Brock Vandagriff (Vicky Graff Photo)
For those wondering what coach Mark Stoops might do about a starting quarterback at Texas Saturday, the Kentucky coach made it clear Monday that he is sticking with Brock Vandagriff.
“It is what it is right now. Brock’s our starting quarterback and he’s earned it and worked his tail off,” Stoops said.
What about true freshman Cutter Boley who played well in the second half of last week’s win over Murray and led UK on four scoring drives?
“Cutter’s a very talented young player that we’re excited about,” Stoops said. “The reason I say that, it’s like that in every position but everyone wants to over-exaggerate the quarterback position.”
That over-exaggeration is what happens when a team has a disappointing season and is 4-6 and on the verge of not making a bowl game for the first time in nine years. Kentucky also has only one SEC win, an upset victory at Ole Miss.
Vandagriff also came up well short on his first two deep passes against Murray even though the first one ricocheted to UK receiver Hartley Gilmore for a touchdown.
“I knew it right on the field, and the film confirmed it, it was indecision. It was not clean with a freshman wide receiver and not defending the pass either, especially the second one,” Stoops said.
“But he expected the receiver to rip it across his face, there was nobody there to cap it, the post (pattern) was there. By that time, it’s late, and you probably try to get a lot of extra, and your footwork’s bad, and it just comes out worse than it is.”
Stoops said Boley “looked really good” against Murray and made “really good decisions” when he played the second half.
“I thought he looked comfortable. He has a lot of talent and those are things we saw in practice and in games, it’s good to see him get some game reps,” Stoops said. “I think we all know it’s a little different with playing a team we just played at home or playing one of the other SEC schools on the road.
“You’ve heard every SEC coach talk about the challenges of the road in the SEC, I think everybody’s talked about it.”
Stoops said nothing Boley did really surprised him.
“It was really good to confirm that and see that in live action. Because you’ve heard me talk about it, we’ve discussed it, it’s really hard to simulate that in practice. So, for him, completely live on a quarterback, that’s hard, we don’t do that in practice,” Stoops said.
“For him to get in the game and go completely live, for him, it was really nice to see that poise and just him operate and distribute the football and just look very comfortable.”
5 Responses
Yes every coach knows no matter the sport that road games are tougher than home games. That’s not just in the SEC. That’s every sport every confrence. Let me say this I do agree that we should start Brock. Texas at Texas is a very rough setting for a true freshman quaterback. You don’t want him to take all them hits that Brock will take. I do agree with that. But is he going to stick with Brock when the score gets out of hand? Also will there be a quarterback competition in spring practice this year? Because if they are going to go ahead and say he’s the starter next year I could see Cutter transferring out. Kind of like how Beau Allen did but I think Cutter is much better than Beau ever will be. They need to move Gavin Wimsatt to tight end. Or a fullback. Fullback never gets playing time so maybe tight end. Heck he’s 6’4" 228 pounds. If he put on 10 pounds in the offseason. He could be a threat at tight end because he also knows the quarterback position. Why this change hadn’t been made already I have no idea. Maybe they wait until the end of the year. Then tell him? Idk but he’s not even good at the wildcat. So he has no future at quarterback unless he plays in a weaker confrence. He could have a future a Eastern Kentucky or Murray State. But not a power 4 conference and definitely not the SEC.
The OSU RB transfer also played a year of MLB. Good athlete, will need help there next year – easy transition
I agree with Ohio state and what you said. Chip would be better on defense. He’s not fast enough to be a running back in the SEC. He could get away with it in the Big Ten where teams have big slow players but not in the SEC. He’s actually better at linebacker than running back anyway. He could probably anchor the middle next year when we lose Pop as a middle linebacker. He’s about the same size as Pop. I would change him to linebacker and use DSK and Wilcox as the starting running backs we also have Patterson and Davis coming in next year. Chip will be lost in the shuffle. You are 100% correct. They should change chip to linebacker. He would help more on defense than offense and I think he would start on defense or at least get playing time with the second team. These are things Stoops needs to address. He never does anything just talks in circles and puts the same product on the field. Should I take 20.5 points at texas? I’m thinking about taking the points because we play better on the road and for the first time in a long time we will have most of pur team healthy. I think we cam keep it close but we will ultimately lose. We won’t be able to move the ball and whoever is under center will probably get hurt. This is the best defense we have faced all year. They rush the quarterback better than anyone and we all know we have a terrible o line. Texas 27 Kentucky 13 is my prediction. If we can get a couple turnovers and maybe a special teams touchdown we can keep it close until the end but even with all that I still think we lose.
Brock was cleared only a day early for Murray St. & it showed early with his two long balls. That said, he should be fully recovered with a freshman backup named Cutter Boley. Go CATS!!!
If Beck had gone to the NFL, Brock Vandergriff would have been Georgia’s starting QB this year. Kirby knew the kind of QB Brock has been. He won State Championships in high school. When he got to play in some of the games at Georgia he got touchdowns. I can’t understand why Brock started the game and then he was snatched out after one play. That makes no sense. How can he get any rhythm going. He has no protection in the OL and the receivers have a hard time connecting with balls. I’ve seen him throw balls to receivers all the way down field to end zone and they would catch them for touchdown. I don’t think Kentucky knows what they have. I’d.like to see him go somewhere else next year where he would be appreciated.