Will Stein believes in an offense that excites and one that can do a little bit of everything. Anyone who knows football knows that for any offense to succeed, it all starts up front. The bunch known as the Big Uglies will need to come together fast, and their coach, Cutter Leftwich, has a plan to make it all work.
Kentucky football's offensive line is in good hands with Cutter Leftwich
When Kentucky hired Will Stein, the question was who would come with him to fill out his first staff. And as important as the offensive line is, the hire had to be someone he believed in. He turned to Oregon assistant Cutter Leftwich. The two are now in Lexington, but the transition wasn't an easy one while balancing the playoff run with Oregon and the new responsibilities in Lexington.
"A lot of sleepless nights, a lot of late phone calls, and the time change was tough to be completely honest...But being able to go back and forth there (Oregon)...It was all worth it, wouldn't trade for the world. "
Now that he is fully in just one role, the real work can begin. But what will the offense actually look like?
"I think that's our job is to find out this spring, over the summer, and even fall camp, find out what we are really good at. Like, what are some strengths to this offensive line?
What are some strengths to our quarterback, running backs, tight ends, receivers. What do we do together as a unit that's really good? Then we continue to mold and morph this offense into what you know we're all really going to be happy to see as Kentucky fans."
Well, that sounds pretty good to me. You find out what your team is really good at, then you fit what you do each game to that. No more round peg square hole. If this team is elite at deep balls, then you see a lot of deep balls. If they excel in the run, then buckle up the chin straps and smash it down the field.
How Cutter Leftwich grew his game
Leftwich has taken a little bit from each of his previous stops.
"I've been around some really good offensive minds and been around some really good coaches, and it's really molded me to who I am today and the type of coach that I am."
Now he is going to apply that to this new group of players, including Coleton Price, Lance Heard, and Tegra Tshabola.
"He's (Lance Heard) an extremely smart individual. He's very aware of his surroundings. He's very intentional. He was looking for you know a couple certain criterias and some things...I think there was some whether or not he was still going to go in the draft or not...I think whenever we sat down and we talked about the situation here and what we were doing with the offensive line and my vision for the offensive line, Coach Sloan's vision for this offense, Coach Stein's vision for what this team is going to be like. I think it really fits everything that Lance was looking for."
Lance Heard was 2nd best tackle in the portal, and that goes along with adding the best center, former Baylor standout Coleton Price. Tegra Tshabola came over from Ohio State, where he was a spot contributor. That is a nice start to a rebuilt line. But it is going to take time, Leftwich knows that.
"Offensive line-wise, it's unique because it's five guys coming together to be able to see the game all in the same vision or all be able to see the game the same way...I think that's going to take time, right? But I'll tell you what, I'm really excited from what we've been able to do so far. We have a really intelligent group. That's the guys that we've brought in, and that's the guys that are still here. You can do some really fun things when you got a smart group."
In other words, if you are a Kentucky football fan, you should be pretty excited about where this group is going.