Liam Coen evaluates the play of Kentucky quarterbacks

Kentucky offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Liam Coen has an interesting situation with the quarterbacks on his roster. NC State transfer quarterback Devin Leary has come in as the presumptive starter, and have been doing a good job.

But the battle for the backup quarterback position is also an important one with four other quarterbacks — Shane Hamm, Deuce Hogan, Kaiya Sheron and Destin Wade — on the roster.

After a recent practice, a reporter noted that it felt like Sheron was took a fair share of the reps with the second unit during the periods that have been open to the media. He asked Coen about getting that position figured out.

“We’re working on getting some of those other guys some reps as well,” Coen said. “Kaiya obviously, I know he can execute the offense in a lot of ways. Now it’s just trying to see our Destin, Deuce and seeing those guys a little bit more in those competitive situations with the second group to be able to get those guys some more meaningful reps.”

Both Sheron and Wade started one game last season for the Wildcats.

While he is not getting a majority of reps with the twos, Wade did take advantage of an opportunity given to him at the end of a recent scrimmage.

“I thought Destin did a really nice job at the end of the scrimmage,” Coen said. “He gave us life, in terms of some of the throws that he made, the decisions he made. He made him fast and gave us that last drive that led us to a touchdown. What I said to these guys was, who knows what that scrimmage game is like? That could have been a 10-3 ball game that we’re down. When we go down and score right there to go 10-10 to give us a chance to go to overtime or two point play. It’s just about how they finished. I really was happy with the way Destin did that. I think he’s strung together a few good days so just trying to continue to evaluate.”

Liam Coen says ‘it’s huge’ for one of the backup quarterbacks to step up

Devin Leary gives Kentucky a bonafide starting quarterback heading into the season. But he has also missed more than half of the season in two of the last three years with injuries.

Having somebody who the team is confident can fill in if he gets injured is critical to the team’s success.

“It’s huge for one of those guys to step up,” Coen said. “Obviously, I have familiarity with Kaiya. He knows some of these things that we’re doing offensively. But now it’s about hey, putting you in those positions, in those situations, how do you react in a live game situation? It’s extremely important. The backup quarterback different than a lot of positions, you need one to show up that the players trust, the coaches trust and then he can go in and there’s not as big of a drop off as some might think.”