2 Reasons to be Optimistic about the Kentucky Offense

Kentucky ranked dead last in the SEC in scoring, tallying just 20.6 points per game during last fall’s 4-8 campaign. The Wildcats lost their top pass-catching weapons to the portal, and the offensive line was so porous, QB Brock Vandagriff retired from football.

Finding a reason to be optimistic about Mark Stoops’ offense is difficult. That’s where a little outside perspective can be enlightening.

Eric Wolford doesn’t have a lot of fans in Big Blue Nation. However, he has the Cole Cubelic stamp of approval. “Eric Wolford knows what he’s doing,” the SEC Network analyst told KSR.

The former Auburn offensive lineman still questions how good the Kentucky offensive line can be, but he trusts the coach to make sure they are once again a physical football team in the trenches.

“There’s a lot of pieces right now to me that looks like Mark is saying, we’re going to go back to go back to just trying to bloody people’s noses, because a lot of teams still don’t like that, and a lot of teams still can’t withstand that,” said Cubelic. “If they can be that first, a couple other pieces fall into place, maybe put together a good football team.”

Bush Hamdan has the Right Offense and the Right Quarterback

Bush Hamdan does not have the same reputation around Big Blue Nation as Eric Wolford, but there are plenty of questions about his ability to set up the Wildcats for offensive success. Throughout my conversation with Cubelic, he repeatedly shared his confidence in Hamdan. Part of that is because he has a quarterback who effectively process while facing SEC defenses.

“The first thing Kentucky needs is a quarterback who is capable of seeing and deciphering multiple things, and is not just a first read quarterback,” said Cubelic. “I think they’ve had a few of those recently. Devin Leary was stuck in that a little bit. I feel like Brock (Vandagriff) was stuck in that just a little bit. So you get a guy that understands the whole picture and understands all of it. It’s not just, ‘Okay, this guy’s open. I throw it there.'”

Zach Calzada is clearly not without faults. One quarterback cannot simply arrive and fix all of Kentucky’s offensive problems. However, Cubelic believes this offense is built to succeed in the SEC.

“One, I’ve seen Bush make it work. Two, I’ve seen other guys run a very similar offense. This is all the App State-Boise State tree. What they’re doing at Missouri right now, would you say that it works? Yeah. It’s the same offense. It works,” he said.

“So I’ve seen it work at a lot of places. It’s just you got to have a guy that knows how to operate it. It’s not a quarterback-difficult offense. It’s just knowing where to go with the ball and when. And it’s got to get past that first progression. If Zach Calzada can be comfortable with that, I think it’s an offense under Bush Hamdan that can go.”

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.