By Keith Taylor
Kentucky Today
Kentucky offensive coordinator Eddie Gran wasn’t afraid to increase the team’s workload during preseason workouts and the players responded in positive fashion.
Because of the familiarity and continuity between the coaches and players, Gran installed a faster tempo going into his second season with the Wildcats. For just the second time in Mark Stoops’ tenure as coach, an offensive coordinator returns for the second season. Neal Brown, now at Troy State, served as the Wildcats’ offensive boss for the first two years, followed by Shannon Dawson and Gran.
“We went more quicker,” Gran said. “We had a lot we threw at them and we were able to do that because it is the second year in the offense and I thought that they did a pretty good job. Our mental assignments were a lot less in terms of busting. We definitely got what we needed to get accomplished.”
The Wildcats did so without the benefit of two-a-day workouts and relied on an earlier start to camp to make up for lost time. The Kentucky coaching staff also used different techniques to adjust to the single practice sessions.
“We’re getting a lot of work in our walkthroughs,” Gran said. “You can really teach, slow it down. I’ll tell you where that really helps, is it helps with the young guys. I’m a fan of it. I think it’s fine.”
Gran expanded the playbook during the past three weeks and focused more attention to the running game and adding more wrinkles to the team’s offensive attack, mostly the ‘wildcat’ formation.
“We’ve extended that tremendously,” Gran said. “There’s a lot more there that we’ve been able to do and being able to be in the second year and knowing the base offense, we were able to get into that package a lot earlier than we did last year.”
Gran, also Kentucky’s running backs coach, said the wide receivers are catching on and making the proper adjustments. Sophomore Kayaune Ross, along with newcomers Josh Ali, Lynn Bowden, Isaiah Epps and Clevan Thomas are battling for a spot in the rotation at wide receiver.
“We’re throwing a lot at them and I would say right now, they’re about a ‘B.’ They’re doing a good job and this thing’s getting cut down now every day,” Gran said. “I think when they come back and they see it Thursday and Friday, they’ll see, ‘Whoa, this isn’t as hard as I thought.’ So it’s the mentality of you throw it all up there, see what sticks. We now know through all our cutups what we do well, what our quarterbacks do well, what our receivers do well and that’s what we’re going to go into the game plan with.”
Gran and the offensive staff will have to adjust without senior receiver Dorian Baker, who will likely miss the rest of the season because of an ankle injury. Gran said finding a replacement won’t be an easy task. Baker had surgery on his injured ankle Tuesday and is on the road to recovery.
“It’s next man up,” Gran said. “Who is that guy? They’re all going to get opportunities and hopefully by the first two or three games you find somebody that takes the job and they say they want it and they prove it out there and they make plays.
“That’s all it is, it’s about making plays, doing the right things every single time and then making sure they understand this offense and they all do, now it’s about just going out there and executing.”
Kentucky’s defense also took a step forward during camp and gave the offensive unit all it wanted, a good sign for both sides of the ball.
“Our defense has made us better this fall camp and we’ve worked on a lot of movement and I think that will help us this year,” Gran said.
Keith Taylor is sports editor for Kentucky Today. Reach him at Keith.taylor@kentuckytoday.com or twitter @keithtaylor21.