Why Keeping Ty Bryant and Anwar Stewart Was Essential to Will Stein’s Kentucky Blueprint

Will Stein has added 33 players to his first Kentucky roster from the transfer portal and 15 more from the high school ranks. That leaves 53 players returning from last year’s team; none may be as important as Ty Bryant.

Earlier this month, the Lexington native and former Frederick Douglass star confirmed he will return to Kentucky for his senior season. As a junior, Bryant led Kentucky in tackles (76) and interceptions (four), the latter figure tied for first in the SEC. He also had a pair of tackles for loss and a pass deflection, and was one of Kentucky’s primary punt returners, finishing the season with a team-high seven punt returns for 36 yards.

For all of that, Bryant was the lone Wildcat to earn All-SEC honors, making the Second Team. He also would have had plenty of suitors lined up had he chosen to enter the transfer portal. Larry Vaught, who broke the news that Bryant was staying home, reported that Bryant’s agent received serious inquiries from LSU, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Georgia, and Alabama, with Lane Kiffin the most interested in the junior after seeing him pick off a pair of passes in Kentucky’s loss to Ole Miss in September. That alone tells you how significant it is to have Bryant on the roster next season, both on the field and off as a team leader.

At today’s press conference, Will Stein said as much, also mentioning that Bryant’s dad, Cisco, played with his dad, Matt, under Jerry Claiborne in the 1980s.

“Huge, right?” Stein said. “Lexington kid. He’s a program builder. He’s a leader. He’s all-conference. He is a phenomenal person. His dad played football here with my dad, so, obviously, that connection piece was huge, but he’s a damn good ball player, and we wanted to make sure that he was on this team.”

Trying to get Bryant back was a no-brainer. What about the rest of the roster? Stein opened up on the process of evaluating Kentucky’s roster once he took over to figure out who the staff wanted to prioritize, giving shoutouts to general manager Pat Biondo and assistant general manager Pete Nochta.

“The first thing that we did was to look at this current roster and who we really needed to dive in and make sure that stayed on this roster in the ’26 season. And, you know, we feel really good about the returners coming back, but you’re right. It is a bunch of film study, it’s doing our research, and it’s seeing what type of person they are. Do they fit the character that we want on our team? And then, schematically, are they what we look for in each position?

“So, while I was at Oregon, I was watching tape on our current team. We also have Pat Biando, who I think is the best GM in the country, who’s done a phenomenal job since arriving here in Lexington, and then added Pete Nochta from Louisville as our assistant GM. And those guys have really spearheaded building this roster along with me, and I like where we stand right now.”

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Why Will Stein kept Anwar Stewart on staff

Another big name coming back: Anwar Stewart. On Dec. 22, UK announced that Stewart would retain his role as defensive line coach for a sixth season, the only returning position coach from Mark Stoops’ staff. Stein raved about the job that Stewart, who played linebacker and defensive end for Kentucky from 1996 to 1999, has done with the defensive line over the years and the relationship he’s formed with him so far in Lexington.

“Obviously, he played here. When I thought about Kentucky football before I got here, I thought they had really good [defensive] lines. So Anwar is a big piece of that puzzle. And you know, you just feel a bond with somebody when you get here. He was somebody who did whatever it took to help retain the players on a roster and acquire new talent. And obviously, he’s an alum here.

“So I just felt like, when you look at building a coaching staff, you obviously look at the people who are here, who can stay, who can’t. You want to do it in your own way, but there are still people on the staff, like a [Director of Operations] Josh Pruitt, who know a lot about this place, that is a need, a guy like Anwar. Like, these are people that I needed early on in the stages, and then they proved that these are the right people for the job. So yeah, Anwar’s been great. I’m really excited about him.”