Why Daveren Rayner’s decision to redshirt in 2024 looks like a boost for UK football now
When Daveren Rayner met with reporters for the first time in almost a year during the first week of Kentucky football’s spring practice, he was faced with a dilemma.
Few players on the roster were more of a mystery during the 2024 season than Rayner, who opened the year as a key member of the inside linebacker rotation but elected to redshirt after playing in the first three games. The stated plan after that decision was announced was that Rayner would spend the season adding weight to his lanky 6-foot-2 frame in preparation for one last season of college football in 2025.
Such moves are not uncommon in recent years across the country, but they have often been followed by a second announcement that the redshirting player was entering the transfer portal to use that preserved season of eligibility elsewhere.
UK coaches offered few specifics about Rayner’s plan other than to note he could appear in one more game while preserving his redshirt — something he eventually did when injuries decimated the linebacker position before UK’s game at Tennessee — but appeared hesitant to discuss his progress in detail throughout the fall. The mystery only added to speculation about his future.
But the winter portal window came and went with Rayner still on the UK roster. Following the departure of linebackers D’Eryk Jackson and Jamon Dumas-Johnson, a starting job was opened for Rayner alongside Alex Afari in the heart of UK’s defense.
The question remained, though. Was the plan always to return to Kentucky in 2025?
When posed with that query during his media session, Rayner turned to the team public relations official present for the interview and asked, “Should I be truthful?”
“I would be lying to you if I said that there wasn’t a thought to leave,” Rayner said after receiving confirmation he could be honest about his thought process. “But, relationships at the end of the day — I have a lot of respect for Coach (Brad) White. I have a lot of respect for both Mark and Mike (Stoops). I don’t like to restart. Truthfully, I didn’t want to transfer the first time (to Kentucky). I had a lot of love for my old staff, and it was really hard to make that decision to leave once.
“Just the type of person I am, I didn’t want to do it again.”
In the era of free transfers and the constant search for more name, image and likeness money from school collectives through the recruiting process, Rayner’s bluntness should not come as a surprise.
When he first transferred to UK from Northern Illinois prior to the 2023 season he was viewed as the type of athletic linebacker that Kentucky has found success with in the past but a player who would need at least a year to develop into a starting role. After showing flashes of that promise in his first year as a Wildcat and linebacker Trevin Wallace’s departure to the NFL draft, Rayner appeared poised to take on a featured role in 2024 — until Kentucky signed Dumas-Johnson, a former All-American, as a transfer from Georgia.
Rayner totaled six tackles and two tackles for loss in the first three games while backing up Dumas-Johnson and Jackson, but he was a clear third in the pecking order at the position. UK coaches had also moved Afari from outside linebacker inside in hopes of finding a player often described as one of the team’s best 11 defenders a permanent position.
With a redshirt season still at his disposal, Rayner approached UK coaches with his desire to sit out the rest of the season rather than spend his last year of eligibility in a backup role.
“I think that it was something that I had thought about for a while,” he said this month. “I mean, realistically, I know that there’s a lot of other people, a lot of other good people in my room. … When I went ahead and made the decision, I had that conversation with Coach, it was something that I was hellbent on.”
After adding Dumas-Johnson last January, UK coaches frequently brought up Rayner unprovoked when asked about the other inside linebackers in an apparent recognition of the need to keep him in the fold and out of the transfer portal.
Two years earlier, both inside linebacker starters DeAndre Square and Jacquez Jones had missed multiple games due to injury. Jackson had missed part of a season due to injury previously. Dumas-Johnson’s 2023 season at Georgia had ended early due to injury. The Wildcats would almost certainly need quality depth at the position.
After Rayner elected to redshirt, those fears proved justified.
Jackson suffered a season-ending injury in week eight against Auburn. Dumas-Johnson missed one game in November. Backups Grant Godfrey and Jayvant Brown also appeared on the injury report at various points in the season.
With outside linebacker J.J. Weaver also unavailable for the November trip to Tennessee, UK coaches decided to use the fourth appearance Rayner could make while redshirting per NCAA rules, but he played Weaver’s “Jack” linebacker position rather than his normal inside linebacker spot.
“He did a great job, and hopefully it helps propel him into next season,” defensive coordinator Brad White said after that game.
Rayner reports he added close to 15 pounds during his redshirt season, but acknowledged his listed weight of 217 pounds was inaccurate last season. He only now is close to that range. While Rayner still lacks the girth of many of the inside linebackers that have performed best in the SEC, his athleticism, experience and big play ability could be a boon for a UK defense with no shortage of new faces.
UK added Marshall transfer Landyn Watson to join Afari and Rayner in the inside linebacker rotation this fall. Younger linebackers Godfrey, Antwan Smith and Devin Smith could be needed in expanded roles as well.
But Rayner does not seem to need to worry about a lack of opportunity now. Kentucky coaches may not have been able to assume he would be back in 2025 when Rayner decided to redshirt, but the choice looks like it could be best for all parties involved now.
“That’s the demand of him: Be that guy, put on that extra weight, be the vocal leader,” White said. “Understand what I’m trying to get done. Because this is year three. He’s got the most reps and the most experience in that inside backer room, and so the game has slowed down for him now.”