Mark Stoops “very proud” of Will Levis

Will Levis and Liam Coen (X Photo)

Former Kentucky quarterback Will Levis completed 19 of 29 passes for 238 yards and four touchdowns Sunday in his NFL debut in a 28-23 win by the Tennessee Titans over Atlanta.

Levis threw three touchdown passes of 61, 16 and 47 yards to DeAndre Hopkins and became the first Kentucky quarterback since George Bland in 1968 to have four touchdown passes in a game. He’s only the third player to record four touchdowns in his NFL debut — the other two were Fran Tarkenton and Marcus Mariota — and helped the Titans score the most points in a game they had in two years.

Kentucky coach Mark Stoops was asked about Levis, who led UK to 10 wins in 2021 and 17 wins in his 24 games at UK, on Monday.

Question: Did you see what Will Levis did Sunday for the Tennessee Titans?

Stoops: “Liam (Coen) and I were in there in the offensive staff room watching. We have a TV behind us. When he was playing and doing well, we did, we turned it on.  Whenever they were on offense we were watching that game, when they were on defense we were going back (to UK video; laughter from media). We are just very proud of him. What a great performance! It was a lot of fun, everybody in the office was rooting for him.”

Question: Can Levis’ performance help the UK program?

Stoops: “I can’t see how it can hurt, a guy like that. He looked so good back there. He looked comfortable, just like we thought. He’s in a great place, he’s going to do very well, we’re very proud of him.”

Question: Have you talked to Will Levis since the game?

Stoops: “Not yet, we just text, and he hit me back with a text. I know how that goes, you get 2001 texts when you win, and you don’t get very many when you lose (laughter).”