UK football’s Liam Coen says Wildcats have been all-in with the scheme this spring
Liam Coen might want his guys to be in the playbook a little more, to make a few more plays and clean up a few things from last Saturday’s first spring scrimmage, but there is one area where Kentucky’s new offensive coordinator has no complaints.
“Did you have to sell your offense to the older guys?” Coen was asked Tuesday.
“I didn’t have to sell anything,” he said. “These guys knew that they needed to get better on offense.”
It’s the reason UK head coach Mark Stoops brought the former Los Angeles Rams assistant quarterbacks coach here in the first place, to improve an offense that ranked 115th in total yards per game in 2020, 76th in 2019 and 104th in 2018.
“It’s not about me. It’s not about the offense,” Coen said. “I think they just knew that they needed to get better as an offense. You can’t throw for 110 yards the last two seasons, that’s just not good enough.”
Yes, on the way to a 5-6 mark, Kentucky passed the football for a meager 121.5 yards per game last year. That ranked 122nd out of the 127 Division I teams. And that number was an improvement from the 113.7 yards per game, and 127th ranking, in 2019.
So now in the final week of spring practice, how are Coen’s new pupils picking up and executing their new scheme? The OC seemed pleased with last Saturday’s scrimmage. There were just a few mistakes, especially when older players were on the field. Plays were made. The ball was spread around. Coen reported that all but one receiver caught at least one pass.
As for the quarterbacks, Coen reported improvement. Saturday’s pass completion percentage was good. Both Joey Gatewood and Beau Allen did some nice things, and Coen reported that Nik Scalzo had an excellent scrimmage.
Of course, as the coach said, “You get back and watch the film and you see there’s so much to clean up.”
But then that brings up another aspect in which Coen has been particularly impressed. This team knows how to practice. It doesn’t mess around. It doesn’t tackle players to the ground, or hit the quarterback, or any of the other nonsense that risks injury and slows down the learning process.
“The one thing I continue to go back and say is this program has done an unbelievable job practicing,” Coen said. “Coach Stoops has done such a nice job. Those are things at places where I’ve been in the past, you’re coaching every play. ‘Stay off the ground. No cheap shots.’ That doesn’t exist here. This has been a lot more like coaching in the NFL from that standpoint.”
There is one schematic difference from the NFL. The hash marks. In the pro game, the hash marks are positioned more toward the center of the field. In the college game, there’s more space between the hash marks, making it more of a “field” or “boundary” type game.
Coen admits he called former LSU offensive coordinator Joe Brady to ask him how he handled the hash marks when Brady went from the New Orleans Saints to Baton Rouge in 2019. Not a bad place to seek advice. Under Brady, Joe Burrow won the Heisman Trophy. And Brady is now heading into his second season as offensive coordinator with the Carolina Panthers.
As for Kentucky, three weeks into spring, the execution of Coen’s new offense might be coming, but the attitude is already there.
Sales job?
“I think there’s proof in that it has worked at other places. And it’s still football at the end of the day,” Coen said. “They understand we are as close as it gets to the National Football League, playing in the SEC at Kentucky. So I think that marriage and how similar it is, I think they saw we could be successful if we implement this system the right way. There hasn’t had to be any sell at all. They’ve been excited.”
