Where things stand with Devin Leary, other Kentucky football injuries in spring practice
New Kentucky football quarterback Devin Leary was a full participant in the first day of spring practice Monday as he works his way back from a torn pectoral muscle that ended his 2022 season after six games at N.C. State.
“I know he was on a pitch count,” Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops said. “But the way we rotate quarterbacks and have depth, it didn’t affect the way I saw practice.”
Leary’s availability for spring practice is a significant boost for a Wildcat offense that has to replace likely top-10 NFL Draft pick Will Levis at quarterback and bounce back from a disappointing 2022 season.
When last fully healthy in 2021, Leary threw 35 touchdowns and just five interceptions to earn a spot as one of five finalists for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, which goes to college football’s top quarterback. Leary was ranked as the top available quarterback in the transfer portal when he committed to Kentucky in December.
Now, Leary can work on building chemistry with a group of talented but still young receivers led by sophomores Barion Brown and Dane Key. Offensive coordinator Liam Coen, who returned to Lexington after one year as the offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams, will have his projected starting quarterback available as he works to teach his scheme to those young playmakers this spring.
“Devin is just waiting to lead,” Stoops said. “What I mean by waiting is he’s earning it and he’s doing it respectfully. He can take over a room in five minutes, but he knows that it’s about going out and proving it day in and day out and not forcing that. … I think it’s very important to just be authentic, be who you are but also lead and find your voice in the right time and the right moment.”
Goal No. 1 for spring practice is improvement along the offensive line after Kentucky ranked 126th of 131 teams in sacks allowed last season. The quest to better protect Leary and the other quarterbacks has also received positive injury news with the availability of Northern Illinois left tackle transfer Marques Cox, who suffered a season-ending foot injury in week four against Kentucky last fall.
“He’s so big and athletic,” Stoops said of Cox. “A really good person, good leader. Just the way he goes about his business, the way he goes through walk-throughs, the way he goes through meetings, he’s just a very mature young man and works very hard. By the way, looks very athletic out there, so that’s good.”
Still, Kentucky will be short-handed this spring as several players work back from offseason surgeries.
Running back Ramon Jefferson, defensive lineman Kahlil Saunders, offensive tackle Nik Hall and tight ends Brenden Bates, Josh Kattus and Jordan Dingle will all be unavailable, Stoops said. The Kentucky coach also acknowledged other unnamed players might be limited in practice at times due to injury.
Missing the top three tight ends on the depth chart will mean extra opportunities for senior Izayah Cummings and freshman early-enrollee Khamari Anderson. The spring could be particularly important for Cummings, who looked like a player on the verge of a breakout late in the 2021 season with Coen as offensive coordinator but did not catch a pass in 2022.
Cummings was among the day one standouts, Stoops said before acknowledging the return of Coen alone will not ensure a larger role when the season starts.
“We will see,” Stoops said. “That’s up to Izayah. There’s a lot of good players around him. This spring is a little different, not as deep, but there’s really good players. Izayah just needs to worry about Izayah. He’ll have that opportunity in this system.”
Senior defensive back Vito Tisdale, who missed all of the 2022 season with a torn ACL, has returned to practice.
“He’s close to full go,” Stoops said. “He’s out there. He’s not limited. … We didn’t have pads on today. We’ll see how it goes with whether it gets sore or not. Sometimes you have to be a little bit cautious with knees.”
This story was originally published March 6, 2023 at 1:18 PM.