On Tuesday, the Louisville Sports Commission announced that Kentucky Wildcat legends Randall Cobb and Tayshaun Prince were elected to the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame class of 2025.
The KSHOF recognizes individuals that have made significant impacts in sports for the state of Kentucky. Other members of the class of 2025 include Louisville native, former University of Louisville gymnast, gymnastics coach, and longtime international gymnastics judge Carole Liedtke and highly accomplished female trap shooter Nora Martin Ross from Paris.
A selection committee made up of 15 sports media professionals from around Kentucky voted on the 2025 class. The KSHOF Selection Committee votes were independently tabulated by regional accounting firm Dean Dorton, one of Kentucky’s largest accounting and advisory firms, with offices in Louisville, Lexington and Raleigh, N.C.
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Cobb, Prince and the remaining 2025 KSHOF class members and their families will be honored on Tuesday, Sept. 23, at Freedom Hall in Louisville.
Randall Cobb
Coming out of high school in 2008, Cobb was a three-star quarterback recruit from Alcoa, Tennessee, just south of Knoxville. Cobb was only given three offers out of high school; he chose Kentucky over nearby schools Tennessee and Middle Tennessee.
In Lexington, Cobb became the ultimate utility player due to his extreme athleticism. He is remembered as one of the most versatile athletes to ever come through Kentucky.
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As a Wildcat, Cobb played wide receiver, quarterback, punt returner and kick returner during his three years at Kentucky, which allowed him to excel in the Wildcat formation. In 2011, the multipurpose star was named first-team All-America.
Additionally, Cobb was named first-team All-SEC as a sophomore and junior. In 2010, Cobb had an SEC record-setting season where he gained 2,396 all-purpose yards.
Cobb claimed the all-time Kentucky leader honor for career touchdowns with 37 until Benny Snell Jr. broke the record at the end of the decade.
The Green Bay Packers selected Cobb with the 64th pick of the second round in the 2011 NFL Draft to play wide receiver and special teams.
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As a member of the Packers, Cobb would have a successful career in Green Bay, forming a tight bond on and off the field with future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers. In his first career game against the New Orleans Saints, Cobb caught a 32-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers and returned a kickoff for a 108-yard touchdown.
Cobb spent the first eight seasons of his NFL career in Green Bay, earning a Pro Bowl nod in 2014, after achieving career highs with 91 receptions, 1,287 receiving yards and 12 receiving touchdowns.
In 2019, the former Wildcat joined the Dallas Cowboys to catch passes from Dak Prescott for one season. A year later, Cobb inked a deal with the Houston Texans as a target for Deshaun Watson, where he played a lone season there.
Prior to the 2021 season, Rodgers requested for the Packers to reunite the Cobb-Rodgers duo. So, Green Bay traded for Cobb ahead of the season.
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After two reasons back in the green and gold, Cobb followed Rodgers in leaving Green Bay for the New York Jets. The 2023 season would be the last of Cobb’s career, as Rodgers missed the entire season with a torn achilles, he caught one touchdown that season against his former squad, the Houston Texans.
Cobb joined the SEC Network as a studio analyst in the summer of 2024, covering football around the SEC.
Tayshaun Prince
Hailing from Compton, California, Prince played four seasons at Kentucky from 1998 to 2001.
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During his four-year tenure in blue, Prince averaged 13.2 points and 5.7 rebounds, as the Wildcats advanced to the Sweet 16 three times and the Elite 8 once in the NCAA Tournament each year under head coach Tubby Smith. Prince’s junior season earned him the 2000-2001 SEC Player of the Year with 16.9 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.
In 2001, Prince led the Wildcats to an SEC Championship, beating the Ole Miss Rebels 77-55 to win the championship. Prince was awarded SEC Tournament MVP after putting up 26 points and 12 rebounds in the championship game.
Earlier in that season Prince had one of the most memorable moments in Kentucky history by nailing five consecutive 3-pointers to begin a game against North Carolina. The Wildcats went on to win 79-59 in front of Rupp Arena thanks to a 31-point, 11-rebound performance from Prince.
In his final two seasons at Kentucky, Prince was elected to First-Team All-SEC honors. Previously, Prince was named to the Second-Team All-SEC his sophomore year.
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After a successful four-year collegiate career where Prince scored over 1,700 points, the Compton native entered the 2002 NBA Draft.
The Detroit Pistons selected the Kentucky guard with the 23rd pick of the first round.
Prince would spend the bulk of his career in Detroit on a competitive Pistons squad, reaching the Eastern Conference Finals in his rookie season.
In Prince’s sophomore season, the Pistons advanced to the NBA Finals with the Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant Los Angeles Lakers. As the Lakers boasted four future Hall of Famers.
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The 2004 NBA Finals is widely recognized as one of the most challenging and improbable underdog championships in sports history, and the Pistons defeated Los Angeles in six games.
Prince was the primary defender on Bryant throughout the series, even holding Bryant to 11 points in Game 3. The Kentucky product earned the first and only NBA Championship of his career, averaging 10 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.8 steals per game during the Finals.
Additionally, Prince won an Olympic gold medal representing America on the “Redeem Team” at the 2008 Beijing Games.
From 2005 to 2008, Prince was named to the NBA’s All-Defensive Second Team.
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After spending his first 12 seasons with the Pistons, Prince played for the Memphis Grizzlies and had brief stints with the Boston Celtics and the Pistons again until retiring as a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Since 2017, Prince has been a member of the Memphis Grizzlies front office. Currently, he serves as Vice President of Basketball Affairs.
New University of Kentucky Athletic Director J Batt is considered to be one of the best fundraisers in college athletics. In a college landscape where the dollar reigns king, and Kentucky ranked 15th of 16 teams in athletic donations, they needed help in that category.
When you are asking more than you ever have as a university, you most importantly have to give fans a winning product, but you also have to give them incentives to give and make their opinion feel valued. The best way to do the latter is to meet Big Blue Nation and interact with them face to face.
Less than two weeks into his tenure, Batt isn’t waiting for games to meet the fans. He first met some fans at an event at Kroger Field on July 30th, and this past Saturday, joined Kentucky Football head coach Will Stein during tailgate setup day.
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Batt and Stein drove around in a golf cart with donuts, surprising fans who were at Kroger Field in the early morning setting up their tailgates ahead of Stein’s first season. The excitement is real, as some fans arrived the night before to make sure they were prepared to set up.
“I want everybody in Big Blue Nation to hear from me directly. They matter the most,” said Batt in an interview soon after accepting the AD position at Kentucky. “This place is special because of them and because of the people, and we’re really lucky to be here.”
The vibe around Kentucky Football’s offseason has been nothing short of positive. We’re seeing and hearing good things out of practice, Will Stein seems extremely confident and the season is less than a month’s time away.
Unfortunately, bad news struck the Big Blue Nation’s timeline on Thursday, Aug. 6.
Hardley Gilmore IV, after returning to the Wildcats for his junior season, has been dismissed from the team after a violation of team rules. Jeff Drummond reported the news first, confirming that the wideout was not on the team’s official practice roster.
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BREAKING: Kentucky Football WR Hardley Gilmore IV has been dismissed from the team after a violation of team rules.
He originally committed to Baylor this past offseason before returning to the Wildcats.
Gilmore has been through his ups and downs to say the least during his collegiate career, beginning with his freshman season where he fought through an injury and juggled a misdemeanor assault charge in December of 2024.
He attempted to transfer to Nebraska following the incident, but would return to the Wildcats in the spring ahead of the 2025 season. After a solid sophomore outing, Gilmore would commit to the Louisville Cardinals, flipping over to the Baylor Bears in the transfer portal. After it was all said and done, even going as far as signing with Baylor, he would find himself back on Kentucky’s 2026 roster for the first year of the Will Stein era.
Full details on why he was dismissed from the team have not yet been released, but sources have indicated that it was an off-campus incident that affected his team-affiliated schedule. Time will tell if he will find a new place to call home for the upcoming season.
Some stories in sports are bigger than the sport itself, as is the case with former Wildcat Ray Davis.
Transferring to Kentucky from Vanderbilt for his senior season of college football in 2023, Davis ran for more than 1,100 yards and set the UK single-season touchdown record with 21 TDs. That included one of the best single-game performances in program history against Florida, where he ran for 280 yards (3rd most in school history) and 4 TDs.
His impact on the field made his story that much more inspiring. Being a part of the California foster care system at the age of 8, facing homelessness at the age of 12, Davis beat the odds to get where he is today, a Pro Bowl selection this past season for the Buffalo Bills.
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That is a story made for Hollywood, and now Hollywood is making it.
Officially reported by the Hollywood Reporter on Monday, “Breakaway Ray”, a movie on Davis’ early life, is in development.
The film will focus on a 9-year-old Davis growing up in San Francisco, navigating poverty with a mother battling addiction and a father behind bars. A poster for Big Brothers Big Sisters changes everything. After Davis makes the call, he gets paired with a young Google employee named Patrick Dowley, and a brotherhood begins that will shape the rest of their lives.
The talent attached to the movie is no afterthought. Gary Fleder, the director behind Runaway Jury, The Express, and Reacher, is set to helm the project from a script by W. Peter Iliff, the screenwriter of Point Break and Varsity Blues. Blue Fox Financing is backing the project, which carries the support of both the Buffalo Bills and Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.
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Fleder emphasizes that the film won’t be a “glossy Hollywood version of a sports legend.” He explains, “It needs grit, urgency and rawness. This film will capture both the harsh realities Ray faced and the quiet power of someone simply showing up.”
“I never would’ve thought in a million years I’d see my story on the big screen,” Davis wrote on X when the news broke. “I’m so grateful to share it on this platform, and this project holds a special place in my heart mentally and emotionally. Beyond excited to see it come to life. All glory to God.”
The film’s team hopes to give attention to the more than 300,000 children currently in the U.S. foster care system. The project will also highlight the importance of mentorship through programs like Big Brothers Big Sisters, which has partnered with the NFL since 2019.
“Breakaway Ray” is scheduled for release in February 2027.
