Vicky Graff Photo
Sophomore receivers Dane Key and Barion Brown are supposed to be Kentucky’s big-play threats this season.
However, it didn’t look that way against Akron Saturday night.
Quarterback Devin Leary threw for 315 yards and three scores but Brown and Key were basically non-factors. They were targeted a combined eight times and had only two catches — both by Brown for only 19 yards. Kentucky had four receivers with more yards than Brown.
Key was targeted three times and did not have a catch and twice looked like there was a clear communication problem between him and Leary on the route he ran.
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops admitted after the game he had to get both players more involved in the offense.
“You name it, it starts with, you know, getting an accurate pass, it starts with protection, which we had protection issues. Once again, I think we had some opportunities that we missed with throws. I’m sure there will be some details, you know, in the routes that they can improve on,” the UK coach said.
“Again, it is all of us. All of us need to play together for it to function. And there is some frustration there with the offense in general because, you know, you are just not hitting it on all cylinders right now.”
12 Responses
It is still the offensive line issues as last year its goin to be another 7-6 record had 3 games against some weak teams if you can’t block these weak teams SEC games will be rough! Plus all the hype before the season got everybody thinking they are really good before they played single game. Leary might be good but he has got to have better blocking to survive SEC play or he is gonna get hurt and be out then we are really screwed. Not the team I thought they where goin to be at all bought in to the hype bad! Hope it gets better but if you can’t beat EKU at home by 11pts thats not good!
Just give it some time. no other team is playing that well against these other teams except Ole Miss. We can still beat every team on our schedule. Just give it time
Your your enthusiasm is awesome but right now I’m not there
Totally agree with you 👍🏼 💯
Well between spectrums bs with disney ive not seen a snap to this point.(3 games) basically from what ive seen and herd highlight wise. It only gets worse from here schedule wise. Seems to me ALOT of people on the "O" are gonna have to bring their "A" for the next several weeks. My suggestion to the players,,,quit reading all your pre season paper clips about how good your(suppose) to be and start putting some of that dam effort on the field every sat. Cause right now,,,just not getting done. And the luck percentage is about to run out. Sec…sched.
IMO UK is not ready for SEC play if these three games are any indication of this team’s fire power offensively. They are 3-0, but can’t run the football effectively. The rushing yardage they got were great plays, but were just that. Davis is a good back, and was the reason UK was able to score fairly late in the game on great individual effort. This team can’t seem to line up and run the football on sustained drives that eat clock, and open passing opportunities. Why? They don’t seem to work at it to establish the run early, and If they don’t get that fixed soon, it will be a long season. Vandy is going to be a tough outing in Nashville if this UK team don’t get with the program real soon, and start looking like a real SEC team. Jefferson deserves more that one touch running the football. Maybe he got more than one carry, but I don’t recall that he did. Leary can’t sustain hits like he took against Akron from coming SEC foes and remain healthy. They can’t let defenders tee off on him. Also, there are no excuses now for running bad routes with fall camp behind them, and three games under their belt. Make it simple, and get the ball to skilled players who run precise routes, and have good hands. It was good to see the TE’s involved. Need more of that. Kudos to the UK defense. Come on Cats, get ready for Vandy.
Offensive line is not performing up to their potential. Barion Brown just had a sub-par game last Saturday. Dane Key better wake up or it’s "pine city" for him as he underperformed for last 2 games.
Micheal, it’s not Brown or Key lack of effort they just haven’t thrown the ball to them to utilize them.
They have thrown them the ball and they arent catching it. That’s why Robinson has become the go to.
It’s called gettin too big for your britches. Dudes are obviously cocky and need to humble themselves. Brown will miss a catch then make a catch and flex like he’s doing something. They need to get back to last years mentality.
why do y’all keep saying the offensive line ? Do y’all watch the games ? The offensive line has give Leary plenty of time in pocket now on run blocking have they created consistent holes ? no not like past.. but pass blocking has been efficient enough. The problem is all 11 are not moving on one accord and executing effectively as they should. Either bad snaps, receivers dropping and running wrong routes, false starts really just all mental mistakes. I believe Dane is in slump but he’ll get back and barion needs more intermediate throws he’s not a deep ball threat he’s fast but can’t separate I. Man coverage on deep balls
Finally, someone who’s watching. The Oline has been leaps and bounds better than last year. The oline isnt running the wrong routes or dropping passes right in their hands. With that said, jager burton has been really bad. If he plays that way next game, time to put someone else at center.