Will Stein believes he has multiple first-round draft picks on his roster

Will Stein had to put together his first Kentucky roster on the fly, but there is plenty of talent on board that will help the Wildcats be competitive in 2026.

With help from his coordinators and general managers, Stein was able to make working two jobs look easier than it was. In a Q&A session with the Rotary Club of Lexington on Thursday, Stein talked about the strain of handling two important jobs at once and how quickly he had to build an entire SEC roster. Dealing with the time zone differences between Eugene, OR and Lexington, KY proved to be an added challenge, but he found ways to pull it off.

Across a 10-day stretch in the transfer portal, Stein said UK hosted 66 players for official visits. That was more OVs than what Oregon and Kentucky hosted — which was somewhere in the 50s for both schools, according to Stein — throughout the entirety of 2025. Bringing in so many prospects was a necessity for a roster that saw plenty of players head elsewhere following the coaching change. 44 players went out and 34 came in via the portal, headlined by four transfers with four-star rankings.

“We’re not the highest bidder on these guys,” Stein said. “A lot of these guys you all see commit, it’s not because of cash. If that’s the first thing they ask me, I’m not taking them. I’m just not. I want them to love football, they love Lexington, they love Kentucky, and if you start there and win the relationships and get kids on the campus 3-4-5 times, you’ll get them to commit, because they love it. The guys that are committed have all been here about four times in the last six months.”

Despite not being the highest bidder, Stein still landed top transfer talent. None was bigger than offensive tackle Lance Heard, though. The 6-foot-6, 330-pounder was ranked as the 8th-best portal player this offseason by Rivals. He played 35 games at LSU and Tennessee, allowing only three sacks across 1,780 offensive snaps. Phil Steele recently tabbed Heard as a Preseason All-SEC Second Teamer.

Landing a future NFL player to help protect new quarterback Kenny Minchey was massively important. Heard is someone Stein believes will be playing on Sundays as a prized draft pick.

“We got Lance Heard from Tennessee,” Stein said. “Who’s going to be a first-round pick at left tackle.”

But the portal wasn’t the only place Stein was able to find future pros. As a wise man on social media likes to say, “Sometimes the best gets are the ones you already have.” Retaining a couple of key defensive linemen with pro potential from last season’s roster was just as important for Stein going into 2026.

“Up front, we returned Mi’Quise Humphrey-Grace and Tavion Gadson,” Stein said. “Who are going to be anywhere from first to fourth round picks, in my opinion. Those guys are really good players.”

Humphrey-Grace appeared in 12 games last season for Kentucky after three seasons at South Dakota. He logged 31 tackles, a team-high 7.5 tackles for loss, a team-high tying 3.5 sacks, a team-best six quarterback hurries, two pass breakups, and a forced fumble. Meanwhile, Gadson totaled 28 tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, and three quarterback hurries.

Those two, along with Heard, will play massive roles for Stein in year one. Down the road, they might just be doing the same for NFL teams.