Kentucky Offense Sharp in 2-Minute to Start Fall Camp

Preseason practice is underway at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility. Now almost a week into fall camp, the Wildcats are in the meat and potatoes portion of the playbook install. Following practice No. 6, offensive coordinator Liam Coen liked the way the Kentucky offense performed during the two-minute drill.

“It was good to see some of the work that we did throughout the spring and the summertime pay off with some of the two minute dirt,” Coen shared. “Our mentality of going fast, playing fast, getting to the line of scrimmage, it was really nice to see.”

Coen’s first season ended in triumph. He wasn’t just overjoyed that Kentucky beat Iowa in the Citrus Bowl. The Wildcats struggled early in the season to finish two-minute drives. Ending with a two-minute, come-from-behind victory was a poetic finish for the first-year play-caller.

During his second stint in Lexington, Coen is rolling out a quarterback who has already spent three seasons as a starter, primarily playing a spread offense that goes fast. Two-minute offense is Devin Leary‘s expertise.

“He’s played in no-huddle, uptempo offenses. He’s played in those situations before. For us actually, he’s more comfortable probably operating that way: When we are going tempo, we are in the gun, we’re kind of spinning the ball around and playing fast. That’s what he’s used to,” said Kentucky’s offensive coordinator.

“He’s foreign to more of the things that we’re doing on a play-by-play basis within first and second down. I thought it was really nice to see him make some great throws when we needed him to in the two minutes situation. His poise, his confidence really carried over throughout the rest of the unit.”

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Devin Leary Exhausts Every Option

Devin Leary knows how to read a defense. He’s seen plenty of them. That means if Liam Coen calls a concept and the defense takes the first option away, Leary is not panicking. He’ll just look to the other side of the field.

“All eligibles are alive when Devin’s throwing the ball,” said Coen. “The concept might mean we are trying to throw a curl-flat. But if that curl-flat doesn’t look good to him, he’ll exhaust all eligibles. So all four or five receivers, tight ends, running backs, if you’re within the route concept, you gotta get ready for the ball because he will throw it to anybody at any time.

“He has a great feel for the vision of the play, the concept and understanding, but he also knows how to just play ball. That is extremely important as the details, the fundamentals and techniques of the pass game so that we are in the right spots at the right time for us to be able to be efficient there.”

Kentucky’s pass-catchers can’t take a play off because the play calls for the ball to go to the other side of the field. The Cats’ must be assignment sound across the board. It is making life a little more difficult for young players who are still learning the offense, yet it’s keeping the entire offense engaged on a play-to-play basis.

“Even if you’re not supposed to get the pass that play, your route also could be setting someone else up,” said tight end Josh Kattus. “So you got to make sure every time you go out there on a pass that your attention to detail is really specific, because if you’re not, it can mess someone up else up. You also never know when you’re gonna get the ball. He could scramble, just when you least expect it he could be throwing you the ball because he’s a gunslinger.”

KSR Talks with the Kentucky Tight End Room

The Big Blue Nation did not get an accurate depiction of Liam Coen’s offense this spring because the Cats could not use their complete arsenal of tight ends. Brenden Bates, Josh Kattus and Jordan Dingle were all sidelined by injuries. Dingle was the only one we did not see in action during Kentucky Football Fan Day. The others, particularly Izayah Cummings, shined on Saturday.

KSR spoke with Cummings, Kattus and their position coach, Vince Marrow. The Big Dog likes what he’s seen so far, describing this group as the deepest he’s ever coached “from top to bottom” since he arrived in Lexington in 2013.

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