Kentucky offensive line is looking for happy medium in communication

Kentucky’s offense did some good things in the 44-14 win over Ball State in Week 1. However, things were clunky for offensive coordinator Liam Coen‘s unit. Most notably, some miscommunication breakdowns led to some bad moments. Some of the clunkiness we saw from the offense wasn’t due to effort.

On the offensive line, Kentucky is working on clearing up communication at practice before Saturday’s game against Eastern Kentucky rolls around.

“With communicating and stuff, it’s a weird balance. You want to be really good at communicating, but you don’t want to communicate too much,” Kentucky center Jager Burton told reporters on Tuesday. “At times Saturday, we definitely did that. We kind of communicated a little too much.”

“It’s something that’s a real focal point for us or focus point for us this week.”

Kentucky is hoping that cleaner communication leads to a bigger offensive output on Saturday.

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Dylan Ray makes good first impression

Kentucky added many scholarship players to its roster over the offseason, but one that flew in under the radar was Dylan Ray. The West Virginia transfer was a spring transfer did not get on campus until the summer. However, it did not take the redshirt sophomore long to carve out a role.

Ray entered Week 1 as the backup left guard and was called into action in the fourth quarter when super senior Kenneth Horsey went down with a lower leg injury. The Indiana native responded by playing winning football for the Wildcats.

“I feel like Dylan did a great job. It’s something that Stoops preaches a lot is prepare every week like you’re a starter or a star player. I think he took that to heart, and he did that this week, and it showed up on Saturday,” Jager Burton said. “He went in there, and we didn’t really miss a beat. He stepped in and knew what to do.”

Now Ray will get a huge opportunity when he makes his first career start against EKU on Saturday.