How spring practice will help determine what’s next for UK football’s transfer portal class

The first wave of Kentucky football’s 2024 transfer portal class officially joined the roster Monday with the start of UK’s spring semester.

But the Wildcats’ work in the portal this offseason is almost certainly not finished.

To date, Kentucky has added two quarterbacks (Brock Vandagriff and Beau Allen), one running back (Chip Trayanum), three wide receivers (Raymond Cottrell, Ja’Mori Maclin and Fred Farrier), one linebacker (Jamon Dumas-Johnson) and one offensive lineman (Jalen Farmer) from the transfer portal. Each of those transfers was expected to enroll this week in time to participate in offseason conditioning and spring practice.

Players already in the portal can commit to new schools at any time, but Friday is the last day to enroll in class for the spring semester. With the period where transfers are allowed to take visits to campus closed until after the deadline to enroll for the spring semester, any further additions to the transfer class will probably come from players who enter the portal in the spring window (April 15-30).

What is left for Kentucky’s transfer portal class? Here is a look at where things stand heading into the spring semester.

Season could hinge on success of quarterback rebuild

All four scholarship quarterbacks from the 2023 season are gone. Starter Devin Leary has exhausted his college eligibility. Backups Kaiya Sheron and Destin Wade entered the portal before the bowl game. Fourth-string quarterback Deuce Hogan stuck around for the Gator Bowl but announced this week he would play the 2024 season at New Mexico State.

Vandagriff, a former five-star recruit who spent three seasons as a backup at Georgia, was recruited to start for UK next season. Allen, the former Lexington Catholic star who started his career at UK before stops at Tarleton State and Georgia Southern, will rejoin the team as a walk-on who already knows offensive coordinator Liam Coen’s system. UK also welcomes four-star Lexington Christian Academy quarterback Cutter Boley to campus as a mid-year enrollee.

There might not have been a point in UK football history where two quarterbacks with the level of recruiting hype of Vandagriff and Boley were on the roster at the same time, but hype and production are not the same thing. A year ago, Kentucky prioritized experience in adding Leary from the portal, but Coen and Mark Stoops have gone back to the blueprint that saw Will Levis go from backup at Penn State to second-round NFL draft pick after two years at Kentucky.

The staff has made a bet that Vandagriff’s talent will ultimately lead the offense to more success after a disappointing 2023 season with Leary at the helm. As long as Vandagriff is healthy, it would be a shock to see anyone else start the opener, but recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow made it clear on signing day the staff still sees Boley as the quarterback of the future.

Boley likely needs time to adjust to the college game, though. If Vandagriff does not live up to his recruiting hype, it is difficult to imagine a successful season for Kentucky in 2024.

More help at offensive tackle likely needed

Kentucky’s offseason started with good news on the offensive line with the announcement that left tackle Marques Cox and center Eli Cox would return for the 2024 season. The interior offensive line depth was further supplemented with the addition of Farmer, a guard who played sparingly in two seasons at Florida but was a top UK recruiting target out of high school.

Right tackle Jeremy Flax has played his final game for Kentucky, leaving at least one starting job open on the offensive line this spring. Former Southern Cal transfer Courtland Ford, who started the two games Flax missed in 2023, will be the favorite to win that job, but Kentucky needs to at least find realistic competition for Ford by the start of preseason practice.

Only one other scholarship offensive lineman on the roster is considered a pure tackle: Redshirt freshman Malachi Wood.

The good news is Wood appears ahead of schedule in his development after signing with Kentucky as a lanky 6-foot-8, 283-pound project from Madison Central.

“He just continues to get better,” Coen said of Wood during bowl practices. “He really does. He’s dedicated himself to changing his body, dedicated himself to his craft. He works at it post-practice. He’s doing the right things to try to help himself continue to get better. He’s a great kid. He has no issues.

“He’s just the type of kid you want to have in your program that you look forward to really working with him this spring, when the bullets are flying a little bit more live for him.”

Spring practice also offers an opportunity to see if guards Dylan Ray, Austin Ramsey and Farmer can competently play tackle as well. If Wood’s progress continues and one of that trio holds his own at tackle during spring practice, the need for another transfer will decrease.

But the smart money is on Kentucky adding an offensive tackle in the spring window. The Wildcats were linked to multiple transfer tackles over the last month, but the staff declined to go all-in on any of the available options. That will have to change if the depth situation looks as concerning after spring practice as it does now.

Other positions to watch this spring

It would be difficult to feel confident about Kentucky’s depth at cornerback after watching Clemson march down the field with relative ease for its game-winning drive in the Gator Bowl after starters Maxwell Hairston and Andru Phillips were sidelined by injuries. Now, Kentucky must replace Phillips permanently after he declared for the NFL draft.

There are options on campus already in the form of returning players JQ Hardaway, Jantzen Dunn, Jordan Robinson and Nasir Addison, but no one in that group looked ready for a starting job in the Gator Bowl. Perhaps mid-year freshman enrollee Terhyon Nichols, who Stoops called a possible early contributor on signing day, impresses enough in his first spring practice to provide another option, but all eyes will be on the returners this spring.

It is worth noting few would have predicted Hairston to turn into the SEC’s leader in interceptions at this time a year ago based on a lackluster showing as a backup in 2022, so it is possible one of the returners takes a major step forward. Otherwise, Kentucky will have to dip into the transfer market again.

A year after signing kicker Alex Raynor in the portal, Kentucky might need to explore the specialist market again. Punter Wilson Berry is back, but Stoops and special teams coordinator Jay Boulware will surely want more competition for him after a disappointing 2023 season. Maybe that comes in the form of sophomore Jackson Smith, who has yet to appear in a college game, or a walk-on, but if a scholarship is available heading into the summer a transfer punter might be pursued.

The return of outside linebacker J.J. Weaver for his COVID season of eligibility lessens the need for Kentucky to pursue an edge rusher, but Weaver needs to prove his final two games of the 2023 season are a sign of things to come. Even with Weaver, Kentucky needs sophomores Tyreese Fearbry and Noah Matthews to take a step forward after the transfer of Keaten Wade.

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