Wan'Dale Robison, left, and Will Levis were two transfer portal success stories for UK.
Free agency is not going away in college athletics.
Sure, it’s called the transfer portal and NIL money but the bottom line is that every major college athlete can make his or her best deal every year with the team they are on or transfer to another school seeking a better deal.
Kentucky hit the jackpot with quarterback Will Levis, receiver Wan’Dale Robinson and running back Ray Davis. Linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson has been good this season.
But the money has not helped a lot this year for UK because the Cats are 4-6 going into Saturday’s game at Texas and could easily end the year 4-8.
Stoops has been frustrated with the amount of time he has to spend fundraising instead of coaching but also knows he has to successfully hit the transfer portal this offseason and invest UK’s NIL money wisely as other teams have done.
Oregon is ranked No. 1 and Stoops knows Oregon has used the portal to its advantage from what he’s been told.
“How we address that is by recruiting and developing the young players we have on our roster that we feel are getting better and better and are working really hard,” Stoops said during his call-in radio show Monday when asked about improving the offensive line. “We have the portal now.
“You have free agency to plug in a guy here or there. I didn’t follow up with this, I don’t even have any social media, so I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I know at one point in time, Oregon had 14 portal guys starting for ’em.
“The reason I say that is they recruit like crazy out of high school. They have a damn good coach, they have great recruiting, they have great support with Uncle Phil (Knight of Nike) there, all that, but the No. 1 team in the country has 14 portal players on it. That kind of stunned me.”
Kentucky plays at No. 3 Texas Saturday and the Longhorns have also used the portal to their advantage.
“I look at Texas, their two top receivers both just transferred in,” Stoops said on the radio show. “That’s a team that recruits at a crazy high level and has so much talent in their own state, so much tradition in Texas. But yet, their two top guys — and they have more.
“They have a couple that they recruited, they have one incredible young freshman that’s really going to be dynamic, but two big-time players are portal players for them. They had some D-linemen last year that were drafted into the NFL, then replaced them with some portal guys?”
That’s why as much as Stoops might not like it, he knows it takes even more money to rebuild.
“It’s just part of college football. Now, we’ve got to continue to build it with a foundation of high school recruiting and recruiting and developing those guys, but you’ve got to supplement it with the transfer portal,” Stoops said.
‘That’s the area where I have to and we have to do a better job. I don’t want to get into it, I don’t want to whine about it, don’t want to cry, but I’ve been busting my tail trying to raise money, you know? Again, I don’t want to cry. It’s just — that’s what it takes, period. The end. Like, you’ve got to have it.”
8 Responses
If this is true let me ask everyone a question?! Why is teams like BYU and Army and Vanderbilt and Boise State and Indiana who get way less nil money than we do thriving now? If Nil money was the reason for our demise why are these teams doing great with less nil money? Stop making excuses Stoops and do your job. You are being out coached is all it clearly boils down too. Nil money is the reason that a experienced line can’t block? Nil money is the reason we got shredded by Vanderbilt Auburn and Florida even tho we have a better roster? Going into the year I didn’t hear anyone complaining until we started losing. This had been stoops excuse for bad coaching and bad conditioning. Quit whining and start coaching. You make 9 million a year to lose to Vanderbilt and Auburn at home!? Maybe your the problem Mark Stoops. Maybe you need to start taking accountability some more and then maybe your team will do the same. The team is a reflection of the coach and all he does is give excuses. Its pathetic.
BYU, Army, Boise St., play nobody’s. Vanderbilt is a fluke. Indiana hasn’t played anyone with a winning record. We will see how they do against Ohio St.
Jimmy, you are right about BYU, Army, and Boise State. Vanderbilt was not a fluke, They recruited a decent quarterback and played good enough to expose fraud teams like us and Auburn, and Virginia Tech. The Alabama win could be called a fluke, but they almost beat Texas too. I think you are right about Indiana, but that is the scary thing about college football. With a 12 game schedule all it takes is a fluke team to get lucky and hang an L on you and you are out of the playoff picture. Going to a 12 game playoff was a good move, but it doesn’t guarantee that the best team will be crowned the national champion. The 72 team NCAA tourney is proof of that more often than not. As for Kentucky football, I think Stoops has hit his ceiling here. I think he knows it too. That is why he was so anxious to land the A&M job. Who can we get that will be better…I don’t know, but for $9 million I think there will be interest in the job if Stoops leaves one way or the other.
I tell u a win that was a COMPLETE FLUKE: KY winning at Ole Miss 20-17 by going for it on a play that we would fail at 9 times out of 10—but that was the one time where we succeeded with it—and got lucky as hell to win a game we had no business winning as a result of it.
He should have used Chip at linebacker and put Gavin at tight end. He should have also started Anthony Brown Stephens over Maclin. Maclin cannot get open in the slot to.save his life. The slot is supposed to be easier to get open because you are usually going up against safeties. I think Brown Stephens runs way better routes than Maclin does. Yes he’s had a couple of one handed catches but he’s played twice as much. I don’t know if its that he’s not fast enough which I find hard to believe with his size he should be a lightning bolt. Really Barion Brown should be the slot receiver. He’s the fastest player on the team. He shouldn’t be a wide out. He should definitely be a slot receiver but the problem is he has trouble catching the ball over the middle. I think Gilmore is a better receiver than Brown and if he comes back next year Gilmore might take his starting spot. Depending on what Key does. I think everyone needs to come back another year. Hairston and Walker are really the only 2 guys that should leave early and really if they would come back for one more year we could have the year next year that we thought we would have this year. If everyone came back we could be a preseason top 20 team with playoff hopes. I thought we would be close this year but we need to hit the reset button on the offensive line. But like everyone else I thought the o line would be a strength of this team with all the experience but it shows these guys are never going to be very good on the line so its time for the next chapter.
It’s really simple. It’s all about the money. Look at the Economic level around the schools that do well in the portal and the ones that do not. Ky (Lexington) simply does not have enough spendable money to pay for players as compared to say, Ohio State, Penn State, Oregon, GA, etc. Look at Where KY compares, economically, to the rest of the country and where the schools are doing well in the portal. KY simply isn’t in the same league. Not a criticism, just a fact.
R John – so true. I’ve said all along it’s a numbers game. Population, number of billionaire and millionaire alums and historic interest in the program. There will be yearly surprises ie. IU & Vandy but their coaches will leave for greener pastures.
I said last summer I’d take 6 or 7 wins and possible bowl victory. I’m not
Carnac but I can read a schedule.
Also, we’re in an untenable position with current staff – think for a moment how many quality players could be paid with the “buy out” 💰 money. $50M.
Saban didn’t like the “new world” so he just quit. Hmmmmm.
Paul. You are absolutely correct with the numbers but, as of this date, universities cannot pay players so Stoops salary does not factor in. It’s how much money the collective has to spend. That comes from the economy at large.
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