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First Down Kentucky: Canceled Visits

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First Down Kentucky: Canceled Visits


Things happen fast in the transfer portal, for better or worse. It’s been more of the latter for the Kentucky football program as the second week of the spring transfer portal window kicks off.

Late Sunday night we learned Greedy Vance would not be making his way to Lexington after committing to USC during a visit to the West Coast over the weekend. The Cats took another swing on the highest-ranked available in the portal. Despite making some early contact, a home run is not on the horizon.

Former Oregon State running back Damien Martinez initially planned to make trips to Kentucky and Tennessee. The Knoxville trip was quickly scratched. This morning we learned Martinez will not be traveling to Lexington this week.

Entertaining the thought of adding a piece like Martinez was exciting, albeit a long shot. Kentucky added Chip Trayanum this offseason, while Miami just lost their top rusher to the portal. The Hurricanes are willing to spend more to make Martinez the man, which is why he’ll likely commit to Miami this weekend.

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Kentucky is not completely empty-handed. The Wildcats are hosting Rutgers FL Rene Konga today, however, this Martinez development is what you would call “bad news” and I’m afraid there’s a little bit more of that to share Monday morning.

Kentucky Playing Catch Up with Tavion Wallace

Following last year’s victory over Florida, Trevin Wallace said he wasn’t the best athlete in his family. Tavion Wallace was sitting just off to the side, ranked as one of the top 50 players in America. The younger Wallace always enjoyed his time in Lexington, but it’s becoming clearer that he’s ready to take a different path at the collegiate level.

The No. 41 player in the 2025 recruiting class tells On3’s Chad Simmons he will be taking four official visits this summer and Kentucky is not one of them. That shouldn’t be too alarming. After all, he’s been to Kentucky so many times, does he really need an official visit? The problem is that Florida State is leading the charge, as they seemingly have been for most of his recruitment. He reiterated that the Seminoles are the team to beat and it’s hard to see a path where Kentucky can catch them.

“Florida State makes me feel special…,” he said. “What makes Florida State my top school is the consistency. It feels like family every time I go back for a visit. The coaches are great, their message is always the same and they want to make me a better man and better player. That always stood out to me.”

Not All Bad News

Elsewhere around the world of Kentucky football recruiting, the Wildcats are gaining even more ground for Marquise Davis. Sources tell KSR the Top 200 running back had a great unofficial visit to Kentucky over the weekend, his second straight week in Lexington. He could become a blockbuster addition for the program when Davis is expected to announce his commitment this summer.

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Brock Vandagriff Bagged a Bird

I would never consider myself an avid outdoorsman. Kentucky QB Brock Vandagriff is keeping up to date with the latest hunting schedule. Over the weekend Vandagriff enjoyed one of his favorite hobbies by going into the woods and retrieving a turkey. Is this an impressive haul? You tell me.

A Louisville Product goes Re-Portaling

Terez Traynor has multiple stops throughout his college career. The Louisville Doss product initially attended WKU. He went west and put up numbers at Idaho, then jumped up a level to Tulane this winter. After one spring practice, he’s back on the move. The timing is not coincidental. Shortly after this news surfaced, On3’s Pete Nakos predicted Jon Sumrall would land Khai Prean, a former LSU wide receiver who was a four-star talent coming out of high school.





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Kentucky’s Otega Oweh headed to Thunder in 2026 NBA Draft trade

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Kentucky’s Otega Oweh headed to Thunder in 2026 NBA Draft trade


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LEXINGTON — Otega Oweh will begin his NBA career on the move.

The Miami Heat drafted Oweh in the second round of the 2026 NBA Draft on Wednesday, June 24. Oweh was the No. 41 overall pick (and the 11th selection of the second round).

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But he won’t remain in Miami: Oweh reportedly is part of a trade that will send him to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Oweh starred for Kentucky basketball the past two seasons. He was a primary component of the first and second squads of coach Mark Pope’s tenure at UK.

Here’s what to know about Oweh, the Wildcats’ newest draft selection:

Oweh began his time as a collegian at Oklahoma, where he spent two seasons. He played in 32 games (28 starts) for the Sooners in 2023-24, averaging 11.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1 assist per outing.

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But he was a revelation at Kentucky, inarguably the team’s top player the past two seasons.

During his debut in 2024-25, Oweh paced the Wildcats in points per game (16.2) and double-digit efforts (33 times in 36 games). He started the season scoring 10 or more in the team’s first 26 games, which was the longest streak by a Kentucky player since Malik Monk did so 30 times in a row in 2016-17.

After going through the draft process and returning to UK, Oweh entered the 2025-26 campaign as the SEC’s preseason Player of the Year.

He wound up being every bit as consistent as in Year 1, scoring 10-plus points in 35 of the Cats’ 36 games. Oweh, who was named to the All-SEC Second Team by the league’s coaches, averaged a team-high 18.6 points per game.

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He finished his Kentucky career with 1,255 points, the most ever by a player in his first two seasons with the program.

Along with his scoring prowess, Oweh also set single-season personal bests for rebounds (4.8), assists (2.7) and steals (1.8) per game.

Despite his standout two-year career with the Cats, Oweh was not a highly touted transfer portal prospect following the 2023-24 season. He was 31st according to 247Sports, while ESPN ranked him 59th and On3 didn’t even include him in its top 100.

Hailing from Blair Academy in New Jersey, Oweh was unanimously rated as a four-star prospect in the 2022 class, earning that ranking from Rivals, 247Sports and ESPN.

Oweh was slightly taller than 6-foot-4 (without shoes) at the NBA Draft Combine. During that testing, he weighed 216 pounds. That’s nearly identical to Oweh’s figures on Kentucky’s official 2025-26 roster, where he was listed at 6-4 and 220 pounds.

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NBAdraft.net wrote that Oweh’s most logical pro comps are the Harrison twins — ex-UK greats Aaron and Andrew — and Josh Okogie.

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.



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INTERACTIVE MAP | Find free summer lunches around Kentucky, Indiana

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INTERACTIVE MAP | Find free summer lunches around Kentucky, Indiana


During the school year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program provides low-cost or free lunches to children at nearly 100,000 public schools, nonprofit private schools and residential childcare institutions.



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Top knee doctor confident Jayden Quaintance’s injury not a long-term concern, but clean-up procedure possible

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Top knee doctor confident Jayden Quaintance’s injury not a long-term concern, but clean-up procedure possible


One of the nation’s top knee doctors shared a positive diagnosis with former Kentucky forward Jayden Quaintance going into the 2026 NBA Draft, revealing that his knee is not expected to be a long-term concern, KSR has learned.

That may include a second procedure to officially put the injury suffered in February 2025 behind him, however.

Dr. Riley Williams III — head team physician and orthopedic surgeon for the Brooklyn Nets and famous for performing surgery on Paul George’s gruesome open tibia-fibula fracture with USA Basketball in 2014 — gave a second opinion on Quaintance’s injured right knee that limited him to four games in Lexington and recommended a follow-up procedure that could keep him off the floor for six months. The 6-foot-11 prospect’s ACL remains fully intact and his knee can be maintained at its current state, but a clean-up is preferred for a permanent resolution.

Medical concerns led to his slide in final mock drafts — he was projected to go No. 27 overall to the Boston Celtics, according to ESPN — before ultimately landing with the San Antonio Spurs at No. 20. This procedure could lead to a delayed start to his rookie season, but the long-term reward of a healthy 15-year career in the NBA is the prize on the table. It kept teams in the lottery and late teens intrigued, despite rumors of a potential fall to the second round. Sources close to Quaintance felt San Antonio at No. 20 was a backstop for the talented forward going into draft night, an educated hunch that proved to be accurate.

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Quaintance worked out for the Dallas Mavericks (No. 9, No. 30), Milwaukee Bucks (No. 10), Oklahoma City Thunder (No. 12, No. 17), Chicago Bulls (No. 15), Toronto Raptors (No. 19), San Antonio Spurs (No. 20) and Boston Celtics (No. 27) ahead of the draft, but the Thunder and Spurs were the most aggressive throughout the predraft process, sources tell KSR. Once OKC snagged Michigan’s Aday Mara at No. 12 overall, it opened the door for a move to San Antonio for the former Wildcat.

There was disappointment in Quaintance’s absence on draft night after failing to receive a green room invite, but receiving confirmation of no long-term knee concern was the biggest priority — and that came after meeting with arguably the nation’s top knee doctor before the 2026 NBA Draft began in Brooklyn on Tuesday.

Quaintance was not the top-five pick he was expected to be going into his lone season at Kentucky, but he found himself in a perfect winning situation in San Antonio next to the future face of the NBA in Victor Wembanyama, even if that includes a short-term setback.

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