{"id":667451,"date":"2026-01-11T00:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T00:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/667451\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T00:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T00:34:11","slug":"top-transfer-portal-tackle-lance-heard-commits-to-kentucky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/667451\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Transfer Portal Tackle Lance Heard Commits to Kentucky"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Big Blue Nation was on pins and needles. Anxiety reached an all-time high after Kentucky missed on a couple of offensive tackle targets. They just got one of the best. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/rivals\/lance-heard-147284\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lance Heard<\/a> is transferring from Tennessee to Kentucky, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Hayesfawcett3\/status\/2010090338929782888\" rel=\"nofollow\">he tells Hayes Fawcett<\/a>. The former left tackle for the Vols is the second-ranked offensive tackle and the No. 20 overall player in the transfer portal. He has one final year of college football to climb up NFL Draft boards.<\/p>\n<p>The multi-time transfer started his career at LSU in 2023 when Kentucky offensive coordinator\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/rivals\/coach\/joe-sloan-132582\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Joe Sloan<\/a>\u00a0was on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/rivals\/coach\/brian-kelly-132649\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brian Kelly<\/a>\u2018s staff. Heard then moved to Tennessee, where he was a two-year starter at left tackle who made a huge jump in 2025. The Louisiana native is considered one of the best left tackles in college football.<\/p>\n<p>Heard was a Third Team All-SEC selection last fall. He played pretty well at Kroger Field, earning SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week honors for the performance. During his time in Baton Rouge, he secured a spot on the SEC All-Freshman Team while rotating in at right tackle. He\u2019s bringing 25 career starts with him to Kentucky. He has only allowed three sacks in his entire career. <\/p>\n<p>New Kentucky offensive line coach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/rivals\/coach\/cutter-leftwich-27234\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cutter Leftwich<\/a> is building his unit from scratch. Needing to find five new starters, the Wildcats have been aggressive in the transfer portal. In addition to Heard, C <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/rivals\/coleton-price-24967\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Coleton Price<\/a> was one of the top-ranked players at his position. The Wildcats also acquired a couple of former four-star talents, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/rivals\/olaus-alinen-94287\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Olaus Alinen<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/rivals\/max-anderson-150431\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Max Anderson<\/a>, to compete for starting spots at offensive guard. Things are coming together nicely for the new-look Big Blue Wall. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/rivals\/coach\/joe-sloan-132582\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Joe Sloan<\/a>\u2018s Louisiana connections are coming in handy for the Cats. The Kentucky offensive coordinator was coaching quarterbacks at LSU during Heard\u2019s time in Baton Rouge. Those connections are ensuring <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/rivals\/kenny-minchey-73343\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kenny Minchey<\/a> will be well protected at Kroger Field next fall. <\/p>\n<p>Lance Heard is the 16th addition to Will Stein\u2019s transfer portal class. <\/p>\n<p>PlayerPositionHigh SchoolFormer SchoolYearOlaus AlinenG\/T (6-6, 322)Windson (Conn.) The Loomis Chaffee SchoolAlabamaRedshirt JuniorJesse AndersonDBFt. Lauderdale (Fl.) Cardinal GibbonsPittRedshirt JuniorMax AndersoniOL (6-5, 311)Frisco (Texas) HighTennesseeRedshirt SophomoreJovantae BarnesRB (6-0, 211)Las Vegas (Nev.) Desert PinesOklahomaRedshirt SeniorAhmad BreauxiDL (6-3, 278)Ruston (La.) HighLSUJuniorJordan CastellS (6-2, 213)Winter Garden (Fla.) West OrangeFloridaSeniorXavier DaisyWR (6-3, 210)Norcross (Ga.) Greater Atlanta Christian SchoolUABJuniorAaron GatesNickel (6-0, 198)Jacksonville (Fla.) Trinity ChristianFloridaRedshirt JuniorLance Heard LT (6-6, 330)Bonita (La.) NevilleLSU | TennesseeRedshirt SeniorJamarrion HarklessiDL (6-3, 315)Lexington (Ky.) Frederick DouglassPurdueRedshirt JuniorKenny MincheyQB (6-2, 208)Hendersonville (Tenn.) Pope John Paul IINotre DameRedshirt JuniorAntonio O\u2019BerryEDGE (6-6, 240)Huber Heights (Ohio) WayneTiffin (D-II) | Gardner-Webb6th-Year SeniorColeton PriceiOL (6-3, 318)Bowie (Texas) HighBaylorRedshirt SeniorHasaan SykesCB (6-0, 185)Tuckert (Ga.) HighWestern CarolinaJuniorTavion WallaceLB (6-1, 239)Baxley (Ga.) Appling CountyArkansasSophomoreDominic WisemanDL (6-2, 300)Davenport North (Iowa) HSSouth AlabamaRedshirt Senior<\/p>\n<p>Want more Kentucky Transfer Portal Coverage? Join KSR+<\/p>\n<p>KSR has been delivering UK Sports news in the most ridiculous manner for almost two decades. Now, you can get even more coverage of the Cats with KSR+. In the middle of a busy transfer portal season for the Kentucky football program, now is the perfect time to join our online community. Subscribe now for premium articles, in-depth scouting reports, inside intel, bonus recruiting coverage, and access to KSBoard, our message board featuring thousands of Kentucky fans around the globe.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/sites\/kentucky-wildcats\/join\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Come join the club right now for 50% off an annual subscription.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Big Blue Nation was on pins and needles. Anxiety reached an all-time high after Kentucky missed on a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,97042,49,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-667451","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-lance-heard-23-neville","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115873661973743855","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667451","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=667451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}