Leftwich Looking for Good Communication, Consistency from Offensive Line
It wasn’t that long ago that Kentucky offensive line coach Cutter Leftwich was playing college football himself. In fact, his last season as a player was 2019.
While some might see Leftwich’s youth as a negative, he views it exactly the opposite. In fact, he believes it helps him relate to his offensive linemen even more.
“I told the guys there’s nobody that could be able to relate to them better than me,” Leftwich said. “Not too long ago, I was in their shoes. I was in those morning runs and morning lifts and going to class and doing all of those things. So, I know what’s going through their mind before it even does. I’ve been there, I’ve done that. So I can be able to relate to those guys extremely, extremely well.”
The Will Stein-led staff continues to mix and match lineups during the spring. Leftwich knows that his unit of five starters will be important, but he also thinks the mixing and matching helps his players work better with each other.
“I think it’s a really good thing,” Leftwich said. “You get different people playing next to different people, testing people’s communication. The communication aspect of things really ramps up the more you mix up the groups.”
One of the other methods that the UK staff is using this spring is having a swift pace to practice. Leftwich believes that could help prepare the team for what they might experience during the season.
“It’s fast paced, but I think it helps with the…I don’t want to use the word chaos, but we’re going to go on road environments, it’s going to be loud,” Leftwich said. “How can we be able to reset our mind, reset our focus and really have that ‘this play is the most important play’ mentality.”
Leftwich is a big believer in the importance of communicating with fellow lineman. It’s almost like the offensive linemen have their own language.
“It’s five guys playing as one, just seeing the game all the same way,” Leftwich said. “Being able to have those guys all speak the same language. I say speak two languages – English and offensive line play. You have to be able to speak the same language, whether that’s terminology of the offense or technique and fundamentals, defensive terms, to be able to make sure everybody’s on the same page.”
As spring continues, Leftwich hopes to see some players emerge to claim starting spots. How can they do that?
“I think it’s consistency,” Leftwich said. “It’s consistency every single day. Like, not having a great practice one day and maybe a poor practice the next. I think it’s about being able to be consistent every day.”
It wasn’t that long ago that Leftwich was on a college football roster. Now, he’s helping Stein and the UK staff build their first version of the Big Blue Wall.
