Coach Speak: QB DJ Hunter

Quarterbacks have been a major focus of the conversation when it comes to Kentucky football this offseason.

There was the portal recruitment of Zach Calzada, the presumed starter to begin the 2025 season. Cutter Boley’s development has been a newsworthy item this offseason. Kentucky landed signatures from two Class of 2025 quarterbacks in Stone Saunders and Brennen Ward last year. And this year Kentucky has gained commitments from DJ Hunter and Matt Ponatoski, from the 2027 and 2026 classes respectively.

Given how much interest there is in all of these players you might think that Hunter, the youngest of the bunch, would be almost an afterthought. But then there’s his immense potential, confirmed by an offer from Ole Miss even after his commitment to Kentucky.

Hunter played for head coach Josh Jones at Knoxville (Tenn.) Bearden until this year. Now, Hunter has moved on to Buford, Ga., and Jones is coaching at Knoxville Catholic. But because of that history, Jones has a lot to say and plenty of insight into Hunter.

“He comes from an incredible family,” Jones told Cats Illustrated in an interview this week. “He’s just got great people around him. He’s a really good player and he’s got a chance to be a great player. Even more than that, he’s an even better kid. He just goes about his business pretty quiet. He doesn’t say a whole lot. He tries to lead on the field a little bit but off the field he’s very quiet. You ain’t got to worry about ‘is he doing the right thing?’ or anything like that. He understands football well beyond what a 16-year old does. He’s good on the board. He knows how important the mental side of the game is for that position. He’s always working on his craft. His nutrition plan is about as good as it gets for a high school kid. He ain’t gonna miss a lift. He checks all the boxes and his upside is incredibly high because he can run it and he can throw it.”

Jones said that Hunter has run a laser-timed 4.5-second 40-yard dash and notes that’s at nearly 200 pounds.

“His arm talent is about as good as you’re going to get,” he said. “He throws with a ton of velocity. He can throw the deep ball. He can throw with touch. When he needs to whiz one through there, the whole nine yards. He has a really good understanding of everything.”

Hunter battled injuries last season and underwent ACL surgery at the start of this year. Jones said he doesn’t believe he has quite been cleared for contact but that could change in the near future. He said that Hunter has been as diligent in his rehab work as he expected him to be. The doctors who work with the University of Tennessee’s football program work with Hunter.

Jones said he wasn’t surprised when Hunter committed to UK because of how the process played out.

“All of this came about back in January,” Jones said. “Coach Wolf comes down in January making a normal recruiting stop because we had a lot of good players there. Normal January stuff. We get to talking and he had already watched (Hunter’s) tape. And he’s like, ‘Man, coach, am I wrong in what I’m seeing?’ He tells me what he sees and I tell him, ‘No coach, you ain’t wrong one bit. You nailed it.’ One thing led to another. The dad told me what they all thought from visiting. He asked me my thoughts on all of that and committing early. I wasn’t surprised and think Kentucky’s got a steal. Kentucky plays high level football but I think he can play just about anywhere.”

Hunter landed an offer from Ole Miss back in June, several days before he took another visit to Kentucky.

“They’re not looking for what all else is out there,” Jones said. “They’re very satisfied. If someone’s going to call they may take the call and listen but they’re very satisfied. They really like Lexington. They’ve got some family there. They felt like it was home and a place they could see him playing football at. Wolf and the group of guys there did a good job. Wolf was the main guy. Obviously the offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach was involved but all my dealings were through Wolf and he did a phenomenal job. We get coaches from every conference known to man and Wolf’s one of the guys I really like to talk to. He’s very good at what he does.”