Football

WillLevis

  • position Quarterback
  • height 6-3
  • Weight 232
  • class Senior
  • Hometown Madison, Conn.
  • Previous School Penn State
  • High school Xavier

Career
• Finished career with a 17-7 record as a starter at UK, tying Terry Wilson for the second-most quarterback wins since 1993 (starting lineups available since 1993)
• Voted a two-time team captain and was a two-year letterwinner at UK
• Totaled 43 career touchdowns passes, fifth on UK’s career list
• Accounted for 54 total touchdowns at UK (43 passing and 11 rushing)
• Totaled 5,233 passing yards at Kentucky, sixth on the program’s all-time list
• Had six 300-yard passing games at UK, fourth-most in school history
• Had three games at UK with four touchdown passes – Northern Illinois, Louisiana-Monroe and New Mexico State
• Completed 479 of 738 passes for 5,877 yards and 46 total touchdowns with just 25 interceptions in his four-year career at Penn State and Kentucky
• In two seasons at Kentucky, completed 418 of 636 passes for 5,233 yards and 43 passing TDs with 23 interceptions for 65.7 percent
• Totaled 312 rushes for 742 yards and 17 scores overall, including 179 rushes for 269 yards and 11 scores at UK
• Graduated in May of 2021 from Penn State’s Smeal College of Business in three years with a degree in finance … Graduated with a master’s degree in finance from UK’s Gatton School of Business and Economics in December of 2022
• Named to SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll in 2021
• Named to SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll in 2022

2022 – Senior

• College Sports Communicators Academic All-America Division I Football Team Member of the Year
• Named to SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll
• Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Top 10
• Davey O’Brien QB Class of 2022
• Manning Award Watch List
• Maxwell Trophy Watch List
• Walter Camp Player of the Year Watch List
• CFPA National Performer of the Year Watch List
• Reese’s Senior Bowl Watch List
• Elected one of seven team captains
• Started in 11 games games played
• Completed 185 of 283 passes for 2,406 yards and 19 scores with 10 interceptions
• Ranked fourth in the SEC and 27th nationally in pass efficiency (151.9)
• Ranked fourth in the SEC and 23rd nationally in yards per pass attempt (8.50)
• Ranked fifth in the SEC in passing TDs (19)
• Completed 21 of 32 passes for 303 yards and three touchdowns in the season opener vs. Miami (Ohio) … Marked his fourth 300-yard game as a Wildcat and his fifth game with at least three TD tosses
• Became the 15th UK quarterback to throw for at least 3,000 yards
• Second quarterback in UK history with 300-yard passing games in consecutive season openers, also TIm Couch in 1997 and ‘98
• Helped lead Kentucky to a come-from-behind 26-16 victory at No. 12/19 Florida … Completed 13 of 24 passes for 202 yards and one touchdown while also rushing for a TD … Began UK’s scoring by hitting freshman Dane Key with a 55-yard bomb for a touchdown … Trailing 16-7 in the second quarter, began UK’s comeback by fighting through the defense with needed second effort for a quarterback sneak touchdown … Led a pair of field-goal drives in the second half to help secure the victory
• Completed 27-of-35 passes for a season-high 377 yards, the second-most in his career, two touchdowns and two interceptions, in the win over Youngstown State … Also rushed for seven yards on nine carries and a touchdown … Recorded his highest completion percentage in a game when attempting at least 20 passes (.771) … Marked the highest single-game completion percentage for a Wildcat (min. 35 pass attempts) since Dusty Bonner hit 34 of 40 (85 percent) in 1999 … Marked Levis’ fifth 300+ yard passing game in his career and his second this season
• Became just the third QB in school history with at least four games of 365+ passing yards, also Tim Couch and Jared Lorenzen
• Completed 18-of-26 passes for 303 yards and four touchdowns in the win over Northern Illinois
• First Kentucky QB with at least three passing TDs of 40 or more yards in the same game since Drew Barker against Southern Mississippi in 2016
• After throwing for 377 yards against Youngstown State, became the first UK quarterback with back-to-back 300-yard passing games since Patrick Towles vs. Eastern Kentucky and Auburn in 2015
• Third QB in Kentucky history to have at least two 300-yard passing games that featured fewer than 20 completions, also Bill Ransdell and Stephen Johnson
• Completed 13 of 19 passes for 170 yards and all three Kentucky touchdowns in the Wildcats’ 21-17 come-from-behind win at Missouri … Trailing 17-14 with 8:04 to go, he led Kentucky on a 58-yard game-winning touchdown drive … Completed 3-of-3 for 51 yards on the winning march, including the 22-yard TD on a 3rd-and-11 play
• Completed 11 of his 19 passes for 188 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions in the win over Louisville, becoming the third starting quarterback to defeat Louisville in back-to-back games, joining Tim Couch (2-0) and Mike Hartline (3-0)
• Preseason Third-team All-SEC (Media Days)
• Preseason Third-team All-SEC (Coaches)
• Preseason Third-Team All-SEC (Media)

2021 – Junior (Team Captain)
• Elected one of eight team captains
• Davey O’Brien QB Class of 2021
• Two-time FBS National Offensive Player of the Week (LSU, Louisville)
• Two-time College Football Performance Awards National Performer of the Week honorable mention (LSU, Louisville)
• Two-time Manning Award Quarterback of the Week (ULM, Louisville)
• Named the Walter Camp Connecticut Player of the Year
• 2020-21 First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll
• Started in all 13 games and helped lead UK to 10 wins for the fourth Ɵ me in school history, along with 1950 (11-1), 1977 (10-1) and 2018 … Also
the first time that UK has had at least eight total victories (including bowls) three times in a four-year span since 1949-52
• Totaled 3,202 yards total offense, the seventh player in school history to reach 3,000 yards total offense in a season
• Completed 233 of 353 passes for 2,827 yards (66.0) and 24 scores … 24 touchdown passes are the most since Andre’ Woodson had 40 in 2007
• Totaled 107 rushes for 376 yards and a team-high tying nine rushing touchdowns
• Ranked in the top 10 in several staistical categories in the SEC, including fourth in offense TDs (33), fifth in pass completions (233), sixth in total offense plays (460), total offense yards
(3,203), total passing yards (2,827), pass attempts (353) and passing TDs (24), seventh in total offense (3203), eighth in the SEC in passing average per game (217.46) and ninth in rushing TDs (9)
• Had two games (LSU and Tennessee) with three passing touchdowns and two rushing TDs in the same game, the only Wildcat ever to do so
• First UK quarterback with at least 30 completions against two SEC opponents (Georgia and Tennessee) in the same season since Mike Hartline in 2010
• Completed 17 of 28 passes for 233 yards and one touchdown in leading UK to a 20-17 win over Iowa in the Vrbo Citrus Bowl, the Cats’ school-record fourth straight bowl win
• Received The Manning Award Quarterback of the Week, the Howard Schnellenberger Award as the Most Valuable Player of the Governor’s Cup game vs. Louisville and was named College Football Performance Awards National Performer of the Week honorable mention for the second time after completing 14 of 18 passes for 149 yards
with no touchdowns or interceptions, rushing 14 times for a career-high 113 yards and a career-best four touchdowns … The four rushing touchdowns tied the school record that has now been set by 12 players a total of 14 times and also tied the Governor’s Cup record set by Lynn Bowden Jr. in 2019
• Completed 21 of 31 passes for a career-high 419 yards and a career-high-tying four touchdowns in the win over New Mexico State … Added 11 net rushing yards and his 430 yards total offense is a career high … 419 passing yards is the 12th-highest single-game total in school history … Became the first 400-yard passer since Andre’ Woodson threw for 430 vs. Tennessee in 2007 … 79-yard pass to Wan’Dale Robinson marked the longest of his career and longest for UK since an 83-yard pass from Patrick Towles to Javess Blue vs. ULM in 2014.
• First UK quarterback with three 350-yard passing games in one season since Patrick Towles in 2014
• Among Kentucky QBs with at least 20 completions in a game, his 19.95 yards per completion is thehighest single-game mark in school history
• Accounted for 419 yards total offense and five touchdowns vs. Tennessee … Rushed 15 times for a net 47 yards and two TDs … Completed 31 of 49 passes for a career-high 372 yards and three touchdowns … Marked the most passing yards for a Wildcat since Patrick Towles threw for 390 yards vs. Mississippi State in 2014 … Most yards total offense since Towles had 466 (390 passing, 76 rushing) vs. Mississippi State in 2014 … First Wildcat to have at least 15 passing touchdowns and five rushing TDs in one season since Jared Lorenzen in 2003
• Completed 32 of 42 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns at No. 1 Georgia … His 32 completions are the most for a UK quarterback against a No.
1-ranked opponent since Tim Couch (35) vs. Tennessee in 1998 … His 32 completions are the most for a UK quarterback in an SEC road game since Jared Lorenzen (32) at Georgia in 2001
• With starting lineups available since 1993, became the first quarterback since that time to win his first six starts
• Named the FBS National Offensive Player of the Week by the Walter Camp Football Foundation, named to the Davey O’Brien Award’s Great 8 list and earned College Football Performance Awards National Performer of the Week honorable mention after accounting for Kentucky’s first five touchdowns in the Wildcats’ 42-21 win over LSU … Completed 14 of 17 passes (82.4 percent) for 145 yards and three TDs … Rushed 11 times for a net 75 yards and two TDs … Had a 33-yard run that helped set up his own QB sneak for a score … Led UK to 42 points, most ever for the Wildcats against LSU in a regulation-length game
• Completed 18 of 26 passes for 367 yards and four touchdowns in the season opener vs. ULM, notching career highs for completions, yards and TDs, in his first career start at Kentucky … Marked the most passing yards for a Kentucky player in his first game as a Wildcat and the most passing yards for a UK quarterback since Patrick Towles threw for 390 in 2014 vs. Mississippi State … UK’s first 300-yard passer in a season opener since Drew Barker, 323 vs. Southern Mississippi in 2016 … Most passing TDs since Drew Barker threw four
vs. Southern Mississippi in 2016 … Named The Manning Award Quarterback of the Week
• Graduate transfer who played three seasons at Penn State
• His 473 career rushing yards rank 10th all-time by a Penn State quarterback
• Two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection

2020 – Sophomore (Penn State)
• Played in eight games with one starting assignment
• Completed 33-of-55 passes for 421 yards and a score
• On the ground, had 82 rushes for 260 yards and three touchdowns
• Completed 14-of-31 passes for a career-high 219 yards, including a 74-yard completion in his first starting assignment of the season vs. Iowa
• At Michigan, rushed for 25 yards on six carries and had a two-yard rushing TD, helping the Nittany Lions win 27-17 in “The Big House”

2019 – r-Freshman (Penn State)
• Appeared in seven games with one start
• Completed 28-of-47 passes for 223 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions
• Totaled 213 rushing yards on 51 carries with three scores
• Earned the team’s High Academic Average (cumulative GPA), along with teammate Black Gillikin

2018 – Freshman (Penn State)
• Redshirt season

High School
• Three-year letter winner for head coach Andy Guyon at Xavier High School in his hometown of Madison, Connecticut
• As a senior captain, earned second-team Walter Camp All-Connecticut honors
• Selected to the Connecticut High School Coaches Association (CHSCA) Top 25 list, after breaking Xavier’s records for passing yards (2,793), passing touchdowns (27) and completions in a season
• Named the Hartford Courant’s Offensive POY
• All-Courant first-team selection
• Earned All-Southern Connecticut Conference (SCC) Tier 1 accolades
• SPARQ MVP for The Opening Elite 11 event in New Jersey in 2017
• Registered 1,972 passing yards with 19 passing touchdowns and six rushing touchdowns as a junior
• Carried a 4.0 grade-point average during his prep career, winning the Brother Celestine Academic Award
• Also chosen as an All-SCC Tier 1 academic athlete in 2017
• Member of the National Honor Society and was a Ryken Scholar
• Three-star recruit by all three major recruiting outlets – 247Sports, ESPN and Rivals
• Ranked as the No. 2 player in Connecticut and No. 24 pro-style quarterback by 247Sports, was the No. 35 pro-style quarterback, No. 2 recruit in Connecticut and No. 61 prospect in the region by ESPN and the No. 30 pro-style quarterback and No. 2 player in Connecticut by Rivals
• Also lettered in baseball at Xavier

Community Cats
• Volunteer counselor at numerous camps throughout the summer, including the Manning Passing Academy and the Chris Oats Camp (2022)
• Set up a Cameo campaign to raise money for flood victims in eastern Kentucky (2022)
• Volunteered with Amachi, an organization that aims to assist children affected by incarceration (2022)
• Organized an autograph signing with fellow teammates to raise money for tornado victims in western Kentucky (2021)
• Volunteered with My New Kentucky Home for a Special Olympics event (2021)

Personal
• Born in Newton, Massachusetts
• Son of Michael and Beth Levis
• Siblings are Kelley, Jillian and Claire
• Comes from a family of athletes as his great-grandfather, Alva Kelley, was an All-America football player at Cornell University and won a
National Championship in 1939 … Went on to be the head football coach at Colgate University, Hobart College and Brown University … Father, Mike, was a tight end at Denison University … Mother, Beth Kelley Levis, was two-time All-America soccer player at Yale and has been inducted into the Connecticut Girls’ Soccer Association Hall of Fame… Uncle, David Kelley, also was an Academic All-America football player at Yale

Will Says
• Besides playing football, he also is a great singer, maybe the Big Blue Nation will hear him one day
• His sports hero is Tom Brady because growing up in the northeast, he was a perfect example on how to handle himself on and off the fi eld – the ultimate competitor who will do anything to win
• The best advice he has ever received is “never give up.” His grandfather used to end every sentence he ever had with him with those words and it took him a while to realize how meaningful they are, but now uses it as his personal mantra
• The craziest thing he’s ever done is a flying trapeze and he’s well-versed in a few tricks
• He speaks English, a good bit of Spanish, and ‘ong’ language

Read more

News