Kentucky football program loses a former four-star player to the transfer portal
University of Kentucky kicker Grant McKinniss has entered the transfer portal.
Justin Rowland of Rivals.com first reported the McKinniss transfer. A University of Kentucky spokesperson confirmed to the Herald-Leader that McKinniss has entered the portal.
The senior will have one year of eligibility remaining wherever he transfers, and will be able to play right away as a graduate student.
McKinniss, a native of Findlay, Ohio, was considered a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 4 punter in the nation coming out of high school. As a true freshman he was a nominee for the Ray Guy Award, given annually to the nation’s top punter, after averaging 39.2 yards per punt, the third-best mark among SEC freshman punters. He was redshirted in 2017 but handed off punting responsibilities to Max Duffy in 2018 and last season, following which Duffy won the Ray Guy Award.
McKinniss in 2018 and 2019 still handled kickoffs for the Wildcats. In both seasons, his kickoffs resulted in touchbacks 61.7 percent of the time, and his 48 touchbacks in 2019 ranked 22nd among all FBS kickers. He also was the holder on UK’s field-goal attempts in 2019.
Duffy, who to this point has only punted, is entering his final season at UK. Chance Poore, a redshirt sophomore, is Kentucky’s only other kicker on scholarship and began last season at its starting kicker, but he eventually lost that position to walk-on Matt Ruffolo, who also is entering his final year on campus.
Kentucky has three additional walk-on kickers and punters: sophomores Sam Babbush and Lance Butler, and senior Colin Goodfellow.
This story was originally published June 12, 2020 at 11:36 AM.
