Mark Stoops made a lot of noise at Kentucky in 2021 winning ten games and contending for the SEC East title before consecutive losses to Georgia, Mississippi State and Tennessee derailed those plans. Last season the Cats slumped to 7-6 despite the presence of NFL 2nd round draft pick Will Levis at quarterback.
The offense was not good last season averaging just 20 points per game, a drop of 12 points per game from 2021 when Liam Coen was the offensive coordinator. Coen spent 2022 with the Rams but Stoops brought him back to UK in the offseason.
And just like in ’21 when Coren paired with the transfer from Penn State Levis to make the offense hum, he’ll have a transfer quarterback to work with this season in former NC State starter Devin Leary.
If you count Leary and running back Ray Davis, who was a starter at Vanderbilt last season, the Wildcats will have ten offensive starters back this season. Only five return from a defense that allowed just 19 points per game last season. Mauldin native Andru Phillips is slated to be a starter at cornerback.
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops at SEC Media Days
RETURNING OFFENSIVE STARTERS:
No. Name Pos. HT. WT. Class-EXP Hometown
6 Dane Key WR 6-3 195 So-1L Lexington, Ky. (Frederick Douglass)
9 Tayvion Robinson WR 5-11 194 %Sr-1L Virginia Beach, Va. (Virginia Tech/Cox)
68 Kenneth Horsey OL 6-3 311 %Sr-4L Sanford, Fla. (Sanford Seminole)
77 Jeremy Flax OL 6-6 325 Sr-1L Detroit, Mich. (Independence CC/Robichaud)
80 Brenden Bates TE 6-5 251 %Sr-4L Cincinnati, Ohio (Archbishop Moeller)
85 Jordan Dingle TE 6-4 238 So-1L Bowling Green, Ky. (Bowling Green HS)
RETURNING DEFENSIVE STARTERS:
No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Class-Exp. Hometown
0 Deone Walker DL 6-6 348 So-1L Detroit, Mich. (Cass Tech)
13 J.J. Weaver OLB 6-5 244 Sr-3L Louisville, Ky. (Moore Traditional)
25 Jordan Lovett DB 6-2 195 So-1L Radcliff, Ky. (North Hardin)
54 D’Eryk Jackson ILB 6-1 245 Sr-3L Dublin, Ga. (West Laurens)
90 Tre’vonn Rybka DL 6-4 276 Jr-2L Dickson, Tenn. (Dickson County)
SPECIALISTS STARTERS:
No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Class-Exp. Hometown
93 Wilson Berry P 6-4 213 So-Sq Maribyrnong, Australia (Maribyrnong College)
12 Chance Poore K 6-2 213 %Sr-4L Anderson, S.C. (Westside)
Returning Statistical Leaders
RUSHING: ATT. YARDS AVG. TDS
JuTahn McClain 59 278 4.7 0
La’Vell Wright 39 120 3.1 0
Ramon Jefferson 2 10 5.0 0
PASSING: COMP. ATT. INT. TDS YARDS PCT.
Kaiya Sheron 17 29 1 2 187 58.6
Destin Wade 16 30 2 0 98 53.3
Deuce Hogan 6 7 0 0 19 86.7
RECEIVING: REC. YARDS AVG. AVG/GAME TDS
Barion Brown 50 628 12.6 48.3 4
Tayvion Robinson 40 497 12.4 45.2 3
Dane Key 37 519 14.0 39.9 6
Jordan Dingle 20 220 11.0 16.9 3
TACKLES: TOTAL SOLO ASST. INT. SACKS TFL (YDS)
D’Eryk Jackson 67 27 40 0 0 4 (11)
Jordan Lovett 62 36 26 2 0 1.5 (3)
Trevin Wallace 54 32 22 2 2.5 (14) 9.5 (31)
J.J. Weaver 47 27 20 0 3 (37) 6 (45)
Deone Walker 40 12 28 0 1 (8) 4.5 (15)
Zion Childress 34 19 15 0 1 (10) 2 (12)
Kentucky 2023 Schedule
Sept. 2 BALL STATE
Sept. 9 EASTERN KENTUCKY
Sept. 16 AKRON
Sept. 23 at Vanderbilt*
Sept. 30 FLORIDA*
Oct. 7 at Georgia*
Oct. 14 MISSOURI*
Oct. 28 TENNESSEE*
Nov. 4 at Mississippi State*
Nov. 11 ALABAMA*
Nov. 18 at South Carolina*
Nov. 25 at Louisville
2022 Results
7-6 Overall • 3-5 SEC
Home: 5-3 Away: 2-2 Neutral: 0-1 vs. Top 25: 2-3
Sept. 3 [20/21] MIAMI (Ohio) W, 37-13 61,139
Sept. 10 [20/20] at Florida* (12/19) W, 26-16 89,993
Sept. 17 [9/10] YOUNGTOWN STATE W, 31-0 59,308
Sept. 24 NORTHERN ILLINOIS W, 31-23 61,579
Oct. 1 [7/8] at Ole Miss* (14/11) L, 19-22 64,828
Oct. 8 [13/13] SOUTH CAROLINA* L, 14-24 61,612
Oct. 15 [22/22] MISSISSIPPI STATE* (16/17) W, 27-17 61,451
Oct. 29 [19/17] at Tennessee* (3/3) L, 6-44 101,915
Nov. 5 [RV/24] at Missouri* W, 21-17 61,047
Nov. 12 [RV/24] VANDERBILT* L, 21-24 57,424
Nov. 19 [NR/RV] GEORGIA* (1/1) L, 6-16 61,022
Nov. 26 LOUISVILLE (rv/rv) W, 26-13 58,727
Dec. 31 vs. Iowa L, 0-21 42,312
TransPerfect Music City Bowl • Nashville, Tennessee
