Scott Woodward played major role in Kentucky landing Devin Leary

Kentucky was able to land one of the top players in the transfer portal last month despite going through an offensive coordinator coaching search. How did the Wildcats pull that off? Wide receivers coach Scott Woodward played a big role.

On Thursday, new Kentucky quarterback Devin Leary sat down with Curtis Burch for over 11 minutes on the “Behind Kentucky Football” podcast to discuss his arrival in Lexington. A big selling point was a previous relationship that the New Jersey native had with Woodward.

“We had a really good relationship out of high school when he was at UMass,” Leary said about Woodward. “He saw me at a satellite camp. He was recruiting me hard then and decided to go to NC State and as soon as I hit the portal he was the first coach I heard from. He actually met my dad, met my high school head coach. He just went above and beyond to really show that they want me really bad here and they’re going to recruit me better and harder than anyone else in the country.

One of the main topics that Leary and Woodward talked about was the other positions on the offense. Most notably, the offensive line. Woodward informed Leary that Kentucky was committed to fixing its biggest weakness from 2021.

“First was obviously the best fit,” Leary said about what he was looking for in a new school. “As far as system wise, I wanted to be in a system and work with a coach that was going to develop me to get to the next level. Second, being able to have the correct pieces around me. Obviously, o-line upfront, a great running back, and some receivers on the outside that can cause a threat to push the ball down the field. And having a really great relationship with the coach.”

“The offensive line is the biggest key. That’s where it all starts is upfront. The biggest thing for me talking to Coach Woody through the process that was something that he promised that they were going to protect me. They were going to get some guys in here. After I started seeing guys commit left and right I saw it was a priority.”

Leary saw Kentucky land commitments from transfers Tanner Bowles and Marques Cox. The quarterback also mentioned the return of Eli Cox and Kenneth Horsey. That was enough to sell the transfer on Kentucky’s offense in 2022. It also helped to know who the offensive coordinator was.

Liam Coen and Leary spoke for the first time after the former Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator was announced as Kentucky’s new play-caller last week. The two have already gone over passing concepts on the phone and ran through some of Kentucky’s playbook. Coen also mentioned to Leary how close him and Woodward are as they both played quarterback at UMass.

Devin Leary could go down as Kentucky’s biggest recruiting win of the 2023 cycle. Scott Woodward is starting to make a name for himself on the recruiting trail.