Devin Leary's eye 'really blurry,' affected offensive operation

Kentucky quarterback Devin Leary was surgical in three healthy quarters in Starkville. The sixth-year senior completed 13 of 22 passing attempts for 156 yards, two touchdowns — both in the first half — with zero interceptions. And he had two other should-be scores, the ground knocking a Dane Key catch loose in the end zone and Barion Brown just inches away from a toe-tap touchdown of his own.

The downside? Although Kentucky allowed just one sack overall, Leary took a number of hits and broke loose from defenders to keep other plays alive. He was bleeding from both his knee and elbow while also briefly leaving the game with a tweaked shoulder.

And then his night ended for good at the conclusion of the third quarter after dealing with an eye issue, unable to read plays with blurry vision.

“He had something going on, something in his eye,” Mark Stoops said after the win. “That was leading to reading the (play) card (wrong). That’s why things were taking a long time there late. Hopefully he’ll be fine, we’ll see.”

Through the pain and blurriness, Stoops believes Leary “just really battled.”

“Almost converted that one to Dane, that would’ve been heck of a play. Just the toughness and the resolve, getting out of it,” Stoops added. “I believe it was on a scoring drive, he wiggled out of one and converted a big 15- or 20-yard play to keep the drive moving. He just showed toughness and grit, it wasn’t easy.”

Leary’s offensive coordinator confirmed his quarterback’s vision issues, adding that it directly resulted in plays being called wrong on the field and the delay in getting balls snapped. Not the veteran pass-thrower’s fault, but it undoubtedly impacted the offensive operation in the win.

“It did (impact the offense). A couple wrong plays, some delay of games,” Liam Coen said. “You just think about the kid, hopefully he’s OK. They said his eye was just really blurry and he couldn’t read. Hopefully he is OK, that’s really all I think about. From an execution standpoint, it wasn’t all his fault, but that definitely affected some of our operation.”

Like Stoops, Coen was impressed with Leary’s ability to battle through and put his team in position to win all things considered. He broke tackles and extended plays, made great throws — everything you look for in a quarterback.

“It kind of got us going in a couple of instances. It’s nice, you know?” Coen said. “When you call plays, you hope to get coverage, but that happens probably five to ten times a game. Where you get the exact look of the exact play you want. Players need to make plays and he did so. He did that on a number of occasions. He had one that could have been a touchdown, as well. Dane had it until he was going down in the end zone, that would have put us up 28-3 I think. You feel a little bit better about where you’re at, and maybe if he doesn’t get nicked, we’re operating better.

“He helped us. He missed one third down where he missed Barion (Brown) on a corner route, threw it to Tayvion (Robinson) and almost got picked. If he would have hung onto it for another tick, he’s got Barion for a touchdown on a corner route. Other than that, I think he did some really good things.”

Coen said it’s the result of Leary’s growing confidence in this system and his trust in his receivers. It came after a flawless practice going into the weekend.

And he expects more of the same moving forward.

“Friday, we had our best Friday practice we’ve had all season,” Coen said. “It’s not just him, but the ball didn’t touch the ground one time on Friday. That’s not always the case. It might not have shown in some ways tonight, but he’s getting better. He’s getting better each week.”