be on teams with players with a lot of stars by their names. Barker has also taken it upon himself to do a bit of recruiting of his own via twitter.

Justin Ross
It’s a huge accomplishment. With Barker it gives Kentucky a chance to land more big name players and he fits in great with the air raid style offense.