For Brock Vandagriff, the ‘starting QB test’ has come with high degree of difficulty

When I go on sports radio talk shows, hosts repeatedly ask for an evaluation of new Kentucky starting quarterback Brock Vandagriff.

Well, the 2024 UK season is now one third of the way done — and I still have no idea how to gauge the Wildcats QB as a passer.

What I do know is that there cannot have been an abundance of new starting QBs in college football this season who have faced a higher degree of difficulty than has Vandagriff.

On a hot and muggy Saturday afternoon at Kroger Field, Vandagriff had his best statistical game as a Wildcat so far as UK whipped visiting Ohio University 41-6 before an announced crowd of 61,783.

Against the visitors from the MAC, the Georgia transfer completed 17 of 24 passes for 237 yards without throwing an interception (or a touchdown).

Yet against an Ohio pass rush that had registered only two total sacks in the Bobcats’ prior two games this season against FBS competition, Vandagriff was sacked once, hurried five times and forced off his spot in the pocket repeatedly.

Vandagriff trying to play quarterback while under such duress has been a primary theme of Kentucky’s 2024 season to date.

“He’s certainly rushed a bunch,” UK offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan said after the Ohio win. “We understand that. We’re not just sitting back in drop-back passing action. I know that everybody wants to throw it a lot but that would be poor coaching on our part, it really would.”

Learning to be a starting QB in power conference football is hard under any conditions. But the problems Kentucky (2-2, 0-2 SEC) has had protecting Vandagriff makes the degree of difficulty the 6-foot-3, 217-pound product of Bogart, Georgia, is facing far steeper.

In UK’s back-to-back losses to begin SEC play, South Carolina sacked Wildcats QBs five times and hurried them on four plays. Against Georgia, Vandagriff was sacked three times and hurried on five plays.

Fortunately, Vandagriff has shown an affinity for throwing on the move. He’s gotten ample opportunity to display that aptitude while fleeing opposing rushers. To keep its QB from being a sitting duck in the pocket, UK has begun to deploy more called roll-out passes, too.

“Make sure we play to our strengths,” Hamdan said. “Right now, we know what our situation is. We’ve got to put this team in the best position to win football games.”

One “quarterback quality” that is fully developed in Vandagriff is deflecting blame off his teammates onto himself.

Asked Saturday about the test that is playing QB when under so much pressure from rushers, Vandagriff said “some of that stuff is on me. If (pass plays are) taking a while to develop down field, then I’ve got to find my outlets. Not all (of the pass rush he has faced) is on the O-line at all.”

Against Ohio, Vandagriff turned in the best pass play of his brief Kentucky career. When Mark Stoops eschewed a 56-yard field-goal try and left his offense on the field for a fourth-and-7 from the Bobcats’ 38-yard line, Vandagriff evaded pressure by rolling right.

On the run, he found Dane Key for a 36-yard gain to the Ohio 2-yard line.

“I saw no one was deep,” Key said of the UK route pattern on the play. “So I went deep. Brock and I had eye contact, and he got me the ball.”

The long pass set up the touchdown that put Kentucky ahead 17-0 at halftime.

If playing QB amid constant pressure from defenders wasn’t challenging enough for Vandagriff, Kentucky used former Owensboro High School star and ex-Rutgers starting quarterback Gavin Wimsatt as a wildcat QB against Ohio.

Wimsatt showed at Rutgers he can make dynamic plays with his legs. He is a weapon Kentucky needs to use.

But, for Vandagriff, the reality of Kentucky deploying another QB, even if only in specialty situations, makes his job even tougher.

Wimsatt “is a great ballcarrier. He’s one of the best ballcarriers on the team,” Vandagriff said. “If that’s what it takes to win, I’m all for it.”

When Wimsatt takes snaps, UK splits Vandagriff out at wide receiver — giving him a chance to show off his perimeter blocking skill.

His “blocking on the perimeter could use some improvement,” Vandagriff said with a smile. “Just try to get in the way (of a defender) long enough for (UK ballcarriers) to get around me.”

Two seasons ago, Kentucky quarterbacks were sacked a whopping 47 times. However, the primary QB that season, Will Levis, was in his second year as a starter.

Conversely, Vandagriff came to UK from Georgia without ever starting a college game and having thrown only 21 passes total in his prior three collegiate seasons.

Suffice to say, Vandagriff is having to learn to be a starting QB under adverse conditions.

Of Vandagriff’s performance against Ohio, Hamdan said, “I thought he played a tough brand of ball.”

So far this season, Brock Vandagriff has had ample chances to show he can do that.

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