{"id":41134,"date":"2025-05-11T07:46:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-11T07:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/41134\/"},"modified":"2025-05-11T07:46:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-11T07:46:09","slug":"theres-a-crowd-in-the-middle-of-the-kentucky-wide-receiver-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/41134\/","title":{"rendered":"There’s a Crowd in the Middle of the Kentucky Wide Receiver Room"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wide receiver has never been a position of strength under Mark Stoops<\/a>. That\u2019s not to say there haven\u2019t been outstanding players. Juice Johnson is a Top Five pass-catcher in the Kentucky football record books, Wan\u2019Dale Robinson rewrote the single season records, and Lynn Bowden is Lynn Freaking Bowden. The issue has been consistency and continuity. That\u2019s once again the case in 2025. <\/p>\n

Ahead of his 13th season in Lexington, Mark Stoops hired his seventh wide receiver coach, L\u2019Damian Washington<\/a>. He\u2019s inheriting a room that returns four players who caught 33 total passes a year ago. That\u2019s not exactly an ideal scenario. <\/p>\n

The wide receiver room has been completely flipped<\/a> with nine newcomers, five of which are true freshmen. Despite all of the changes, we have a good idea who will be the top two targets. Ja\u2019Mori Maclin<\/a> proved to be a reliable deep threat in the waning moments of the disastrous 2024 campaign. Alabama transfer Kendrick Law<\/a> looked the part at slot receiver this spring. <\/p>\n

Zach Calzada<\/a> needs more than two targets. Who is up next? Let\u2019s weigh his options. <\/p>\n

Handicapping the Wide Receiver 3 Competition<\/p>\n

Hardley Gilmore<\/a> might be the biggest wild card on this roster. During his shortened true freshman campaign, the talent was evident. The question is the consistency, particularly off the field, a topic that came up during his move to Nebraska this spring. If everything hits right, Gilmore should be WR3, with a chance to be the most productive pass-catcher on the Kentucky football team. <\/p>\n

Things don\u2019t always go according to plan. Frankfort native Fred Farrier<\/a> wowed during fall camp a year ago. He is consistent, yet limited athletically, providing others an opportunity to potentially pass him by. <\/p>\n

David Washington Jr.<\/a> was a surprise in spring practice. Primarily a special teams player, he was arguably the best pass-catcher at the spring showcase, reeling in a touchdown from Calzada. <\/p>\n

The rest of the incoming transfers all have something on their resume that makes you question if they can consistently be counted on. J.J. Hester<\/a> and Troy Stellato<\/a> have dealt with injuries throughout their careers. Ashton Cozart<\/a> showed promise as a high school recruit, but is on his third school in as many years without any production to his name. <\/p>\n

A true freshman wide receiver is an impact player at Kentucky once every three years. They sprayed the board with five newcomers, increasing those odds. Montavin Quisenberry<\/a> is a ball player who has the skills, just not the size. Like Quisenberry, Cameron Miller<\/a> has some juice that could be used out of the slot. DJ Miller<\/a> has the most upside and his skillset as a lengthy outside receiver sets him apart from his peers. <\/p>\n

Is the Competition Enough? <\/p>\n

I\u2019m counting down the days until we hear quotes about \u201ciron sharpens iron\u201d as the wide receivers compete for playing time. Surely, each one of the aforementioned nine players will have a great day, followed by days where they\u2019re unremarkable. <\/p>\n

For the Kentucky offense to be successful, the Wildcats need one of these wide receivers in the middle of the pack to step up and consistently create big plays. At this point in May, I don\u2019t know who I would bet on to be that guy. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wide receiver has never been a position of strength under Mark Stoops. That\u2019s not to say there haven\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[14671,14672,14673,14674,7,14675,14676,14677,14678,14679,14680],"class_list":{"0":"post-41134","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-ashton-cozart-23-marcus","9":"tag-cameron-miller-25-winslow-twp","10":"tag-david-washington-jr-24-st-josephs-prep-school","11":"tag-dj-miller-25-cardinal-ritter-college-prep","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-fred-farrier-21-franklin-county","14":"tag-jamori-maclin-20-kirkwood","15":"tag-jj-hester-20-booker-t-washington","16":"tag-kendrick-law-22-captain-shreve","17":"tag-montavin-quisenberry-25-boyle-county","18":"tag-troy-stellato-21-cardinal-gibbons"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114488094585810152","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}