Mark Stoops: "Premature to pull the plug" on Zach Calzada despite shaky debut

Zach Calzada‘s Kentucky debut didn’t exactly go as planned. The veteran quarterback was 10-23 for 85 yards, one interception, and one rushing touchdown in the 24-16 win over Toledo. After starting the game strong, Calzada faltered, throwing an interception near the end of the first quarter and taking a safety on Kentucky’s next drive. The passing game never got off the ground, but the Cats were able to maintain control thanks to Seth McGowan and Dante Dowdell, who topped the 200 rushing-yard mark.

Calzada’s rough start only made the calls for Cutter Boley louder. After the game, Mark Stoops called Calzada out for taking the safety and noted that the seventh-year quarterback seemed to be “pressing” at times vs. Toledo. Today, he said the film confirmed that, but he still believes Calzada is the man for the job — for now.

“Yeah, I think that’s fair,” Stoops said when asked how he balances giving Calzada time to prove himself with his confidence in Boley. “It’s something we evaluate all the time. We still have a lot of confidence in Zach, and we have confidence in Cutter. It would have been premature to pull the plug right there. I mean, I really believe Zach’s going to do very well. And we strongly believe in Cutter.”

Stoops said the three-drive sequence of interception, safety, and fumble in the first and second quarters stood out to him most on the film because it prevented Kentucky from achieving any kind of flow on offense early on.

“I think Saturday felt frustrating to a lot of people. I think if you just look at it offensively, we get started with a decent drive, it stalls out. The big catch [by JJ Hester] gets called back. We get a touchdown drive. The next three possessions really got us off track. I mean, it just was frustrating, I’m sure to Zach, to our team, and certainly to us and the fans. I mean, whatever the order is, it’s interception, safety, fumble, you know, and that sequence just took us completely out of rhythm. And that’ll do that. That’s three wasted possessions, right there.”

Stoops noticed that it definitely had an impact on Calzada, who was only 4-11 for 42 yards in the second half.

“And then I think Zach was really pressing. It didn’t — you watch the film, and he did some good things. He put the ball in some places that we need to convert, you know. And then there were some that he missed and some decisions that I’m sure he’s going to look at this tape and one over. So, there’s a lot that he can improve on, but a lot around him as well. We’ll get it fixed.”

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Calzada “very amped up and anxious”

One of the reasons Kentucky pursued Calzada in the transfer portal was his experience, which also gave him the edge over Boley in the battle during fall camp. Is it normal for a seventh-year quarterback to have pregame jitters? Stoops chalked it up to the pressure of wanting to perform well in his debut at Kentucky and return to the SEC.

“I think just in general, the build-up and the lead-up to week one, some people handle it differently than others,” Stoops said. “You have a lot of new players coming here, playing for the first time, wearing the blue and white. They want to play well, including the quarterback. I felt like he was very amped up and anxious, you know, like all of us probably were.”

As for Boley, Stoops had a timely comparison for the redshirt freshman’s path, pointing to Ole Miss sophomore quarterback Austin Simmons, who took over for Jaxson Dart. Simmons looked excellent in the Rebels’ season opener, going 20-31 for 341 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions in the 63-7 win over Georgia State.

“You look at the progression of Austin Simmons. He’s going into his third year, and, man, he looks good. When you sit there and say, in one aspect, he’s inexperienced, but he’s really not. This is his third year in the system. He stepped in last year, played extremely well against Georgia. They didn’t miss a beat. I had to go back and look, like, wait a minute here.

“So, we’ll evaluate those things. Both guys are going to get better. And you know, I will say, after watching the tape several times, I felt better about it, because there are things that we know we could get fixed, and [Calzada will] play well on Saturday.”