Kentucky Briefing: Is Devin Leary the best quarterback in the Stoops era before taking a snap?

Former Kentucky quarterback Freddie Maggard said Devin Leary will be the best quarterback in the Mark Stoops era.

You could argue that he is the best quarterback in the Stoops era before taking a snap simply thanks to the numbers he put up in his NC State career.

Leary dealt with injuries in 2022 but was statistically one of the best quarterbacks in college football in 2021.

His stat line was crazy in 2021, as he threw for 3,433 yards and 35 touchdowns while only being picked off five times.

To compare this to former Wildcat and current Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis's numbers, he threw for 2,826 yards to go with 24 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in 2021.

Levis is much more mobile than Leary, but even with his nine touchdowns on the ground, I will take Leary's 2021 season over Levis's.

Many consider Levis the best quarterback of the Stoops era, and if Leary does what he did in 2021 this season for the Cats, he will take that designation his first season in Lexington.

Watch out for Leary as he could work his way into the Heisman discussion if this season goes how many expect it to for the Cats.

Talking Hoops

Kentucky has multiple challenging games on the non-conference schedule, including Kansas, Gonzaga, and Miami.

These games will help the Wildcats prepare for SEC play and be resume builders for NCAA seeding if they can win one or all of them.

Playing tough opponents prepares you for SEC and the NCAA Tournament, so this schedule will have Coach Calipari's team ready for March.

We wrote it

Lance Dawe wrote a piece discussing Kentucky's talented receiver duo of Barion Brown and Dane Key.

"The Wildcats did everything they could this offseason to revamp things on that side of the ball. They brought back offensive coordinator Liam Coen, landed one of the best transfer portal quarterbacks in the country in Devin Leary (NC State), added thousand-yard rusher Ray Davis (Vanderbilt), shored up the offensive line, and kept their top three receivers on roster."

"Two of those receivers, Dane Key and Barion Brown, could end up being the best duo in the SEC this season."