Kentucky QB Gavin Wimsatt Enters the Transfer Portal

A Kentucky native has played his last down for the Wildcats. On3’s Pete Nakos reports Gavin Wimsatt has entered the transfer portal. He has one year of eligibility remaining.

The Owensboro native began his career at Rutgers. He enrolled in the middle of his senior season of high school football and appeared in four games during his redshirt season. Wimsatt became the full-time starter for the Scarlett Knights in 2023, throwing for 1,735 yards and 7 touchdowns and rushing for 497 yards and 11 touchdowns. Despite a low completion percentage, Wimsatt guided Rutgers to a 7-6 record and a win in the Pinstripe Bowl.

Rutgers brought in competition during the offseason. Minnesota transfer Athan Kaliakmanis won the starting spot during spring practice, leading Wimsatt to find a new home via the transfer portal.

He returned to his Old Kentucky Home where he played a significant amount of snaps. He was used as a change of pace, running option alongside Brock Vandagriff for the first half of the season. Bush Hamdan gave him the keys to the offense for the second half of the Auburn game. When that experiment failed, the Cats were ready to move on, until the injury bug bit. Vandagriff went down at Tennessee and Cutter Boley was sidelined against Louisville. Wimsatt threw for three scores in those games but had a devastating interception at Tennessee that cost the Cats a chance to pull off the upset.

Wimsatt appeared in eight games during his one season in Lexington. He completed 16-39 passes for 287 yards, three touchdowns, and four interceptions. He also rushed for 183 yards and two touchdowns.

The news isn’t all that surprising. Last Wednesday Mark Stoops said Kentucky would be in the market for an experienced quarterback during this transfer portal cycle to complement the three freshmen at the position.

Kentucky Football Transfer Portal Tracker

The transfer portal is open for business and so far we know of 18 players who will be seeking out greener pastures this offseason.

• DL Keeshawn Silver
• DB Avery Stuart
• LB Jayvant Brown
• LS Walker Himebauch
• TE Tanner Lemaster
• TE Khamari Anderson
• TE Jordan Dingle
• OL Courtland Ford
• OL Ben Christman
• DL Tommy Ziesmer
• WR Dane Key
• WR Barion Brown
• WR Anthony Brown-Stephens
• EDGE Tyreese Fearbry
• EDGE Noah Matthews
• EDGE Caleb Redd
• RB Chip Trayanum
• QB Gavin Wimsatt

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. Keep closer tabs on the Cats with our staff-only sticky thread on KSBoard, which will have updates on departures and targets throughout the offseason. Not a KSR+ member? Try it out today.