Football Cats Excited About New Offensive Scheme
Excitement was in the air as Kentucky started its spring football practice on Tuesday morning. Specifically, there’s a lot of excitement and anticipation about the Cats’ new offense, directed by offensive coordinator Liam Coen.
After Tuesday’s practice, Coen spoke to the media and he was pleased with what he saw on the first day.
“Overall, pretty solid day,” Coen said. “So, obviously it’s not the standard of what we’re looking for but the process is what we’re looking for. We keep talking about process over results right now. It was day one install, we didn’t mix in any other days. Really, from an alignment and assignment standpoint, I thought we were pretty solid.”
Coen brings his offense from the Los Angeles Rams and one of the big changes will be in the passing game. While the full arsenal was not on display on Tuesday, Cohen was pleased with what his quarterbacks and wide receivers were able to do.
“Threw and caught solid,” Coen said. “We didn’t have a ton of things going down the field too much but did a good job of taking some completions.”
Coen has a plan for installing his offense this spring but one thing he has noticed is that he is not having to ask his players to give their all.
“The one thing you don’t have to coach with this group, that I’ve noticed, is effort,” Coen said. “It doesn’t appear as though you have to coach effort. The guys fly around, they know how to practice, you can tell the culture is strong.”
As for that plan to install, Coen is working on the little things.
“It’s more about cleaning up some fundamentals and techniques right now and evaluating each position as we go,” Coen said. “I think it’s more so the procedure and having a solid, sharp type operation. For us, right now, it’s more so an installation – fundamentals, technique phase.”
Kentucky will have a new quarterback this season after the departure of last year’s starter, Terry Wilson. While Coen knows he will be asked often about the position, he’s still in the initial phase of evaluating his talent behind center. No quarterback decision has been made yet.
“Absolutely not. This is the first day seeing these kids throw,” Coen said. “So, absolutely not. Not yet. These guys all did a great job. I’ve got to give credit to the kids, they’ve been hungry. They’ve been trying to get extra film work on their own. I thought we did a solid job operationally, not too many balls on the ground today. I can’t even tell you who had a good day. For what we’re looking for, it was a solid first day.”
One area of the offense that has impressed Coen so far is the offensive line, which has been a strength of the UK team over the past several seasons.
“Very impressed. These kids were extremely well-coached, disciplined, good kids that were hungry and eager,” Coen said. “(Darian) Kinnard, (Luke) Fortner, some of those guys leading the way from an older guys’ standpoint. That’s going to be the identity of our offense and of our team. As far as our offensive line takes us is where I want this thing to go. Our interior lineman are bigger than I thought they would be. And they can move pretty well. Great unit so far, really pleased with them.”
An area of focus, outside of quarterback, will be wide receiver. Coen knows he will be asking the receivers to do a lot of new things.
“It’s a group that has done some nice things and just wasn’t asked to do some of the things we’re asking them to do right now,” Coen said. “They’re all very capable. It’s about fundamentals and technique for those guys, running some different routes than they have in the past. We need to see them make plays with the ball in their hands. Josh Ali leading the way out of that room. He’s the leader of that group. The type of kid who does everything right, works his tail off.”
Ali was also happy with how the first day of practice went for the Cats.
“It’s always good to have a fresh start. Today, I feel like we were very efficient. For it being the first day, I think it was very efficient. The offense that we’re running, it takes a lot of studying. So, we just have to be grown men and do what is asked.”
While Ali was the primary pass catcher last season, he knows that there are a number of returnees who could contribute in the new offense this year.
“Isaiah Epps, Clevan Thomas Jr.,” Ali said. “Isaiah’s my roommate. He had his foot injury last year, he came through the middle of the year, got a couple of games in. I feel like he’s 100 percent right now. Clevan Thomas, he hasn’t gotten the exposure that he’s supposed to get or I think that he deserves. I feel like he’s going to be a big shock to a lot of people this year.”
Transfer Wan’Dale Robinson is someone that the coaches will have an eye on as well. Ali said that Robinson was good in practice on Tuesday.
“He had a great practice today,” Ali said. “It took some eyes off of me and got me open a little bit today. He’s quick, he’s fast, got good hands. He’s going to be interesting to watch.”
Ali feels that the offense has a renewed energy this spring.
“I feel like there’s more excitement because this is something new,” Ali said. “It’s always good to have something new in a program. More excitement, we’ve got new faces. The energy is just different as a whole. I’m excited for the next practice, I can’t wait.”
Coen and Ali hope that the excitement and energy can translate to production with the Cats’ new offense.
