Liam Coen (UK Athletics Photo)
If you ever wondered why players might like playing for Kentucky offensive coordinator Liam Coen, his reaction to Saturday’s scrimmage might give you a few insights.
Kentucky’s offense moved the ball quickly into the red zone but quarterback Devin Leary threw a second down pass a bit too quickly and it was incomplete. A third down pass to Tayvion Robinson was just knocked away. On fourth down, the defense again held and Coen admitted the offense felt “deflated” for not scoring.
However, he said if it was a real game at Kroger Field and the offense made the same drive and kicked a field goal instead of gambling on fourth down, it would have been seen as a successful start.
“We had a not so great scrimmage from a point standpoint, right? We’d love to have five, six touchdowns. It didn’t play out that way. We had like three, four field goals and a couple touchdowns. But then we came out and didn’t have a great practice yesterday,” Coen said Monday.
“Well, what are we going to do? How do you respond? That is truly growth and that’s ultimately why I wanted to come back to college football was to be a part of that growth, to see that growth and to help that growth for these kids to reach their highest potential.”
Coen was a lot happier after Tuesday’s practice and offered some interesting insights into his approach to his philosophy in the scrimmage.
“I wasn’t running the ball much in this first scrimmage. I wanted to keep the (running) backs clean (healthy) and work on the passing game,” Coen said. “We threw it a lot more than I probably would normally in the red zone. In the red area things happen fast. From a quarterback standpoint, the reads and progressions have got to be faster.
“I was pleased with the guys moving the ball up and down the field but we got sloppy at the end.”
Coen said offensive linemen were making the right calls and getting their “eyes in the right spot” despite the lack of running plays.
“We are getting on the right page. It was not like the run game hurt us. They were doing what they were asked to do,” the UK offensive coordinator said. “We are getting closer and closer to building real chemistry up there.”
