'I want to be a part of it': Jager Burton just wants to help Kentucky win

Mark Stoops said that Kentucky needed to reboot the roster after a disappointing 2024 campaign. Numerous position rooms at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility had to be flipped. The offensive line room certainly looked like the biggest need for the program. Stoops re-hired offensive line coach Eric Wolford for his talent accumulation skills. The former South Carolina and Alabama offensive line coach went to work for the Cats this offseason.

Kentucky added five scholarship transfers to the offensive line room from the portal. Alex Wollschaeger (Bowling Green) and Shiyazh Pete (New Mexico State) are expected to start at tackle. Evan Wibberley (WKU) will step in at center. Joshua Bruan (Arkansas) will own a starting spot at guard. Wolford targeted and landed players who could help immediately. That led to numerous player in the offensive line room to leave the program.

Dylan Ray (Minnesota), Courtland Ford (UCLA), and Koby Keenum (Mississippi State) will all be playing for someone else this football season. Jager Burton decided to stay in Lexington for his final season of eligibility. The Lexington (Ky.) Frederick Douglass product just couldn’t seen himself playing anywhere else.

“I feel like there’s so much potential with this team. I know how much the coaches care and try and how hard we’ve been working. I couldn’t watch. I want to be a part of it, I don’t want to just watch it. It’s a dream,” Burton told KSR on Tuesday. “That’s the reason I came here out of high school is to ultimately win games. That’s all everyone cares about is winning games. Doing that as a close-knit unit. Having that brotherhood that lasts a lifetime.”

“I don’t think it would’ve ever sit right with me if I left.”

Jager Burton has played 1,847 snaps in 38 career games with 34 starting assignments, but there is a chance to redshirt senior could not start this season. Kentucky added Braun to start games. The Arkansas transfer was a first-team All-SEC performer in 2024. Former Florida transfer Jalen Farmer returns for year two at Kentucky after a productive redshirt sophomore season as Kentucky’s starting right guard. New Mexico transfer Wallace Unamba could also be in the mix at guard. There is a chance that Burton will not start for the Cats this season.

Burton is committing to the program despite all of that.

The veteran is looking to become a leader and has been a very active in participant in off the field team-building activities as Kentucky looks to become a closer group in 2025. Back in 2021, Luke Fortner and other leaders on the team were telling Jager Burton to just enjoy the moment and take time to “smell the roses”. Now the redshirt senior is doing the same with the younger players in the offensive line room.

In the player movement era that is current college athletics, Jager Burton made a commitment to finish where he started.