By LARRY VAUGHT

It was just one play, but it could have been the turning point in freshman quarterback Morgan Newton’s career.
Kentucky led 7-3 and faced a third down and 18 at the Mississippi State 49-yard line. Newton took a direct snap, looked for a receiver and then rolled right. He had open field, but not enough to gain 18 yards. He wisely waited, looked again and found Randall Cobb open. He lofted a pass that went for 20 yards and a first down.
On the same drive, Newton rolled left on a third-and-4 play to gain eight yards. Two plays later he went left again, ran through three tackles and powered his way into the end zone for an 11-yard scoring run.
If Kentucky had beaten Mississippi State on Saturday after building a first-half lead, Newton would likely be having praised heaped on him this week. Instead, the Bulldogs shredded UK’s defense, Newton threw a late interception and UK lost 31-24.
“My job is to lead the team to a win and I didn’t do that,” Newton said.
The true freshman quarterback worries that teammates might have lost trust in him because he couldn’t get UK into the end zone on two fourth-quarter drives. The first one ended with his interception when he was pressured on third down and the second one ended when he was sacked on fourth down after failing to see a wide-open Derrick Locke on third down.
“We have a lot of guys that have been here a long time. People that have been around this program a long time, and I am a freshman just 18 years old. I want to play and win for them. I know there are a lot of seniors with four or five games left in their careers. You want to help them win games and enjoy it. I wasn’t able to do it and make enough plays and that’s my fault,” Newton said.
Sophomore Randall Cobb, who went 1-3 as a starting quarterback last year, says the team still has confidence in Newton.
“He is still young and will make mistakes. I have been in that position and made those mistakes before myself. You just have to move past it and get over it, and he will,” Cobb said. “Everyone respects Morgan. He goes out there and battles. When we’re in the wildcat, he goes down the field and he’s about to get into a fight with the cornerbacks. He’s a tough guy. That’s what a young quarterback needs is that toughness to give your teammates something to respect.”
Newton strained his shoulder against Mississippi State while completing 11 of 18 passes for 119 yards and running 13 times for 39 yards. However, coach Rich Brooks said Monday that even though his throwing will be limited in practice this week, he will play Saturday against Eastern Kentucky.
Brooks liked the poise Newton had against Mississippi State, especially on the final drive when he completed three third-down passes.
“He bought time with his feet and threw some nice balls,” Brooks said. “He did miss some checks and there were things he should have done differently. But I think it was a step forward. He could have handled some things better, but he is on a steep learning curve.”
Newton hopes he can take some positives out of the loss.
“I was able to do some things with my legs. I was able to run a little bit. I have to make things happen a little faster. I was able to make some plays, but I didn’t make enough. There are some encouraging things, but to finish this season well we have to clean up a lot of things and win some games,” he said.
Suggestions were made that perhaps Brooks and assistant Joker Phillips should have let Newton throw more early to get in a better passing rhythm before the fourth quarter. What quarterback wouldn’t like that? However, Newton made no excuses.
“When they call on me to make plays, I have to be able to make plays. I made a couple, but not enough. That’s my fault, not the coaches’ fault,” he said. “It could help to pass more, but it is not my job to say that or what plays I need to get in rhythm. We did a lot of good things running the ball early and ran for a lot of yards. Why not keep doing that?”
Besides, Newton was convinced UK would score and win.
“I felt like we were going to score. We put a couple of plays together and were able to make some yards. We were in a position down there close. I took a sack I shouldn’t have taken. I will get better, and some mistakes like that I won’t continue to make. Or at least I better not,” he said.
“There are a lot of plays we should have made, could have made that didn’t happen for us. We had a lot of yards and had a lot of guys contribute, but we couldn’t make the plays at the end and for that you fault the quarterback and no one else because it’s my job to see to it that we make those plays.”

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