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Boley

UT’s offense may be “gimmicky” but I’d love to take the concepts that get their WRs wide open.
Snap the ball while defenders are still getting their calls. Wide gaps and snapping ball quickly. Play man with no celebrating leaves Chumlee lost. He doesn't have any adjustments and looks like the fat kid who had his lunch money stolen.
 
Snap the ball while defenders are still getting their calls. Wide gaps and snapping ball quickly. Play man with no celebrating leaves Chumlee lost. He doesn't have any adjustments and looks like the fat kid who had his lunch money stolen.
Yeah they also get by with their fair share of short routes with picks or blocking that begins well before a pass is thrown since they run them so close to the line. I keep thinking at some point the powers that be from other schools will complain enough they’ll start calling it.

A lot of people think ‘don’t get burned’ and all that with them so play soft but the opposite is actually true…you have to be aggressive in return and get negative plays. It’s the one thing with stoops that just isn’t natural…we play fundamental solid stuff but he doesn’t like aggression.
 
UT’s offense may be “gimmicky” but I’d love to take the concepts that get their WRs wide open.
I would not call TN's offense "gimmicky", and I'm not sure where that description comes from. All spread offenses seek to spread out the defense and get favorable isolation matchups for playmakers. In that way, TN's is not different. Josh Heupel is simply using his version of a spread offense, with WRs split very wide so safeties can't help until the receiver runs to the 3rd level (if then). The quid pro quo is that his split receivers are not in a position to block for the running game. But since Heupel's offensive sets usually force safeties to play deep, that means TN is running against 6 or 7 man fronts. If your WRs are your best playmakers, this is not a gimmicky approach to use. It is actually pretty smart. TN's problems are on the defensive side, although you couldn't tell it when we played them.

Historically, every new offensive wrinkle gives way to a new defensive wrinkle by some clever DC on the schedule.

Under Heupel, TN's program has been heavily involved (both directions) with the transfer portal. So it is hard to predict how good TN will be from year to year, although people assume they will be good again in 2023 because they were good in 2022. But that doesn't necessarily follow, and I can point to SEC teams like AR, TX A&M, and MO that surprisingly struggled in 2022 despite higher expectations.
 
I would not call TN's offense "gimmicky", and I'm not sure where that description comes from. All spread offenses seek to spread out the defense and get favorable isolation matchups for playmakers. In that way, TN's is not different. Josh Heupel is simply using his version of a spread offense, with WRs split very wide so safeties can't help until the receiver runs to the 3rd level (if then). The quid pro quo is that his split receivers are not in a position to block for the running game. But since Heupel's offensive sets usually force safeties to play deep, that means TN is running against 6 or 7 man fronts. If your WRs are your best playmakers, this is not a gimmicky approach to use. It is actually pretty smart. TN's problems are on the defensive side, although you couldn't tell it when we played them.

Historically, every new offensive wrinkle gives way to a new defensive wrinkle by some clever DC on the schedule.

Under Heupel, TN's program has been heavily involved (both directions) with the transfer portal. So it is hard to predict how good TN will be from year to year, although people assume they will be good again in 2023 because they were good in 2022. But that doesn't necessarily follow, and I can point to SEC teams like AR, TX A&M, and MO that surprisingly struggled in 2022 despite higher expectations.

We can only "hope" they struggle... because right now their staff is looking a lot more creative than ours...
 
We can only "hope" they struggle... because right now their staff is looking a lot more creative than ours...
When you say "right now", we are talking about Liam Coen. Give the man a chance.

The most important key to what Heupel did in 2022 was that he had the best WR room in the country. A lot of those receivers are gone now, so some rebuilding and adjusting will have to be done.

Throughout football history, every time an offensive wrinkle has been successful, a defensive wrinkle has been developed to stop it. TX and OK gained a gazillion yards with the wishbone, but then DCs began developing fast LBs that could pursue instead of huge LBs that could plug inside gaps. So then OCs spread the field with the west coast offense and the shotgun. So DCs started using nickel backs and 5 man secondaries. Heupel's wrinkle is to split his receivers wider than other teams have. This forces isolation of the receiver on a CB. The safety can't get there to help until the receiver is already running full speed at the 3rd level. And if the safeties try to help against the WRs, then Heupel runs the football against a 6 or 7 man front that is spread out. Then Heupel goes uptempo so the defense has no time for presnap recognition of the offensive set. When all of your defensive backs are individually isolated on all conference caliber receivers, it only takes a mental mistake or a missed tackle to give up an explosive play. And that is how Heupel did it, until GA "out-talented" TN's offensive personnel. There is always a ceiling to what any offense can accomplish, depending on how athletic and talented the opposing defense is by comparison. The bigger and better UK's secondary becomes, and the better our inside pass rush becomes, the less vulnerable our defense will be.
 
When you say "right now", we are talking about Liam Coen. Give the man a chance.

The most important key to what Heupel did in 2022 was that he had the best WR room in the country. A lot of those receivers are gone now, so some rebuilding and adjusting will have to be done.

This isn't about the Offense... it's about going into a game knowing what they were going to do, and our Defense totally being out-schemed (out-played)....
 
This isn't about the Offense... it's about going into a game knowing what they were going to do, and our Defense totally being out-schemed (out-played)....
In 2022, UK had the SEC's #2 defense, statistically ranked just ahead of AL and just behind GA. Stoops and White have built a very successful defensive culture. That's why players like Deone Walker, Kendrick Gilbert, and Avery Stuart come here to play. This is a result for UK football fans to be pleased about.

Every year there is a game or two that are especially good efforts, and a game or two that aren't especially good. Statistically speaking, that represents deviation from a mean. I couldn't help notice that you failed to mention UK played national champion GA tougher than anyone else did, all season long. GA was one of our best defensive games in several years.

The TN game in Knoxville was obviously our worst outlier game. No doubt at all. Even with that poor performance, UK still had the nation's #12 defense in terms of total defense and the nation's #11 defense in terms of scoring defense. That is historically good. UK's 2022 defense was significantly better than OH St, PA St, Clemson, ND, TX, and 11 other SEC defenses.

Given those indisputable facts, it's interesting that you presented it as if our defensive coaches don't "know what they are doing" and are being "outschemed". (Your words there.) Maybe you haven't comprehensively presented your full point of view here, but it sure sounds like you are creating a harsh criticism of our defensive coaches that doesn't actually exist in the real football world. And, granted, our loss to TN was easily our worst performance. Nothing sucks like a big orange, but sometimes you just have to tip your cap to an opponent. It was a 13 game season. An assessment of any team must consider the full body of work.

We can have our own opinions, but we can't have our own facts.
 
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One of Kentucky’s major 2025 football recruiting targets has been upgraded to a top 15 prospect nationally by Rivals.com.

Lexington Christian quarterback Cutter Boley is now ranked as the No. 2 quarterback in his recruiting class and 12th best overall prospect. He’s still considered a four-star prospect but has moved closer to being a five-star recruit.



 
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One of Kentucky’s major 2025 football recruiting targets has been upgraded to a top 15 prospect nationally by Rivals.com.

Lexington Christian quarterback Cutter Boley is now ranked as the No. 2 quarterback in his recruiting class and 12th best overall prospect. He’s still considered a four-star prospect but has moved closer to being a five-star recruit.



 
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Futurecast put in for Boley today. 👀 Still a long time till a decision. Hopefully UK gets the qb they need (whoever that is) and the linemen to keep him upright
 
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Wonder if there has been significant conversations about him reclassing and Boley becomes the lead jewel of our 2024 class. The chances of coming here & winning the starting job in 2024, throwing to 3rd yr Barion Brown, Key, Kattus being coached by Coen is a great opportunity.
 
Wonder if there has been significant conversations about him reclassing and Boley becomes the lead jewel of our 2024 class. The chances of coming here & winning the starting job in 2024, throwing to 3rd yr Barion Brown, Key, Kattus being coached by Coen is a great opportunity.
That's def the plan. It is why JR was confident enough to put in the future cast. We will see
 
Snap the ball while defenders are still getting their calls. Wide gaps and snapping ball quickly. Play man with no celebrating leaves Chumlee lost. He doesn't have any adjustments and looks like the fat kid who had his lunch money stolen.
Yep the two biggest advantages of the hurry up are:
1. You get the defense unsettle and leaning back while you lean forward
2. It has built in rhythm to it that autmatically makes the QB and Receivers better regardless of talent level just like any team looks better in a two minute drill.
3. Almost makes the pass rush a non factor because the ball is getting out on time every time.

So you have to disrupt that rhythm somehow and IMO that has to be by playing man and keeping their guys from running free into their routes off the line. Thats not easy to do because they will alternate between slants and flys so you have to be in their belly from the line because if they get a foot of clearance to start the route they have the advantage. Heupel is good at teaching this.
 
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Yep the two biggest advantages of the hurry up are:
1. You get the defense unsettle and leaning back while you lean forward
2. It has built in rhythm to it that autmatically makes the QB and Receivers better regardless of talent level just like any team looks better in a two minute drill.
3. Almost makes the pass rush a non factor because the ball is getting out on time every time.

So you have to disrupt that rhythm somehow and IMO that has to be by playing man and keeping their guys from running free into their routes off the line. Thats not easy to do because they will alternate between slants and flys so you have to be in their belly from the line because if they get a foot of clearance to start the route they have the advantage. Heupel is good at teaching this.

I wasn't at our game against UT, but went went man against him and made Hooker uncomfortable in the pocket. I assume that was to cut down on any confusion of who was covering which receiver. Our guys are fast too, which you have to be to have success against them. I will be surprised if Milton is as successful as Hooker was.
 
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Montgomery may not be feeling good about OH St. Just visited us again for the twentieth time. Mostly top programs at the top of his, would be hard to see OH St. not pushing hard with his talent, regardless of who is on their roster.
 
Wonder if there has been significant conversations about him reclassing and Boley becomes the lead jewel of our 2024 class. The chances of coming here & winning the starting job in 2024, throwing to 3rd yr Barion Brown, Key, Kattus being coached by Coen is a great opportunity.
I recall reading somewhere that he said he may roll back to the 2024 class but hasn't decided yet.
 
Montgomery may not be feeling good about OH St. Just visited us again for the twentieth time. Mostly top programs at the top of his, would be hard to see OH St. not pushing hard with his talent, regardless of who is on their roster.
Montgomery is heading to Clemson now. Already had a zoom call sched with Coen next Montgomery and another visit in June
 
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