When Kentucky’s new head football coach Will Stein first got hired this past Monday I was curious as to how quick he would hit the recruiting trail. The answer now is clear — it was from day one.
Officially hired on Monday, he had just under 48 hours to get to town, embarking on Signing Day, and then conduct introductory press conference at Nutter Field House.
Just 48 more hours from that, on his first Friday with the program, it is announced that he (Stein) has received his first commitment during his time at the University of Kentucky.
“The biggest reason I picked Kentucky is because I wanna start my own trend,” Darby told Rivals of his decision on Friday. “I wanna be a part of something big. Obviously, they have a new coaching staff and I wanna be a part of that with Coach Sloan.”
Kenny Darby has just announced on social media that he intends on playing for Kentucky under Will Stein in 2026 — the first official commitment of the Stein era.
Darby is a four-star wide receiver out of the state of Louisiana. The talented wideout was once committed to LSU under former head coach Brian Kelly. He is currently finishing up his senior season of high school at Airline. He is tabbed as the highest ranked receiver in the entire state of Louisiana, as well as, the twenty-seventh best receiver in the country and a top-200 overall recruit in his class.
Before originally committing to LSU, Darby also had offers from top schools such as Alabama, Florida State, Houston, Miami, Mississippi State, Missouri, Ole Miss, South Florida, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and Tulane, among many others.
I don’t have the 2025 stats for him as of now but during his junior season (2024) Darby managed to reel in 100 receptions for 1,764 yards and 24 touchdowns. This is the type of raw, offensive talent that Big Blue Nation has craved for years. With Stein building his coaching staff around the idea of running an explosive offense and hopefully with Wide Receivers Coach L’Damian Washington returning it will be fun to see this young talent at Kroger Field next year.
Kenny Darby will join 13 others in his class that were signed earlier in the week after conversations with Will Stein and the program, rounding out this recruiting class of today fourteen. Those include Dallas Dickerson, Matt Ponatoski, Denairius Gray, Lincoln Watkins, Ben Duncum, Isaiah McMillian, Justyn Hartley, Prince Jean, Davis McCray, Braxton Urquhart, Cameron Miller, Delvecchio Alston, and Jordan Knox.
Did you enjoy this article? If so, you can stay connected with the growing Cats Coverage site by following them on Facebook or X/Twitter to never miss another post!
Leave a Reply