Karl Towns Jr says his only goal next year is a national championship

Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

Kentucky’s 2014 football class deserves to be analyzed and rightfully so. Seems that the key to Mark Stoops putting together the best class in school history was nothing more than straight talk and honesty to the recruits.

"Part of what brought those recruits in was the brutal honesty that the coaching staff exhibited while in the players’ homes. “They told me that they were going to have rough times,” said four-star wide receiver signee Thaddeus Snodgrass. “They believed in me and so I believed in them, too.” Dorian Hendrix, who was named Rivals’ No. 26 inside linebacker in the country, expressed the same sentiment. “They (Kentucky’s coaching staff) didn’t say that they were gonna go out there and go undefeated,” he said. “They didn’t say that they were gonna make a bowl game. But they were positive the entire time. They said, ‘We’re gonna get better’ and I believed it and it’s true.” Positivity in what many would view as a negative situation (recruiting after a 2-10 season) has been key for Stoops and company. The “Why not?” attitude expressed in Kentucky’s Super Bowl commercial (featuring several key returners and the seven early enrollees) is what Stoops and his fellow recruiters are selling. And the recruits are buying: Of 36 official visits that Kentucky hosted, 28 signed. “Florida State was knocking on my door pretty hard after I committed to Kentucky,” said running back Mikel Horton, who comes in as Rivals’ third-best player in Ohio. “I wasn’t changing my mind for any other school. Coach Stoops is one of the most uplifting, responsible-type guys that I look up to.” That trust between coach and player is a sentiment echoed by most of the 2014 recruits. Proving the doubters wrong is something they all can jump on board with."

Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports

Publicly the coaching staff is pretty mum on talking about Drew Barker being UK’s starting quarterback next year. But with the news that Max Smith will not participate this spring, you get the feeling that Barker is going to make a serious run at the wide open QB job. If you ask him, he fully intends to play.

"“I don’t think any one person saves the day,” Brown told the Herald-Leader when asked about the quarterback competition that is to unfold this spring between Barker and as many as four others. “Tim Couch would be the first one to tell you that he didn’t save the day without Craig Yeast or if Derek Homer’s not there, I can keep going down the list,” the offensive coordinator continued. “One person’s not going to save the program. “We just need better quarterback play, whoever it is, they’ve gotta play better than we played last year.” Without a quarterback seizing the position in part because of talent level, injuries and the implementation of a new system, UK struggled to put up the normal numbers of a Brown offense. The two main quarterbacks that tried to pilot the depleted Cats offense last season, Jalen Whitlow and Maxwell Smith, will be juniors. Smith seems out of the running — definitely out of the spring — after off-season shoulder surgery. Also returning is red-shirt sophomore Patrick Towles, another Bluegrass-born hero touted as the key cog in his own recruiting class a couple of years ago. Then there’s Reese Phillips, who like Barker came in at this time last year, learned the system, and moved up to the No. 2 position on the depth chart by the end of last season. “We’ll be much improved at the quarterback position, but I’m not looking for any one person or anything to save the day,” Brown said. ‘I came here to play’ Coaches have said that Barker will have his shot to earn the starting spot just like the others. And the four-star quarterback intends to compete for the job. “That’s what I came here to do is play,” Barker said Wednesday. “That’s why I came early also, was to get an opportunity, get the workouts, get the playbook under my wing and everything. I came here to play, and I’m going to try to win the job.”"