Kentucky has been well aware of the fact that in order to be competitive in the SEC, let alone the East, the offense needs to be run by a high-profile quarterback. This is something that the staff confronted with the addition of Will Levis in 2021.

This upcoming season is no different, as they successfully recruited one of the best QBs in the transfer portal, Devin Leary. Using the portal for Levis and now Leary, the Kentucky staff will likely do the same in 2024, but they are looking at the high school ranks for 2025 and beyond.

Already offering two of the best quarterbacks in the 2025 class, Cutter Boley and Ryan Montgomery, there is now another name to keep an eye on, Stone Saunders.

The 6-foot-2, 205-pound sophomore quarterback could be one of the next names in the Liam Coen-led offense, receiving an offer from the Cats during Junior Day weekend at the end of January.

The Pennsylvania native won the 2022-2023 Pennsylvania Football Player of the Year Award and already holds offers from Georgia, Penn State, and Texas A&M among others. Kentucky has one advantage that these other schools don’t have, Liam Coen.

“I’ve known Liam my whole life pretty much. My dad trained him for his Pro Day when he came out of college, so he’s been a family friend for a long time,” Saunders told Cats Illustrated. “m so pumped he’s back at Kentucky. Liam is an amazing person and an offensive genius.”

What does Saunders think of Kentucky’s playstyle? “It’s a great pro-style offense and they think I can be a great fit with that system. I can read and process the way the system demands.”

Saunders still has some time until he makes his college decision, but since his offer and visit to Kentucky, he has let it be known that he and his family have not planned any more visits for the foreseeable future, leaving Kentucky as his last impression.

With Coen back as the play-caller, Kentucky continues to gain momentum on the recruiting trail.

Lexington Christian Academy quarterback, Cutter Boley, is one of Kentucky’s highest-priority targets in the 2025 class. Considered to be one of the best quarterbacks in the class, it is safe to say that we will have his choice of school.

Thus far Boley has received offers from Alabama, Clemson, LSU, and Tennessee among other historical programs, but Kentucky is still very much in play. Boley recently took part in an interview with Justin Rowland of Rivals following his visit to Kentucky, updating his recruitment and his relationship with Kentucky.

The Wildcat staff have brought in two high-level quarterback transfers but they are interested in bringing in a top quarterback from high school soon, and that could be Boley. Coen’s return increases those chances, as Boley admits that his relationship with Kentucky wasn’t as strong while Rich Scangarello was here.

“I didn’t have a lot of contact with Coach (Rich) Scangarello. I really only had contact with Vince (Marrow) and Stoops,” Boley said. Yet, it’s not that he didn’t like talking to Scangarello, he was just he was made a priority. “I liked talking to him (Scangarello), but I don’t think he was very big on the recruiting part. Coen’s definitely a lot easier to talk to.”

A big part of his trip was reconnecting with Liam Coen following his return to Lexington, whose impact on recruiting cannot be understated. Boley had some high praise for Coen, saying, “He’s like the easiest dude to talk to in the world. He’s awesome.”

The Kentucky staff is selling Boley on their pro-style offense, and being a hometown destination that can get him to the NFL. “A lot of the stuff they do translates to the NFL. And also being a hometown guy, they really stressed to me that they really want me.”

For much of Boley’s recruitment, Tennessee has been considered as Kentucky’s biggest opposition. What does he see in the team in Knoxville? “I’d be putting myself in a position to throw the ball a ton every single game.”

Between the two schools, it doesn’t look like one has gained a significant lead over the other based on Boley’s words. In fact, he feels “like they can both help me a lot.”

Boley is clearly high on Kentucky’s board, but there is still a long way to go in his recruitment and the Wildcats will have plenty of competition. In addition to the number of schools he has laready visited, Boley also plans to visit Florida State, Michigan, Alabama, and Penn State this spring.

On Wednesday, the media had a chance to talk to six out of the seven new transfers that transferred to Kentucky during winter break, with the exception being Jantzen Dunn (Ohio State). Each transfer is expected to come in and play significant roles, as they fill roster gaps.

With the influx of veteran talent to go alongside the young weapons that Kentucky displayed last season, the goal is to improve on an underwhelming 2022 season.

Let’s briefly look at what each player had to say in their introductory press conferences.

Devin Leary

Committing to Kentucky in mid-December, Devin Leary has only been on campus for three weeks and is still rehabbing from his surgery for a torn pectoral muscle he suffered back in October. However, he is still trying to make an early impact on his new team.

“Really just being able to get around the guys and really just, you know, prove to them through my hard work, prove to them, you know, I’m eager to be here,” Devin Leary says during a media interview.

“I am very happy to be here, but at the same time, you know, it’s an honor and privilege to be here. I need to prove to them that I’m going to put in the work that it takes, you know, a lot of time and that I take it very serious, but at the same time it’s grabbing those guys on the side and, you know, diving into the playbook, doing extra film, and just really building that camaraderie, like right now.”

Spring practice starts in about a month and a half, so we will see if Leary will be fully healthy to go for spring ball, if not he should be fully healthy to start off the season in 2023.

Ray Davis

In Liam Coen’s ‘re-introductory’ press conference, he talked about how important Chris Rodriguez and his ability to guarantee positive yardage has been to Kentucky. Now graduated, Coen and the program had to find another high talent back, which they found in the transfer portal.

Coming from Vanderbilt, new running back Ray Davis was tabbed as a four-star transfer and one of the best running backs in the portal. Kentucky will be Davis’ third stop in college football as he played at Temple University his freshman and sophomore years and most recently at the University of Vanderbilt for his junior and senior years.

One reason why Davis committed to Kentucky is he thinks UK was missing a few pieces towards the end of the year, that he thinks he can help with and get the Cats’ to compete in the SEC Championship

“Offensively, just knowing that they were missing just a few pieces once the season ended and I felt that, you know, if I come in and try to earn my spot, earn those reps, and try to get the starting job. I think I could help out the team and get us through that threshold of potentially competing for an SEC Championship,” Ray Davis says during a media interview.

Tanner Bowles

Tanner Bowles was one of two offensive tackles that Kentucky landed in the transfer portal. Bowles, who is from Glasgow (KY), recently transferred from the University of Alabama to Lexington. In four seasons with the Crimson Tide (including a redshirt season), Bowles never became a starter, but appeared in all 12 games this season for one of the best offensive lines in the SEC.

“There’s a point in time, where you can lead with your words, but before that, you have to lead with your actions, so I think while I’m here right now, I don’t know when the time would be if I, you know, had a chance to lead with my words, but for now I am focused on, you know, just leading my actions, doing the little things right,” Tanner Bowles says during a media interview.

Marques Cox

Marques Cox was the second offensive tackle that Kentucky added from the transfer portal, coming from Northern Illinois University as a redshirt junior. Cox, like Devin Leary, suffered a season-ending foot injury, four games into the season when NIU faced off against UK.

As a proven veteran, Cox knows that the offensive line will have to improve this season, and he will bear much of that load. If they can succeed, Kentucky will be more capable of using their offensive weapons.

“Just me and Tanner (Bowles) helping improve the offensive line and offense so they got weapons,” Marques Cox says during a media interview. “We got key players to do so, so it is just fixing everything.”

Keeshawn Silver

Now to the defensive side of the ball. One of Kentucky’s latest additions from the transfer portal was defensive tackle, Keeshawn Silver from North Carolina. Ranked as a five-star recruit in the 2021 class, the talent is there, but he could never get to a healthy playing weight at North Carolina.

One reason why Kentucky added him was due to Justin Rogers’s transferring to Auburn, leaving UK in need of another defensive lineman, which is where Silver comes in. Since arriving to campus, he feels like he has been able to build some great chemistry with his teammates.

“We talk daily, it’s really like the same things at Chapel Hill,” Keeshawn Silver says during a media interview. “I mean the guys, we bond together, have a good time, they like to have fun, I like to have fun.”

JQ Hardaway

Finally, the last transfer that was interviewed was defensive back, JQ Hardaway, coming from Cincinnati. A native of Columbus, Georgia, Hardaway is “happy” to be in the SEC, a conference many poked fun at him for not joining out of high school.

The SEC is the highest level of football in the country, but Hardaway believes that he belongs and is confident in his skill set.

“I’m just a ballplayer, man, I feel like I am very confident in myself,” JQ Hardaway says during a media interview. “I like to have fun, I got kind of a swagger on the field, I would say. I’m just very comfortable, I feel like I can be myself, I don’t have to be anyone. I just kind of let my talent speak for itself.”

Over the last four seasons, Kentucky has sent three transfer corners to the NFL – Lonnie Johnson (Garden City CC), Kelvin Joseph (LSU), and Brandin Echols (Northwest Mississippi CC) – and Hardaway committed to Kentucky with that in mind. Will he be the next?

Kentucky added some talented transfers this off-season and it will be interesting to see how they will have an impact on the team. Several questions should be answered over spring football, and hopefully, this group can help lead Kentucky to a better record in 2023.