No 'gentleman's agreement' with Auburn

[aubiefifty 18,231]

No 'gentleman's agreement' with Auburn on UK QB, Stoops says

ByMark Murphy 6 hours ago

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AUBURN, Alabama–Kentucky’s head football coach said on Monday that he is still waiting on word regarding the eligibility of Auburn transfer Joey Gatewood.
Mark Stoops said a rumor that there is a “gentleman’s agreement” between Auburn and Kentucky that the quarterback will not play vs. the Tigers is not true. Stoops said he is waiting for a ruling from the SEC on the matter since it is intra-conference transfer.
If Gatewood is cleared to play this season he will be a backup to Terry Wilson, who was a starter in 2018 and again last year when he suffered a season-ending injury in game two.
Wilson led Kentucky to 10 wins in 2018 as he threw for 1,889 yards and 11 touchdowns with eight interceptions. He completed 67.2 percent of his throws while scoring four times as a runner. He averaged 4.1 yards per rush on 100 carries.
“He missed a year, and obviously that hurts, but he is still older and wiser and more understanding of the offense,” Stoops said of the 6-3, 202 senior from Oklahoma City.
Gatewood, a 6-4, 221 redshirt sophomore from Bartram Trail High in Jacksonville, Fla., made his college debut rushing for 28 yards vs. Purdue in the 2018 Music City Bowl to close the 2018 season. Last season he completed 5-7 passes for 54 yards while rushing for 148 yards on 29 carries before leaving the Auburn team in October. In December he transferred to Kentucky.

Joey Gatewood runs for a touchdown. (Photo: Jason Caldwell/Inside The Auburn Tigers, 247Sports)

 

Beau Allen, a local product out of Lexington, could be the No. 2 quarterback for the Wildcats to open the season. The 6-2, 207 freshman passed for 11,439 yards and 127 touchdowns at Lexington Catholic.
Auburn leads the series vs. Kentucky 26-6-1 with a 12-2 record vs. the Wildcats when playing at home. The teams last meet with Auburn winning 30-27 in 2015 at Lexington. This will be Kentucky’s first visit to Jordan-Hare Stadium since 2009 when the visitors won 21-14. Saturday’s game will be televised on the SEC Network.

[gr82be 14,910]

Just can't trust anyone these days.

[alexava 6,974]

Never made sense to me anyway. 

[AUFriction 1,179]

I’ve been listening to the Locked On Auburn podcast lately, and Blackerby seems to know what he’s talking about a lot of the time. He claimed that the source of the rumor was traced to a message board, and that the first person to make the claim didn’t seem to have much credibility. So, not surprising that it turned out to be false. 

[Mikey 16,781]

4 hours ago, alexava said:

Never made sense to me anyway. 

Absolutely zero sense. As I said several days ago when this first came up: someone got bored and decided to see how far he could float a silly rumor.

[NoALtiger 3,963]

Oh good, now I can finally sleep again. Whew.  

[CamZilla_15 22]

Well if there is no “gentlemen’s agreement” what is the SEC office waiting on? Pretty much all transfers have been decided on but Joey. It’s been 9 months since he left and here we are 4 days away from game 1. Taulia Tagovailoa was granted immediate eligibility within 3 months. 

[NoALtiger 3,963]

22 minutes ago, CamZilla_15 said:

Well if there is no “gentlemen’s agreement” what is the SEC office waiting on? Pretty much all transfers have been decided on but Joey. It’s been 9 months since he left and here we are 4 days away from game 1. Taulia Tagovailoa was granted immediate eligibility within 3 months. 

I don’t have an answer for ya, but I can’t see how any unofficial agreement (real or not) between coaches would impact the league office in any way. 

[abw0004 10,303]

It doesn't matter much on who starts.  One is an experienced QB who broke Kentucky records in 2018, and the other is a very good QB in Gatewood.  We need to be ready for whoever is behind center.

[McLoofus 35,182]

55 minutes ago, CamZilla_15 said:

Well if there is no “gentlemen’s agreement” what is the SEC office waiting on? Pretty much all transfers have been decided on but Joey. It’s been 9 months since he left and here we are 4 days away from game 1. Taulia Tagovailoa was granted immediate eligibility within 3 months. 

There has never been any rhyme or reason to these things as far as what we ever find out. Honestly it makes me pictures a big room full of people sitting at desks, and Joey's piece of paper might land on the desk of a real go-getter, or it might land on the desk of some lazy jerk like me who would rather kill time on a message board than file TPS reports. 

[NoALtiger 3,963]

6 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

There has never been any rhyme or reason to these things as far as what we ever find out. Honestly it makes me pictures a big room full of people sitting at desks, and Joey's piece of paper might land on the desk of a real go-getter, or it might land on the desk of some lazy jerk like me who would rather kill time on a message board than file TPS reports. 

 

[Swamp Eagle 5,269]

13 hours ago, AUFriction said:

I’ve been listening to the Locked On Auburn podcast lately, and Blackerby seems to know what he’s talking about a lot of the time. He claimed that the source of the rumor was traced to a message board, and that the first person to make the claim didn’t seem to have much credibility. So, not surprising that it turned out to be false. 

Is there a such thing as message board cred? Yes, I say! 

[gr82be 14,910]

1 hour ago, McLoofus said:

There has never been any rhyme or reason to these things as far as what we ever find out. Honestly it makes me pictures a big room full of people sitting at desks, and Joey's piece of paper might land on the desk of a real go-getter, or it might land on the desk of some lazy jerk like me who would rather kill time on a message board than file TPS reports. 

Well since you've piddled around this long on Joey you may as well wait until after Saturday now. 

 

[alexava 6,974]

I can’t see the sec telling Kentucky that they approve the special waiver. but he can’t play against Auburn because Gus is afraid to face his former QB who he was afraid to let play last season. I can’t imagine any scenario that this “agreement”would be mentioned by Auburn or considered by Kentucky or the governing bodies???

[McLoofus 35,182]

32 minutes ago, alexava said:

I can’t see the sec telling Kentucky that they approve the special waiver. but he can’t play against Auburn because Gus is afraid to face his former QB who he was afraid to let play last season. I can’t imagine any scenario that this “agreement”would be mentioned by Auburn or considered by Kentucky or the governing bodies???

Did somebody say that the NCAA or SEC were involved? I thought it was just between the coaches. Governing bodies being involved turns a "gentlemen's agreement" into a "contract". 

As for Gus being "afraid", I mean, I guess that's one way you could say it. Another way to say it is, why literally give my opponent an edge against me, no matter how small? It's a small ask in return for a big favor. 

I just don't understand all the noise around this. 

[alexava 6,974]

2 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Did somebody say that the NCAA or SEC were involved? I thought it was just between the coaches. Governing bodies being involved turns a "gentlemen's agreement" into a "contract". 

As for Gus being "afraid", I mean, I guess that's one way you could say it. Another way to say it is, why literally give my opponent an edge against me, no matter how small? It's a small ask in return for a big favor. 

I just don't understand all the noise around this. 

And both programs blatantly lie about it. Scapegoating the conference for the delay in approval?

[McLoofus 35,182]

16 minutes ago, alexava said:

And both programs blatantly lie about it. Scapegoating the conference for the delay in approval?

I don't see how the two are related. 

A holdup on the conference's end- especially in this weird year where a lot of businesses are running at less than ideal efficiency- seems very normal. That stuff happens all the time. And I would think that some enterprising beat writer could just ask the league if they've cleared Joey, and they would just say yes or no. I don't understand all this shadow conspiracy stuff.

Also, where did Gus or anyone at Auburn comment on it?

As for lying about it, coaches do that all the time. And it's not a big deal. This Kentucky beat writer/blogger seems to have a pretty level-headed and appropriately unemotional take on it:

Quote

However, Justin Rowland stands by the report put out by Rivals that there is an agreement in place.

If that is the case, then this is probably just Stoops trying to keep the agreement under wraps as to not let anything leak out in order to get Gatewood eligible.

 

[Viper 3,501]

15 hours ago, AUFriction said:

He claimed that the source of the rumor was traced to a message board, and that the first person to make the claim didn’t seem to have much credibility

Pfft... message board info always solid. 

[steeleagle 2,945]

1 hour ago, alexava said:

I can’t see the sec telling Kentucky that they approve the special waiver. but he can’t play against Auburn because Gus is afraid to face his former QB who he was afraid to let play last season. I can’t imagine any scenario that this “agreement”would be mentioned by Auburn or considered by Kentucky or the governing bodies???

TBH, I don't think it's fair to Gatewood, for the NCAA to wait till the week of the first game, and now 4 days away, to not already have let him know he is eligible. 

I think the NCAA should have decided this at least weeks before so he can mentally feel good that he able to practice, knowing he may get to play too. 

Do I want him to play against us...No. I don't want that hanging over either one of our teams. But he should have been told already.

[gr82be 14,910]

4 minutes ago, steeleagle said:

TBH, I don't think it's fair to Gatewood, for the NCAA to wait till the week of the first game, and now 4 days away, to not already have let him know he is eligible. 

I think the NCAA should have decided this at least weeks before so he can mentally feel good that he able to practice, knowing he may get to play too. 

Do I want him to play against us...No. I don't want that hanging over either one of our teams. But he should have been told already.

If the article is to be believed then it's not the NCAA they're waiting on, it's the SEC according to Stoops. I certainly don't blame them for not saying he's cleared by the NCAA and then having the SEC pull back at the last minute. I mean, what head coach would get a kid all excited about playing in a big game and then dash his hopes and dreams just at the last second by pulling him back? Who does that? 🙄

[Dual-Threat Rigby 9,046]

4 hours ago, abw0004 said:

It doesn't matter much on who starts.  One is an experienced QB who broke Kentucky records in 2018, and the other is a very good QB in Gatewood.  We need to be ready for whoever is behind center.

obv it doesnt matter to the team, but it matters alot to us lol 

[McLoofus 35,182]

21 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

obv it doesnt matter to the team, but it matters alot to us lol 

Evidently, lol.

Nah, I honestly don't care about any aspect of this except the logic of it. I don't think we're going to see Joey, and I don't care why. If we do see him, I don't think we're going to lose because of it, and also I don't care why. But the way people are responding to and discussing this is very curious to me.

 

[aubiefifty 18,231]

i just wanted to see joey play some to see what we might have missed out on.

[McLoofus 35,182]

2 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

i just wanted to see joey play some to see what we might have missed out on.

Good news, Kentucky will play more games after this one

[IronMan70 3,322]

Put Joey in the game and let's play some football. If he can beat us then Gus should have never let him go. But, I don't think he can beat us.