Mark Stoops: Kentucky's offensive line will be better this season "without question"

The struggles from the Big Blue Wall this past season were hard to ignore. There wasn’t an SEC quarterback sacked more times in 2022 than Will Levis. As a team, Kentucky’s offensive line allowed 47 sacks, which ranked 127 out of 131 in the nation, per the NCAA’s stats website. Football Outsiders’ advanced numbers show that the Wildcats gave up a sack rate of 12.3 percent throughout the 2022 season, fourth-worst in the country. For comparison, Kentucky’s allowed sack rate over the previous three years was 6.0 percent (’21), 6.2 percent (’20), and 6.2 percent (’19).

In short, that group fell well short of the standard that the late John Schlarman set many years ago. Player turnover certainly didn’t help, as Zach Yenser, who is entering year two as the Wildcats’ offensive line coach, was dealing with the loss of three crucial pieces from the 2021 roster: Luke Fortner, Darian Kinnard, and Dare Rosenthal. Fortner started every game for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2022 while Kinnard was a fifth-round draft pick by the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. That’s a lot of talent to replace, and it proved to be far too difficult of a challenge to overcome.

But heading into 2023, there is plenty of continuity on the offensive line.

Kenneth Horsey (5th-year), Jeremy Flax (Sr.), Eli Cox (Sr.), Deondre Buford (Jr.), Jager Burton (So.), and David Wohlabaugh (So.) all return after receiving reps in 2022. They’re joined by two key transfers that have the potential to make an immediate impact in Marques Cox (Northern Illinois) and Tanner Bowles (Alabama), along with highly-rated freshman center Koby Keenum. Don’t forget about redshirt freshmen Grant Bingham and Nikolas Hall, either.

Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops expects improvement across the board with the Big Blue Wall in 2023. During his appearance on Kentucky Sports Radio Thursday morning, Stoops sounded confident that the offensive line will return to its usual effectiveness.

“Without question,” Stoops said. “The addition of Marques Cox is an immediate help and it lets you slide Kenneth (Horsey) back into his more natural position, which strengthens you in there. We’re still experimenting and Jager (Burton) is playing center and he’s getting better with every rep, with every practice. He’s a very athletic guy and it gives you the opportunity to put Eli (Cox) back at guard who gives you a little more girth, a little more strength, experience. You have Tanner Bowles coming in, that helps with that rotation. Jeremy (Flax) is back, he played all right tackle last year. Him and Deondre (Buford) are both getting better and (David) Wohlobaugh is getting better.”

While the expectation is that the offensive line will take a significant step forward, there is still work to be done, especially with spring practice quickly passing by. Every day during the spring is important in getting back to the old ways of the Big Blue Wall. The right tackle position, in particular, is one Stoops still hopes to see more improvement at.

“We need to be better at that position,” Stoops added. “Jeremy needs to be more consistent. We need to push and he needs to have a great spring, but without question we’re better. But just because I talk about these things and put it on paper doesn’t mean these guys don’t got to go out there and absolutely bust it every day. Because they’ve got to take it upon themselves to individually get better. If each person individually really looks at themselves and busts their tail every day to get better, then collectively as a group, we’ll be better.”

The 2023 season is still months away, but the early returns on the offensive line are coming back positive.