Don't Count Out Joey Gatewood

Kentucky’s highly anticipated quarterback competition will soon begin and some are already writing off Joey Gatewood. Don’t entirely believe the Will Levis hype.

Eight days before the Kentucky football team reports to camp, KSR’s Matt Jones shared a precursor to the competition. “Joey Gatewood has stepped it up BIG TIME last couple of weeks. There is a QB battle,” he said. Freddie Maggard, who knows a thing or two about the UK football program, agrees.

Same https://t.co/Yy7k2Yb6Ha

— Freddie Maggard (@FredMaggard606) July 28, 2021

Around six weeks ago the KSR crew reached a consensus that the Penn State transfer was in position to take the reins of Liam Coen’s offense. The latest intel is pumping the brakes on the Levis hype train. To be clear: there was always going to be a legitimate quarterback competition during preseason camp.

We do not know much about Levis. The new UK quarterback was hand-picked by Coen, but he has yet to even speak with the media since he transferred. We do know more about what Gatewood brings to the table, although it’s still an incomplete picture.

Joey Gatewood’s Physical Tools

Gatewood is the kind of player you want to walk off the bus first. He fits the bill of a player that was once ranked as the top athlete in his recruiting class. Standing 6-feet 5-inches tall, he can extend plays with his legs and lower his shoulders to run between the tackles. Gatewood has the arm strength too, something that opened Mark Stoops’ eyes during spring practice.

“One of the things I was most impressed with him was, he’s a big strong guy, but he was very accurate down the field,” Stoops said at SEC Media Days. “He got the ball down the field and was accurate down the field, something we needed to improve on.”

Limited Experience

Gatewood is entering his fourth year of college football with his third different offensive coordinator. In that time he has played sparingly, starting only once. In a defensive slugfest last season vs. Georgia, Gatewood completed 15-of-21 passes for 91 yards. Kentucky only scored three points and did not complete a pass longer than 11 yards down the field.

It’s seemingly impossible to judge Gatewood based on one game in 2020. Kentucky’s offense failed to produce explosive pass plays throughout Eddie Gran’s final season at offensive coordinator. No one expected the former Auburn quarterback to light up the SEC’s second-ranked defense.

New Perspective

Learning a new offense every year is difficult for any quarterback, particularly one that isn’t taking all of the snaps with the first team. This spring Coen’s philosophies enlightened Gatewood. The game was the same, but it looked different through Coen’s lens.

“How he sees it from his perspective is kind of eye-opening for me because the way he sees things, I didn’t see so much at first,” Gatewood explained during spring practice. “So when I get to see his way, I’m like, ‘okay, I like this. I like it better this way.’ Really I just keep on gaining all this knowledge from Coach Coen, implementing it to my game and trying to make the team better and push my teammates get into the film and take full advantage of everything because I know our guys are really excited for this opportunity with him.”

How Gatewood Wins the QB Competition

Stoops was unwilling to show his hand at SEC Media Days. He did shine a little light on what will be the deciding factor in Kentucky’s quarterback competition.

“There’s a lot of things that go into that decision,” Stoops said. “Bottom line is, who’s going to give us the best opportunity to win games? That’s the most important thing. How successful is the team when that person’s in there?”

Gatewood has a leg up on Levis. He had 15 practices to get acclimated with Coen’s system this spring and he’s been on campus with his Wildcat teammates for more than a year. Am I convinced it’s enough to beat out Coen’s half-picked passer? Not yet, but the competition is wide open for Gatewood to take it in August.