Portal prosperity sets up Kentucky football for a much-improved offense in 2023
In college football these days, you don’t rebuild, you reload.
Take our Kentucky Wildcats. No sooner had quarterback Will Levis and running back Chris Rodriguez announced their perfectly understandable intentions to not participate in the Cats’ Dec. 31 Music City Bowl appearance and continue on to the NFL than Mark Stoops had plucked a pair of replacements from the transfer portal for 2023.
Say hello to Devin Leary, the now former North Carolina State quarterback who was at or near the top of most experts’ portal available list. He committed to Kentucky on Tuesday.
Say hello to Ray Davis, the now former Vanderbilt running back who as a Commodore ran around and through the UK defense for 126 yards on 29 carries during Vandy’s surprise 24-21 November win over the Cats. Shortly after Leary made his intentions known, Davis made his commitment official.
The two high-profile additions only add more evidence to college football’s worst-kept secret, that Liam Coen will return as UK’s offensive coordinator in 2023. Why else would a pair of high-profile weapons, both with NFL aspirations, sign up to be future Wildcats?
Leary is a 6-foot-1, 215-pound New Jersey native who might have declared for this year’s NFL Draft had he not torn his pectoral muscle in the season’s sixth game. Leary threw for 35 touchdowns with just five interceptions in 2021. Like Levis, he has a strong arm that can drive the ball down the field.
“Talented, efficient passer who does a fantastic job of keeping the offense on pace,” Emory Hunt, a CBS Sports HQ analyst who publishes the Football Gameplan Draft Guide, said Tuesday. “Dude doesn’t put the ball in harms way, and will have Kentucky competing in the East next season.”
Joe Giglio, who covered North Carolina State football for the Raleigh News and Observer and now co-hosts a radio show in Raleigh, echoes Hunt’s assessment.
“Good player,” said Giglio. “NFL arm. Has had some hard luck with injuries in 2020 and then again this season. Quiet, business-like kind of guy. Think this is a ‘best case’ kind of NIL scenario, one you’d love more players to be able to benefit from.”
No doubt Coen’s work with Levis in 2021 factored heavily in Leary’s decision. At Penn State, Levis was a second-string quarterback used mainly in quarterback run situations. After one year at Kentucky, with Coen calling plays, Levis was being touted as a first-round NFL Draft pick.
And no doubt UK’s track record with first Benny Snell and then Rodriguez played a role in Davis’ decision. Despite being suspended the season’s first four games, Rodriguez still rushed for 904 yards and six touchdowns in 2022. He averaged 5.2 yards per carry. Davis averaged 4.5 per carry on the way to 1,042 yards rushing at Vanderbilt this season.
Leary and Davis are two significant pieces of what should be an improved UK offense in 2023. Leary will not be lacking passing targets what with Barion Brown, Dane Key, Tayvion Robinson, Jordan Dingle and Josh Kattus all expected to return. Davis joins a running back room that should include JuTahn McClain, Lavell Wright and possibly Ramon Jefferson, if Jefferson wins his appeal for another year of eligibility after missing all but one series of 2022 with an injury.
Coen is the key, of course. After helping Kentucky to a 10-3 record in 2021, the 37-year-old returned to the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams as Sean McVay’s offensive coordinator. Injuries have torpedoed the defending Super Bowl champs. And McVay remains the Rams’ principal play-caller. A UK return would put Coen back in charge of the play sheet.
And while Wednesday’s National Signing Day for graduating high school players is certainly important, winning the transfer portal may be even more important for programs like Kentucky. History says Stoops and staff have shown a good eye for talent and — just as important — a good feel for fit where the portal is concerned.
They’ve had good returns from reloading. There’s now every reason to believe those returns will be good again.
