After rushing for 713 yards as Kentucky’s starting quarterback in the last five games, junior Lynn Bowden now leads the Southeastern Conference in all-purpose yards going into Saturday’s game with Tennessee-Martin.
Bowden now has amassed 1,423 yards — or 142 per game.
What makes this more remarkable is that Bowden is averaging almost 7 yards per carry in the last five games even though SEC defenses know UK’s offense is one dimensional with him at quarterback. He can throw, but he’s a receiver turned quarterback who does not scare SEC defensive coordinators with his throwing ability. Yet he has 32 run of 10 or more yards — second best in the SEC — and 45 total plays of 10 plus yards.
He had 30 catches for 348 yards — 11.6 yards per catch — this season and now has 114 career catches for 1,303 yards and six scores. He’s now completed 27 of 54 passes for 317 yards and two touchdowns after completing eight of 10 passes for 104 yards in last week’s win at Vanderbilt — a game where he also ran for 110 yards
“He’s probably the best athlete in the SEC and probably one of the best in the nation,” Sawyer Smith, Kentucky’s quarterback until he got hurt and Bowden took over midway of the season, said after UK’s win at Vanderbilt. “By that I mean making 18 people miss when there are only 11 guys on the field is pretty impressive. He’s getting hard yards.
He’s stronger than what he seems. He’s fast, he’s quick.”
Smith might be embellishing just a bit, but it does seem like Bowden can almost be unstoppable at times even when defenses know he’s likely to be running the football.
“He makes people miss, but he also lowers his shoulders and runs over people when he has to. It’s pretty remarkable some of the things he’s doing right now,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said.
He’s had four 100-yard rushing games in the last five games. He’s already tied Mike Fanuzzi’s record from over 40 years ago with the most 100-yard rushing games by a quarterback in school history.
Stoops recently joked that he knows the talk about Bowden’s prowess could be tiresome for some and that even media members might wish they had a knew storyline about UK football. However, what Bowden has done to get UK to 5-5 and on the verge of bowl eligibility is remarkable. Think back to how inept the UK offense was in game five when the Cats lost 24-7 at South Carolina. The Cats were 2-3 after the loss with the team’s top three quarterbacks — Terry Wilson, Sawyer Smith and Nik Scalzo all injured.
That’s when Stoops and offensive coordinator Eddie Gran decided to make the move to Bowden at quarterback, a move the team certainly embraced. Now even with Smith finally healthy again, Bowden will finish the season as UK’s quarterback.
He’s one of four finalists for the Paul Hornung Award given to the nation’s most versatile college football player by the Louisville Sports Commission. The other finalists are Wan’Dale Robinson of Nebraska, Joe Reed of Virginia and Clyde Edwards-Helaire of LSU.
Not only does Bowden lead UK in rushing and receiving, but he also leads UK in kickoff return yardages (200) and is second in punt return yards (53) despite getting limited chances at both after moving to quarterback.
“It’s not easy doing what he’s doing. And it’s not just some athlete back there just making plays. He’s doing some amazing things,” Stoops said. “The reads and the things that he’s doing, I mean, he’s executing it.”
Stoops said Bowden’s growth has been fun to see. He notes how Bowden has learned to handle himself “much more professionally” than when he got to UK. He’s even learned to be more careful about his social media presence.
“I am very proud of him in that way and the growth that has been made,” Stoops said.
Bowden may have got his biggest compliment Sunday when Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari heaped praise on him. Bowden tweeted that he would consider joining the basketball team — he was an all-state guard in Ohio with Division I offers — because he missed playing.
“If he’s here he’d probably start for us,” Calipari joked. “But he’s a competitor, boy, whew. I mean he rolled his ankle so bad (a couple games ago). I mean, he rolled it so bad that I thought he was out for the game. He was mad that he rolled his ankle because he had to come out for three plays. And went back in and won that football game when they had to win and stayed in the game and won the game.
“It’s incredible stuff. He’s the ultimate competitor, I’ll tell you that.”
Yes Bowden is. However, it’s more than that and Calipari has noticed like most UK football fans should have.
“He’s also a guy whose spirit brings people around him up. I’m talking about that to this team. Is your body language and your spirit bringing us down? If so, get the heck out of here,” Calipari said.
Nothing about Bowden is bringing Kentucky down. Instead, he’s almost done the impossible with the way he’s helped salvage this season for the Cats with one of the more remarkable seasons I’ve seen any UK player have in my 45 years covering UK football.