Waiting to hear who Kentucky’s starting QB will be this year? See you in September.
Kentucky offensive coordinator Liam Coen anticipates having an “idea” of what the quarterback pecking order will be following his first spring stint with the program, but on Tuesday he confirmed what most believed to be true about the competition for the 2021 job: it isn’t going to be decided until the summer.
There weren’t many dropped balls in the Wildcats’ first organized practice of the calendar year. Outside of that tidbit, Coen was mum on specifics about how the quarterbacks currently on campus — Beau Allen, Joey Gatewood, Nik Scalzo and Kaiya Sheron — performed and how their reps were distributed Tuesday.
While post-spring development and instruction will impact who stands apart among the signal-callers come September, a major factor will be how Penn State transfer Will Levis mixes things up and how quickly he develops rapport with a room of receivers learning a new offense. He won’t enroll until the summer but Coen expects Levis, who played in 15 games for the Nittany Lions over the course of the last two seasons (making one start in each) to have his say in how things shake out.
Levis has started connecting with UK players and is watching film of the L.A. Rams, the team Coen helped coach prior to getting hired by Kentucky.
“It’s more so for him about putting it all together and becoming that true, dynamic quarterback in all three phases for him: running the football, operationally and throwing it,” Coen said. “I think he’s gonna come in and give it a go just like if he were at Penn State or anywhere else. We’re going to create that competition and give these kids the summer to get through some of that stuff.”
For every position group, not just the quarterbacks, this spring session is more about installation and retooling techniques than it is evaluation for the fall depth chart. Players are being graded and receiving feedback every day on an individual level, of course, but Coen’s goal is for everybody to understand and execute the offense by spring’s end; those who execute it the best can be determined later.
One thing that encouraged Coen during his first practice?
“It doesn’t appear as though you have to coach effort,” he said. “The guys fly around, they know how to practice. You can tell the culture’s strong.”
Receivers
One position that’s easier to evaluate than others in a tackle-free environment, according to Coen, is wide receiver. What they do with their feet and how they control their bodies after catching a ball is revealing.
Every player on the offense is in the midst of re-education, but the receivers in particular are being asked to do more than they have been the last couple of seasons.
“I know they can block,” Coen said. “I want to see ‘em throw and catch and be special with the ball in their hands. … It’s intriguing to see some of those kids run around and catch the ball a little bit more than they probably have in the past.”
One of the few proven veterans on Kentucky’s roster is Josh Ali, who decided to return for an additional year after speaking with Coen and watching film of how he could be used in a more balanced offense. Ali’s been “the type of kid that does everything right,” Coen said, and whose leadership will be crucial as things ramp up.
Ali said the new offense will better demonstrate the professional potential of UK’s receivers.
“This is an NFL offense,” Ali said. “All the film that we watch for our plays are from NFL teams, so I feel like the concepts and different routes we run will transfer over to the league. … Learning this offense I feel like I’ve got a good head start on going to the next level.”
