Kentucky Showing Signs of Selflessness ahead of Season Opener

Intangibles are essential to a team’s success. Throwing words around like “culture” and “climate” sound like coach-speak cliches at times, yet their value cannot be understated. When it hits the fan and adversity strikes, will the players point fingers or come together? Days away from kickoff, this Kentucky football team is showing signs that they will have each other’s back through thick and thin.

Ray Davis is preparing for his Kentucky football debut. He was a 1,000-yard rusher last year, almost in spite of what was around him at Vanderbilt. Playing in front of 60,000 fans at Kroger Field is just on the horizon and he cannot wait.

“This is the moment we’ve all kind of been waiting for. I’m ready to put on the pads and just get playing,” Davis told KSR.

“I’m ready to just score, celebrate with the guys and have Marques (Cox) hold me up, or whoever the O-lineman is. I’ll be honest, I think my biggest takeaway from Saturday — hope fully we’ll get the W — but I want to see Ramon (Jefferson) score. I think that’ll be real good, him coming back from his ACL, being back and completing the full circle of getting through the first game, then having the rest of the season. I’m hoping at the end of the day I get to see Ramon score and we all get to celebrate and get excited for him.”

His brain first went to the personal accolades, but there was a quick redirect to his teammate. Davis scored plenty of times last fall. He’s ready for his teammate to get an opportunity to shine in the limelight after a wait that lasted much longer than the former FCS transfer initially expected.

Kentucky Offensive Line Coming Together

The mindset Ray Davis has is not just in the running back room. Last fall the pieces of the offensive line did not fit together. They did not operate as one unit to protect the quarterback and open lanes for runners. It’s been a process, but Devin Leary has watched the Big Blue Wall grow this offseason.

“It’s really cool to see that whole entire unit come together… coming in as a transfer and a quarterback, just to see how much work those guys have put in and how much it truly means to them,” said Leary.

This development did not happen overnight.

“When we first got here, it was learning them, they were learning me,” Ray Davis said. “We had a couple of bumps in the road, just trying to learn the system, trying to learn Coen’s offense. It’s a lot of different words and different schemes. But I think as time went on in the months, we really honed in on the days we were off, going in and coming in and getting extra work, watching film with those guys talking to them. It’s been great to run behind them. I think we got some really smart, good guys.”

All of that extra time together added up. The three transfers needed to not only learn the system, but learn how to trust the guy next to them to do their job correctly. Instead of five individuals upfront, Kentucky is creating a cohesive group at the line of scrimmage.

“We all got to work together in order to get the job done,” said West Virginia transfer Dylan Ray. “Everyone’s got to be on the same page, and that’s why I say we’re tight. I know that the guy next to me, I know what he’s gonna do and he’s gonna get his job done. That’s a great feeling, going out there and being confident in the guy next to you.”

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