Bio Blast: Jantzen Dunn

Kentucky won another recruiting battle on Saturday afternoon. For the second time in this transfer portal cycle, the Wildcats have addressed the secondary. Ohio State defensive back Jantzen Dunn is returning to Kentucky.

The Bowling Green (Ky.) South Warren product committed to Kentucky quickly after entering the transfer portal following his redshirt freshman season at Ohio State. Now it’s time to learn some more about the latest defensive back added to the Kentucky roster.

KSR’s Bio Blast is here to provide some more information on the latest transfer to join the Kentucky football program.

Another blue-chip recruit

Similar to Cincinnati transfer JQ Hardaway, Jantzen Dunn (6-1, 192) was a consensus four-star recruit out of high school. The class of 2021 prospect was the No. 157 ranked prospect, a top-10 safety recruit, and the No. 2 player in Kentucky behind Jager Burton in the On3 Consensus.

Dunn committed to Ryan Day’s Ohio State program in April 2020 over Kentucky, Louisville, and Tennessee. The blue-chip recruit had a heated recruitment, but Dunn ended things by committing in the spring of his junior season.

Kentucky will be hoping that Dunn’s recruiting potential at defensive back will be met as a redshirt sophomore in 2023 with three years of eligibility remaining.

Positional versatility

Jantzen Dunn was listed as a safety prospect coming out of high school, but this was always a player that could potentially play multiple positions in college. We saw that play out at Ohio State.

After playing nine snaps at nickel in his only game appearance in 2021 at Ohio State, Ryan Day decided to make a coaching change. Oklahoma State’s Jim Knowles made the move to Columbus. The Buckeyes cross-trained Dunn at cornerback in fall camp and thought the young player could potentially have a future on the outside.

Looking back to his high school tape, Dunn has some good length on a 6-foot-1 frame with good speed from a track-and-field background. Those two traits could make him a good fit to succeed as a zone scheme cornerback for defensive coordinator Brad White.

Kentucky has addressed cornerback

Carrington Valentine and Keidron Smith are on their way to the NFL. That left Kentucky with a big hole to fill at cornerback. UK went into the transfer portal to find two potential replacements who each have three years of eligibility remaining.

Both Jantzen Dunn and JQ Hardaway were blue-chip recruits coming out of high school that had high ceilings as players. However, each played sparingly early in their careers in Ohio.

Kentucky moved quickly on each transfer getting them on campus and locking up a commitment soon after. The hope now is that each can be a better fit in Lexington as their overall length and athleticism could plug in at cornerback in a zone-heavy scheme that looks to minimize throwing windows and force passing games to dink-and-dunk their way down the field.

The Wildcats could potentially benefit from adding one more sure player at cornerback who can be an instant starter, but the minimum has already been accomplished by adding both Dunn and Hardaway. This defense now has legit depth at each position in the secondary.

That is a very good thing as the Cats are off to a very good start in the transfer portal.