Hot Board: Kentucky offensive line coach candidates

After just one year of service, Eric Wolford is on the move as the Kansas State alum is heading to Alabama to take over the offensive line room for Nick Saban. That means Mark Stoops is now looking for a third offensive line coach in three seasons.

Wolford made some very positive impacts in his short stint as the Wildcats had one of the best offensive lines in 2021. Meanwhile, the early recruiting results were quite promising. However, Kentucky enters a transition year without a guy who made some important decisions last season.

Play-callers get most of the attention, but outside of a strength coach perhaps no other individual assistant makes a bigger impact on a football team than the offensive line coach. Handling a positional unit that has the most scholarship athletes on the field sets the tone for the entire football program.

The offensive line is the backbone of any football organization. Big men lead the way, and that position unit’s success is a major reason why Mark Stoops has turned Kentucky into one of the better programs in the SEC. Thanks to the great work from the late John Schlarman, Kentucky has one of the best offensive line identities in college football.

Now Stoops must go find a long-term answer.

KSR is diving into the search and has come up with a list of potential candidates that could be the next man up at Kentucky.

How good is this job?

To put it simply, this should be looked at as one of the best offensive line jobs in college football. The Wildcats have built a brand that is now getting results on signing day and draft weekend.

Over the last three recruiting classes, Kentucky has inked eight blue-chip offensive line prospects and should see three players selected in the 2022 NFL Draft. The Wildcats have consistently been one of the best run-blocking offensive lines in college football and will now be looked at in a different light while running Liam Coen’s NFL offense in the SEC.

There should be many quality candidates, and Coen’s NFL ties could expand the pool of candidates. There is a lot for Kentucky to sell.

Now let’s get to the potential targets.

Will Friend (Auburn OL coach)

If you have not been paying attention, things are a mess on the Plains. Bryan Harsin seems headed directly towards a lame-duck season in year two and the Tigers might be the worst team in the SEC outside of Vanderbilt.

Will Friend could be looking for a landing spot.

The right-hand man to Mike Bobo, Friend was the offensive line coach at Georgia from 2011-13 and then became Bobo’s offensive coordinator at Colorado State for three seasons (2015-17) before landing at Tennessee for three more seasons from 2018-20 working for Jeremy Pruitt.

Once Eric Wolford left South Carolina, Shane Beamer retained Bobo and brought Friend to Columbia. However, Harsin hired Bobo shortly after, and Friend followed him to Auburn.

Bobo was fired after the season, and Auburn is a complete mess. Friend has a deep SEC pedigree with coordinator experience. With some southeast recruiting success, Friend could check a lot of boxes for Kentucky.

Brent Key (Georgia Tech OL coach)

A three-year offensive line coach at Alabama from 2016-18, Brent Key joined Geoff Collins at his alma mater to begin a total rebuild at Georgia Tech.

However, that rebuild could be coming to an end.

The Yellow Jackets are just 9-25 in three seasons under Collins and are heading into a complete hot seat season in 2022. If Key is looking to bounce before things get really bad, Kentucky could present an opportunity.

Key has been an excellent recruiter as the 43-year-old was an important cog in the recruitment of Jedrick Wills for Alabama. The Georgia Tech assistant checks a lot of boxes if Kentucky could convince him to return to the SEC.

Aaron Kromer (Former Rams OL coach)

When Liam Coen was hired, the new offensive coordinator informed the media that Los Angeles Rams offensive line coach Aaron Kromer gave him a recommendation. Kromer and Mark Stoops are close friends as there was a relationship that helped spark the candidacy of the Rams assistant.

Well, Aaron Kromer currently needs a job.

The long-time NFL assistant was let go by Sean McVay last season. Kromer’s resume is strong as he served as the interim coach for the New Orleans Saints during Sean Payton’s season-long suspension in 2012. Meanwhile, Kromer has served as an offensive line coach for the Raiders, Saints, Bills, and Rams since 2001 with a two-year stint as the offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears from 2013-14.

Kromer hasn’t coached in college since 2000, but the connections to both Stoops and Coen are there to make him a possible candidate.

Zak Kromer (Rams offensive assistant)

If the older Kromer says no, his son could be a possible candidate. A member of Sean McVay’s staff currently works with one of the best offensive lines in the NFL as the Los Angeles Rams are headed to the Super Bowl.

Despite being very young, Kromer has spent six seasons in the NFL and five in the Rams organization. The assistant coach is still under the age of 30 but did serve as a student assistant coach under Bob Stoops at Oklahoma when Mike Stoops was on staff in Norman.

Again, there are a lot of connections here, and an SEC job would be a big step forward in Kromer’s young career.

Sherrone Moore (Michigan OL coach)

Jim Harbaugh appears to be a serious candidate for the opening gig with the Minnesota Vikings. If the Michigan head coach heads back to the NFL, that could create quite a college carousel.

The Wolverines would be looking for a new coach, and their assistants would also be looking for new jobs. Sherrone Moore could make sense at Kentucky.

The former Oklahoma offensive guard was a graduate assistant and on-field staffer for Charlie Strong at Louisville before moving to Central Michigan and then to Michigan. There is the Oklahoma tie, but Strong also worked in an off-field role with Mike Stoops at Alabama.

Moore’s unit just won the Joe Moore Award in his first season as an offensive line coach. If he needs a new home, Kentucky would be an ideal spot.

Jeff Quinn (Former Notre Dame OL coach)

When Brian Kelly left Notre Dame for LSU, the new SEC coach decided to retain offensive line coach Bo Davis to seemingly help with the transition and recruiting the SEC footprint. Meanwhile, new Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman decided to go a different direction in the trenches.

That means Jeff Quinn is currently unemployed.

The 59-year-old spent seven seasons at Notre Dame and consistently had one of the best offensive lines in college football. The former Buffalo head coach had some very strong recruiting success and served as an interim coach at both Central Michigan and Cincinnati.

The free agent should be hearing from a ton of schools looking for a new offensive line coach.

Walt Wells (EKU Head Coach)

Walt Wells just wrapped up his second season as the head coach at EKU as the Colonels finished the year 7-3 in the FCS. However, the former offensive line coach does have some ties to Kentucky.

Wells was a quality control assistant for the Wildcats from 2018-19 before leaving to take the EKU job. Before that, Wells was the offensive line coach at Tennessee in 2017 and has ties to the state of Tennessee.

Similar to the Anwar Stewart hire, Mark Stoops could want to bring back a former staffer to coach in the trenches.