As the snow fell on Lexington yesterday, Kentucky football was in the middle of its Spring practice. What a welcome to Spring, eh? The Cats are prepping Kenny Minchey to be QB1, and On3 expert J.D. Pickell breaks down why Kentucky should be very excited with the new QB.
Kenny Minchey is like a luxury car
According to Pickell, Minchey is very much like a Cadillac.
"My non-QB comp for him though is a Cadillac. Okay. Now there's a story behind that. When I was playing college football at Cornell, there was a freshman running back that was in the meeting room with us during fall camp by the name of Devin Brewer. And Devin Brewer, God bless him, had just shown up to campus, getting his first taste of college football, still learning how to practice...And Devin's got a rep that he's running through. And our coach at the time, Chad Nice... he's like, 'Devon, don't you're going full speed here, brother'...And Devin just sits back. He goes, "Coach, I am running full speed. Been told that my whole life. I'm just smooth like a Cadillac.""
I think I found my response when people call out my sprint speed, but I love this comparison for a couple of reasons. Minchey is not going to be a 4.3 40 guy who just runs by people. He is not going to make these wildly athletic plays, but he just finds his way to open spaces and makes plays.
Pickell continued, "He doesn't look like he's ever trying all that hard, but he has such good instincts and such good athleticism within the pocket and as a guy who creates to throw the football to where he may not be looking like he's trying super hard to evade pressure or to make something happen."
Comparison to Dillon Gabriel should excite fans
Dillon Gabriel had an incredibly successful year in Eugene under Will Stien. He threw for a career high 3,857 yards on a 72.9 completion percentage with 30 TDs. Pickell believes Dillon Gabriel is a good comp for Minchey.
"I think Kenny Minchey can do in the system for Will Stein what Dillon Gabriel can do. Not the biggest guy in the world, good enough athlete to create with his legs to be a guy you can call design quarterback run with."
He went on to say that Minchey is not going to be a guy that wins you games all on his own, but if you put him in a nice system where he gets the answers presnap, he can make all the right reads and hit the "layups."
Oftentimes, those reads and decisions are where games are won or lost. If that is where Minchey excels, and if Will Stein can really implement his offense this year, Kentucky may be in for a special season.