The transfer portal phenomenon has created chaotic free agency periods in college athletics. We knew this would happen (to a degree) when the NCAA allowed players to move freely from school to school. In fact, it was considered a significant win for student-athletes who had to sit and wait their turn if they wanted to make a change, while the adults were free to move from one coaching job to the next without any repercussions.

Things can get dicey in the transfer portal, but these are young adults who can make their own decisions and live with the consequences. I’m not so sure that people realized how much this culture shift would trickle down to the teenagers in the high school ranks.

Transferring was Frowned Upon

You probably remember the name Dakotah Euton. He was a basketball prodigy in the state, billed as the next Larry Bird on the AAU circuit by the time he was 12 years old. Billy Gillispie eventually got the Ashland native to commit to Kentucky.

He started his high school career with his righthand man, Chad Jackson, at Rose Hill Christian. It was the same small school O.J. Mayo briefly attended and took to the Sweet 16. When Jackson and Euton transferred to Scott County, it was a big damn deal.

Those two were my contemporaries, so I was only privy to the whispers and not the formal talking points. But a few decades ago, the Toyota plant in Georgetown was Scott County’s key to getting the best players from around the state to play for the Cardinals. Their parents got a job on the line and the Scott County basketball team got ball-players. They were reviled by many, but hey, it worked.

The Kentucky High School Transfer Portal Numbers are Staggering

That’s how things used to work. It was an archaic way to operate. Now, the pendulum has swung in the complete opposite direction, and players can come and go freely from school to school.

At today’s Board of Control meeting, commissioner Julian Tackett said the KHSAA has formally processed 827 transfers during this 2024-25 year. Jason Frakes reports that the number only includes the transfers the KHSAA had to rule on. Many others were handled at the local level. That means roughly 1,000 high school athletes transferred schools in a 6-month period.

That number is unfathomable.

How many kids did you know that transferred when you were in high school? Sure, there were kids who got kicked out of a school for getting in trouble and had to move, but how many people do you know switched schools by choice? You can probably count that number on one hand.

The transfer portal has made transferring from one high school to the next an acceptable norm. In most of those cases, it’s because of sports. Another school might offer more playing time or a coach who yells less. Do we really want to teach teenagers that when things aren’t going their way that the best decision is to quit and move on?

Transfer portal culture has been in the Florida high school ranks for years. Now it’s becoming acceptable in the state of Kentucky.

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Mark Stoops prioritized production over potential in the transfer portal. Kentucky had to undergo one of the largest roster overhauls in power conference football this offseason. To mitigate the risk, the Wildcats pushed all their chips in on players who have already proved they can perform, albeit at a lower level.

Of the 18 incoming transfers, only seven most recently played for a power conference program. The rest cut their teeth in the MAC, Conference-USA, or the FCS ranks, and most of them were all-conference performers.

Productive Offensive Lineman to Kentucky

It doesn’t matter if you’re 6 or 66, you knew that the top priority for Kentucky this offseason was fixing the offensive line. Offensive line coach Eric Wolford has secured four signees so far who were all-conference players at their previous stops.

Evan Wibberley received Conference-USA Honorable Mention honors after his first season as Western Kentucky’s full-time starter at center. Right tackle Alex Wollschlaeger has 40 career starts. He was a Third-Team All-MAC selection in 2023, then a first team selection last fall. Offensive guard Josh Braun started his career at Florida and was a Second-Team All-SEC selection for Arkansas in 2023.

There could be another joining them soon. Shiyazh Pete was a First-Team All-C-USA left tackle for New Mexico State in 2023. An injury sidelined him at the start of the 2024 season that prevented him from repeating. Now he’s looking for a new home and Kentucky desperately needs a left tackle. For a moment, it looked like it was going to be either Michigan or Nebraska, but Pete Nakos and Steve Wiltfong report that Kentucky has made a major move to bring Pete to Lexington.

The pieces need to fit together for the Big Blue Wall to be successful, but it’s clear Kentucky will have some good pieces from the transfer portal.

Two Conference Players of the Year

The biggest signings on each side of the line of scrimmage were among the best players in the FCS in 2024.

Mi’Quise Grace was a Second-Team All-American who was named Missouri Valley Defensive Player of the Year. The explosive defensive lineman had 18.5 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks en route to a national semifinal appearance in the FCS playoffs.

Quarterback Zach Calzada was eliminated in an earlier round of the playoffs, but not until after he put up some silly numbers. The Southland Conference Player of the Year completed 65% of his passes for 3,791 yards (No. 5 in FCS), 35 touchdowns (No. 2 in FCS), and 9 interceptions. He also had 540 non-sack rushing yards and five touchdowns.

Next fall he’ll be throwing passes to Tru Edwards, who was a First-Team All-C-USA wide receiver at Louisiana Tech last fall. The 6-foot-3 pass-catcher led the league in receptions (84) and finished second in receiving yards (986).

You may be skeptical of this strategy. Not every Group of Five or FCS All-Conference player is built to perform in the SEC. Even so, it’s clear that Kentucky successfully signed some of the most talented players from the lower ranks.

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LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – Fayette County students have been outside the classroom for more than a week now and that includes some of our own kids.

WKYT’s Victor Puente’s daughter, Vera, has had to come to work with him for the past few days.

We talked with Vera about what it’s been like being here at the station with us and this is what she shared.

“I think I’m liking since I got to be here two days in a row, it was so awesome. And also, like, I can just feel me raising up ‘cause this place is so cool, I wish I could be here instead of school,” Vera said.

Of course, Vera and the rest of Fayette County students will be back in school on Thursday.

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