Devin Leary analyzes how close he is to being where he wants to be
Kentucky QB Devin Leary is three games into his Wildcat career and into his return to the football field after an injury last season at NC State. Now, after a trio of wins in Lexington, he says he’s feeling as good as he possibly could.
Leary spoke about where he is and how his body feels following UK’s 35-3 win over Akron on Saturday night. To this point, he thinks he’s an all-systems-go and is seeing evidence of that both in practice and during the games.
“I mean, physically, I feel great, I feel 100%. Throwing the ball? I feel back to normal on everything,” said Leary. “It’s good to get game reps now with game three since October of last year. At times, there’s certain throws where, like, the seam route I threw to Tayvion (Robinson) today? That’s how I want to play football, that’s how I want to approach every single snap. Just making sure I give our guys an opportunity.”
“I just think it comes with game reps at the end of the day,” Leary said. “Each and every week, as long as I prepare, practice, and treat practice like every day is a game? I will continue to just get into the flow state of playing football and just doing what I do best.”
Leary has started his time in the bluegrass by going 58-94 (61.7%) in victories over Ball State, Eastern Kentucky, and Akron. That has led to 855 yards, eight touchdowns, and three interceptions.
In his performance against the Zips on Saturday, Leary went 16-25 for a season-best 64%. That created a season-high of 315 yards along with three touchdowns.
It hasn’t been perfect for the offense or Leary as he has had to adjust to his new surroundings and weapons but, overall, the Wildcat quarterback has had an underrated start to the year.
From here, it’s about Leary stacking these reps from the start of Kentucky’s schedule and into SEC play. Still, through three appearances, he feels right as rain as UK prepares to hit the road for the first time next weekend.
“I just think it comes with time but I definitely feel 100% right now,” Leary said.
Mark Stoops shares update on Leary after injury scare
Mark Stoops shared a positive update on QB Devin Leary following an injury scare late in their win over Akron.
In the blowout 35-3 win, Leary exited in the fourth quarter after a vicious shot to the ribs. Thankfully for Kentucky fans, though, Leary just had the wind knocked out of him.
Stoops confirmed as much after the game by saying Leary could’ve come back in if he had to.
“He could have went back, yeah, yeah,” Stoops said postgame. “It was the (wind knocked out of him) but could have went back in.”
Leary confirmed the same thing by saying he felt just fine after the game and that there was nothing to worry about.
“Yeah, just got the wind knocked out of me,” Leary said. “Kind of exposed myself a little bit too much, got the wind knocked out of me but I’m perfectly fine now.”