Shaq-like receiver is a flag magnet. His first saved Kentucky at Missouri last year.
Michael Smith hopes that Ahmad Wagner is remembered more for plays like his sensational end-zone grab against Florida than his knack for drawing pass-interference penalties against opponents.
Not that UK’s wide receivers coach has any problem with those calls.
”I think the officials, they’ve been good, they’ve been fair,” Smith said Tuesday. “They study tape too, and they study our games and they know that Ahmad draws a lot of attention and, being a big guy, he’s gonna be put in a lot of situations where a DB has to be on point or make a play, and if they don’t they’re gonna get the pass-interference call.”
Never mind college football — at 6-foot-5, 234 pounds, Wagner, who played basketball for three seasons at Iowa before joining UK last year, would be among the tallest receivers currently in the NFL. With most defensive backs clocking in somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-feet tall, that extra bit of body can make a world of difference.
It also has the potential to put officials in difficult spots. Wagner, in a way, is Kentucky’s equivalent of NBA great Shaquille O’Neal; refs probably could have called a foul against players brave enough to body up O’Neal every time down the floor. The UK senior is so big compared to most of the defenders pestering him that there are bound to be should-be calls that go unnoticed, or ignored.
“There are sometimes we feel that way on the sideline but, y’know, I think the officials, they’ve got it as hard as anybody during a college football game,” Smith said. “If we go back and watch it and think it’s something we need to turn in, we turn it in, and Coach Stoops has done a great job with that, trusting our opinions as well as his. ... It’s a catch-22. The good part, fortunately for us, is we’ve been on the plus-side a lot.
Wagner is third on the team in receptions (12) and second in receiving yardage (248) behind receiver-turned-quarterback Lynn Bowden. He leads UK with two TD receptions and seven pass-interference penalties drawn this year (one was declined because he also caught a touchdown on the play). Tight end Justin Rigg is the only other Wildcat who’s had a defender flagged for a PI.
Last year Wagner was targeted four times, three of those resulting in pass-interference flags. The first of his career remains the most decisive and infamous: with no time left on the clock at Missouri, Tigers defender DeMarkus Acy was called for a PI after battling Wagner in the back of the end zone, leading to an untimed down that gave way to a game-winning TD.
Wagner still managed to come down with the ball but landed out of bounds. Whether the flag should have been thrown or not — there are some in Missouri who a year later contend that Wagner was as responsible, if not more to blame, for the contact as Acy — the fact that he followed through and finished the play was a difference-maker.
“By him catching that ball, the referee had to make that call,” Smith said. “He had to make that call cause the kid made that play. He was a couple yards out of bounds but a lot of people wouldn’t have gotten to that ball, and that’s part of Ahmad’s game, being that big wide receiver that can come down.”
“If we put it up there, we expect him to make the play or get a pass-interference call.”
Asked if he thinks Mizzou will have 14 — his number — circled with emphasis this week, Wagner was coy.
“Nah, they probably forgot about that,” he said with a laugh. “They probably won’t do nothing different. I’m sure they’re going to come ready to play just like every other week they do.”
Saturday
Missouri at Kentucky
When: 7:30 p.m.
TV: SEC Network
Records: Kentucky 3-4 (1-4 SEC), Missouri 5-2 (2-1 SEC)
This story was originally published October 24, 2019 at 7:25 AM.
