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A former major college offensive lineman told me it was not that hard for him to figure out why the Kentucky offensive line had so many problems against South Carolina.
“Not only are offensive linemen the hardest players to find and recruit because there are not that many great ones, but it is also highly unlikely that you will hit the jackpot in the transfer portal with offensive lineman,” the former player said. “If an offensive lineman is really good, the school where he is will do anything and everything to keep him.”
Kentucky’s starting offensive line last week had three transfers — Marques Cox, Jalen Farmer and Gerald Mincey — along with in-state signees Eli Cox and Jager Burton. Mincey and Burton were both injured during the game. Mincey was listed as probable for the Georgia game on Wednesday’s injury report while Burton was listed as doubtful and that could move West Virginia transfer Dylan Ray into the starting lineup against Georgia.
South Carolina’s defensive front overwhelmed the UK offensive line in pass protection situations and faces another huge challenge this week against Georgia.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart was not talking specifically about the UK offensive line on the SEC coaches teleconference Wednesday but he could have been.
“Offensive linemen are few and far between,” Smart said. “We’ve gotten a lot of feedback from the NFL that it’s the position they struggle the most to find. They’re in constant pursuit in these colleges of looking and finding and trying to find linemen. So if they’re struggling to find them, so are we, and it’s certainly that way at the high school level too.”
The late John Schlarman built a Big Blue Wall at UK that fit what coach Mark Stoops wanted to do perfectly. However, after Schlarman’s passing, the Big Blue Wall has not been the same.
Eric Wolford spent one year as UK’s offensive line coach and depended on Schlarman’s players to succeed. Stoops calls him an incredible recruiter and he signed three top 500 linemen — high school All-Americans Kiyaunta Goodwin and Nik Hall and Kentucky’s best offensive lineman, Johnson Central’s Grant Bingham.
None of the three ever became significant contributors. Goodwin and Bingham transferred and Hall had to take a medical retirement from football.
Wolford also bolted to Alabama after one season and spent two years there before Stoops surprised many by bringing him back this year.
Smart said Wednesday there are no short-term fixes in the offensive line.
“How do you develop them? You have to be patient. You have to invest time in them at a young age, and grow them because they’re not typically ready physically that first year,” Smart said.
Smart’s three best linemen — Tate Ratledge, Xavier Truss, Dylan Fairchild — were all all-SEC preseason picks and were high school recruits who have been in the program since 2020.
“I feel like they need to be in the program for a while, and not because they can’t learn it, just because nobody’s — you’re not finding very many effective offensive linemen in the portal. It’s not a position that is a high transfer position,” the Georgia coach said.
Or at least not a high transfer position for big-time players.
Kentucky’s offense could have another issue this week. Not only is Ohio State transfer Chip Trayanum, who was expected to be UK’s No. 1 running back, listed as out with his broken hand for the third straight game but true freshman running back Jason Patterson is listed as doubtful.
Patterson has emerged as UK’s No. 2 back and now the Cats will have to depend on redshirt freshman Jamarion Wilcox and true freshman Tovani Mizzell for depth at running back unless backup quarterback Gavin Wimsatt maybe gets a chance to slide into that spot in running situations, too.
7 Responses
Georgia’s Williams is projected to go #1 and he will not play Saturday, but his backup is probably projected to go in the top 5 next year!! Georgia could leave every starter at home and probably still give UK more than they could handle. All the problems/mistakes Stoops mentioned for causing the bad loss to SC were absolute basic fundamentals in football. If UK coaches can’t accomplish the basics through spring and fall practices, how does he think he can correct it in one week??? The problem is many of the mistakes are a common theme in many of the teams Stoops has put on the field; it’s just that last Saturday they all came together in one game.
As for Wolford, recruiting doesn’t make you a good coach, it helps, but you still have to teach the players what you need them to do. I haven’t seen Wolford put a really good OL on the field built from the players he has recruited. Not sure anyone else has either because he doesn’t seem to stay anywhere very long. Bama fans were thrilled he was not retained by the new coaching staff. That says a lot!
Wolford was a joke to begin with, confirmed that at Alabama, and, with his return to UK, has shown just how desperate Stoops is in regards to that coaching position. Quarterbacks and offensive linemen have to be developed and that is not a strongpoint for Stoops. Stoops elevated our level of play by primarily focusing on the defense and the running game. That lifted us out of the SEC cellar, but has left us as a middle of the pack team. As much as I appreciate what Stoops has done for our program, it’s time to move on to a new coach who can elevated our program into the upper echelon of SEC teams.
Keeping Stoops at this “plateau & sinking” stage of his career at UK simply means UK will need to hire a coach who can first lift UK out of the cellar again.
Under Stoops, with a lot of solid & climbing recruiting by Marrow & Stoops, UK improved until we peaked – 2021
The 7-6 two-year plateau is over if UK is not mentally prepared the rest of the season.
The lack of mental preparation and the absence of any offensive ability of Stoops has sunk UK many times & now it’s in a downward spiral.
Another $9 Million salary for another HC is sinking another major UK sport.
It is still very hard to discard the in mouth taste of "Beamer owns Stoops" because many others do also. Heuple anyone? Stoops has to leave after this year and be catered out of town on the cart that Calipari departed on.
Is Arkansas going to have a head football coaching vacancy?
Very likely
Every bit of this article is true. Been saying it for last few years. You have to recruit and develop good offensive lineman. Mincey and Farmer both came from SEC schools where they were not starters and there coaches did not try convince them to stay. That tells you everything. That they are not good enough to play in this conference. Best thing for Stoops to do is fire Wolford immediately. Find a true O-line coach that is capable of recruiting and developing. Next is push all linemen but the few young guys that they did recruit into portal to be shipped out. Then start all over of by trying to get top talent guys to come in with chance of playing time immediately. It would not be popular choice cause next couple years could be bad depending on how good they turn out but right now the future big blue wall not looking good. Or buy Stoops out and start over. But I just don’t see that kind of money being raised for football coach.