Why Will Stein picked one of youngest assistants in country to lead UK O-line
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Will Stein hired 27‑year‑old Cutter Leftwich to lead Kentucky’s offensive line.
- Leftwich rose from GA roles to run game coordinator after improving Oregon rushing.
- Kentucky replaces its entire starting OL while mixing transfers and internal competition.
A visitor dropped into Kentucky football’s offensive line room might have a difficult time separating the coach from the players.
The visitor certainly could confuse Coleton Price, the Wildcats’ married fifth-year senior center, with the man tasked with leading the group. That’s because offensive line coach Cutter Leftwich is just a few years removed from playing himself.
At 27 years old, he is one of the youngest power-conference position coaches in the country.
“I think he’s a really hands-on kind of guy,” offensive lineman Olaus Alinen said of Leftwich. “I know he has to sometimes even restrict himself to running up (to the line) to coach, which I like.”
When Will Stein was hired to replace Mark Stoops as Kentucky’s coach in December, it would have been easy for him to look for a seasoned veteran for one of the most important hires on his staff. At 36 years old, Stein will be the second-youngest power conference coach in the country this fall.
But Stein was convinced Leftwich, who had served as run game coordinator alongside Stein at Oregon last season, was ready for the job.
“I saw him do it,” Stein told the Herald-Leader before spring practice. “Not just on the field coaching, but off the field development, in the meeting rooms, recruiting. I mean, the guy’s relentless in everything he does. He’s the son of a coach. He’s the brother of a coach. He’s got no other hobbies besides coaching and being around his wife.”
While Leftwich landing an SEC coaching job so early in his career might be a surprise, the fact that he has positioned himself for a long coaching career is not.
Leftwich’s father, Spencer, spent more than 30 years coaching college football, with most of his focus on the offensive line. His older brother, Mack, is viewed as a rising star in the profession as offensive coordinator for one of the most prolific offenses in the country at Texas Tech.
Leftwich spent two years as the starting center at McNeese State before an injury ended his playing career earlier than expected. His coaching career started with a graduate assistant position in 2021 at UTSA, where Stein was then wide receivers coach. After a year as a graduate assistant at UCLA, Leftwich reunited with Stein at Oregon as a graduate assistant and assistant offensive line coach in 2023.
He left Oregon to lead the offensive line at North Texas in 2024 but returned to Eugene as run game coordinator for the 2025 season. Oregon improved its rushing average by more than 40 yards per game with Leftwich in that position.
“He brought as much to our offense last year as any other coach on our staff,” Stein said. “...Cutter was a major factor in why we were able to do that.
“I just know him. Your O-line guy, you want to know, really want to know. So it’s important for me to bring a guy in that I know knows our run game, which has been, I think, really good over the last three years.”
Working with a young offensive line coach is nothing new for Stein.
Oregon offensive line coach A’lique Terry was also 27 when he was hired in that position in 2023, Stein’s first season as offensive coordinator for the Ducks.
“He’s a great coach,” former Oregon offensive lineman Emmanuel Pregnon said of Leftwich at the NFL combine. “He taught me a lot in my tenure at Oregon, and I believe he’s going to do great as well with Will Stein. Those are two great minds.”
Stein’s supersized coaching staff means Leftwich will have help with assistant offensive line coach Dallas Warmack, who served as an offensive analyst at Oregon last season, and graduate assistant Paul Rodriguez also working in the offensive line room. Stein could still replace run game coordinator Derek Warehime, one of his early hires who has since left UK for a job as assistant offensive line coach for the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings.
But even with help, Leftwich faces a tough task in Year 1 on the job.
Kentucky must replace its entire starting offensive line. The staff landed three transfers with multiple years of power-conference starting experience (Price, left tackle Lance Heard and guard Tegra Teshabola), but at least two starting spots remain up for grabs.
The legacy of UK’s offensive line, dubbed the Big Blue Wall when late offensive line coach John Schlarman led it during the Stoops era, adds additional scrutiny.
Early returns are positive, though. Each of the offensive linemen made available for interviews after spring practice praised Leftwich for his willingness to deliver hard coaching and treat every lineman in the room the same.
There has been some good-natured teasing about Leftwich’s constant harping on his bum ankle preventing him from still playing, but the small age gap between players and coach has helped foster a quick connection in a position group full of new faces.
“I tell the guys, there’s nobody that can be able to relate to them better than me,” Leftwich said. “...The game of football is continuing to evolve and change. I understand that, but not too long ago, I was in their shoes.
“So I can be able to relate to those guys extremely, extremely well. I don’t think there are any disadvantages. My whole life I’ve grown up around football from my family. Ever since I was little, this is all I’ve ever wanted to be able to do.”