Kentucky Football Hosts Ohio State Transfer Darrion Henry-Young

Kentucky is searching for another large defensive end to fill the void left by Josh Paschal. Darrion Henry-Young might just be that answer to the Wildcats’ problem.

On the first weekend following the conclusion of the 2021 Kentucky football season, Darrion Henry-Young is visiting UK’s campus. KSR’s Matt Jones confirmed the news first reported by Cats Illustrated’s Justin Rowland.

You may recall him before he added the hyphenated Young to his name at Ohio State. Kentucky diligently pursued the Cincinnati Princeton defensive end, along with his five-star teammate, Paris Johnson. Even though UK was a finalist for Henry-Young, the top two players from the state of Ohio ultimately chose to attend Ohio State.

A 6-foot-5, 279-pound defensive end, Henry-Young was a four-star recruit in the class of 2020, ranked as the No. 126 player in America according to the On3 Consensus. He entered the transfer portal in December after recording one tackle in just four games over his first two college football seasons. Henry-Young has four years of eligibility remaining.

Kentucky is looking for one more big defensive end to rotate with Tre’vonn Rybka in its 3-4 defense. Henry-Young is similar to Tyler Baron, the Tennessee defensive lineman that jumped in and out of the portal this week. Each were big-time four-star recruits in the 2020 recruiting class that considered Kentucky through the late stages of their recruitments. UK did not burn bridges and now they are an option once again. Unlike Baron, Kentucky has the opportunity to seal the deal on the former Buckeye this weekend and get Henry-Young in blue and white before spring practice begins.