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Kentucky Football Preview 2026: How Fast Can Will Stein Rebuild?
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- Kentucky Football Preview 2026: How Fast Can Will Stein Rebuild?
Kentucky football has always been a little bit quirky.
It's a basketball school, that doesn't really like being called a basketball school, but it really wants to win at basketball. Over the last 30 years, though, the football side has tried hard to find its niche.
Kentucky Football Will Be Fun Again
Dec 3, 2025; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head football coach Will Stein speaks during his introductory press conference at Nutter Field House.
© Jordan Prather-Imagn Images
From the Hal Mumme all-gas-no-brakes offense of the late 1990s, to the rebuild under Rich Brooks, to the three-year Joker Phillips run, to the Mark Stoops era with a whole slew of winning seasons - even though no one could quite figure out how - if nothing else, the Wildcats were at least sort of fun.
Until they weren't.
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Kentucky Quick Hits
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Head Coach:Will Stein (1st year)
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Best Case / Worst Case:The first winning season in three years/A second season with fewer than five wins in three years
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Key Player:Kenny Minchey, QB Jr.
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2025 Record:5-7
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Biggest Question:Can all of the new talent be enough to get past a nasty schedule?
The offense went bye-bye over the last two years under Stoops, so what did UK do? They went with the young guy who knows how to coach offense and who knows Kentucky.
Okay, so new head coach Will Stein knows Louisville - that's where he played and started his coaching career - but he quickly became a star assistant, breaking through at UTSA, and then at Oregon over the last three seasons.
Kentucky Key 2025 Stats
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Fumbles: Kentucky 15 (lost 8), Opponents 10 (lost 2)
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Kentucky led the SEC in fewest penalties with 60 for 492 yards
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Punt Return Average: Opponents 12.4, Kentucky 4.1
- 2026 Kentucky Schedule Analysis
Offense
There's plenty of high-powered young offensive assistant talent coaching this bunch.
Stein was the hot offensive coordinator over the last few seasons in Eugene, and Joe Sloan did some big work at LSU at times - let's just ignore last year's Tiger attack and remember the good times with Jayden Daniels
.
No, there isn't a lot of veteran starters returning, but that's fine. Kentucky went shopping in the offensive aisle of the transfer portal.
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What's Working
It's hard to get your transfer portal haul to stand out among all the big things happening in the SEC,but ... boom.
It's completely forgotten now, but there was a moment late last summer when it seemed like Kenny Minchey might have a real shot at the Notre Dame quarterback job.
He's a strong all-around talent who should be ready to shine if he gets time to work.
The real transfer portal fun is at the receiver.The tight ends should be solid, starting with returning starter Willie Rodriguez, and there are plenty of new options and lots of speed coming aboard. The potential has to turn into production.
Nic Anderson
(LSU) has too much upside not to be more of a big playmaker. Ja'Kayden Ferguson (Arkansas), Xavier Daisy (UAB), Brock Coffman (Louisville), and Shane Carr (Southern Utah) all have size and can move.
The offensive line glitch should be fixed right away.It's asking a lot for all new pieces to jell, but the front five should be seriously good, starting with future NFL tackle Lance Heard from Tennessee.
Baylor's Coleton Price is a ready-made center, and Tegra Tshabola is a massive blocking guard from Ohio State.
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What Needs Work
The receiving corps might be loaded with talent,but everyone has to get healthy first.
Spring football was a little ragged for the receivers with several players banged up - everyone is expected to be fine before the season - but there's no true experienced superstar to instantly count on as a No. 1 guy.
The coaching staff has to find a running game.Kentucky didn't have one last year, but Dante Dowdell averaged five yards per carry - he's now at Georgia.
Like the receiving corps, there's upside, but in CJ Baxter (Texas) and Jovantae Barnes (Oklahoma) there's not a ton on the resume.
Just score points.You'll have to forgive Kentucky fans if they're a little bit excited about what Stein and all the new parts might be able to do. Last year's offense scored 17 points or fewer seven times.
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Player to Watch
Nic Anderson, WR Sr.
At some point, it's all going to click. It has to.
He has elite speed, 6-4, 205-pound size, and he showed flashes at Oklahoma, averaging 21 yards per catch with ten scores in 2023.
But he was out for almost all of 2024, wasn't much of a factor at LSU last season, and now it's up to him to be a field stretcher for the Wildcats.
Defense
Jay Bateman was an interesting defensive coordinator hire, getting him away from Texas A&M. Last year's Aggie defense finished 18th in the nation, but it had a loaded group of linemen.
There isn't the star power on the Kentucky defense, but like the offensive side, there's a good group of transfers coming in. But unlike the O, there are a few key holdovers to work around.
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What's Working
The defensive ends are solid.We're not talking about Myles Garrett
and Micah Parsons
here, but Mi'Quise Humphrey-Grace and Tavion Gadson are still around after combining for six sacks and 11 tackles for loss.
That might not seem like much, but for a 3-4 scheme, these two tackle-sized linemen can move. And then there's the literal big get, signing 345-pound Jamarrion Harkless from Purdue as a true anchor.
The secondary added three whoppers from the portal.The staff kept around a slew of defensive backs who played key rotational roles last year, and added three whoppers from the portal.
Hasaan Sykes (Western Carolina) should grow into a factor at one corner, and the Florida safety tandem of Jordan Castell and Aaron Gates will start instantly. But ...
The staff managed to keep around a few great defensive backs.Ty Bryant led the team with 76 tackles, to go along with four picks. The senior safety is the exact type of playmaker and leader to work the defense around.
Still around is corner Terhyon Nichols, who should make more big plays with teams staying away from Sykes on the other side.
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What Needs Work
The pass rush.The linebackers are supposed to be the ones who do the heavy lifting in the backfield playmaking with this defensive style, but this is the one area on defense that should be a bit thin early on.
Veteran Wildcat Sam Greene was okay before getting hurt last season, and the top portal gets were more for the inside.
Get stronger against the run.The Wildcats couldn't hold up when they were shoved up front. It should be better with the new talents returning on the front three, but no matter what, the production has to be there.
The Wildcats were 0-4 when allowing more than 145 rushing yards, and over the last two years are 0-10 when giving up that many or more.
More takeaways.With the aggressive style, the turnovers have to follow.
There were a few games with plenty of interceptions - 12 on the year - but there were a mere two fumble recoveries. The defense forced the ball loose from time to time, but it didn't get the ball enough.
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Player to Watch
Jamarrion Harkless, DT Jr.
You're not getting anything in the backfield from the Purdue transfer, and any stats against the run overall don't really matter.
The 6-3, 346-pounder's job is to sit in the middle of the line and not get moved. He can do that.
Keys to the Season
There are a whole lot of good parts being put together, and there's plenty of reason for hype and hope. But it still all has to click.
The goal in the first year is to get everything off the ground and running. This is a new head coach, and Stein assembled a nice staff.
As long as the offense is more explosive, and assuming the defense starts to assemble the young players to build around, the results should follow.
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Player Who Needs To Shine
Kenny Minchey, QB Jr.
To keep harping on this, there's not a lot of past production to count on among the skill parts, but generally, that's fine. That's not fine at quarterback, though, where it's not quite Minchey or bust, but it's not terribly far off.
No hurry or anything, but Alabama is Week 2, and at Texas A&M is right after that.
Biggest Concern
Find offensive consistency
Last year, either the passing game clicked, or it didn't - there wasn't any middle ground in between.
The running game rocked, or the team didn't win. Kentucky has to be competitive and produce on a regular basis and then adjust.
There will be wild mood swings with so many changes, but they have to be kept to a minimum.
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Biggest Game
at South Carolina, October 3
Kentucky has to steal an SEC road game somewhere, and it'll desperately need this or risk a horrendous conference start.
Alabama, at Texas A&M start the SEC run, LSU and at Oklahoma come right after the trip to Columbia.
Transfer Portal
Outstanding.
Stein and his staff needed an overhaul of talent, and here it comes. It might be a mish-mosh of various talents and ideas, but the Wildcats have starters and surprising depth.
The losses were kept to a bare minimum - there aren't many departures that will sting - and overall, it's a big net positive.
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Best Signing
Lance Heard, OT (Tennessee)Kentucky has its starting left tackle. Heard is an SEC veteran with all the tools and upside to be the main man up front. With this one signing, everything else on the line can be put together.
Biggest Loss
Dante Dowdell, RB (Georgia)
Losing Cutter Boley to Arizona State was fine - Kenny Minchey should be a slight upgrade at quarterback for the UK system.
The running back situation should be fine if everyone stays in one piece, but keeping around a veteran like Dowdell - he ran for over 600 yards and 12 touchdowns with Nebraska, and 560 yards and three scores last year for Kentucky - would've been nice.
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Other Names to Know
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Tegra Tshabola, OG (Ohio State)
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Jordan Castell, S (Florida)
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Jovantae Barnes, RB (Oklahoma)
CFN Season Prediction
The team is better, there's a lot more hope for the future, and the talent level has been upgraded across the board. So why could this be a worse season?
The schedule is a bear.
CFN Prediction: 4-8
Yeah, last year's Wildcats gave away the loss to Texas and came close against Ole Miss, but they got rocked in the other five losses.
Toledo was the only win over an FBS team that finished with a winning record, and it was a fight.
This year's team will beat Youngstown State to start, and it'll take down South Alabama, but South Carolina and Florida will be better, and going to Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Missouri will all be a problem.
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That means Kentucky will have to come up with at least three wins at home against Alabama, LSU, Vanderbilt, and Louisville.
It wouldn't be a shocker to scratch and claw to six wins, but think forward. This is when Stein and the staff show what's coming.
