Ja'Mori Maclin had two touchdown catches against Louisville. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Ja’Mori Maclin was Kentucky’s best offensive player Saturday.
His 83-yard touchdown catch from Gavin Wimsatt broke the Governor’s Cup record for the longest reception — the previous record was set by Dave Ragone’s 82-yard touchdown pass to Zek Parker of Louisville in 2001. It tied for the seventh-longest pass play in UK history and longest since Patrick Towles threw an 83-yard touchdown to Javess Blue in 2014.
Maclin caught a team-high-tying three passes for a team-high 121 yards and a team-high two touchdowns in the 41-14 loss that ended UK’s season and his first year with the Wildcats after he transferred in the offseason.
Kentucky finished 4-8 and won only one Southeastern Conference game.
Maclin knows what needs to be fixed for UK to make needed improvements.
“A lot more leadership. Holding guys accountable for things. A lot more discipline. I feel like that will help us make the next step,” he said.
Kentucky’s offense had trouble scoring and Saturday was his fourth two-touchdown collegiate game but first at UK. He finished the season with a touchdown catch in the final three games and joined Craig Yeast (1998) and Garrett Johnson (2016) as the only UK players with at least 120 yards receiving and two touchdowns against Louisville.
Maclin said UK’s offensive woes were a “collective thing” this season.
“You can say the receivers, the running backs, the O-line, it’s all of us. Stuff we know we could have worked on and we could have done better,” the receiver, who has one year of eligibility remaining, said.
“I still feel like we are a great team. We just made a few mistakes and we have to look back on the season and learn.”
He did appreciate Wimsatt getting him the ball after he took over at quarterback following a knockout blow on starter Cutter Boley who had to leave the game with a concussion.
“He just gave me a chance. I appreciate him. I appreciate all of our quarterbacks. But he just gave me a chance to make the best opportunities,” Maclin said. “I did drop one of them, so I’m not even happy about the two touchdowns.
“I mean he did great. He stepped up. We didn’t get the win, obviously, but I am proud of him and I am thankful for him.”
6 Responses
I don’t blame him for leaving, but he gone. Really wish we could keep Maclin. He is the future of receiving. Wish it would be at UK.
I wish Uk could resign Maclin .Maybe it’s not a good idea to take transfers from teams that spend alot of money on nil, like Georgia and Tennesee. If those teams thought they could help them win the Sec, wouldn’t those teams resign them? Brock and Mincey didn’t work out. It’s like taking a coach from a blueblood, like we took Curry from Bama, he was running Tim Couch in the option smh
I don’t think Stoops has the desire to put in the effort it is going to take to fix the mess he created.
Losing Davis is bad news. I think he was going to come in and be the second string running back. Wilcox and Patterson looked for freshman. If both come back which i think one will transfer. Lets be honest if Wilcox would have gotten even just 10 carries a game he would have been close to 1,000 yards. He should have really received 15 carries a game every game. He also rushed for over 600 yards but only had 2 touchdowns? That shows he wasn’t used in the red zone . there is a chance that even if Stoops tells Wilcox he is the man for the next couple of years I could still see him transfer. Stoops has picked on him all year. He says he’s hard on him because he expects alot from him! Stoops needs to shut up and stop complaining about players and do his job and be a leader of this team. Like Maclin said there are no leaders even on the coaching staff that doesn’t sound like a player who’s going to stay and waste another year. Another thing Maclin only had 13 catches and had over 300 yards and the most touchdowns on the team. He was only targeted 18 times. Which is terrible.
Maclin was a typical receiver for UK: INCONSISTENT!
UK FB has been served the death penalty by its very own HC and AD who erratically endorsed him with a ridiculous contract & pay.
Any player who chooses to stay at UK or choose UK as a transfer or freshmen does not have very smart folks giving them advice.
UK FB is FINISHED until the..:
HC AND AD are both GONE!!!
UCF head coach just walked , gave up $14M. Going to FSU as OC ( no worries with portal, NIL …. etc.)
Stoops came to UK from being the FSU DC. They are shopping for one. He’s made plenty enough for a lifetime and his gripe is the same reason Malzahn quit. Would make $1.5 as DC only doing the X & O’s , which he purports he wants to do. Match made in heaven for everyone.
Of course, we’re rolling the dice then. Sometimes a little gamble pays off.