{"id":67784,"date":"2024-08-26T22:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-27T03:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=67784"},"modified":"2024-08-26T22:30:00","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T03:30:00","slug":"kentucky-doesnt-need-to-redshirt-as-many-freshmen-in-transfer-portal-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/kentucky-doesnt-need-to-redshirt-as-many-freshmen-in-transfer-portal-era\/","title":{"rendered":"Kentucky Doesn\u2019t Need to Redshirt as Many Freshmen in Transfer Portal Era"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deone Walker<\/a><\/strong> has made it easier for Willie Rodriguez<\/a><\/strong> to play during his first semester on campus. The enormous athletes play on different sides of the line of scrimmage, but the former\u2019s early success showed Mark Stoops that there\u2019s no need to cling to redshirts for freshmen in this new era of college football. <\/p>\n

The transfer portal opened for business in 2021. The following year Walker was one of a handful of true freshmen who logged serious snaps as true freshmen for Kentucky. Rather than limit Barion Brown<\/a><\/strong> or Dane Key<\/a><\/strong> to four games to retain another year of eligibility, the two pass-catchers set Kentucky freshmen receiving records. <\/p>\n

Obviously, there are still some players who can dramatically benefit from the additional year, but Stoops\u2019 outlook on redshirting players has changed in the era of expedited player movement. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf they can help us, they\u2019re gonna help us,\u201d Stoops said during Monday\u2019s press conference. \u201cIf they could play some special teams, there\u2019s a lot more accountability there than even they understand. The way we practice, talk about it, the way we go in meetings, the intensity of Coach Boulware and how he goes about special teams, I mean, that\u2019s some serious business. We let nothing slide and those players understand it\u2026 <\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 There\u2019s a lot of young athletes that can run. We need them to continue to grow up and play. That\u2019s the first step with them is being accountable and helping us on special teams. If they can\u2019t do little things, they can\u2019t do big things. We talk about that all the time. A little thing might be the backside of kickoff return or finishing a block, or doing some things that nobody sees, but if you execute it, you do your job, then big things may happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

True Freshmen Poised to Play for Kentucky<\/h2>\n

Special teams provides early opportunities for many, but four freshmen have already carved out spots on the Kentucky depth chart<\/a>. In each case, Kentucky won contentious recruiting battles to get them to Lexington. <\/p>\n

Tennessee tried to flip Rodriguez at the eleventh hour. Shortly after arriving in Lexington, he was bowling over defenders in a scrimmage setting to ensure a spot in the rotation at tight end. Kentucky flipped Jason Patterson<\/a><\/strong> from Cincinnati and it didn\u2019t take long for him to flash at spring practice. He\u2019ll be a part of Kentucky\u2019s committee approach at running back as Chip Trayanum<\/a><\/strong> recovers from a preseason injury. <\/p>\n

Even though Gavin Wimsatt<\/a><\/strong> was brought in this spring from Rutgers, Kentucky still believes Cutter Boley<\/a><\/strong>\u2018s future is bright. He\u2019s listed as an \u201cOR\u201d alongside Wimsatt as QB2. <\/p>\n

\u201cCutter has been very consistent,\u201d said Stoops. \u201cWe\u2019ve been very pleased with Gavin and Cutter. Both of them bring, you some very good attributes to the game, to the field, and can do some special things. We\u2019ll see where it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

One player who got slept on in the 2024 recruiting class is Aba Selm<\/a><\/strong>. An early commitment, the Northern Kentucky kid captured the attention of the Florida Gators later in the recruiting process. Now he\u2019s running with the twos at left guard, chomping at the bit for a chance to play on Saturdays. <\/p>\n

\u201cAba is a guy that is one of those freshmen that takes things very seriously, works very hard, very conscientious, trying to get better each day. When you get close to the ball at guard, things happen very fast. It\u2019s very difficult to play at a young age, but he\u2019s, he\u2019s got an opportunity. Hopefully, we can continue to get him reps as the year goes on and get his feet wet,\u201d said Stoops. <\/p>\n

\n<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

The post Kentucky Doesn\u2019t Need to Redshirt as Many Freshmen in Transfer Portal Era<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deone Walker has made it easier for Willie Rodriguez to play during his first semester…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67784"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67820,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67784\/revisions\/67820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}