Kentucky hires John Schlarman’s successor as line coach. He comes from an SEC rival.
Kentucky’s new offensive line coach comes by way of another school within its own division of the Southeastern Conference.
Eric Wolford, who has been the offensive line coach at South Carolina since 2017, has been hired as the successor to John Schlarman, the only previous person to coach the position at Kentucky under head coach Mark Stoops.
Schlarman was hired as part of Stoops’ original staff at UK in 2013 and remained as its offensive line coach through the middle of the 2020 season. He died Nov. 12 following a two-year long battle with cancer.
“John Schlarman is very well-respected in our business,” Wolford said of his predecessor, whom he often crossed paths with on the recruiting trail. “ ... The way he handled himself, going through the situation that he had, there were probably some other things he could’ve did to, I don’t know for a fact, maybe done differently, but he was going to stick by his players. And that says a lot to me about what kind of person he is. ...
“It’s heartbreaking, quite frankly. I can tell you this: John Schlarman’s going to continue to have a presence in our meeting room and in our position group. I can assure you that.”
Wolford has 25 years of coaching experience, most of it in the college ranks. He spent two seasons with the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers as an assistant offensive line coach before joining Will Muschamp’s staff at South Carolina. Muschamp was fired in the midst of the 2020 season and incoming Gamecocks head coach Frank Beamer sought new members of the offensive staff.
He is the fifth native of Youngstown, Ohio, to join Kentucky’s football staff. Stoops, recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow, defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale and safeties coach Frank Buffano all hail from the northeast Ohio city.
Wolford was the head coach at Youngstown State from 2010-2014; Ron Stoops, Mark’s brother, was a defensive assistant on his staff there. He was the run game coordinator and offensive line coach at South Carolina under Steve Spurrier in 2009, and held similar roles at Illinois from 2007-2008.
His time in the NFL showed Wolford how important cross-training offensive linemen within the unit is (he noted an example from his first game, when the 49ers could only activate seven offensive linemen for a meeting with the Minnesota Vikings). Nailing down the center position, and establishing depth there, will be his first point of business when assembling UK’s 2021 offensive line, which is expected to lose four senior starters and could also lose junior Darian Kinnard to the NFL Draft.
Wolford expects extreme buy-in from his unit.
“If you just spend your time with us in the meeting room and that’s it, then you walk out of the building, flip a switch and it’s off, you’re making a big-time mistake,” Wolford said. “When I was with the 49ers, I was amazed at how much time those offensive linemen were in there, on their own, how much time they spent in there watching film and studying guys. And that was not when we were having position meetings. They were in there talking, the starting center, a tackle and a guard would be in there talking together. Sometimes the quarterback, (Colin) Kaepernick or Blaine Gabbert would come in there and talk protections when there was no coach in there. It takes that kind of commitment. If you’re just gonna spend your allotted four hours a day by the NCAA on football, you’re not gonna be great.”
UK’s contract with Wolford shows that the school will pay him $450,000 in his first year ($37,500 monthly), effective Jan. 1. That rate will stay in effect through June 30, 2022; on July 1, 2022, his annual salary will increase to $600,000, or $50,000 monthly. Wolford’s contract lasts through June 30, 2023.
Who’s blocking?
A sizable tidbit from Wolford’s debut news conference: He hinted that Kinnard is leaning toward a return to Kentucky.
That would be a big boost for the Wildcats, who could technically have three starters back if he were to return; senior-to-be Austin Dotson and junior-to-be Kenneth Horsey both made starts at guard this season, though only once in tandem (at Alabama).
Quintin Wilson, who will be a junior, played significant snaps down the stretch and is the likely front-runner for the starting center job. The other scholarship linemen on UK’s roster this season who could return are Deondre Buford, Eli Cox, Josh Jones, Jeremy Flax, Nick Lewis, Jake Pope and Naasir Watkins.
Frederick Douglass offensive guard Jager Burton, one of the top-ranked recruits that Kentucky signed on Wednesday, says Wolford has a fiery personality that resonates well with him.
“He likes to get on his players and yell and get excited when good stuff happens,” Burton said. “I like the intensity.”
UK signed two other offensive linemen, Paul Rodriguez and David Wohlabaugh, as part of its 2021 class.
Etc.
▪ Schlarman this week was presented a Broyles Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously by the Frank and Barbara Broyles Foundation. His unit is one of 11 semifinalists for the Joe Moore Award, given annually to the nation’s top offensive line.
▪ Guard Luke Fortner was named to the SEC’s All-Community Service Team on Thursday. He previously was named one of nine semifinalists for the Wuerffel Trophy, the sport’s top community service honor.
This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 10:00 AM.
