Mark Stoops is confident quarterback Brock Vandagriff will bounce back with a better performance against Georgia. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky has become accustomed to starting a transfer quarterback. Penn State transfer Will Levis and Georgia transfer Brock Vandagriff had played sparingly when they transferred to UK. Levis led UK to 10 wins in 2021 — before the NCAA vacated the wins — and is now a starter with the Tennessee Titans.
Devin Leary came from North Carolina State in 2023 after playing in 30 games and throwing for 62 touchdowns and about 6,700 yards before being injured midway of the 2022 season.
“When we took Will, he hadn’t thrown very many (passes). Matter of fact, don’t quote me exactly, but I could argue that there’s probably more film on Brock, than there was on Will Levis, of seeing what we’re looking at,” Stoops said before UK lost 31-6 to South Carolina. “We did put a lot of faith and confidence in Brock because we believed in him, and what we did see on film we liked.
“Again I go back to, he’s coming from a program, you know how well coached he was, and how complex they are. (When) We’re playing Georgia, they’re not just good players, they’re very well coached, and so when we were taking somebody like Brock from there, who was their backup, you saw his operation, you saw the way he was coached, you saw the way he played in high school, you felt pretty good about it.”
Vandagriff’s father, Greg, was his high school and Stoops said it is easy to tell he is a coach’s son.
“Greg, his father, is a tough guy and a high school coach and definitely instilled that in Brock and he’s wired right. There’s no doubt about that,” the UK coach said.
Vandagriff was overmatched against South Carolina. He was only 3-for-10 passing for 30 yards and had one interception returned for a touchdown. He was sacked four times and lost 29 yards on nine carries with a long run of only four yards.
Now Vandagriff has to play against No. 1 Georgia Saturday coming off a dismal performance by him and the UK offense.
“I’m sure Brock will bounce back. He’s tough, he’s resilient,” Stoops said. “He will compete, I know that. We have to do a good job of putting him in position to be successful. We’ve got to get him some time and give him something to give him an opportunity.”
Stoops would not put UK’s offensive woes on Vandagriff because of the way South Carolina “disrupted him and his comfort level” with its constant pressure.
Vandagriff felt Kentucky “beat ourselves” against South Carolina and that “everything is pretty correctable” going into the Georgia game.
“Georgia’s got a good squad. We’ve got a good squad as well, but the main thing on my mind right now is putting this game to bed,” Vandagriff said after the loss. “Make sure we get in, get our corrections, and then we’ll attack Georgia when it’s time.”
4 Responses
Vandagriff showed he can move and that was good because he had to run for his life on nearly every play. The only problem I say with Griff is there were times he could have stepped up instead of running backwards full speed. But hey, you get hit enough and that is first reaction you will have. We haven’t seen enough of Griff to be able to make any kind of judgement. When a qb doesn’t even have 2 seconds to peak at the field, how can you judge his performance; other than he survived.
We really do not know how good Griff is because we have seen him play just one game. What I saw I liked. SC however took Griff completely out of the game last week so he was a nonfactor. He didn’t have a chance. We could have played the water boy and the result would have been the same because there was no blocking.
I still give my full support to Brock “Griff” – he needs for UK to INSTANTLY hire a new HC and new OC and a few other position coaches, including whoever is the clueless cornerbacks coach whose idea of coverage is to just keep them in your sight and not an arms length away.
It’s a team game ! You have to play as a team. No 1 man can carry an an entire team , win or lose it has to be done as a team from the coaches to the lowest assistant! put your guts on the line and play to the best of each of your very best abilities . People will remember that you gave your best. Even after the seemingly impossible odds
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