Drew Barker leaving Kentucky Wildcats Football

The Kentucky Wildcats are losing the man favored to be the starting quarterback in 2018.

On Wednesday, Drew Barker announced he is leaving UK as a graduate transfer. He posted the new on Twitter:

Even though Barker is the slight favorite to be UK’s starter next season, this isn’t a surprise. After UK went all out to get Terry Wilson, that was all Barker needed to see to realize the staff wasn’t confident enough in him being the starter next season.

That’s not even accounting for redshirt freshman Danny Clark or redshirt sophomore Gunnar Hoak will be in 2018. Hoak has three more seasons of college eligibility, while Clark has four. Perhaps one of both of them were pushing Barker enough that he felt he’d soon get buried on the depth chart for his senior season.

I think Barker would have still won the job going into Game 1 of next season, but I also think Wilson would have eventually gotten a start, if not took the job outright. We just haven’t seen enough of Barker throughout his career to think he’s capable of keeping his job for a full season in the SEC.

There’s also the fact Barker has been banged up dating back to his redshirt freshman season when he was pushing Patrick Towles. Barker ended up missing several games due to minor injuries, then missed most of 2016 with a back injury that required surgery.

This transfer will allow Barker to be assured of being the starter somewhere else in 2018, though it may not be in a Power 5 conference. SEC Country’s Kyle Tucker thinks Cincinnati could be where Barker lands.

Wherever he ends up, best of luck to Barker in his future endeavors.

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