Kentucky has 2 Legitimate Quarterback Options, Can Bush Hamdan Close?

Quarterback recruiting has been a challenge for Kentucky in the Mark Stoops era. In the final game of the frustrating 2024 Kentucky football season, Cutter Boley became the first high school recruit to start under center since 2016. That’s a long, long time.

During that stretch, quarterback play has not been a strength of the program. Sure, there have been a few highs mixed in with the lows, but there isn’t a clear track record that is easily packaged and sold to high school recruits. That is what makes this offseason development intriguing.

Bush Hamdan is doing something rare for a Kentucky offensive coordinator: returning for a second season. In his first, we didn’t learn much about his offense. He did not pick the roster, and the quarterback he did have at his disposal retired prematurely after a disappointing year.

To put it plainly, Hamdan is working with a small, unsuccessful body of work in Lexington. To make matters even more difficult, they are behind in the recruitment of high school quarterbacks. Most of the best ones are committed well before the summer ahead of their senior season.

Despite all of the difficult circumstances, Kentucky is a finalist for two of the top uncommitted quarterbacks in the country.

According to On3, Matt Ponatoski is the third-best available quarterback in the class. Oscar Rios is right behind him as the sixth-best available.

Both players are four-star, Top-200 talents. Both have already taken official visits to Kentucky. Rios was in Lexington last month. Ponatoski previously took an official visit as a baseball recruit. The latter comes from a Kentucky recruiting pipeline, Cincinnati Moeller. The former is a West Coast kid who didn’t become an option until Purdue underwent a coaching change.

Does Kentucky Have a Legit Shot?

There are reasons to be skeptical that Kentucky can land either player. Even though ESPN considers Kentucky to be the leader in Rios’ recruitment, he still has a handful of official visits to take this month (Arizona, Utah, Va. Tech), culminating with a trip to Colorado just days before his June 25 announcement. Despite Shedeur’s NFL Draft slide, it’s going to be hard win a recruiting battle against Coach Prime and Pat Shurmur, a former NFL head coach.

Kentucky may be at a geographical disadvantage in its pursuit of Rios, but that’s not the case for Ponatoski. The issue here is the competition. Ponatoski is officially visiting Alabama and Oregon this month. Those are coaches who know how to sling it at schools that are also pretty good on the diamond. The Wildcats were in on Ponatoski earlier than anybody, but is that good enough?

Bush Hamdan is still a Man of Mystery for Big Blue Nation. He has a Masters’ Degree in Coach Speak, he does not operate in the insider rumor mill, nor does he participate in social media. Is he a good play-caller? The jury is still out, but it hasn’t been great. Can he recruit? Hamdan has Kentucky fishing in the right waters. Ponatoski and Rios will provide the ultimate test.

If Hamdan passes, Kentucky will get a much-needed shot in the arm for its 2026 recruiting class that currently only has one committed player. If the second-year signal-caller comes away empty-handed, it will be one more offseason black eye for a program that has been beaten and battered on a regular basis.