Offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan believes transfer quarterback Nick Calzada is more athletic than most people realize. (UK Athletics Photo)
Kentucky associate coach Vince Marrow still remembers the call the UK coaching staff got encouraging them to consider recruiting quarterback Zach Calzada, who started his college football career at Texas A&M in 2019 for three years, spent the next season at Auburn and the last two years played at Incarnate Word.
Calzada has completed 731 of 1,163 passes for 8,707 yards and 73 touchdowns with 28 interceptions in his collegiate career. He has also rushed 179 times for 381 yards and 11 scores. He’s also 23-9 as a starting college quarterback.
That led to head coach Mark Stoops, offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan and other UK coaches watching film of Calzada.
“We really liked this kid. You start doing more research on him. He was a big-time kid coming out of high school who went to A&M and won four or five SEC games as a redshirt freshman. He’s a very mature guy and we really liked him,” Marrow said.
“He’s a big kid but he can also move. That’s what I love about him. He just had the command and understanding that it takes to be a leader.”
Marrow also likes what redshirt freshman quarterback Cutter Boley offers.
“I really like Cutter. Cutter is a big dude too. I was looking at him the other day and how he has grown,” Marrow said. “He’s a big dude and it is going to be interesting. We have two good freshmen (Stone Saunders and Brennen Ward) that we brought in at quarterback but I really like what we got with Cutter and Zach.”
Marrow likes Calzada’s physical and mental toughness.
“It says a lot when you drop down a level to play. Then they come back hungry to show what they can do when they get a second chance. That’s why I think Zach is really gonna surprise a lot of people.”
Hamdan knows Calzada’s athleticism will continue to surprise many who have not seen him play regularly.
“Naturally, he’s got a big arm. For him, it’s going to be the accuracy and taking a little bit off of it at times to throw a catchable ball,” Hamdan said. “He’s a big, strong, physical kid. He likes making big plays. It’s always going to come down to decision-making and accuracy, and that’s what we’re striving for him to do.”
3 Responses
We’ve heard it all before. Hamdan fails to mention that he also plays a huge part in how the qb does because of his game prep/planning and play calling.
After last year, I am not sold on Hamdan but hope he proves me wrong.
Zach is kinda similar to Will Levis. They both have big arms and they both are a little mobile with accuracy issues. They also both are gun slingers like Brett Farve. They will throw it to a receiver even if hes fully covered and hope that the wide receiver will come down with the ball and make a play. The also both are winners and will do whatever it takes to win. Zach hates to lose and his record as a starter reflects that. 23-9 is a incredible mark. With the offensive line being much better than it was a year ago we need them to really step up this year. I would go after 2 more offensive lineman in the portal. I would go after the best run blocker that they can find and the best pass blocking lineman they can find. Old school teams had 5 offensive lineman who had to be great at both pass blocking and run blocking, but you are starting to see more and more coaches go with different guys for different situations. We have a great starting 5 on the offensive line. We also have tight ends who block much better in the run and in the pass. The Illinois transfer is a outstanding run blocker. Rodriguez is a outstanding run blocker as well. We even have receivers that are great run blockers this year which absolutely killed us last year. The receivers didn’t want to block and the defense would make us pay for this on the outside.
If Zack can get the receivers to spend the summer running routes with him, he might have a chance to succeed. He’s not going to get it done by himself because he not an overpowering talent. Work and work hard. Then work some more. With this kind of ethic the Cats may exceed my 3 win prediction at the end of the season.