Dante Dowdell wants to be more than short-yardage specialist at Kentucky

Kentucky’s offense had many problems in 2024. In year one under offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan, the Wildcats never scored more than two offensive touchdowns against a power conference defense. Kentucky again had one of the worst passing games in college football, but the inefficiency on third down and red zone might have been the most alarming.

Kentucky finished the 2024 campaign ranked No. 120 nationally in third down conversion rate (33.8%) and No. 110 nationally in red zone touchdown percentage (52.9%). All of that occurred despite having a run game that finished No. 19 nationally in rushing success rate (45.5%).

The Wildcats rebuilt the passing game in the transfer portal by adding quarterback Zach Calzada (Incarnate Word) along with wide receivers Tru Edwards (Louisiana Tech), J.J. Hester (Oklahoma), Kendrick Law (Alabama), and Troy Stellato (Clemson). But this wants to be a run-first offense. Much of the offseason was spent trying to make the running game better.

Kentucky signed five offensive line transfers, retained tailback Jamarion Wilcox, and added Nebraska tailback transfer Dante Dowdell to the offense. Much of Tuesday’s press conference with the Kentucky program was about getting back to playing traditional Mark Stoops football. That means running the rock.

The addition of Dante Dowdell gives Hamdan and running backs coach Jay Boulware one of the best short-yardage tailbacks in college football. No other player had a higher success percentage in short-yardage than the former blue-chip recruit.

Dante Dowdell could immediately upgrade Kentucky’s short-yardage offense (KSR+)

Mark Stoops believes the addition will help fix Kentucky’s short-yardage issues that were a massive problem both between the 20s and in goal-to-go offense.

“Those are things we have talked about in-depth already, the situational positions that we are in and the failure at certain areas. And I think you have to look at everything, right? Personnel, scheme, you have to look at everything that we did and get better at it,” Stoops explained. “But bringing Dante in with his size and the physical nature that he plays with and his ability is very exciting. I love his maturity and certainly that size.”

Dante Dowdell and a new-look offensive line should help Kentucky’s short-yardage offense extend drives, create scoring opportunities, and finish scoring opportunities. However, Dowdell wants to show everyone that he is more than a short-yardage back after rushing for 614 yards and 12 touchdowns (4.3 yards per rush, 47% success rate, 0.11 EPA/rush) as a sophomore at Nebraska.

“I do feel like I can be more than a short-yardage guy. I’m going to do that regardless but I don’t want just that to be who I am,” Dowdell said. “So I gotta change the narrative on that this year.”

Kentucky is expected to have a committee approach at tailback with Dante Dowdell and Jamarion Wilcox splitting snaps, but Dowdell’s size (6-2, 227) does give the offense a different element. Stoops and Hamdan are hopeful that Dowdell’s strong success rate in short-yardage will continue as he attempts to show that he can be a true SEC RB1 who can tote the rock 20 times and remain efficient.

Mark Stoops is making a commitment to get Kentucky back to who they used to be heading into 2025. That means running the football. Dante Dowdell will play a big role in that as the Big Ten transfer looks to build off a solid sophomore campaign in Lexington.