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How will Brock Vandagriff play against Tennessee tonight? Or will he even play?
The Georgia transfer started Kentucky’s first eight games at quarterback but was benched in the second half last week against Auburn and did not play.
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops has not revealed whether Vandagriff or Gavin Wimsatt will start at quarterback tonight but he did reveal that Vandagriff has handled the situation better than many college athletes would .
“He’s very, very steady. I’m sure internally, maybe, he’s maybe a touch frustrated, maybe motivated. I don’t know. But (externally), on the field and when he’s around us, I mean, he’s like he always is. He’s very consistent. He’s a competitor,” Stoops said.
“Any competitor would be bothered internally. But for him it’s business as usual. What can I do to improve? How can I help this team? And I have no worries in that regard about Brock. Again, he’s not a fragile young man. He works very hard. He’s a strong leader, and we just need to play well and we need to help and support him with the way we play around him.”
Vandagriff had a simple explanation this week for what happened against Auburn.
“When you don’t play good, you don’t play, obviously. I obviously was not playing that well,” Vandagriff said.
He was 9-for-17 for 120 yards and an interception in the first half against Auburn and did lead two scoring drives to open the game. Kentucky never scored again.
Vandagriff has thrown for six touchdowns with five interceptions this season and UK has averaged just 166 yards passing per game, worst in the SEC.
Again, no excuses from Vandagriff.
“You gotta really look yourself in the mirror, things of that sort. There are definitely some plays I wish I had back, just gotta get better on third down and that’s mainly coming from me. Gotta make sure I’m doing better on third down and get better every day,” he said.
Kentucky did not convert a third down play when it needed between seven and 10 yards against Auburn. Vandagriff said on “obvious passing downs” that the quarterback has to be better.
Vandagriff wants to play and be the starter just like any competitor would but he also knows if he plays, he needs to be better.
“I feel like any competitor on our team is going to want to have the ball in their hands when the game’s that close,” the quarterback said. “At the end of the day, I don’t know if you’d say from a maturity standpoint, but the realization that this is a business, and if you’re not getting it done, then you don’t need to be playing. And I wasn’t getting it done.
“There’s no resentment, nothing like that. They went with the best decision at the time and you gotta live with that and when your number’s called, you gotta be ready.”
9 Responses
I doubt Jayden Daniels or Cam Newton could make this OL look good.
I agree! I hope we get to see Year Two of BVG. I like the kid, his attitude and his potential. He is rough right now. Decision-making is an area needing improvement. But, isn’t that to be expected? If he gets the chance to improve, I think he stands to be a very good QB next year. That is assuming, of course, that we fix our OL issues and draw up schemes to take advantage of Brock’s strengths.
My guess is that Brock will transfer at the end of the season. He obviously networks and knows there is little difference between playing for the Cats and starting new somewhere else if there is a need for a QB there. Playing against us, he would probably look like the Heisman Trophy winner.
Wondering if the feeling in the locker room is like trying to prepare for the execution chamber or if the team might really be thinking about stepping up and trying to take the God given talent to a much higher level?
Brock is a average quarterback at best. The line had been bad. The play calling has also been bad. So even when he does have time its hard to find someone open when you only have 1 or 2 receivers out running routes. Yes I said it a couple of plays against Auburn Key was the only receiver running routes. Or at least t
That’s what it looked like. Brock also isn’t a world beater but it is his first year starting. I think he is going to be better next year but the question is how much better? I would definitely have a quarterback competition in the spring. Between Cutter Saunders Brock and Gavin. I think Gavin transfers. Why wouldn’t they utilize his size and speed for his size at tight end? Or a big receiver? He’s never going to be a starting quarterback in the NFL wouldn’t you want to play a position that you could possibly breakthrough at? I mean it’s football its not rocket science. I think alot of times coaches put to much on the players trying to run these fancy plays that don’t work. That’s what made Mike Leach so successful. Running 5-10 yard routes. This helps your quarterback if you have a line that can’t hold blocks and your constantly getting first downs wearing down the defense. We run long routes with 2 receivers. Very very bad play calling. Brock should probably go somewhere like UCLA or out west he would probably be great.
Brock is one tough hombre. It’s too bad he didn’t have a better O line to play behind.
I was glad to see than KY played with some fire tonight. Not enough talent, not enough preparation from coaching, not enough players than can catch the ball. But, we played with some fire and going into next year, that is gratifying,
Has it been lost on everyone but me that Shannon Dawson is OC of the highest scoring football team in the nation – Miami.. Odd isn’t it.
RJohn, the Shannon Dawson thing has not been lost on me at all, and thank you for bringing that up! I’m glad to see somebody else out there has been paying attention! 😊 I made mention of that very thing again yesterday when watching Miami play DUKE, and also when they played Louisville–u could make a case that Shannon Dawson is one of the best OC’s in the country right now. It has taken some time, but the gag with Stoops on offense is up–there has been too much proof laid out over all these years–with multiple people–7 different OC hires under one 12-yr administration–and 4 of them inside of a 5-yr period–that means u could have some players on the roster who would have had a new OC each year and seen 5 different ones in the entirety of their college career. U can’t survive or sustain that way in today’s college football, ESPECIALLY not in the SEC. The SEC will eat u alive if u don’t have your sh** together with your offense on your football team. No other program in the country has as much turnover at that position as we do, and more and more I am convinced that it is unhappiness from working for Stoops, and even more so, being unhappy about how stringent and tight and limited that these OC’s must feel within his system. Stoops has no offensive identity, no offensive imagination, no offensive creativity, no concept of what it takes to be offensively successful in the SEC. Not only have the many OC’s at KY proven this to be true, but so have the many QB’s. Its always the same problems offensively, too, all these years: the lack of a consistent passing game. The lack of the ability to move the ball down the field, put consistent drives together, move the chains, consume yardage, consume clock, be able to throw the ball 10-15 yds successfully, utilize the tight ends and the backs into the passing game, lack of ability for receivers to get open and to run routes correctly, lack of pass-catching ability, undisciplined play at the line of scrimmage, horrible clock managment–both game-and-play-clock—subpar QB play, lack of poise or confidence in the pocket by the QB when the pressure comes, lack of ability for a QB to line up under center and roll out and make good decisions, based on surveying the field and seeing what his options are, and utilizing his own good judgment. Season after season, it has been the same problems plague the passing game, and only the running game has bailed Mark Stoops out offensively, and we are now at a point where we don’t even have THAT anymore either–not like we did. Stoops has had plenty of time now at KY to get that aspect of the offense figured out, and bring in somebody who could be the guru of the offense–and we had that in Liam Coen, mainly his first year with Will Levis. That 2021 season was a breakout year for our passing game and for our QB play, by our standards anyway, and IDK how u don’t do everything possible to keep Coen here. Not only was he a fantastic OC, but he also was a QB COACH–like he was actually out on the field COACHING up Levis and being involved in and taking control of that offense. We had never had here before during Stoops’ time, and it’s reflected in our numbers and stats from that year, and how they compare to every other year under Stoops before and since. That was also the most offensive and defensive BALANCE we have ever had here under Stoops, as well. The fact that more than one of our coordinators have gone on to have reasonable success elsewhere has made me see more so that the buck with this offensive problem stops with Stoops. Neal Brown went on to be a head coach at WVA, Shannon Dawson a very good OC at Miami and Southern Miss, Liam Coen success with both the RAMS and Tampa Bay as an OC in the NFL, Scangarello has had NFL experience as well–these aren’t guys who are just total morons and don’t know football. Some may be better than others, but there is one common link with all of them. For a long time I have wondered is it just that Stoops eventually pulls rank on all his OC’s, and just demands majority control on the offensive play-calling and playbook? Which I think that could be true to a degree. But I think in the end, it’s more so just that the kind of style and system Stoops wants his teams to play with and try to win in the SEC with is just not a system that works anymore, but it’s also one that doesn’t lend itself much to alot of offensive creativity and offensive wizardry. Like not much depth. As in, it only allows these guys to go so far, and they want to do MORE–and probably because they know MORE could be done by them as coaches with the personnel and talent made available to them! They’re probably trying to tell Stoops that very thing–and not getting anywhere with him. I still think Stoops would have been better off just sticking with his truest identity: bring Eddie Gran back and re-install the Lynn Bowden offense, and recruit your personnel to suit that style. That’s the only offense Stoops has proven he can make work here outside of Liam Coen’s, and it’s responsible for what I think is one of his best coaching jobs at KY–in 2019 when Bowden, playing QB, led the team to an 8-5 final record with a bowl win. Stoops is an old-school, smash mouth, run and knock ’em dead guy, and u just can’t win with that in the SEC anymore–its an outdated philosophy.