Monday, August 28, 2000
Kentucky's fate in young QB's hands
Highlands' Lorenzen gets nod for opener
By Mike DeCourcy
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Jared Lorenzen
(AP photo)
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LEXINGTON, Ky. — They read the news in the papers, heard it on television, even got it second-hand from friends in some instances. Jared Lorenzen was one of the few Kentucky Wildcats who got his information from the source.
He did not know what to expect when UK coach Hal Mumme called him to his office a couple of months after spring practice and after second-semester grades had been released. He did not expect to be named the team's starting quarterback, but that's what happened.
“I was shocked,” Lorenzen said. “Completely speechless.”
Lorenzen, a redshirt freshman, still has not played a Division I football game. The deposed starting quarterback, Dusty Bonner, passed for 3,572 yards and 26 touchdowns and helped UK earn an invitation to the Music City Bowl. But after watching and re-watching tapes of spring drills and last season's late fade by the Wildcats, Mumme decided to go with the rookie.
It might have been the boldest move any coach made during the offseason, although it generated the sort of attention most UK football matters do: A lot inside the state, not so much elsewhere. Which is too bad, because Mumme's decision was so unusual and the sight of a guy like Lorenzen at quarterback is so uncommon. UK's opener Sept. 2 at Louisville is worth watching just for their sakes.
College football so desperately embraces convention it still hasn't found a way to declare a legitimate national champion after 130 years of competition. In that atmosphere, Mumme's decision to elevate Lorenzen to the starting job as a redshirt freshman is revolutionary.
“I was really surprised,” said tight end Bobby Blizzard. “But at the same time, I was kind of happy. Because Jared has all the tools and just needs experience, and Dusty has the experience but doesn't have all the tools. He was a great quarterback, but the balls he can't throw are a big part of our offense.”
As impressive as Bonner's statistics were last season, what generally influences these decisions in college football are factors such as stability and loyalty. Bill Curry followed those qualities out of the coaching business in 1996, when he stuck with Billy Jack Haskins at quarterback even after Tim Couch arrived.
This is what football coaches do. But just as Mumme believes the passing game sets up the running game rather than the reverse, he chose possibility over safety. UK could be OK again if Bonner were the quarterback. With Lorenzen, the Wildcats might be something greater.
Lorenzen's arm strength is so immense he has thrown a football 82 yards. When he went through workouts with his teammates this summer, Lorenzen was instructed by Mumme to throw the ball as hard as he could at each receiver on every pass.
Arm strength was the principal issue here. Bonner was so limited in this regard nearly a third of his 333 completions went to tight end James Whalen. Opponents were able to crowd the line on defense because they bore no fear of being beaten on deep passes. Lorenzen offers no such luxury to opponents.
“We're sad to see Dusty go,” said tight end Derek Smith, Lorenzen's high school teammate. “He was a great guy, a great leader for this team and a great quarterback. But I think everybody knows we can win nine or 10 games with Jared, and nobody really knew for sure if we were going to be able to win nine or 10 with Dusty Bonner.”
You might have heard Lorenzen is big for a quarterback, but it's not something that can be captured with the basics: 6-foot-4, 275 pounds. Yes, that sounds like a lot of QB, but the numbers do not begin to capture his enormity. His calves are the size and shape of watermelons. His belly arches generously from his breastbone to his waist. He's not big for a quarterback; he's just big.
Lorenzen has been a quarterback since he was five and starred at Highlands, but of the roughly 20 scholarship offers he considered, all but five or six admitted he would be permitted only a token chance to play the position. They wanted him as a defensive end or a tight end. Mumme promised he'd be a quarterback.
“When I have to run, I'm not going to slide too often,” Lorenzen says. “I'm going to run at them and see what they do, make them make a decision. And if they don't move, we'll have a head-on collision. That'll be a lot of fun then.”
Bonner transferred to Valdosta State in Georgia following his demotion, and that bothered some teammates who were close friends. He called a team meeting before leaving, however, and said he was not being forced out by Mumme.
Safety Marlon McCree praises Bonner for doing a good job extinguishing a potential problem but suggests the decision to leave immediately was “sort of selfish.”
If Lorenzen were to gets hurt or fail, Bonner might have stepped right back into the job.
Lorenzen has experienced no problems gaining acceptance from teammates he will now be expected to lead. Respect for his talent appears to be unlimited among the Wildcats.
“Within three games, Jared Lorenzen will be one of the most respected quarterbacks in the country,” safety Marlon McCree said. “Not in the SEC. In the country.
“He's going to be one of the best. When you see him, you're going to know why. This guy, his arm is second to none. He's a left-hander, and he'll give guys fits because of that. He's 270, you're not going to send a DB, a 180-pound corner and sack him. He's a great one.”
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