Receiver UK lost to transfer portal returning after being dismissed from new team
By now, college football fans have become accustomed to constant player movement in the transfer portal.
But the path taken by wide receiver Hardley Gilmore this offseason is enough to still raise eyebrows.
After catching six passes for 153 yards and one touchdown as a freshman at Kentucky, Gilmore entered the transfer portal on the final day of the December window. UK coaches made an effort to convince him to stay in Lexington after Gilmore entered the portal, but he eventually signed with Nebraska, following former UK teammate, Dane Key, and position coach, Dakiel Shorts, to Lincoln.
Gilmore lasted less than a semester with the Cornhuskers, though. Nebraska coach Matt Rhule announced this month that Gilmore had been dismissed from the team. No reason for the dismissal was given, but Rhule did specify there were no legal charges that led to the move.
Now, Gilmore is planning to return to Kentucky, rejoining the Wildcats for the 2025 season. On3 was the first to report his recommitment Thursday morning.
The return to Kentucky caps an improbable series of events that included at least one off-field incident at UK. Gilmore was charged with fourth-degree assault after allegedly punching someone in the face at a storage unit in downtown Lexington on Dec. 7. His next court appearance for that case is scheduled for May 7.
While questions remain about Gilmore’s off-the-field record, UK coaches were not shy about voicing their view of him as a future star throughout his freshman season.
Gilmore, who received a waiver from the NCAA to enroll early at UK in December 2023, was one of the stars of spring practice and preseason camp last year before suffering an injury in a scrimmage that caused him to miss the first five games of the 2024 season.
“He is, in my opinion, as complete a young receiver as I’ve been around from a standpoint of he’s got top-end speed, he’s a good route runner, he’s tough, he’s physical,” offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan said after Gilmore’s injury in camp. “There’s just a lot of things there. Every once in a while you get these freshmen and they don’t even recognize the lights. They don’t know if it’s big lights, small lights, what it is. They’re just excited to be in the SEC at a place like Kentucky playing for Coach Stoops. He kind of had that vibe.”
Gilmore’s best performance as a freshman came with two catches for 72 yards and one touchdown against FCS Murray State. The touchdown catch came on a badly underthrown ball that bounced off the hands of a Murray State defender and into Gilmore’s arms for a 52-yard touchdown catch. He had another 43-yard run in that game called back due to a holding penalty.
If Gilmore, who played his entire freshman season at 18 years old, can cash in on that potential, it would be a major boost for a Kentucky passing attack that lost three of its top four receivers from last season.
UK added wide receiver transfers Kendrick Law (Alabama), J.J. Hester (Oklahoma) and Troy Stellato (Clemson) to the roster in December and convinced senior Ja’Mori Maclin to return for his final season of eligibility. Former Louisiana Tech wide receiver Tru Edwards committed to UK as a transfer, but multiple sources have informed the Herald-Leader UK no longer expects Edwards to qualify for the waiver that grants some former junior-college players an additional year of eligibility. Edwards would need that waiver to play another college season in 2025.
This story was originally published April 17, 2025 at 9:43 AM.