Mark Stoops Prepares for Roster Changes in Spring Transfer Portal

For more than two weeks, Big Blue Nation has had its eyes and ears on the transfer portal. Mark Pope has added four players from the portal and is actively recruiting a fifth. As things slow down for the basketball program, they’re about to pick up for Mark Stoops’ Kentucky football program.

College football’s spring transfer portal window opens on Wednesday, April 16 and closes on Friday, April 25.

Kentucky was incredibly active in December. The Wildcats added 19 players from the transfer portal to flip a roster that saw more than 20 departures. Including the 22 high school football commits, almost 50% of the roster has already been turned over. There will be more roster turnover over the next few weeks.

“I feel good about the roster,” Stoops said following spring practice. “There’s a couple positions, a few areas where I’d like to get a couple guys. You need to have the depth. You need to be able to function in practice. We’re still working through roster limitations and what that number’s going to be next year. There’s still some moving pieces, but I’d like to keep intact the nucleus of what we have here.”

There are three positions that immediately come to mind that could use some more depth: safety, tight end, and running back. Numbers are light and one injury could put them behind the 8-ball. Wide receivers might also be in the mix. Kentucky suffered injuries late in spring practice, but it sounds like Tru Edwards will be cleared to join the team this summer, alleviating some of those problems.

There will be Transfer Portal Departures

To add more players, Kentucky needs to make room on the roster. By KSR’s count, spring practice ended with 87 scholarship players, two over the projected final count of 85.

“There has to be a few (departures), just with numbers alone. With the attrition, there’s going to be some people that go in the portal. There has to be,” said Stoops. “Depending on that, we’ll work through bringing some guys in too.”

The first bit of roster attrition happened on Monday night. Former four-star DL Kendrick Gilbert plans to enter the transfer portal after two seasons in Lexington, bringing Kentucky’s scholarship total down to 86.

There’s another wrinkle in this equation. The House settlement has not been finalized. The proposal would eliminate walk-ons. Coaches have to be flexible this spring to make sure they have the right numbers once fall camp begins.

“Right now, I’d say we’re down 12-13 guys (with injuries). The studies show that people go through 10, 11, 12 at all given times in football. If you go from 105 down to 95 or less, it stunts the growth of the younger players in how you practice and how physical we can be, how many reps, and all those things. We’ll work through that,” said the Kentucky head coach.

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What Does it Mean for High School Recruiting?

It’s never been harder to find a college football home for high school athletes. The transfer portal has drastically increased the pool of available players, leaving prep stars by the wayside. While the transfer portal is playing an integral piece in constructing this year’s Kentucky football, they are not abandoning ship.

The Cats had an impressive group of visitors over the weekend. It’s all about finding the right balance between experienced players and high school prospects.

“How many are you actually going to take? What is the balance going to be between the portal and between high school guys?

“High school recruiting for us is very good. We love the freshmen that we have on this team, and the guys that are going into their second year we feel really good about. There’s just a balance there that you try to work through, what your needs are. Obviously, after last season, we needed to get some guys with some experience, with some playing time, and I think that’ll be a year-to-year decision,” said Stoops.

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