Brock Vandagriff looks the part in Kentucky Blue-White Spring Game

To say that Kentucky has a ton riding on Brock Vandagriff in 2024 would be an understatement. It might be the understatement of the year. The Georgia quarterback transfer is a former five-star recruit that former Kentucky offensive coordinator Liam Coen targeted immediately to replace Devin Leary. Coen has been replaced by Bush Hamdan at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility, but the importance of No. 12 has not changed.

The Wildcats do not need Brock Vandagriff to be Superman but they need the redshirt junior with two years of eligibility remaining to be a productive SEC quarterback this fall. In Saturday’s Blue-White Spring game at Kroger Field, Vandagriff looked the part.

Kentucky’s new QB1 led the first-team offense to multiple scoring drives against the first-team defense and a touchdown drive against the second-team defense. Brock Vandagriff was in total control from the pocket making decisive reads and delivering the ball with good velocity and accuracy in the short-to-intermediate passing game. We saw Vandagriff execute what appeared to be some curl/flat route combinations and did an excellent finding his checkdown within the rhythm of the play structure. The quarterback’s best play came on a scramble where he found Anthony Brown-Stephens on the sideline and snapped off an accurate throw on the run to his right for a first down as Brown-Stephens came back to the quarterback and made a good catch.

There was also a double move where Brock Vandagriff hit Dane Key for a big explosive. The ball was underthrown, but the miss was a good miss. Vandagriff did not blow the easy splashy play and made sure Key had a chance to make the catch even with the missed throw. The quarterback delivered a good ball on a fade route in the endzone for a score and showed off some more velocity in a rip to Fred Farrier on one of the first drives of the game.

From a downfield accuracy aspect, there is some room for growth, but there are real reasons to believe that can come with time. Leading receivers with throws needs some development, but Kentucky is still working on creating chemistry in the passing game. When Vandagriff can see the jersey numbers and get stationary targets the balls are delivered with accuracy. That gives the offense a good foundation. The running skill set adds to that foundation.

Expect QB run to be an element of this new offense. We saw multiple draws today and a pull on a zone read during Brock Vandagriff’s time on the field. The wheels are a threat, and Vandagriff is a downhill runner who can gobble up yards in a hurry. Even in dropback concepts, Vandagriff can take off at any time and that will be something defenses will have to account for.

There is room for growth, but the former Oklahoma commit looked the part on Saturday and owns a skill set that will help this offense move the chains. That is a good place to start.