NCAA announces violations for Kentucky football, swimming; Wildcats agree to vacate games

The NCAA announced on Friday that the organization and Kentucky athletics had reached an agreement on infractions in the football and swimming programs. The agreement also includes negotiated punishments.

The alleged violations center around impermissible benefits for a number of football players and “violations involving countable athletically related activities that occurred within the swimming program.” Kentucky, according to the NCAA, agreed that the violations in the swimming program rose to the level of failure to monitor and head coach responsibility violations.

The violations for the football program did not apparently climb up the ladder to the coaching staff.

“The agreed-upon violations involve at least 11 football student-athletes receiving payment for work not performed between spring 2021 and March 2022,” the announcement said. “Eight of the student-athletes went on to compete and receive actual and necessary expenses while ineligible. The enforcement staff and school agreed that no staff member in the athletics department knew or reasonably should have known about the payment for work not performed, and thus the violations involving the football program did not provide additional support for the agreed-upon failure-to-monitor violation.”

The penalties for the case will include, among other things, the Wildcats vacating any football wins that occurred with the ineligible players participating. The 11 players involved were not named in the announcement.

“The agreed-upon penalties in this case include two years of probation for the school, a fine and vacation of records of any games in which football student-athletes competed while ineligible, in alignment with the Level II-standard classification for the school,” the statement said.

The specific issue for the swimming program — both men’s and women’s — centered around the Wildcats exceeding the allowable amount of practice time. Athletes were not given adequate days off and practice hours were exceeding limits for years, according to the NCAA.

Some key Kentucky players are injured early in fall camp

Kentucky already has several defenders banged up ahead of the start of the 2024 college football season. Wildcats coach Mark Stoops mentioned four players who will either miss the entire season or a large chunk of it when meeting with the media on Friday.

Kentucky defensive linemen Josaih Hayes, Tavion Gadson and Darrion Henry-Young are all dealing with significant injuries, as is cornerback Quavo Marshall, per Stoops.

“Josaih Hayes will be out for an extended period of time. Tavion Gadson, who filled in as a young d-lineman last year for Josiah… he’ll be out for an extended period of time,” Mark Stoops said. “These are either going to be the full year or close to it. The same with Quavo Marshall at corner. And then Darrion Henry-Young at defensive line, as well.”

Josaih Hayes has played in 42 games over the course of his college career, making four starts. He recorded 24 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks last season. He got banged up during the spring.

Tavion Gadson also suffered an injury during the spring. He appeared in four games last season while redshirting and is a young player the coaching staff is excited about.

Quavo Marshall is entering his freshman season with the Wildcats. He signed with Kentucky after being rated as a three-star cornerback in the class of 2024, per the On3 Industry rankings.

Henry-Young appeared in eight games last season, finishing the year with 10 tackles, including 2.0 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.