Devin Leary, Kentucky passing game is being held back by 'little things'

Kentucky had numerous problems on Saturday. The Wildcats were drilled by Georgia on the road in a 51-13 beatdown. There is a long list of problems that head coach Mark Stoops and defensive coordinator Brad White must fix before Missouri brings a top-10 passing offense into Kroger Field on Saturday night. However, the biggest problem currently facing this football team is on offense.

Through three SEC games, Devin Leary is completing only 45.9 percent of his 24.7 throws per game. The NC State transfer has a woeful success rate (35.4%) and has more interceptions/pass breakups (14) than explosive completions (seven). Kentucky is not getting winning football from the quarterback position. The Wildcats need Leary to play better, but he could also use some help.

Leary owns the second-worst drop rate (11.7%) in college football trailing only Thomas Castellanos (Boston College). Stoops wants to see his quarterback improve on some fundamentals, but he also needs some help from his supporting cast.

“Sometimes it is his feet or his footwork, and sometimes it’s him maybe expecting a receiver to run out at a different angle,” Stoops told reporters on Monday when asked about Leary’s accuracy. “There’s some little things. They’re some just have to make. He doesn’t need me to sit here and make an excuse for him. He’s a big boy and he owns it just like everybody else on our team. You have to have the courage to see the areas that you need to improve on and you have to own it.”

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Most notably, when open receivers are available, Kentucky needs Devin Leary to deliver the ball on target. In the opening possession of the game, the Wildcats had Tayvion Robinson wide-open on a sail route, and Leary badly missed. These times of misses are becoming a regular occurrence, but so are drops. Robinson joined the bad hands party on Saturday with two drops in five targets. Kentucky’s top three receivers now have 10 drops on the season in 111 targets. Simply executing in pitch-and-catch situations is a box that this offense is not checking.

What is going on with the passing game right now is simply not working, and Kentucky must find some answers.

“We have to look at everything. We have been looking at everything to see what see what he’s comfortable with to be efficient,” Stoops said. “To make sure we’re throwing and catching.”

That means offensive coordinator Liam Coen and the rest of his offensive staff must look around to find some solutions before being able to take a deeper look at the problems during the bye week. Kentucky simply has to be better in the throw game. Kentucky cannot continue to win football games unless things improve.