Kentucky Gave Brennen Ward His First Opportunity, But Missed an Opportunity to Get Stone Saunders Some Reps

by: Jacob Polacheck14 hours agoPolacheckKSR

Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops during a win over Tennessee Tech - Dr. Michael Huang, Kentucky Sports Radio/On3

Kentucky’s dominant win over Tennessee Tech on Saturday allowed for the Cats to give a few new players some time on the field. That included freshman quarterback Brennen Ward, who filled in late in the fourth quarter.

With Cutter Boley’s excellent day coming to an end, UK went to Ward instead of backup quarterback Zach Calzada. Ward, in his first career appearance, finished the game going 3-for-6 passing with 25 yards and a passer rating of 85.

Ward entered the game with just over nine minutes left in the fourth quarter with Kentucky up 42-10. He helped drive Kentucky from its own 36 yard line to inside the three-yard line. Ward nearly had his first career touchdown with a pass to DJ Miller, but it ended up as an incompletion instead.

Ward’s first career pass completion was to Miller for an eight yard gain. The biggest play of the drive came from a pass interference play against Tennessee Tech on a throw to Hardley Gilmore, putting Kentucky into the red zone.

Kentucky’s Other Freshman QB Was Set to Get Reps

It wasn’t only Brennen Ward who was planning to get reps on Saturday. Stoops wanted to have multiple drives in order to put in his other freshman quarterback.

“The defense played really well. The drive at the end of the half kind of was aggraving because I’d like to pull away a little bit and get even younger quarterbacks,” Stoops said. “It was nice to see Brennen.”

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Stoops said he was also planning to put in true freshman quarterback Stone Saunders for a series. Unfortunatey that didn’t happen.

“I was really bummed out. Stone was set to go in, and it’s our fault for not splitting that series, but we thought we could get a stop and get them back in there.”

“Both young guys have done a tremendous job,” added offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan. “They are both extremely talented guys.”

All in all, it was a good day for Kentucky passing the ball. UK threw for 261 yards and a touchdown, with starting quarterback Cutter Boley earning most of the credit. Boley went 18-for-21 passing with 236 yadrs and a touchdown.