Ty Bryant celebrated after an interception -- one of four he had last season to lead the Southeastern Conference. (Vicky Graff Photo)
He’s had plenty of opportunities to leave Kentucky for other programs that have won a lot more games the last two seasons and were willing to make it well worth his while to transfer.
However, Kentucky safety Ty Bryant, a Lexington native, apparently has decided what new coach Will Stein and new defensive coordinator Jay Blakeman have told him has convinced him to play his senior season with the Wildcats according to several sources.
He was named to the Coaches All-Southeastern Conference Second Team after leading UK in tackles with 76 in 12 games last season. He also led the SEC in interceptions with four and ranked 24th nationally. He also finished the year with a team-high seven punt returns for 36 yards.
In Kentucky’s conference opener against Ole Miss, Bryant picked off two Austin Simmons’ throws to become the first UK player to have two interceptions in an SEC home game since Anthony Wajda in 1999 against. LSU. Bryant got his third interception of the season in the win over Florida. His fourth pick came at No. 12/ Vanderbilt off Heisman Trophy finalist Diego Pavia.
In his three-year career, Bryant has 162 tackles, including 4.0 tackles for loss. He also has five career interceptions, two pass breakups and two forced fumbles.
Bryant’s agent received a lot of interest from LSU and new coach Lane Kiffin — who watched Bryant pick off those two passes against his Ole Miss team in September.
Ohio State, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Georgia and Alabama all also reportedly made serious inquiries with Bryant’s agent about having Bryant play for them. Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell made a big attempt to sign Bryant when he was coaching at Cincinnati .
Bryant is a team leader and was one of four team captains for three games last season. He’s also part of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council.
He has played in all 37 games he’s been at Kentucky. He was sixth on the team in tackles with 41 in 2024 and had six tackles against No. 1 Georgia. He had seven tackles against Tennessee and eight against Texas. He got his first UK interception against Carolina.
As a true freshman in 2023, he had 12 tackles against Tennessee and followed that with eight tackles against Mississippi State and then eight against Alabama. Those were the only three games he started — for reasons I still don’t understand — and he had 28 tackles in those games only to play a combined 50 snaps in the next thee games
Former Kentucky coach Mark Stoops and defensive coordinator Brad White never had to worry about Bryant’s effort. During the 2024 season when numerous players did not play with their best effort the second half of the season Bryant was one of UK’s best players.
He had chances to transfer but opted to stay at UK. However, while he was not looking for only a big payday for his senior season, he did feel he should keep his options open and for the first time Bryant and his family hired an agent.
Bateman, the former Texas A&M defensive coordinator, impressed Bryant and his family when he met with them from what I was told. Stein almost made it clear to Bryant and his family that he did not want the standout safety to leave Kentucky where his father, Cisco Bryant, was a receiver for coach Jerry Claiborne.
Almost as soon as Stein was hired, former UK player Jeff Piecoro, the UK Radio Network analyst, said he thought Stein’s priorities should be retaining quarterback Cutter Boley and Bryant, both Lexington high school products. Piecoro understood what both meant to the team and what they would mean to a lot of other schools if they entered the transfer portal.
Southeastern Conference coaches value what both Bryant and Boley did at UK last season. I don’t think either player has been chasing money. Instead, they are looking for respect and plenty of SEC coaches have indicated to their agents they would be valued if they did enter the transfer portal.
Stein and Bates obviously have made sure Bryant knows how much they respect him and want him at UK and that’s why he’s staying from what sources close to the team have told me.
16 Responses
He won’t be limited to 50 snaps in any 3 game stretch now that UK has a competent HC & OC. Hopefully, the highest quality players will all stay at UK and snuff out the loser locker room attitude. Boley has the chance to maximize his potential with new coaches. He is obviously the key offensive player needed. Grear to have Bryant (& his family) content to stay at UK after suffering through some very bad seasons.
This is the biggest announcement on the team. I would love to had Boley back but I think finding a great QB here will be a thing of the past. Bryant has been the best in the secondary over the last couple of years. If he even improves just a little bit the sky is the limit. He could lead the team again in tackles and ints next year. 80+ tackles 4-5+ints will promise him a 2-3 round draft choice next year. He can even play himself into the first round. Yes Hairston and Bryant play different positions but Bryant is on another level in tackling than Hairston and I think he has better instincts. Bryant with a big season next year could be a late first round pick. He instantly becomes one of the best safeties not only in the SEC but in all of college football next season
He has a chance to pick up some hardware. Way to break the story Larry! Now we need some other key defensive studs to come back. I would love to see Humphrey Grace, Green, Works, Godfrey, Nichols, Waller, and Scott to all follow suit on the defense. Whatever happened to Brian Robinson he was supposed to be a stud but hasnt seen the field in his first two seasons. I think he might transfer. Now if we can get Rodriguez, Dowdell, Patterson, Gilmore, DJ Miller, Cam Miller, Strey, Selm, Wood, and Wibberly along with Boley we will be cooking with some grease.
I'm glad that a Ky guy decided to stick around and help his team move forward. Not look around for greener pastures like others. Let's say Travis Perry. A guy that left because he felt entitled to more. Now at Ole Miss averaging 6pts, 1ast, and 1reb while playing 17 min per game. He will likely be looking for another pasture after this year.
I do not think Travis felt entitled. He knew he would not even be playing 17 minutes per game at UK
Exactly right, Larry V. Thanks for expressing clarity.
Entitled olayera spew a lot of negative comments. Travis never had a negative word about UK or teammates. He complimented several for their mentorship in helping him adapt to college ball.
No clarity. Just an opinion.
Larry he would have played with the injury to Lowe. But at 6pts and 1ast average, I guess he really wouldn't help. I see him being on a lower tier program next year.
Travis will always have some haters, but he has now us time to adapt to the players & coach @ Ole Miss, with very good results. His desire was to wear UK in his jersey for 4 years but not to just sit on the bench behind transfers year after year.
Travis Perry started 4 of 5 games in Dec 2025.
In his last 2 games, he is 7-14 from 3 and
had a 4:2 A:TO & SIX steals!
He has started to display his skills with confidence as shown in his most recent game.
21 pts in 33 min Dec 21
FG 7-13 @ 53.8%
3 Pt 5-11 @ 45.4%
FT 2-2 @ 100%
A:TO 2:2
Steals 4
(A+St+Blk):TO 6:2
#1 for Ole Miss in Pts, Mins,
3’s, Steals & Tied for 2nd in A
The game before that he was very efficient!
7 pts in 23 min Dec 17
FG 2-3 @ 67%
3 Pt 2-3 @ 67%
A:TO 2:0
Steals 2
(A+St+Blk):TO 4:0
Go LB!!
I thought that maybe Stein would have had a couple of guys want to follow him to UK, and it may still happen, but Eugene is a tough place to leave. I lived there a couple of yrs while Mr. Brooks was coaching.
How is the city of Eugene I heard it's the perfect college town.
I would say that it did meet that reputation. It was good for fishing and recreation in general. We would head for the Oregon coast for our get-a-ways. The only downside was that it did rain a lot, but we adjusted well to that.
Travis Perry is a legend on KY HS BB and has made giant strides the last few gwmes at Ole Miss, where he as started some games and begun to sink 3’s and contribute with assists & steals, having one of the 3 highest +/- ratings on the team in recent games. It has taken some time to adjust to a new team, new teammates & a new coach.
It is not reasonable to try to put down Travis Perry because he left UK which has u fortunately been on a rudderless path since the first 10 games in 2024. This season, UK had one strong exhibition game and then quickly became a group of individuals. Time will tell if there is any hope that this group of individuals, with locker room issues causing infighting – sleeping with girlfriends of teammates & other such immoral activity. Drinking into the late hours the night before road games is yet another major downfall of some of the players who should be kicked off the team.
I believe some of the locker room bickering has had a negative impact on Noah & Chandler, and those are the 2 guys who could provide consistent long range shooting IF others shared the ball MORE.
Perry is improving with very good stats recently. Anyone can find certain stats & games to try to tear down any player, but it is beyond sad to attack Kentucky natives because they want to play team ball and not sit on the UK bench while a bunch of players with zero interest in UK and not enough integrity to stay sober & get plenty of rest the night before a game vs Gonzaga or in a game in NYC are getting the minutes while UK is pulverized on National TV.
UK players were intensely playing Cosch Pope TEAM 1st Ball for 7 or so games after showcasing potential in exhibition games, but finished 13-11 because selfish desires to be a star ruined the chemistry in 2024-25.
This season, any hope of building team chemistry will depend on JQ & Lowe getting healthy & playing well with Noah, Moreno, Chandler, Dioubate & Garrisom – who are the players with the highest ANE values thsi seaosn, the other players have very low ANE values because they have not played genuine TEAM 1st ball. Those values tell the tale!
I’m hoping to see these players just mentioned get 35 minutes combined per game since they show genuine play FOR UK!!
I hope Travis Perry comes back his senior year.
Grear idea, WildWest! Me, too. Even next year!
Convincing Bryant to stay was a big win for Kentucky and the new coaching staff.