Could Young Receivers Be The Answer for the Kentucky Offense?

Freshman WR Montavin Quisenberry skies high for a catch during Kentucky spring practice, via Aaron Perkins, KSR

It feels like we’ve been down this path before. After a month of football, the Kentucky passing attack has yet to take flight.

The Wildcats have just two receiving touchdowns this year, and they were both by tight ends against Eastern Michigan, one of the worst teams in college football. Only two teams have fewer passing touchdowns in the FBS, and they aren’t military academies running the option: UMass and Northern Illinois.

Kentucky lost its top two wide receivers to the transfer portal this offseason, Dane Key and Barion Brown. Their portal replacements have been less than stellar. Kendrick Law is Kentucky’s leading receiver, but 11 of his 13 receptions have been behind the line of scrimmage.

We all know the definition of insanity. Is it time to try something, or somebody, new?

Mark Stoops was asked that question on Monday. In addition to five transfer portal additions, they also signed five high school wide receivers. Are they ready to play?

“We’re waiting for all those guys to emerge: Young, middle, old, you name it. We’ll take anybody that’ll step up; guys are coming back off injuries and just different things. We need them all to continue to progress and we just haven’t had the consistency that we’d like,” said Stoops.

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The reality is that the Kentucky coaching staff sees all of these players every day in practice. The freshmen have not shown that they are better options than the ones who are currently receiving all of the reps. That obviously could change, especially with another bye just on the horizon, but for now the status quo remains the same at wide receiver.

There is one player in particular who Stoops believes can answer the bell. Hardley Gilmore is a second-year player who oozes potential, but has not consistently produced. Gilmore has six receptions for 97 yards, but has only caught one long ball in seven targets, a 38-yard gain against Ole Miss.

“Hardley is a guy that, he gets in there in the games, and he plays really hard and can do some things for us. We just need him to continue to come along and mature, because he can definitely made some contested catches for us as well,” said Stoops.

Cutter Boley did not perform well in his SEC debut against South Carolina. For the redshirt freshman to succeed, he needs some help from his wide receivers.