Spring Briefing: Finding Kentucky's next RB1

Preparations for the 2024 college football season are already underway at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility. Former Oklahoma and Texas assistant Jay Boulware returns for his second season as the running backs coach at Kentucky, and this program has some production to replace.

Former Vanderbilt transfer Ray Davis will be in Indianapolis for the NFL Scouting Combine in two weeks. Ramon Jefferson has exhausted his collegiate eligibility. JuTahn McClain is in the transfer portal. New offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan has 88.3 percent of its rushing production along with 36 receptions to replace.

That is a lot.

Kentucky went to the transfer portal again to find a potential starter and could ask some young players to fill some big roles in 2024.

In KSR’s Spring Briefing series, we will cover every position on Kentucky’s roster before spring practice begins. Next up is tailback where a lot of questions surround this group with a new play-caller in 2024.

Spring Rundown: Quarterback

The Room

Chip Trayanum (5-11, 233, Redshirt Senior)

The former top-250 recruit out of Akron (Ohio) Hoban is now on this third school after spending two years each at Arizona State and Ohio State. Trayanum will give the offense some much-needed size at tailback and bring 1,157 career rushing yards to the Kentucky program.

Demie Sumo-Karngbaye (6-0, 210, Senior)

The former NC State transfer is back for year two at Kentucky and will fill a big role as the third down back for offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan. Sumo-Karngbaye saw 52.7 percent of his snaps last season come in the slot or split out wide. The veteran is a versatile piece who will have a role in this offense.

La’Vell Wright (6-0, 214, Redshirt Junior)

The Radcliff (Ky.) North Hardin battled injuries in 2023 and did not see any game action after rushing for 120 yards as a redshirt freshman in 2022. This is a big spring for Wright as an opportunity to grab the RB3 role will present itself in spring and fall camp.

Jamarion Wilcox (5-10, 184, Redshirt Freshman)

Kentucky logged a huge recruiting win in the 2023 cycle when the Douglasville (Ga.) South Paulding product picked the Wildcats over Auburn and Clemson. Surprisingly, Wilcox took a redshirt season in 2023 as he was unable to push for playing time. The young back has big-play potential. Wilcox rushed for 3,601 yards and logged 55 total touchdowns in his final two high school seasons. This is one of the most intriguing players on the roster entering spring practice.

Jason Patterson (5-10, 203, Freshman)

Speaking of excellent prep careers, the Sneads (Fla.) High product led the state of Florida in rushing yards (2,721) as a junior. Patterson followed that up by averaging nearly 10 yards per rush as a senior playing in a low classification in the Sunshine State. The early enrollee flipped from Cincinnati to Kentucky in November and will have a shot at finding a role in year one.

Tovani Mizell (5-11, 210, Freshman)

A former Georgia commit, Mizell committed to Kentucky over North Carolina after his official visit in June. The class of 2024 produce missed his senior season at Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Western due to a knee injury. Mizell is going through rehab and is a likely redshirt candidate.

Top Storyline: Can Chip Trayanum help Kentucky rediscover offensive efficiency?

Ray Davis had a great first season at Kentucky and is one of the top tailbacks in the 2024 NFL Draft class. The former Vanderbilt transfer has a shot at going off the board in Round 3. Davis was an All-SEC performer who gave Kentucky a ton of explosive plays out of the backfield, but this was an offense that struggled with efficiency.

Despite ranking No. 25 in yards per rush (4.90), Kentucky’s offense was No. 102 in success rate (38.8%) and No. 92 in rushing success rate (39.0%). The Wildcats were a boom-or-bust offense and that made it difficult for this team to play complementary football.

With four starters returning on the offensive line, we should see some growth at the point of attack. That should help. Will Chip Trayanum be able to provide more down-to-down efficiency?

Playing for an Ohio State offense that ranked No. 73 in rushing success rate (40.2%), Trayanum gave the Buckeyes a lift when given opportunities. Kentucky will ask the transfer to do the same on a higher usage volume.

Bush Hamdan’s offenses have played with good down-to-down efficiency. Trayanum will play a big role in achieving that goal as Kentucky looks to become more balanced in 2024.

What to Watch: Finding explosives

Efficiency is important, but you also want your run game to create explosives. Ray Davis was one of the best in college football at finding chunk gains in 2023. Kentucky will miss that. However, the Wildcats have a player on their roster that they recruited to fill that role.

“We are very excited to sign Jamarion,” Mark Stoops said in a release when Wilcox was signed by Kentucky. “He has the speed, strength and acceleration to make a big impact in this league. He’s a home-run back.” 

Kentucky needs a back to become an extra-base hitter. Can Wilcox fill that role? If he does, this rushing attack has a chance to be really good again in 2024.

Bold Prediction: Chip Trayanum seizes RB1 job under new staff

New offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan has produced a 1,000-yard rusher each year as a play-caller. Kentucky has produced seven 1,000-yard rushers in the last eight years. The Wildcats have seen three tailbacks become All-SEC performers in that run.

If that happens again in 2024, Chip Trayanum will be the player accumulating the yards and touchdowns.

Kentucky has a track record of production at tailback and the Ohio State transfer was added to the roster to be the program’s go-to guy at tailback. In year five, Trayanum will finally get a chance to be a feature back after playing behind Rachaad White at Arizona State and being in a crowded room at Ohio State.

The redshirt senior will become the clear No. 1 tailback this spring and will enter fall camp as a top skill talent weapon for offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan.