Don’t be surprised if this FCS transfer plays a big role for UK football offense
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Shane Carr transferred from FCS Southern Utah to Kentucky after two seasons.
- Coaches praised Carr’s length, speed and hands during spring practice.
- Carr reported adding about 15 pounds and will spend summer in Kentucky’s SEC S&C program.
Shane Carr has a hard time thinking of one specific example of a “Welcome to the SEC” moment as he catches passes for Kentucky football this spring.
It is not that Carr has been unchallenged. The problem is there are too many moments to count from simply walking into Kentucky’s $45 million practice facility each day.
“I’m not gonna lie, like every day I wake up, I just thank God for the opportunity that he gave me being at the SEC, because a lot of kids in this world want to be where I’m at today,” Carr said.
Carr is not among the group of incoming transfers that was guaranteed a seven-figure revenue sharing or NIL deal as soon as he entered the portal. He is not a former blue-chip recruit whom power-conference coaches had followed for years. He is not a proven quantity at the highest level of college football.
But Carr was productive in two seasons at FCS Southern Utah.
As a freshman in 2024, he caught 31 passes for 627 yards and six touchdowns. Last season, he increased those numbers to 50 catches for 744 yards with four touchdowns as a featured piece for an offense that ranked 47th in FCS in passing yards per game (222.2) and 13th in rushing yards per game (202).
“I think (Indiana) coach (Curt) Cignetti said it, and it struck me: production is still important,” UK coach Will Stein said. “When guys, no matter what level, you catch this many passes and have this many yards, it’s just like time on task. It’s just getting used to making plays. Regardless of the competition, production is important.
“...Now, height, weight, speed is still important, but I love Shane’s length. He’s got great size. He’s got good speed, really good hands, and he was really productive at Southern Utah. So, when we had the opportunity to get him on our team — we loved his tape — we jumped right on it.”
At 6-foot-2, Carr is far from the stereotypical undersized FCS receiver, but UK lists him at just 185 pounds.
Carr reported already added around 15 pounds despite arriving to UK two weeks after most of the other transfers in January. A full summer in an SEC strength and conditioning program will be crucial in his ability to prepare physically for the challenges he will face in the fall.
“It’s a big difference from the corners and everything,” Carr said. “Like size wise, where I was at, scrawny, smaller guys. So when I got here, like, they were way more physical, bigger. It just took me some time to get used to it, but I’m making plays now.”
Others in the program seemed to back up that assessment.
Carr’s name was not mentioned often early in spring practice, but over the past two weeks he is among the players most commonly singled out by teammates and coaches for praise when asked for practice standouts.
“Shane Carr is going to bring everything from blocking to route running to just everything,” cornerback Terhyon Nichols said. “I feel like Shane Carr is bringing it.”
“He’s got a huge catch radius.” Stein said. “He’s got real speed. He’s got juice, and he loves playing. So I think he’s done a great job.”
The good news for Carr and Kentucky is there are plenty of recent examples of receivers making a similar jump to the one Carr will make this season.
A year ago, Tre Richardson led an upstart Vanderbilt team with 46 catches for 806 yards and seven touchdowns after transferring from Division II Washburn. 247Sports then ranked him as the 15th-best receiver in the transfer portal when he left Vanderbilt for Louisville in January.
In 2024, East Texas A&M transfer Andrew Armstrong (1,140 yards) and Hillsdale College transfer Isaac TeSlaa (545 yards) led Arkansas in receiving. TeSlaa was then picked in the third round of the 2025 NFL draft.
After two seasons at Eastern Kentucky, wide receiver Jayden Higgins transferred to Iowa State, where he totaled 2,166 yards and 15 touchdowns in two seasons before being picked in the second round of the 2025 NFL draft.
The No. 1 and No. 2 picks in that draft (QB Cam Ward and two-way star Travis Hunter) also started their college careers at the FCS level, though Hunter was the No. 1-ranked recruit in his high school class and committed to HBCU Jackson State to play for Hall of Famer Deion Sanders.
Carr thinks his decision to split time between football, basketball, baseball and track in high school in California led to him being overlooked by FBS programs. He did not attend football camps as a recruit and only sent his highlight reel to smaller programs late in his recruiting cycle. Southern Utah was the first program to give him a chance to play in college.
“I think just the resources that we have here, the way we feed our guys, from a supplement standpoint, food standpoint, snack standpoint, the way we train them, those things are going to allow (Carr) to continue to develop his body and give him just some different opportunities that maybe he didn’t have at a different school,” offensive coordinator Joe Sloan said. “So I’m excited for him. He’s been great. I think he’s assimilating really well to the team and the environment and the level.”
The new UK coaches have prioritized versatility with their receivers this spring.
Even prototypical outside receivers like DJ Miller and Nic Anderson will receive the occasional rep in the slot in Stein and Sloan’s offense. Carr’s ability to play both inside and outside was a selling point in his transfer portal recruiting process, he said.
Anderson has proven capable of being a game-changing talent at the power-conference level with a record-breaking redshirt freshman season at Oklahoma but has been derailed by injuries the last two seasons.
Miller showed breakout potential as a freshman for UK last season and has been a fixture on spring practice highlight reels. Stein has not been shy about promising a major role in the passing game for tight ends Willie Rodriguez, Henry Boyer and Mikkel Skinner.
But if Carr can carry his FCS production to Kentucky, the ceiling of the offense rises considerably.
“I think he’s had a really good spring,” Stein said. “The big thing is just, I think, the amount of time that we spend here might be different than his previous school, so that’s a big adjustment. When you get into this program, the way that we run things, it’s a lot of ball. We demand a lot from these guys, but we know that we put all this work in so we can have a good product on Saturdays.”
