Confusing substitution patterns have not helped Kentucky football

There are plenty of reasons Kentucky football has underwhelmed this season. Offensive line woes, undisciplined penalties, and inconsistent defense have all stuck out at various points in the season as reasons to blame for the Wildcats’ 1-7 SEC record. However, as easy as it is to point the finger exclusively at player performances, some of the substitution patterns have not exactly set individual guys up for success.

The quarterbacks ain’t got no rhythm

Let’s start with quarterback, a position that was supposed to be a non-controversial topic. Kentucky brought in former five-star recruit Brock Vandagriff as the unquestioned two-year starter, the perfect pro prospect for Liam Coen’s pro-style offense, and an ideal mentor for Cutter Boley to learn under. But then Coen peaced out to Tampa Bay and Kentucky couldn’t help but re-recruit dual-thread 4-star QB, Gavin Wimsatt, once he entered the transfer portal.

Now led by a new offensive coordinator and with the staff feeling the need to get the athletic Wimsatt some touches, Vandagriff went from unquestioned every-play signal caller to the first man in a dual-quarterback. For someone in need of shaking off a couple of years of rust from serving as a backup, Vandagriff’s position went from ideal to suboptimal quickly.

Sure, the offensive line giving him little-to-no time in the pocket did not help his confidence (not to mention his passing stats), but getting yanked mid-drive on multiple occasions only for Wimsatt to come in for one play and run for no gain certainly did not foster an environment for rhythm. Wimsatt would also routinely enter the game in the red zone, a strategy that also proved largely unsuccessful.

Then, along came Cutter Boley. Mark Stoops said he planned to play Boley against Texas unless Vandagriff was playing well in a close game. While that makes sense in the abstract, it could also be interpreted as Stoops assuming the game would not be close and Brock would not play well.

Boley played solidly in the second half against Texas, so now what? It looks like the understudy now has the full-time lead role. Or does he? Will Stoops continue his herky-jerky substation patterns and re-insert Vandagriff as the starter against Louisville? The fact that there is serious confusion on the topic speaks volumes about the choppy and unsteady strategy.

There is an old saying in football that goes, “If you have two quarterbacks, you have zero.” What happens when you have three quarterbacks? Evidently, you have a 1-7 conference record.

The curious case of Jamarion Wilcox

Then comes the running backs, another position where the transfer portal was destined to be Kentucky’s saving grace. The staff brought in Chip Trayanum, a stud out of Ohio State set to carry the mantle held by Benny Snell, Chris Rodriguez, and other predecessors.

Unfortunately, a hand injury kept him out for the majority of the season. Sometimes, crap happens. But when he did return, he did not start, only got a handful of carries, and we haven’t seen him since. In his place, Demie Sumo-Karngbaye, the veteran who primarily served as a third-down back most of his career, played well, but certainly did not put C-Rod’s rushing record in jeopardy. Jason Patterson was next up on the depth chart and had good spurts, but it was Jamarion Wilcox who shined.

Wilcox showed more explosiveness than any back we’ve seen this season, and yet, he only received nominal touches. Against Texas, for example, he (finally) started and opened the first offensive drive of the game with an impressive 20-yard run, but only received one more rush the rest of the first half.

Sure, he isn’t the most adept at pass blocking (most freshmen aren’t) and he occasionally lost a shoe, but keeping the team’s biggest homerun threat off the field was another example of of substitution confusion all year long.

At this point, it is hard to say what to expect against Louisville. Will Kentucky treat this like another game on the regular season schedule or more like a meaningless bowl game where the young guys come in to get reps? At this point, your guess is as good as anyone else’s.