Why Jamarion Wilcox has finally landed a featured role for Kentucky football’s offense
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Prior to Kentucky football’s loss at Tennessee, the Wildcats looked in real danger of becoming the first UK team without a single 100-yard rushing performance since 2008.
But redshirt freshman Jamarion Wilcox kept that streak alive with his best performance to date in what has been a confusing season characterized by glimpses of great promise and plenty of questions about why he wasn’t playing more.
“It’s probably taken us a week or two too long to really force those carries,” offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan said after that game.
Wilcox has long looked like the most explosive runner on Kentucky’s roster. He entered the Tennessee game averaging 6.4 yards per carry but had just 39 carries in eight games.
With normal starter Demie Sumo-Karngbaye sidelined by injury, Wilcox had earned his first start the week prior against Auburn, but finished that game with just seven carries for 25 yards and one touchdown. Sumo-Karngbaye returned to the field against Tennessee, but Wilcox retained his starting role.
And on the first play of the game in Knoxville, he more than justified that faith from coaches with a 50-yard run for Kentucky’s first run of longer than 24 yards this season.
“We got that one blocked, and Jamarion hit it,” UK coach Mark Stoops said. “He hit it straight downhill and created a very explosive play on the first play of the game, which gave us a lot of momentum. It was great to see.”
Unlike previous weeks where an explosive run from Wilcox was not necessarily followed by more opportunities, Hamdan continued to call the redshirt freshman’s number.
He finished the game with a career-high 17 carries for 102 yards and two catches for 10 yards.
“He’s kind of what you want out of an SEC running back, and he’s only a redshirt freshman,” associate head coach Vince Marrow said. “He’s going to get better and better. I can’t wait to see him just keep growing and growing.”
For an offense looking for more explosive plays, Wilcox had long seemed like a player worthy of more touches, but his role was inconsistent.
UK coaches raved about his potential during preseason camp, but even after projected starter Chip Trayanum was sidelined by an injury that would cause him to miss the first half of the season, Wilcox opened the year third on the depth chart behind Sumo-Karngbaye and freshman Jason Patterson. He recorded two carries in the opener but did not touch the ball in the Week 2 loss to South Carolina.
A week later, Wilcox announced his presence in a major way with nine carries for 43 yards against then No. 1-ranked Georgia. He followed that performance with eight carries for 82 yards against Ohio.
Wilcox tallied seven carries for 23 yards in the upset win at Ole Miss but was limited to just three carries in losses to Florida and Vanderbilt.
Facing repeated questions about why Wilcox was not playing more, UK coaches appeared to try to walk a fine line between highlighting areas for improvement while acknowledging his big-play potential. Stoops at one point drew the ire of some fans when he appeared to grow frustrated at the repeated questions about Wilcox’s role.
“Here’s a simple thing: tie your shoes,” Stoops said when asked what Wilcox needed to do to play more after the Vanderbilt loss. “... He doesn’t tie his shoes, so he runs it but his shoes fall off, so he’s got to come out. That would help.”
Wilcox’s shoe came off again the next week at Florida. He returned to the field in the second half with his shoes secured by medical tape to his feet.
The soft-spoken Wilcox has been reluctant to agree to interview requests this season, but he did recently confirm to the Herald-Leader his shoes were tied before they came off. He has since changed the pair of cleats he wore in games and the issue has not returned.
Whether or not Wilcox was actually at fault for his shoes coming off, it was clear he had work to do to earn more trust from his coaches.
Stoops revealed on one radio show that Wilcox had missed a team meeting prior to the South Carolina game where he did not receive a carry. Hamdan has acknowledged that part of Wilcox’s inconsistent role was due to game situations not resulting in the plays they were confident Wilcox knew being called. With pass protection being a problem for the offense, the staff appreciated Sumo-Karngbaye’s stellar work in blitz pickup as something of a security blanket while Wilcox still worked to master that part of his responsibility.
“I mean the kid didn’t grow up in a Division I football institution,” running backs coach Jay Boulware said. “So, when you get to places like this, you have to fit in with the other 115 guys and do exactly like the other 115 guys. And he’s come along nicely in that.”
Stoops and UK’s other coaches have gone out of their way to stress in recent weeks that even if Wilcox had not mastered the full responsibilities of playing running back in the SEC that was not a reflection on his work ethic.
“It’s just the normal maturation process,” Stoops said on his radio show during the bye week. “Some guys pick things up in every aspect of it very quickly, and some guys (take longer). That’s at every position.”
The 100-yard performance against Tennessee does not mean Wilcox has suddenly mastered the playbook, but it does appear to be something of a turning point in his role.
Saturday’s game against FCS Murray State should offer another opportunity for extensive carries. If Kentucky has any hope of pulling off upsets of Texas and Louisville to keep its eight-year bowl streak alive, Wilcox will almost certainly have to play a big role in boosting an offense that has still not scored more than 20 points against an SEC opponent.
“One thing is for sure, that’s undeniable — I see it and I think you see it and everybody sees it — is if you hand the ball off to him he can make some guys miss and he can run,” Stoops said. ”He is a talented young man. He means really well. He’s very conscientious. He’s going to be just fine. He’s just growing and coming along through the system.
“There’s a lot to it. … I do like seeing him with the ball in his hands — that’s for sure — because he can make some people miss.”
Saturday
Murray State at Kentucky
When: 1:30 p.m.
TV: SEC Network+
Records: Murray State 1-9 (0-7 MVC); Kentucky 3-6 (1-6 SEC)
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Series: Kentucky leads 2-0
Last meeting: Kentucky won 48-10 on Sept. 15, 2018, in Lexington
This story was originally published November 14, 2024 at 7:00 AM.
