Mark Stoops expects balanced six-man WR unit: "We are going to have to say those same names all year."

Mark Stoops retained Ja’Mori Maclin, Fred Farrier II and David Washington Jr., brought back Hardley Gilmore IV (Nebraska), brought in Kendrick Law (Alabama), Troy Stellato (Clemson), JJ Hester (Oklahoma) and Ashton Cozart (SMU) from the transfer portal, and signed DJ Miller, Cam Miller, Montavin Quisenberry, Quintin Simmons Jr. and Preston Bowman out of high school. Of those 13 scholarship options, expect to see six own the reps in a deep and talented wide receiver room this season — one with extreme turnover after losing the likes of Barion Brown and Dane Key to the portal.

Who are the six? Maclin is an automatic, while “a lot of the things we’ll be doing this year will go through Kendrick Law,” as offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan previously made clear. Gilmore looked like a future star at times last season and should be penciled in as a starter, too. From there, you could make an argument for a number of guys to fill the other spots — Hester, Farrier II and Stellato have the experience, but the young talent is nipping at their heels.

“It is going to be a group effort,” Stoops said following Saturday’s scrimmage at Kroger Field. “I think there will be the top six guys, we are going to have to say those same names all year. Today was about the same. When they had their opportunity, they made some plays.”

He sees it as a by-committee group with a little bit of everything, but isn’t ruling out a top-end star presenting himself in the back-half of fall camp and into the season.

A reliable go-to threat is always welcome.

“Eventually, if somebody does that, that’d be great,” Stoops continued. “I think we have some really steady guys and some veteran guys and we have some youngsters. Hopefully, we’ll see somebody emerge.”

Who do the players view as core pieces separating themselves in the room? They’re not ready to show their hand, but there is real optimism that the talent is more than enough — no matter who is thrown out there.

“A lot of those guys, man. I really appreciate that whole room. It doesn’t matter who we have in there, we do a lot of rotating right now. A lot of them are coming along,” Zach Calzada said Saturday. “… There are some guys emerging as some go-to guys. I’m going to leave that to Saturdays. It’s really good just to — it’s a lot of reps. You’ve got to work on getting reps with a lot of guys, not just three or four guys we’re going to have out there.

“All those guys getting in, rotating with the ones and the twos, getting as many reps as possible. So, come Saturday, everybody is ready to go.”

While he wouldn’t say the main six, Calzada singled out a couple of freshmen making things interesting in practice. Whether they play real reps this fall or not, both have shown they not only have the long-term potential, but they belong now.

“I like to see the freshmen coming along, Cam Miller and (Montavin) Quisenberry have done a great job just showing effort and the fact that they believe they belong in that room,” he continued. “They’re coming in and making their mark.”

Maybe the guys covering the receivers on the other side of the football have an idea? JQ Hardaway named two obvious pass-catchers standing out, but added a third veteran out of Frankfort providing consistent production. Maybe he joins Maclin, Law and Gilmore as four of the six?

“I say they are all different, man. They all have different pros,” Hardaway said. “Ja’Mori Maclin is super elusive. Hardley Gilmore is super quick. Fred Farrier is very consistent in what he does, too. I got respect for all of them.

“I know when I compete with any of those receivers out here, I gotta bring my A-game. Anybody can make a play, so I always have to bring my A-game. They make me better as a player.”

Two more weeks of fall camp to sort it all out, then we’ll see for ourselves vs. Toledo on August 20.