Four games into the season, Kenny Minchey is still a moving target for the people trying to pin down exactly what kind of quarterback he is.
The reviews are all over the map. Some outlets have him climbing, others have him sliding, and the split seems to come down to the same question: is Minchey the quarterback who lit up Texas A&M, or the one who stalled badly in the second half against Alabama?
ESPN’s Bill Connelly landed on No. 55 in his ranking of the 68 Power Four quarterbacks, a drop from No. 47 in the spring. Among SEC quarterbacks, only Texas A&M’s Marcel Reed at No. 60 and Arkansas’ KJ Jackson at No. 65 sit lower. Even with that placement, Connelly said he still can’t quite figure Minchey out.
“Minchey has started four games for Kentucky: He has produced a Total QBR of 88.6 (against Texas A&M), 65.6 (Youngstown State), 8.7 (South Alabama) and 7.6 (Alabama). I have no idea what to make of that.
In his good games, he’s accurate and explosive, and in his bad games he’s terribly sack-prone and his completions don’t go anywhere. He has a hell of a run game at his disposal, at least.”
That Total QBR number matters because it measures quarterback play across all types of snaps on a 0-100 scale while also accounting for the quality of the defense. By that metric, Minchey ranks last in the SEC with a 33.0. The low scores against Alabama and South Alabama dragged him down, while the Texas A&M outing stood out with an 88.6, the fifth-highest mark in the conference.
CBS Sports sees him differently. David Cobb has Minchey at No. 36 in his weekly Top 50, up from No. 39 a week ago.
His list is packed near the top with SEC names, including Trinidad Chambliss of Ole Miss and Kamario Taylor of Mississippi State in the top three behind Miami’s Darian Mensah. Alabama’s Keelon Russell is No.
5, Georgia’s Gunnar Stockton is No. 7, and Texas’ Arch Manning checks in at No. 11.
Florida’s Aaron Philo sits at No. 14, Missouri’s Austin Simmons at No. 22, and LSU’s Sam Leavitt at No.
- Leavitt, a former Kentucky target, will be in Lexington next week.
The stat sheet paints a more flattering picture of Minchey. He is No. 4 in the SEC in passing touchdowns with eight, No. 6 in completion percentage at 68.3%, No. 6 in QBR at 165.5, No. 7 in yards per pass at 8.7, and No. 10 in passing yards per game at 219.0.
Josh Pate has him right in the middle of the SEC quarterback conversation, placing him at No. 8, just ahead of Arch Manning and Jared Curtis.
Will Stein, though, may offer the clearest snapshot of where Minchey is right now. On Tuesday, Stein said he likes how Minchey handles the offense and noted the areas that still need work.
“I love his operation. I love how he can control a huddle.
I love how he can get us into the correct play call. He’s still got to continue to progress in the drop-back passing game, where there are players that are anticipating throws in certain windows.
“We obviously haven’t dropped back a lot on first and second down throughout the year so far, but when we have to do that to go create some explosives or move the football, I think we’ve got to continue to improve in those spots.”
The picture should get clearer as the sample grows. For now, Saturday at South Carolina is the next chance for Minchey to tilt the debate one way or the other.
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