Kentucky WR Earnest Sanders enters transfer portal

We have now entered the second wave of the transfer portal in college football following the conclusion of spring football. The Wildcats saw the first departure when redshirt sophomore Earnest Sanders entered the portal on Friday, per 247 Sports and confirmed in a tweet by Sanders.

Thank you Kentucky 💙 all love this way thank you fir taking a chance on me!

— Earnest Sanders IV (@EarnestSanders_) April 15, 2022

A three-star recruiting win out of Mount Morris (Mich.) Beecher in the class of 2020, Sanders came to Kentucky as former secondary coach Steve Clinkscale started to build a recruiting pipeline in Detroit and surrounding areas. A star basketball player in high school, Sanders was named Mr. Basketball in Michigan before deciding commit to football full-time in college.

The 6-foot-1 receiver picked the Wildcats over Michigan State and came to Lexington as a two-time all-state selection in Michigan. Sanders was also a star track athlete as an athletic profile pointed to someone who could make an impact on the football field.

However, Earnest Sanders failed to ever make any real push for playing time in his two full seasons with the program. After playing two games as a true freshman, Sanders did not see any action this fall. In spring practice, Sanders appeared to move positions and was seen practicing with the tight ends.

Some attrition was expected for Kentucky. The Wildcats needed some departures to create scholarship capital as the program is planning to use the transfer portal in the coming weeks to address some positions of weakness.

“We’ve gotta have some discussions with some guys in the next week,” Stoops told reporters on Wednesday. “It benefits everybody to be in there by May 1.”

Now Earnest Sanders is looking for a new home. The 2020 signee becomes the second player in the class to leave the program early joining Kalil Branham who departed following the end of last season. Both were wide receivers.