At nearly 300 pounds, Kentucky quarterback Jared Lorenzen is different from any player who plays his position. He has more nicknames than Apollo Creed.
You can call him “J-Load,” “Hefty Lefty,” “Battleship Lorenzen,” “Pillsbury Throw Boy,” “BBQ” (Big Beautiful Quarterback), “Lord of the Ring-Dings,” etc. The list goes on and on.
But what you cannot call him is an inefficient quarterback, according to the statistics.
Early in his career, fans and sports writers could never seem to look past his weight. But this season, Lorenzen has established himself as a true, gifted quarterback, instead of just a fat guy who throws the ball.
Lorenzen is leading the Southeastern Conference in passing efficiency (143.2) and touchdown passes (20). Perhaps greater than that, he has helped improved Kentucky’s record from 2-9 last season to 6-3 so far this season, and 2-3 in the SEC.
In his 255 pass attempts this season, Lorenzen has thrown only three interceptions and is currently in the middle of a Kentucky-record 122 consecutive pass attempts without throwing the pigskin to the other team.
“I think as a freshman and even last year, I was trying to force things, and I was making bad throws,” Lorenzen said. “I finally realized that taking a three or four-yard loss isn’t that bad. If at all possible throw it away, but sometimes you have to bite the bullet and take the sack.”
But according to opposing defensive players, Lorenzen is not that easy to bring down. He is a very athletic 290-300 pound player, and according to LSU coach Nick Saban, his great pocket presence allows him to shake off would-be tacklers.
“I think the toughest thing is trying to sack the guy,” Saban said. “[I’ve seen] numerous times where people are hanging all over him and he throws the ball. He’s very accurate with the ball.”
Against Georgia, the lefty even switched the ball into his right hand and completed a pass.
“Jared’s a really good quarterback,” said Kentucky defensive tackle Jeremy Caudill. “He has good speed for his size. He can throw off his back foot 60 yards. He has all the tools that a quarterback needs, and he does a great job.”
Despite his impressive play at the quarterback position, the fact remains — he is a quarterback who weighs nearly 300 pounds.
The 6-foot-4 Lorenzen himself even gets in a few jokes about his weight.
At the kickoff luncheon for the Kentucky football team, Lorenzen caused the crowd to erupt in laughter when he said, “I do want to thank the person who came up with the seating arrangement, because I’m not sitting by coach [Guy] Morriss. So he couldn’t see me eat my cake.”
He must be used to his size by now. Lorenzen weighed 13 pounds and 3 ounces at his birth, and his mother had to bring his birth certificate to Pee-Wee football games to prove his age. But no matter how big he was, he always played quarterback.
The negative aspect of his weight is that it has sprung questions about his durability and his endurance.
“I knew [the criticism] would come as soon as we lost a few games. ‘He’s too out of shape,'” Lorenzen told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I’m tired of hearing people say it. It’s not true. I’m in great shape. I could go an entire game and seven overtimes if I had too.”
Last season, a quarterback controversy arose in Lexington, and the junior played sparingly through the first five games after starting every game his freshman season of 2000.
The turning point of his career may have been the LSU game last season, where Lorenzen came off the bench to throw for 146 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Wildcats from behind to take the lead from the nationally-ranked Tigers. But the Rohan Davey-led Bayou Bengals scored in the last minute to secure the LSU victory.
Since that game, Lorenzen has thrown 39 touchdowns and only nine interceptions in a 15-game span and has ended any thoughts of a quarterback controversy.
Lorenzen is currently second to former Wildcat Tim Couch in career passing yards and total offense in Kentucky’s record book. He needs 700 yards passing and 223 yards of total offense to move ahead of Couch into first place in the Wildcats’ record book.
Not bad for a guy some people call the “Round Mound of Touchdown.”