Brock Vandagriff knew about Kentucky before he was recruited by Kentucky

Former five-star quarterback Brock Vandagriff was very familiar with the Kentucky football program. The class of 2021 signee spent three seasons at the University of Georgia and every year head coach Kirby Smart reminded the Bulldogs who Kentucky is as a football team.

“Kentucky-Georgia is just a physical, physical football game. Because they brand their football behind that, and so do we,” Smart said about the Wildcats in October. “I have a lot of respect for Coach [Mark] Stoops and the program he’s built and the job they’ve done.”

Before Vandagriff was contacted by Kentucky, he knew who Kentucky was. The Wildcats played a similar brand of football to Georgia.

“I liked Kentucky before I even talked with Coach [Liam] Coen much just because of their offense. Coach Smart, he regards Kentucky pretty highly. We played them every year we were there at Georgia and he always spoke well about them. Spoke well about Coach Stoops. That’s before I even had any conversations with either of them. Then being able to talk with him after I entered the portal and stuff, I already knew that their offense was really similar to what Georgia runs.”

Kentucky and Georgia have a similar style of play. Each program wants to go about their business with a certain level of physicality, but their offenses are also very similar. When offensive coordinator Liam Coen began to recruit Brock Vandagriff out of the transfer portal, the scheme similarity played a big role and helped get this player-program relationship kicked off.

“The first time we talked, he’s calling stuff out and we actually call it the same thing,” Vandagriff told the media on Wednesday. “Just being able to have that overlap and know that it wouldn’t be a huge difference.”

Brock Vandagriff is now enrolled at the University of Kentucky and is going through winter workouts with his new teammates. Once those workouts are finished, Vandagriff is getting together with his running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends to throw routes on air in the Nutter Field House. The redshirt junior with two years of eligibility is attempting to build bonds with his teammates both in football activities and outside of the facility as he looks to claim the QB1 job in Lexington. But when the lights come on in the spring and real football practice begins, Vandagriff will likely feel at home.

Kentucky runs an offense that the Georgia transfer is very comfortable in. The Wildcats are hoping that will lead to some instant success once the fall arrives.