Vicky Graff Photo
Georgia transfer Brock Vandagriff did what he had to do in Saturday’s modified Blue-White Game to justify being Kentucky’s starting quarterback next season.
“Brock has had a tremendous spring. Today it was hard for him but you have to look at how much depth we have and putting it all together and everything but extremely talented,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said after the game.
Vandagriff led UK to a field goal on his first drive, threw a touchdown pass to Dane Key on his second series and had another scoring pass to tight end Khamari Anderson.
What might have been even more impressive is that the highly-touted quarterback proved he could run either to scramble or on called quarterback run plays like UK had with Will Levis during its 10-win season in 2021.
There was no live tackling to prevent any additional injuries which impacted how to gauge the way Vandagriff played.
“You can see he has that comfort level (to run the ball). If you sprinkle that in four times a game it is aggravating with design runs,” Stoops said. “And then the ability to pull it down and get some tough yards, it’s always there.
“We saw with Will (Levis) when he was fresh and healthy his junior year what a weapon that could be.”
Stoops liked that Vandagriff had the field presence to keep his eyes down the field when he was scrambling looking for a receiver.
“I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it in games and I’ve seen it in practice. He is the type of guy that was very much waiting for that receiver to shut it down. I think with more reps and more work that they will all get better,” Stoops said.
Vandagriff did get hit once a little harder than the scrimmage was called for by linebacker D’Eryk Jackson.
“I did not know who that was that hit him or I probably would have yelled at him,” Stoops said.
Kentucky Football Spring Game
Photos by Vicky Graff
2 Responses
It takes time to learn a system. You can’t play 100% u til you learn the plays and learn the system. Brock will be fine as long as he stays fresh and gets a ton of reps with his receivers he will be good. I think with Brock just getting the cob webs off his legs and arm will work wonders. He hasn’t played that much football in 3 years. From a maturity stand point he looks the part. He will get better and better during spring football. If he continues to work with the receivers and tight ends by the time summer practices roll around it will be second nature to him. I’m looking forward to a big year. If he can stay healthy I think he will throw for over 3,000 yards something that hasn’t been done here in quite awhile. The good thing is this year we have a insurance policy. If he gets hurt we have a seasoned beau Allen who will do whatever it takes to win. You can see that he has improved so much over the last 2 years. Cutter has the best 2 quarterbacks to learn behind this year. If Brock has crazy numbers this year and the NFL wants him he could leave after this year. If we have a big season and he tears it up. That would leave beau Allen as a red shirt senior and cutter boley as a redshirt freshman. That will be a great quarterback battle that I think beau would ultimately win. Cutter is the quarterback of the future but stone Saunders is also very talented. I think Brock stays 2 years and he has a great year this year and a even better year next year. 3,000 yards passing this year and probably 350+ yards rushing. If he stays next year he will throw for over 3500 yards and probably around the same yards rushing. His big thing is if he can eliminate turnovers and if he can do that we will have the best season we have had in a long time. Thanks for the football news. Basketball news is wearing me down because I can’t decide if Mitch messed up again majority or if this is a good hire. I thought that Khalifa had a no tag on him in the transfer portal now it seems he might go to Louisville? That’s not a good sign.
Looking for a very fun fall.