Kentucky Football Countdown: 70 days till Kickoff

The Kentucky football countdown is down to No. 70, a significant statistic throughout the history of the program. Before we get to the numbers, a few notable Kentucky football No. 70s.

An All-Time Great 70

Darian Kinnard was a four-star recruiting win for Kentucky out of Cleveland (Ohio) St. Ignatius in the class of 2018. Originally from Knoxville, Kinnard returned to the SEC footprint for his college years and immediately made an impact.

After starting two of the last three games of the season as a true freshman, Kinnard turned into one of the best right tackles in the SEC in 2019. He followed that up with third-team All-American honors as a junior and consensus first-team All-American honors as a senior in 2021. Kinnard joined Benny Snell Jr. as the only players in the Mark Stoops era to be named first-team All-SEC twice. The tackle was only the 12th consensus All-American in program history.

After four years, Kinnard was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft and is currently competing for the starting right tackle job as a rookie.

Exceptional 70 stats

70+: Three Kentucky quarterbacks have reached the 70 touchdown pass threshold in their careers. Tim Andre’ Woodson (79), Jared Lorenzen (78), and Tim Couch (74) all played within a decade of each other as passing records were destroyed in Lexington. However, the program went on a passing drought, and Will Levis would need 46 touchdown passes to reach that landmark this season.

70+: Kentucky has seen six players record 70+ receptions in a year, but that only once happened since Mark Stoops came over. Wan’Dale Robinson set the single-season record for receptions (104), and Kentucky must try to fill that hole in 2022. Virginia Tech transfer Tayvion Robinson should have a great shot at joining this group.