Kentucky is Non-Committal, "Evaluating" Quarterback Position

The Kentucky offense has not been good in 2024. After three straight losses in October, we have added a quarterback controversy to the mix.

Gavin Wimsatt has played in all but two games this season as a change-of-pace running option. During a tie ballgame against Auburn, Kentucky kept Brock Vandagriff on the sideline and let Wimsatt take all of the snaps in the second half.

“We’re evaluating everything today,” offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan said on Monday. “We’re getting back with those guys and want to get face-to-face with them again. I know we’ve addressed it. It was something we were going to do in the game. We knew we were going to do that, so both quarterbacks were aware of it, and we’ll address that moving forward.”

The plan was to initially give Wimsatt the third series under center. That plan changed when Kentucky took a 10-0 lead.

“The decision to play (Wimsatt) last week was, as you guys know, to give him a chance at being in there the whole time and have the opportunity to have the whole playbook, if you will,” said Hamdan.

Wimsatt completed 3-10 passes for 34 yards, while Vandagriff was 9-17 for 120 yards before he was sent to the sideline. Each quarterback threw an interception in the 24-10 loss to Auburn. Hamdan said Vandagriff did not hang his head when he learned Wimsmatt would get a shot, describing the Georgia transfer’s demeanor as “fantastic.”

“The guy is everything you want. Everybody knows that about him. It was important for me to have that discussion with him before the game, so it wasn’t a surprise and ultimately, it was, ‘Whatever we got to do to win the game, I’m all in.’ There’s nobody more that exemplifies what this team is about than that guy,” said Hamdan.

“I very much know going through similar situations in my college career, how hard that is. He’s going to come back in the building, ready to get back to work and ready to do whatever it takes to go beat Tennessee.”

It’s unclear what Kentucky will do with the quarterback position moving forward, but as Mark Stoops said after the loss to Auburn, this is an entire offense problem. They’re willing to try anything to fix it and that means trying out multiple quarterbacks.

“We know exactly where we’re at right now, and we’re not going to just sit there and do the same thing over and over again and expect different results,” said Hamdan.

“That’s the offensive line — movement and the different guys we’ve played there. The running back situation — finding out who can create explosives. It always is going to fall on me, and I understand that in every way and we’re working to actively see who the best rotations are, and what we can get done to create more consistency, to create more explosive plays, and that’s what it’s going to come down to.”

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