The transfer portal officially closed to new entrants on Friday night at midnight. Some players are still searching for college football homes, but the hay is mostly in the barn. <\/p>\n
As the dust settles on the frenetic free agency period, we now have more time to discuss and dissect Will Stein<\/a>\u2018s additions to the Kentucky football roster. There are a few folks around BBN who were concerned about the lack of studs at wide receiver, but it\u2019s clear Kentucky still inked quite a few studs at other positions. <\/p>\n Kentucky signed four players in the Top 100 of On3\u2019s Transfer Portal Rankings<\/a>. Over at ESPN<\/a>, two new Wildcats cracked the Top 50. Let\u2019s take a closer look at the maruee players from Stein\u2019s first transfer portal class. <\/p>\n The 6-foot-6, 330-pound left tackle was an All-SEC selection last season at Tennessee. He\u2019ll use his one season at Kentucky to prove to NFL Scouts that he\u2019s worth a day one selection in the draft. <\/p>\n On3 ranks Heard as the No. 3 offensive tackle in his class and No. 22 player overall. ESPN slotted Heard in at No. 32 overall.<\/p>\n \u201cHeard is a massive presence who can be a physical, mauling blocker. He can cover up and seal off blockers and, at his best, bully and drive defenders off the line. He\u2019ll lose pad level at times and play high, which can hurt his effectiveness. He moves well enough to cut off backside linebackers climbing to the second level and kick out defenders when he pulls,\u201d writes ESPN\u2019s Steve Muench. <\/p>\n \u201cHe possesses good balance and feet, and flashes a powerful punch in pass protection. He has the frame and foot speed to develop into an outstanding pass blocker. His length and quickness make it difficult for speed rushers to turn the corner working against him. This is a big, physical tackle with SEC starting experience and, while not always clean in technique, he has consistently proved he can get the job done.<\/p>\n The 6-foot-3, 320-pound offensive lineman was a three-year starter at Baylor before becoming the first marquee addition for Stein\u2019s staff. He\u2019s ranked by On3 as the No. 2 Interior Offensive Lineman and No. 33 player overall.<\/p>\n The former Notre Dame quarterback narrowly lost a quarterback competition with CJ Carr<\/a> in the preseason. Upon entering the transfer portal, he initially committed to Nebraska. Within 24 hours, he flipped to Kentucky, putting Husker fans in a mental pretzel<\/a>. Minchey is On3\u2019s 12th-ranked quarterback and No. 66 player overall. He was the No. 50 player in ESPN\u2019s transfer portal rankings.<\/p>\n \u201cMinchey has appeared in just 10 games over the past three seasons, but he has flashed ability with a strong arm and good mobility,\u201d writes ESPN\u2019s Tom Luginbill. \u201cHe can drop the ball into receivers running go routes and throw hole balls working against two-high looks. Minchey can extend plays and make off-platform throws. He\u2019s an instinctive runner with enough speed to break explosive runs. Limited experience but gifted with the upside to become a quality player.\u201d<\/p>\n When Barnes signed with Texas, the Dallas native was the third-ranked player in America and a Top 100 prospect. He redshirted last season but showed a ton of potential. Will Muschamp tried to reel Barnes back into Austin. Instead, Barnes committed to Stein while sitting in front of the Kentucky student section<\/a> at Rupp Arena last Saturday. He\u2019s the fifth-ranked linebacker and No. 89 overall player in On3\u2019s Transfer Portal rankings.<\/p>\n More Kentucky Players in the On3 Transfer Portal Rankings<\/p>\n Tegra Tshabola<\/a>, Ohio State \u2014 No. 145 overall, No. 8 Interior Offensive Lineman
CJ Baxter<\/a>, Texas \u2014 No. 233 Overall, No. 19 Running Back
Nic Anderson<\/a>, LSU\/Oklahoma \u2014 No. 387 Overall, No. 63 Wide Receiver
Jordan Castell<\/a>, Florida \u2014 No. 401 Overall, No. 35 Safety
Jamarrion Harkless<\/a>, Purdue \u2014 No. 419 Overall, No. 39 Defensive Lineman
Tavion Wallace<\/a>, Arkansas \u2014 No. 529 Overall, No. 45 Linebacker<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The transfer portal officially closed to new entrants on Friday night at midnight. Some players are still searching…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":687138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[100334,91172,7,54586,97042,49,48],"class_list":["post-687137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-coleton-price-22-bowie","tag-elijah-barnes-25-skyline","tag-football","tag-kenny-minchey-23-pope-john-paul-ii","tag-lance-heard-23-neville","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115918004885237193","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687137","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=687137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/687138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=687137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=687137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=687137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}