Levis, Kentucky facing No. 1 Georgia

For a football-loving kid from the Connecticut shoreline, it’s both exciting and unreal.

Two unbeaten Southeast Conference teams squaring off on a Saturday afternoon before over 90,000 fans. Georgia, the No. 1 team in the country, hosting No. 11 Kentucky.

This is why Will Levis chose Kentucky when he transferred from Penn State.

For days like this.

“This is why I came here, this is why I came to the SEC.” Levis said Tuesday. “I’m really excited to play in that environment, at Georgia. Their stadium gets really rocking. … It’s going to be a really exciting game.”

Levis, a Xavier High graduate from Madison, has led Kentucky (6-0) to its best start since 1950.

The Wildcats, coming off a win over LSU, have climbed in the national rankings and arrive in Georgia as one of the most compelling teams in the country.

And much of the program’s attention has fallen on Levis, who spent three years at Penn State before seizing the starting job as a graduate student at Kentucky this summer. He has completed 87 of 135 passes (64.44%) for 1,134 yards, with 11 touchdowns and six interceptions.

Against LSU, he completed 14 of 17 passes and accounted for five touchdowns — three passing, two rushing.

Levis has been efficient as a runner and passer, operating a complex offense. Kentucky offensive coordinator Liam Coen, a Rhode Island native and UMass graduate, was among the first coaches to contact Levis when he entered the transfer portal early this year.

Coen’s offense and personality was a draw for Levis. As an undergrad at Xavier, Levis was recruited by Coen when the coach was an assistant at Maine.

“I only had a couple of conversations with him then, but it was nice to have that connection,” Levis said. “Just personality-wise, we connect with each other really well. I’m able to come to him with anything, football or not. We can have intelligent conversations, mature conversations about things. I just feel comfortable with him on a personal side as well.

“And obviously, I love the offense he’s running. I think that I fit in really well, scheme-wise, with my skill set.”

That’s what Coen envisioned when he set his sights on Levis. Coen, who came to Kentucky from the Los Angeles Rams, is viewed as a rising star in the coaching world. His offense is creative, requiring a diverse set of skills and a high football IQ. Levis was the right fit. “It’s fair to say he is a good football player,” Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops said this week .”With the way he runs, the way he ad-libbed a little bit. . … He played at a very high level and threw some really impressive throws.”

Levis, who hasn’t been in Connecticut since Easter, graduated from Penn State on May 8 and was on the Kentucky campus two days later. He began working out with the few teammates on campus — only about a quarter of the roster initially — and spent the summer bonding with the entire team, on and off the field.

“I just tried to get to know them as much as possible, with offensive guys getting in extra throwing,” he said. “With the free time, just hanging out. Get to know them on a personal side.

“Summer camp, that’s when I was able to get the chemistry down with everybody and try to show that I was the guy for the job.”

He won the job and began the season throwing for 367 yards and four touchdowns in a win over Louisiana-Monroe, drawing immediate attention across the country.

The attention spiked thanks to his social media presence. Levis, with over 108,000 followers on TikTok and over 19,000 on Twitter, has become something of a social media star — or at least a curiosity. In August, he ate an overripe banana — including the peel — on a TikTok. In a recent video, he stirred mayonnaise in his coffee before sipping the drink.

He’s also launched his own website (levis7.com) where he sells his personalized, branded merchandise. Levis is very much taking advantage of the name, image and likeness opportunities as he builds his brand, one odd eating challenge at a time.

And all the attention coincides with Kentucky’s rise and his ever-improving play on the field.

“Football is meant to be fun,” Levis said. “When you put in all those hours in the offseason, all those unseen workouts and just hour of preparation, when you go out there and it actually all comes together and you score points and you win a game, you’re going to have fun.

“At the end of the day, it’s just a game. We’re trying to win and when you’re winning its fun.”