How Will Levis’s NFL success helped Kentucky football land transfer QB Brock Vandagriff

Kentucky football’s offense failed to live up to expectations this season, but the Wildcats can thank Will Levis for an assist in helping address those issues for the future.

“The biggest thing is really about opportunity,” Greg Vandagriff, father of Georgia transfer Brock Vandagriff, told the Herald-Leader on Wednesday shortly after his son committed to the Wildcats. “What Kentucky did with Will Levis obviously was appealing. The next part of Brock’s thought process or career is he wants to go play in the NFL. To do that, you’ve got to get on the field and you’ve got to go produce and you’ve got to win.”

Brock Vandagriff was rated as a five-star prospect out of the high school class of 2021 by the 247Sports Composite. He initially committed to Lincoln Riley and Oklahoma but flipped to Georgia before signing day, electing to attend college just a few miles from his high school in the Athens area.

At Georgia, Vandagriff initially found himself behind two-time national championship winning quarterback Stetson Bennett. With Bennett in the NFL, Vandagriff competed for Georgia’s starting job last offseason but lost the competition to Carson Beck, the Bulldogs’ breakout star now seen as a possible first-round NFL draft pick.

With momentum building toward a Beck return under the hopes he might work himself into a top-10 pick next year and Vandagriff having graduated, he decided it was time to look for a starting opportunity elsewhere in the Southeastern Conference.

“Out of high school, his No. 1 thing was he wanted to go to a school that could win a national championship,” Greg Vandagriff said. “Now, his No. 1 thing is the best team he can and the best team he can get on the field on. He didn’t want to take a month to figure this thing out. … The SEC is still the best conference in America, bar none. It doesn’t matter if you play in the middle section or the top section, you’re still going against the best people every Saturday.”

Weeks of speculation that Vandagriff might be an option for Kentucky if he decided to transfer culminated Monday when he officially entered the transfer portal. Less than 48 hours later he had committed to Kentucky, giving Mark Stoops Kentucky’s first transfer addition of the offseason.

It was clear for some time that Stoops and offensive coordinator Liam Coen were going to pursue another starting quarterback in the transfer portal, three years after taking that route with Levis and one year after landing N.C. State transfer Devin Leary. While Leary’s season at UK did not go according to plan, landing Vandagriff is a return to the philosophy that Coen used to target Levis during his first stint as Kentucky’s offensive coordinator.

Levis lacked Vandagriff’s hype as a high school recruit, but he clearly boasted NFL-caliber physical tools with a rocket arm and impressive mobility. At Penn State, Levis had been typecast as a run-first backup though. Coen and Kentucky made the bet they could help him translate those immense physical gifts as a starter in the SEC.

After two years in Lexington, Levis was selected in the second round of the 2023 NFL draft. He has since taken over the starting job for the Tennessee Titans.

Leary was a proven quantity with a significant track record of success at N.C. State, but he was not considered the same caliber of professional prospect. Some of those physical limitations popped up during an inconsistent 2023 season, primarily with a number of passes batted down at the line of scrimmage.

With only 21 pass attempts in mostly blowout situations across three seasons at Georgia, Vandagriff cannot be considered a sure-thing to succeed as Kentucky’s starter, but he will now have the chance to prove his recruiting hype in high school was justified. Like Levis did when he transferred, Vandagriff has two seasons of eligibility remaining at Kentucky.

“He’s a really good athlete,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said of Vandagriff when he signed with the Bulldogs in December 2020. “He’s tough. He’s a competitor. He grew up playing the game. Not afraid to take a hit, to deliver a blow. One of the first stories I heard about him when I got here was how he covered kickoffs maybe in the eighth or ninth grade and wasn’t afraid to hit people.

“When you look at a quarterback nowadays, that’s one of the things you have to say and that’s the new deal when you look across the NFL. The arm angle, the ability to have mobility to escape — the game has changed. The athletes upfront are explosive, fast, pass-rushers. They come in attack mode. They play pass first, not run first.”

Vandagriff showed the ability to make plays with his legs in limited action at Georgia, gaining 46 yards on six carries. That mobility served Levis well in his one season working with Coen at UK in 2021 and was largely missing from the UK offense the last two seasons as 2022 offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello limited Levis’s rushing opportunities even before injuries sapped his mobility and Leary played as a pure pocket passer this season.

“He wanted to go somewhere that had the belief the quarterback just needed to be a willing runner,” Greg Vandagriff said. “Not that that’s 25% or 45% of his job description, but he’s willing to run if needed to win ball games. If they take away x, y, z, they may need to run a Q-power. It’s not something he’ll pay the bills with, but it is something they’ll do to win the ball game.”

The addition of Vandagriff is unlikely to be Kentucky’s last foray into the quarterback transfer market this offseason.

Current backups Kaiya Sheron and Destin Wade have both entered the transfer portal. Fourth-string quarterback Deuce Hogan also announced plans to transfer Monday, though he later deleted the tweet announcing that decision.

For now, walk-on Shane Hamm, a former Dayton transfer who did not dress out for games this season, is the only Kentucky quarterback set to return in 2024. Four-star Lexington Christian Academy quarterback Cutter Boley plans to enroll at UK in January, but even with the blue chip recruit on campus more depth is needed.

One possible option emerged Tuesday when Lexington native and former UK quarterback Beau Allen entered the transfer portal for the third consecutive offseason. Allen, who served as Levis’s backup with Coen as coach in 2021, spent the 2023 season at Georgia Southern but did not play after he was denied a waiver from the NCAA to compete immediately after transferring from FCS Tarleton State, where he played in 2022. It is unclear though if Allen is looking for a starting job or would be interested in returning to UK with Vandagriff now penciled in as starter and Boley considered the quarterback of the future.

Finding a third scholarship quarterback may take some time with most of the quarterbacks in the portal looking for starting jobs. Kentucky at least has its starter in the fold now too.

After Vandagriff informed the Georgia staff he was entering the portal, Greg Vandagriff received a surprising text message from Smart.

“He said, ‘Your son is one of the finest human beings and best mindset and approach I’ve ever met. I love him and have respect for you all,’” Greg Vandagriff said. “... He’s a great kid. You guys are going to like him.”

Next game

Kentucky vs. No. 22 Clemson

What: TaxSlayer Gator Bowl

When: Dec. 29 at noon

Where: EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida

TV: ESPN

Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1

Series: Kentucky leads 8-5

Last meeting: Clemson won 21-13 on Dec. 27, 2009, in the Music City Bowl at Nashville, Tennessee

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