Kengera Daniel – Noteworthy
Mark Stoops is preparing to sign a smaller-than-normal recruiting class in 2020. At his 2019 signing day news conference Wednesday, Stoops said he will need additional attrition from his current roster to sign more than approximately 17 players in the 2020 class and stay under the NCAA’s 85-man scholarship limit. That number already includes three departures previously unknown from the 2018 roster. Senior running back Sihiem King and senior outside linebacker Kengera Daniel have both left the program after redshirting in 2018, a UK spokeswoman confirmed. Both players could play at another FBS program immediately next season as graduate transfers after finishing their degrees at UK. Junior cornerback Domonique Williams, who appeared in just one game in 2018 in his first season as a junior-college transfer, has also left the team. Those departures leave Kentucky with 10 seniors on the roster for 2019. – The Courier Journal
E.J. Price – Noteworthy
Kentucky has lost one of its 2018 starting offensive linemen. Rising junior offensive tackle E.J. Price, who started 11 games at left tackle for Kentucky last season, has withdrawn from the university “to pursue other opportunities,” a UK spokeswoman confirmed to the Courier Journal Monday. The decision marks the end of a tumultuous two years in Lexington for Price, who transferred to UK from Southern California prior to the 2017 season.
Price briefly quit the team during spring practice in 2018 after sitting out the 2017 season per NCAA transfer rules with a series of eyebrow-raising tweets criticizing the UK coaching staff. He was back on the team two days later and in an August interview with the Courier Journal, he thanked Mark Stoops and his coaching staff for helping him “through a rough patch.” On Jan. 26, Lexington police were called to Price’s residence for a “reported altercation between Price and his girlfriend” but that no charges had been filed, according to a police spokeswoman. – Louisville Courier Journal