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Kentucky and the revolving door

HawkNorth

HR All-State
Nov 24, 2003
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I can’t say for sure, but Kentucky must be at or near the top of teams dealing in the portal. I don’t know how you have consistent success if you are constantly turning over your roster. If you are a prospective recruit, why would you take a chance that you might be replaced in a year or two by someone who isn’t even on the current roster? I wish the portal had rules and limits. Clearly there are none and if you don’t participate, you can miss on some good players and the opportunity to improve your team quickly. I buy into Kirk’s philosophy- recruit and develop first and supplement with transfers. Here’s a list of some of the comings and goings at KY. It makes the head spin.

Kentucky transfers
 
I can’t say for sure, but Kentucky must be at or near the top of teams dealing in the portal. I don’t know how you have consistent success if you are constantly turning over your roster. If you are a prospective recruit, why would you take a chance that you might be replaced in a year or two by someone who isn’t even on the current roster? I wish the portal had rules and limits. Clearly there are none and if you don’t participate, you can miss on some good players and the opportunity to improve your team quickly. I buy into Kirk’s philosophy- recruit and develop first and supplement with transfers. Here’s a list of some of the comings and goings at KY. It makes the head spin.

Kentucky transfers
Iowa’s failure to win the Big Ten West and 10+ games overall was due to Kirk failing to get a QB and offensive line help through the portal.

Clearly, Kirk’s stance on the portal has evolved, but his hesitancy to use it more in the past obviously hurt the program.
 
I can’t say for sure, but Kentucky must be at or near the top of teams dealing in the portal. I don’t know how you have consistent success if you are constantly turning over your roster. If you are a prospective recruit, why would you take a chance that you might be replaced in a year or two by someone who isn’t even on the current roster? I wish the portal had rules and limits. Clearly there are none and if you don’t participate, you can miss on some good players and the opportunity to improve your team quickly. I buy into Kirk’s philosophy- recruit and develop first and supplement with transfers. Here’s a list of some of the comings and goings at KY. It makes the head spin.

Kentucky transfers
You “take a chance” because you know you’re good enough to be a starter and therefore not force the coaches to hit the portal for your position.
 
The portal only works if you have a system that works.
I can’t say for sure, but Kentucky must be at or near the top of teams dealing in the portal. I don’t know how you have consistent success if you are constantly turning over your roster. If you are a prospective recruit, why would you take a chance that you might be replaced in a year or two by someone who isn’t even on the current roster? I wish the portal had rules and limits. Clearly there are none and if you don’t participate, you can miss on some good players and the opportunity to improve your team quickly. I buy into Kirk’s philosophy- recruit and develop first and supplement with transfers. Here’s a list of some of the comings and goings at KY. It makes the head spin.

Kentucky transfers
Really really hard to build continuity when your losing 10-15 guys in the portal every year atop your graduating Srs. In some cases that’s looking for 30-35 new players. Not sure how as a recruiting coordinator or coach you juggle that.
 
I have friends in Lexington. NIL has been a HUGE push there even from the state legislature. From what I understand, they utilize AthleteAdvantage.xyz (NIL Agency) and collective based in Lexington to setup deals for players. Wan’Dale Robinson got a six figure deal to go to UK. Their b-ball center, Oscar Tshiebwe received $2.75 million to stay instead of going pro after last season. They’re top freshman d-lineman, Deion Walker, is from Cass Tech in Detroit. You don’t walk into Detroit and take a top d-lineman offered by Michigan, Michigan State, Georgia and Alabama without 💵💵. We can’t keep our in-state kids from Alabama and here’s UK beating them for an out of state kid. I’m not saying they’re doing anything wrong. Just saying they have figured out NIL and is why they also have so many 4* freshman commits. How else could they land the top qb in the portal??? 💵💵💵💵
The Swarm should contact Athlete Advantage to see how they are doing it, how they interact with the University, etc. RECRUITING WILL BE WON OR LOST ON NIL PERIOD. Recruits don’t care about recruiting rooms, dining halls, etc. anymore. It’s all about cash. 💵💵💸💵💰💰
 
I have friends in Lexington. NIL has been a HUGE push there even from the state legislature. From what I understand, they utilize AthleteAdvantage.xyz (NIL Agency) and collective based in Lexington to setup deals for players. Wan’Dale Robinson got a six figure deal to go to UK. Their b-ball center, Oscar Tshiebwe received $2.75 million to stay instead of going pro after last season. They’re top freshman d-lineman, Deion Walker, is from Cass Tech in Detroit. You don’t walk into Detroit and take a top d-lineman offered by Michigan, Michigan State, Georgia and Alabama without 💵💵. We can’t keep our in-state kids from Alabama and here’s UK beating them for an out of state kid. I’m not saying they’re doing anything wrong. Just saying they have figured out NIL and is why they also have so many 4* freshman commits. How else could they land the top qb in the portal??? 💵💵💵💵
The Swarm should contact Athlete Advantage to see how they are doing it, how they interact with the University, etc. RECRUITING WILL BE WON OR LOST ON NIL PERIOD. Recruits don’t care about recruiting rooms, dining halls, etc. anymore. It’s all about cash. 💵💵💸💵💰💰
I wish I could take this for absolute fact. I see other factors influencing Kentucky's recruiting success. Like maybe they enjoy an advantage enjoyed by most SEC and ACC schools in recruiting Southern HS students closer to home, getting higher ranked kids, more of which are ranked in the top 250-500 kids according to Ranking Services that come from larger states (like FL, GA, AL, TX, CA, Michigan and Ohio). Plus, the NIL to SEC/ACC schools is more mature, what you said.
 
I can’t say for sure, but Kentucky must be at or near the top of teams dealing in the portal. I don’t know how you have consistent success if you are constantly turning over your roster. If you are a prospective recruit, why would you take a chance that you might be replaced in a year or two by someone who isn’t even on the current roster? I wish the portal had rules and limits. Clearly there are none and if you don’t participate, you can miss on some good players and the opportunity to improve your team quickly. I buy into Kirk’s philosophy- recruit and develop first and supplement with transfers. Here’s a list of some of the comings and goings at KY. It makes the head spin.

Kentucky transfers
Absolutely agree 💯 % with everything you stated - great post!
 
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I think some of our fans think NIL money solves everything. Clearly you have to be in the game (we are, not sure exactly to how much) but in the end game it comes down to coaching and develop for MOST teams not named Bama, Ohio State, Georgia. And NIL has not worked for A & M and multiple other teams. Now while so many things bother me about Kirk, he’s got a pretty solid track record at Iowa. I also agree about the South and recruiting. The proximity to so many good players down there is certainly an advantage. But over the years we’ve proven to be able to play with most of the SEC teams except of course Bama and GA. But it’s that way with the entire country.
 
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