Will Levis thanks Square, Stoops; hopes to "take it up a notch" next season

Will Levis and Kentucky Football‘s offense couldn’t get anything going in the second half of the Citrus Bowl. Levis lost his voice, the offensive line was allowing too much pressure, and it seemed Kentucky’s first-quarter touchdown would be its only touchdown in Orlando.

But then came the game-winning drive.

“Credit to the defense for getting the ball back to us, three-and-out,” Levis said of the moment he and the offense got one last shot. “Letting us get the ball back with three minutes and change. We were in a two-minute mentality, but gave us some breathing room to go out there. I know we had definitely enough time to get things done.”

Kentucky needed only one minute and 43 seconds to drive 80 yards down the field, the longest drive of the game. In eight plays, Levis threw four completions (one the 52-yarder) and set up Chris Rodriguez for the six-yard winner.

“Just trusting in our preparation. We had a great three weeks of practice. Bowl game; you get more practice, so you have to take advantage of those days of practice. We definitely did all the way up until our run-through yesterday. We had great Bowl prep and practice… It’s great to see the work on that pay off in the biggest moment possible.”

Square’s interception

Once Levis and the offense put Kentucky back on top in the fourth quarter, Levis sat back and watched the defense finish the job. Then senior linebacker DeAndre Square wrapped it all up with his interception with under a minute to go. Square had previously been ruled out of the game with an injury.

Levis said, “It takes a lot of heart to do something like that. It is kind of like a storybook ending, he gets ruled out, goes back in there.”

He turned to Square at the podium and told him, “I don’t know what they hopped you up with in the locker room, but it made you feel good enough to go play.

‘To go back out there, not only just to play, but to get the game-stealing interception. First of all, how many dropped picks have we had this year, and then, you make an acrobatic play like that? Just a storybook ending. I am so happy for him, and he deserves all the recognition.”

“Coach Stoops deserves all the credit in the world”

Before Levis and his teammates left the postgame press conference, he thanked his coach, Mark Stoops, for the job Stoops has done at Kentucky.

Only in his first year as a Wildcat, Levis said, “Coach Stoops deserves all the credit in the world for what he has done with this program. This is obviously my first year with the team. There were a lot of guys before us going back a few years that Square has played with that really built the foundation for what the program has been able to do right now.

“This is the standard now. We have to hold everyone else to the standard on the team.”

Next year Levis has eyes on a New Year’s Six Bowl, the Playoff, or an SEC Championship.

“We need to take it up a notch,” he said.