Offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan should be smiling after getting a commitment from four-star quarterback Matt Ponatoski. (Vicky Graff Photo)
It won’t impact the 2025 season but it is a definite boost for the Kentucky football fanbase that Cincinnati (Ohio) Archbishop Moeller two-sport star Matt Ponatoski committed to UK for both baseball and football.
He is a top 300 prospect nationally in the 2026 recruiting class and 21st-ranked quarterback by the 247Sports Composite. On3.com ranks him as the nation’s ninth best quarterback in his recruiting class.
He had narrowed his college options to Alabama, Arkansas, Oregon and Kentucky.
The 6-foot-1, 195-pound Ponatoski was the 2024 Ohio Mr. Football, Gatorade Ohio Player of the Year and MaxPreps Ohio Player of the Year. He completed 282 of 406 passes for 3,456 yards and 57 touchdowns with just three interceptions for Moeller (14-2) last season.
As good as Ponatoski, who turned 17 in March, is in football, he might be even better in baseball. He is ranked as the No. 16 high school baseball prospect in the 2026 class by Baseball America and the No. 1 recruit in Ohio by Prep Baseball — and he plans to play both sports at Kentucky. He hit .440 last season with four home runs, seven doubles, one triple and 38 runs batted in.
He won the Gatorade Ohio High School Baseball Player of the Year award as a shortstop and pitcher this year to become the first Ohio athlete not only to win both Gatorade awards in the same year but first to win both at any time in their prep career.
Ponatoski made national headlines with his performance at the recent Elite 11 Finals at Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach, Calif.
9 Responses
We need some new talent. In a recent ranking of SEC quarterbacks Calzada was no. 16. Not a good omen for a season in which Stoops HAS to go to a bowl or bow out. After a year under Stoops, Ponatoski most likely will transfer or opt for baseball only.
You can't put any weight in what some assumes. Calzada will be a top 5 QB in the sec this year. In 2021 he was already a pretty good QB in the sec. This is 4 years later. He hasn't been sitting behind anyone either he set records at incarnate word were Cam Ward also played who was just the first pick in the draft. If Calzada was playing for Florida you would hear how much better he is since the last time he played in the sec. He will be 25 years old when we start playing games. He will be the first QB to throw for over 3,,000 yards in the Stoops era. As much as I hate to say this I think he saves Mark Stoops head. Because this is a make or break year for Kentucky. Nobody even thinks we will make a bowl game. We will prove everyone wrong. Last year everyone said we would be a playoff contender and we would have our best season ever and had our second worst season under Stoops. These same people that are saying 3-9 or 4-8 was saying 10-2 or 9-3 last year. Like I said talk has no weight and Kentucky will prove everyone wrong this year and ruin some teams playoff hopes. 6-6 is the floor with 8-4 being the ceiling and South Carolina will be the game that dictates our season. That game is usually the difference of us being good or not too good. When we beat South Carolina we always have a great season. When we lose we usually don't. It's going to be very hard to beat south Carolina at south Carolina but I think we do. I think we have alot of ints that game and our secondary wins the game for us. I also think we beat Tennessee this year. We have a better QB than Tennessee.
Seems like recruiting has taken off after the dog left for Loserville.
Vince Marrow leaving has been great for both sides. Yes Strickland did flip but we hit the jackpot even harder by landing ponatoski. If we can keep him around more than 2 years, he will be the future of Kentucky football. Calzada will be the first QB to throw for over 3,000 yards in the Stoops era if he doesn’t get injured. Cutter should also be ready to go in 2026. He should see some time this year in blowouts. If he isn’t ready in 2026, they might go with a redshirt freshman named Stone Saunders. He’s a winner. Reminds me of Diego Pavia. He’s electric when the lights come on. I just hope Stoops doesn’t bring in another transfer portal QB in 2026. Calzada will end up saving Mark Stoops his job for at least another year. While making the buyout around 22 million. I think Calzada also throws for 28-32 touchdown passes and around 6-8 ints. He’s not scared to pull the trigger and he’s very accurate throwing the ball down the field. I expect alot more big plays this year. We have some home run threats this year. Mark Stoops has something to prove. Nobody thinks we have a chance and this is where Stoops thrives. Our offensive line is going to be a strength of this team and our defense is going to cause a ton of turnovers. With Hardaway, Waller, Lovett, and Bryant we have a elite secondary that will be ball hawks. Our linebackers are much smaller this year and much faster. We should be excellent on third down getting the defense a rest and the offense more opportunities to score. You know I have my predictions. The South Carolina game will be the difference in our season. Win that game and I can see 8-9 wins. Lose that game and I see us having a 6-6 type of season. We will win a couple of games we are not supposed to win. We will have a balanced attack on offense. Dowdell 750-900 yards Wilcox 500-800 yards McGowan 400-600 yards. Patterson 200-300 yards. Law will lead us in receiving yards and Stellato will lead us in receptions and possibly touchdown receptions. I just hope Kattus has a good year. This will be his fourth year playing so he has a ton of experience.
If Ponatoski has the same kind of stats this year as last, I doubt very much you will see him in a UK uniform because the big boys will be coming with an open checkbook.
I hope UK has a good year, but Stoops will not bring in a backup QB during a blowout. If he does, it will only be the last series of the game. He never does and that is a lot of his problem in not being able to develop QBs. When it comes to QBs, Stoops is always looking in someone else’s pasture because he doesn’t trust "his" unknown talent. Since his backups never get a chance, players from other schools always look better because they have film.
Without an injury to the QB, I will be surprised if we ever see Boley on the UK field again and I doubt Sanders will ever take a snap at UK.
He had offers from Alabama, Oregon, Michigan, Texas A&M, and Ohio St. among others. That is some "Big Boy" offers.
I agree. If he wanted to take that route he could have already taken it. Usually players don’t take it because its not offered. Just about every college team would love to have this kid. I don’t think they would want him playing 2 sports. But he could go anywhere for football or baseball.
Stoops reminds me of a cheating boyfriend/husband. Texas A&M rejected his advances. After last years disaster, he’s lost weight and got in shape. He’s on his way out and trying to look good for the next school.
Win 5 games and he’s going somewhere with a bunch of $.Win 4 games and he’s going anyway.
Lmao hahahahaha. That's hilarious! He has lost alot of weight. He's chasing after those college girls with his bourbon bottle in his hand. Lol