What Will Levis has in common with Josh Allen

Will Levis is the most talented Kentucky quarterback to take the field in more than a decade. Josh Allen rose to stardom by sacking opponents. Aside from their northeast roots, it may not seem like they have a lot in common. For Mark Stoops, they each played a significant role in his offseason decision making.

Wednesday afternoon the Kentucky head coach took the mic for his final preseason speaking engagement at the Lexington Kickoff Luncheon at Kroger Field. You’ve heard most of the comments from his 30-minute discussion before. However, there was one thing that stood out to this reporter.

It’s an annual tradition to briefly share some words about the new assistant coaches on Kentucky’s staff. We’ve heard about the similarities between Rich Scangarello’s offense to what Liam Coen implemented a year prior. You’ve also heard how Will Levis played a role in the process. Today Stoops shed even further light on that process.

When Josh Allen announced he would return for one final season in 2018, college football coaches were given one additional assistant coach to add to their staff. Stoops used that opportunity to hire Brad White, a pass rushing specialist from the NFL, to take Allen’s game to the next level. It’s safe to say it turned out pretty well.

For that same reason, when Stoops sought out a play-caller, not only did he want an NFL coach with a pro-style background, he needed a quarterback coach to elevate Will Levis’ play to new heights. Time will tell if Rich Scangarello can be the catalyst for a record-breaking season from the Wildcats’ quarterback.

Mark Stoops Thanks BBN, Looks Ahead to Miami

Now that Mark Stoops has completed his talking season tour, all of the Kentucky football team’s attention is on Miami, Oh. Ten days away from the season opener, the Wildcats will face a team that finished 5-3 in conference play a year ago.

“Both MAC teams we play this year are picked to win their division and picked to play in the MAC Championship. We know we’ll have our hands full. They’re always a well-coached football team. They’re very hard-nosed groups that don’t beat themselves. We’re going to have to go win it and that’s the big thing. You want it to be like that, you want to go play well, you want to put it together and you want to play to beat a team. You don’t want them to give it to ya,” Stoops said.

“That’s our approach. We have to worry about ourselves. We’re really zeroed in. We’ve had a long camp and a long summer. Now it’s time to zero-in on Miami, get ready for this opener and it take it one day at a time, one game at a time.”

Even though Mark Stoops and his team are only taking things one game at a time, the BBN is excited, looking ahead for a potentially historic season. Student season tickets are sold out, while only a few season ticket packages remain for the general public. Stoops is gracious for the support and is eager to put out a product that will make the Big Blue Nation proud.

“We can’t thank you enough,” said Mark Stoops. “We all realize the sacrifice that you make to get here. To get to a football game is not easy. There’s a lot of sports where it’s a lot easier to get in and out of to go support em, but these are long games in the heat, in the snow, in the rain and everywhere in between, but we greatly appreciate it. Our team feels your energy when we walk in the stadium and when we approach the Cat Walk it’s like that. The energy in the stadium, it’s second to none and it means an awful lot to us. We greatly appreciate it and greatly appreciate that sacrifice.”

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