The House of Blue

Yes, but. he won that Elite 11 camp MVP before this season ever started and you'd think that would have, in itself, drawn him alot more interest from the bigger schools, not even factoring in what he actually did or what people saw of his Sr season,..Does anyone have his actual 2012 HS stats? All I've seen is 2011, his Jr year..

I seriously doubt that anybody beats out Max Smith. I know people want Towles to beat him out but they are living off of high school highlights still. This is College Football now and what he showed last season in camp, practices, and games won't cut it. Towles had more than bad coaching to overcome last year, Towles has the talent but will have to step it up about 10 notches. I think that the QB race will fill out with Max as the starter and Whitlow as the backup again with Towles at #3, reason why is because Whitlow has the athletic factor on his side. But I think that athleticism will send him to WR which will make Towles the #2 QB and the Woulard would come in at #3 and redshirt and give Max Smith all the time in the world. Once Max Smith is done or gets injured then I think Woulard steps in as the starter.

This kid sends film of himself to Kentucky and our former staff didn't even give him a call? Much less an e-mail or a 'tweet'? How about at least contacting the kid's high school coach? Oh wait, the former staff wouldn't even go to KENTUCKY'S best high school program and talk to someone, much less go to Florida to talk with a 4* prospect that was interested in them?
I wonder how many times this happened during the Joker Phillips tenure that we have not heard about? A 4* kid shows interest in your program and you don't even touch base with him? What kind of crap is that? And then he re-contacts Kentucky after the staff change and the new guys are interested? Well of course they're interested, he's a friggin' 4* prospect, for cryin' out loud!!
There's a lot of things coming to light about the former staff that I am not liking and for which Mitch should be held accountable for. There is absolutley, positively, zero excuse for Kentucky having been as bad as it has been the last 3 years.
The incompetence displayed should NEVER, EVER have been allowed to happen!!

Everyone is going to get a chance, but I am going with UKAni. It is going to be tough to beat Max Smith. He has the poise, arm and ability to lead a football team to the SEC Championship. He is an NFL quarterback. The fact that this is even a discussion is crazy. Towles and Smith both have a great chance at being NFL quarterbacks. Wouldard, Phillps and Whitlow have a lot of talent, but they are raw and unproven to this point. Towles is unproven, but the kid is going to be good. He's got it.

I think we mostly, if not completely, agree on this.
Perhaps I am miscommunicating on what I objected to in UKani's post.

I wasn't challenging Smith being first. I firmly expect Smith to be the starter and perform very well. I was surprised that Phillips didn't get a mention at all while Woulard, who is also unproven, was expected to step in and start if Smith goes down.

Note: Perhaps that line refers to WAY in the future after Woulard has redshirted, but I think that guessing that far ahead and completely leaving out Phillips is surprising as we have not seen how any of these QBs will react to this offense in general and have not seen how Woulard and Phillips will react to SEC level speed of play in particular.

This kids throwing motion and arm strength is incredible. I don't care why he doesn't have offers from the big boys. He looks to be the real deal. I hope we land him.

I would say the hoopla about Woulard and not about Phillips is because of Woulard being the MVP of the Elite 11. Not knocking Phillips but this is good stuff and it shows how Woulard competed witht the TOP QBS in the nation. That should excite you too, if we get him, not upset you over another recruit. And yes Smith should rise to the top if he is healthy but with his track record of injuries we have got to have another QB or two, ready for action because in the SEC, injuries will happen.

Nothing "upset" me, except you perhaps claiming I was upset or perhaps you telling me how I should feel. :P

Phillips will have a significant head start over Woulard (if Woulard commits) because he will be here for and participating in spring practice. I don't think that is insignificant by any stretch.Therefore questioning UKani's (apparent) assertion that Phillips will be a nonexistent factor if Smith goes down is both reasonable and appropriate football discussion.

I don't see how that suggests I am not excited about this kid or upset that someone else gives praise to him. Discussion involves give and take, compare and contrast, and the challenging of statements made.

*shrug*

In terms of Woulard...

He suffered a bad ankle break about 2 months ago. he's got a long road to recovery.

Neither phillips or Woulard will see the field until 2014 or 15 at the earliest. So Phillips' "head start" won't mean much by then.

By all accounts Woulard is the real deal. But for any of us, to anoint or dismiss either of these guys when we haven't seen them play is beyond foolish.

I agree with your point, Law, but at the same time I just have to wonder what in the world would go through Joker's mind to NOT CONTACT THIS KID, given what was obvouisly known about him.
Is the kid a troublemaker of some sort that we don't know about? Not likely, especially being ranked as high as he is. And why would Joker just blow this kid off if the kid was the one who contacted him?
After the fact, and with what we've been hearing from several different corners of the recruiting world since Joker & crew have been gone, I just have to wonder what the heck was going on that he would not pursue a kid of this obvious caliber when he presented himself to Joker for inspection. To me, if you're contacted by a player of this caliber, you go talk to him!! Or at least his high school coaches, or somebody that knows him. If you try and don't get him, okay, ya missed one, that happens. I can live with that, we aren't going to get them all. We don't in basketball(not to compare apples to oranges here, but I think you know what my point is with this one), but to not even make contact with somebody associated with this player is.........well........almost criminal in my mind.
Look, I'm not the smartest guy in the world(SHUT UP, CARL!!), but when a player of this caliber approaches YOU, you at least send him a post card or something! You're in the SEC, for cryin' out loud, you go after players like this when they express even the slightest interest in what you're doing. Everybody else in the SEC gets these kinds of players, what's the matter with Kentucky getting a few of them too?
And as far as the atmosphere at Kentucky when he was a player, weren't we having a few good years while he was a player for Coach Claiborne? I realize they weren't all good, but for the most part, IIRC, we had some decent teams then, at least when he was a player. And I understand the situation while he was a coach, until he became the head coach, but c'mon. Which leads me to another point that needs to be made, that being what did Coach Brooks see that lead him to believe that Joker would be a good head coach? He must have seen SOMETHING....... but what? Especially given what we've witnessed the last 3 years?
Law, honestly, I just do not know what to think now, especially given how bad our situation became after Joker took over as HC.
Or does it all boil down to, possibly, that Joker is just not SEC HC material at all? That maybe he is just the better assistant coach that all good coaches need at their side?
And again, just for the sake of argument........... when a player of this caliber reaches out to you, you at least give him the courtesy of a phone call, or some other form of contact to let him know that you know about him............j/s.

Agreed I'm not willing to make any assumptions about what our depth chart will look like at QB other than Max Smith will likely be the starter. Thats about as far as I'm willing to go. Thats not to say that I wouldn't love to have Woulard though. He COULD be the real deal.

I'm not knocking the kid, he could be special. I think it's best to let things play out and not build unreasonable expectations on 18/19 years old kids

Per another station, UK hasn't offered Woulard yet and won't until they get a full report on the severity of his ankle injury. If they're comfortable with his prognosis after speaking with his doctor, they'll offer.