Brock Vandagriff's QB coach goes on the record

Even backup quarterbacks in the University of Georgia's football program are well-known around campus and in the community, and before that Vandagriff was a five-star top-10 national recruit.

For years Vandagriff's private quarterback coach has been Ron Veal via QB Collective, so he's got plenty of insight and first-hand knowledge of Vandagriff's history as a player.

Veal knows a bit about training quarterbacks. The former Arizona Wildcat trained Clemson Tiger and Jacksonville Jaguar starter Trevor Lawrence.

He is, naturally, an important person to talk to, so Cats Illustrated caught up with Veal late Wednesday, the same day Vandagriff announced his transfer to UK.

"I worked with him starting when he was in 10th grade at Prince Avenue and just worked on his quarterback skills in private sessions," Veal told Cats Illustrated. "He's grown tremendously as far as his athleticism, and his accuracy on the intermediate to short passes is very high right now. He also knows when to use his legs in situations where he needs to use them."

But Veal said the biggest area for improvement in Vandagriff's game has been between the ears.

"I think the biggest leap has been in learning the offense, coverages and fronts, schemes and protections," Veal said. "I think that's where he's grown the most."

Veal says Vandagriff "was a strong-armed kid, very athletic" when he first started working with him early in his high school days. In fact, Veal pointed out that Vandagriff was actually an accomplished high school receiver at one point.

"He played wide receiver one year because we had a senior QB. He scored 14 touchdowns as a receiver. So he's got athleticism and that's where a lot of the toughness comes from. He played another position," Veal said.

"His numbers spoke for themselves," Veal said with a laugh, referring to his prep quarterback years. "Then you turn on the tape and you see the sheer athleticism and his ability to make throws from different platforms. How he can get out of the pocket, is tough on the run, his leadership, too."

And he is definitely a coach's son, Veal said.

"He has a great attitude," Veal said. "He keeps working. He knows his time is going to come. He's just tried to keep learning, getting stronger, and that's what he did. He never (complained) about it in public or private, he just stayed even."

And of course, working against Georgia's defense most days in practice is better preparation for starting at Kentucky than anything other than starting experience itself.

"Plus he's the No. 2 guy this year so I'm sure he's got a lot of reps against the No. 1 defense," Veal said. "He got to watch one of the best football programs in the country in how they operate and I think he took a lot from that. That made him very marketable when he came to UK."

Veal said he didn't get into the recruiting side of things with Kentucky - "I don't get into that part of it," he says - but did offer some thoughts on what could work for Vandagriff next year.

"I think he can play under center, they do it at Georgia," Veal said. "He can play in the gun so he can move and make throws, boots and all that type of stuff. He's not one-dimensional, though. He could play in different offenses.

"He's really been focused on tightening up his delivery, making sure his drops match the concepts they use there, just working on little things," Veal said. "Then everything from ball handling to drops, sets, making his calls and protection. He's just trying to be a fully developed quarterback, just like what their system requires them to be."