** We're about to enter one of the most hectic times of the year here at this site: Players going into the portal, UK targeting players in the portal, coaching carousel and the always-unpredictable and unknown ripple effect.
** I know that starting tomorrow there are going to be some conversations between Kentucky players and the coaching staff. These will be ongoing for a while. Some guys already have it in their mind that they are going to be moving on. What I will tell you is that I expect the portal to be more active than ever this year. For starters, players across the country have seen it going on for 2-3 years now. It's normalized. It's a fact of life. We're seeing college football players and teams are really more like pro rosters with journeymen and guys you just expect to set up shop somewhere else after a year or two. I have heard of players from multiple different classes on UK's roster expecting to enter the portal. Some of the names will be pretty obvious, some maybe a little less so.
** The real situations to watch in the portal are going to be the cases we can't predict right now. For instance, just an example (NOT saying this is going to happen) - what if somebody like Steve Clinkscale decides he wants to bring a guy with five picks to Michigan next year, and he recruited him? Well, this kind of thing is happening all over the country this time of year. Again, that is not happening to my knowledge, but it's something that every player on UK's roster will be thinking about or dealing with.
** My understanding is that others in the UK program were watching the Stoops stuff yesterday with just as much anticipation and anxiety as everyone here. Probably had a lot of folks on this very board. And that was going on into the evening so the situation was clearly hot and alive. I do buy this idea that it was something that sort of crumbled on both sides. Stoops never formally accepted the job. I get the sense that this started coming together on the fly, but I don't get the sense that Stoops is going to be "unhappy" at all to be returning to UK. The A&M thing had been alive for several days, to my knowledge, but it's not something that had been worked on for a very long time as some planned end goal. So when it fell apart it's not like there was a lot of skin in the game or emotional investment. For people who want to know Stoops is going to be scratching and clawing with that same drive and believe he can knock down more walls, that is a positive note.
** One coaching situation to watch is Jason Candle, HC of Toledo. He is a young candidate drawing rave reviews similar to Jon Sumrall and has been linked to other openings. If he were to leave I do believe Vince Marrow would be a short-list HC option. Whether he would take it or not I do not know but that's his alma mater and they are set up pretty well right now.
** Have heard that Liam Coen is probably not going to be the pick for the Syracuse HC position. Before the year I thought Boston College might be looking at him after this year but worst case scenario for them as Jeff Hafley won six games against a very bad schedule and he'll probably be back even though they aren't very improved. Dan Mullen may well get the Syracuse job as he's been mentioned quite a bit by other media recently.
** Brad White will probably be mentioned in some DC searches once the dust clears but I would be surprised if he left. He turned down LSU and seems to have really good roots around UK now.
** There are at least two position coach spots on the UK staff that I would guess will be coming open just from reading the tea leaves. Will leave it to you to speculate but am not going to say more beyond that right this moment.
** I do have an idea of one player Kentucky will stand a great chance to bring in from the portal this year. No hints on position, only thing I will say is someone who was linked to UK in some form or fashion as a recruit but that won't narrow it down much. The point is that staffs everywhere are gathering a lot of information this time of year and oftentimes you have some idea of how things will play out...Just not every case.
** My opinion is that UK will definitely bring in another portal QB. Vandagriff is the one that I've mentioned that I expect to be of interest. Again, his sister is at EKU and he has talent. Could be a good fit in what Coen likes to do offensively but nobody around UK has told me he will be a target - that stuff came from elsewhere, and UNC was another school mentioned.
** I think one lesson to take into this offseason is we should maybe obsess a little less over what quarterback Kentucky is going to bring in and spend more time thinking about the roster in full from a bird's eye view - are there any glaring holes? What are the potential pitfalls? Is there the right amount of leadership in each room? What could go wrong? Complementary parts? Having a big name QB has only gotten them to 7-5 the last two seasons and next year the schedule is rough so they need to have no major holes.
** I know that starting tomorrow there are going to be some conversations between Kentucky players and the coaching staff. These will be ongoing for a while. Some guys already have it in their mind that they are going to be moving on. What I will tell you is that I expect the portal to be more active than ever this year. For starters, players across the country have seen it going on for 2-3 years now. It's normalized. It's a fact of life. We're seeing college football players and teams are really more like pro rosters with journeymen and guys you just expect to set up shop somewhere else after a year or two. I have heard of players from multiple different classes on UK's roster expecting to enter the portal. Some of the names will be pretty obvious, some maybe a little less so.
** The real situations to watch in the portal are going to be the cases we can't predict right now. For instance, just an example (NOT saying this is going to happen) - what if somebody like Steve Clinkscale decides he wants to bring a guy with five picks to Michigan next year, and he recruited him? Well, this kind of thing is happening all over the country this time of year. Again, that is not happening to my knowledge, but it's something that every player on UK's roster will be thinking about or dealing with.
** My understanding is that others in the UK program were watching the Stoops stuff yesterday with just as much anticipation and anxiety as everyone here. Probably had a lot of folks on this very board. And that was going on into the evening so the situation was clearly hot and alive. I do buy this idea that it was something that sort of crumbled on both sides. Stoops never formally accepted the job. I get the sense that this started coming together on the fly, but I don't get the sense that Stoops is going to be "unhappy" at all to be returning to UK. The A&M thing had been alive for several days, to my knowledge, but it's not something that had been worked on for a very long time as some planned end goal. So when it fell apart it's not like there was a lot of skin in the game or emotional investment. For people who want to know Stoops is going to be scratching and clawing with that same drive and believe he can knock down more walls, that is a positive note.
** One coaching situation to watch is Jason Candle, HC of Toledo. He is a young candidate drawing rave reviews similar to Jon Sumrall and has been linked to other openings. If he were to leave I do believe Vince Marrow would be a short-list HC option. Whether he would take it or not I do not know but that's his alma mater and they are set up pretty well right now.
** Have heard that Liam Coen is probably not going to be the pick for the Syracuse HC position. Before the year I thought Boston College might be looking at him after this year but worst case scenario for them as Jeff Hafley won six games against a very bad schedule and he'll probably be back even though they aren't very improved. Dan Mullen may well get the Syracuse job as he's been mentioned quite a bit by other media recently.
** Brad White will probably be mentioned in some DC searches once the dust clears but I would be surprised if he left. He turned down LSU and seems to have really good roots around UK now.
** There are at least two position coach spots on the UK staff that I would guess will be coming open just from reading the tea leaves. Will leave it to you to speculate but am not going to say more beyond that right this moment.
** I do have an idea of one player Kentucky will stand a great chance to bring in from the portal this year. No hints on position, only thing I will say is someone who was linked to UK in some form or fashion as a recruit but that won't narrow it down much. The point is that staffs everywhere are gathering a lot of information this time of year and oftentimes you have some idea of how things will play out...Just not every case.
** My opinion is that UK will definitely bring in another portal QB. Vandagriff is the one that I've mentioned that I expect to be of interest. Again, his sister is at EKU and he has talent. Could be a good fit in what Coen likes to do offensively but nobody around UK has told me he will be a target - that stuff came from elsewhere, and UNC was another school mentioned.
** I think one lesson to take into this offseason is we should maybe obsess a little less over what quarterback Kentucky is going to bring in and spend more time thinking about the roster in full from a bird's eye view - are there any glaring holes? What are the potential pitfalls? Is there the right amount of leadership in each room? What could go wrong? Complementary parts? Having a big name QB has only gotten them to 7-5 the last two seasons and next year the schedule is rough so they need to have no major holes.
