UK's Towles learning to deal with QB scrutiny

LEXINGTON, Ky. – If Patrick Towles had checked his Twitter mentions before the fourth quarter of Saturday’s comeback against EKU, he may never have logged onto the social media account again.

“@Patty_Ice14 is not our guy,” one fan tweeted.

“One thing @Patty_Ice14 is awesome at is throwing behind his WRs,” another tweeted.

“You’re a MAC level quarterback, @Patty_Ice14,” tweeted another account.

And those are just a sampling of the messages suitable for print that fans took the time to tag Towles’ personal account in to make sure he would notice when he logged onto Twitter. Complaints from everything about his hair to his habit of winking after touchdowns to his decision-making on the field littered Towles’ Twitter mentions.

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After the game, the most recent mentions would have been dominated by congratulations for leading the comeback against EKU. But Towles deleted his social media accounts from his phone before the Florida game on Sept. 19, and while he still has access to the accounts via the computer, Towles has not tweeted since Sept. 18. He says he has no plans to add the accounts back to his phone, where those mentions would be just a few clicks away.

Towles is no stranger to the spotlight. The grandson of former Major League Baseball All-Star and U.S. Rep. Jim Bunning, Towles has made headlines since leading Highlands High School to three consecutive state titles, but even he was not prepared for the scrutiny he has faced this season.

“You want to convince yourself you know what it’s going to be like and stuff like that, but you can’t,” Towles said. “It’s the most scrutinized position in sports, really, as a quarterback on any team. I’m always going to get too much of the credit when we win and maybe too much of the blame when we lose.”

During Kentucky’s 4-1 start, Towles has completed 61.5 percent of his passes with six interceptions and eight touchdowns. In the Wildcats’ lone loss, Towles completed just eight of his 24 passes for 126 yards and two interceptions against Florida.

In the first half against FCS Eastern Kentucky, Towles threw two more picks while completing 10 of 19 passes.

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But Towles completed 19 of 23 passes for 208 yards and three touchdowns in the second half against Eastern Kentucky, including 12 of 14 passes in the final three drives of the game, which all ended in touchdowns. In Kentucky’s win against Missouri, he was 22-of-27 for 249 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.

“Can he get better? Damn right. He can get better,” UK offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said. “And I can get better, and everybody can get better, but he’s doing some things that help us win the game too.”

A vocal portion of the fan base has called for head coach Mark Stoops and Dawson to give redshirt freshman backup quarterback Drew Barker a chance to lead the offense. Those pleas reached a new high with Kentucky struggling to put away EKU, but Stoops, who had promised to play Barker against the Colonels, reiterated Tuesday he was glad he did not make the move.

“I’m very glad I didn’t, because I like the result, I like the outcome of that game,” Stoops said. “Would we like him to be more consistent? Absolutely. Just like every other position on our team.”

Stoops issued a passionate defense of Towles on his weekly call-in show Monday when a fan asked why Barker had not received a chance this season, saying “Patrick is our starting quarterback. Some day when Drew’s our starting quarterback, he’s going to want that same support from me.”

Stoops defends UK's Towles on call-in show

Towles had not heard of Stoops’ comments until informed by reporters, but he acknowledged the benefit of a vote of confidence from his head coach.

“It for sure helps,” Towles said. “You want your head coach to be in your corner no matter who we’re playing.”

Stoops has also acknowledged feeling sorry for Towles and all his players in the way they have to deal with direct contact from fans and detractors via social media.

“It’s ridiculous at times for them,” Stoops said. “They have to deal with that. The minute they get out of the game if they happened to get the touchdown or whatever they’re probably blowing up. And the minute if they don’t it’s ‘Why? Why? Why?’”

As Towles works to drown out the criticism from fans, he has tried to focus only on what Stoops and Dawson have to say about his performance. Dawson blamed the media for some of the heat on Towles, but the UK quarterback knows that scrutiny is part of the job.

Towles has spoken with his grandfather about dealing with his own form of public scrutiny as a MLB player and Congressman. Before each game he makes time to talk to Bunning, who sits behind the UK bench at Commonwealth Stadium.

While Towles acknowledged occasionally wondering what it would be like to play a position that garners less attention, he has no regrets about the path he chose.

“That’s what I signed up for,” Towles said. “This is what I want. I want everything that goes in with the position, and I want the struggles that come with it. It’s only going to make me a better player.”

Email Jon Hale at jahale@courier-journal.com. Follow him on Twitter @JonHale_CJ