By Keith Taylor
Kentucky Today
New offensive coordinator Liam Coen wants Kentucky to play within the scheme in Saturday’s season opener against the University of Louisiana Monroe.
“We’re really looking for guys to go out and make some plays in the first game, but playing within the scheme,” Coen said earlier this week. “(The) first game of the season, you don’t need to go and do anything outside of the scheme and go be a hero. Just do your job, execute at a high level and play fast, and I think that that’s what I’m looking for out of the offense.”
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops also is looking for more of a balanced attack as opposed to the running style the Wildcats employed under previous offensive coordinator Eddie Gran.
“It’ll look a little different,” Stoops said. “I think anybody knows, they know what his system is, they know what it’s going to be. Obviously, we’ll run the ball a little differently. If you look conceptually, we were a very tight football team, very tight inside zones, split zone, power, counter. We’ll be in the outside zones for the first time, so that’ll be different and some other ways. But that’s basic, they should know that.”
Coen, whose last offensive coordinator stint was at the University of Maine, wants the Wildcats to relax and create balance against the Warhawks, who didn’t win a game last season.
“Moving the ball and scoring points is the biggest thing, but we’re really looking for this unit to just come out and play a clean game,” he said. “In the first game with a new offense and all that, it’s not really an excuse, but there’s going to be some issues I’m sure at some points in the game, and just seeing how our players respond to a little adversity as well.”
Kentucky quarterback Will Levis, also making his debut with the Wildcats, agreed and also wants to “let everything come to me and trust my instincts.”
“I think there’s a lot of excitement and I rightfully think there should be just around the program,” Levis said. “Kentucky has been very successful in recent years and not really had an efficient passing offense. Once we show that’s a part of our game and our program, the sky is the limit for us. We’ve just got to execute and trust in coach Coen and the offense. There should be some really good offensive games, both passing and running the balll.”
Levis got a grip on Coen’s offensive scheme early in camp, beating out former teammate Joey Gatewood and backup Beau Allen for the starting job. However, there were some struggles, but Levis quickly relied on past experiences, especially while lined up under center.
“That was something that I hadn’t done since high school,” he said. “The first snap I took the summer in a walkthrough, I fumbled the under center snap and I was like, ‘Oh no, here we go.’
“I feel a lot more comfortable now and a lot more consistent, a lot more fundamentally sound with the under center stuff. I just feel very comfortable with it and we’ve been able to mix under center and (shotgun) stuff, too with this offense more efficiently.”
Stoops said he’s confident Levis has fully recovered from the bobbled snap behind the scenes last summer. He described Levis as a “strong leader” with a “strong presence.”
“He’s very authentic, which you really like about him, and he works at it,” the Kentucky coach said. “He’s in there a lot. He’s in there watching film. … he handles himself like a grown man. You need that out of your quarterback, so he’s very strong.”
Gametracker: ULM at Kentucky, noon, EST, Saturday. TV/Radio: SEC Network, UK Radio Network.
Keith Taylor is sports editor for Kentucky Today. Reach him at keith.taylor@kentuckytoday.com or twitter @keithtaylor21