How Kentucky football’s highly touted 2022 recruits are already backing up hype as freshmen
College football programs generally need years to evaluate the impact a single recruiting class actually has.
But less than a year after signing the program’s highest-ranked recruiting class in the recruiting website era, Mark Stoops can already rest assured Kentucky’s 2022 class is on its way to backing up the hype.
This week, 247Sports named three Wildcats to its Midseason Freshman All-American team. Only two other programs placed multiple players on the team.
Through seven games, eight different Kentucky freshmen have played in at least four games. Several of their classmates could see larger roles after the Wildcats’ bye week, but the four-game threshold to maintain a redshirt season must be considered.
Here is a closer look at the eight freshmen playing regularly for the Wildcats and what to expect from them in the second half.
DB Alex Afari
After impressing early in preseason camp, Afari wasted no time taking over as Kentucky’s primary nickel back. His role expanded at points in the first half with both outside linebackers J.J. Weaver and Jordan Wright missing time, necessitating the defense use an extra defensive back. Kentucky has played its base 3-4 defense more since Weaver returned from an injury, but Afari still started his third game of the season in the win over Mississippi State. He has totaled 18 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and one sack while appearing in all seven games.
“He’s getting it,” defensive coordinator Brad White said of Afari earlier this season. “Every week it’s a little bit better, things make a little more sense. Every week the more reps you play, the more mistakes that you can correct. The nice thing is he does a nice job of not tending to make the same mistake over and over.”
DB Kobi Albert
Albert is the only player on this list who has not burned his redshirt yet, but Stoops confirmed this week the safety would probably be used as a regular part of the rotation moving forward.
“Kobi is a guy that’s very athletic,” Stoops said. “Could be useful in a game like this (against Tennessee) as well because of his cover skills and the way he can run.”
In four games, Albert has yet to be credited with a tackle, but almost all his reps came on special teams or in blowouts before the last two weeks.
“Kobi has got so much athleticism,” defensive coordinator Brad White said this week. “He’s got quick twitch. He can close a lot of ground really fast. He’s an easy mover. He’ll come down and he’ll strike you. So, he’s got all the tools. Figuring out what to do is his biggest step. ... But when he does he’s going to be a really good player. We’re just trying to find ways to continue to bring him along in bits and pieces that he can feel like he understands and he can play confident.”
WR Barion Brown
One of Kentucky’s three Midseason Freshman All-Americans, Brown has already scored three touchdowns, including one on a kickoff return. He has caught 24 passes for 350 yards and two touchdowns. In recent weeks, offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello has made a concentrated effort to get Brown the ball in space and take advantage of his elite speed.
Filling in at punt returner with Tayvion Robinson out against Mississippi State, Brown had a return for a touchdown called back by a penalty.
“There was so much separation between where that block in the back happened — and it was a penalty,” Stoops said. “That’s on us. We teach that much better than that, about the angle to the punt returner, just shielding them. Barion has so much space right there, it’s very difficult for anybody to tackle him when he’s got 10 yards going and there’s a lot of open space. We’ve got to be smarter than that.”
OT Kiyaunta Goodwin
The highest-ranked prospect in Kentucky’s much-hyped 2022 class is actually the player on this list with the least amount of snaps. Goodwin has played in all seven games, ending any chance that he could redshirt, but almost all his snaps have come on the field goal unit.
“The big thing he has to work on is getting off on the snap count,” offensive line coach Zach Yenser recently said of Goodwin. “We talked about that in the spring. Just playing fast. When he knows what to do, he has a chance. I think he’s going to be able to help us, but he’s right there. You can see he’s getting extra work, and he knows what he has to work on.”
Given the struggles of Kentucky’s offensive line, it is easy to wonder if coaches should just give the former five-star recruit a chance to see if he could do any better in games, but Yenser explained that theory does not work in reality.
“It’s not that easy,” he said. “I wish it was, but it’s not a league, it’s not a position and you just go out and say as a five-star I can just go play. There’s a lot that goes into it. Kiyaunta has all the talent in the world. He knows it. He’s going to be a really good football player here, and he is a good football player. He just has to develop and he has to have time to develop and see it.”
TE Josh Kattus
Despite four returning scholarship tight ends ahead of him on the depth chart, Kattus played in six of seven games before the bye week. Quarterback Will Levis has yet to throw a pass his direction, but Kattus’s role has grown in recent weeks thanks to his reputation as a strong blocker and the need for the tight ends to help the offensive line more in pass protection and run blocking.
“Kattus played really well in this game,” Scangarello said of his Mississippi State performance. “It was his first time playing a lot of snaps. He’s a pest. I said it before, and he was a pest to them. We’re going to have to win some games down in the trenches like that.”
WR Dane Key
Another midseason All-American according to 247Sports, Key has caught 20 passes for 322 yards and three touchdowns. He has started six of seven games.
After catching 13 passes in the first three games, Key has tallied seven receptions in the last four without a touchdown. Some of the decrease in production is a result of more attention from defenses. The growing emphasis on getting Brown the ball on screens has contributed as well.
Still, the former Frederick Douglass star reminded fans of his impact with a highlight reel catch for 31 yards against Mississippi State.
“In live action from my vantage point I didn’t even know if it was possible for him to make that catch,” Stoops said. “But looking at it on film, certainly did. It was a big-time play.
“You just never know when your opportunities are going to come. On that particular play, he didn’t know he was going to get the ball and had a huge play. You just don’t know. As these games get tougher and we’re trying to be balanced and move the ball around, you don’t know who’s going to get the most targets or the most catches.”
OLB Keaten Wade
Like Afari, Wade’s role has shrunk some since Weaver returned from a two-game absence, but the early snaps he played when one of the starting outside linebackers was out should pay dividends when he is needed in the second half. Wade has appeared in every game, totaling 13 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.
“I think it helps him from a confidence standpoint to bank those reps because he’s at his best when he believes sort of what he’s doing is right,” White said. “He’s such a great young man in that regard. It reminds me of sort of a young Josh Paschal in that he always wants to do the right thing.
“At some point, once Josh was settled into the system, I would tell Josh sometimes it’s OK to cut loose and go be a football player. You don’t always just have to do the paper X’s and O’s, you’re exactly right here. If the ball is inside, tear off a guy and go make a play.”
DT Deone Walker
The Wildcats’ final Midseason Freshman All-American, Walker might not get the attention of the two receivers, but he arguably had the best first half of Kentucky’s freshmen. The box score lists 17 tackles, two tackles for loss, two pass breakups and two quarterback hurries for Walker, but his impact has been even bigger as the defensive lineman most consistently wreaking havoc on blockers.
Against Mississippi State, Kentucky even used some formations where the 6-foot-6, 330-pound tackle was the only lineman on the field.
“I think the thing that stands out is Deone is a small house,” White said. “That’s part of what we have in our package. But he gives you the ability to do it. A lot of times you don’t see guys that big in that spot. You see smaller bodies that move around. He’s so athletic for a guy his size that he can get into those situations and he can play.”
Next game
No. 19 Kentucky at No. 3 Tennessee
When: Oct. 29, 7 p.m.
TV: ESPN
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Kentucky 5-2 (2-2 SEC), Tennessee 6-0 (3-0)
Series: Tennessee leads 82-26-9
Last meeting: Tennessee won 45-42 on Nov. 6, 2021, in Lexington.
This story was originally published October 21, 2022 at 6:45 AM.