Louisville Adds Another Former Kentucky Wildcat from the Transfer Portal

Wires are being crossed in the Governor’s Cup rivalry. Not only are coaches changing colors, plenty of players have jumped into the transfer portal to shift allegiances.

Late Saturday night, former Kentucky center Evan Wibberley signed to play for Louisville. There are now seven players who either played for Kentucky, or once committed to the Cats, who have transferred to Louisville this offseason. That includes former Kentucky wide receiver Hardley Gilmore, who actually flipped from Louisville to Baylor before putting pen to paper in the portal.

Wibberley is a Northern Kentucky native who started his career at Western Kentucky. In 2024, he emerged as the starting center and earned All-C-USA Honorable Mention honors for the 8-win Tops. Kentucky recruited Wibberley to take over the Wildcats’ starting position for the 2025 season. Instead, Jager Burton bulked up and moved down to center. He started in every game and was the Wildcats’ highest-graded offensive lineman, relegating Wibberley to a reserve role.

The previous coaching staff had Wibberley lined up to take over the position in 2026, but plans changed. When Will Stein and Cutter Leftwich took over, they sought out former Baylor starting center Coleton Price, the No. 33 player in the transfer portal. The Cats added three more interior offensive linemen, leading Wibberley to seek out redder pastures.

While I cannot confirm this, there is reason to believe that Wibberley has become the first person to ever play for all three FBS football teams in the state of Kentucky. Quite the achievement.

Only three players who have left the Kentucky Wildcats this offseason are still looking for a new home. Surely, Vince Marrow and Jeff Brohm will be reaching out to them soon.

Kentucky Football Transfer Portal Departures

The transfer portal window officially closed at midnight on Jan. 16. However, that is just the deadline for players to share with schools their intent to leave. With the MLK holiday on Monday, we could learn of more departures all the way till Wednesday. In the transition from Stoops to Stein, 21 players have left the program.

• LB Landyn Watson (Committed to Kansas on Jan. 4)
• EDGE Steven Soles Jr. (Committed to Arkansas on Jan. 7)
• QB Stone Saunders (Committed to San Diego State on Jan. 6)
• WR David Washington Jr.
• WR Preston Bowman (Committed to Ohio on Jan. 7))
• DT Austin Ramsey (Committed to Kansas State on Jan. 6)
• WR Troy Stellato
• EDGE Javeon Campbell
• CB DJ Waller Jr. (Committed to Louisville on Jan. 3)
• EDGE Jacob Smith (Committed to Louisville on Jan. 6)
• DL Jerod Smith II (Committed to Louisville on Jan. 6)
• QB Cutter Boley (Committed to Arizona State on Jan. 3)
• WR Montavin Quisenberry (Committed to Louisville on Jan. 8)
• RB Dante Dowdell (Committed to Georgia on Jan. 12)
• S Cam Dooley (Committed to Florida on Jan. 7)
• DB Quay’Sheed Scott (Committed to South Carolina on Jan. 8)
• RB Jamarion Wilcox (Committed to Marshall on Jan. 15)
• WR Cameron Miller (Committed to Ole Miss on Jan. 12)
• WR Hardley Gilmore (Committed to Louisville, then flipped to Baylor on Jan. 12)
• OT Darrin Strey (Committed to LSU on Jan. 12)
• C Evan Wibberley (Committed to Louisville on Jan. 17)