Mark Stoops defends Brock Vandagriff running the ball

Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops isn’t going to be apologetic about quarterback Brock Vandagriff running the football for the Wildcats. Even if it means he’s exposed to some hits from time-to-time.

Stoops, speaking with reporters at his weekly press conference, shared that while he naturally wants to protect his quarterback, he’s not going to tell him not to take yards that are there on the ground. Even after a game against Georgia where Vandagriff ran as much as he has all season, Stoops doesn’t think it’s been too much.

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“Of course we want our quarterback protected and smart,” Stoops said. “But we want him to play ball and I thought he, in that game once again he showed great awareness, very good pocket presence and really was tough as nails. Ran for some really tough yards.”

Vandagriff finished the game against Georgia, a 13-12 loss, with 13 carries for 26 net rushing yards. But that includes the four sacks he took for -44 yards, including a 28-yard sack fumble that gave Georgia a short field. On his non-sack carries, Vandagriff rushed nine times for 70 yards, nearly eight yards per carry.

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And Stoops also doesn’t think he’s alone in needing to consider the balance of his quarterback rushing and his quarterback staying healthy.

Evidently, he doesn’t think anything with the balance with Vandagriff and this Kentucky team is out of whack.

“Yeah, I think if you watch every press conference, which I’m sure you don’t have time to do — but if you watch every press conference in the NFL or in college, somebody probably gets asked that question about their quarterback,” Stoops said. “Right? NFL, they’re constantly talking about protecting them and doing that and so are we. It’s part of the game. You know, I think if you tell them to be too cautious or don’t do this, don’t do that, then they’re not going to play the game. They have to play the game.”

Stoops shared a health update on a key Kentucky rusher

Kentucky‘s presumed starting running back Chip Trayanum has missed the first three weeks of the regular season with a hand injury.

Ahead of Kentucky’s Week 4 matchup against Ohio, Stoops gave a brief update the injury status of the Ohio State transfer.

“He’s not available this week,” Stoops said.

In Trayanum’s absence, Kentucky has turned to senior tailback Demie Sumo-Karngbaye to carry the rushing load. He’s totaled 47 carries for 227 yards and a touchdown on the young season. His best performance came this past weekend against Georgia, where he had 22 touches for 98 yards.

On the same note, Kentucky was able to put together a strong rushing performance against the Bulldogs this past week with a depleted offensive line. They were without longtime starting offensive tackle Jager Burton after he was injured against South Carolina the previous week.

“I think he wanted to play and was working hard,” Stoops said of Burton. “So, he’s on the depth chart this week. It’s not a league game but we’ll do the same probably. He’ll be probable to be questionable. Last week we really did have two guys that went down to the game-time decision. I don’t think we want to make a living out of doing that, but we really did, we had two guys that went to game time.”