First Scouting Report: UK football will open 2022 against team filled with Kentuckians
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Citrus Bowl game day: Kentucky 20, Iowa 17
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s VRBO Citrus Bowl between Kentucky and Iowa at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla.
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An early look ahead to Kentucky’s 2022 football season opener:
The opponent
Kentucky (10-3, 5-3 SEC in 2021) will open its 2022 season against Mid-American Conference foe Miami (Ohio) (7-6, 5-3 MAC) on Sept. 3 at Kroger Field.
The RedHawks achieved a third straight winning season with a 27-14 victory over North Texas in the Frisco Football Classic in Frisco, Texas, on Dec. 23. It was Miami’s first bowl win since the 2010 season.
Miami Coach Chuck Martin and his coaching staff have made a recruiting push into the commonwealth of Kentucky in recent seasons and, as you will read below, it has started to pay off in a substantial manner.
Most recent meeting
Maxwell Smith threw for 310 yards and three touchdowns and Kentucky rolled up a whopping 675 yards of total offense as the Wildcats gave Mark Stoops his first victory as UK head coach with a 41-7 win over Miami on Sept. 7, 2013, at the venue then known as Commonwealth Stadium.
Series history
Kentucky leads 8-4-1 and has won the past three meetings.
Know your foe
1. Chuck Martin has been the Miami head man since the 2014 season and has a 39-52 record. He has executed a slow build. Martin began his coaching tenure with four straight losing seasons, but Miami finished with a .500 mark (6-6) in 2018 and has gone 17-13 over the past three seasons with a winning record each year (due to the coronavirus, Miami only played three games in 2020).
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2. A sophomore in the just-concluded season, Miami quarterback Brett Gabbert was the Most Outstanding Player in the bowl win over North Texas. The 6-foot, 209-pound St. Louis product completed 22 of 31 passes for 228 yards. If his name sounds familiar, Gabbert is the younger brother of ex-Missouri and current Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Blaine Gabbert.
3. The RedHawks roster is dotted with productive and/or promising players wooed from the Bluegrass State.
Ex-Covington Catholic quarterback A.J. Mayer is the RedHawks backup QB, and completed 68 of 125 passes for 946 yards and six touchdowns in 2021.
Former CovCath tight end Jack Coldiron caught 16 passes for 293 yards and a score for Miami this past season.
On the other side of the ball, ex-Covington Catholic standout Kameron Butler was a disruptive force on the RedHawks defensive line, recording 53 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, eight quarterback sacks and forcing three fumbles.
Former Lexington Catholic offensive lineman Sam Vaughn, all 6-7, 298 pounds of him, and ex-Clark County OL Ray Jackson, even bigger at 6-7, 315, are on the Miami roster. So are former Ballard defensive lineman Terran Hearn and defensive back Brett Coleman, a former Belfry Pirate.
There are more Kentuckians on the way.
In its 2022 signing class, Miami added prolific-passing quarterback Joe Humphreys of Daviess County and defensive back Mason Moore of Lexington Christian Academy. Moore is the son of former UK linebacker star Marty Moore.
For UK, facing Miami will have a similar feel to playing an in-state foe.
This story was originally published January 1, 2022 at 4:22 PM.
