Kentucky football is leaning heavily on transfer quarterbacks this season. Head coach Mark Stoops has three transfer quarterbacks on the roster: Brock Vandagriff from Georgia, who is expected to start; Beau Allen, who has returned to Kentucky after initially starting his career there; and Gavin Wimsatt, a former Owensboro star who spent three years at Rutgers. Kentucky is not unique in this approach, as many other teams are also utilizing transfer quarterbacks for the 2024 season.
For instance, Louisville has Tyler Shough, a Texas Tech transfer who began his career at Oregon. Western Kentucky features TJ Finley, who transferred from Texas State after starting at Auburn. Vanderbilt has Nate Johnson from Utah and Diego Pavia from New Mexico State. Arkansas has Taylen Green, who previously played at Boise State under new UK offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan.
Other teams relying on transfer quarterbacks include Boise State with Malachi Nelson from Southern Cal, Washington with Will Rogers from Mississippi State, and Mississippi State with Blake Shapen from Baylor. Georgia’s backup to Heisman hopeful Carson Beck will be Jaden Rashada from Arizona State. Notre Dame will start Riley Leonard from Duke, Ohio State has Will Howard from Kansas State and Julian Sayin from Alabama, and North Carolina State brings in Grayson McCall from Coastal Carolina.
Oregon’s new quarterbacks are Dillon Gabriel from Oklahoma and Dante Moore from UCLA. Florida State will start DJ Uiagalelei from Oregon State, Southern Cal has Jayden Maiava from UNLV, North Carolina’s new quarterback is Max Johnson from Texas A&M, and Miami (Fla.) has Cameron Ward from Washington State. Baylor will start Dequan Finn from Toledo, Indiana’s new quarterback is Kurtis Rourke from Ohio University, Syracuse has Kyle McCord from Ohio State, and Michigan State’s quarterback is Aidan Chiles from Oregon State.
