What are the possibilities we might be able to shuffle around the OLBs a bit if we see improvement from some of our younger guys or add impact transfers from the portal? If we currently have someone at JACK who isn't getting it done as a pass rusher, then why not shuffle this individual to SAM to see if we can generate some more production?
UK football and the December transfer portal
- Thread starter Rembrandt90
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Weaver may come back for a COVID season in 2024. With Keaton gone, it's a sure thing that Fearbry and Matthews have gotten good looks in the Jack LB rotation in bowl camp, and will again in spring practice. They are the remaining young OLBs. Godfrey doesn't have the length or size needed to be a Jack LB, which is a hybrid DE/LB. There isn't anyone else until Redd and Jacob Smith get here.
When we observe that Stoops needs to take an OLB out of the portal, we need to consider who he can actually get. IDK that. But Stoops and White tried as hard as they could to get a Jack LB to transfer to UK a year ago, but couldn't convince the guys they wanted. Maybe they will get a better result this time, but it is a premium defensive position in great demand. If our coaches can't get an upgrade out of the portal, there are still viable alternatives on our present roster.
For one thing, our primary defense is now a 3-3-5, which replaces the Sam LB with a nickel (Alex Afari). So Coach White usually doesn't use a Sam LB anymore. But when a Sam LB is used (mainly against run-heavy teams), the pass rush is still one of his responsibilities. You might remember Boogie Watson, a Sam LB who was one of our better pass rushers of the Stoops era. Also, the physical requirements for the Sam and Jack LBs tend to be a little different since the jobs are different.
If a young Jack LB with the right frame is not a strong pass rusher, the usual reasons would be either lack of enough physical strength or lack of enough quickness. If the problem is physical strength, you put the player on an offseason strength building program and help them add more muscle. If they don't have enough quickness, then they should not have been signed because quickness is needed at all LB positions.
Ole Miss spending big to be a CFB playoff team in 2024. Huge portal additions, Princely Umanmielen top edge from Florida, Tyler Barron edge from Knoxville, safety starter from Knoxville as well just in last couple days.
I hope Golden wasn't a huge factor in us looking at Shorts as WR coach.
I assume Golden likely just wanted to stay in Texas?
This one stings me just a little, as with McCulley deciding to stay at Indiana, we are starting to run out of good options at the WR position. We need one more difference maker on the outside. I'm not sure we're gonna find one at this point, so that makes it an even bigger deal that Porter decided to return.
I assume Golden likely just wanted to stay in Texas?
This one stings me just a little, as with McCulley deciding to stay at Indiana, we are starting to run out of good options at the WR position. We need one more difference maker on the outside. I'm not sure we're gonna find one at this point, so that makes it an even bigger deal that Porter decided to return.
It's still early. While I would've liked to have had McCulley/Golden, there will be another portal dump post-bowls. Others, maybe even better, will be available.
Agree, great to get proven talent like Golden, but we did get Maclin. When it comes to WR, plenty of fish in the portal sea unlike other high value positions (qb, edge, corner, o tackle)
When our next WR coach is hired, he will get the job because Coach Stoops believes he can recruit and develop SEC receivers. Not because he might bring one guy with him.
Pretty simple. Golden is from Houston. Univ. of TX is currently the best college football program in his home state. He took one visit - to Austin. He liked it. It's close to Houston.
UK did not recruit Golden in hs. So there was no rapport to build on. AFAIK, UK's coaches never developed a serious dialog with Golden during the brief time he was in the portal. McCulley almost cancelled his visit to Lexington and obviously never was that serious about leaving Bloomington.
We are not running out of options at WR. On the contrary, we have BB, Key, Cottrell, Porter, Maclin, and ABS. All six have SEC talent. Hardley Gilmore and David Washington, both of whom have impressive offer sheets, will sign with UK's 2024 class. We have a new WR coach coming in who will be chosen because he knows how to work with a receiver's talent and make him a better player. There is another transfer portal window in February, and grad transfers can relocate anytime. The spring is always a roster retooling period. No worries.
I agree with this, our WR room is close to full IMO. In fact I read somewhere that had we gotten Golden or McCulley then Brown was likely headed for the exits. I mean at some point the cup runeth over.
I believe we need another outside receiver. With Maclin, ABS, White, Gilmore, Washington, and DSK, we have plenty of receivers who can play in the slot. But BB, Key, Cottrell, Porter, and Gilmore are our only receivers who fit athletically at x or z. Of those, only BB and Key have any SEC playing experience. That isn't enough competition. And if BB or Key gets hurt, then our season would hang on the performance of guys who have never done it before at this level.
Bringing in the next receiver from the portal seems contingent on getting the open WR coach position filled. That should happen soon.
Once our new WR coach is in place, he will become directly involved in recruiting. There is another portal window in February. Grad transfers can happen anytime. We need at least one more outside receiver, and two would be even better as long as they have multiple years of eligibility left. We still have about 8 open scholarships, a number that is still likely to increase further. So there is room.
Jalen Farmer (former FL Gator) has been visiting Lexington this weekend. Farmer is an OG who didn't play OT at FL. He has multiple seasons of eligibility left. We already have Christman, Ray, Burton, Bowles, Rodriguez, Ramsey, Selm, and Johnson on our 2024 OG roster. But Coach Coen is serious enough about Farmer to have him visit. This makes me suspect they may still expect more attrition of our OG depth, or else they think Farmer has unusual upside despite not playing much on a mediocre OL in Gainesville.
As speculated earlier on this thread, UK's coaches are now talking with former GA OT Aliou Bah. No public mention yet of a pending visit to Lexington. But UK recruited Bah out of hs in Memphis, so there is a prior dialog to build on. Bah will be widely sought. But this is the type of OT who could potentially make a difference for our OL, and he knows Brock Vandagriff from being former teammates in Athens.
As speculated earlier on this thread, UK's coaches are now talking with former GA OT Aliou Bah. No public mention yet of a pending visit to Lexington. But UK recruited Bah out of hs in Memphis, so there is a prior dialog to build on. Bah will be widely sought. But this is the type of OT who could potentially make a difference for our OL, and he knows Brock Vandagriff from being former teammates in Athens.
UK has said to also offer RT Michael Tarquin from USC. Tarquin originally signed with UF, he's from FL, then transferred to USC. Tarquin had at least 9 SEC offers out of HS but not by UK. UK did, however, offer him before his transfer to USC. Don't know about OV but seems to me that UK will take at least one and possibly two more OL from the portal.
What you say is true. But Tarquin has not yet scheduled a visit to Lexington and I am not confident about that. You say UK will take 1-2 offensive linemen from the portal, and I strongly agree as long as they can get the guys they want like Manuel, Sampson, Azzopardi, Bah, or Tarquin. But that won't be easy.
Farmer seems to present a little bit different question. Apparently Farmer is strictly an OG. We are serious about offering him or else he would not be visiting Lexington. But OG is not really a position of need, at least not nearly like OT is. As I was discussing earlier, taking Farmer would be for different reasons than taking one of the above OTs.
Maybe for whatever reason they feel they need to upgrade their IOL. Maybe they aren't sold that Bowles/Rodriquez can carry the water and/or Christman can recover from ACL surgery(modern sports medicine is terrific but recovery by such a large man from an ACL injury is problematic). I think if they take Farmer one of the two or maybe both are question marks in the minds of the coaches. I think they can live with Ray/Burton at OG but feel they need to cover all bets.
Christman will recover and probably become a starter at some point. ACL surgery does not hurt careers anymore. Rodriguez appears to be a depth piece more or less like Austin Dotson was. I doubt Bowles will contribute. Bowles has been unable to take playing time from Jager Burton or Dylan Ray, so that tells me a lot. Not that there is anything wrong with Ray. On paper, though, Bowles should have been able to take playing opportunities from Ray. That he couldn't has underachiever written all over it. Austin Ramsey, Marc Nave, and Aba Selm should become contributors, and Nave could be a starter fairly soon.
Clearly our coaches wanted Jalen Farmer a year ago. It's a little early in Farmer's career to project a ceiling, but I could see a pathway for him to become an OG starter here in the next year or two. Farmer has a lot of remaining eligibility. As long as they have roster space, I get taking Farmer.
But OT is the clear need. Manuel, Bah, Sampson, Tarquin, or a future OT portal entry would seem to be very important for keeping SEC edge rushers off Vandagriff. Bah is probably the prize here, and he played with Vandagriff in Athens. Sure hope something happens.
What Ole Miss us getting done in the portal is pretty jaw dropping. They might be preseason top 5 along with Texas and Georgia- all on our 2024 slate.
Amused me that Kiffin, the coach TN fans love to hate, trapsed into Knoxville and bought 2 of TN's better defensive players. Job well done.
This is what needs to happen this month from the portal-
Jamon Dumas-Johnson, LB
DeCarlos Nicholson, CB
Chris Brazzell or Julian Fleming, WR
Devon Manuel, Aliou Bah, or Michael Tarquin, OT
With Trevin Wallace gone, Dumas-Johnson is particularly important. There are other players in the portal like Jalen Farmer or Kevin Wigenton who would also be nice to have, but not as critical as the roster needs cited above.
Jamon Dumas-Johnson, LB
DeCarlos Nicholson, CB
Chris Brazzell or Julian Fleming, WR
Devon Manuel, Aliou Bah, or Michael Tarquin, OT
With Trevin Wallace gone, Dumas-Johnson is particularly important. There are other players in the portal like Jalen Farmer or Kevin Wigenton who would also be nice to have, but not as critical as the roster needs cited above.
Rhetorical question: if you were Stoops/Coen, would you pursue the transfer of So Cal frosh and former recruit qb Malachi Nelson? Possibly causing Cutter Boley to not sign? My memory is hazy, but I thought Nelson & Coen spoke frequently in 2021 before he committed to Oklahoma (then flipped to follow Riley to USC)
You're right to imply that Boley would be motivated to find another home. Another problem with taking Nelson and assumedly losing Boley would be how "sticky" would he be? With Boley he's a Kentucky kid and may have some sense of loyalty. Look how Georgia's QB position has churned for an example of what that could result in.
No way. That would be star craziness. It would show a lack of confidence in Vandagriff. We can explain here why it maybe wouldn't, or why you can't have enough QBs. But Vandagriff is coming here to play and he is a good fit. You don't fish for another high powered QB transfer who you almost surely won't actually get. You would also be expressing a lack of confidence in Cutter Boley. UK doesn't even have a prior dialog with Nelson to build on. It would be nuts.
Besides that, we have about 8 open scholarships left, and that number will decrease if Cam Dooley signs with UK tomorrow. We have real needs for these other scholarships including OT, WR, LB, and CB, and the transfer season is just ramping up.
True that
People complaining the UK doesn’t have talent and is not recruiting good players in the portal. Hello, Earth to reality, none of the good teams with talent and high end transfers have played in their bowl game yet
People complaining the UK doesn’t have talent and is not recruiting good players in the portal. Hello, Earth to reality, none of the good teams with talent and high end transfers have played in their bowl game yet
UK has plenty of talent. We live in the age of the transfer portal, so each scholarship must be managed more carefully than ever.
Besides that, the compulsion to chase every high online player rating is not a behavior this coaching staff practices. To their credit, our coaches do their own talent evaluations and look for character, dedication, and competitiveness as well as athletic tools.
That's what I've been saying. We'll see another portal dump after the bowls and those guys will be every bit as good if not better than what we've seen.
BTW, the OT from San Diego St that UK showed a passing interest in committed to Washington. I think it was common knowledge he would stay on the West Coast.
If there was an objective measurement of ranking schools on the best management/usage of the portal I think UK would be in the top 15 %
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I think so.
At the end of the day, Stoops and his coordinators have managed to plug roster holes using the portal. Vandagriff, Maclin, Levis, Wandale, Dare Rosenthal, Keidron Smith, and Jaquez Jones are good examples. If Stoops manages to snag Dumas-Johnson, I would hope our fans realize what an alert piece of recruiting that would be.
Based on what I am reading today, UK's coaches and a lot of people in the UK sports media expect UK to sign Dumas-Johnson tomorrow. That doesn't mean it will happen, but that is pretty clearly being foreshadowed today online. If it happens, it would be a big help.
No. You are half right. It is being widely discussed online that Dumas-Johnson will sign with UK tomorrow. If that is true, it would cover the loss of Trevin Wallace very nicely.
Kendall Jackson already verballed to Miami.
His Gator reference is hinting Jalen Farmer will transfer to UK. Farmer visited UK recently, so it's a good bet he is coming. It was supposed to be UK versus TN, but it is not clear if he ever visited Knoxville.
These predictions do not require inside information. They are being widely speculated. I am not suggesting whether or not they will come true, but there is so much chitchat about it today that it's a fairly good guess.
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Over on the "State of 2024 recruiting" thread, I discussed earlier this afternoon how I calculated that Stoops probably still has 1-2 open scholarships left to fill following today's signings and announcements.
All of us know that more of UK's current players will leave through the portal this spring. Happens every year. Our coaches probably already have a ballpark idea how many more will leave, although it isn't an exact science.
With all of that in mind, here is a list of players currently in the transfer portal, and known to have been contacted by UK's coaches, who haven't committed to another school so far.
Naquil Betrand, OT (TX A&M)
Chris Brazzell, WR (Tulane)
Julian Fleming, WR (OH St)
Ryan King, WR (ECU)
Devon Manuel, OT (AR)
DeCarlos Nicholson, DB (MS St)
Michael Tarquin, OT (SoCal)
De'Rickey Wright, DB (Vandy)
All of us know that more of UK's current players will leave through the portal this spring. Happens every year. Our coaches probably already have a ballpark idea how many more will leave, although it isn't an exact science.
With all of that in mind, here is a list of players currently in the transfer portal, and known to have been contacted by UK's coaches, who haven't committed to another school so far.
Naquil Betrand, OT (TX A&M)
Chris Brazzell, WR (Tulane)
Julian Fleming, WR (OH St)
Ryan King, WR (ECU)
Devon Manuel, OT (AR)
DeCarlos Nicholson, DB (MS St)
Michael Tarquin, OT (SoCal)
De'Rickey Wright, DB (Vandy)
I think we’ve done very well so far in the portal, but is there a reason we’re not pursuing an elite pass rusher?
Granted, excellent pass rushers are not plentiful.
I know Weaver may return, but I think we need someone to challenge for playing time at that position.
We’ve done well in the portal and maybe I’m getting greedy.
Granted, excellent pass rushers are not plentiful.
I know Weaver may return, but I think we need someone to challenge for playing time at that position.
We’ve done well in the portal and maybe I’m getting greedy.
The thinking is that Jacob Smith and Brian Robinson will become elite pass rushers. Robinson will be developed as a DE but Jacob is a Jack LB. As for the transfer portal, you can't force them to come here unless they want to. And with Weaver possibly returning, there are easier places for those edge guys to transfer. The UK-UL was televised nationally and that was by far the best game Weaver has played this year.
Besides, Deone Walker is one of the best in the country at collapsing the interior pocket, and "Pop" Dumas-Johnson is an elite weak side blitzer.
Tyreese Fearbry, Jacob Smith. Two highly recruited edge LBs with plenty of upside. Caleb Redd had offers from SoCal and OK.
I don't think it's greedy at all. But we need another OT and we could use another CB too. There aren't many open scholarships left, but those needs still stand out.
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