16 players receive new numbers for Kentucky football

Kentucky made several additions over the course of the offseason. That is just as true of their freshman class as it is with what they did in the transfer portal.

Now, with SEC Media Days coming next week, UK’s football program has released more numbers for next year’s team in media guides for the upcoming season. In total, 16 players were included in the update as far as what numbers that they’ll be suiting up in this fall.

• 0 – RB Demie Sumo-Karngbaye
• 2 – WR Shamar Porter
• 10 – RB Jamarion Wilcox
• 15 – S Jaremiah Anglin Jr.
• 16 – K Alex Raynor
• 17 – LB Daveren Rayner
• 19 – WR Nasir Addison
• 22 – LB Grant Godfrey
• 30 – S Avery Stuart
• 38 – LB Jayvant Brown
• 46 – LS Ronald Gaines
• 52 – OL Ben Christman
• 74 – OT Courtland Ford
• 87 – WR Ardell Banks
• 88 – TE Tanner Lemaster
• 94 – DL Tavion Gadson
• 99 – DL Kendrick Gilbert

Sumo-Karngbaye, Raynor, Rayner, Gaines, Christman, and Ford were all parts of Kentucky’s portal class that featured 15 transfers overall. The remaining 11 players are true freshmen that make up just over half of the Wildcat’s Top-35 class in ’23 per On3’s Industry Rankings.

Three players that account for a trio of scholarships in Lexington but didn’t yet have a number in this update were Dee Beckwith, Kevin Larkins Jr., and Austin Ramsey. Beckwith is notable as he joined the program after previously transferring in from Tennessee and rushed five times last season. As for Larkins Jr. and Ramsey, they are also members of UK’s most recent recruiting class.

Cole Cubelic speaks highly of Kroger Field

Cole Cubelic recently named Kroger Field as his most underrated place to play in the Southeastern Conference on ‘The Cube Show’. There are some things in his mind that make it lesser than other stadiums in the league. However, considering how little people discuss it compared to how Kentucky makes the most of it, it’s a space that he thinks doesn’t get the respect it deserves.

“I think right now, right this very second? The most underrated place to play in the league is Kroger Field at Kentucky,” Cubelic said. “Even the places we thought were underrated for a while? Like Davis Wade or Williams-Brice? I think people now know. We’ve had enough games on TV, enough people have talked about it. We know those are places that are hard to play. (But) very rarely do I hear people talk about Kroger Field being a tough place to go play.”

“Now I know just that in general probably brings it down a notch. Like, you’re named after a grocery store. It is what it is in today’s business of collegiate athletics. Fine. Don’t love that it’s turf, even though they’re getting new turf. Don’t love that,” added Cubelic. “But they show up, and they stay, and they get louder than you think for 61,000 people. There is not a portion around the field that’s very far removed. So the access to be able to talk trash and be loud is pretty good.”

From there, Cubelic described the moment when ‘Grove Street Party’ starts blasting through the speakers when it’s football time in the bluegrass. Pair that environment with the weather and the program that Kentucky has become and it transforms into a space that’s a lot of fun for the home team and not a lot of fun for the visiting one.

“I’m going to tell you, the end of the third quarter when Waka Flocka gets going? It is a party in there at that point. They get that thing jamming and they get that thing lit up,” said Cubelic. “I feel like everybody is having fun when you go to a game there.”

“It’s a very cool environment…I think it’s vastly underrated,” Cubelic said. “And I say that only because I’ve been to a lot of games and no one ever talks about it. No one ever talks about going to play there. And that weather? It gets chilly quick, a lot chillier than a lot of other SEC towns. So that can play into it as well.”