Film Room: Zach Calzada

The Kentucky football program found itself needing to find a starting-caliber quarterback in the transfer portal again. For the first time, offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan was a part of that process. Incarnate Word transfer Zach Calzada quickly emerged as a name to monitor.

That recruitment was locked up fairly quickly. Calzada entered the transfer portal on Monday, was in Lexington on Tuesday night, and committed to the Wildcats on Thursday.

Let’s work! #BBN pic.twitter.com/XiL3HgZVuP

— Zach Calzada (@zach_calzada) December 19, 2024

The Peach State native will be a seventh year senior in 2025 who took a regular redshirt, COVID-19 redshirt, and medical redshirt to get to this point. Calzada will turn 25 years old during the season and has played 2,289 career snaps at Texas A&M and Incarnate Word. The quarterback also spent a year at Auburn in 2022. Calzada has played in 37 games, made 32 starts, owns a 23-9 record as a starter, and has thrown for 8,660 yards and accumulated 84 total touchdowns.

Kentucky will likely have the oldest starting quarterback in college football next season. What kind of player will the Big Blue have operating from the pocket? KSR’s Film Room has pulled some cut-ups.

Zach Calzada is a veteran quarterback who generated playmaking at Incarnate Word in an Air Raid offense and showed velocity, touch, and vertical throws in 10 starts at Texas A&M.

Movement skills

We will get to some of the better throws that Zach Calzada put on tape shortly but perhaps the biggest thing that stands out about Kentucky latest quarterback commit were the movement skills in the pocket. Calzada spent most of 2021 playing on an injured knee at Texas A&M but did show a willingness to get moving. His awareness and ability to extend plays was a real strong point at Incarnate Word.

Pass protection has been a constant issue for the Kentucky football program. But avoiding sacks has also been an issue. The three quarterbacks that played last season had a 26.1 percent pressure-to-sack rate. A hobbled Will Levis had a 26.8 percent pressure-to-sack rate in 2022. Devin Leary made some pocket magic happen with an 18 percent pressure-to-sack rate. Zach Calzada owns a career 14.5 percent preesure-to-sack percentage.

This is a passer that can make rushers miss and extend plays. That is something Kentucky will need as they attempt to rebuild the offensive line and find more off-script plays when everything else breaks down. Calzada owns 11 career rushing touchdowns and accumulated 471 non-sack rushing yards last season — most of that occurring on scrambles. Kentucky’s newest quarterback can make something out of nothing.

Live arm that can hit small windows

Zach Calzada is a fun watch as an off-script creator. The 2024 Southland Player of the Year has a somewhat unorthodox play style and can sometimes throw mechanics out the window in an effort to create playmaking. But this is also a quarterback that can make some impressive throws from the pocket.

Accurate vertical throws appear on the Texas A&M and Incarnate Word tape.

Zach Calzada clearly has the arm to stretch defenses vertically but also shows the touch and pacing needed to connect on vertical throws. The quarterback can hit small windows off of play-action or in a traditional dropback. Calzada’s sideline rip against South Dakota State was a blend of coverage read and anticipation. There is even verical accuracy shown while being hit in both offenses.

Kentucky’s newest quarterback has a legitimate live arm that complete passes consistently at all three levels.

A playmaking quarterback with SEC experience

Zach Calzada will play his seventh year of college football in 2025. After playing in a spread Air Raid attack the last two seasons at Incarnate Word, the 24-year-old is moving back into a pro-style attack not that different from what he played in at Texas A&M and Auburn. Kentucky will bank on that playmaking in FCS will translate to the next level.

Calzada shows a feel for the quarterback position on tape and just as a way of making things happen. The quarterback avoids sacks, extends plays with his legs, and can make some magic happen out of structure. In structure, we have seen this quarterback play on time and make some good vertical throws, but this is also a quarterback who peppered defenses with short accuracy at Incarnate Word.

The playmaking style will come with risks. Calzada has been injury-prone throughout his playing career and can be loose with the football. There will be some mistakes, but the quarterback has shown he can create and can be an offensive line’s best friend due to his ability to avoid sacks.

Now the transfer is back in the SEC for one final ride to see if he can put it all together and help Kentucky build a better offense in 2025. Zach Calzada oozes moxy on tape, and that could give the program a true leader to rally around at the sport’s most important position.