One of the unique ways we like to preview a college football season at Cats Illustrated is to get the staff to chime in on a number of over/under topics.
These are opportunities to reflect on the team, the staff, and the direction things might be heading going into 2024.
Today's question relates to new quarterback Brock Vandagriff.
Brock Vandagriff Passing Yards: +/- 2,300
Jeff Drummond: At first glance, I thought this was a pretty low target number for Brock Vandagriff to reach in 2024, but I have to continue to remind myself that we haven't actually seen him play a whole lot yet. The Blue-White Spring Game gave us some glimpses of the potential, though, and scouts have always loved his tools. With proven talent at wide receiver and tight end, I think he's going to go slightly over this mark. While I expect Bush Hamdan to be as close to 50/50 in the run-pass ratio as perhaps any OC to work under Mark Stoops, 200 passing yards per game is a modest figure in today's NCAA football. Plus, Kentucky will face six opponents this season which ranked 70th or worse nationally against the pass (Southern Miss, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Florida, Texas) to go along with FCS Murray State. It's a manageable figure. I say he goes for about 2,700 during the regular season.
Travis Graf: This is probably the hardest season to project QB output in recent memory due to lack of previous playing time and a new offensive coordinator running the show. With that being said, I think he goes over due to the amount of talent in the receiving corps, the natural talent he possesses, and more question marks at running back than usual of Kentucky’s standards. I’ll agree with Jeff here and go around the 2700 mark during the regular season.
Justin Rowland: Here are the passing totals for Kentucky quarterbacks in recent years:
2023: Devin Leary, 2,746
2022: Will Levis, 2,406
2021: Will Levis, 2,812
2020: Terry Wilson, 1,187
Before that, Stephen Johnson (2017) and Patrick Towles (2014) went over the 2,300 yard mark. There are things to consider here. One is Vandagriff's health. Two is his success in the offense. Three would be the frequency that Kentucky runs. And then you have to consider things like tempo. Assuming Vandagriff stays healthy, I will also call for him to go over 2,300 but I don't think he will hit Leary's 2,700+ like the other two guys have said. I think it will be closer to 2,300 since it's Vandagriff's first season as a starting quarterback and he has the run dimension.
