Eric Wolford, Kentucky did not separate on best of terms

After just one season, offensive line coach Eric Wolford is leaving the Kentucky football program. The Youngstown, Ohio native and Kansas State alum is moving to the SEC West to coach the offensive line at Alabama.

However, the former head coach at Youngstown State and offensive line coach at South Carolina appeared to leave Kentucky in a suboptimal way.

KSR’s Matt Jones is reporting that Wolford dipped overnight and did not tell the players at UK he was leaving.

On Friday of last week, Wolford was recruiting a late OL target for Kentucky and left to interview at Alabama

On Saturday he took the job, never came back to Lexington to tell the team bye and was recruiting the same kid for Alabama

A pretty amazingly quick turnaround

— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) February 1, 2022

Also, on Tuesday afternoon, The Athletic’s Kyle Tucker confirmed that he was hearing the same thing from sources inside the Kentucky football facility.

Crazy. Confirming what @KySportsRadio is hearing on how OL coach Eric Wolford leaving for Bama went down, per a source:

“He went to interview and never came back.”

Wolford was recruiting a kid for UK, they thought, but turned out it was for Bama. No goodbye to his OL.

— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) February 1, 2022

Who is that prospect? Well, Kentucky has been recruiting Florida commit Jalen Farmer for a long time. The Wildcats hosted the Covington (Ga.) Eastside prospect for an official visit on Dec. 10 before the early signing period. However, that came to pass, and Farmer did not sign anywhere.

After taking official visits to Florida and Auburn in January, Alabama issued an offer to Farmer on Thursday, Jan. 27. According to sources, Wolford took the Alabama job on Saturday, Jan. 29. That same weekend, Alabama hosted Farmer for an official visit.

The mid three-star prospect is set to announce his decision on Wednesday.

Big Blue Wall must move on

Kentucky hired Eric Wolford knowing the new offensive line coach would have big shoes to fill. The late John Schlarman was a program legend who cared deeply about Kentucky football. Under his watch, the Big Blue Wall became the backbone of a program that is 47-29 since 2016.

In 2022, the offensive line room will be on its third coach in three years.

The next hire will be a big one for Mark Stoops and one Kentucky must nail. The Wildcats must find a new leader that will be locked in for the long haul. However, the candidate pool should not lack depth.

After hiring Mike Stoops to coach inside linebackers, the younger Stoops must find his third offensive line coach at Kentucky.