Kentucky saw 'big improvement' on the offensive line: "They were awesome."

All eyes were on the Kentucky offensive line entering the season opener, especially after offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan said the Big Blue Wall would return to form in 2025 on the heels of serious slippage at the position. That rebuild included three big-time portal additions in Shiyazh Pete, Joshua Braun and Alex Wollschlaeger to go with key returnees Jager Burton and Jalen Farmer.

“This offensive line is going to remind us of the great offensive lines we’ve had here,” Hamdan said in late July.

How would they look in late August against Toledo? The line graded out to be one of the top position groups of the day by Pro Football Focus. Out of 19 total Wildcats receiving snaps on offense, six of the top 12 were Big Blue Wall members, including five of the top nine. Farmer earned a 73.5 grade in 70 snaps to lead the group, followed by Burton at 68.8 in 70 snaps, Braun at 65.2 in 70 snaps, Wollschlaeger at 62.3 in 70 snaps and backup tackle Malachi Wood at 58.4 in four snaps.

The worst of the group happened to be Pete at 55.8 in 70 snaps, yet he only allowed two pressures with zero hits or sacks on Zach Calzada. As a whole, the UK QB was hurried four times and hit twice, but never took a sack.

Calzada, as you can probably imagine, was pleased with the lack of grass stains in his debut as a Wildcat and the overall success of the rushing attack — they racked up 221 yards on 5.3 yards per carry with three scores on the ground.

“They were awesome today — I think we ran for 200-something yards. Offensive line was great, they’ve done a great job all offseason and all summer,” he said after the 24-16 win over Toledo. “It was no surprise to me that there were no sacks and we really ran the ball well because of them.”

The coaches were similarly optimistic about the performance, even if it didn’t necessarily translate to success in the passing game. Calzada only threw for 85 yards on 10/23 passing with one interception, but he had plenty of time to execute, and that’s what the staff was looking for out of the line.

It wasn’t perfect, but it was a good start.

“We did run the ball, I thought that was important.  220 (yards), that was good. Obviously, a big improvement in that area,” Mark Stoops said. “They did have some pressure. I don’t think Zach was real comfortable. I think that led to some incompletions and some of our timing and things that I would like to improve on, but overall, very good.

“As I mentioned, it’s important to them. When the game was on the line and things got close, they wanted to be able to run the ball. For the last possession, we did kill the clock and that situation was good to get those tough yards on third down there. That’s what we are looking to improve on.”

How did Hamdan feel after calling his shot during fall camp? The line was clean and consistent, giving the offense something to build upon as we move into the start of SEC play.

“Good consistency, I did feel that way,” he said. “Certainly the early pressure with the interception was not a protection piece — they were bringing an extra defender. We gotta do a better job of recognizing that. Overall, I did think there was consistency there and we played much cleaner than we have in the past.

“That’s something to build upon.”