Despite December exodus, there are reasons for optimism for UK football’s wide receivers
It was difficult to find much to get excited about in the Kentucky football wide receiver room as the headlines kept piling up in December.
First, much-hyped position coach Daikiel Shorts left UK to reunite with his former college coach and Houston boss, Dana Holgorsen, at Nebraska despite a $500,000 buyout. Next, star receiver Dane Key entered the transfer portal, eventually deciding to follow Shorts to Nebraska. Key’s exit was followed by the news that Barion Brown, one of the best kickoff returners in SEC history and a receiver with game-breaking potential overshadowed by frustrating inconsistency, would enter the portal as well.
The departure of backup Anthony Brown-Stephens might not have been a big blow on paper since he caught just 10 passes in two seasons, but UK had used the star power of his Grammy-award winning uncle John Legend to help raise NIL funds last year. When freshman Hardley Gilmore, who UK coaches had hyped as a future star throughout 2024, entered the portal on the final day of the December window, the outlook for a passing attack that ranked 112th nationally in yards per game last season looked bleak despite the addition of former Texas A&M, Auburn and Incarnate Word quarterback Zach Calzada.
But as the spring semester began Monday, UK’s wide receivers room was in an unexpected position.
There suddenly were reasons for optimism.
One of the few bright spots in the December wide receiver purge was the announcement that senior Ja’Mori Maclin would use his 2020 COVID-19 pandemic waiver to return to UK for his final season of eligibility despite a frustrating debut season as a Wildcat. A former 1,000-yard receiver at North Texas, Maclin impressed down the stretch in 2024 when injuries to Brown and Key left the staff little option but to feature him in the game plan.
“You want kids that want to be here,” new wide receivers coach L’Damian Washington said of Maclin at his introductory news conference in December. “So with him returning back, I’m gonna give him everything that I got. Every kid in that room will get everything that I have to make sure that I’m putting them in positions to go succeed.”
When UK announced Washington’s hire on Dec. 17, the wide receiver depth had been decimated to such a point that Washington listed a walk-on who did not play in a single game last season alongside Maclin, Gilmore and senior Fred Farrier as returning players he was excited about coaching. It hasn’t taken long, though, for Mark Stoops’ newest assistant to make his presence felt in the roster building efforts.
Of the four transfer wide receivers signed by Kentucky in the last month, three have a prior connection to Washington. Oklahoma transfer J.J. Hester started his career at Missouri when UK offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan and Washington were on staff there, and Maclin also played for the Tigers. Alabama transfer Kendrick Law and Louisiana Tech transfer Tru Edwards both share Shreveport, Louisiana, as a hometown with Washington.
Add in Clemson transfer Troy Stellato and Kentucky should have six veteran wide receivers with varying degrees of college success available for spring practice without even having to count on the five high school signees to contribute as freshmen.
Despite catching just 13 passes on the season, Maclin actually led UK with four touchdown catches last year, all of which came in the final four games. Farrier, the former Franklin County High School star, proved to be a useful rotation piece after transferring from UAB with 13 catches for 126 yards. UK also returns sophomore David Washington, who caught one pass last season while primarily contributing on special teams.
Injuries held back Hester, Law and Stellato to varying degrees at their former schools, but all bring big-game experience from marquee programs to Lexington.
Hester showed the ability to stretch the field when healthy at Oklahoma. Law can contribute as a kickoff returner and looks like the type of talent Hamdan will try to get the ball in space through jet sweeps and screen passes. He also carried the reputation as an elite blocker at Alabama, which will help a UK offense expected to rely heavily on the rushing attack again. Stellato could carve out a role as a sure-handed slot receiver capable of extending drives.
The biggest transfer addition might have come Monday, though, with a commitment from Edwards, the son of former NFL wide receiver and 1998 Biletnikoff Award winner Troy Edwards. At Louisiana Tech last season, Edwards caught 84 passes for 986 yards and six touchdowns. His highlight reel shows off impressive elusiveness and acrobatic playmaking ability.
Like Calzada, Edwards will turn 24 this year. He hopes to use the court ruling that granted Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia an additional year of eligibility due to his time in junior college, but UK is still waiting for final word that Edwards can play in 2025. Assuming he is eventually declared eligible, Edwards looks like a guaranteed starter opposite Maclin.
Of course, many Kentucky fans will be understandably hesitant to buy into a new group of transfers saving the day after last year’s much-hyped transfer class proved to be a bust on the way to a 4-8 season. This group of wide receivers brings questions too, considering Kentucky was never going to be a realistic option for the top-ranked receivers in the portal due to its abysmal offensive showing last fall.
But it is also easy to imagine a scenario where a new set of receivers goes a long way to helping fix some of the culture issues UK coaches and players have alluded to in their breakdown of the 2024 failures. Having strong veteran leadership will be key in setting a tone for freshmen like 2024 Mr. Kentucky Football winner Montavin Quisenberry and four-star prospect D.J. Miller building the room for the future.
“My job right now for the room is that we’d be our best self,” Washington said. “Whatever that is, we have to be our best self. Right now, my job is to transform them to understand that everything that happens, they got to be mentally tough. They’ll go into a game and whether they get one target or 10, no matter what, we have to be having a mental ability to go in and execute and do our job.
“If we do our job, the University of Kentucky wins, and that’s the mindset that I have to bring to that room. No job is too big, no job is too small. We have to attack every day.”