UK football lingering questions: Can Eric Wolford return the ‘Big Blue Wall’ to glory?
Each week leading up to the start of Kentucky football preseason camp, the Herald-Leader will take a look at one significant question facing the 2024 Wildcats.
This week, we’re looking at the Kentucky offensive line. With four returning players and position coach Eric Wolford on staff again, is the Big Blue Wall officially back?
Kentucky football’s offensive line was improved in 2023 after a dismal 2022 season, but concerns remain.
UK coach Mark Stoops clearly shared some of those concerns when he fired offensive line coach Zach Yenser shortly after signing him to a one-year extension because Wolford was suddenly available again due to the retirement of Nick Saban at Alabama. Wolford was considered one of UK’s better recruiters when he was on staff for the 10-win 2021 season, but he also was credited with a hard-nosed coaching style that helped increase the physicality of Kentucky’s linemen.
“I love what Eric brings and the mentality that he has,” Stoops said at SEC Media Days last week.
Wolford inherits an offensive line that returns starters at left tackle (Marques Cox), left guard (Dylan Ray), center (Eli Cox) and right guard (Jager Burton). Kentucky had already signed offensive line transfers Jalen Farmer (Florida) and Gerald Mincey (Tennessee) by the time Wolford was hired.
The group still lacks the ceiling of Wolford’s 2021 Kentucky offensive line, which featured two NFL draft picks, but is there enough talent and experience to again make the line a strength?
Depth again looks like a strength
For all the 2021 offensive line’s success, it relied almost entirely on its starting five, so it should not have come as total surprise that when the Wildcats lost those players and Wolford departed for Alabama the unit cratered in 2022.
Two years of rebuilding and multiple transfer portal additions have now returned the offensive line to the type of rotation that was commonplace during the second half of John Schlarman’s tenure as offensive line coach. In addition to the six linemen listed above, right tackle Courtland Ford should be counted on in the rotation after seeing extensive snaps a year ago.
If former Ohio State transfer Ben Christman, who missed the 2023 season with a knee injury, junior-college tackle transfer Anfernee Crease or at least one of the redshirt freshmen (Malachi Wood, Austin Ramsey and Koby Keenum) can contribute the rotation could be 8-10 deep.
“We’ve definitely got more depth,” Marques Cox said at SEC Media days. “We’ve got more opportunities for more people to play, more opportunities for people to show what they could do.
“I’ve got total faith in our O-line room and whoever’s up at the line blocking this year. It doesn’t matter. We all want to take care of it, because we all need each other.”
But is experience enough?
The 2024 season will be Marques Cox’s seventh year playing college football. He brings 49 career appearances to the roster. Eli Cox (44), Ford (33), Mincey (32) and Burton (29) have all played in at least 25 games too.
But even those players bring questions.
Marques Cox and Eli Cox both elected to return to UK this season by using the extra year of eligibility granted all players in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Burton has battled inconsistency throughout his two seasons as a starter. Ford and Mincey have shown flashes of promise in their careers but neither has proven to be an SEC-level right tackle yet.
Wolford’s 2021 UK offensive line featured NFL draft picks at right tackle (Darrian Kinnard) and center (Luke Fortner) and a third lineman who spent time in an NFL camp (right tackle Dare Rosenthal), but it is no certainty this group includes any future NFL players. The best candidates are probably Marques and Eli Cox, but if they were sure things to be drafted they likely would be in the NFL now instead of back for another college season.
Farmer started at left guard and Mincey started at right tackle in the spring game, but Ford was unavailable due to his recovery from an offseason surgery. Farmer and Mincey probably have the highest ceiling of the players battling at those positions, but if Ford, Ray and Christman can mount serious pushes in preseason camp that would make it easier to feel confident about the position’s potential.
Prediction
Kentucky averaged just 11 more rushing yards per game in 2023 than 2022 but surrendered 24 fewer sacks than the season before. It will be difficult to make a straight comparison between 2024 and 2023 due to the change in offensive scheme with UK shifting to a no-huddle attack under coordinator Bush Hamdan. The fact that Kentucky enters camp without a clear starter at running back further complicates the projection.
There is real pressure on Stoops and Wolford after the unorthodox offseason coaching switch. The prediction here is the sacks allowed number remains steady while the rushing yards per game increase slightly again. The offensive line should perform well enough to not be viewed as a weakness, but the days of that group establishing the identity of the entire team are probably finished.
Season opener
Southern Mississippi at Kentucky
When: 7:45 p.m. Aug. 31
This story was originally published July 23, 2024 at 10:13 AM.