Kentucky football: Mark Stoops discusses latest SEC loss to Auburn
Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops sums up the Wildcats’ latest SEC loss Saturday night against Auburn in Lexington.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — It’s Gavin Wimsatt‘s show for now.
After Kentucky football starting quarterback Brock Vandagriff went down with an injury in the third quarter of Saturday night’s game against Tennessee, Wimsatt stepped in. And delivered: He connected with Ja’Mori Maclin on a 32-yard touchdown, then a two-point conversion, to cut the Volunteers‘ lead to 21-18 with 13:31 remaining.
Wimsatt has served as Vandagriff’s backup during the Wildcats‘ first nine games this fall.
Here are some things to know about UK’s starting signal caller:
During his final full season at Owensboro High in 2020, Wimsatt led the school to the Class 5A state championship game, where it fell to Bowling Green. That season, Wimsatt completed 61.7% of his passing attempts for 2,075 yards and 26 touchdowns to go along with 408 yards and six scores on the ground. He was part of The Courier Journal’s 2020 first-team All-State offense, which was selected by a statewide vote of coaches. and also was The Owensboro-Times’ Offensive Player of the Year in 2020.
In 2019, Wimsatt helped lead the Red Devils to the state semifinals.
Wimsatt left Owensboro High in the middle of the fall semester in 2021 to enroll at Rutgers, which he had committed to earlier that year; his other finalists were Kentucky, Louisville, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Oregon and West Virginia.
In three seasons (2021-23) with the Scarlet Knights, Wimsatt appeared in 25 games. He posted an 8-11 record in 19 contests as the starting signal caller.
His final numbers at Rutgers: 2,537 yards, 14 touchdowns and 17 interceptions on 212-of-455 passing (46.6%). He also carried 180 times for 628 yards and 11 TDs.
Through recruiting ratings and rankings constantly fluctuate, at the time Wimsatt gave his pledge to coach Greg Schiano and the Scarlet Knights, he was one of the most highly touted prospects the state has produced.
As The Courier Journal pointed out the day Wimsatt committed to Rutgers, “Wimsatt is just the second Kentucky high school quarterback to be ranked among the top 100 prospects nationally by Rivals since the website began rating recruits in 2001. He is the highest-rated Bluegrass state quarterback in that period, edging out former Trinity star and Louisville signee Brian Brohm (No. 78, 2004).”
Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
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