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Wildcat Quickies: Appreciating Patrick Towles Edition

Towles is moving on, UK Hoops rolls, men's basketball tonight, some football rants, and more Quickies to kick off your week.

By Keith Garrett
Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

The Drew Barker era of Kentucky Football officially solidified yesterday when Patrick Towles announced his intent to transfer to another school for his 5th and final season of college football.  Towles will graduate next month so he will be eligible immediately wherever he goes.

Duke is being thrown out as a possibility, I think Western Kentucky could be an option as well, no matter who gets him will be getting a great prospect and even better person.  I wanted to take a moment and appreciate what we did have with Towles over these last two years.

Towles certainly had his deficiencies on the field and seemed to embody the spirit of Jekyll and Hyde in his play.  Towles is a player that has all the physical attributes to excel and even get a shot at the next level.  Big Blue Nation caught glimpses of this talent on more than one occasion.

All indications are that Patrick Towles is the absolute perfect teammate.  He even went as far as to publicly show support for Drew Barker mere hours after it was announced he had lost his starting job.

Towles also loves the University of Kentucky likely more than anyone in that locker room and that goes a long way in my book.  Towles came in a phenom, got humbled when he got buried on the depth chart and instead of taking the easy way out and transferring, he got to work.

He went to see a QB guru and got himself ready to win a job that nobody considered him a candidate for.  To go from the top, to the depths of the depth chart, and back to the top to be the starting QB at the school you loved growing up is no small feat.  I really wish Towles could have put together enough performances to win a few more games and end up being in the same ilk as Couch, Lorenzen, and Woodson for his final two seasons.

Unfortunately though, real life rarely imitates the movies and the fairy tale ending is often just that, a fairy tale.  The great thing about real life though is you get second chances, and Towles is about to get his, I hope he kills it wherever he goes and hope to see him on Sundays one day.

TWEET(S) OF THE DAY

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YOUR QUICKIES

  • I would imagine most have seen this quote from Josh Forrest, but it bears repeating.  I am still dumbfounded that we did not prepare for Lamar Jackson.  Add to that, the fact that he did not know what to expect from Jackson.  I am not throwing Forrest under the bus for this, it falls squarely on D.J. Eliot's shoulders and he needs to answer for it.
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There are a few decisions in life that impact the direction your life will take, and committing to a college is one of those monumental decisions. Growing up bleeding orange and white, the first college football game I remember going to was a Tennessee vs. Kentucky game in Neyland Stadium. Never in a million years did I expect myself to take the field as a Kentucky Wildcat, until the hand was dealt. I am extremely blessed, thankful, and indebted to the University of Kentucky, Dr. Eli Capilouto, Mr. Barnhart, Coach Joker Phillips, and all of my special teams coaches for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime to fulfill a dream of mine playing football in the best conference in America. Also, I want to thank each and every one of the supporting staff whose work and dedication to us as student-athletes unfortunately go unnoticed.


As my collegiate football career came to a sudden end last night, I took a few minutes to think about the four years I've spent here. It was extremely emotional coming to the realization that the numerous amount of hours spent in the weight room, training room, locker room, on the practice field, watching film, and bonding with my brothers are all over...so suddenly. But I know one thing is true in life, that I was able to look at myself in the mirror after the game, even with tears running down my cheeks, that I gave my absolute all on the field, in the weight room, in the classroom, and in the community and have absolutely no regrets. As hard as it is to accept the way my collegiate football career ended, I can guarantee that no one worked harder than myself, was more thrilled to wear "KENTUCKY" across my chest, or wanted / still wants this University to succeed on and off of the field. I know I gave it all that I had, and that is the only way to have peace of mind when a chapter in your life closes.

As Coach Wooden's definition of success states, "Success is peace of mind, attained only through self-satisfaction and knowing you made the effort to do the best that you are capable of."

  • Kentucky's Volleyball team is set to appear in it's 11th straight NCAA Tournament.  They will play American on December 11th at 4:30 in Columbus, Ohio.
  • We may not have to wait too long on changes to the UK Football staff.  Matt Jones tweeted the below late Sunday night.  My guess would be Eliot and Schlarman will be the sacrificial lambs.  It may not mean anything, but D.J. Eliot removed the 'UK' from his twitter handle and is now just @CoachEliot.

  • Not much of an update on Tyler Ulis' elbow injury other than it does not seem very serious.  I do not expect Ulis to play tonight but fully expect him to be playing against UCLA.

NON-UK QUICKIES
  • Rick Pitino has officially lost it, I do believe.  His hyperbole has become expected and I think he sometimes plays into that.  However, this statement makes me wonder if he is really suffering from some sort of new disease that is caked with delusion.  His conspiracy theory of the moment is that the only reason his team is not ranked in the top 25 is because of the hooker scandal.  The best part though, is the claim that his recruiting class was the BEST IN COLLEGE BASKETBALL, I cannot make that up.
"We had the best recruiting class, I think, in college basketball, as far as I'm concerned. If you include Damion Lee and Trey Lewis, plus Deng Adel, Ray Spalding and Donovan Mitchell - Kentucky taught me how to get into the one-and-dones, and I'm doing it now, except I'm waiting for fifth-year guys instead of high school kids."

  • Kobe Bryant has decided that he is going to retire after this season.  Bryant is the only player in NBA history to have played 20 seasons with the same team.  He is currently experiencing one of his worst seasons of his career and kudos to Kobe for knowing when it is time.
  • The Detroit Tigers and pitcher Jordan Zimmerman have come to terms on a 5-year 110 Million Dollar deal. The absurdity of MLB contracts never ceases to amaze me.  In Baseball, contracts are guaranteed, and pitchers are one arm motion away from a career changing injury.
  • At seemingly the 11th hour, the brass at LSU decided to not pay Les Miles $15 Million to go away.  An amazingly silly decision was curbed and the mad hatter will keep on keeping on.  Apparently the decision was made in the THIRD QUARTER of the game saturday.
  • Georgia's Mark Richt did not enjoy such a reprieve.  Georgia and Richt have parted ways after 15 years of significant success... just not the right kind of success.  I can guarantee UK would love to have that same problem, but then again, there is a reason we are not Georgia.
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  • Seemingly lost in the shuffle of all the coaching news over the weekend is that Virginia Tech has filled the Frank Beamer vacancy with Memphis coach Justin Fuente.  Fuente was 19-6 at Memphis in the last two years at a program that had been bowl-less for 6 years.
  • While the Virginia Tech vacancy is filled, there are many more significant jobs open this off-season.  The coaching carousel is going to be a fun one to watch.
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