Zach Yenser the type of coach John Schlarman would want coaching UK offensive line

yenser-edit-feb-28

Zach Yenser spent the last three years with the San Francisco 49ers but now he's the new offensive line coach at Kentucky. (San Francisco 49ers Photo)

Former Kentucky offensive coordinator Tony Franklin believes that Kentucky players are going to love new offensive line coach Zach Yenser.

“He is a really good human being that is a good dude. He is a really loyal friend and he is a brilliant brain. Zach is a really good technician on the field and the players will really respond to him,” said Franklin.

But here is the best praise that Franklin can give UK’s most recent hire.

“I think (former UK offensive line coach) John (Schlarman) would be thrilled to know Zach is there because there is not a better coach to treat young men the way they need to be treated than Zac and he is a really good coach, too. I am tickled for him and his wife and family.”

Yenser has been the assistant offensive line coach with the San Francisco 49ers the last three years but the Kentucky native got his coaching start at Troy University when Franklin was the offensive coordinator. Yenser transferred to Troy after playing at East Tennessee State and became a starting lineman on a conference championship team in 2006 when Schlarman was the offensive line coach. The next season he worked as a graduate assistant at Troy with Franklin, Schlarman, and Neal Brown, another former UK offensive coordinator who is now the head coach at West Virginia.

“Zach was just a normal player and I loved him. I eventually found out that for two years I called  him Jake before I got his name right. He said he was afraid to tell me that was not his name,” Franklin said. “But loved him. He transported my daughters to places and helped them move. That’s just the type of person he is.”

Franklin reached out to help Yenser start his coaching career first at Henderson State University and then at Colquitt County High School.

In 2010, Yenser joined Sonny Dykes’ coaching staff at Louisiana Tech where Franklin was the offensive coordinator.

“Our line coach there was old school but Zach did a great job as his assistant,” Franklin said. “Zach was so smart and was a great combination with the line coach at Louisiana Tech. Zach was so smart at figuring out defensive fronts and how to call things.

“Zach actually helped my career tremendously. People started using zone blitzes to make us keep a (running) back in to block on pass plays. That irritated me. I told Zach to figure out a way to fix that so we did not have to leave a back in. Every week he would come in on Monday and say he had it figured out for the team we were going to play.

“He could just see a defensive front and pick up tendencies to where we could pick up the blitz without having to keep a back in.”

When Franklin went to Auburn, he brought Yenser with him to train the offensive line coach. He did the same thing when he later got a job at Middle Tennessee.

Dykes got the head job at California in 2013 and Franklin was the offensive coordinator. He fought to get Yenser a full-time position but Dykes offered the job to someone else who said yes but then changed his mind. Dykes then hired Yenser.

Yenser was there two years before leaving for Kansas, a move Franklin tried to talk him out of making.

“We had a top 10 offense in 2014 and had (quarterback) Jared Goff (the top pick in the 2016 NFL draft) coming back,” Franklin said.

Yenser spent three years at Kansas before Dykes, another former UK assistant coach, hired him as offensive quality control coach at Southern Methodist before joining the 49ers a year later.

“The 49ers have been doing the same thing (UK coach Mark) Stoops likes to do and that is heavy, run-tough football,” Franklin said.

The 49ers had the NFL’s seventh-best rushing offense with 2,166 yards last season.

Franklin said Yenser is a different type of coach than Schlarman, one of UK’s most beloved coaches before his death during the 2020 season after a two-year bout with cancer. Eric Wolford was UK’s line coach last year but has left to coach at Alabama.

“John was a great technician and an incredible human,” Franklin said. “The players knew John by other people telling them John Schlarman stories. He might get down in a stance, butt somebody in the head and need eight stitches. Zach is not that way.

“I have had a lot of offensive line coaches and Zach is as good as any of them. I think Kentucky players are lucky to have him and will absolutely love him.”

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