Brock Vandagriff is a unicorn among five-star QBs, but can he still live up to his hype?

Three years into Brock Vandagriff ’s college football career and the former five-star recruit is still waiting to make his first start.

But he might have already indirectly changed the future of at least one NFL franchise.

The domino effect of high-stakes quarterback play starts when Vandagriff committed to Oklahoma in the spring of 2019, just after finishing his sophomore year of high school, cementing the perception of Vandagriff as one of the best quarterbacks in his high school class as the pick of quarterback guru Lincoln Riley.

But less than a year later Vandagriff backed out of that commitment, eventually deciding to stay just minutes from his hometown to play at Georgia.

Vandagriff’s decommitment opened the door for Riley to pursue Caleb Williams as his class of 2021 quarterback. Williams eventually signed with Oklahoma then followed Riley to USC, where he would win the 2022 Heisman Trophy before being drafted with the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL draft by the Chicago Bears.

As Williams looks to jump start his NFL career, Vandagriff is seeking a fresh start of his own.

The decision to play for his hometown team was rewarded with two national championship rings and a degree but little playing time.

Vandagriff was blocked by two-time national champion quarterback Stetson Bennett for his first two seasons at Georgia then lost the competition for the starting job to possible 2025 NFL draft No. 1 pick Carson Beck as a junior. With Beck returning for the 2024 season, Vandagriff finally decided to search elsewhere for a starting opportunity.

That path led him to Lexington.

“There’s definitely times when you question that (decision to stay at Georgia), but basically just said a lot of prayers and stuff, felt like I was right where I needed to be,” Vandagriff told the Herald-Leader shortly after opening his first preseason camp at UK. “I was growing my faith a lot. Was able to go to the same church I went to all through high school. Being able to go see my parents on Sundays, stuff like that.

“Basically, I guess the Lord was just preparing me for my next journey, which has obviously led me here. … I think everything happens for a reason and wouldn’t change for anything.”

A unicorn among five-star quarterbacks

The optimistic Kentucky football fan can point to the quarterbacks who kept Vandagriff on the sideline at Georgia as a plausible explanation for why he did not play in Athens and can still cash in on his recruiting hype. Pessimists will look at his 21 pass attempts in three college seasons and assume he did not turn out to be as good as recruiting pundits thought.

But either camp is just guessing until we actually see Vandagriff start SEC games.

His situation is essentially unprecedented for five-star quarterbacks in the recruiting website era.

Since 247Sports was founded in 2010, only one other quarterback awarded a five-star rating by the 247Sports Composite, which averages the rankings of the major recruiting services, did not start at least one game in his first three college seasons. To be clear, some of the quarterbacks who did play early in their careers did not live up to the hype, but there was at least a clear verdict on their potential by year four.

Most of the 28 five-star quarterbacks from 2010 to 2021, according to the 247Sports Composite, started games within their first two seasons at the school they signed with out of high school. Of those who found themselves blocked by incumbent starters for more than a year, almost all of them transferred to a school where they could start immediately.

But Vandagriff followed neither path.

“At a program like Georgia, that’s what you got to do: You got to wait sometimes,” linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson, who also transferred from Georgia to Kentucky over the offseason, said. “You know, one great year, go to the league.

“So, no, I’m not surprised at all. You know the way Coach (Kirby Smart) running the program over there, sometimes you got to sit. Sometimes people don’t. You got a few people that didn’t sit … but for the most part, everybody had to sit.”

As the football adage goes, quarterbacks are made to transfer though. Of the six quarterbacks rated as five-star prospects by the 247Sports Composite in Vandagriff’s high school class, five played for multiple schools. Of the five quarterbacks rated as five-star prospects by the composite in the high school class of 2023, two have already transferred after just one college season.

So, why didn’t Vandagriff leave?

He has cited finishing his degree as the threshold he needed to feel comfortable leaving Georgia, but it is also clear family ties kept him in Athens.

“The culture that they have set at Georgia was good,” Vandagriff said. “I never dreaded to come in the facility. Being able to just, ‘Hey, yeah, I’m a backup this year. All right, awesome. I’m gonna learn everything I can to be the best quarterback I can be.’ Hey, with the backup quarterback position, you’re one ankle (injury) away. I gotta prepare every game like I’m the guy if something happens, I gotta make sure my team knows I’m ready to go.

“… Being able to stick around stuff like that, being true to your word, was something that was pretty, pretty important to me. And just valued those relationships there and was thankful for my time there. But it’s time for a new chapter.”

What should realistic expectations be for Brock Vandagriff?

Separating Vandagriff’s high school recruiting rankings from his current form is a difficult proposition with practices closed to the public.

Vandagriff was ranked fourth in the final class of 2021 247Sports Composite quarterback rankings, two spots behind Williams and one ahead of 2024 NFL draft No. 10 pick J.J. McCarthy. Drake Maye, Jaxson Dart and Jalen Milroe were among the other quarterbacks ranked lower than Vandagriff in the class who have already cemented their status as college stars.

Playing for his father at Price Avenue Christian School, Vandagriff threw for more than 9,000 yards in his last three high school seasons. He shined on the camp circuit too as evidenced by 247Sports ranking him No. 2 at the prestigious Elite 11 finals as a senior with analysts citing his accuracy, mechanics and quick release as justification for that spot.

Any worries that Vandagriff might be a product of the recruiting camp circuit and playing against lesser high school competition were seemingly silenced in the final game of his junior season. Prince Avenue Christian lost to six-time state champion Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy 62-57 in the Georgia Class A private school playoffs but Vandagriff threw for six touchdowns and rushed for two more.

“Everybody was was high on him,” said Ryne Dennis, who covered Vandagriff in high school and college for the Athens Banner-Herald. “He was completing passes at a crazy clip and he had the running ability with his legs. And I think there was very good reason for people to be high on him.”

Vandagriff debuted in the class of 2021 247Sports Composite rankings at No. 89 overall as a high school sophomore, his first season playing quarterback for Prince Avenue Christian. He rose as high as No. 7 in the summer of 2019 before eventually landing at No. 17 in the final ranking.

Rivals.com was the highest of the recruiting websites on Vandagriff, ranking him No. 8 overall and the No. 2 pro-style quarterback. While Williams was ranked as the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the class, Rivals analyst Mike Farrell pushed back on the idea that Oklahoma had upgraded with its quarterback commitment, calling it a “ lateral move .”

“Vandagriff is a strong, big kid who is going to be a monster in college at Georgia,” Farrell wrote in his breakdown of the Elite 11 camp . “His arm strength is evident as he rockets the ball downfield with ease and he’s usually on the money. He has good footwork for such a solid, muscular kid.”

Vanadagriff’s father, Greg, was known as a defensive-minded coach at Prince Avenue Christian, but it is now clear the offensive system he ran helped boost Brock’s statistics. The quarterback who followed Vandagriff there, now Georgia Tech freshman Aaron Philo, broke all of Vandagriff’s program records and graduated as the Georgia state record holder for career passing yards.

Unlike Vandagriff, Philo never rocketed up the recruiting rankings. He was rated as a consensus three-star prospect whose only Power Five scholarship offers were from Georgia Tech, Minnesota and Cincinnati.

But Vandagriff’s recruiting ranking was based on more than just gaudy high school stats.

“If you asked me this question three years ago, I’d have been like, yeah, he’s gonna be a starter at UGA, he’s gonna go on and be a pro someday, ” Dennis said. “But I think there’s a lot of question marks there still. I don’t care if you’re a five-star or one-star, if you haven’t played in four years against legit competition, I think there’s going to be some question marks, and he really needs to answer those.”

After arriving at Kentucky, Vandagriff quickly won over teammates and coaches with his business-like approach and lack of ego.

It should be noted that Vandagriff was the transfer quarterback pick of former UK offensive coordinator Liam Coen, who helped transform Will Levis from a run-first backup at Penn State to a second-round NFL draft pick. Coen returned to the NFL after Vandagriff enrolled at UK, and was replaced by former Boise State offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan , who will run a similar pro-style attack.

“He’s a full-time quarterback,” Hamdan said. “He loves it. From a leadership standpoint, I think his teammates understand the preparation he puts in. That’s first and foremost. It always starts there. It’s a guy that really wants to be great.”

UK coaches and players have been universal in their praise for Vandagriff since he arrived on campus in January, but they have also made it clear there is work to do.

The fact that Vandagriff has two seasons of eligibility remaining was a plus for Kentucky thanks to the track record of transfer quarterbacks across college football really clicking in year No. 2 in a new program. But the rest of Kentucky’s roster is built to win now thanks to a veteran defense and experienced group of offensive playmakers around Vandagriff.

“I don’t feel like that high school ranking really matters,” preseason All-America defensive lineman Deone Walker said. “I was a three-star coming out of high school. Nobody thought that I’d be where I am at now, so I don’t really look at that. I feel like a lot of our players don’t look at that.

“You know, a lot of our leaders have made that a like focal point to not look at that. Let’s see what they do here in practice, against some of our top guys. What are they going to do against our defense? We got a top-five run defense. What can you do against that? And he’s flashed a lot. … I’ve seen flashes of he could be a great quarterback.”

Kentucky will need more than flashes from Vandagriff to reach its potential this fall.

The addition of Rutgers transfer Gavin Wimsatt as an experienced backup quarterback who is expected to be used in “wildcat” formations lessens some pressure on Vandagriff, but Vandagriff will be expected to make plays with his arm and legs.

Kentucky does not need Vandagriff to be Williams, McCarthy or Maye to be successful this season, but he must prove his lack of playing time at Georgia was a fluke and not a sign of personal struggles.

Do that, and Vandagriff will still have a chance to carve out a legacy as more than a former five-star recruit.

“There’s no animosity toward any of that,” Vandagriff said. “But it’s great seeing guys like Caleb and Drake Maye, J.J. McCarthy, those dudes that we used to go to camps back in the day and stuff. Obviously they had opportunity before I did. And man, I’m clapping for them.

“Still text to this day, some of those guys. … But at the end of the day, I’m not not counting stats, stuff like that. I’m gonna go out there and have the best year I can have. And however it stacks up, it stacks up. I’m just just worried about No. 12 right now and how he’s going to be this year.”

UK season opener

Southern Mississippi at Kentucky

When: Aug. 31, 7:45 p.m.

TV: SEC Network

Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1

Series: Kentucky leads 3-1

Last meeting: Kentucky won 24-17 on Sept. 2, 2017, at Hattiesburg, Miss.

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