Kentucky coach Will Stein wants to build his team around "homegrown talent" going forward. (Colby Vaught Photo)
Will Stein’s first roster at Kentucky is nearly intact.
The first-year Wildcats’ coach is eager to focus solely on Kentucky after he helped lead Oregon to the national semifinals. Stein said he feels “really good with where we’re at” during a press conference Monday at Kroger Field.
“We were strongly resourced to make sure that we got the right players,” he said. “We’re still pushing the envelope there, but we have fielded a team I believe that can go out there and compete immediately. It really starts with depth, that’s the key part in college football.”
Stein credited general manager Pat Biondo and assistant Pete Notchta for filling the void while he finished out his term as Oregon’s offensive coordinator.
“Those guys really spearheaded building this roster, along with me,” Stein said. “I like where we stand right now.”
The Wildcats focused on rebuilding and fine-tuning the offensive line, a component that Stein considers beneficial especially during the latter part of the season.
“That was a major, major thing,” Stein said. “The teams that win in November, December, January, (are good) in the trenches. So, making sure that we are solidifying the offensive line was a major piece to this puzzle.”
The Wildcats added Notre Dame transfer quarterback Kenny Minchey along with veteran running backs CJ Baxter (Texas) and Jovantae Barnes (Oklahoma), coupled with the addition of former Oklahoma and LSU wide receiver Nic Anderson.
A former signal caller himself, Stein likes what Minchey brings to his offensive system.
“(He’s) extremely accurate (and) he’s got great athleticism,” he said. “Think when you talk to him and you guys meet him, he is a phenomenal person, very smart. We did our background on him, everybody we talked to, even guys on that staff, felt like they still would have won 10 games with Kenny out there playing quarterback … I feel like he’s got a really high upside in this game and he’s somebody that I was really excited to get.”
Minchey will get the early nod to replace Cutter Boley, who entered the transfer portal late and transferred to Arizona State.
“I wish him nothing but the best,” Stein said. “No. 1, (he’s a) great person. Obviously (we) recruited him prior to Oregon. There’s some things that are out of our control and felt like we put a really good plan together in place and it just didn’t work out. There is nothing wrong with that. I’m really excited about what he does at his next spot, his next venture … I just think he’s a great person.”
Stein’s first recruiting class, a mixture of transfers and newcomers, features 10 players from Texas, seven from Georgia and five from Florida and three from Kentucky. Stein’s overall philosophy is to recruit the home state first for the best talent.
‘The best way that we’re going to move forward is really starting inside the state of Kentucky — it has to,” Stein said. “In this next class, there’s a lot of really good talent in the state right now, a lot. When I’ve seen Kentucky at its best, it’s homegrown talent. That’s where you got to start.”
However, Stein added the Wildcats will do whatever it takes to recruit the best players to fit the system.
“(After that) then you look at really the five-, six-hour radius around us, Nashville, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Chicago, Detroit. I’m even going to Charlotte, Atlanta, those are the cities that you really want to hone in on, even St Louis.
“This is a national brand — the University of Kentucky. This logo holds weight. This is where you can use your resources and your relationships that you built, maybe prior to going to a state like Texas, to really dive into South Florida, even the DMV area, to use those connections to acquire players that want to be here. We’ll go wherever.”
3 Responses
Indiana goes 17-0 and wins a national title! Who would have thought that would ever happen? Maybe there is still hope for the football Wildcats after all now that we have a new coach.
All it takes is the right portal class and anyone can have a great year. As long as the players gel. Want to work together and get better and share a common bond which should be winning anything is possible. This is all a new age of football but really it makes it where anyone can win the championship. I was getting tired of Georgia and Alabama and Clemson. If you noticed all 3 of those schools didn't even make it to the final 4. If there was no transfer portal, they would keep stacking top recruiting classes and make it almost impossible for other teams to make a playoff run. With the team we have this year on paper they can play with anyone. Minchey is a great QB who could start for 90% of the teams in college football this year. We have a great offensive line and with that anything is possible. Our defense is elite which should make it harder for teams to score on us. People tend to think Stein loves to throw the ball like Hal Mumme but that's not true. His teams are usually very balanced with the run and pass. He calls his plays to his personnel. I do know this expect all the running backs to tote the football this year. He usually plays 1-4 strings at running back. So even if your a third or 4th stringer be ready your time will come. He loves to rotate bodies and keep fresh legs on the field. No more running someone 4-5 times in a row. A running back in his offense rarely even runs back to back plays. I remember Stoops would run McGowan sometimes 5-6 plays in a row. By the third run you could see his power and speed reduce each time. Stein won't do this he will have a fresh back in running the ball. Barnes and Baxter will probably get 80% of the carries with Patterson probably receiving about 10-20% of the carries. Barnes is a senior and Baxter is a junior. Patterson will be a sophomore. I don't think there is a clear #1 running back. It will definitely be by committee which nowadays coaches like to spread the ball around more than having just one guy. Thats also because there are more injuries nowadays than ever before. You would think with all the restrictions on hitting and how they protect the players nowadays that there wouldn't be as many injuries. But injuries are actually up 50% over the last 3 years. Which is absolutely crazy. But it also shows when guys are getting paid they take way less risk.
With 9 SEC games I think depth will be very important factor – probably THE MOST.
If our high priced OL holds
up we may make some noise – if a couple go down you can stick a fork in us !
I think next year you can have 100 scholarship players ( is this correct ? )
Last 20 will have to be transfers from Centre, Cumberland and the little Sisters of the Poor .
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