Brock Vandagriff Named to Davey O’Brien Award “Great 8” List

Kentucky junior quarterback Brock Vandagriff was named to the Davey O’Brien Award “Great 8” list for Week 5 for his performance in the Wildcats’ 20-17 win at No. 6/5 Ole Miss on Saturday.

Vandagriff, a native of Bogart, Georgia, completed a career-high, 18-of-28 passes for a career-best 243 yards and one touchdown in the Cats’ highest-ever Associated Press ranked road victory on a Southeastern Conference campus.

Trailing 17-13 with four minutes left, on 4th-and-7 from his own 20-yard line, his 63-yard bomb to junior wide receiver Barion Brown set up Kentucky’s game-winning touchdown.

On non-sack rushing plays, Vandagriff ran or scrambled 12 times for 48 yards, including five first downs.

The signal caller orchestrated Kentucky’s offense to 20 points, 336 yards total offense, 93 rushing yards and 243 passing yards against an Ole Miss team that entered the game first in the nation in scoring defense (5.5 points per game) and rushing defense (34.5 yards per game) while rating 12th in the nation in total defense (239 yards per game).

Vandagriff also did a good job keeping the potent Ole Miss offense off the field. Guiding UK to 22 first downs, converting three-of-three on fourth downs and committing no turnovers, the Wildcats ran 75 plays and occupied 39:43 time of possession.  Ole Miss ended with 56 plays and just 20:17 time of possession.

The Davey O’Brien National Quarterback of the Week, selected from the Great 8 list, will be announced Tuesday at noon (ET).

Vandagriff now has been officially added to the Davey O’Brien Award Watch List and is eligible to be named the 2024 Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award winner. The Davey O’Brien Foundation was created in 1977, and the National Quarterback Award, the oldest and most prestigious college quarterback award, was first issued in 1981.

Kentucky (3-2, 1-2 SEC) has its first of two bye weeks this season this week before hosting Vanderbilt on Oct. 12 at Kroger Field.