Kentucky Offensive Line Focused on Improving Run Blocking

by:Nick Roush•04/01/23•

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The Big Blue Wall earned its nickname by bullying opponents in the trenches, specifically in the run game. During a five-year period from 2017-2021, Kentucky had four of the top six single-season rushing performances in school history. The bar is high, and right now, it’s abundantly clear this offensive line isn’t reaching expectations.

“Right now as a whole, we feel like we are not performing in the run game at all, or anywhere near our full abilities,” offensive tackle Jeremy Flax said after Saturday’s open practice.

“We were watching the film, seeing what we were doing wrong and see stuff like that. That’s been our main goal is getting our run game right, being able to run that ball and opening up the whole offense.”

Flax’s statement reinforces what Adam Luckett saw during Saturday’s scrimmage, as the offensive line struggled to open rushing lanes and protect the quarterback. What’s going wrong?

Absences can account for some of the woes. The Wildcats were without Kenneth Horsey and their three top blocking tight ends — Jordan Dingle, Brenden Bates and Josh Kattus. That’s only part of the problem. Flax believes communication is the key to getting the Wildcats back on track.

“As a unit compared to last spring, we’re definitely further ahead than we were last year, but we still got a lot of way’s to go. Right now for us it’s more so communication and just finishing plays off. We know what we gotta do, but when we get on separate pages, that’s when things start to fall apart,” Flax said.

The 6-foot-6, 325-pound senior from Detroit started in 12 of UK’s 13 games last fall at right tackle. There were plenty of growing pains in his first season as a starter, pun intended.

“One thing I learned is that SEC football hurts. Definitely. Those games are really tough, really physical,” said Flax. “After games you gotta recover because those games are so physical, you’re going to leave banged up for sure.”

Looking to take the next step by mastering the playbook, he also needs to bring the physicality to inflict some of that pain on SEC opponents this fall.