Taggart undecided between Jakes, Doughty as starting QB
September 12, 2011
What we do know: In the third quarter of WKU’s 40-14 home loss to Navy Saturday, Head Coach Willie Taggart benched starting quarterback Kawaun Jakes for backup Brandon Doughty.
What we don’t know: Will it be the redshirt freshman Doughty or junior Jakes that starts this Saturday against Indiana State?
Head Coach Willie Taggart said on Monday he didn’t know either.
When asked at the team’s weekly press luncheon who his quarterback would be against the Sycamores, Taggart replied by asking, “Who’s your quarterback? You guys (the media) have all the answers—tell me who’s your quarterback.
“It’s always been a quarterback battle,” Taggart said. “They’re both going to get (practice) reps, and we’ll see.”
Jakes had drawn criticism after WKU’s opening loss to Kentucky when he threw for fewer than 100 yards while giving up four interceptions.
However, he showed signs of improvement early against the Midshipmen.
Jakes finished 7-of-12 for 51 yards with an interception against Navy; though to his credit, he didn’t get much help from his receivers.
Junior receiver Marcus Vasquez dropped two catchable first-quarter passes, and redshirt freshman Joel German ran what Taggart called a wrong route on Jakes’ lone interception.
But a third-quarter fumble in which Jakes dropped the ball on a pump fake caused Taggart to insert Doughty.
“I just felt like we needed a spark and wanted to try something new,” Taggart sai Saturday after the game. “We saw the same thing we’ve seen in our offense — that it hasn’t been going anywhere — and wanted to see if we could get going.”