Stoops, Scangarello Share Overwhelming Optimism for Kentucky Offense

Mark Stoops likes his team. Rich Scangarello likes his offense. Typically reserved, the Kentucky head coach and offensive coordinator are no longer holding anything back, sharing effusive praise for the Cats’ offense ahead of the 2022 season.

Kyle Tucker caught up with a few folks around the Kentucky football program for The Athletic’s annual “State of the Program” series. If you follow the team closely, you already know what the Wildcats have to work with this fall. What you haven’t heard in a long time is this level of excitement about the Kentucky offense, particularly in the passing game.

Entering his tenth season as the Wildcats’ head coach, Stoops has accomplished almost everything possible at Kentucky. Just two wins away from surpassing Bear Bryant with the most wins in school history, there’s one final, big door for Kentucky to knock down — Georgia. How does Stoops plan on reaching that goal to become the top dog in the SEC East?

“Unless you’re just ridiculously talented everywhere else,” Stoops says, “you have to have a difference-maker at quarterback to take it to the next level. We have great players and we’re getting better all the time, but yeah, I believe you have to have a game-changer at quarterback to make that big leap. And I really feel like we have one.”

Scangarello is on the same page with Stoops. Will Levis has been high on NFL Draft boards, in part because of the former 49ers quarterback coach’s recommendation to NFL officials. Initially, that lofty praise was kept behind closed doors to confidants. Today Scangarello said publicly he believes Levis is as good as any quarterback taken in the last two NFL Drafts, including Trevor Lawrence.

To maximize his potential, Levis needed to get some game reps under his belt. Now the game has slowed down for Kentucky’s superstar quarterback, who Stoops believes is the best in Lexington since Tim Couch. This year also has more than one or two weapons to catch passes this fall. Tayvion Robinson is expected to carry a heavy workload for the Cats, but no one jumped out to Scangarello more this spring than true freshman Dane Key.

“He’s the guy I’ve been blown away by, who I think will be a big-time player in the NFL someday,” Scangarello says. “He is special. For an 18-year-old kid, he’s picked it up faster than just about anybody in the NFL as a rookie. Honestly, since I walked in the door, he’s impressed me as much as anybody in our building. I just feel like he’s going to be a freakin’ really good wideout.”

A future NFL quarterback throwing to a future NFL wide receiver is a recipe for success this fall. If all goes according to plan in 2022, the BBN will get to see the best Kentucky offense to ever take the field.

[The Athletic]