Monday Huddle: Kentucky football is back

The week you have all been waiting for has finally arrived. After Week Zero gave us an entertaining appetizer over the weekend, the real fun can begin this week with a full slate of college football waiting on us.

One of the best weekends of the year has arrived with college football taking over the sports world from Thursday to Monday on what will be a beautiful holiday weekend.

The party will get started on Thursday before some intriguing games are played on Friday night. That will ultimately get us to Saturday for the first full lineup of the season before LSU-Florida State takes centerstage on Sunday night and Clemson-Duke closes things down on Monday night. A glorious weekend of football awaits us all.

Over at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility, Mark Stoops is preparing his 11th team at Kentucky for another grueling season in the Southeastern Conference. Buzz is building for this team with many national media members believing that the Wildcats could be a dark horse SEC team this fall. Come high noon at Kroger Field on Saturday, we get to learn if the hype is real.

KSR’s Monday Huddle is back for another season to serve as the official start of game week. Now we set the table for Ball State to make the trip from Muncie to Lexington where UK will be near a four-touchdown favorite in the season opener.

But there is one thing that everyone will be paying close attention to on Saturday afternoon.

First Down: Does the rebuilt offensive line look the part?

The offensive line was an issue for Kentucky football last season. That’s putting it lightly. UK simply could not block anyone, and some overall confusion made things look worse. Lack of experience and depth reared its ugly head early in the year, and the Cats could never recover. Kentucky was committed to fixing this problem in the offseason.

“That’s the number one priority when we get there,” Coen told reporters during his re-introductory press conference. “Both personnel-wise, schematically, fundamentally, technique, attitude, demeanor; all of that, it needs to get doven into really quickly when we get there because I do remember the first time that I came (to Kentucky), that was kind of the unit that I never really worried about.”

“It’s a unit that we need to address and address quickly when we get there because, you know, really the offensive line, if you think about it, that’s more than a third of your unit on a play-to-play basis, and if those five aren’t on the same page, don’t have the right mentality, or aren’t doing what they’re supposed to do, it’s really hard to have success as an offense, no matter who’s around them.”

To help fix the issue, Kentucky added five offensive line transfers to the roster in the offseason. Northern Illinois transfer Marques Cox quickly seized the left tackle job, and USC transfer Courtland Ford is competing for the starting spot at right tackle. Meanwhile, Kenneth Horsey and Eli Cox were able to shift back to their natural guard positions, and Jager Burton figures to be a better fit at center. The pieces are there, but we need to see it play out in a real game.

In Week 1, Kentucky will be facing a Ball State front that returns eight players who played 350-plus snaps on a defense that finished inside the top 30 in yards per play allowed. One year ago, Kentucky allowed four sacks and rushed for only 76 non-sack yards (3.5 yards per rush) with a woeful success rate (33.3%) against a good MAC front. UK will see something similar on Saturday.

Ball State has some real players in the front seven. Clayton Coll (251 career tackles, 80.4 PFF grade in 2022) gets after it at Mike linebacker, and Sidney Houston Jr. (7.5 tackles for loss in 2022) is an active presence on the EDGE. The Cardinals have the personnel to give Kentucky’s offensive line some issues. This first game will be a good barometer for where this offensive line rebuild is at.

We will learn a fair amount about this offensive line on Saturday.

Second Down: Good matchup for Kentucky’s defense

Kentucky’s offensive line will be challenged. The same could be said for Kentucky’s defensive line, which will face a trio of three-year offensive line starters highlighted by All-MAC performer Ethan Crowe at center. Ball State added Layne Hatcher, in the offseason and the super senior quarterback has thrown for 10,080 yards in his career during time spent at Arkansas State and Texas State.

Despite that experience at QB, the wide receiver position is a huge concern for the Cardinals. The Ball State offense will likely be a heavy 12 personnel operation thanks to having two strong tight ends on the roster. That could play right into Kentucky’s hands.

The biggest question mark for Kentucky entering this season was how the cornerback position would hold up, and that group might not be seriously challenged on Saturday. Ball State will likely play with big sets and get into some condensed formations. That should play into Kentucky’s hands. This could be a good game for sophomore EDGE Keaten Wade to get a fair amount of snaps at Sam.

Ball State will likely choose to play some version of bully ball in the MAC this season, but that will not work against Kentucky. Without winners on the outside, the Kentucky defense should have a big day on Saturday.

Third Down: Devin Leary’s Kentucky debut

Now to the player that everyone has been waiting to see. NC State transfer Devin Leary will open the season as Kentucky’s new starting quarterback, and the hype train for the super senior has not slowed down since the New Jersey native committed to the Wildcats on Dec. 20.

The buzz surrounding the quarterback with 6,807 career passing yards, 62 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions has only gotten bigger since fall camp began. Anyone you speak with in the Kentucky program speaks glowingly about Leary, and it’s clear that the expectations are extremely high for No. 13.

In his first game at Kroger Field, Leary could have a huge opportunity if the offensive line can create some clean pockets.

Ball State is replacing four starters in the secondary and will likely have issues matching up with Kentucky’s personnel on the outside. Back in the winter at KSR+, we dug into the tape and discovered that Leary’s biggest strength is processing and accuracy. Most notably, Leary is an excellent deep ball thrower who excels with ball placement and timing. That could lead to some big things this season. We should see that show up in Week 1.

#WOLFPACK QB Devin Leary is one of several ACC passers who have enjoyed a fine 2021 campaign.

Leary does a good job reading the field here, eventually finding his TE on the vertical concept and dropping the ball right in his hands. pic.twitter.com/WBcC7QQ5UH

— Nick Price (checkmark) (@PriceCheck3) November 11, 2021

The bandwagon is pretty full for Kentucky’s new quarterback. If the offensive line can hold up, we could see a big performance from the program’s new leader.

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The Week ahead at KSR

Game week is here, and KSR will provide the Big Blue Nation with in-depth pregame content from now until kickoff arrives on Saturday afternoon. The wait for football is finally over.

We will have full coverage of Mark Stoops’ press conference on Monday before breaking down the first depth chart of the season. Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel so you can see the first Rapid Reaction of the season this afternoon. From there, practice reports and daily podcasts will take over as Saturday quickly approaches.

Over at KSR+, we will have our length scouting report out on Thursday along with some more preseason content before the games finally start. It’s time to get this party started.

Let’s play some football.