Spring gave Hamdan new personnel ideas to consider

Spring was a particularly busy time for Bush Hamdan.

Kentucky's new offensive coordinator had to quickly install his scheme for the Wildcats -- the third some of the players were learning in a four-year span -- while breaking in a completely revamped quarterback room and attempting to learn as much about his personnel as quickly as possible.

It did not leave much room for the tweaks you typically see from coaches in the spring.

Four months later, Hamdan has a better feel for UK's offensive unit and what he may be able to add or remove from the package entering the 2024 season.

"I think so," Hamdan said Friday during the Cats' annual Media Day. "You are always doing that."

Not that the scheme will change that much -- the playbook essentially remains the same -- but which group of players will be asked to execute certain parts of it has become more clear.

His early message to the Cats: don't worry that much about the depth chart. Make yourself more valuable by being able to do a lot of different things.

"I'm just echoing to them... there are times you are making the decision where we are playing with 13 personnel, three tight ends in the game. There are groups where we like 11 personnel, we like 12 personnel. Right now, we think we can go out there with four wide receivers and do some different things.

"So, I think that's the biggest thing. Not necessarily schematically the change in plays, but who's going to be doing those plays. That's what we've been stressing to the players all along. We've got to find those guys who have the ability to do a lot of different things, and if they can do a lot of different things well, they're going to be on the field."

Kentucky's projected new starting quarterback, former five-star recruit and Georgia transfer Brock Vandagriff, said he's excited about the depth of playmakers and versatility he saw in the spring.

"One of the things we built with coach Hamdan in the spring and summer and a couple of days here into the fall is just trust," Vandagriff said. "... Basically, putting ourselves in the best position to win, whatever that looks like."

He shared an example of how something that may look simple from the outside -- a running play -- could be much more complex in the playbook.

"The first install, there was basically a couple of runs," Vandagriff said. "But there's like 10 pages for those couple of runs because there's 40 different ways to run them."

Added UK head coach Mark Stoops, a former defensive coordinator who often spends a great deal of time on that side of the line during practice: "I like what Bush is doing. I like the way he mixes it up. He does a very good job of window dressing. He does a very good job of cutting off the defense with deception and with motions. You know, it's a mixture with getting things on the perimeter, with running things down hill, and the play-action off of it. So I feel good."