Bush Hamdan gives first impressions of Kentucky's roster

Head coach Mark Stoops and Kentucky brought in Bush Hamdan from Boise State to become the team’s next offensive coordinator. Now, it will become his job to improve and lead the offense going into the 2024 season.

To do that job, he’ll need to get comfortable with the roster quickly and recently met with members of the media where he shared his first impression of the roster.

“Certainly, you probably get about two, three days to get a feel for that roster in the process, what do they look like?” Bush Hamdan said. “Certainly, I know the history of Kentucky, what the fronts look like, the physicality. I just saw those guys yesterday up front, their size, and I really feel like they can be an extremely competitive group in the SEC.”

When he was at Boise State, Hamdan had an excellent rushing game and the offensive line was vital to that success. In fact, in 2023, as the offensive coordinator at Boise State the Broncos rushed for 214.86 yards per game, which was seventh nationally in rushing yards.

Beyond the offensive line, Bush Hamdan also made it clear he’s excited about Kentucky’s skill players, even if he isn’t willing to say anyone by name just yet.

“I’m really optimistic about some of these skill players. I’m not going to get into singular out guys, but I’m watching tight ends who can run, wide receivers in my opinion that are elite-type NFL players, and certainly excited about the quarterback room.”

Bush Hamdan explains what his offense will look like at Kentucky

While describing his offense, Bush Hamdan emphasized that personnel is going to be key while fitting into what he wants to accomplish.

“It’s a great question. I think it always starts, maybe you guys get tired of hearing this, but it always starts with personnel. I think, what is week one? Week one is analyzing the roster. We know players win games. Get a good feel of what these guys can do and put them in the best position,” Hamdan said.

“I think the second thing is, vary in some tempo. That’s been something over the course of the years. We know there’s certain games where we have to play fast, we know there’s certain games that we have gotta play slower, control the clock. But it’s a pro-style foundation. But there’s such an emphasis on creating explosive plays and we’ve got to do that with creativity, we’ve got to do that with variance in formation and personnel, and that is the focus.”