You have to have playmakers. Bottom line. In football, it doesn’t matter what plays even the brightest offensive coordinator calls if he doesn’t have players to make those plays, or players who can turn a bad call into a good play. The more the better.
That’s not to say I think Kentucky’s new offensive coordinator, Los Angeles Rams assistant quarterbacks coach Liam Coen, will make bad play-calls in 2021. Far from it. I like the philosophy. I like the scheme. I like the hire. Still, when the time comes, Coen is going to need playmakers to make it work.
And if you watched Kentucky football in 2020, you know the Wildcats don’t have enough of those. Not saying here they don’t have any. But the numbers tell the tale. Its regular season complete, as others are still playing, the Cats are 117th nationally in total offense, 108th in scoring offense and 121st in passing offense. That’s out of 127 teams.
That had to change. While changing the scheme and getting the right person to run the scheme was certainly necessary to the process, finding the players to make the scheme was as important if not more. That’s what the Cats believe they did Wednesday, the first day of college football’s early signing period.
Toward that end, coach Mark Stoops labeled offensive tackle Jager Burton and wide receiver Dekel Crowdus, both out of Frederick Douglass High School in town, as “difference-makers.” Recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow pointed to Crowdus’ “4.3 speed all day long” and his “46-inch” vertical jump.
Then there’s Christian Lewis, a four-star wide receiver out of Pleasant Grove, Ala. UK assistant Jon Sumrall not only convinced the talented Lewis to give Kentucky a serious look, but to keep looking even as the UK offense struggled.
Add Jordan Dingle, tight end out of Bowling Green, “was a big target for us,” Stoops said. So much so that Marrow half-joked Wednesday that he thought he might get fired if he didn’t convince the 6-foot-4, 240-pounder to sign with UK.
Don’t forget Chauncey Magwood, a wide receiver from Leesburg, Ga., and Devonte Ross, a wide-out from Cartersville, Ga., a pair of promising pass-catchers.
“Christian Lewis, Magwood and Ross, those guys are playmakers,” Marrow said. “With the new system, they’re going to fit in well.”
“Jon did a great job with those guys,” Stoops said. “Those are impact receivers who stayed with us when we were struggling to throw the ball.”
So how did that happen? Having piqued their interest, how was UK able to keep it when the Cats were scoring 10 points at Missouri, three at Alabama, 10 at Florida, when things got to the point where Stoops felt like he had to change coordinators.
“Lot of praying,” Marrow said. “Lot of talking to the Lord.”
Some of it was luck, admitted Marrow. In this pandemic year, recruits were not allowed to take more visits. They already had a strong relationship with Stoops and the staff, a bond that held.
And after Stoops parted ways with offensive coordinator Eddie Gran, what did Marrow tell the recruits about what was coming next? After all, Gran was let go on Dec. 6. Coen was introduced as the new OC on Tuesday, Dec. 15. The early signing period started a day later.
“I didn’t tell them names, but I told them about the offense we wanted to run,” Marrow said. “Then when I had a pretty good idea who it was, I told our receivers, ‘Watch the Rams and you’ll see why you should be excited.’”
You know what gets coaches and fans excited? Guys who can make plays. You have to have them, especially in this day and age when college football has become as much about putting up points as it is about getting stops or turnovers.
“Those skill guys,” said Marrow, with a smile referencing the OC search, “they were really interested.”
Now they know and are no doubt excited, but maybe not as excited as Stoops, Marrow and soon Liam Coen are to have them.
