Kentucky Football Made Culture Change a Point of Emphasis in Recruiting

Kentucky went 4-8 in 2024. Not every recruit on the Big Board is plugged into the intimate details of what’s happening around a program or its fanbase. One thing is unavoidable. Your record is your record.

Mark Stoops‘ coaching staff was not too naive to swiftly sweep aside what happened last fall. In order to get the right players to turn the program around, they had to be honest with them. That meant approaching what happened last fall head-on.

In some cases, it can be a positive. That’s what happened with Denairius Gray. The four-star Auburn wide receiver commit said he wanted to go somewhere he was needed, not wanted. Early playing time is easy to sell following a struggling season and it worked for the wide receiver.

That doesn’t work for linemen. It takes time for the cake to bake long enough to be ready to play SEC football. Do you really want to spend that redshirt year playing for a loser? Kentucky’s 4-8 record was on Garrett Witherington‘s mind when he was being recruited by the Cats.

“It’s definitely something I thought about. It’s hard not to, you know? But hearing all those guys talk, you can really tell there’s something different going on with the players and everything,” he said on WLAP’s Sunday AM Sports. “You can just really tell it’s different.”

This offseason has been dedicated to changing the culture of the Kentucky football program. Defensive coordinator Brad White was straightforward when discussing the team’s struggles and shared what they’re doing to make the right changes.

“When Coach Brad White came to my house, that was one of the first things he talked about with me. The culture’s just different this year. When I was up there, we watched their OTA practice and seeing all those guys flying around the field was awesome.”

So they’re “changing the culture,” but what exactly does that mean?

“One thing that I felt was that everybody was on the same page the whole time. When it went from the players to the position coaches, to the coordinators, to the head coach, everybody I talked to had the same goal. Seeing that was good,” said Witherington.

“Another thing about the culture is just how much work they get in while having fun with it. Doing it every day, if you don’t have some guys to have some fun with it, it’s not going to be enjoyable.”

Kentucky had seemingly little to no momentum entering the month of June. They were able to reel in 15 commitments from some talented players by turning their weakness into a message that resonated with players. Kentucky fans can only hope this change has staying power that produces results.