Joey Gatewood announces transfer to Central Florida

And just like, Joey Gatewood is out of Kentucky and on his way to UCF.

One week ago today, Kentucky Football head coach Mark Stoops announced that junior quarterback Joey Gatewood would put his name in the transfer portal. Seven days later, Gatewood announced that he has committed to the University of Central Florida.

Blessed to be apart of @UCF_Football. Fired up about the opportunity and ready to get to work! #ChargeOn

— Joey Gatewood (@Joey1gatewood) August 22, 2021

“I told him how much I appreciated how hard he’s worked,” Stoops said about Gatewood last Sunday. “I know he’s been through this before so I knew it would be especially tough, a tough decision, not what he wanted to hear. We had that discussion, had a good talk. He handled it completely professionally. I really appreciate him and at that point he informed me he thought it would be in his best interest to enter his name into the portal.”

The news of Gatewood’s transfer came at the same time that Stoops confirmed Penn State transfer Will Levis would be the starting quarterback for Week 1 against Louisiana Monroe. It was just a few days later that On3’s Matt Zenitz reported Gatewood intended to transfer to UCF, which is located roughly two hours from his home in Jacksonville, FL.

Gatewood has ties to UCF, as the current head coach, Gus Malzahn, was once his head coach at Auburn and the one who recruited him to initially join the Tigers in 2018. Gatewood later left Auburn for Kentucky in 2019. UCF will be Gatewood’s third school and he will have three years of eligibility remaining, although it does not appear at this time he will be able to play this fall.

Malzahn now has five former Auburn players on his UCF roster as he enters his first season as head coach of the Knights. UCF’s most recent head coach, Josh Heupel, is now the lead man at Tennessee.