After being overlooked in high school, former Dixie Heights star has earned chance at UK
Among the 20 transfers welcomed to campus this spring by the UK football program, only one is a Kentucky native.
But it would be incorrect to assume former Dixie Heights High School offensive lineman Evan Wibberley has achieved a childhood dream of playing for his home-state school. Living in Northern Kentucky, Wibberley actually grew up a Cincinnati fan.
He had never even visited UK’s campus before entering the transfer portal after three seasons at Western Kentucky in December.
“I thought I was going to be a Bearcat,” Wibberley said. “Kind of all the way up until my senior year, big UC fan. And then I was like, hey, I’m actually good at this thing, football. I want to see what opportunities would be out there for me if I tried to go to the next level.
“UC, they never ended up offering me. But that doesn’t mean that was the right school for me, or the right fit or anything. … I think at the end of the day, UK was the best place for me, and when it just so happened to be that I was from Northern Kentucky, it was just kind of an added bonus.”
As Kentucky coaches set out to rebuild a struggling offensive line in December, it quickly became apparent that Wibberley was the top target to replace Eli Cox at center.
The fact that he had impressed enough after starting just one season at WKU to earn that distinction represented a surprising rise to prominence for a former three-star high school recruit who did not land a UK scholarship offer while at Dixie Heights. The 247Sports Composite ranked him as the No. 17 prospect in Kentucky’s 2022 high school class despite the state not being known for producing a large number of high-level players each season.
No Power Four conference program offered him a scholarship in high school, and he did not even assume a full-time starting job at WKU until his third year in the program. Wibberley never even attended one of the summer camps hosted by UK frequented by high school recruits around the state looking to earn scholarship offers.
“Obviously, I thought he was well-coached at Western Kentucky,” UK offensive line coach Eric Wolford said. “I think he did a good job of developing. You see it time and time again. A lot of kids when they turn 20, 21, their bodies really start changing. That’s part of the process of player development.”
Wibberley’s senior season at Dixie Heights coincided with Wolford’s previous stint as Kentucky’s offensive line coach in 2021. Kentucky signed three high school offensive linemen in that class (Kiyaunta Goodwin, Nik Hall and Grant Bingham). None of the three played significant snaps for the Wildcats before leaving the team due to injury or transfer.
Failing to land any impact linemen in the 2022 high school class contributed to the downturn in form for UK’s offensive line in recent years, necessitating a heavy transfer haul in each of the last two offseasons. A year ago, Kentucky added SEC transfer linemen Gerald Mincey (Tennessee) and Jalen Farmer (Florida), but the line’s performance actually regressed from the year before.
This winter, Wolford signed five transfer linemen, but former Arkansas guard Joshua Braun is the only transfer who played for a Power Four program last season. Wibberley, left tackle Shiyazh Pete (New Mexico State), right tackle Alex Wollschlaeger and tackle Wallace Unamba (New Mexico) transferred to UK from smaller programs. None of that group had Power Four offers out of high school.
While Wibberley, Pete, Wollschlaeger and Unamba face a significant jump in competition after transferring to the SEC, Wolford used their performances in games against other Power Four teams to decide their production at a smaller level could translate to Kentucky.
“Football is a developmental sport,” head coach Mark Stoops said. “Some will really grow and mature and grow into it, and you are seeing that across the country in all sports. It is fun, exciting to be able to bring them in and watch them play.
“... It is exciting to bring them back and get another shot to not miss on him this time.”
Perhaps in part due to the fact he did not grow up dreaming to play for Kentucky, Wibberley said there were no hard feelings about Stoops and Wolford not recruiting him out of high school.
He may not have dreamed of one day being a Wildcat, but now he has the chance to continue in a line of successful centers that includes Drake Jackson, Luke Fortner and Cox.
“At the end of the day, I just felt like this was the right decision for me, and I kind of knew it early on,” Wibberley said. “And although the words might not have been, ‘Hey, sorry, we passed on you before,’ it’s, ‘Hey, come on, let’s get better, we’re gonna take you to the level that you need to be and you’re gonna help us get to the place where we want to be.’”