Kentucky football in 2022: What we know, what we don’t, and three predictions
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Citrus Bowl game day: Kentucky 20, Iowa 17
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s VRBO Citrus Bowl between Kentucky and Iowa at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla.
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The skin is barely off the orange that was Kentucky’s 2021 campaign, but football is a year-round sport.
A lot is going to happen between now and UK’s next kickoff. There’s no way to predict much of it. But let’s not allow that to stop us from assessing the current state of affairs and making some quick predictions about the 2022 edition of the Wildcats.
What we know
1. Kentucky has a good QB: Will Levis’ decision-making improved over the course of the season and it showed in the play of UK’s offense, especially on Saturday. When it looked dead in the water against a vaunted Iowa defense, Levis was key in the engineering of a winning drive. He finished his first season with 2,826 yards and 24 touchdown passes while completing 66% of his throws. He didn’t get on campus until last summer; a full offseason of work could be transformative for him and, by extension, the Wildcats.
2. He should have weapons: Wan’Dale Robinson will probably be gone, and receivers No. 2 and 3 (Josh Ali and Isaiah Epps) will definitely be, but a talented stable of youngsters will get a lot of time to work alongside Levis between January and September. Virginia Tech transfer Tayvion Robinson will add a veteran presence to a room that could see two true freshmen, Barion Brown and Dane Key, contribute right away. The staff was high on Dekel Crowdus, a true freshman this season, before a knee injury sidelined him all year. Izayah Cummings should improve as an all-around tight end. The return of tight end Keaton Upshaw — pegged as a breakout candidate before missing this season with a pectoral injury — might be the biggest addition of all.
3. The schedule: UK can start off on a strong foot. It goes to Florida after its season opener versus Miami (Ohio), but that trip no longer is as intimidating as it once was. Its chances to be 4-0 are pretty good going into a road trip at Ole Miss, against which it lost a nail-biter early in 2020. Home games against South Carolina and Mississippi State follow before the bye, which precedes the road trip to Tennessee. Missouri (road) and Vanderbilt (home) start November before what could be another East Division-deciding date with Georgia in Lexington, where it’ll host Louisville to close the regular season.
What we don’t
1. A lot of NFL decisions: Darian Kinnard has been an anchor at right tackle and won’t be around anymore, but left tackle Dare Rosenthal could bolt for the league, too. What about nose guard Marquan McCall? Linebackers Jacquez Jones and DeAndre Square? Chris Rodriguez? There’s a lot of be sifted through when it comes to UK’s roster make-up, and those decisions could have ripple effects. Chances are, as was the case this season, some of UK’s most impactful players in 2022 might not be on the roster until after going through spring camp elsewhere and deciding they’d be better off in Lexington.
2. Defensive playmaking: D’Eryk Jackson came up with one of three UK interceptions in the Citrus Bowl, but the others were courtesy of Quandre Mosely, a “super senior,” and Square, who could opt into a fifth year of eligibility. Kentucky had a tough time generating much in the way of turnovers and potential turnovers this season — it finished with nine interceptions and seven forced fumbles in 13 games — and had a rough time producing big plays with its pass rush. Those areas will be focal points of development ahead of the 2022 campaign.
3. The expectations: More precisely, how Kentucky will handle what is likely to be the rosiest outlook it’s had going into any season under Mark Stoops, especially if it ends up getting several “super seniors” back in the fold. Its players after the Citrus Bowl win were vocal about that level of game, and the 10th win that it earned, being the standard now in Lexington. It’s a high one to meet.
Predictions
1. Kentucky makes a New Year’s Six bowl: It was knocking on the door this season, and if not for a crushing loss at home to Tennessee might have qualified for the Sugar Bowl or Fiesta Bowl with a 10-2 record. If 10-2 puts a team in that ballpark again, UK should have another opportunity to get into a New Year’s Six game for the first time under Stoops.
2. Last year for a coordinator: If Liam Coen from year one to year two can improve Kentucky’s offense as much as he did from its 2020 starting point to where it ended up in 2021, he’s going to field a ton of phone calls from teams that would be worth listening to, assuming he wants to be the head coach of an FBS program. Perhaps the NFL scoops him back up. The same could happen with defensive coordinator Brad White, who was the subject of interest this offseason, though UK proved through with that incident that it’s much more of a desirable place to be than it used to be. It’s tough to keep quality staffers in the fold forever, though, and even harder to keep good ones. Upheaval could come calling after next season as the result of success, not failure.
3. Heisman campaign: It’s not crazy to believe that Will Levis could make a leap from this season to next that will qualify him as a dark-horse candidate for the Heisman Trophy. He should be one of the top quarterbacks in the SEC and is playing in a QB-friendly offense that’s attracting legitimate pass-catching talent. Perhaps just as important, he comes across as a natural leader and knows how to turn the spotlight onto himself in a lighthearted manner. A lot of folks knew who Kentucky’s quarterback was because he ate a banana with the peel on in 2021; next year they’ll know a lot more.
2022 UK schedule
Home games in all capital letters
Sept. 3: MIAMI (OHIO)
Sept. 10: At Florida
Sept. 17: YOUNGSTOWN STATE
Sept. 24: NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Oct. 1: At Mississippi
Oct. 8: SOUTH CAROLINA
Oct. 15: MISSISSIPPI STATE
Oct. 29: At Tennessee
Nov. 5: At Missouri
Nov. 12: VANDERBILT
Nov. 19: GEORGIA
Nov. 26: LOUISVILLE
This story was originally published January 2, 2022 at 9:54 AM.
