Tough, Physical Brock Vandagriff has Successful Starting Debut (W/ Photos)

Brock Vandagriff ran five times for 35 yards. (Vicky Graff Photo)

It was kind of a flashback to 2021 and 2022 with Will Levis, now the starting quarterback for the Tennessee Titans, running the Kentucky offense.

Georgia transfer quarterback Brock Vandagriff completed 12 of 18 passes for 169 yards and three touchdowns in  Saturday night’s lightning-delayed 31-0 win over Southern Mississippi in his first start. But he also ran five times for 35 tough yards, including 34 yards in the first quarter to get the offense going.

“He did look like Will on a couple of those runs. He’s tough and physical and he played about like I expected him to,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said.

“I thought their quarterback scrambling was huge in this game, he extended some plays and made some plays when we had them stopped,” Southern Mississippi coach Will Hall said.

Kentucky linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson was Vandagriff’s teammate at Georgia before also transferring to UK.

“I didn’t have any expectations for him. I just wanted him to go out there and play freely,” the linebacker said. “First game, first start, he had a lot of practice reps. To be live, he did a good job.

“Interceptions happen and things like that. It will only go up from here. Expectations only going up from here. SEC opponent next week, so have to turn it up a little bit and keep moving on.”

Vandagriff had to wait a little over two hours extra to make his first collegiate start and said he had never been part of a “monster delay” like that.

“It was definitely different. There was several times we got up and got our shoulder pads on and beginning to walk out and, ‘Oh, nope you got to go back.’ That happened two or three times. So finally people were just taking off their shoulder pads and laying on the ground,” he said.

“It was just different, definitely mentally, trying to get ready three different times and stuff like that. At the end of the day, both teams had to do it, same circumstances.”

Vandagriff had said he would not be shy about running and when he did run Saturday, he did not try to avoid contact much like Levis never did.

“Definitely, there are two rules, going back to high school and playing with my dad, third-down and going for a touchdown, you are going to try to go get that extra yard. Maybe I was just a little amped up going into tonight or something, but just trying to make some plays for the boys,” he said.

Vandagriff also showed off his throwing arm with a 46-yard completion to Ja’Mori Maclin in a third-quarter drive.

“Ja’Mori, he did his job. He won his one-on-one on the perimeter and gave us his best release and then go and catch the ball. I had ball faked and put my eyes in the middle of the field to see where that safety was and he was playing down in the boundary. So Ja’Mori did his job, won his battle on the outside and for a while he was so wide open, I was like, ‘just don’t overthrow him,’” Vandagriff said.

“He had done such a good job at the line, just try to put it on him and he will make a play. As y’all saw tonight, if you put it anywhere near those dudes, they are going to make a play for ya.”

Vandagriff admitted earlier in the week he likely would not sleep much Friday night before making his first start. He knew after the opening game he would have a problem this morning.

“It’s gonna be tough waking up for church tomorrow,” Vandagriff said. “Last night (Friday) wasn’t the best night’s sleep, but that’s normal at this point. Obviously this is way past my bedtime, even on a normal night. And so, yeah, it’ll be rough waking up for church, but we’ll be there.”

Kentucky-Southern Miss Football Game

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Photos by Vicky Graff