Why Devin Leary will be Mark Stoops' Best Quarterback

The Devin Leary hype train is moving faster than a speeding bullet. Freddie Maggard isn’t jumping off it anytime soon.

Wednesday morning Freddie Maggard joined Matt Jones for the first in a series of position previews on Kentucky Sports Radio. The former UK quarterback is a Big Blue Believer in Devin Leary.

“Devin Leary will be the best quarterback Mark Stoops has coached at Kentucky,” Maggard shared with the KSR listening audience.

His record-breaking experience at NC State and his command of the football sets Leary apart from his predecessors. With the New Jersey native under center, Kentucky can go toe-to-toe with every opponent on its schedule. It’s pretty clear that Freddie Maggard likes his new quarterback.

“I would take him over any quarterback in the conference,” Maggard said.

“There’s going to be quarterbacks that throw for more yards, more touchdowns and have more accolades based on scheme and system. As fas efficiency of what I would look for in a quarterback, I wouldn’t take any other signal-caller in the conference over Devin Leary.”

There’s plenty of Devin Leary to go around the whole Big Blue Nation. Drink it up by listening to Freddie’s conversation with Matt Jones in hour No. 2 of today’s podcast.

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What could hold Devin Leary back

Freddie Maggard believes injuries will be the quarterback’s greatest hurdle. Something else might get in his way: the scheme under Mark Stoops.

It’s no secret that Kentucky’s head coach likes to control the clock. As Mike Leach showed us for years, that can be accomplished through the air. However, we’ve learned through the early parts of training camp that Devin Leary is at his best when he’s going fast.

“Sometimes when you go that no-huddle offense, it’s almost like as a quarterback you don’t even have time to think, so you’re just playing. I feel like that’s honestly when Devin’s at his best,” former NFL quarterback Mike Glennon shared with KSR. “He’s not standing at the line of scrimmage, overthinking things. He’s just going out there playing backyard football, slinging the rock because that’s what he does best.”

Is Mark Stoops willing to let Leary play fast at the expense of controlling time of possession to benefit the UK defense? Finding the right balance will be the key to Kentucky’s success in 2023. We’ll be keeping a close eye on it all fall.