Will Stein shows love to the offensive line after Oregon's big win

New Kentucky head coach Will Stein has a big build ahead of him. Most will be focused on what the new leader of the program does at quarterback, but how the new coach handles the offensive line will determine both the ceiling and floor of Wildcat football in both the short and long-term. The plan is to use a similar blueprint to what worked at Oregon.

The Ducks once again have built one of the better offensive lines in the country. This group is a finalist for the Joe Moore Award. Against James Madison on Saturday night, this group paved the way for the run game to roll up over 200 yards and the passing game to throw for over 300 yards. After the game Stein praised their effort by putting on this hat in the postgame press conference.

Will Stein’s hat:

“Support Your Local O-Line Coach” pic.twitter.com/EI2Yh5DtYZ

— Zachary Neel (@zacharycneel) December 21, 2025

In his postgame remarks, Stein praised Oregon’s trench unit and gave a specific shoutout to Kentucky offensive line coach Cutter Leftwich who is currently work with Oregon. The Cats have a big build ahead of them — and need five new starters for next season — but Stein is coming from an organization that has been excellent at producing strong offensive line play.

Kentucky will need some of that Oregon offensive line sauce after years of struggling to recruit and build a quality offensive line.

Luckett’s Play Sheet: Where Kentucky’s offensive line sits heading into transfer portal window

Will Stein is currently wearing two hats

Oregon is chasing a national championship. All focus in Eugene now turns to the Orange Bowl where the Ducks will have a New Year’s Day matchup against No. 4 Texas Tech. The winner of that game will advance to the national semifinals. While all of that is going on, Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein will also be trying to be Kentucky’s head coach.

With a huge transfer portal window set to open on Jan. 2, Stein is having to pull off quite the juggling act. The 36-year-old was asked about how he was balancing two jobs after the win against James Madison. This what he said.

“Yeah, I definitely wear two hats, but when I’m here in the building I’m all Oregon. Try to compartmentalize my day. Use the morning time with the three-hour time change in Lexington to try to maximize phone calls or things that I need to do before we’re here at work at Oregon,” Stein explained. “Then late night, making calls when I need to, but in between it’s about winning and getting this team to where we wanna get to.”

Will Stein is all in on winning a national championship for Oregon, but he’s also trying to be the best head coach for Kentucky possible. This is a tricky tightrope to walk and it will only get more difficult once free agency begins if Oregon advances to the semifinals. The Wildcats will get defensive coordinator Jay Bateman on campus soon since Texas A&M lost to Miami, but the program will have to wait a little longer for its head coach to have boots on the ground in Lexington.