Kentucky Football Countdown: No. 16 Deuce Hogan

KSR’s Kentucky Football Countdown has now reached duplicate numbers. This year safety Kobi Albert will be rocking No. 16 on the defense, while Deuce Hogan sports the digits at quarterback. If all goes according to plan, we may not see much of either this fall. Meet the Rookie, then stay with me for a closer look at the former Iowa gunslinger.

About Deuce Hogan

There’s a picture of Deuce Hogan when you look up “Texas quarterback” in the dictionary. The son of a football coach, Hogan was called into action as a true freshman and led his team to a state title. By the time his prep career concluded he was a top 500 prospect with 8,192 passing yards and 100 touchdowns.

Deuce Hogan chose Iowa over offers from Iowa State, Oklahoma State and Baylor. He did not play as a true freshman, then lost the QB2 competition with Alex Padilla. Following some odd comments by Kirk Ferentz, he was ready to enter the transfer portal, ultimately choosing to play for the school that beat his first team in the Citrus Bowl.

Hogan Competing to be QB2

A walk-on for the Wildcats, the offseason addition proved to be significant when Beau Allen made a surprising move to the transfer portal in the preseason. In our first glimpses of Hogan in Kentucky blue, he performed well in the Spring Game, completing 7-of-11 passes, including a touchdown to Cole Lanter in the red zone.

“It’s my job to capitalize on opportunity,” Hogan told KSR. “I haven’t changed the way that I’ve approached the game at all. Obviously, the No. 2 position is very desirable, and we’re fighting for it but nothing changes in terms of day-to-day approach.”

Throughout fall camp Deuce Hogan is competing with Kaiya Sheron to earn the title “QB2.” Rich Scangarello has seen each player take turns standing out from day to day. There will be a plan in place if Will Levis goes down with a minor injury, but Kentucky’s offensive coordinator does not believe he needs to make a QB2 declaration before the season begins.

“We gotta let ’em compete every week,” Scangarello said this week. “In the heat of the moment there will always be a two that knows he’s ready to go, but I also believe that if it was something that those guys had to play for a long duration, I think it’s probably unsettled. It will get figured out as we go.”