Kentucky Wildcats Football: The legend of Matt Roark is born
By Kyle
The story of Matt Roark is a movie script waiting to happen, and it’s one a lot of Kentucky fans really don’t even know. Until now at least that is. His performance against Tennessee will be one for the ages and the legend of Matt Roark was born this past Saturday after the game. After a rocky start, this guy has emerged as one of the future folk heroes of Kentucky football. But how did it come to this? I’m glad you asked.
As a prep player at North Cobb High School outside of Atlanta, Roark lead his high school team to a regional title and an undefeated regular season as a quarterback and safety. Despite his stellar play and his team’s success, he was still not highly regarded by scouting services. He was rated as a three star player by scout.com and the #141 wide receiver in the country and he was graded at 5.5 by rivals. While the 5.5 grade was worth a three star ranking, it was only .1 from only being a two star prospect. ESPN did not even evaluate Roark. Regardless of the lack of attention he received from the websites, he was still able to earn scholarship offers from Duke, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, South Florida, and Wake Forest. After visiting several of the schools that had offered him, Roark ultimately chose the Wildcats. Choosing Kentucky also reaped an unlikely benefit to Roark as well. After spending most of his adolescence without his father in the picture, Roark got to know his dad, former Kentucky defensive back Ray Gover, due to Joker Phillips’ friendship with Gover.
When he arrived in Lexington, Roark was a gangly freshman that caught everyone’s eye from the get-go. He was nicknamed ‘Baby Dre’ by teammates right away due to an obvious resemblance to Kentucky quarterback Andre Woodson, who had just graduated. Woodson’s departures to the NFL’s New York Giants left jersey number 3 available and it was fittingly assigned to Roark. After a solid outing in the fall camp, Roark was selected to play as a true freshman. Kentucky needed to offset the loss of receivers Keenan Burton, Stevie Johnson, and tight end Jacob Tamme after they all joined Woodson in the NFL, and Roark was part of the solution. An injury to starter Dicky Lyons and fellow freshman receiver Randall Cobb being moved to quarterback pushed Roark and three other wide receivers in his recruiting class into extended time on the field, but Kentucky’s offense still struggled to find a rhythm. At the end of the 2008 season, Roark had only one catch for 16 yards as Kentucky eventually reached the Liberty Bowl on the back of the running game and a great defense.
When the 2009 season rolled around, Dicky Lyons had exhausted his eligibility too, and there was a hole needing to be filled at wide receiver. Randall Cobb and newly signed junior college player Chris Matthews were able to step right in and give the Kentucky quarterbacks reliable targets. Gene McCaskill and La’Rod King emerged as capable backups and the quartet of receivers and running back Derrick Locke eventually would account for 76% of the Wildcats’ receiving yards. Roark had slid down the depth chart and despite the offense’s struggles, was still relegated to only five catches for 49 yards on the season. Again, a great year by the defense lead the Wildcats to an eventual berth in the Music City Bowl.
During Roark’s junior year in 2010, his role in the offense grew. Randall Cobb, Chris Matthews, and La’Rod King continued to be the headliners of the receiving corps, but Roark was able to see an increase in time on the field. The Wildcats added his high school position coach Tee Martin to the staff in the winter and it appeared to pay dividends to Roark’s involvement in the offense. Still, Roark finished eighth on the team with only 12 catches, behind three running backs and tight end Jordan Aumiller. It was Kentucky’s offense this time that fueled a trip to the BBVA Compass Bowl at season’s end. Roark’s 170 receiving yards over 12 games gave him a very respectable 14.2 yards per catch, but the emergence of some of Kentucky’s younger players and the addition of several talented freshmen left Roark looking like a probable afterthought heading into his senior year.
As spring practice rolled around, one of the story lines that developed was the lack of production from the receivers and the frequency of dropped balls. Now Kentucky would have to overcome Randall Cobb’s early departure to the NFL in addition to the loss of Chris Matthews to graduation, and things were looking shaky. La’Rod King was pretty much a lock to start at one receiver, but the other was up in the air. Many felt one of the six incoming freshmen would claim the job in the fall and veterans like Roark would be relegated to special teams roles and spot duty on offense. Well, the spring came and went and Roark was still atop the depth chart at one of the wide receiver spots. After a tense battle in camp with Brian Adams and Gene McCaskill among others, Roark remained the starter heading into the Season opener with Western Kentucky in Nashville. Then the wheels came off.
The beginning of this season was not kind to Matt Roark. He debuted against Western Kentucky and to say that he struggled would be an understatement. While he did have two catches for 11 yards, the post game story was not how many passes he caught, but how many he didn’t on the way to Kentucky just getting by the Hilltoppers. Drops continued to plague Roark and his teammates over the next two games as the Wildcats pulled off a closer-than-expected win over Central Michigan that was followed by a loss to Louisville in Lexington. All of the sudden, Roark had gone from a proverbial afterthought on the roster to the poster boy for everything that was going wrong with this team. I mean, let’s face it, when a receiver can’t catch, he’s not worth much to your team. Roark finished both games without a catch. In the weeks following, he saw his involvement on offense decrease steadily as other players were given a chance. Against Florida, LSU, South Carolina and Jacksonville State, Roark tallied only ten catches for 45 yards bringing his season total to a very mundane 12 catches for 56 yards and an average of 4.6 yards per catch. Then, a light came on.
Against Mississippi State, an early game injury to starting quarterback Morgan Newton saw freshman Maxwell Smith inserted into the lineup. While the Cats still lost, the offense found a new rhythm with Smith at the helm and Roark became a new player. He finished the game against the Bulldogs with 13 catches for 116 yards and gave the Wildcats a new offensive threat. The following week against Ole Miss, Roark finished with seven catches for 116 yards. In a two game stretch, he was able to quadruple the yardage from the first seven games of his senior season. Unfortunately, Vanderbilt and Georgia weren’t as kind to Roark as the Mississippi schools, and he was only able to manage four catches for 61 yards against them. Kentucky fell to 4-7 on the season, ensuring the bowl streak had come to an end, and had also added injury to insult in the form of two hobbled quarterbacks. With both Maxwell Smith and Morgan Newton sidelined with injuries and the Tennessee game looming, it looked like Kentucky would undoubtedly add another year to the already absurd 26 season losing streak to the Volunteers with an injured true freshman taking the snaps from center. Then on Saturday, everything changed.
As Kentucky’s offense took the field, it was Roark that lined up at quarterback, a position he had not played since his senior year of high school. While the ‘wildcat’ formation has been used by many teams, Kentucky had decided earlier in the week to play Roark in the formation and use it exclusively in lieu of their traditional pro-style set. Roark himself had only learned of this on Tuesday. With the guidance of his former high school coach (Tee Martin), offensive coordinator Randy Sanders, and now graduate assistant coach Andre Woodson, Roark prepared for what would be the most unorthodox offense Kentucky fans had seen in over a decade.
The surprise of the new attack clearly caught Tennessee off-guard and Kentucky was able to drive for a quick field goal and take a lead they would never relinquish on their way to a 10-7 win. The defense and special teams should certainly be commended for the performance, but the story here is still Matt Roark. He only finished the game with 15 yards passing on 4 of 6 attempts, but his gutsy play running the ball gave Kentucky 124 yards rushing on 24 attempts. In particular, two runs with just under four minutes remaining in the third quarter were key with the Wildcats clinging to a three-point lead. On second and one and the ball on the UK 32 yard line, Roark ripped off a 24 yard scamper that put the Kentucky offense on Tennessee’s side of the field. Then five plays later, with only 30 seconds left in the quarter, he took the ball 26 yards down to the Tennessee 7 yard line to set up a CoShik Williams touchdown. A staunch effort from the Kentucky defense held the Volunteers to a touchdown and gave the Wildcats their first win over Tennessee in 26 years.
While 124 yards rushing won’t win anyone the Heisman Trophy or anything like that, Roark’s ability to step into the quarterback position with less than a week to prepare and execute the game plan effectively enough to win the game was more than impressive. He was invited to be the ‘Y’ in Saturday’s basketball tradition and some fans are suggesting he get a spot in the ring of honor after the win. I don’t know if that will happen or not, but does seem funny to see so much adoration from a fan base that loathed Roark only a few short weeks ago. As rags to riches stories go, there are probably very few rollercoaster rides quite like the one that Matt Roark took at Kentucky. Four years all came down to one game. He was able to set the record for blocked kicks in a career with seven, but no one cares. No one cares about the 36 catches Roark had this season or the 349 yards he racked up either. Roark will go down in UK history as the man who took down Tennessee and broke a quarter-century curse on the program. I’m sure he is fine with that.