Kentucky Doesn't Need to Redshirt as Many Freshmen in Transfer Portal Era

Deone Walker has made it easier for Willie Rodriguez to play during his first semester on campus. The enormous athletes play on different sides of the line of scrimmage, but the former’s early success showed Mark Stoops that there’s no need to cling to redshirts for freshmen in this new era of college football.

The transfer portal opened for business in 2021. The following year Walker was one of a handful of true freshmen who logged serious snaps as true freshmen for Kentucky. Rather than limit Barion Brown or Dane Key to four games to retain another year of eligibility, the two pass-catchers set Kentucky freshmen receiving records.

Obviously, there are still some players who can dramatically benefit from the additional year, but Stoops’ outlook on redshirting players has changed in the era of expedited player movement.

“If they can help us, they’re gonna help us,” Stoops said during Monday’s press conference. “If they could play some special teams, there’s a lot more accountability there than even they understand. The way we practice, talk about it, the way we go in meetings, the intensity of Coach Boulware and how he goes about special teams, I mean, that’s some serious business. We let nothing slide and those players understand it…

“… There’s a lot of young athletes that can run. We need them to continue to grow up and play. That’s the first step with them is being accountable and helping us on special teams. If they can’t do little things, they can’t do big things. We talk about that all the time. A little thing might be the backside of kickoff return or finishing a block, or doing some things that nobody sees, but if you execute it, you do your job, then big things may happen.”

True Freshmen Poised to Play for Kentucky

Special teams provides early opportunities for many, but four freshmen have already carved out spots on the Kentucky depth chart. In each case, Kentucky won contentious recruiting battles to get them to Lexington.

Tennessee tried to flip Rodriguez at the eleventh hour. Shortly after arriving in Lexington, he was bowling over defenders in a scrimmage setting to ensure a spot in the rotation at tight end. Kentucky flipped Jason Patterson from Cincinnati and it didn’t take long for him to flash at spring practice. He’ll be a part of Kentucky’s committee approach at running back as Chip Trayanum recovers from a preseason injury.

Even though Gavin Wimsatt was brought in this spring from Rutgers, Kentucky still believes Cutter Boley‘s future is bright. He’s listed as an “OR” alongside Wimsatt as QB2.

“Cutter has been very consistent,” said Stoops. “We’ve been very pleased with Gavin and Cutter. Both of them bring, you some very good attributes to the game, to the field, and can do some special things. We’ll see where it goes.”

One player who got slept on in the 2024 recruiting class is Aba Selm. An early commitment, the Northern Kentucky kid captured the attention of the Florida Gators later in the recruiting process. Now he’s running with the twos at left guard, chomping at the bit for a chance to play on Saturdays.

“Aba is a guy that is one of those freshmen that takes things very seriously, works very hard, very conscientious, trying to get better each day. When you get close to the ball at guard, things happen very fast. It’s very difficult to play at a young age, but he’s, he’s got an opportunity. Hopefully, we can continue to get him reps as the year goes on and get his feet wet,” said Stoops.