Monday Huddle: Week 1 is finally here

We are back, we are back, we are back, we are so back. After Week Zero gave us a very entertaining appetizer with odd game management and more than a few blowouts, the first full week of the college football season has arrived.

Welcome to one of the best sports weekends of the year.

With the NFL not starting its regular season until next week, this is the only full football weekend that will be dominated by college football. We have a heavy dose of games on both Thursday and Friday before closing with some Power Five games on Sunday and Monday to make this a glorious holiday weekend.

Over at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility, Kentucky is getting prepared to begin its 10th season with head coach Mark Stoops, and there is a palpable buzz building within the fan base. The Kroger Field parking lots have been filled with tailgating tents for weeks as the Big Blue Nation is chomping at the bit to get this season started.

KSR’s Monday Huddle is here to serve as the official start of game week as Kentucky hosts a solid Miami (Ohio) team out of the Mid-American Conference.

First Down: All eyes are on Will Levis and Rich Scangarello

We are still on Chris Rodriguez Jr. suspension watch here in the Bluegrass, but the expectation is that the All-SEC tailback will miss a couple of games to begin the season. Kentucky won’t be at full strength without the redshirt senior, but expectations are still fairly high for this offense.

The draft buzz continued for redshirt senior quarterback Will Levis last week, but now the former Penn State transfer must show all of the improvements he made over the offseason in a game setting. In his final five games last season, we saw the quarterback level up. As Kentucky finished 4-1 and averaged 40.8 points per game, Levis completed 65.5 percent of his passes on 29.6 throws per game posting 9.1 yards per attempt and 10 touchdowns. On the ground, the quarterback added six more scores.

The hype for Levis was created in the performances against Tennessee, Vanderbilt, New Mexico State, Louisville, and Iowa. Kentucky needs that high level play to transition and take another step forward in 2022 under a new play-caller.

Former Denver Broncos offensive coordinator (2019) and San Francisco 49ers quarterbacks coach (2017-18, 2021) Rich Scangarello is coaching in the Power Five for the first time in his career as Kentucky’s offensive coordinator and has installed his version of the Kyle Shanahan/Sean McVay wide zone offense in Lexington. All signs point to it being somewhat different than what Liam Coen ran last season.

Throughout fall camp, there seemed to be some learning pains for the offense as they digested this new playbook. Add in a bunch of new starters at multiple places around Levis and oftentimes it was the defense getting the better of the offense as KSR learned through camp intel.

We are still not 100 percent sure what this new offense will look like other than an under center attack that will use condensed formations and run wide zone. If there are early struggles with establishing the run, will Scangarello be able to scheme up a tight end heavy pass game? Can Levis take on a higher passing volume while still providing efficient play?

We’re about to find out soon. Kentucky needs both quarterback and play-caller to be good very quickly for this team to get out to a hot start without having Rodriguez available.

Second Down: Kentucky’s new look pass defense will be challenged

Miami (Ohio) redshirt junior quarterback Brett Gabbert will lead the RedHawks into Kroger Field on Saturday night and the younger brother of NFL quarterback Blaine Gabbert can play a little bit. The St. Louis (Mo.) Christian Brothers product has started 26 games over the last three seasons and enters the year as the top quarterback in the MAC

With Gabbert last season, Miami (Ohio) offensive coordinator Eric Koehler sacrificed completion percentage for vertical deep shots. That led to 31.6 points per game and 6.5 yards per play in games that the quarterback started.

Gabbert completed just 59.5 percent of his throws while averaging 30 passes per game, but the successful ones usually went a far way. The quarterback’s average depth of target (11.7) was one of the highest in college football last season. Gabbert saw 20.1 percent over his passes end as completions of 15-plus yards as the quarterback posted respectable success rate (46.8%) and averaged 8.9 yards per attempt.

Brett Gabbert lets it FLY for the Redhawks 🎯 pic.twitter.com/jU1vRCTpMr

— PFF College (@PFF_College) November 17, 2021

Miami (Ohio) will operate primarily out of the shotgun and will take vertical shots down the sideline. As Kentucky breaks three new starters in at cornerback, free safety, and nickel, the secondary will be challenged by a good quarterback who returns 4 of his top 5 receivers.

The game on Sept. 3 will be a good barometer on if Kentucky’s pass defense has improved in the offseason but not just for the secondary. Facing an experienced offensive line with 72 returning starts, this is a group that did a good job in protection for Gabbert last season allowing just a 4.8 percent sack rate. Kentucky has been optimistic about its pass rush, but that will be put to the test early.

This MAC opponent has the personnel to give Kentucky some issues in the first game of the season.

Third Down: Purdue beats out Kentucky for Kendrick Gilbert

Recruiting takes somewhat of a backseat when the season begins, but roster building is always important. Kentucky just lost one of the top targets on its recruiting board on Sunday.

After taking official visits in June, Indianapolis (Ind.) Cathedral defensive lineman Kendrick Gilbert narrowed his list to Kentucky and Purdue taking two more unofficial visits to each at the end of the July. Kentucky felt good after that visit, and all signs pointed to a decision coming soon.

That wait turned into a month and the four-star prospect committed to Purdue on Sunday. Gilbert will join Louisville (Ky.) St. Xavier product Micah Carter and Henderson (Ky.) County product Saadiq Clements in the defensive line room at Purdue.

At one point, Kentucky looked like the favorite to land all three. Due to defensive line not being a position of need, the Wildcats slow played the two in-state prospects and put all their chips in on Gilbert. Unfortunately, the coaching staff did not land the Indiana native with some big-time physical traits.

We are nearing September, and Kentucky does not have one true three-down defensive lineman in the class as Danville (Ky.) Boyle County senior Tommy Ziesmer can be considered a tweener between defensive line and edge at the momentum. We are unsure where the three-star prospect will end up at the next level.

The program is currently not scheduled to lose anyone out of the defensive line room this season as none of the 11 scholarship players are seniors. However, the transfer portal era makes that much different as anyone could leave at anytime.

Once again in this recruiting cycle, Kentucky has been dealt a blow as the coaching staff lost a key recruiting battle to a team that they should expect to beat head-to-head on the trail. The Wildcats currently rank No. 32 in the class and No. 35 in average star rating, but the program trails some permanents opponents that it has beaten consistently in recruiting.

Here’s where Kentucky stands in average star rating currently heading into Week 1 compared to its permanent opponents.

• 4. Georgia (91.79 average, 18 commits)
• 11. Florida (90.86 average, 20 commits)
• 16. Louisville (90.23 average, 14 commits)
• 19. Tennessee (89.60 average, 21 commits)
• 22. South Carolina (88.63 average, 19 commits)
• 32. Missouri (87.20 average, 10 commits)
• 35. Kentucky (87.03 average, 15 commits)
• 38. Mississippi State (86.85 average, 15 commits)
• 50. Vanderbilt (85.60, 15 commits)

There still remains room for upward growth, but Kentucky has a lot of work to do on the recruiting front during the season. Things aren’t dire with five top-500 recruits in the class, but the program has taken a clear step back from last year despite having a 10-3 program to sell in a year where there was a ton of preseason buzz.

The program will now need a big year on field and will hopefully see that turn into a hot recruiting close. Off-ball linebacker, secondary, and offensive tackle still remain positions of need while defensive line also needs to be addressed. The transfer portal is always a secondary option to replenish your roster after the season, but Kentucky needs a strong close in high school recruiting to make those free agency decisions easier.

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 evening. The wait for football is officially over.

We’ll have full coverage on Mark Stoops’ press conference on Monday breaking down the depth chart and what the head coach releases regarding Chris Rodriguez Jr.’s availability. There will then be practice reports throughout the week and new podcast episodes from The KSR Football Podcast, The Depth Chart Podcast, and 11 Personnel occurring nearly daily throughout the week. Pick 3 will then show up on Thursday as KSR’s gambling trio issues out some locks.

Game week also means the return of our scouting report feature that will do a deep dive on Kentucky’s opponent including series history, gambling information, and scheme breakdowns with some advanced statistics sprinkled in.

Let’s get this party started before the big show begins on Saturday in parking lots surrounding Kroger Field.