![Kentucky Wildcats running back Ray Davis (1) celebrates with teammate offensive lineman Dylan Ray (73) after his touchdown to give Kentucky a 30 to 34 lead with under three minutes to play in the game. The Kentucky Wildcats faced off against the Clemson Tigers Friday, December 29, 2023, in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida. The Wildcats led 14 to 10 at the half but the Tigers fought back and came away with a 38 to 35 victory. [Bob Self/Florida Times-Union]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_107,w_2120,h_1192/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/198/01jfdmk85w19j87v06nx.jpg "Kentucky Wildcats running back Ray Davis (1) celebrates with teammate offensive lineman Dylan Ray (73) after his touchdown to give Kentucky a 30 to 34 lead with under three minutes to play in the game. The Kentucky Wildcats faced off against the Clemson Tigers Friday, December 29, 2023, in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida. The Wildcats led 14 to 10 at the half but the Tigers fought back and came away with a 38 to 35 victory. [Bob Self/Florida Times-Union]")
The Kentucky Wildcats will have a brand new offensive line next year. This should be a good thing, as last season, it was ranked one of the worst in all of the SEC. The shuffling continues for the Kentucky Wildcats again today. They had a brand new addition to the offensive line via the portal in Wallace Unamba from New Mexico that was added today. About an hour later, one of the current offensive linemen jumped in the portal in Dylan Ray.
— Dylan Ray (@dylanray22) December 18, 2024
Ray transferred to Kentucky out of West Virginia after his redshirt freshman year. He was a consistent starter along the line for both his sophomore and junior seasons for the Wildcats. He may have seen that he was losing his starting spot to other transfers that were coming in. He has only one year of eligibility remaining and would like to ensure he is a starter to finish his career.
Eric Wolford, the offensive line coach for the Wildcats, has his hands full as he needs to rebuild one of the worst parts of the Kentucky team in 2024. The line struggled to give quarterback times and even open up holes for the runningbacks. The running game mostly flowed through the back's ability to improvise. The unit did not seem to play well together or understand the blocking schemes at times. It also was a measure of talent and experience. Wolford doesn't seem like he is much for developing linemen and would rather just use experienced ones.
Kentucky has already added three offensive linemen in this portal and still has their eyes on more. Since it is a major part of Stoops' game plan to run the ball and run the clock, they will need to make sure they have one of the best offensive lines in the SEC, not one of the worst as they had in 2024. All the best to Ray, who seemed to be a good dude and can still play at a high level.