Kentucky Knows It Needs To Get Better On Offense

Kentucky's new offensive coordinator Liam Coen said he didn't have to sell his game plan to the older guys on the team but that they do have some improvements to make after the Wildcats' spring scrimmage.

“I didn’t have to sell anything,” Coen said, per the Lexington Herald Leader. “These guys knew that they needed to get better on offense.”

The Herald Leader's John Clay reports that's the reason Kentucky's head coach Mark Stoops brought the former Los Angeles Rams assistant quarterbacks coach here in the first place — to improve a failing offense that ranked 115th in total yards per game in 2020, 76th in 2019 and 104th in 2018.

“It’s not about me. It’s not about the offense,” Coen said. “I think they just knew that they needed to get better as an offense. You can’t throw for 110 yards the last two seasons. That’s just not good enough.”

The program has a lot to improve on the offensive side of the ball, but the new coordinator seems pleased with last Saturday’s scrimmage. He said there were few mistakes, the quarterbacks were improving and the pass completion percentage was good. However, he said the players have to clean some things up.

“The one thing I continue to go back and say is this program has done an unbelievable job practicing,” Coen said. “Coach Stoops has done such a nice job. Those are things at places where I’ve been in the past, you’re coaching every play. ‘Stay off the ground. No cheap shots.’ That doesn’t exist here. This has been a lot more like coaching in the NFL from that standpoint.”