UK QB hopes to ‘hook’ big wins in the fall

He’s yet to complete a pass at Kentucky, but Georgia transfer Brock Vandagriff has already lived up to part of his hype.

“Yes, he definitely can catch some fish, that’s for sure. That was a big part of the recruiting pitch,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops joked at Southeastern Conference Media Days last week in Dallas.

Vandagriff is an avid fisherman but Kentucky is hoping the quarterback will also “hook” some big wins for the Cats this season.

Stoops said while SEC backup quarterbacks normally don’t get a lot of playing time, Vandagriff did at Georgia because the Bulldogs often were up big in some games.

“Brock was in there. You just saw the way he operated. For us that’s a big deal. We’ve always been a pro-style offense, so you know he was coached well there. You know it was complex. You know he was doing the right things, and he could come in and handle our situation,” Stoops said.

Vandagriff committed to Kentucky thinking he would be playing for offensive coordinator Liam Coen, who then left for the NFL. However, Stoops is confident he will be just fine playing under new offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan.

“He obviously has the talent. He just needs to get under center and get some reps,” Stoops said.

That’s one reason offensive linemen Marques Cox and Eli Cox have worked with Vandagriff to organize voluntary offseason workouts.

Marques Cox said Vandagriff is “winning it over” when asked about the quarterback’s presence in the locker room already.

“The best thing he is doing is being himself. He is not trying to be somebody he’s not. He’s a country boy. We love him to death,” the offensive tackle said. “He loves to hunt, fish, do anything outside. So just letting him be himself and just adapting around him throughout the season. I think we’re going to have a really great season with him. I’m really excited to see what he can do.”

Vandagriff was a five-star recruit who played behind Stetson Bennett in 2021 and 2022 when Georgia won national titles and behind projected first-round draft pick Carson Beck in 2023 when Georgia barely missed the national playoffs.

Vandagriff, who finished his undergraduate degree in 2 1/2 years at Georgia, has two years of eligibility left with UK.

The Georgia transfer is a dual-threat quarterback that Hamdan plans to let run the ball much like Will Levis did in 2021 when UK won 10 games.

“At the end of the day my job is to keep him clean, keep him untouched and that way he can step up and fire the ball,” Marques Cox said. “Whatever I need to do to get my job done at the end of the day, that’s what’s going to be done, and it is what it is.”

Kentucky linebacker D’Eryk Jackson said at SEC Media Days he liked Vandagriff’s leadership.

“He just got this thing about him that he is just that guy. He got a thing about him where he got the long hair, and he is very competitive. He just brings like a mentality to the team that we needed,” Jackson said.

All-American defensive lineman Deone Walker likes how Vandagriff has embraced everyone on the team.

“He wants to get to know everyone no matter what. No matter if you are a walk-on, a scholarship guy, offense, defense. No matter what position you play, we’re all in the cafeteria, he is sitting next to anybody that he can striking up a conversation, no matter if it’s hunting, fishing, anything. He got a bunch of hobbies,” Walker said.

“I, myself, have never been hunting. I only fished, like, twice. That’s all new to me, but he is just a great guy. Very uptempo, very high-spirited.”

The post UK QB hopes to ‘hook’ big wins in the fall appeared first on Middlesboro News .