Will Stein’s first roster at Kentucky is nearly intact.
The first-year Wildcats’ coach is eager to focus solely on Kentucky after he helped lead Oregon to the national semifinals. Stein said he feels “really good with where we’re at” during a press conference Monday at Kroger Field.
“We were strongly resourced to make sure that we got the right players,” he said. “We're still pushing the envelope there, but we have fielded a team I believe that can go out there and compete immediately. It really starts with depth, that's the key part in college football.”
Stein credited general manager Pat Biondo and assistant Pete Notchta for filling the void while he finished out his term as Oregon’s offensive coordinator.
“Those guys really spearheaded building this roster, along with me,” Stein said. “I like where we stand right now.”
The Wildcats focused on rebuilding and fine-tuning the offensive line, a component that Stein considers beneficial especially during the latter part of the season.
“That was a major, major thing,” Stein said. “The teams that win in November, December, January, (are good) in the trenches. So, making sure that we are solidifying the offensive line was a major piece to this puzzle.”
The Wildcats added Notre Dame transfer quarterback Kenny Minchey along with veteran running backs CJ Baxter (Texas) and Jovantae Barnes (Oklahoma), coupled with the addition of former Oklahoma and LSU wide receiver Nic Anderson.
A former signal caller himself, Stein likes what Minchey brings to his offensive system.
“(He’s) extremely accurate (and) he's got great athleticism," he said. "Think when you talk to him and you guys meet him, he is phenomenal person, very smart. We did our background on him, everybody we talked to, even guys on that staff, felt like they still would have won 10 games with Kenny out there playing quarterback ... I feel like he's got a really high upside in this game and he's somebody that I was really excited to get.”
Minchey will get the early nod to replace Cutter Boley, who entered the transfer portal late and transferred to Arizona State.
"I wish him nothing but the best," Stein said. "No. 1, (he's a) great person. Obviously (we) recruited him prior out to Oregon. There's some things that are out of our control and felt like we put a really good plan together in place and it just didn't work out. There is nothing wrong with that. I'm really excited about what he does at his next spot, his next venture ... I just think he's a great person."
Stein’s first recruiting class, a mixture of transfers and newcomers, features 10 players from Texas, seven from Georgia and five from Florida and three from Kentucky. Stein’s overall philosophy is to recruit the home state first for the best talent.
‘The best way that we're going to move forward is really starting inside the state of Kentucky - it has to,” Stein said. ‘In this next class, there's a lot of really good talent in the state right now, a lot. When I've seen Kentucky at its best, it's homegrown talent. That's where you got to start.’
However, Stein added the Wildcats will do whatever it takes to recruit the best players to fit the system.
“(After that) then you look at really the five-, six-hour radius around us, Nashville, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Chicago, Detroit. I'm even going to Charlotte, Atlanta, those are the cities that you really want to hone in on, even St Louis.
“This is a national brand — the University of Kentucky. This logo holds weight. This is where you can use your resources and your relationships that you built, maybe prior to going to a state like Texas, to really dive into South Florida, even the DMV area, to use those connections to acquire players that want to be here. We'll go wherever.”
Kentucky football coach Will Stein addressed the media during a press conference Monday at Kroger Field. (Keith Taylor/Kentucky Today)
