Will Levis impressed with Kentucky offense, chemistry with coaches

It didn’t take long for whispers of the Kentucky coaching staff being quite optimistic in Will Levis’ future as a Wildcat to spread. UK offensive coordinator hand-picked the Penn State transfer immediately after joining the program, and upon his arrival in Lexington, buzz surrounding his status as the likely starter began to surface.

There will be a quarterback battle – Joey Gatewood is still making a strong push for the job – but it’s clear that the staff is high on Levis.

And if you ask Levis, the feelings are mutual.

In his first media appearance as a Wildcat, the 6-foot-3 quarterback told Curtis Burch on the Behind Kentucky Football podcast that he couldn’t be happier with the relationships he’s developed with the staff members in his first several months on campus.

“I think one thing I did at Penn State that I wish I had done a better job with was having better relationships with my coaches,” Levis said. “I think coming from a high schooler into college, I had this mindset of, ‘These are your coaches, they’re here to coach you and that’s kind of it.’ When it comes down to it, if you want to be a successful program, you’ve got to have your relationship between players and coaches. Not buddy-buddy stuff, but just having that comfort with them to be able to ask them questions and pretty much just ask them about anything.

“If you’re able to do that, especially between a quarterback and his offensive coordinator, the trust becomes a lot better and there’s a great dynamic between the two and the offense as a whole.”

In fact, Levis said he’s closer with the Kentucky coaching staff than he ever was with the coaches at Penn State.

“I’ve definitely tried to do more of that, get to know Coach Coen as much as possible, get to know all the coaches as much as possible, try to get up here and watch film as much as possible,” Levis said. “I feel really, really comfortable with them. I’ve only been here a few months but I’m more comfortable with this staff already than I ever was with the staff at Penn State. Which has a lot to do with how I approached it, but it is also a testament to their personalities.”

It’s not just the coaches Levis is impressed with, either. From the offensive line to the receivers to the tight ends to the running backs, the Penn State transfer is pleased with the offense across the board.

“First thing I think of is our offensive line. I know it’s not what you think of for a weapon, but that’s where everything starts and you have to have a solid offensive line if you want to get everything else moving. We have a great tradition here of developing and having great offensive lines as a unit, and I think that’s just going to help,” Levis said. “Receivers, tight ends and running backs, we’re really solid all around. Obviously the addition of Wan’Dale (Robinson) was huge, he’s going to be electric for us. We’ve got a great running back corps, the receivers as a corps, we’ve got great guys to rotate in there. Obviously Josh (Ali) coming back and being a veteran dude. It’s a shame what happened with Keaton (Upshaw), but we’ve still got two really solid tight ends in Brendan (Bates) and Justin (Rigg).

“All around as an offense, I’m really excited to see what we can do. This offense the Coach Coen brought in really suits strengths, not only my strengths as a quarterback, but the offense as a whole. I think it’s going to be able to work together really nicely.”

For Levis’ entire interview on the Behind Kentucky Football podcast, click here.