By Keith Taylor
Special to NKyTribune
Dorian Baker has always gotten noticed by Kentucky’s coaching staff. Now he’s getting recognized as one of the team’s top playmakers while in the spotlight.
Baker came up big in Kentucky’s 34-27 triumph over Eastern Kentucky last weekend and is one reason the Wildcats are breathing easier this week after nearly experiencing a breathtaking loss to the Colonels.
Kentucky trailed 27-13 with less than eight minutes remaining, but scored a pair of touchdowns late, including Baker’s 5-yard snag from Patrick Towles on fourth-and-three with 52 seconds remaining that forced overtime. Another Towles to Baker connection in the extra period, this time a shorter 3-yard touchdown strike for the game-clincher.
“He’s the man — just absolutely spectacular,” Towles said. “Anytime we can get him the ball in open space it’s a good thing for us.”
Although both catches were crucial, Baker knew he couldn’t let the team down on the catch from Towles in regulation that forced overtime.
“I’ve got to make that play,” Baker said. “It’s fourth-and-three. If I don’t make it, we lose.”
Baker added he felt the sense of urgency down the stretch and delivered.
“It was crunch time, we needed it,” Baker said. “Coach believed in me, so I just had to get the job done. If you are a playmaker, you always want the ball. But you especially want to have it with the game on the line. Nobody wanted to lose this game. We never quit believing that we could win the game, either. We kept talking on the sideline about how we could win and we did.”
Kentucky offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson wasn’t surprised by Baker’s late heroics, considering he’s one of Kentucky’s go-to receivers.
“You have got to have playmakers and he’s one,” Dawson said. “Very seldom are you calling perfect plays. You want to take advantage of leverage and this and that and do smart stuff, but ultimately you have to have some guys just make some plays and that’s what he does.”
Baker’s career-high outing against the Colonels — eight catches for 86 yards and two touchdowns — came two weeks after he dropped a touchdown pass from Towles in the end zone on the fourth play of the game in a 14-9 loss to Florida.
Even when he was struggling to catch passes, Dawson kept the faith and didn’t flinch when Baker’s next opportunity to shine came into play against a neighboring program seeking the biggest win in school history.
“He’s a special kid — he’s a competitor,” Dawson said. “And he’s one guy that – in my opinion, (Saturday night), he really put this offense on his back. He said, ‘Gimme the ball.’ So we got him the ball.”
Although it didn’t look good at the time, Baker never lost confidence in his teammates down the stretch against the Colonels.
“(You have to) keep a positive attitude and just because you’re down doesn’t mean that you’ve lost,” he said. “With us getting the ball, and with us having the momentum that we did, we’ve just had to make the plays, and we did.”
Five games into the season, Baker has caught a team-high 24 passes for 276 yards and leads the receiving corps with three touchdowns. Baker is averaging 11.5 yards per catch and his longest catch went for 32 yards.
As his numbers keep climbing, Baker is becoming more comfortable as being one of the players the Wildcats will call on when the game is on the line.
“The coaches know my abilities,” Baker said. “They never doubted me for a second, even in the first quarter when things weren’t going so well. They just have to believe in me, which they did. They know I can make the plays and we do that a lot, and as a result I got the play done.”
Thanks to Baker, it was a play that snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
Keith Taylor is a columnist and senior sports reporter who covers UK sports for the NKyTribune