Wildcat formation adds another dimension to UK's offense

Long before this season started, Kentucky's coaches started hatching their Wildcat plan.

Not certain what kind of quarterback play they would get and with so many young players on offense, the Cats coaches hoped to have something that could serve as a safety valve.

"I wanted to have a package or two going into each and every game where maybe if our quarterback isn't playing well," offensive coordinator Neal Brown explained.

On Saturday night in Kentucky's 45-38 victory over South Carolina, it wasn't about sophomore Patrick Towles playing poorly because he didn't — it was about how well the Wildcat formation was working to keep the Gamecocks defense off balance.

Kentucky ran the appropriately named package 15 times. One of those was erased by a penalty, but five turned into touchdowns.

Three were scoring runs by Jojo Kemp, who amassed 131 yards on 17 carries. Only six of his career-high yards weren't out of the Wildcat. One touchdown was on a 38-yard scamper by running back Braylon Heard out of the formation.

Kentucky's other offensive touchdown, on a trick play that ended in Towles finding a wide-open Ryan Timmons for a 48-yard pass, was out of that same package.

The ability to have so many options is what makes the Wildcat so difficult to defend.

"It's a tough fit," Brown said. "When you can mix in some passes out of it, it really makes it hard to defend. What happens is, you bring the motion so you have to defend the motion, because that's two of our better players, whether it's Javess (Blue) or Timmons coming in motion; you've gotta defend the sweep.

"And then all the motion defenders gotta move, can't play downhill as much. And Jojo's got a really good feel for it. You have to be patient."

Kentucky goes into every game with a couple variations on the package, Brown said. There were two penciled into the game plan versus South Carolina.

"We can mix it up a little bit," Brown explained. "We install it during fall camp ... and we sort of pick and choose what we want to use each week."

Mark Stoops, a defensive coach by trade, has said many times that he tries not interfere too much on the offensive side of the ball.

But the UK coach actually was the first one to suggest the idea this off-season.

"He kind of put the thought in my head, talking about Vanderbilt and how tough they are to defend," Brown said. "I think it's a really good mix."

Kentucky used the Wildcat to varying degrees last season, scoring two touchdowns out of it. Jaylen Whitlow took one 9 yards for a score in the Miami (Ohio) game, and Kemp scored on it against Tennessee.

The largest gain out of the Wildcat formation last season was 10 yards for Kemp against the Volunteers.

The sophomore running back has had much more success with it this season.

"I mean, it was awesome," Towles said of the Wildcat scoring. "When we can get in there and really just run at will, it's going to help us beat a lot of people this year."

Kemp's position coach said the success of it has a lot to do with the sophomore's style.

"He's more of a freestyle, freelance kind of player," UK running backs coach Chad Scott said last week of Kemp. "He does a great job of having successful kind of plays where he just kind of (plays) unorthodox, just kind of outside the norm, but he has a great feel for it."

The package offers a different perspective, Kemp explained. It enables him to see two steps ahead of the linebackers in front of him.

"It kind of gives me a chance to really see the whole defense, see how the line moves, all in one motion being back there directly behind (at) quarterback," he said. "Just kind of seeing everything."

While Brown was pleased with his running back, he also was pleased with the players in front of him opening those holes.

"We blocked really well up front," Brown said. "We blocked real well. We mixed it up how exactly we were doing it, as far as who was motioning, and we were mixing it up between zone schemes and gap schemes.

"(Kemp) did a great job. He got winded, as you could see. He got winded, but really a lot of credit to our offensive line also."

Kemp was quick to spread the credit for his career night.

"My O-line, they was out there hungry, fighting for every yard I got," he said. "So I got to get a present to my O-line."

He was so gassed by the end of the night that he barely heard the student section chanting, "Jojo! Jojo! Jojo!" after he stayed on the ground for a few minutes trying to catch his breath.

Someone else was calling Kemp's name after the big win.

It was Stoops. The head coach doesn't hand out game balls often, but Kemp left him little choice.

"Gave him a game ball because just sheer determination that he had," Stoops said. "He put the team on his back."

Herald-Leader columnist John Clay contributed to this report.

This story was originally published October 5, 2014 at 4:56 PM.