Brock Vandagriff has faced a lot of pressure this season. (Vicky Graff Photo)
One thing no one can question about Kentucky quarterback Brock Vandagriff is his honesty.
He may not have always played well this season but even though at times it might not have been all his fault, he’s always put the blame on himself.
With Kentucky preparing to play at No. 3 Texas Saturday, Vandagriff admitted his play against Murray State last week was less than stellar. In fairness, doctors did not clear him to play until the day before the game and he went 12-for-19 passing for 183 yards and two scores in one interception in his one half of play.
Vandagriff knew 52 of his yards came on a touchdown pass to Hardley Gilmore that should have been intercepted because it was under-thrown and bounced off a defender. Vandagriff threw another ball short on UK’s next drive that was intercepted.
“I thought that was probably one of my lesser days ever throwing the football,” Vandagriff said. “Was not really excited for my performance. Glad the offense lifted me up, being able to run the ball. Threw the ball very mediocre in my opinion.”
Lesser days, very mediocre is not how you want your quarterback describing his passing, especially knowing Texas has a terrific secondary.
True freshman quarterback Cutter Boley played well in the second half against Murray State but coach Mark Stoops was adamant this week that Vandagriff would be the starter. He did help UK win at Ole Miss and had the Cats in position to beat Georgia before the Cats fell short.
“Every single start, every quarter in this league, is extremely valuable,” Kentucky offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan said. “There’s certainly things, even in this last game, plays that (Vandagriff) made, that maybe weren’t made versus Tennessee. And so the growth is the most critical thing, I think, at this position.”
Vandagriff, a George transfer, understands why his play has been questioned.
“When you don’t play well, obviously there’s going to be speculation and stuff, things of that sort. My job is to go out there and play my best football,” Vandagriff said.
2 Responses
Overall, a very disappointing season! Blame is 1/3 Brock, 1/3 Offensive Line, 1/3 offensive Coordinator. When the line can’t block, you cannot consistently go long. This team is better suited to dink and dunk it way down the field. Brock is to slow go through his progressions. Cutter was amazing in the second half. Cutter is the future and Brock is not. If Brock starts next year, this is one fan who will not be watching or going to games. I wish Stoops the best, but sometimes his stubbornness gets in the way. I wish for the best, but the future looks bleak.
I really don’t think BVG will be at UK next year. I think he is going to be shopping at the end of the season and will be gone for Spring semester. The OL has been his biggest problem, but even when the OL plays decent, BVG takes too long to make a decision, seems very slow at scanning the field, and misses receivers that are right in front of him, wide open. I think the South Carolina game really shook him up and he hasn’t recovered from that.