Kentucky Clearly Prioritizing Power Five Transfer Portal Players

The second week of the spring semester at the University of Kentucky gets rolling on Tuesday, which should halt the Kentucky football team’s roster building efforts until the final transfer portal window opens May 1. Over the last six weeks Mark Stoops added about a dozen players and it’s clear he has a type.

Kentucky added nine scholarship players from the transfer portal and seven are departing other Power Five programs. That does not include Ja’Mori Maclin, the North Texas wide receiver who started his career at Missouri. Fred Farrier is the only newcomer without Power Five experience, but the former UAB wide receiver is a local product from nearby Frankfort.

This is the most Kentucky has prioritized Power Five transfers since their first big transfer portal haul. In 2021 all seven of the Wildcats’ additions were from the Power Five ranks.

It’s also noteworthy that six of this year’s transfer portal additions are from the SEC. Brock Vandagriff, Jamon Dumas-Johnson and Kristian Story are bringing five national championship rings to Lexington.

Why is Kentucky all about Power Five Players?

Take a look at who Kentucky has brought in from the transfer portal since its inception and you’ll see their biggest stars have all come from Power Five programs. Will Levis and Wan’Dale Robinson provided the original blueprint. Ray Davis set a UK single-season touchdown record this fall and rushed for more than 1,000 yards.

Even when you look past the headliners you’ll find former Power Five players. Jacquez Jones was a multi-year starter in the middle of the UK defense. His former Ole Miss teammate, Keidron Smith, was a quality cornerback for one season. Each made game-changing interceptions to secure victories over Florida.

It’s much more difficult to find Kentucky transfer portal success stories from the Group of Five ranks. Left tackle Marques Cox is the best of the best, but he does not have much company. Other programs have found success with G5 talent, like former Georgia State WR Jamari Thrash at Louisville, but the Power Five players appear to be a better fit at Kentucky.

Where Do the Best Transfer Portal Players Come From?

Is Kentucky taking the correct approach? Hindsight is always 20/20. Finding the right fit to fill holes in a roster means something different to each program. However, when scanning across the college football landscape, we can pinpoint the origin for the sport’s top transfer portal players.

KSR scoured the internet for ‘All-Transfer Portal Teams’ following the 2023 season. On3, The Athletic and 247 Sports provided this resource. Each service included Jackson State transfers Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter, and still 63% of the top transfers came from the Power Five ranks.

Going back a year further produced similar results. In 2022 56% of the top portal performers transferred from the Power Five ranks. Those numbers came from two resources, The Athletic and Yahoo.

The research probably doesn’t puss muster as empirical scientific data, but it paints a pretty clear picture. The transfer portal players that find the most success at their new home started their careers at another Power Five program.

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