Catching Up with Former Kentucky Quarterbacks

In the transfer portal era, quarterbacks make more moves than any other position. Nobody personifies that as well as a quarterback currently on the Kentucky football roster. Beau Allen transferred from Kentucky to Tarleton State. After an exceptional season, he went to Georgia Southern, was declared ineligible, then returned to Lexington to complete his career.

Trying to keep tabs on all of the quarterback moves is tasking. Have no fear. KSR is here. First, let’s start with the quarterback who’s on the fast track to success, but actually never put on a Kentucky uniform.

During Rich Scangarello’s one season in Lexington, Danny O’Neil emerged as Kentucky’s top quarterback target. The Indianapolis Cathedral gunslinger was on the short side, but Rich was all in on the three-star talent. When things went south with Scang, Coach Prime entered the picture. O’Neil was profiled by The Athletic as Deion Sanders’ first major high school addition in the spring of 2023.

The Coach Prime hype helped O’Neil receive an invite to the Elite 11 Finals where he did not perform particularly well. O’Neil remained committed to the Buffs until just a few weeks before signing day. Fortunately, he found a soft landing spot with Colorado’s former offensive coordinator, Sean Lewis, at San Diego State. This week O’Neil was named the opening day starter for the Aztecs. He’s the first true freshman to start for San Diego State in at least 50 years.

Former Kentucky Wildcats Fighting for Snaps

Deuce Hogan actually spent a few years on Kentucky’s campus, but he only saw the field in a spring game. The former Texas High School standout began his career at Iowa, then spent two seasons as a reserve. Now he might finally receive his time to shine, but the road to playing time isn’t easy.

The post-Jerry Kill era at New Mexico State opened with a 7-man(!) quarterback competition in Las Cruces. Last year’s starter, Diego Pavia, followed Kill to Vanderbilt. The seven-man competition was narrowed to four last week. This week head coach Tony Sanchez released a final two, and Hogan made the cut alongside Parker Awad. Hogan has one more week to earn a starting spot under center for the first time.

Two players he shared a meeting room with at Kentucky are stuck as reserves on the depth chart. Destin Wade transferred to Colorado. He will not get snaps over the coach’s son, but even if Shedeur Sanders goes down, Ryan Staub is the next man up. Somerset native Kaiya Sheron transferred to UT-Martin, where the Skyhawks are returning starter Kinkead Dent, a former Ole Miss transfer who threw for just shy of 3,000 yards last fall.