Kentucky football loses big time prospect Stone Saunders to the transfer portal

Kentucky’s quarterback room just got a little thinner.

After only one season in Lexington, redshirt freshman QB Stone Saunders is entering the transfer portal, ending his time as a Wildcat before he ever had the chance to make a real push up the depth chart.

For a fan base already watching Cutter Boley’s every move, this is the first real domino to fall.

Saunders was very much a Stoops/Liam Coen-era take. He committed when Coen was running the offense, bought into the pro-style vision, and arrived as one of the most productive high school quarterbacks in the 2025 class. When Mark Stoops and Bush Hamdan were fired and Will Stein plus Joe Sloan walked in the door, the room changed overnight.

Stein is known as a quarterback guy. Sloan’s résumé includes coaching Jayden Daniels during his Heisman run at LSU. On paper, it made plenty of sense for a young passer like Saunders to stay and compete under that duo. But in the portal era, “on paper” doesn’t mean much.

Why Stone Saunders is leaving and what it means for Kentucky football’s quarterback room

This isn’t some random depth piece walking out the door.

Saunders was a top-50 quarterback in his class, and the production was flat-out absurd. At Bishop McDevitt, he became Pennsylvania’s all-time leader in completions, passing yards and passing touchdowns, throwing for more than 13,000 yards and 204 scores across his high school career.

24/7’s Director of Scouting Andrew Ivins summed him up as “one of the most productive quarterbacks in the 2025 cycle,” noting that he plays with poise, climbs the pocket well, and wins with timing and precision even without having the biggest arm. The eval always projected him as a potential multi-year starter in a Power Four, pro-style system — the exact type of QB room asset you like to stash, develop and eventually turn loose.

Instead, Kentucky never really got to see what that looked like.

He redshirted in 2025, sat behind Boley and Calzada, and then watched a new staff arrive with its own preferences, schemes and recruiting board. In today’s game, that combination often equals one outcome: a portal announcement graphic.

How this connects to Cutter Boley

Let’s be honest: as soon as fans saw “Kentucky QB is entering the transfer portal,” the next thought was, OK… but what about Boley?

Cutter Boley is still on the roster. He’s made it clear he’s evaluating his options after the coaching change, and programs will line up if he ever truly hits the market. The presence of Stein and Sloan gives Kentucky a strong sales pitch, but Saunders leaving is a reminder that nothing is guaranteed.

Losing Saunders doesn’t automatically mean Boley is gone. It does, however, increase the pressure on Kentucky to make sure they find depth behind whoever is the starter.

You can’t get caught short at the most important position in the sport, especially when you’re trying to build an explosive, quarterback-centric offense.

How this shapes Will Stein’s portal plan

Even before Saunders hit the portal, Kentucky was going to be active at quarterback.

Stein’s system puts a premium on accuracy, decision-making and keeping the offense ahead of the chains. That’s why names like Harvard’s Jaden Craig make so much sense as “down-level” portal targets, guys who complete a high percentage, live in that short-to-intermediate window and can operate a timing-based passing game right away while younger arms develop behind them.

Craig’s numbers at Harvard look exactly like that archetype: over 2,800 passing yards this season on 61.5% completions with 25 touchdowns to 7 interceptions, and very similar efficiency the year before. Those aren’t just stat-padding throws; that’s real proof he can distribute and keep the chains moving.

Saunders leaving only makes that kind of one- or two-year bridge quarterback more important. You still have Boley and freshman signee Matt Ponatoski to build around, but you probably don’t want to be one injury away from throwing someone into the fire before they’re ready.

From Kentucky’s perspective, this one hurts because Saunders checked so many of the boxes you want from a developmental QB, he had great production and a bright future.

If Cutter Boley stays and develops under Stein and Sloan, and if Kentucky lands the right portal bridge to buy time for Boley and Ponatoski, this will feel like a manageable loss, the kind you absorb on the way to building something bigger.

If they whiff on those pieces? Then Saunders’ quiet redshirt year and quick exit will look like a missed opportunity at quarterback in a sport where you simply can’t afford many.

Either way, he becomes the first QB to leave in this new era of Kentucky football. Now all eyes turn, even more than before, to what Cutter Boley decides to do next.