Kentucky football loses breakout pass rusher Steven Soles Jr. to transfer portal

This is exactly the kind of offseason news Kentucky football did not need.

Edge rusher Steven Soles Jr., one of the defense’s most promising young playmakers, has announced that he plans to enter the transfer portal. Multiple reports confirm that Soles will be a portal entry with two years of eligibility remaining, making him one of the more intriguing pass-rush options available this cycle.

Why Steven Soles Jr. leaving hurts Kentucky football’s defense

For a Kentucky defense that already needed an infusion of talent, losing its best natural edge threat is a gut punch. Soles was never the headliner in his recruiting class. He arrived in Lexington as a three-star prospect who chose the Wildcats over South Carolina, Alabama and several others, a classic Mark Stoops-era bet on traits and development. Once he got on the field, you could see why the staff pushed so hard.

In 2025 he broke through, posting 11 total tackles, 3.5 sacks and two forced fumbles, showing the kind of bend and closing burst Kentucky has too often had to manufacture with scheme instead of raw ability. That built on his 2024 debut, when he flashed as a situational rusher with a sack and five total tackles in limited snaps. When you watched Kentucky this fall, Soles was one of the few edge players who could consistently win a one-on-one and collapse a pocket without heavy blitz help.

The timing makes this even more complicated. Kentucky has already lost Landyn Watson to the portal and Kam Olds to graduation, thinning out a room that new defensive coordinator Jay Bateman was going to need to lean on. Bateman’s history at Army, North Carolina and Texas A&M features aggressive fronts, simulated pressures and a heavy reliance on disruptive edge play to generate negative plays and takeaways.

Now the roster reality is simple: if Kentucky wants to play the way Bateman prefers, the Wildcats have to restock the edge position in a hurry. That almost certainly means more work in the portal, more asks of young players already on campus and more pressure on high school targets to be ready earlier than expected.

For Soles, this is a chance to cash in on a breakout season and test his value nationally. For Kentucky, it is another reminder of how unforgiving the roster churn era can be. You can identify and develop the right guy, hit on the evaluation, watch him turn into the kind of disruptive SEC player you dreamed about, and still wake up one December morning knowing you have to replace him.