Kentucky's Offense Broke Down Around Kaiya Sheron
Redshirt freshman Kaiya Sheron didn't have much go in his favor during his first collegiate start on Saturday night.
The Somerset, Ky native finished with 178 yards, two touchdowns and an interception through the air in Kentucky's 24-14 loss at home to South Carolina. The box score isn't awful to look at, but it was more the play around Sheron that doomed the Cats offense from the first play of the game onward.
"We didn't do a great job of putting a first time starter in a position to be successful," UK head coach Mark Stoops said after the loss. "I don't think our team played with the normal, competitive character that we generally play with."
On the first play of the game, a trick play went awry, as running back Chris Rodriguez Jr couldn't toss the ball cleanly to wide receiver Barion Brown, who was headed the opposite direction on a reverse, resulting in a fumble recovered by the Gamecocks near the UK endzone. One play later, SC running back MarShawn Lloyd punched in a two-yard score, immediately putting the Wildcats in a hole.
From then on, Sheron showed poise under center, mostly making smart decisions with the ball in his hands, aside from taking a few unnecessary sacks. He battled and made smart throws. but with zero momentum in favor of UK, the offense never got rolling.
"He did some good things when he had time, when we put him in a position to be successful," Stoops said. "I don't think we responded and played very well around him. I thought we played as poorly as we have all year at certain positions around a first-time starter, and I don't think that's right for that young man."
Sheron connected with tight end Jordan Dingle for a 16-yard score after faking a handoff in what was the best play call of the night for the offense, and the RS freshman's first career TD pass.
Kentucky entered the half tied 7-7, but would score just once more in the final 30 minutes during garbage time after being put to bed by the Gamecocks' rushing attack.
Even still, Sheron never wavered and continued to fight and try and get his team back in the game.
Offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello took responsibility for never getting his first-time starter at QB in rhythm:
"It's your first start, you're trying to get someone to settle in, you never know how you're gonna react, I didn't feel like it was too big for him," Scangarello said. "I feel like he was seeing it, composed and all that...I don't know that we had a good enough plan to give him a chance to be successful with the way it played out, quite honestly, so that's on me."
Here's how Sheron evaluated his debut as an SEC starting quarterback:
"I thought I did pretty good for my first time out there, did my thing when I got the ball, took a few unnecessary sacks but that just comes with the first start, I think," he said. "The ability to read the pocket was pretty good, something that I can improve on still."
Will Levis' shoes are impossibly big to fill. Not having the team captain at QB was detrimental to UK's success, but that's no knock on Sheron. Kentucky clearly needs someone of Levis' caliber at QB to be able to succeed and score points, albeit minimal points.
Even Sheron acknowledged after the loss that the gameplan had to have changed due to the change at QB:
"Will can do things that I can't, he's a very talented guy, first-round draft pick in my opinion, in a lot of people's opinions," he said.
Despite being one of five freshman starters on the Wildcat offense on Saturday night, Sheron was still able to lean on the few veterans that were surrounding him in the huddle.
"It was pretty easy with guys like C-Rod (Chris Rodriguez), Eli (Cox), the older guys on the line, T-Rob (Tayvion Robinson) all helping me out and having confidence in me and just building me up along the way, every drive," Sheron said. "No matter how we finished, they were just very confident in me and it felt good."
That confidence trumped nerves after the first play of the game, according to Sheron. Describing himself as a "cool" guy, not getting "too high or too low," the moment was clearly not too big for someone who was thrusted into the spotlight on less than a few days notice.
While he knew he may play against South Carolina, nothing was made official until Saturday, meaning Levis was a true game-time decision with his turf toe injury.
Scangarello mentioned the gameplan not being good enough for success around the RS freshman, but Sheron didn't feel the same way...he really felt as though the offense led by him had what it took to defeat SC.
"I have full confidence in the offense, the guys that i'm around, the plan that we had coming into the game, I have complete confidence in the coaches, the players, so I wasn't worried at all," Sheron said.
Watch Mark Stoops' reaction to the loss here.
Offensive Coordinator Rich Scangarello Also Spoke on the defeat
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