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The 2026 season is just around the corner for the Kentucky Wildcats. This is my official season preview for year number one of Will Stein in Lexington. Guys, before we look ahead to what this season and what this year's team looks like, let's spend just a brief moment talking about how we got here and really setting the scene for what is to come in 2026. Because last year, you might recall, the Cats went 5, 7 overall, 2 and 6 in conference play. And that led to the end of the Mark Stoops era. And I think it was time. I think it was well past time. I think most all of you out there, Big Blue Nation, can agree it just. It had gotten stale, right? I mean, I even thought the year prior was a really big trajectory year for the Mark Stoops era in Lexington. I think you could argue they held on a year too long, if you will, or, you know, maybe use it if you were to get their Ducks in a row to move off of him. But, you know, big buyout, but you just really didn't have a choice, right? The program just felt like it was going nowhere. It felt like you were declining rather than ascending, which, when you get to that point, you're not going to last very long. So I thought it was the right decision to move off of Mark Stoops, especially if you had the right guy in mind. With that being said, I believe they did have the right guy in mind. Will Stein, first season as head coach at Kentucky. And as he said, hey, why do you think you can win? Biggin Lexington? What did he say at SEC meetings? Because of me. Because of me. I think we can win, and I think we will win big because of me. Gotta respect the confidence. Gotta love the confidence. I think anytime you're trying to sort of reinvent your program, you're gonna go a different direction from a style standpoint. And that is exactly what Kentucky is doing. Because Will Stein or Will Stein, Kentucky's Will Stein is going to look much different, right? I mean, I think you look at what he did at Oregon from the offensive side of the football. Even if early on in his tenure, Kentucky struggles or however it plays out, they should be a much more fun and entertaining product to watch. And again, you go back to Mark Stoops bl, Big blue wall, physicality. I totally understand how he built it and how he wanted to build it, but it just got stale, it got old, it got boring. It wasn't very fun to watch. And I think Will Stein injects immediately some excitement into the culture of Kentucky football that I know Cats fans are looking forward to this season and beyond. That being said, guys, as we take a Look at this 2026 football team, we start on the offensive side of the football and the theme of this Kentucky team, before I go any further, fascinating. They are one of the most fascinating teams in the SEC because of the way they built their roster this off season. Top 10 portal class, that's going to be the theme. And again, starting on the offensive side, Joe Sloan takes over at offensive coordinator. You might be, you probably have heard that name before, was at LSU previously and help guide some elite offenses there down in Baton Rouge. He will take over at oc. Of course it is Wilstein's offense. Kenny Minchi from Notre Dame takes over as QB1. This was a massive signing when they got him. And you might recall, guys, Kenny Minchi was a guy. Not only was he in the thick of the quarterback competition at Notre Dame, there were people just a couple years ago that thought he should have been the guy in South Bend. But he ends up he's in Lexington. There's a lot of excitement around him and what Will Stein can do with him. The offensive line, you pick up a number of portal pieces and guys with Power 4 experience, if not SEC experience. Lance Heard from Tennessee, Olasa Lennon from Alabama, Colton Price from Baylor, Tigra Shabola from Ohio State. They all anchor your offensive line. So bunch of new pieces, guys with Power 4 experience. Can those pieces come together? It'll be a big question. CJ Baxter from Texas and Javante Barnes from Oklahoma. They man the running back position. DJ Miller is back at wide receiver. He's accompanied by Nick Anderson who comes via lsu, Shane Carr from Southern Utah and Jakin Ferguson from Arkansas. And you do have Willie Rodriguez back at the tight end spot, a nice option for Kenny Minchie. So guys, I talk about this and it's funny. Like, you know, if you haven't done research on Kentucky and everybody watching this has, but if you haven't, you start to look at them and it's really easy to dismiss Kentucky in year one of Wilstein. Hey, it's a rebuild. It's going to take some time. But you look at some of their portal pieces and you're like, dude, if this gels and this comes together, this team is very, very interesting. And specifically this offense is fascinating. I mean, it really is, right? Like when you think about some of the pieces they have, there's some good football players on this roster. Now here's the deal. The pieces have all got to come together and they got to come together quickly. That that's the big thing here. And anytime you have a brand new head coach and a new culture and all these different guys all coming together and, and here's the deal, guys, for example, in the offensive line, those guys didn't leave their previous stops because they were elite players. So you're going to need to get the best football out of those guys. It comes to, especially up front via the portal. But there's some, dare I call them, household names or at least names that if you've been watching SEC football lately, you've probably heard their names. And then you get a guy like Kenny Miny at the quarterback position. I, I think a dude who the sky is the limit for him. And I'm really, really excited to see what this offense looks like because if the pieces do come together, it will be a really, really exciting brand of football on the offensive side. And I think you have an offense of that level and a player like Kenny Minchi's capabilities and some of these other pieces you have, if they emerge and if they pop, Kentucky can get somebody this year and heck, they could get a couple teams this year and be one of the big surprises of the sec. Now on the defensive side, Jay Bateman takes over at defensive coordinator. Coming over from Texas, A.K. and M. McQuees, Humphrey, Grace and Tavion Gadson do return up front for you. Sam Greens back as an edge rusher at outside linebacker. Grant Godfrey back at the other linebacker spot. You also added Elijah Barnes from Texas and Tavon Wallace from Arkansas. Tyon Nichols and Ty Bryant back in the secondary, you added Jordan Castell and Aaron Gates, both coming from Florida. And Hassan Sykes is somebody they're excited about at Western Carolina. Expecting a battle at one of the corner spots as well. So Jay Bateman, I think, listen, he's got his hands full. Kind of a similar theme. A lot of new pieces here for the Cats. The defense was solid last year. I mean, this is where you certainly have a bulk of returners. That's not saying much because compared to the offense who essentially has no returners coming back, it feels like defense will be interesting as well. Again, just new pieces. I like the hiring of Jay Bateman. I think he's an accomplished defensive coordinator. I think he can do some good things in Lexington. I wonder what comes along quicker. I would assume it'll be the offense because that is Will Stein's bread and butter. But I think this defense has an opportunity to be better than expected against some exciting pieces yet. Again, guys from Texas, guys from Arkansas, guys from Florida, guys from Western Carolina. How quickly do those pieces come together I think is going to be a big question as we look at the special teams. Jacob Call is back at kicker. You add Thomas o' Hara from Murray State to take over the punting duties. And there's an open competition, I would call it for the return game, but certainly a lot of capable athletes on this roster that I think can make special teams a weapon. Listen, you're trying to overachieve in year one or just trying to achieve in year one in general, that third facet of the game is something that can flip it. So I know Thomas o', Hara, this was one Cats fans really excited to get a rugby style punter back into the fold in Lexington. And again, anytime you get your kicker back, you're really excited for that. As we look at the overall outlook, guys, for Kentucky, our friends over at ki, what do they have to say? There's really not a lot on KI in regards to total wins. They give Kentucky a 72% chance to win four or more games and that's all she wrote. That's. That's all she wrote on Kentucky. For whatever reason, I don't know why there's not more when it comes to win totals, they do give Kentucky a 10% chance to get to the college football playoffs. So if you're feeling frisky and you want to throw some coin down 10 chance for Kentucky to get to the playoff. Four starters are back. One on offense, three on defense. And guys, as we take a Look at Kentucky's 2026 schedule, you open up a non conference play against Youngtown State. Should be a positive start to the Willstein experience. You'll get a look at all these new pieces. Everybody gets a chance to get their feet wet and come together and figure this thing out and then it gets real very quickly. I will say this Bama Week 2 SEC opener. This is one. Where am I expecting it? Will I be picking it? Admittedly not, but boy oh boy, if you are Alabama, you are walking into a trap. Feels like a trap game, you know, because here's the thing with Kentucky, there's so much unknown. What a way to start SEC play and what a. What a signature went out of the gate it would be if you pulled that upset. But you open up with Bama and SEC play, your SEC road opener for Will Stein and the catch you were at Texas A and M. Then you've got South Alabama in non conference play at South Carolina, LSU at home At Oklahoma, Vandy at home, then your bye week at Tennessee to get the month of November going, Florida at home at Mizzou, and then Louisville at home to close out the season. Guys, this is a murderer's row of a schedule. It is getting Bama A and M back to back, South Carolina on the roads, tricky lsu, Oklahoma back to back, Tennessee, Florida back to back, Louisville, Asia, March rival. I think Louisville is one of those teams that outside of Miami could compete in the ACC to win the ACC title. So it is a really difficult slate for Will Stein in year number one. But with that being said, a lot of opportunity. I mean, listen, I think if you're going to reach a bowl game or have a winning season in year one, you probably need to go 3, 0 in non conference play. I'd venture to say you probably have to go 3, 0 in non conference play. And what about those swing games at South Carolina, Vandy at Tennessee, Florida at Missouri? I think those are the ones that probably define your season and really who you are. With that being said, guys, that leads me to this. What does success look like in year one of Wilstein? I, I tell you, I think there's a lot of excitement around Kentucky football. You, you listen to some of the Kentucky guys talk about Will Stein and, and you know, hearing and listening to them from SEC media days. Guys, there's a real belief around Lexington that Kentucky can be the next Indiana and maybe they're right. I mean, I, I don't know. You know, I, I think the path to doing that is much more difficult because Indiana did it in the Big Ten where their strength of schedule was ranked in the 50s and 60s. And you're Kentucky playing an SEC slate, so you have to be even that much better than Indiana was in the regular season to make that happen. But you know, can the Cats surprise year one? Can you have a winning season? I think anything in regards to postseason play, I think is a solid season. I think it's a successful year one for Will Stein. I think a lot of it too is how it looks. Is it the exciting brand of football that we are expecting offensively? You know, is Kentucky fun to watch? And I think if they can do that, if they can have success on the offensive side, then, you know, these games like Alabama, like Texas A and M, like lsu, like Oklahoma, excuse me, like Louisville, these become games where, you know, guys, you got a quarterback, you got a chance, you got an offense, you got a chance. If the defense can hold up there under the bargain and the pieces can come together. Offensively, I could see Kentucky getting one. I could see Kentucky getting multiple. Again. I think anything 6 and 6 or better, you'd love to get to above.500, but I think anything 6 and 6 are better and I think you're chalking this up as a successful season. You know, I, I think Kentucky, admittedly again, if you slow down and take some time to look at their roster, they're one of the most intriguing teams in the SEC because there's a lot of good football players on this roster. There's a ton of them and there's guys and you look and you're like, man, they got who in the portal. They got that guy in the portal. Like, man, like this is a team that could really pop. But there's also so much uncertainty, so much unknown, which is again why you've seen Kentucky pick the bottom of the sec. But I think bowl game, anything above that is gravy. I think it's about laying a foundation in year one, but a lot of exciting pieces for the Cats. Kenny Minchi, can he be that big time quarterback in Willstein system? You know it, it gets rolling out of the gate early. You got to be ready to go. But I, I do think Kentucky is one of the most fascinating teams in this conference. And you know, who knows, I think Kentucky's the perfect candidate for a chaos team. They probably aren't going to win more than six or seven games, but depending on who they beat, Kentucky very well could shake up the entire SEC race. I think they have the capability to be that team if they take down a Tennessee, an Oklahoma, an lsu, heck, maybe a Bama or A and M out of the gate. They've got the ability to be the thorn on the side and I think again that's success in year one. Just show positive growth, show positive signs of the future. Will Stein said. I am him. The reason we're going to win big at Kentucky is because of me and I'm not afraid to stand up here at the podium and say it and I can't wait to see it play out. Let's see, is Will Stein really him? We're going to find out this upcoming season for the Cats. So guys would love to hear from you your thoughts on the Kentucky Wildcats. Year one of Will Stein quickly approach you SA. With it.