Kentucky Football Likely Finished Adding Spring Transfer Portal Players

It’s never over until the Fat Lady Sings, but she’s warming up her pipes. The college football transfer portal spring window does not close for new entrants until Friday. Players will continue making visits and finalize their destinations over the next few weeks, but Kentucky is most likely finished adding players.

On Thursday morning, tight end Keayen Nead informed Jacob Polacheck that he has committed to BYU. The former Weber State tight end transferred to New Mexico this spring before entering the transfer portal. He visited Lexington over the weekend, but ultimately decided to stay out west and play in Provo for BYU.

Kentucky targeted a few other players for official visits this spring. SEMO DL Jaylon Stone committed to Vanderbilt before making his scheduled trip to Lexington. The Cats offered Keelan Marion right away, but the former BYU wide receiver is visiting SMU, Tennessee, Miami, and Arizona State instead.

While it would be unwise to completely shut the book on the spring transfer portal class, if the Cats get another player, this guy will show up on campus one day and be committed the next. Getting into a bidding war with a public portal player is a good way to spend too much money. Let me explain.

There’s a much smaller pool of players to work with in the spring transfer portal. Most of them signed contracts in December. To move to a new school would require them to pay a buyout, which drives up the price even more.

Kentucky was active early in the transfer portal. They quickly got a few former commits in the fold, EDGE Lorenzo Cowan and WR Hardley Gilmore. Kentucky was willing to spend big on one position, running back. They were able to secure Seth McGowan without much competition driving up the price.

Mark Stoops’ program wouldn’t mind finding a few more depth pieces to fill in the roster, but they aren’t willing to spend big to make it happen. Right now, there are players with little to no experience who are commanding interest from significant programs.

Remember Woo Spencer? The Louisville native picked the Cards over the Cats out of high school. He played 14 snaps as a redshirt freshman last fall. Spencer had visits lined up to Miami and other power conference programs before landing at SMU. Noah King was a Kentucky target last summer. He spent one spring practice at Kansas State. Now he’s traveling to Miami, Colorado, and Houston.

The juice isn’t worth the squeeze, which is why you probably won’t see Kentucky grab anymore players from the transfer portal this spring.