[LeeCoUKFan]

UK commit Barker poised to have huge senior season

Justin Rowland
CatsIllustrated.com Football Recruiting Analyst

Four-star quarterback and UK commit Drew Barker is gearing up for one last ride at Conner and the season is right around the corner.

The 6-foot-3, 214-pound quarterback is poised for a monster senior season.

There are plenty of reasons to believe that, not least of which would be his first scrimmage of the year. He completed 17-of-22 passes for 178 yards and a touchdown to go along with 236 rushing yards on 15 carries and two scores in a 28-14 win over Beechwood that could have been by a much larger margin if not for miscues.

"I thought we did really good actually," Barker said. "The only times we got stopped on offense were because new guys were getting in and guys hadn't really played with each other that much so it's stuff that will be easy to fix for the rest of the season.

"Our defense was much improved and had like six three and outs. We changed the whole scheme from the past few seasons."

Barker was a regular on the camp and combine circuit over the spring and summer even though he committed to Kentucky in May. From the Rivals Challenge to The Opening and the Elite 11, Barker competed against the best and received some excellent coaching along the way.

He's hoping to incorporate much of what he learned this season.

"One of the things I worked on is the speed of my drops," Barker explained. "If you get your feet in the right spot your throw will be on time and accurate. That's really important. Also, taking your feet with your eyes. Wherever your eyes go, adjusting your feet based on that."

At the Elite 11 Barker spent plenty of time with Clemson quarterback commit Deshaun Watson, Texas commit Jerrod Heard and Texas A&M commit Kyle Allen.

He received coaching from former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer and former college quarterback George Whitfield Jr.

"Guys that are kinda quarterback expects," Barker explained. "I still stay in contact with all of them. I'm trying to go out to California to work with George Whitfield before I go to UK sometime."

Several current UK commits have shared their expectations for their Wildcats this year. Barker is hopeful but seems to strike a more realistic tone.

"I think you have to have realistic expectations," Barker said. "That's what coach (Mark) Stoops has been telling all of the commits. Just being real, they came off a two-win season last year. Coach Stoops and the new staff and the 2013 class coming in has definitely helped. They've brought a new swagger to the program which I think has elevated other players' games. Before I don't think they were too confident and I think that's helped a lot."

"I think they'll be a lot better than what most national people say. I think they might win one or two upset games. As far as the record I'm not really sure. Hopefully they can win five or six games."

Since committing to the Cats, Barker has been one of Kentucky's most enthusiastic recruiters. He's taken it upon himself to sell the program to other top prospects from his class.

While the UK class is almost full, Barker continues to help pursue top targets.

"I'm still working on Matt Elam, (Braxton) Berrios, Blake Bone, Dorian Baker, Marcelys Jones and guys like that," Barker said. "I'm really just excited to play with all of them. To play with them and against them in practice every day. We're going to make the team better and make the team better individually.

"I'm definitely looking forward to throwing passes to Thaddeus (Snodgrass), Darryl (Long), T.V. (Williams) and Garrett (Johnson). I'm really looking forward to throwing passes to those guys and Boom (Stanley Williams) and Mikel (Horton). I'm excited about the linemen, too. Basically just everybody. I'm really excited about our class and can't wait to get up there."

http://kentucky.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1538984