University of Kentucky quarterback Will Levis is returning for the 2022 football season.
Levis, a graduate transfer from Penn State who enrolled at UK over the summer, was among several Wildcats seeking an evaluation from the NFL for a basic draft assessment.
“My gut feeling, I’m leaning and have been leaning all season toward coming back,” Levis told reporters a couple weeks ago. “But at the same time, I want to go through that process and make sure that I don’t make too much of a rash decision early.”
He seemingly announced his return with an iconic clip from “The Terminator” in which Arnold Schwarzenegger, playing the title character, tells a police officer, “I’ll be back.” He tweeted the video with only four characters of text — #BBN — but UK confirmed to the Herald-Leader that Levis plans to return for the 2022 season.
Levis projects to be one of the top starting quarterbacks in the Southeastern Conference next season. He finished fifth in total passing yards (2,593), sixth in touchdowns thrown (23) and second in rushing touchdowns (nine) among league quarterbacks in the 2020 regular season.
A situational quarterback at Penn State, Levis announced his transfer to UK in January and beat out UK’s presumptive starter, Joey Gatewood, early in fall camp. Levis started all 12 games for Kentucky under first-year offensive coordinator Liam Coen.
Dane Brugler of The Athletic recently ranked Levis as the No. 7 quarterback prospect in the potential 2022 draft class, behind Matt Corral (Ole Miss), Kenny Pickett (Pittsburgh), Sam Howell (North Carolina), Desmond Ridder (Cincinnati), Malik Willis (Liberty) and Carson Strong (Nevada). It’s not yet clear what kind of feedback Levis received from the NFL, but his arm strength and build (6-foot-3, 230 pounds) have often been cited — even before he got to UK — as reasons why a professional team would be willing to roll the dice on him as a prospect.
This story was originally published December 20, 2021 6:32 PM.