How Former Kentucky Wide Receivers Perform Elsewhere

Kentucky has a passing problem. It’s abundantly clear. The problem lies with the passer and the pass-catchers. For now, let’s focus on the wide receivers.

In the second quarter of Saturday night’s game against Missouri, the wind got sucked out of the stadium by a fake punt that resulted in a 39-yard touchdown for Mizzou. The reeling Wildcats needed to respond. A false start on third and four backed the Cats into an obvious passing situation. Missouri teed off on Devin Leary, but the Kentucky quarterback somehow evaded the blitz. He found an open receiver downfield. If the wide receiver kept his feet and caught the ball, it could have been a touchdown. Instead, he lost his footing and dropped the pass.

The receiver was Anthony Brown-Stephens, a true freshman with two career receptions entering the game. Should he have made the catch and moved the sticks? Yes, but it is a lot to put on a freshman’s plate.

This fall Kentucky’s wide receivers have under-performed, and a couple of them — Barion Brown and Tayvion Robinson — are dealing with lingering minor injuries. The Cats can’t sit wide receivers on the sideline because they don’t have the numbers.

The Wildcats have nine scholarship wide receivers, and that includes former walk-on Cole Lanter. Robinson and Dekel Crowdus are the only ones with more than two years of college experience.

What happened to all of Kentucky’s experienced wide receivers? They went into the transfer portal. Curious to see if any of those players could help the Cats right now, I took a closer look to see how they’re performing elsewhere.

Kentucky Wide Receivers that Left via the Transfer Portal

Chauncey Magwood, UCF — A three-star prospect that played quarterback as a senior in high school, Magwood spent two seasons in Lexington. A physical player that could run out of the slot or play outside, last fall he caught seven passes for 104 yards and a touchdown. This fall he’s been a reserve on Gus Malzahn’s offense, catching only four passes for 40 yards in games that were out of reach.

DeMarcus Harris, Marshall — The most experienced player in Kentucky’s wide receiver room last fall, he signed with the Wildcats in 2019. He played in 39 career games and made eight starts. His best season was in 2021 when he caught 12 passes for 150 yards and a touchdown. In his first year at Marshall he has 11 receptions through six games, tallying 118 yards and one touchdown. He only has one game with more than two receptions, a five-catch performance against FCS Albany.

Rahsaan Lewis, Georgia Southern — The son of Ray Lewis walked on at the University of Kentucky, beginning in 2021. In his best game as a Wildcat he caught four passes, including his first career touchdown, in a win over No. 16 Mississippi State. His best play at UKwas actually a block that freed up Wan’Dale Robinson on the final drive of the Citrus Bowl. Lewis has not caught a pass this fall at Georgia Southern.

Tae Tae Crumes — A member of the class of 2019 from Butler High School, he caught one pass for 10 yards in his four-year career and did not transfer to another school following his time at Kentucky.

Chris Lewis, Troy — Ranked as a four-star recruit by 247 Sports in the class of 2021, the lengthy pass-catcher had two receptions for 22 yards and a touchdown as a redshirt freshman last fall. Lewis’ athletic traits gave him a high-ceiling, but the wiry 6-foot-4 pass-catcher struggled against the physicality of SEC secondaries. He’s excelled this fall in the Sun Belt.

He’s been a big-play maker for his former primary recruiter at Kentucky, Jon Sumrall. This fall Lewis has five receptions of 30+ yards, the fourth-most in the Sun Belt, including a 64-yard touchdown vs. Arkansas State. He has more yards (364) and touchdowns (4) than any wide receiver on Kentucky’s roster.

All Troy WR Chris Lewis does is make monster plays. Was averaging almost 24 yards per catch coming into today, and has this 52-yard td vs Army pic.twitter.com/CpL4rhLjbm

— Colton Denning (@Dubsco) October 14, 2023

What This Means

You don’t need to be a Football Frank to extrapolate the information above.

Kentucky needs bodies in the wide receiver room. It’s hard to blame some of the older wide receivers who were over-recruited for wanting a fresh start elsewhere, however, Chris Lewis was just scratching the surface of his potential during his first two seasons in Lexington. Even though Sun Belt secondaries aren’t as talented as the ones the Wildcats regularly face, C-Lew coming into his own as a big-play threat in year three of his college football development. The Kentucky offense could certainly use that production right now.