Mark Stoops talks about Kaiya Sheron, what he can improve on

Kentucky star quarterback Will Levis missed the Wildcat’s most recent game against South Carolina, as they fell 24-14 to the Gamecocks and took their second loss of the season. Freshman quarterback Kaiya Sheron was called upon to take Levis’ place, not only making his first collegiate start, but his first collegiate pass attempts Saturday versus South Carolina. On Monday, head coach Mark Stoops assessed the performance of his backup turned starter following in his first game.

“I thought he made some really good throws, he made some poor decisions on where his eyes were that led to bad plays and led to sacks. And we’ve talked about that with Will, I mean it’s gonna happen at times, it’s not always all on the o-line or protection and things of that nature,” Stoops said.

Sheron finished the game completing 15 of his 27 pass attempts for 178 yards and two touchdown passes, but also threw an interception and was sacked six times. Sheron showed some flashes of good and bad in his debut, but Stoops also attributed his performance to the play of his supporting cast.

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“I felt like it during the game, and it held true after watching the tape, that we didn’t play very good around him at times. There’s people that did and there’s plays, but the inconsistency, the breakdown here the breakdown there, and you can’t put that on any one person,” Stoops explained. “We just as a group didn’t play very good around him, I felt like that during the game and I said it after and that was certainly true after watching the film. So he did some very good things, we need to play better and respond better around him.”

Despite this, Sheron was critical of his performance on Saturday, saying post-game that he wished he would’ve had some plays back from the game.

“Well it certainly says a lot about him and you’ve heard me talk for many years, just experience matters, playing and being in that situation it matters. He was put in a tough situation and responded well and he’s a tough young man and he’ll handle all that criticism from us, from himself very well and he’ll get better,” Stoops said.

Sheron’s self-awareness is a great sign for a young quarterback and shows promise as a future full time starter for the Wildcats. But their starter of the present Levis did partially participate in practice Monday ahead of their next game against No. 16 Mississippi State. Stoops still labeled him as day-to-day, and it will be worth keeping an eye on if had can play this Saturday or if the freshman will be called upon again in an even bigger moment this weekend.