2023 Kentucky Position Previews: Offensive Line

Kentucky football fall camp is right around the corner. Before the Cats officially begin the 2023 season in August, KSR is taking a closer look at the roster and analyzing each position group. Personnel, storylines, questions, and one bold prediction will be included.

Up next is the team’s biggest positional question mark. Kentucky’s offensive line is coming off a rough season, and second-year offensive line coach Zach Yenser must oversee big improvements for this group in 2023.

KSR Position Previews: Quarterback, Tailback, Wide Receiver, Tight End

Personnel

Kentucky enters the season with 13 scholarship offensive linemen on the roster and that is a low number for this position. The Wildcats added four scholarship transfers but lost four scholarship players to transfer plus one more to injury. However, there is a lot of experience returning. That is a major improvement over last season.

— Marques Cox (Super): The Northern Illinois transfer spent five years in the MAC starting 34 games and playing 2,293 snaps at left tackle. Cox is a plug-and-play transfer who quickly took control of the LT1 job. An argument can be made that he is one of the most important players on the team this season.

— Kenneth Horsey (Super): Horsey is now a four-year starter who will be shifting back to his natural left guard position after being forced to play tackle last season. The Central Florida native will be one of the best guards in the SEC with a high pass protection ceiling. The super senior brings a wealth of experience (37 games, 33 starts, 1,923 snaps).

— Jeremy Flax (Redshirt Senior): The former junior college transfer is now in year four at Kentucky and started 12 games last year, but there were a lot of rough patches. The 6-foot-6, 325-pound tackle will be a position battle at right tackle to begin fall camp. Flax is the favorite to open the season as UK’s No. 3 tackle.

— Tanner Bowles (Redshirt Senior): Bowles could not find consistent playing time at Alabama despite playing center, guard, and tackle over four years in Tuscaloosa. The Glasgow (Ky.) High product has two years of eligibility remaining and figures to give Kentucky some quality depth at guard.

— Eli Cox (Redshirt Senior): Similar to Horsey, the Nicholasville (Ky.) West Jessamine product made a position switch last year that didn’t go great. Cox is now shifting back to right guard where he started nine games in 2021. The former three-star recruit brings 30 games, 22 starts, and 1,428 snaps to the lineup.

— Courtland Ford (Redshirt Junior): The USC transfer was the second big tackle transfer addition for Kentucky this offseason. The Texas native has played mostly left tackle and was a full-time starter in 2021. Ford has logged over 700 snaps in his career, and Kentucky will ask him to make the shift to right tackle during fall camp. Ford is a favorite to open the season in the starting lineup.

— Jager Burton (Redshirt Sophomore): Burton started all 13 games for Kentucky at left guard as a redshirt freshman, and there were some struggles. The Lexington (Ky.) Frederick Douglass product made the position switch to center, and that seems to better suit his playing style. A former top-150 recruit, Burton has many of the physical traits required to be a good player in the pivot.

— Ben Christman (Redshirt Sophomore): After three seasons at Ohio State, the former blue-chipper jumped in the transfer portal and landed at Kentucky. Christman is a true guard who also might have some right tackle flex. The Big Ten transfer should have a chance to become one of Kentucky’s top reserves before stepping into a starting role in 2024.

— Paul Rodriguez (Redshirt Sophomore): The Greater Cincinnati native is now in year three in the program and is looking to carve a role at guard. However, transfer additions likely mean that Rodriguez is stuck running with the threes during fall camp.

— Grant Bingham (Redshirt Freshman): Bingham is a former four-star recruit out of Paintsville (Ky.) Johnson Central picked Kentucky over Notre Dame. However, there has been little buzz to this point about the former blue chipper. This is an important year for Bingham as strides must be made to find a future role at Kentucky.

— Nikolas Hall (Redshirt Freshman): A Kentucky legacy who missed spring practice with an injury, Hall is an integral part of this position’s future. The Cats need him to become a hit and eventually take over one of the tackle spots. Progress must be made this season in a year where there likely won’t be much playing time.

— Koby Keenum (Freshman): One of the more underrated recruiting wins for Kentucky in the 2023 high school cycle, Keenum was an early enrollee who immediately took control of the No. 2 center position behind Burton in fall camp. Kentucky appears to have a long-term plan at center with the two young players separated by two years.

— Malachi Wood (Freshman): Another early enrollee, the Richmond (Ky.) Madison Central product can be categorized as a project with intriguing physical traits. Wood must add weight and strength before becoming a possible option at tackle.

Expected starting lineup

This one is pretty easy. Four of the five starters were established during spring practice. The fifth was added to the roster in April.

• Left Tackle: Marques Cox
• Left Guard: Kenneth Horsey
• Center: Jager Burton
• Right Guard: Eli Cox
• Right Tackle: Courtland Ford

Now Kentucky needs this group to gel. Banking reps in fall camp will be important. Developing depth will also be essential and there are a handful of players who will be competing for potential rotation spots.

One Big Question: Can Kentucky protect Devin Leary?

The Kentucky football season truly depends on the effectiveness of NC State quarterback transfer Devin Leary. The super senior with 6,807 career passing yards is now playing in the most talented offense of his collegiate career and has a proven play-caller who led a top-15 points per drive offense in his only season in the FBS. The ceiling is high for this group, but Leary must be protected.

Kentucky struggled mightily to create clean pockets for Will Levis last season, and it led to a brutal offensive performance as the Cats ranked No. 95 in points per drive, No. 101 in yards per play, and No. 128 in sack rate. The Wildcats must protect the asset.

Getting Eli Cox and Kenneth Horsey back to their natural positions will certainly help, but the two tackle new transfers need to deliver. A lot is riding on Marques Cox and Courtland Ford. The two bookends must protect the edge and give Leary room to navigate the pocket and do what he does best — process and throw the ball with accuracy.

Key Storyline: Zach Yenser’s second act

A lot is riding on the Kentucky offensive line. That means this is a make-or-break year for offensive line coach Zach Yenser.

The former San Francisco 49ers assistant inherited a tough situation last year. The offensive coordinator that was a part of his hiring process left soon after, UK had to move their only proven commodities to different positions, there was zero depth and little tackle experience. That ended up in disaster. But now Yenser gets a reset.

Most of the blame for last year’s issues was put on offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello and former offensive line coach Eric Wolford who bolted after just one season. Yenser gets another chance to make a first impression, but this is a plane that needs to be landed.

There is enough talent and experience for this to be a middle-of-the-pack offensive line in the SEC. If things are ugly again, there will be a lot of pressure to make a coaching change.

One Bold Prediction: Jager Burton looks like Kentucky’s next star center in November

Kentucky has had a very strong run at center. Jon Toth has hung around in the NFL, Drake Jackson was a college star, and Luke Fortner started every game for a playoff team as a rookie. During their time in Lexington, all three spent year(s) as the best center in the SEC. Jager Burton could be next.

The former blue-chipper who picked Kentucky over Ohio State, Oregon, and a host of others made the position switch to the pivot, and this should be a much more comfortable spot for him. At this spot, Burton can use his high-level positional athleticism to complete reach blocks and seals. Burton can give UK a long-term solution at a key position.

There will be some growing pains, but by the last month of the season, we will see the light come on. Next summer at SEC Media Days, Burton will be considered one of the top centers in the SEC.