Mark Stoops was emphatic in his final press conferences of the football season that he would fix this. That they would right the ship and turn the corner. He went so far as to say, "We have the resources to do it." Yet, everything that's happened in the two days of the portal being open indicates a vastly different narrative. There is a case to be made that he is mailing it in, and fans are rightly asking, is he even trying, or is he comfortable taking his $9 million salary into another bad season?
The first sign that things were amiss in his transfer portal strategy was the loss of Chip Trayanum. He said only days ago that Trayanum was planning to stay with the program for another year. Then Trayanum bailed as quickly as anyone. Did Stoops not know? Was it a change of mind for Traynum? Those things happen, so maybe. However, Stoops and company invested a lot of NIL money for the star running back from Ohio State to only play for 19 carries as he nursed an injury all season. They paid for his surgery and recovery and invested not just money but time in him. He's now gone.
Then, the players who are announcing they have heard from Kentucky are head-scratchers. They are mostly players from either G5 schools or FCS schools. The best of the batch are players from other losing programs. Stoops doesn't even seem to be reaching out to top portal players. This isn't speculation as much as it is the players themselves reporting who they are hearing from. He's putting in offers to players from Elon, Western Carolina, and Sam Houston. What?
Going after a WR with 0 career catches and a RB with 2 season-ending injuries and 1 career rush for 6 yards. Don’t panic, we’re gonna have a better football team next year. pic.twitter.com/QjJbBQeUic
— Fifth Quarter Kentucky (@FQKentucky) December 10, 2024
Of course, there will be some G5 and FCS guys that deserve looks at the D1 level and maybe even the SEC level, but to be going exclusively after low-level targets is another sign that Stoops is mailing it in. There is a hope that he is not, that he has a list of players, some of them very good, that he plans to make a run at, but right now, it appears he's content counting his own money while Kentucky football continues to suffer.