First Down Kentucky: Road Dogs

There is some uncertainty in the air at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility. For the first time in 2024, Kentucky is hitting the road. Brock Vandagriff has been on the road in the SEC, but never as a starting quarterback. That changes this Saturday at Ole Miss.

“It’s one of those things where you never really know until you’ve gone in there with the quarterback, but he’s done this. He’s very well aware,” said offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan.

“For us, it’ll be critical early in the first quarter, just settling everybody down with the movement, with the cadence with the crowd noise. We’ve been repping it all week and we’ll be ready to go.”

They’ve been practicing with artificial crowd noise, but that doesn’t truly simulate what it’s like to play in front of a packed house in the Southeastern Conference. True freshman tight end Willie Rodriguez is looking forward to the experience.

“I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. I’ve obviously never traveled before,” said the Northern Kentucky native. “It’s going to be really cool, going on the road to play another SEC team with the atmosphere and everything that goes with it.”

Even though it’s an early, 11 am kickoff, Vince Marrow knows the Ole Miss student section will be rocking and rolling. He’s preparing his players for a physical battle and comparing it to something they have all already experienced.

“These young guys and some of these guys coming from other schools in the Big Ten, I’m telling ’em it’s different. These games are like NFC games, them old NFC games between the Cowboys and Redskins where it’s going to be a physical game and the atmosphere, especially down there at 11 o’clock. The last time we went down there, thought the crowd might not be there, but they were there and ready to go. I guess they got the bars open at 7 am. They were juiced up ready to go. They’ll be ready for us,” said Marrow.

“I tell the young guys it’s just like playing little league football. You get up at 7:30, 8 o’clock in the morning, eat breakfast with Mom, and go play a football game. It just so happens to be on ABC.”

Kentucky Preparing for Aggressive Ole Miss Attack

Studying the Ole Miss tape presents a unique challenge. Schematically, Kentucky has a good idea of what they will want to do, but they haven’t seen it yet against an SEC foe. Fortunately, defensive coordinator Pete Golding is no stranger to the SEC.

“You start to realize there are certain families, if you will, of offensive coordinators and defensive coordinators. We know their coordinator was at Alabama and is similar to what Georgia has done, similar to a lot of these styles of defenses. They’re going to be aggressive. They’re going to play press coverage and be on you quick,” said the Kentucky play-caller.

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.

Offense Built Confidence vs. Ohio

The coaches were impressed with the way the team rallied following the demoralizing loss to South Carolina. They bounced back with a hard-fought battle against Georgia. That resolve will be put to the test this week.

“It’s a testament to them. I learned a lot about them after that South Carolina game and how they came back to work. As each week goes by I think we’re taking a step in the right direction,” said Hamdan. “Again, as you guys know, from South Carolina to Georgia to a top-five opponent, it was good to get some confidence last week and get things going in the right direction. This will be a big test for us on Saturday.”

Not only did Kentucky gain some confidence against Ohio, Hamdan feels like he knows exactly how the offense needs to play to win in the SEC.

“We know the brand we have to play. I think it’s become pretty apparent to me in the first couple of weeks what that is. We’ve gotta execute our plan to the best of our abilities.”

A Cool Moment for the Kentucky Freshmen

Twelve months ago, Willie Rodriguez was lining up across the line of scrimmage from Aba Selm. Rodriguez’s Covington Catholic Colonels took down Simon Kenton. Last week the two shared a huddle in Kentucky uniforms.

“It was really cool,” said the freshman tight end. “It’s kinda crazy that we’re both freshmen. It was a quick switch-up, going from high school and hanging out with each other in our hometown, to coming here both in the summer, then picking it up pretty quick.”