At Texas, Brock Vandagriff will have one more chance to stake claim for 2025 UK QB job

Mark Stoops did not let the speculation about whether Cutter Boley’s standout performance off the bench against Murray State would lead to a quarterback change linger for long.

“A lot to build on there, but Brock (Vandagriff) will be under center,” Stoops said Monday of his plan for the matchup at No. 3 Texas. “Brock has given us a chance to win on the road and beat a playoff team, and had an opportunity in some others.

“... We certainly like what we saw in one half of football (from Boley), but again, Brock has done some really good things in some really, really tough, hostile environments to put us in a position to win as well.”

That assessment was essentially an admission that starring against a 1-10 FCS team is not the same as facing an SEC opponent. Stoops confirmed that Boley would continue to take first- and second-team reps in practice in order to prepare to play if needed, but the spotlight is on Vandagriff again this week.

It might be the last chance for the much-hyped Georgia transfer to cement his claim to the starting job.

Much of the Kentucky offense’s struggles have little to do with Vandagriff’s play, but he has been plagued by the inconsistency that has characterized most of the team. Since Stoops and offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan benched Vandagriff for the second half of the loss at Auburn for run-first backup Gavin Wimsatt — when the outcome of the game was still in doubt — it has appeared that Kentucky is at the very least moving toward a preseason competition for the 2025 starting job.

This is far from the best-case scenario Vandagriff, UK coaches and fans hoped for when he picked the Wildcats out of the transfer portal. That rosy picture involved Vandagriff quickly proving his five-star high school recruiting hype was justified, using a productive 2024 season to shake off rust after sitting behind Stetson Bennett and Carson Beck at Georgia for three years then blossoming into a true star in his second season in the UK system in 2025.

Now, Vandagriff might need a strong showing against Texas to even hold onto his starting job for the Governor’s Cup rivalry against Louisville in the regular season finale.

“It is what it is right now,” Stoops said. “Brock’s our starting quarterback and he’s earned it and worked his tail off.”

Vandagriff has completed 57.8% of his passes for 1,542 yards, nine touchdowns and seven interceptions this season. There were positive signs of progress from Vandagriff and the entire offense in the first half at Tennessee, one game after he was benched against Auburn, but a head injury sent him to the bench in the second half and caused him to miss most of UK’s bye week practices that followed.

Doctors cleared Vandagriff to play on the eve of the Murray State game, and Stoops elected to start him against the FCS foe in hopes of building further momentum. While Vandagriff’s final stat line (12-for-19 for 183 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in just one half of play) was fine, 52 of his passing yards came on a badly underthrown touchdown pass to Hardley Gilmore that deflected off the hands of a Murray State defender. A nearly identical play followed on UK’s next drive that was intercepted.

“I thought that was probably one of my lesser days ever throwing the football,” Vandagriff said. “Was not really excited for my performance. Glad the offense lifted me up, being able to run the ball. Threw the ball very mediocre in my opinion.”

Vandagriff’s assessment might be overly harsh considering he later posted multiple highlight reel-worthy completions, including a touchdown throw to Ja’Mori Maclin, but he did little to hide from the fact he had not played well enough to secure the starting job heading into the offseason.

That is a worry for the future though. Stoops has little option but to start Vandagriff this week.

Boley went 0-for-6 with a pick six in his only SEC appearance to date (a late cameo in the loss at Florida after the outcome had been decided) while Vandagriff led UK to a win at then No. 6-ranked Ole Miss in September. Kentucky’s best hope to win in Austin and keep its dreams of a ninth straight bowl trip alive appear to be duplicating the Ole Miss game plan and the one from closer-than-expected losses to playoff contenders Georgia and Tennessee by limiting possessions and not forcing things in the passing game.

While Vandagriff has been far from perfect, he still seems the better bet to execute that plan than a freshman making his first SEC start in front of close to 100,000 hostile fans.

“Every single start, every quarter in this league, is extremely valuable,” Hamdan said. “... There’s certainly things, even in this last game, plays that (Vandagriff) made, that maybe weren’t made versus Tennessee. And so the growth is the most critical thing, I think, at this position, in any position.”

While Vandagriff’s performance has failed to live up to his preseason hype, his work ethic and dedication to Kentucky cannot be questioned.

Coaches and teammates have heaped praise on the example he has set in the locker room. Even in speaking to reporters Wednesday, Vandagriff raved about Boley’s performance and welcomed the opportunity to do anything he could for the program, even if that meant being “the best third-string guy I can be.”

For at least one more week, he is the starter though, and perhaps the narrative can still be flipped with some magic in Austin.

“When you don’t play well, obviously there’s going to be speculation and stuff, things of that sort,” Vandagriff said. “My job is to go out there and play my best football.”

Saturday

Kentucky at No. 3 Texas

When: 3:30 p.m. EST

TV: ABC

Records: Kentucky 4-6 (1-6 SEC); Texas 9-1 (5-1 SEC)

Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1

Series: Texas leads 1-0

Last meeting: Texas won 7-6 on Sept. 22, 1951, in Austin, Texas

This story was originally published November 21, 2024 at 7:06 AM.

Jon Hale

Lexington Herald-Leader

(859) 414-6776

Jon Hale is the University of Kentucky football beat writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He joined the Herald-Leader in 2022 but has covered UK athletics for more than 10 years. Hale was named the 2021 Kentucky Sportswriter of the Year. Support my work with a digital subscription