Liam Coen talks about things he's not supposed to talk about

The Kentucky football team spent the afternoon practicing inside the Nutter Field House. Even though bowl prep is on their plate, the primary entree is roster construction.

Liam Coen met with reporters after practice. Even though he fielded questions about the matchup with Clemson, the most intriguing part of the conversation centered around things he’s not supposed to discuss.

Coaches cannot officially comment on prospective players until they sign on Wednesday. That doesn’t mean the Kentucky offensive coordinator could not speak in generalities about new additions to the roster, like the incoming quarterback and new wide receivers coach.

Time to Develop Quarterbacks at Kentucky

Kentucky is no stranger to operating an offense with a transfer quarterback. That has been the norm since Mark Stoops began Kentucky’s eight-year postseason streak. This year slightly deviated from that norm because Devin Leary was a one-year rental. Coen’s excited to have multiple years to work with Brock Vandagriff and Cutter Boley, who will sign with the Cats on Wednesday.

“(I’m) liking that guys that are coming in and being able to give us some fresh dudes to work with. Sometimes you get big dudes that can come in and throw the football that are smart, ultimately that’s fun to work with. I definitely like where things are headed,” said Coen.

“We need to really work on the development piece now that we’ve got some guys coming in with some years that we can work with. I think that’s huge that we can truly work on developing that position.”

What Daikiel Shorts can bring to the WR Room

During Friday’s bowl prep presser, FootballScoop leaked that Kentucky is zeroing in on former Houston wide receivers coach Daikiel Shorts. He was in town over the weekend to conduct a formal interview. The new addition has not been finalized, but it’s apparent that Kentucky has their guy.

Instead of discussing what Shorts could bring to Lexington, Coen described what kind of guy he wants to fill the position: a former player that can relate to the players and help them unlock their potential.

“A communicator, somebody that can relate to those guys in a way both on and off the field. Somebody that’s played the position is always very helpful to where the players believe what you’re saying because you’ve done it and you can still demonstrate because you’re young enough and athletic enough to do some of those things. Then obviously the discipline part, being able to really get the room structured the way that we want it to be, get those guys all on the same page and everybody being accountable both on and off the field, academically, socially and in the football building. That’ll be really important.”

He added, “We’re excited about the direction of that room.”

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