Kaleb Barker’s Season is Over, What’s Next?

Troy head coach Neal Brown made the announcement during Monday’s press conference that starting quarterback Kaleb Barker will miss the remainder of the season with an ACL injury.

Barker suffered the injury during Troy’s 37-20 victory over Georgia State on Thursday night.

The junior was off to a stunningly hot start, completing 73 percent of his passes for 1,013 yards and 10 touchdowns.

As it stands now, Barker holds the school record for highest completion percentage in a season among quarterbacks with at least 100 pass attempts.

Redshirt sophomore Sawyer Smith will be taking over as the starter and will have an out-of-conference tune-up this Saturday against Liberty before he’s thrown into league play.

Smith has appeared in every game this season, primarily as a runner. This despite the fact that most, including myself, believe Smith’s downfield passing to be the best on the team.

He currently has 213 passing yards and to three touchdowns to two interceptions. Both of his interceptions actually touched the receiver’s hands first while his second pick was a dropped pass.

While Smith has thrown the ball 22 times, he’s ran the ball 21 times. He has 153 rushing yards on over seven yards per carry.

While the playbook has gradually opened up for Barker, progress with Smith has been considerably slower. We saw the field open up for Smith more in the second half against Georgia State and this will hopefully continue into the Liberty game.

The two quarterback system doesn’t appear to be going away, either. Brown mentioned that true freshman Gunnar Watson would see some playing time behind Smith.

Watson, who played against Florida A&M, can appear in up to three more games and still be given a redshirt. It remains to be seen how Brown handles that situation.