Mark Stoops and the Kentucky Wildcats are poised for a big season with the amount of talent that the 2022 roster has.
Looking at the quarterback position, the Cats are in a great spot with Will Levis being the QB1 and getting high NFL Draft praise.
However, it is important to have talent behind Levis just in case he has to miss any time, which hopefully doesn’t happen.
However, Kentucky has been fortunate in recent years to have excellent play from backup QBs. The first example is Stephen Johnson, who was handed the job when Drew Barker went down with an injury. Johnson went on to lead the Cats to 7 wins in its last 11 games and helping change this program moving forward.
In 2019, the QB room was filled with injuries, forcing Lynn Bowden to move from wide receiver to take over as the QB. He rushed for 1,468-yards and 13 TDs while passing for 403-yards and 3 TDs.
Bowden led the Cats to an 8-5 record and delivered the game winning TD pass to Josh Ali in the Belk Bowl win over Virginia Tech.
Looking at the QB room for the 2022 season, the Cats have a lot of talent with one redshirt freshman sitting in the wings developing for the future.
Kaiya Sheron
- Position: Quarterback
- Class: Redshirt Freshman
- Measurements: 6-foot-3, 210 lbs.
- Hometown: Somerset, Kentucky
- School: Somerset High School
- Recruiting Rankings: Was ranked as a 3-star recruit and the No. 62 quarterback in the country by 247 Sports Composite.
Sheron is heading into his redshirt freshman season with the Cats and has an impressive high school resume that should have the BBN excited about his future.
Ranked as the nation’s No. 21 overall pro-style quarterback by 247 Sports, Sheron was a three-year starter for head coach Robbie Lucas at Somerset.
Overall, Sheron threw for 3,218 yards and 28 TDs while rushing for 959 yards and nine TDs for Somerset. In 2019, he was named the Commonwealth Journal Football Player of the Year and in 2020 he was named the Commonwealth Journal Offensive Player of the Year.
During his senior campaign, Sheron completed 111 passes for 2,016 yards and 15 TDs while also rushing for 465-yards and 10 TDs. That season, he led the Briar Jumpers to a 9-3 overall record seeing their season end in the second round of the state playoffs with a 42-35 loss to Lexington Christian.
He was also named second-team all-state by The Associated Press and was an honorable mention by the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Sheron made his legacy mark during his junior season when he led the Briar Jumpers to a 14-1 record and winning the program’s first Class AA state championship.
With his team trailing 31-28, Sheron led Somerset on a five-play, 86-yard TD drive with just 28 seconds to left in the game to claim the state title with a 34-31 victory over Mayfield. Sheron was named the Most Valuable Player of the title game.
During the 2022 spring game, Sheron got his first snaps at QB to start the second half and he was the first backup QB of the day to lead a TD scoring drive.
Now, Sheron has a very real chance of being QB2 come Week 1 after Beau Allen entered the transfer portal prior to fall camp.
As of now, Mark Stoops says the backup QB battle is down to Sheron and Iowa transfer Deuce Hogan. Both players have been getting reps with the second-team offense, and it’s currently too close to call as to who wins the battle.
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