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Zach Yenser speaks to improvement of Kentucky offensive line, Devin Leary’s potential
By Keith Farner
Published:
Kentucky will have a revamped offense this season, both with a new quarterback in Devin Leary and a new offensive coordinator in Liam Coen, who was in Lexington 2 seasons ago.
Kentucky’s offensive line struggled last season, but has some new pieces and rearranged positions, first-year offensive line coach Zach Yenser said on Sunday.
“Last year there was a lot of verbiage, obviously, with (Rich) Scangarello coming in. I think that was probably part of it, verbiage-wise,” Yenser said on 630 WLAP’s Sunday Morning Sports Talk. “But listen, we were just inexperienced up front. There is no way around it. Both tackles — Kenneth (Horsey) had to bump out to left tackle, started the bowl game at tackle against Iowa in ’21, but he’s never had tackle experience. (Jeremy) Flax, he was your (right tackle). Those guys battled their butts off. Eli (Cox) at a new position, you know?
“It was just a struggle, gelling together and with injuries. And that’s not an excuse at all, we just didn’t play as well as we needed to. We won seven games and were close to winning nine, but we’ve got to be better up front. We know that.”
Kentucky added 4 scholarship transfers, including projected starters at left and right tackle in Marques Cox and Courtland Ford. The Wildcats also return Horsey, Cox and Jager Burton on the line, and also have Jeremy Flax, Tanner Bowles, Ben Christman, Paul Rodriguez and Grant Bingham in the mix.
All that together is designed to keep Leary upright.
“That’s why we went out and brought in the guys we did to compete and find eight guys we truly believe can play in the SEC, eight to ten guys. I feel like we have that,” Yenser said. “If we do our job, Devin is very talented. He’s very talented with his arm, love how he moves in the pocket and he’s very friendly to the O-line. How fast the ball comes out, all that stuff. As a football coach, you love to see it.”
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A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
