Maybe John Calipari was right … Kentucky Wildcats own college basketball

Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports

With the transfer of Jalen Whitlow, the speculation is that Drew Barker may assume the starting QB job for UK. It’s a pretty big leap of faith to say this in April before the spring game, but let’s go with it. The folks at Athlon Sports are assuming this and well, they have ranked Barker as the 13th best starting QB in the SEC. It’s pretty hard to rank him going on his high school player rankings and the fact they have not seen him play a down, even in the Spring game. But let’s speculate wildly and go with it.

"13. Drew Barker, Kentucky (FR) Barker is a highly-touted four-star early enrollee who had offers from Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Louisville, Miami and both Magnolia State schools from the SEC. Needless to say, he is a gifted athlete. And his showing in Kentucky’s spring practice thus far has generated plenty of buzz about his ability to handle the rigors of the SEC as just a true freshman. The 6-foot-4 in-state talent will battle with former starter Maxwell Smith and rising sophomore Patrick Towles for the reigns of Neal Brown’s offense in Lexington (Jalen Whitlow has transferred). Barker has the most upside and raw physical talent of the group but is lacking in experience. Should his maturity, confidence and poise develop quickly, he could become one of the nation’s better true freshman signal-callers."

So it’s not really a bash job to rank him at #13 as NO ONE HAS SEEN HIM PLAY.  But well, we are better than Vandy here.

No matter who wins the QB spot, they will have a vastly improved group of receivers to throw to in the Fall. There is a very impressive five man WR freshman class coming in and just having the extra bodies around is going to help how this team prepares and gets ready for the season.

"“Signing five receivers was needed, and we need every one of these guys. And every one of them brings a different aspect to the table. So we’re going to be able to play faster when we want to play faster.” Dorian Baker, Blake Bone, Garrett Johnson, Thaddeus Snodgrass and T.V. Williams make up the most highly touted class of wide receivers that UK’s program has ever seen. That’s five players who will be given an opportunity to play right away. It’s also five more players for UK’s quarterbacks to target in practice. In the short term, that might be the most important aspect of these additions. Brown couldn’t practice with his offense the way he wanted last season because UK simply didn’t have enough bodies to do it. Fewer available players meant fewer reps in practice. That’s not an ideal situation for a group that’s learning a new, fast-paced offense. Nor is it helpful in the middle of a quarterback competition, which UK will have again this spring. “We’re doing the spread offense — your quarterback needs a million reps,” Mainord said. “There’s not enough reps your quarterback can get. So it’s always nice to get a few extra reps with different bodies. And when you have great depth, your quarterback is still getting quality reps that we weren’t getting last year."