Rich Scangarello was sitting in the San Francisco 49ers meeting room on the eve of their game against the Arizona Cardinals.
While waiting for meetings to start, Scangarello and others from the 49ers' organization were watching the LSU-Kentucky game on the big-screen TV in the room. Will Levis threw three touchdown passes and ran for two more in Kentucky's 42-21 victory.
Scangarello turned to Peters and asked who the quarterback was. He's doing well. I have to make sure he is on my radar.
It didn't take Scangarello long to figure out what type of talent he was going to inherit in Levis, who has gone from a backup at Penn State to one of the top quarterbacks in college football.
Levis is ranked as the fourth player overall and the second quarterback on the Big Board.
Levis has a lot of Josh Allen in him, according to an NFL personnel director who has seen Levis live this season.
The personnel director said that he was one of the more intriguing quarterback prospects in the class. Josh Allen had some issues with timing and accuracy, but we have seen how that has played out.
Levis will be playing better football at the end of the season because he will be more comfortable in this scheme. He has all the attributes of a good person.
Levis has been playing under Scangarello for as long as he has been at Penn State. Levis played in the same system as Liam Coen when he was the offensive line coach. The Los Angeles Rams hired Coen as their offensive coach.
Will is as good as anyone I've seen in the last five years. According to Scangarello, the only two guys he would compare him to were Joe Burrow and Josh Allen, who were both quarterbacks.
He will be the first pick.
Levis isn't surprised that he's at the top of the draft boards. Levis never doubted that he would get his chance when he was demoted to being Penn State's "running" quarterback.
I have always been confident in my abilities. Levis, who attempted just 102 passes in two seasons at Penn State, said that he thought he was the best quarterback in the country. I need the platform to prove it. At Penn State, I didn't have the chance to get comfortable playing the position at this level.
Kentucky, which has won 14 of its past 17 games with Levis at quarterback, is currently ranked 7th in the AP poll. On Saturday they travel to Ole Miss.
A guy like that is good for everyone. Mark Stoops is Kentucky's coach. There is a belief in it. He is confident every time he takes a snap and throws. I get to see him on a daily basis. You know how it gets here in Kentucky. It doesn't matter what the weather is like.
The man just ripped the ball. He throws it away.
How did Levis go from the bench at Penn State to someone who wasn't heavily pursued as a transfer to a quarterback?
Levis was overlooked even though he was offered a scholarship by Penn State. The most interested schools were from the Mid-American Conference.
We were all scratching our heads because we thought about one thing about him and wondered why nobody else saw it. "What are we missing?" asked Andy Guyon, who was Levis's coach at the time.
Pick games and play for prizes. Pick your favorites.
We had tons of colleges check him out in the spring of his senior year, but he couldn't get a response. The stigma that players from the Northeast get is that we don't play football up here the way they do down South or in California, and this guy can't be that good.
He could be that good.
Levis received a scholarship offer from Jimbo Fisher when he attended a camp at Florida State in the summer of his senior year of high school. Following Fields' decommitment, the Nittany Lions were looking for a quarterback.
"He came in and was lights out, and it was not hard to see how good he was," said Ricky Rahne, who was Penn State's offensive coordinators in the last two years. He was an incredible athlete.
"We're crazy if we don't offer this kid, Joe, I was thinking the same thing," said Moorhead, who was Penn State's offensive coach at the time.
Levis redshirted his first season at Penn State and Moorhead left for the Mississippi State head job after the season. It wasn't a case of the Nittany Lions not believing in Levis, but rather that they were winning games and he was more equipped to be the starter.
Everyone always wonders why Penn State didn't start Will over Sean. Will wasn't ready to start yet, and it was difficult to replace a guy who had won 11 games. People don't really remember that.
Levis' only question was if he could harness his intelligence, competitiveness and will to succeed so he could play with the consistency needed for an elite quarterback.
He said that it was his greatest disadvantage. He put a lot of pressure on himself because he wanted to be so successful. He seems comfortable in his skin at Kentucky, and they've done a great job of letting him be himself. He is a great kid and the talent was always there.
After Levis was hired as Penn State's head coach, Kirk Ciarrocca took over as Penn State's offensive coach. He played most of his time as a runner.
After taking on an accelerated academic schedule, Levis earned a degree from Penn State and became a starter. He received a magna cum laude degree.
Levis' parents met with Franklin to thank him for what he and the Penn State program had done for their son, after Levis informed Penn State coach James Franklin that he would be transferring. Schools weren't lining up for his services out of the transfer portal like they were in the early stages of Levis' high school recruitment. Levis heard from a number of smaller schools.
No one had seen me throw it. He said that they had seen him run.
Coen had just been hired by Stoops to be his offensive coach. Coen was the assistant quarterbacks coach with the Rams, but he had seen Levis play in high school when Coen was at the University of Massachusetts.
Stoops said they had to dig through Levis' tape at Penn State to find different throws.
"We knew we had to get him, but because of the way he was used at Penn State, you had to search for certain throws," Stoops said. The throws we watched and saw confirmed what we thought. Liam was a high school friend of his.
Levis didn't go through spring practice at Kentucky because he didn't graduate from Penn State until May 2021.
Will wager on himself. He took a chance and it worked out well. He had to get the trust and respect of his teammates in a short period of time.
Levis immediately made an impact. He was one of eight team captains and helped lead Kentucky to 10 wins. In Coen's pro-style system, Levis gave the Cats a dimension at quarterback they hadn't previously had under Stoops and finished with 3, 202 yards in total offense with 24 passing touchdown and nine rushing touchdown. He threw a lot of picks.
Levis said that he didn't need to fit it into a window because he was trying to do too much with the picks.
Levis has been sacked 16 times in his career. He has been limited to minus 37 rushing yards. A year ago, they finished with 376 rushing yards.
They've had trouble protecting him and haven't been able to run the ball. He is able to spread the ball around. Look at the plays he makes.
Levis is tied for second in the nation with seven passes of 40 or more yards, and freshman receiver Dane Key and Barion Brown are starting to come on as well.
Chris Rodriguez Jr. will return against Ole Miss after missing the first four games. He has 2,740 yards and 26 touchdown in his career, and should help balance out the offense.
Scangarello changed his stance in the shotgun to get the snap with his left foot forward instead of his right. Scangarello said that Matt Ryan made a similar adjustment when he was with the Atlanta Falcons.
Will Levis scores a 70 yard touchdown.
Scangarello made a video call to Levis to make sure he was on board with the Kentucky job.
It's what I know and what I teach, and Will is quick to pick up on any changes we make. Scangarello said that he is so precise in everything he does. He does things that other men don't do. Jimmy Garoppolo is one of the best on the planet at throwing the short, accurate, quick-twitch throws. Will can throw the ball 65 yards on a dime.
Levis needs to be more consistent with his throws and not be so confident in his arm strength that he tries to force throws when he can check down a pass to a running back, according to multiple scouts. Levis has been told many times not to take unnecessary hits.
Stoops said that he has gotten better at some of the layups. The dude is so focused on everything he does that he can't help but get excited. As he plays more, you can see that he is more composed.
Tim Couch, Kentucky's record-setting quarterback from 1996 to 1998 and the No. 1 overall pick in the 1999 NFL draft, sees someone who is committed to his team and to getting better every time he steps onto the field. Couch and Levis were together this summer. They play golf and talk a lot.
He is like an old-school player. "We've struggled to protect him at times this year and I've seen him take some big hits, but he pops back up, stands in there and sling it." He is a gunslinger who is not afraid to throw his body around and sacrifice for his teammates. He is enjoyable to watch.
When it comes to arm strength and the ability to get the ball out quickly, Levis is in a class by himself, according to Couch.
He set 14 SEC records and 26 school records, and he said that he didn't see that kind of accuracy and speed. I would like to see a stronger arm in college football. The scouts are going to be destroyed by him. He is athletic, tough, a great leader and has all the intangibles you look for in a quarterback.
The toughest tests of the season are still to come. Tennessee will play on the road in October and Georgia will play at home in November.
Levis' steely focus has remained firmly on what's right in front of him and not what lies ahead, despite the fact that those are big stages for the Cats and big stages for Levis.
Levis said he wouldn't cheat his teammates or himself. A team that fans will remember forever is what this season is about.
Levis has made a lot of money in the world of image and likeness. Claiborne Farm's breeding operation has been promoted by partnering with a horse (War of Will) in a number of deals. He helped with relief efforts in eastern Kentucky after flooding ravaged that area this summer, as well as helping to raise money for those affected by tornadoes that hit parts of western Kentucky.
Guyon said that he had never been around someone so driven to do everything the right way. He succeeds because he knows what he needs to do, how he needs to do it and when he needs to do it.
Levis is still driven by those who doubt him. He was talking to an assistant coach from the Pac-12 who said they were interested in bringing him in as a transfer.
Levis said that they were searching for a quarterback. I don't know which school it was, but they said that the kid couldn't play. I couldn't wait to get out and prove them right.
Levis will get a lot of attention as the games get bigger. There will be more doubters as the draft approaches.
He wouldn't have it differently.
Kentucky is trying to win an SEC football title. A former Penn State backup is going to be the top pick.
For the kid who did an eighth-grade solo of Hall & Oates' 'You Make My Dreams Come True' it all makes sense.
Levis has never stopped chasing his dreams.
It's to everyone except Levis.
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