Kentucky Fall Camp Insider Notes: Standouts, Wimsatt, Offensive Line Concerns?

Kentucky is writing the final chapter of the 2024 edition of Fall Camp. There is still work to be done, but a significant portion of the grunt work is complete. On Sunday Mark Stoops conferred with his coaches to reach a consensus on where the Cats stand up until this point. KSR has spoken with people close to the program who have seen the practices and scrimmages. Here’s what we’ve learned about this year’s Wildcats.

Squashing Kentucky Offensive Line Concerns

Players miss practices during fall camp. It happens. On the Big Blue Wall, it seemed to be happening at a rapid rate.

Kentucky scrimmaged on Saturday without either of its two starting offensive tackles, Gerald Mincey and Marques Cox (who returned to practice this week). Jager Burton missed a few practices here and there. If you’re getting deja vu, don’t feel crazy. Ahead of the 2022 season, the Kentucky offensive line suffered one injury after another. The rebuilding offensive line failed to create any continuity in training camp and it resulted in one of the worst seasons for that unit in recent memory.

Reading the tea leaves did not look good for this offensive line, and yet there is not any concern about Kentucky’s front five. Bush Hamdan stated publicly today that he likes the depth of this unit. The injuries are not long-term problems. Outside of the field I may be a little worried, but people inside the program are confident in this iteration of the Big Blue Wall.

That means that Kentucky is still going to Run The Damn Ball, even if Chip Trayanum is sidelined for the first few weeks of the season. Demie Sumo-Karngbaye had already carved out a role within Hamdan’s offense. Now he’ll shoulder a bigger one, while freshmen Jason Patterson and Jamarion Wilcox get a few more opportunities to turn potential into production.

Kentucky was up a creek without a paddle when Chris Rodriguez was sidelined for the first four games of the 2022 season. This time the Cats have more proven production and untapped young talent to unleash in RB1’s absence.

Gavin Wimsatt Talk Is Real

The ceiling of this Kentucky football team rests on the shoulders of Brock Vandagriff. Nevertheless, the talk about Gavin Wimsatt is unavoidable. The Owensboro native has clearly opened the eyes of everyone on the Kentucky roster.

Here’s the thing about this talk — I have no idea what it means or how exactly he will be used. Positive Wimsatt scuttlebutt does not imply that Vandagriff is struggling. In fact, most Kroger Field patrons left scrimmages impressed with the former Georgia quarterback’s ability. I’m just here to tell you the Gavin Wimsatt talk is for real and that you shouldn’t be surprised when he takes the field in some capacity on Saturdays.

Pass-Catchers We Aren’t Discussing Enough

Fred Farrier is clearly the flavor of the week in the Kentucky wide receiver room. Coaches oozed about his play publicly, echoing everything I’ve heard off the record. It’s an excellent development following the injury to Hardley Gilmore that may very well sideline him for the season. Farrier isn’t the only one popping off.

Anthony Brown-Stephens was a lauded recruiting win. As soon as he got to Lexington, it was clear he did things the right way, and yet one question lingered. Will the process transform into results for the under-sized pass-catcher? The answer is yes. He’s showing signs in the preseason that he can consistently contribute this fall and be an impact slot receiver for the Wildcats in the future. Kentucky does not have a deep room of wide receivers, but there are five that they trust.

One more nugget — freshman tight end Willie Rodriguez might just be a badass wrecking ball.

Anthony Brown-Stephens spoke with the media today about his fall camp. Give it a watch.

More Kentucky Football Insider Intel

The previous points were just a snapshot of some of the scoop KSR has received from Kentucky football fall camp. Over on KSBoard, you can find more intel on the defense, the rushing attack and more. Now is the perfect time to join KSR+ for non-stop coverage of the Cats.

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