Big Blue Wall could be primed for bounce-back season in 2024

Kentucky’s defensive line enters the 2024 campaign with high expectations. Deone Walker should make a push for All-American honors, and position coach Anwar Stewart could have a top-10 positional unit this season. The Wildcats are ready to have a big season in the trenches. But what about the other side?

New offensive line coach Eric Wolford returns to Lexington after two seasons at Alabama and is inheriting one of the most experienced offensive line units in college football. Eli Cox will be a four-year starter. Jager Burton is a three-year starter. Marques Cox is now in year seven in college football and has started 46 games at Kentucky and Northern Illinois. Tennessee transfer Gerald Mincey has 13 career starts in the SEC. The pieces are in place for the Big Blue Wall to have its best unit since 2021.

Phil Steele believes that Kentucky will have a top-25 offensive line in 2024. In his preseason magazine, Steele ranks the Big Blue Wall No. 17 overall trailing Georgia (No. 1), Texas (No. 2), LSU (No. 6), Tennessee (No. 8), Ole Miss (No. 13), and Alabama (No. 16) in the SEC.

“They added Tennessee transfer Gerald Mincey and [Marques] Cox returns for his seventh year, giving UK 156 career starts. This will be their best Big Blue Wall in three years,” writes Steele.

A top-20 offensive line could change things for Kentucky with new offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan and starting quarterback Brock Vandagriff taking over in Lexington. With a pair of NFL tailbacks in the past two seasons, Kentucky finished No. 105 and No. 93 in rushing success rate in each of the last two seasons. Kentucky produced some splash plays (No. 48 in EPA/rush) in 2023, but the offense constantly fell behind the chains on offense, and that led to losing game control as the unit had to get more pass-heavy. That turned into a disaster in 2022 when the offensive line allowed 46 sacks on only 26.8 pass attempts per game.

Kentucky has to get better play in the trenches on offense. There is a hope that Wolford and some scheme tweaks from Hamdan could lead to better success for the Big Blue Wall. You can’t deny the experience. A bounce-back season from this unit could lead to a big year for the program.