The announcement this week by Kentucky quarterback Drew Barker that he will use his final season of college eligibility in 2018 at a school other than UK as a graduate transfer carried a resonance beyond its on-the-field implications.
Barker was the anchor of Mark Stoops’ ballyhooed 2014 recruiting class that Rivals.com ranked as the 17th best in the country that year.
A former Conner High School star, Barker was one of 10 4-star recruits in a class that University of Kentucky sports marketers put front and center to herald that Stoops was ushering in a new day in UK football.