On Tuesday, August 6, 2024, assistant head coach of Kentucky football Vince Marrow speaks with the media regarding quarterback Gavin Wimsatt.
The former Owensboro standout moved from Rutgers to the UK.Written by John Clay It would be an enormous understatement to say that Owensboro residents were thrilled when hometown hero Gavin Wimsatt revealed this past spring that he would be moving from Rutgers to Kentucky.
With a smile, Wimsatt continues, “I got so many texts.” It’s most likely the most texts I’ve ever received in one day. I’m not even sure how many there are. Most people in Owensboro are probably fans of Kentucky.
Perhaps none of the football players who will play in 2024 in UK blue and white have a more intriguing recruitment background than Wimsatt. In high school, Wimsatt was a formidable dual threat quarterback who guided the Owensboro Red Devils to the 5A state finals as a junior in 2019 and the Kentucky Class 5A playoff semifinals as a sophomore in 2019.
The 6-foot-3, 227-pound signal caller gained national attention as a result, receiving scholarship offers from numerous schools, including Michigan, Michigan State, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oregon, TCU, and West Virginia.
Vince Marrow, Kentucky’s top recruiter, led the Wildcats in their pursuit of Wimsatt. When he throws everything on an in-state prospect, “The Big Dawg” historically has a high percentage of success. Unexpectedly, though, Sean Gleeson, the offensive coordinator at Rutgers at the time, was the recruiter who forged the closest relationship with Wimsatt.
At the end of the day, Wimsatt surprised everyone by agreeing to join a Rutgers program that was rebuilding after eight consecutive losing seasons. The fact that Rutgers enticed the Owensboro star to enroll early in college in the midst of his high school senior season with what was reportedly a “six-figure” NIL package added even more excitement to Wimsatt’s recruitment.
In order to start his college career early, Wimsatt traveled north to New Jersey after suiting up for Owensboro in the first three games of 2021. He went on to play four games for the Scarlet Knights that season, making history as the only player to play college and high school football in the same season.
Jay Fallin, the head coach of Owensboro, stated last week that Gavin had the chance to enroll in college and begin the next step of his career. Of course, we would have preferred to have had more time to spend with him and coach him. However, we were glad he had that chance and we gave him our whole support.
In New Jersey, things did not go as planned for Wimsatt.
Wimsatt’s sponsor, Gleeson, was let go in the midst of the 2022 campaign. Still, Wimsatt remained loyal to Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano, starting all of the team’s quarterback games in the previous campaign.
The good news is that under Wimsatt’s leadership, Rutgers (7-6) had its first winning season since 2014, highlighted by a thrilling 31-24 victory over the Miami Hurricanes at Yankee Stadium’s Pinstripe Bowl.
Unfortunately, Wimsatt’s completion percentage was only 47.8% last season, and he threw nearly as many interceptions (eight) as touchdowns (nine). Throughout his entire tenure at Rutgers, Wimsatt succeeded in only 46.6% of his throws.
Gleeson was succeeded as Rutgers’ offensive coordinator for 2023 by Kirk Ciarrocca, a Minnesota native. Former Golden Gophers quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis joined the former Minnesota offensive coordinator at Rutgers this past offseason.
Thrown into a spring-practice competition with the Minnesota transfer to keep the starting quarterback position at Rutgers, Wimsatt lost.
As spring practice came to an end, Schiano declared that Kaliakmanis, who has a lifetime completion percentage of 53.3 percent and isn’t exactly a precise passer, will start as quarterback for the Scarlet Knights in 2024. During the Big Ten media days last month, Schiano stated that Wimsatt was taken into consideration when he decided to name a starter.
“I wanted Gavin to have the chance to go somewhere else, if he wanted to do that,” Schiano remarked, adding that she didn’t know what the young man would end up doing. He had faith in us even before we could show him numerous outcomes.
Wonderful family, wonderful child. However, at Rutgers, things just didn’t work out. The premier university in his native state got in touch with Wimsatt as soon as he made the decision to enter his name in the transfer portal. About the UK reaching out to Wimsatt, he remarks, “I thought it was great.” “I paid close attention.”
For the fourth consecutive season, Kentucky was acclimating to a new offensive coordinator in the form of former Boise State assistant Bush Hamdan.
Brock Vandagriff, a transfer from Georgia, was also recently hired in Lexington and is expected to start at quarterback for Mark Stoops’ team in 2024. However, on his subsequent recruitment run, Wimsatt was open to what UK had to offer this time.
After this season, the 20-year-old Wimsatt will have one more season of eligibility in college. Wimsatt states, “I believe I play well in this offense that Coach Hamdan wants to play.” “I believe I can help.”
It would be intriguing to watch if the offensive brain trust of the Wildcats can find out a way to make Wimsatt a contributing member of the Kentucky assault as well, if Vandagriff is, as projected, UK’s QB1 to open 2024.
The media was allowed access to two of the early UK practices, and Wimsatt, who rushed for 11 touchdowns for Rutgers last season, looked impressive when handling the ball.
During the second open session, he also made two long pass completions with former Franklin County standout Fred Farrier.
Could the redshirt junior quarterback develop into Kentucky’s multi-positional equivalent of Kordell Stewart or Taysom Hill, a throwback to the NFL? At UK media day, Hamdan stated, “I think that we are going to utilize (Wimsatt) in a lot of those Wildcat (formation)-type situations.” He is a large, gifted player.
You will be able to witness his exciting play when you get a chance to watch him in practice. Thus, there will be some waiting to see how that role plays out. Regarding the enthusiasm in Owensboro for Wimsatt’s return to the commonwealth, Fallin tells a tale to highlight how highly regarded the quarterback is in his home community.
Fallin states, “We went (to the game), and I am not exaggerating when I tell you I saw dozens and dozens and dozens of people from Owensboro.” Wimsatt rushed for 143 yards and three touchdowns on October 21st, leading Rutgers to a 31-14 victory over Indiana in Bloomington. They weren’t in Bloomington to see IU, as I can tell you. It was intended for Gavin.
“He is a really wonderful young man. More conscientious, courteous, and kind than anyone you’ve ever met. Just a good time with that youngster. People are ecstatic that he is now playing closer to Owensboro for the University of Kentucky because of this.”
