Making Sense of an Eventful Kentucky Signing Day

Another coffee, bourbon, cigarette — I don’t know what I need, but I need it all to figure out what in the hell happened with the Kentucky football program on Dec. 4. Mark Stoops described the earliest Signing Day in the history of college signing days as “smooth.” I would use a different word. Actually, I’ll use lots of words because A LOT happened.

Kentucky Didn’t Sign DJ Miller

His absence made for a tense 18 hours. As Vince Marrow acknowledged, when you have a bad season, you lose players around Signing Day. They lost two, Marquise Davis and Tucker Kattus, which undeniably are difficult pills to swallow, but from a big-picture standpoint, it could’ve been much, much worse.

There was a fear that Miller would be a third defection. Fortunately, DJ Miller put pen to paper and officially joined the Kentucky football program Thursday morning.

Kentucky Flipped Two Players

The Cats pried two players from the Mid-Atlantic away from the Big Ten. DB Grant Grayton was heading for Minnesota and he explained to Jacob Polacheck why he ultimately decided to redirect and sign with Kentucky. Cam Miller liked Kentucky early in the process, but the shifty slot receiver was drawn away by Wisconsin’s Air Raid system. Following the termination of Phil Longo in Madison, Miller made a change of plans. He’s a Top 500 talent who will compete with a few other freshmen for a spot in the rotation at the slot.

The two additions give Kentucky 21 players in the 2025 recruiting class, which ranks 27th nationally and 14th out of 16 teams in the SEC.

Dane Key Hit the Portal

The most jarring news of the day wasn’t about signings or what Mark Stoops said, it was a transfer. Dane Key is going into the portal. The son of a Kentucky Wildcat, a Lexington native, and a UK record-holder is leaving the program. The symbolism is as powerful as the production.

The list of @UKFootball players in program history to have at least 126 receptions, 1,870 receiving yards, and 14 receiving touchdowns prior to their senior season:

– Dane Key

That’s it. That’s the list.

— Corey Price (@coreyp08) December 5, 2024

As jarring as it may have been for some, it’s for the best. The Dane Key-Barion Brown experiment has run its course. I think it was a great decision on Dane’s part to enter the portal and earn a quality guaranteed salary in a proficient passing offense that can make him a day-two pick in the NFL Draft.

Kentucky’s offensive operation was too inconsistent and unable to let Key reach his potential in Lexington. We all know the offense hasn’t been good enough. His departure is another byproduct of the poor operation we’ve watched regularly on Saturdays throughout the Mark Stoops era.

The 2023 Football Recruiting Class was a Big Miss

Key wasn’t the only player to announce his decision to hit the portal yesterday. There were six announcements and many of them are coming from one class. Only 10 of the 19 players signed by Kentucky in 2023 are still on the roster and that number will likely shrink in the coming days and weeks. If you’re wondering why the roster is in the shape it’s in, look no further than the many misses in that class.

Stoops is Mad at Daikiel Shorts

Mark Stoops typically sticks to the book when discussing personnel matters. The Kentucky head coach believes there’s a certain way you handle things. It’s clear he wasn’t happy with the way Daikiel Shorts departed on the day before Signing Day.

“Well, I was pretty stern with my contract and with my discussions a year ago, and that didn’t hold up, so I got to keep on working that,” Stoops quipped when asked what it would be like to look for his seventh wide receivers coach in 13 years. “I thank Daikiel for the work that he’s done here. I thought he was a very good coach, a good young coach.

“I was pretty demanding that I needed at least a two-year commitment out of that and put a pretty large buyout on it but some schools weren’t afraid to just write a check. So I wish him luck. I do appreciate what he’s done. I think he’s a very talented young coach, and I wish him the best.”

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Kentucky will get a QB and RB (and more) in the Transfer Portal

Mark Stoops hasn’t necessarily been eager to share exactly what the Wildcats will need to find in the transfer portal until yesterday.

Even though he gave Cutter Boley a vote of confidence, he said they’ll be looking for an experienced player to complement the two incoming freshmen. It’s probably safe to assume Brock Vandagriff and Gavin Wimsatt have played their final games in Lexington.

It was also telling Chip Trayanum wants another year in Lexington. His injury-maligned season didn’t go according to plan, but we didn’t know what that meant for his future. Stoops said he’ll be looking for a running back, even though they’re also expecting Jamarion Wilcox to return. It also sounds like another tight end will be added for depth from the portal, and that’s just a few of the pieces Kentucky needs to add to the puzzle.

The Last Message from Mark Stoops

Wednesday night was the final edition of the Mark Stoops Show. Jeff Piecoro and Dick Gabriel filled in for the head coach. I get it. It was a long day after a long few days. The night of Signing Day is a good time to celebrate with your coaching staff. I don’t know if that’s what Stoops was doing, but personally, I was happy to receive that little bit of time to eat some chips and salsa.

Here’s the thing, people are killing him for missing the show, his second in the last few weeks. That could have been avoided by simply not having one or doing it on a day that wasn’t Signing Day.

The biggest problem with his absence from his final call-in show is that it was his final opportunity to speak directly to fans until… I don’t know. He might not speak again publicly until February. That leaves this as our final message from Mark Stoops: “Nobody panic.” That’s one way to wrap up the 4-win 2024 Kentucky football season.

Mark Stoops shared some insight on what Kentucky will be shopping for in the portal, then shared a message we’ll hear often this offseason.

“Don’t panic.”

MORE: https://t.co/qUZbzOKBSt pic.twitter.com/id88n4g8jY

— Nick Roush (@RoushKSR) December 4, 2024

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