Jeremy Flax, Big Blue Wall Settling in After Rocky Start

Fast forward through six quarters of football, Kentucky's offensive line was a clear issue entering halftime of a 13-10 game in the midst of a humid night in Gainesville. 

After allowing four sacks in game one of the season against Miami (OH), UK's Big Blue Wall was getting thrashed around by the defense of the Florida Gators, having already allowed three more sacks and four hurries on quarterback Will Levis. 

Kentucky had already made changes to the O-line after week one, inserting Kenneth Horsey in at left tackle, bumping redshirt freshman David Wohlabaugh Jr out of the starting lineup. Still, things were moving south, in a hurry. 

Starting right tackle Jeremy Flax, like the rest of his teammates in the trenches, knew he had to step up and provide protection to the offense to allow the Wildcats to have a shot at winning in The Swamp. 

"It wasn't really scheme things more so than just going out and winning," Flax said. "All the looks that we had was what we went over and what we expected, it was just a matter of us blocking it the right way and moving them around."

Flax and his crew did their fair share of moving around after halftime, as Kentucky accumulated 107 rushing yards in the final two quarters of the 26-16 win over the Gators. The junior credits the meshing of the offensive line throughout the game as a key factor in flipping the switch against Florida: 

"I think we improved just chemistry wise," Flax said. "It's like a brotherhood. It's more so we know what we have to do, we know our plays, we know our assignments, with us it's just coming together as one in that moment. The team goes as we go, we just had to put it out there and just perform, really."

Perform they did. Last Saturday came with a rather large learning curve for players like Flax, who were experiencing the rowdiness of actually playing in an important SEC tilt away from home for the first time. 

"Flax's first time in a big SEC environment at right tackle, and I think the speed early was a lot," offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello said. "Then he settles in, and that's just a part of playing. I thought they were very composed."

The tackle echoed the thoughts of Scangarello, citing the intensity and shock that comes with dealing with a crowd like what The Swamp brings in on a weekly basis. The pressure of thousands of screaming fans feels a lot louder when you're actually on the field instead of the sideline. 

"I traveled with the team as a two last season, so I got to be in those environments with the loud stadium, but this was my first time being in it and in the game, and it was crazy, it was way more than what I expected honestly," Flax said. "The loudness of the crowd and how everybody was going crazy, it definitely was a little overwhelming, but as the game went on, I just zoned it out, I think i did better with that in the second half than I did the first half." 

To try and help with what Flax and his teammates were about to go through in Gainesville, Kentucky was pumping in crowd noise during practice in the lead-up to last Saturday.

It may help some, but it doesn't stack up to the real thing, according to the junior. 

"It's probably not comparable to that level, it's just not possible, but it definitely does help—the crowd noise that we put in—sometimes you can't hear nothing over that crowd noise...so it helps," he said. 

Kentucky as a team settled in during the second half, resulting in a lights-out performance that earned Mark Stoops his 61st win as head coach, and eventually the No. 9 next to the Wildcats' name in the latest AP Poll.

There's a long way to go for Flax and his teammates on the O-line, but the past two quarters of football are indicators that the group is headed in the right direction.