Cole Cubelic Evaluates the Addition of Brock Vandagriff

The Big Blue Nation received great news Wednesday morning. Brock Vandagriff announced he’s transferring from Georgia to Kentucky.

A five-star talent in the 2021 recruiting class, Vandagriff is the highest-ranked player to join the Kentucky roster in the internet era. It sounds great on paper, but he played limited snaps at Georgia. So what exactly are the Wildcats getting from the gunslinger? The SEC Network’s Cole Cubelic joined Kentucky Sports Radio to share his perspective on the Wildcats’ newest addition.

“I think physically he’s a good fit for the system. He’s going to add a little bit extra mobility. He definitely has the toughness, the physicality from that standpoint. That part of his makeup is a good fit for Coach Stoops, for Liam Coen. He’s a guy that when he leaves the pocket or on a design run, he’s not a slide guy. He’s going to try to run you over. Not going to come out of the game unless he absolutely has to, so from that standpoint you like that part of who he is. That’s a good fit in the culture of that program and how Coach Stoops has built it,” said Cubelic.

“Physically as far as what he’s capable of — I mean, he was a five-star for a reason. He’s he’s got big arm, he can push it down the field. I think he has good touch. He layers the ball so he gets it up and down well. Doesn’t throw everything 100 miles an hour, which can be a little bit of an issue, as you know.”

Hear Cole Cubelic’s entire conversation with Matt Jones on the Kentucky Sports Radio podcast.

Vandagriff must Learn to Process

The new Kentucky quarterback has the physical tools, but can he operate Liam Coen’s system? The slow operation was evident in the lack of offensive snaps in 2023. To solve that problem, it’s imperative for Vandagriff to quickly get comfortable within the UK offense this spring. Even though he has been in one of the best offenses in college football over the last three years, it was from a perspective on the sideline.

“I think it’s tough for almost any backup quarterback to have a great grasp of offense conceptually and how it’s being run and what you’re doing, because the only way to get great at football is to play football,” said Cubelic. “That’s just the reality of it.”

The college football analyst knows football well, but even he leans on the quarterbacks he works with — Greg McElroy and Jordan Rodgers, to name a few — for insight. The common observer may see a man wide open running down the field and wonder why the quarterback isn’t throwing it to him. Much of that is dependent on the play-call, the pre-snap read and the post-snap reaction from the defense.

Vandagriff may be able to know the playbook backwards and forwards before fall camp arrives. He could even have the timing down with his wide receivers. We will not know how quickly he’ll able to process information until he receives live game snaps. That is what Vandagriff needs more than anything to reach his lofty ceiling.

“Until you’ve done that, and you see how coverage rolls or how somebody goes from cover-three to cover-one and rolling the safety down, or playing man to zone, or what pressures you need to be worried about and not worried about, you can’t process it that quickly,” said Cubelic.

“You have to live it and breathe it you have to be in it. So I don’t think any backup quarterback has a great grasp of what it’s like to truly run an offense because you haven’t done it against live bullets.

More Reactions to the Commitment

“Love the pickup for Kentucky landing UGA QB Brock Vandagriff. Coaches we spoke to gushed about his potential and think he’ll probably be better suited to UK’s system than UGA’s. Great combination of arm, speed and work ethic.” — Bruce Feldman, The Athletic

“Brock Vandagriff is Southern Will Levis in the best way.” — Connor O’Gara, Saturday Down South

Brock Vandagriff is a CAT #BBN pic.twitter.com/OOYU2HYIsI

— Acro (@TheAcroTV) December 6, 2023