Mark Stoops says Kentucky is down at wide receiver

Kentucky‘s injury problems at wide receiver have bled over into 2023, as the Wildcats are down a few players entering camp. Most notably, sophomore wideout Barion Brown has been listed out this weekend with a soft tissue injury.

While head coach Mark Stoops expects Brown to be back, there’s still more for his receiving corps to overcome, and more opportunities for unknown commodoties to step up before the start of the season.

“If there’s any one position where we’re down a little bit in numbers right now, it’s wideout,” Stoops said during Kentucky’s media day. “I think you all know the skill that we have there, some of the talent we haven’t had in a while. We have some really good players there.

“But with that opens up the opportunity for others to leave. It kind of hurts your depth a little bit, so we have to watch that position a little.”

Kentucky returns its top three wide receivers in Brown, Dane Key and Tayvion Robinson, who combined for 1,644 of former quarterback Will Levis’ 2,406 passing yards and 13 of his 19 touchdowns in 2022. They’re all three, if healthy, expected to produce greater numbers will transfer Devin Leary under center.

True freshman wide receiver Anthony Brown is one player that returning offensive coordinator Liam Coen has mentioned who he is looking for to step up entering the new year.

Coming into the program as a three-star recruit out of Springfield, OH, he was responsible for 83 receptions for an eye-popping 1,626 receiving yards and 21 touchdowns. It’s not far-fetched to say that Big Blue Nation could be seeing a lot of him early and often.

On top of that, the Wildcats are also returning their top three tight ends from a year ago as well. While Jordan Dingle, Josh Kattus and Brennan Bates combined for 328 yards and four touchdowns — Vince Marrow’s group is expected to take a step forward this season. Marrow has put the statemnt ‘No Soft ****,’ on full display in the tight ends room to hammer that home.

A question mark for Kentucky out wide is the fate of redshirt sophomore Dekel Crowdus. The Lexington native was arrested in June on DUI and marijuana charges, but no further comment has been made since UK football SID Susan Lax told media that the situation would be handeled internally. Whether he will be away from the program or serve any form of a suspension has not been made public, but he’s a player than can impact a game if given enough reps.

With Kentucky starting the seeason out with four winnable games against the likes of Ball State, Eastern Kentucky, Akron and Vanderbilt — Coen has the ability to stretch the playbook, and his bench while Leary spreads the love between the sidelines.