SOTC Update: Kentucky Wildcats

Here is the 'off-season' update for Mark Stoops' Kentucky Wildcats.

Feb 18, 2025

State of the Chart™ Recap Edition

Live All-In Ranking: 48th
Offense: 84th
Defense: 31st
2024 Results: 4-8 (1-7 in SEC)

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|||||| STATE OF THE CHART™ SUMMARY

Call this 2024 season a speed bump for Mark Stoops and company as they try to continue to transition this to a football school (also). It was the first season in eight years that the Wildcats did not find themselves bowl eligible. The struggles on offense led to a drag on a defense that held it together and performed admirably under the circumstances. One win in the SEC is not pretty, but that win was a really good one - on the road at Ole Miss. They also had a near upset over Georgia early as well. So, they had a pulse before the wheels fell off in the end. The turnover margin sat at minus-7 so the bounces didn’t really go their way, but that’s an excuse or search for making sense of this fall. The injury to quarterback Brock Vandagriff threw another hurdle in an already challenging situation. The important part is how they respond to this set back season. The wide receiver room had enough and just about everybody is leaving. They hit the portal hard to bring in a lot of talent to flip that room, but also on the offensive and defensive lines. They will rely on some good old fashioned player development at other spots and it appears they are putting their chips in the Zach Calzada re-imagination campaign after spending a year at FCS Incarnate Word to hone his skills and lead this team as their next quarterback. This can get better quickly and we’ve seen it happen before in Lexington.

|||||| HEAD COACH AND COACHING STAFF

Mark Stoops and company hit a bit of a speed bump in 2024. Things were going just fine as the Wildcats were competitive in the SEC. This past season, the offensive failure led to a one-win SEC season. Stoops must show that he can recover from this set back and get the program back on track. The staff remains largely in tact for the first time in a while and that may help with continuity but they'll need a talent influx too.

Coaching Staff Notes/Changes:

The one change comes at a position that has had a spotlight shone upon it — wide receivers. Once a super talented room has been ravaged by portal losses and graduations. Scott Woodward heads back home to take over a high school program while Stoops turns to former SEC (Mizzou) wide receiver La’Damian Washington to help get that group coached up. This will be a key position group to watch if this is going to get turned around.
Offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan is going to need to show something to save his job. The offense was not good (at all) in his first season as the play caller.

Note: This is a “dynamic” article; meaning we will update any information that comes in this “off-season” and post a note when impactful moves are made or news breaks.

|||||| 2024 SCHEDULE / RESULTS ANALYSIS

This was a rough slate as many in the SEC are. They did get Georgia at home, but had to travel to Oxford (Ole Miss), Gainsville (Florida), Knoxville (Tennessee) and Austin (Texas). Not fun. This came in as the 18th most difficult schedule in FBS football. Their rivalry non-conference game with Louisville will always make it tougher. Speaking of the Cardinals, a year after they won this rivalry game, they got blown out at home to finish the season and that left a pretty bad taste in a lot of mouths around the program. The signature win over Ole Miss and a near upset of Georgia early on were the two bright spots in a season full of general darkness. Once the wheels fell off at the end of this, they were non-competitive in their final five losses.

||||||| POSITION GROUP CHECK-INS

OFFENSE: This was pretty ugly for Bush Hamdan’s first season at the helm. Their SEC points per game was at just 14.1 points. The one conference win, against Ole Miss, they won with just 20 points. They didn’t establish the run and the passing game was left hung out to dry. Against this slate of defenses, you can’t be predictable. The finger can usually be pointed at the point of attack in the offensive line. This is no exception. The talent rankings of this offensive line was 107th in FBS. They did not extend drives with just a 33.8% third down conversion rate (119th) and entered the red zone only 2.8 times per game (118th). And you can forget about any explosiveness. It’s little wonder that some talented players are looking for new homes, primiarily wide receivers. It certainly didn’t help that quarterback Brock Vandagriff was banged up and eventually forced to sit the rest of the season. He has since retired from the game. If this is going to get turned around, it has to start on the offensive line. They hit the portal hard there and if they can find time for the new signal caller - who appears to be either transfer in Zach Calzada or true sophomore Cutter Boley (at time of writing) - it will open things up. As of now, we don’t see a dramatic improvement from this group.

||| QB

Brock Vandagriff left Georgia for a chance to play. He got that in Lexington. Unfortunately, it led to taking a lot of hits, getting banged up and eventually forced to retire from the game. Backups Gavin Wimsatt and Cutter Boley were both 4-star recruits, but neither showed much in the way of being able to handle the high-level defenses thrown at them. The Wildcats bring Zach Calzada back to the SEC after a stint at FCS Incarnate Word, where he put up big numbers. He’s most likely to get the first crack at getting this turned around and it would be no small feat. Boley returns to provide some competition for the job. He was unfairly thrust into the fire last season, so we’ll give him a pass and see if he can show he belongs here.

||| RB

Chip Trayanum came in from Ohio State with high hopes, but a hand injury sidelined him most of the season. Veteran Demie Sumo-Karngbaye was solid and reliable, while Jamarion Wilcox provided a spark as well (6.4 average). Trayanum leaves for Toledo and Sumo-Karngbaye is out of eligiblity. That leaves Wilcox and Nebraska (via Oregon) transfer-in Dante Dowdell as the likely 1/2 here in 2025.

||| WR

Here is the room that will need a complete makeover after six players have transferred out, including the clear top two with Dane Key (Nebraska) and Barion Brown (LSU) bolting. Ja’Mori Maclin and Fred Farrier II return but had just 27 catches between them. They hit the portal for some reinforcements, including Tru Edwards, a slot guy who put up big numbers at Louisiana Tech. They take shots on former big-time recruits who have battled injuries and depth ahead of them, namely Troy Stellato (Clemson) and Kendrick Law (Alabama). J.J. Hester comes in from Oklahoma and can be the field stretcher. If health cooperates, this room may just be okay.

||| TE

Josh Kattus and Jordan Dingle split snaps here and were ‘lunchpail’ type players. They showed up, did their work effectively enough but never went above-and-beyond. Kattus will return as Dingle transfers out to South Carolina. Expect to see big Willie Rodriguez, who got work as a true freshman, to step into that role Dingle leaves open and team up with Kattus to be solid, but unspectacular tight ends in ‘25.

||| OL

This was not a great group in 2024. Three starters graduate and three backups transfer out. That’s okay, Stoops wants a rebuild here anyway and by the look of the five commits coming in from the portal, they will be able to piece together a much improved group here. Jalen Farmer was a true sophomore and should continue to improve at one of the guard spots. Veteran Joshua Braun (Arkansas/Florida) comes in at the other guard position. C Evan Wimberly (WKU) and tackles Shiyazh Pete (New Mexico State) and Alex Wollschlaeger (Bowling Green) must level up their game, but have shown to be effective at the group of five level. Offensive line coach Eric Wolford must earn his stripes with this group.

DEFENSE: Brad White has been around and teamed up with Mark Stoops for a long time now. Seven years to be exact. The pair has put out some really impressive defensive units over that time. This is another feather in that cap. Given the challenges the offense had at extending any sort of sustained success, this group rallied to keep them in games and even win a couple of them (see: Ole Miss). Teams did find some success running the ball, which kept the clock moving. The pass defense put up solid per game numbers, but opponents were efficient with their throws and really didn’t need to go to it as much. They did fine limiting big, explosive plays, but were not elite at it. Finally, they stiffened in the red zone, allowing just a 48% touchdown rate for opponents who entered. Looking ahead to 2025, they are losing a lot in the front seven with the top nine players between the defensive line and linebacking corps leaving the program for different reasons. They certainly have addressed the defensive line openings, but as it stands, they are relying on some internal players to step up to fill the void at the linebacker position.

||| DL

The top four here, including the combination of Deone Walker and Tre’vonn Rybka, are out for 2025. Walker could be replaced internally by Josaih Hayes, who showed well in limited snaps at nose tackle. This group will be able to handle these losses due to a portal haul that brings in six transfers, headlined by Washington State DT David Gusta. Kameron Olds managed seven sacks for Kent State and will look to level-up and translate that success in the SEC. The dark horse candidate is FCS transfer Mi’Quise Grace, coming in from South Dakota where he got to the quarterback 11 times. This group should hold their own.

||| LB

This group is also losing their top five contributors from the past season. The glaring difference is that they don’t have anybody coming in via the portal. That said, this program has a long history of producing quality linebackers in-house. Daveren Rayner is not one of them as he came in from NIU and showed well in limited opportunities. He should take on a larger role. They have a good number of highly thought of youngsters ready to step up.

||| DB

A solid group here that went pretty deep. They are losing Maxwell Hairston to the NFL (early) and a couple of other impact players due to graduation. But, they do get a good amount back, including their top CB JQ Hardaway. Others should also step up into roles as is usually the case here. That includes increased roles for DJ Waller Jr. (former Michigan) and Terhyon Nichols. They should get this back to the same level if not improved for ‘25.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Place kicker Alex Raynor was really good. He hit 15/16, including 2/2 from beyond 50 yards. He graduates and they will either bring somebody in or hand it off to Jacob Kauwe, who was a 3-star recruit (which is saying something for a specialist) in the ‘24 class. Aidan Laros ended up handling a majority of the punting duties and was very good. He will return as the primary punter with Wilson Berry backing up. They will need to replace their top kick returners as Barion Brown and Demie Sumo-Karngbaye will not return. Ja’Mori Maclin does return as the top punt returner.

Reader feedback is requested and encouraged! Who knows these teams better than their passionate fan bases? We don’t pretend to know it all and would love your feedback. We will update/edit based (and credit) for anything that is brought to our attention. Let’s do this together…

|||||| TRANSFER PORTAL TRACKER

They are breaking even here in the portal, which at this point is considered a win. The aforementioned exodus from the wide receiver room is the most glaring, but they did a decent job of replenishing with some high-upside players really looking for an opportunity (and health). If they can get the max out of Kendrick Law (Alabama) and Troy Stellato (Clemson), this could be a non-story. They added a lot in the trenches with five offensive lineman and six defensive lineman coming in. This roster is going to look a lot different in 2025.

Below is a screen shot of the full, live Transfer Portal Tracker over at CFBDepth.com. Click the image or the button below to view it in its entirety…

Kentucky Portal Tracker >

|||||| 2025 RECRUITING CLASS

The focus on the ‘25 class, which isn’t jumping off the page as a very good one is focused on wide receivers and defensive backs. They are bringing in five pass catchers to try to replenish that room that was stripped for parts this off-season. Martels Carter Jr. and Andrew Purcell are four-star recruits in the secondary and are exciting prospects for the future. Overall, this is underwhelming, even for a program that never really expects top-25 classes. They believe in scouting/identifying talent and developing it. The problem is that they aren’t keeping them around as the retention rate (see portal tracker above) is not pretty.

Here is a snapshot of the 2025 Recruiting Class+ with a link to the live page with updates throughout the cycle

2025 Kentucky Recruiting Class+ >

|||||| 2025 SCHEDULE LOOK AHEAD

They get to see their former running back DeaMonte “Chip” Trayanum in week one as they take on Toledo to open the season. The Rockets will certainly come to play and it is a tempo-setting game for the Wildcats. They quickly turn and host Ole Miss, who has not forgotten the loss suffered in Oxford last year and will come ready, seeking revenge. They have a mini-gauntlet sandwiched between the byes with trips to Columbia (South Carolina) and Athens (Georgia). They get Texas and Tennessee off the bye and that’s one heckuva stretch. They finish up with road games at Vanderbilt and the rivalry game with Louisville. Another brutal slate.

There is a lot of movement and decisions to be made throughout the off-season, including more portal moves, winter workouts and spring ball. Get all caught up with the full-on State of the Chart Magazine coming in July. If you missed the ad before, get more information and give us your e-mail to stay in the loop on everything SOTC!

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