Will Stein had to be pumped after signing Louisiana four-star receiver Kenny Darby Friday. (Keith Taylor/Kentucky Today Photo)
It didn’t take new Kentucky football coach Will Stein long to get his first major recruiting win.
Former LSU commit Kenny Darby, one of the nation’s top high school receivers, decommitted from LSU and new coach Lane Kiffin on Tuesday. Two days later Kentucky added former LSU offensive coordinator Joe Sloan, the coach Darby expected to be playing for, to its coaching staff. Friday Darby committed to UK.
Why is Darby so highly ranked? He had 100 catches for 1,754 yards and 24 touchdowns in 2024 as a junior. His senior season he came back with 83 catches for 1,124 yards and eight touchdowns. That’s almost 2,900 receiving yards and 32 scores in two seasons.
He was an unranked national prospect as a junior but is now a top 200 national recruit and No. 30 overall receiver in the nation in the Rivals.com rankings.
“The biggest reason I picked Kentucky is because I wanna start my own trend,” Darby told Rivals Friday. “I wanna be a part of something big. Obviously, they have a new coaching staff and I wanna be a part of that with coach Sloan.”
He could make a future dynamic duo with another 2026 signee, Cincinnati quarterback Matt Ponatoski who kept his commitment to UK after Stein was hired.
Kentucky will definitely lose receivers Kendrick Law, Ja’Mori Maclin, Fred Farrier and J.J. Hester — they are all out of eligibility. Freshmen DJ Miller and Cam Miller — no relation — certainly figure to be prime targets next year if they stay at UK along with sophomore Hardley Gilmore. However, there’s a clear path for a big-time receiver like Darby to play often next season.
Sloan was the LSU quarterback coach in 2023 when quarterback Jayden Daniels won the Heisman Trophy. His first season as LSU offensive coordinator was 2024 when LSU averaged 431.5 yards per game but the offense struggled last season and Sloan was fired along with head coach Brian Kelly.
Sloan was the lead recruiter on 10 four-star signees in four years at LSU and all but one were Louisiana high school players. Sloan has coached in Louisiana since 2013, including time at Louisiana Tech before he came to LSU.
One Response
A new assistant coach immediately helps land an outstanding receiver – that is an excellent beginning!