Transfers might not be the only changes coming to the Kentucky football offense in 2024

Jon Hale
·5 min read

If Kentucky football’s offseason goes according to plan, Mark Stoops might find himself in a different spot on the sideline during the Wildcats’ offensive possessions next season.

“We’ve talked about it all year: We want to go faster,” Stoops said. “I don’t like standing right next to the official on every play. I don’t. I don’t like that, getting (the play clock) down to whether it’s getting to a timeout or not. I don’t like that, and we need to expedite it.”

The return of offensive coordinator Liam Coen and the addition of top transfer quarterback Devin Leary was supposed to take Kentucky’s offense to a new level in 2023, but that group failed to live up to its preseason hype.

Instead, many of the same pacing issues that cost offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello his job after the 2022 season remained.

Kentucky ranked last of 133 teams nationally in offensive plays during the regular season. Iowa, the team that ranked 132nd, ran 40 more plays than Kentucky.

“We also have to look at as a staff, how can we play faster?” Coen said. “How can we take this offense, mold it more into a no-huddle system, get more plays, play faster, play with more tempo? Do what we’re ultimately trying to get done schematically, but also how do we change it up to play with more tempo, spread things out a little bit more, get your athletes in space while still trying to be physical in the run game?”

The pro-style scheme Coen brought to Lexington from the Los Angeles Rams in 2021 was never designed to mimic the up-tempo attacks that have become more popular in college football. UK’s pitch to offensive recruits was playing in that scheme would better prepare them for the NFL than many of the spread attacks favored by other programs.

Liam Coen, right, is set for his first full offseason as Kentucky offensive coordinator after returning to the NFL in 2022 between seasons at UK.
Liam Coen, right, is set for his first full offseason as Kentucky offensive coordinator after returning to the NFL in 2022 between seasons at UK.

With Will Levis at quarterback, Wan’Dale Robinson at wide receiver, Chris Rodriguez at running back and two NFL draft picks on the offensive line, Coen’s offense found plenty of success in 2021. Kentucky averaged 66.3 plays per game that season, compared to 55.3 plays per game during Coen’s second stint as offensive coordinator in 2023.

Coen making some schematic tweaks to add tempo to the offense makes it clear the staff is considering all options to avoid a third consecutive disappointing offensive season, but the 2021 success also offers a stark reminder that personnel might be the most important factor at play.

When Kentucky had future NFL players running its pro-style offense it was much more effective.

Leary was a more accomplished college quarterback than Levis when he transferred to Kentucky, but he was not considered the same caliber of pro prospect and ended up struggling with inconsistency for much of the season. UK’s young wide receivers boast plenty of potential, but they are still a long way from duplicating Robinson’s 2021 production.

“We need to get bigger, faster, stronger as a unit,” Coen said before Kentucky’s upset of Louisville. “At the skill positions we need to continue to grow and develop. We need to get more physically dominant up front and continue to grow and get back to that mentality that we can wear you out. That’s got to be who we are. We’re not going to sit here and chuck it around 50 times a game.”

Another offseason of growth from wide receivers Barion Brown and Dane Key will be key addressing the personnel concerns, but reinforcements are needed with Leary, running back Ray Davis, wide receiver Tayvion Robinson and at least one starting offensive lineman moving on.

Former five-star quarterback Brock Vandagriff, who has served as a backup at Georgia for three years, has already committed to Kentucky. Coen appears to be returning to the formula that brought Levis to Kentucky in prioritizing an unproven transfer quarterback who boasts NFL-level physical tools.

Kentucky has addressed two of the other open starting positions with transfer commitments from Ohio State running back Chip Trayanum and North Texas wide receiver Ja’Mori Maclin. The staff is pursuing other wide receiver talent too, both in an effort to rebuild the depth lost in that room the last two offseasons and find players capable of providing more competition for Brown and Key.

Those transfers will likely adjustments, too.

“The way we function with the portal, with the turnover on offense, you want to make sure the operation is clean,” Stoops said. “Unless somebody has done that, you can’t guarantee how clean that can be, and that slows things down.

“Not even any one person. Could be other positions. It’s not just the quarterback.”

But it is difficult to imagine Kentucky having a successful offense next season without Vandagriff justifying the staff’s decision to prioritize him in a bustling transfer quarterback market.

Asked for areas the offense needed to improve, Coen first pointed to player leadership.

Maybe Vandagriff is that player. Maybe the veteran offensive line can help carry that load.

But with Kentucky likely to rely on so many new faces on offense again next season, Coen and company will likely need to help that process.

“At some point it really has to come from the players to take it over and to be the guys that are holding each other accountable,” Coen said. “… Good teams are typically player-led. We would love for that to occur and for somebody to really emerge to take this thing over and to truly fix the issues.”

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

Mitch Barnhart thankful Mark Stoops/Texas A&M saga ‘worked out the way it did’

A November trip to Texas and other takeaways from Kentucky football’s 2024 schedule reveal

Kentucky football’s newest quarterback is a familiar one: Beau Allen returns home

Kentucky running back Ray Davis signals he will play in Gator Bowl vs. Clemson after all

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

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