On January 10th, it was officially announced that Liam Coen would be back in Lexington for his second go-around as Kentucky football’s offensive coordinator.

Since then, Coen has expressed his excitement to get back to Lexington and talked about some things that will be different from his last stint as UK’s OC. One big difference in particular, is a new guy under-center from the transfer portal.

Devin Leary will be taking snaps as the starting quarterback for Kentucky next season. He comes to Kentucky with a vast amount of experience and success as a division I starting QB. This is contrary to Will Levis who came in to lead Kentucky’s offense during Coen’s first season with the program. Levis came to Kentucky as a former back-up quarterback at Penn State. He only had a handful of starts under his belt and was mainly utilized as Penn State’s running QB.

Despite their obviously different circumstances entering the program, Coach Coen believes these guys have very important similarities.

Similarities

Coach Coen talks about the biggest similarities between the two quarterbacks have mostly to do with their character and leadership abilities.

“The leadership capabilities as a quarterback, I feel like at Kentucky specifically, you have to have a little bit different moxy in your neck. You know, you just have to have something a little bit different to you,” he explained on KSR.

Coen went on to talk about the incomer, Leary, “He’s a South Jersey kid that has a ton of swagger that was named a captain and early on in his career at NC State. He’s a type of kid that can get along with with all different walks of life. He’s just a leader. He’s got that kind of that it factor that you look for in a personality.”

As we know from his time in Lexington, Will Levis possessed many of those same qualities. Levis quickly became a fan favorite because of his intangibles. His toughness and persistence helped him to develop into a top NFL prospect during his time at Kentucky.

Differences

While these guys share similarities in regard to leadership ability, their level of prior production and physical make-up is very different from one another. Devin Leary enters Kentucky’s offense with a padded stat book of productive offensive numbers. Two seasons ago, Leary put up an astounding 35-to-5 touchdown to interception ratio. Because of this, he was picked as the ACC Pre-season Player of the Year going into 2022.

Leary, unfortunately, suffered a season-ending injury that sidelined him for 2022. Two of his three years as a starter at NC State were cut short due to season-ending injuries. Regardless, he has been able to accumulate 6,807 passing yards and 62 touchdowns in his collegiate career.

Will Levis’ production at Penn State was a different scenario. As we saw in the last two seasons, Will brings intense physicality and speed on the ground that can be a difference-maker.

Liam Coen states, “Will is built differently, I mean, he’s built just like Thor. He could endure so many hits and play the game so physically. You had to try to kind of reel him in from taking hits and being physical, but really it was part of what made him great. Will was an extremely violent thrower of the football as well. He would throw a comeback at 25 yards on an absolute rope. He would throw a dig cut like that. I mean, he can throw the ball 70 yards.”

Devin Leary’s play will look a little different. Coach Coen explains how Leary’s high IQ and patience in the pocket will allow him to extend plays and “make something out of nothing” in some situations.

“Now, Devin is not as big, not built quite the same. He has some athleticism, but it’s more so within the pocket where he can expand plays, extend plays, do some different things with his legs that way. But he’s also an extremely accurate and also powerful thrower of the football. The ball jumps off his hand like you saw, some of the things we were excited about what Will.

“I think Devin’s been in a more pass-happy or pass-friendly offense and the experiences that he’s had are a little bit different than Will. Will was a running quarterback at Penn State. We gave him an opportunity to throw the football and maybe not as much as Devin has, but that’s just different experiences that I think will help him when he does come here and tries to be a little bit more of a pro-style offense.”