Hardley Gilmore Mulling Over Return to Kentucky

You gotta always keep your head on a swivel in the transfer portal. Even though things have slowed to a drip, this faucet is producing some strange material for Kentucky Sports Radio dot com.

Hardley Gilmore entered his name into the transfer portal on deadline day. It was a shocking development.

Even though his production was minimal as a true freshman — 6 receptions, 153 yards, 1 touchdown in five games — the former four-star talent’s potential was abundantly clear in 2024. Offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan could not say enough nice things about the Florida receiver after he suffered a broken collarbone that sidelined him for the first half of the season.

“He is in my opinion as complete of a young receiver as I’ve been around,” Hamdan said in August. “He’s got top-end speed, he’s a good route-runner, he’s tough, he’s physical. There’s a lot of things there. Every once in a while you get these freshmen where they don’t even recognize the lights. They don’t know if it’s big lights, small lights, they don’t know what it is. They’re just excited to be in the SEC at a place like Kentucky playing for Coach Stoops and he kinda had that vibe. There’s no, ‘I gotta save myself for a long year.’ He knew one speed.

“If we can get him healthy and can consistently take that mindset, I think the world of Hardley Gilmore.”

Kentucky can’t afford to lose Hardley Gilmore, and they might not. Zack Geoghegan shared this morning on KSBoard that there was a real possibility that he could withdraw his name from the portal and return to Kentucky. On3’s Pete Nakos echoed that sentiment this afternoon, saying that talks are ongoing between Kentucky and Gilmore regarding a possible return.

That’s just one layer to this complicated situation. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes. As of Monday afternoon, it feels like the winds are shifting in the direction for Kentucky to retain the talented pass-catcher.

Gilmore would not be the first Kentucky Wildcat to submit his name into the transfer portal and withdraw it at a later date. Shamar Porter and Jordan Dingle each did that in recent years before ultimately leaving the school at a later time.

Kentucky could certainly use another year with Gilmore. Without him, the Cats are down to ten scholarship wide receivers, five of which are true freshmen.

Want more Kentucky football recruiting intel? Join KSR Plus for the most comprehensive coverage of the Cats on the internet. With a KSR membership, you get access to bonus content and KSBoard, KSR’s message board, to chat with fellow Cats fans and get exclusive scoop.