Former Kentucky tackles earn starting positions on power conference teams

Rosters in college football can change quickly in the transfer portal. Kentucky has been able to take advantage of this roster-building tool, but there were some departing players that the Wildcats lost to other power conference schools.

Two former tackles have found starting positions at their new schools.

Deondre Buford is now a redshirt junior with three years of eligibility remaining. The former four-star recruit played 210 snaps for Kentucky last season at both tackle spots. The Detroit (Mich.) Martin Luther King product entered the transfer portal after spring practice and ultimately landed at Cincinnati. The 6-foot-3, 315-pound veteran will be Scott Satterfield’s first starting right tackle in the Big 12.

Like Buford, David Wohlabaugh Jr. also entered the transfer portal after spring football at Kentucky. The redshirt sophomore was a three-star recruiting win for Kentucky in the class of 2021. Wohlabaugh has three years of eligibility and landed at Syracuse where his dad, Dave, played before a nine-year career in the NFL. Wohlabaugh played 87 snaps for Kentucky last season at both tackle spots. The Cuyahoga Falls (Ohio) Walsh Jesuit product will open the season as the starting right tackle for Syracuse.

Back in Lexington, Jeremy Flax was the only true tackle that stuck around. The Wildcats brought in Northern Illinois transfer Marques Cox and USC transfer Courtland Ford to add depth to the room. The form quickly seized the starting left tackle job while the latter is still in a competition with Flax for the full-time starting right tackle position. Flax will be awarded with a starting assignment on Saturday against Ball State, but things are clearly fluid at right tackle.

Regardless, Kentucky had players who were good enough to start for other power conference teams on the roster last year. The hope is that a scheme change can lead to some better play out of Flax. If that does not come, expect Ford to become the starter sooner rather than later.