Billy Jack Haskins is a former American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 quarterback

Quarterback

Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...

 for the University of Kentucky

University of Kentucky

The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...

 from 1993 through 1996.

Haskins won the Kentucky "Mr. Football" Award as a senior at Paducah

Paducah, Kentucky

Paducah is the largest city in Kentucky's Jackson Purchase Region and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Tennessee River and the Ohio River, halfway between the metropolitan areas of St. Louis, Missouri, to the west and Nashville,...

 Tilghman High School and at graduation had passed for more yardage than any player in Kentucky high school history.

At Kentucky during his sophomore year Haskins beat out incumbent starter Jeff Speedy during the 1995 season, starting the final nine of Kentucky's eleven games. That year he completed 60.4% of his passes (a school record at the time) for 1,176 yards and four touchdowns. His 47 yard touchdown run against Tennessee in which he broke several tackles gave Kentucky a 31-27 lead and won multiple "Play of the Year" awards.

During the 1996 season Haskins began splitting playing time with highly regarded freshman Tim Couch

Tim Couch

Timothy Scott "Tim" Couch is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at the University of Kentucky...

.

After the 1996 season Kentucky head coach Bill Curry

Bill Curry

William Alexander "Bill" Curry is an American football coach and former player. He is the current head coach at Georgia State University, which began competing in college football in 2010...

 was fired and replaced by Hal Mumme

Hal Mumme

Hal Clay Mumme is an American college football coach. He is currently the head coach at McMurry University.- Playing career :...

. Mumme installed a pass-oriented offense and announced that Couch would be the starting quarterback. Haskins transferred to the University of Rhode Island

University of Rhode Island

The University of Rhode Island is the principal public research university in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Its main campus is located in Kingston. Additional campuses include the Feinstein Campus in Providence, the Narragansett Bay Campus in Narragansett, and the W. Alton Jones Campus in West...

 to finish his playing career.

Primary sources

• University of Kentucky Football 1996 Media Guide (1996)