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Will Stein explains what led him to recruiting Kenny Minchey to Kentucky

Danby: Daniel Hager01/23/26DanielHagerOn3

The first starting quarterback of the Will Stein era at Kentucky is poised to be Notre Dame transfer quarterback Kenny Minchey. Originally committed to Nebraska, Minchey flipped to Kentucky just one day later.

Minchey spent his first three seasons of collegiate football in South Bend, where he appeared in 10 career games. Across that span, the Henderson, Tenn., native completed 79.3% of his passes for 212 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions.

During Will Stein‘s first press conference in Lexington earlier this week, the former Oregon OC explained what led him to recruiting Minchey to the program.

“He’s extremely accurate,” Stein said. “He’s got great athleticism. I think when you talk to him and when you guys meet him, he is a phenomenal person. He’s very smart. We did our background on him and everyone on (Notre Dame‘s) staff felt like they would have won 10 games with Kenny out there playing quarterback. We talked to NFL scouts on him, and we feel like he has a really high upside in his game. He’s somebody that I was really excited to get.”

Kenny Minchey flipped to Kentucky after committing to Nebraska

Heading into Minchey’s third season with the program, the starting quarterback job was up in the air. Competing with him for the spot was freshman quarterback CJ Carr, who eventually won out and started in all 12 of Notre Dame‘s games this season. Head coach Marcus Freeman spoke highly of both quarterbacks prior to last season when discussing the competition for the starting job.

“Statistically, (it was) as close to any quarterback competition I’ve ever been a part of. I was looking for that to be the reason to make a decision, and it wasn’t clear. They were both really, really good statistically. I just had to make a difficult decision and I had to trust my gut a little bit.”

Carr excelled in his first season as Notre Dame‘s starting quarterback, passing for 2,741 yards and 24 touchdowns with six interceptions. If Minchey is anywhere near as good this season for Will Stein and the Wildcats, they could certainly break their two-year skid of missing the postseason.

Minchey is poised to take over as Kentucky‘s eighth starting quarterback (Will Levis, Kaiya Sheron, Destin Wade, Devin Leary, Brock Vandagriff, Cutter Boley, and Zach Calzada) in the past six seasons.