How moving Jager Burton to center has unlocked potential for growth from ‘Big Blue Wall’

Hope for improvement from Kentucky football’s much maligned offensive line has come this spring in the form of a shuffling of positions.

The addition of Northern Illinois transfer Marques Cox at left tackle allowed super senior Kenneth Horsey to move back to his natural left guard position. Sophomore Jager Burton and senior Eli Cox have each moved one position to the right with Burton now slotted at center and Cox at right guard.

Eli Cox was a midseason All-American for Kentucky at right guard in 2021, offensive coordinator Liam Coen’s previous season at Lexington, but he moved to center last spring. With Coen back at UK and the offensive line looking for a boost after a down season in 2022, the coaches decided to experiment with Burton at center instead.

With only a week left in spring practice, Coen likes what he has seen, pointing to Burton as the player who has impressed him most so far.

“Him and Eli to be able to go back to some of those different positions, that’s been intriguing, that’s been exciting,” Coen said. “You can see the growth. When you truly put somebody in a position they’ve never played before and they continue to get better at it, that’s exciting. That’s fun to see, to be able to watch that growth.”

Burton was one of the crown jewels of Kentucky’s 2021 signing class out of Frederick Douglass High School, but his play at right guard during his redshirt freshman season in 2022 was inconsistent, like most of his fellow linemen. Cox acknowledged his own learning curve after moving to center last fall, and while coaches expressed pleasure at the progress he made over the course of the season, guard seems to sit his skill set better.

“Eli is a little bit more stout, a little bit more physical,” offensive line coach Zach Yenser said. “I think in the run game in this conference you have to have big, stout guards if you want to be able to run the football. I think that’s going to help us out with (Burton) moving over there.”

Burton’s athleticism is seen as a strength at center, allowing Coen to call more plays that involve pulling the center outside, but he had only snapped a ball a few times at high school showcase camps before offseason workouts this winter.

When Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops opened spring practice to reporters earlier this month, Burton’s snaps were noticeably erratic. But just two weeks later when fans and reporters were invited to watch a scrimmage, progress was already evident.

There has been no shortage of voices to help Burton with the adjustment.

Cox can still help him identify the right calls before the snap. Former Kentucky All-American center Drake Jackson is now a graduate assistant on the coaching staff. Former Wildcat Luke Fortner, who made the same move from guard to center in 2021 and started every game as a rookie for the Jacksonville Jaguars last season, has been back on campus this spring working out at UK’s practice facility.

“I feel like that has helped speed up the process,” Burton said.

Early in spring practice, Coen, Burton and Cox spoke of the position switch as a trial run. They made it clear if at the end of spring practice Burton was still struggling to learn the position, the option to move Cox back to center was still on the table.

But in the last week the tone of the comments about Kentucky’s center position has switched.

“He’s getting better with every opportunity,” Stoops said of Burton after the team’s scrimmage on April 1. “… The snaps are getting more consistent. The timing, there’s a lot to it right there. You’ve got those big jokers right across from you. You’ve got to snap the ball, it’s got to be on time, and then he’s got to execute his assignment and get it done. So, it’s a little different, but he’s getting better.”

Assuming Burton’s move to center sticks into the summer, the lone starting position up for grabs on the offensive line is at right tackle.

Incumbent Jeremy Flax took the majority of the first-team reps in the two open practices, but junior Deondre Buford and sophomore David Wohlabaugh are also competing for the position. Yenser acknowledged adding another tackle in the transfer portal when the spring window opens later this month is an option as well.

Depth should be improved along the line thanks to the addition of Alabama transfer Tanner Bowles and progress from several young linemen who were not part of the rotation last season. There is work to do to rebuild the unit dubbed the “Big Blue Wall,” but optimism is high thanks to the spring shuffling.

“The center makes all of our calls, both run game and protections,” Coen said. “Everything. They need to be the leader of that group. … A lot of people were looking at us like we were crazy when we moved Luke to center (in 2021). It’s just about, can the kid handle it mentally? Which Luke could, and Jager can.”

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