Preparations for the 2026 college football season are underway at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility. In a few short weeks, cleats will be hitting the grass practice fields and/or the turf at the Nutter Field House as Kentucky head coach Will Stein gets set to begin his first spring practice as the leader of a program. There will be a lot of new for the Wildcats in 2026. Things will be brand new in the offensive line room.
Cutter Leftwich has followed Will Stein from Oregon to Kentucky and will be this program’s fifth new offensive line coach since the 2020 season. This program needs some offensive line stability and must find some long-term answers after consistently going to the transfer portal in the offseason. However, that will take some time. Now is about building the best unit possible for 2026. Kentucky needs multiple transfer portal additions to hit. Perhaps no position needs to good spring practice more than the offensive line.
In KSR’s Spring Spotlight series, we will cover every position on Kentucky’s roster before spring practice begins. Next up is offensive where the Cats will have five new starters in the trenches.
Spring Spotlight: Running Back
Spring Spotlight: Wide Receiver
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The Room
Coleton Price (6-3, 318, Redshirt Senior)
The Bowie (Texas) High product started 31 consecutive games at Baylor before entering the transfer portal. Price is a former high three-star recruit with one year of eligibility remaining. This was arguably the best center available this transfer portal cycle. The Big 12 transfer should be a uality plug-and-play addition in the pivot. Price could solidify things in the middle for a first-year starting quarterback and a brand new offensive line.
The veteran has shown improvement each season and is in position to become a draft pick with a good year in 2026.
Tegra Tshabola (6-6, 322, Redshirt Senior)
This West Chester (Ohio) Lakota West product spent four years at Ohio State and was a two-year starter on consecutive playoff teams in Columbus at right guard. Tshabola brings terrific experience and positional size to Kentucky’s rebuilt offensive line. The redshirt senior is not the mauler in the run game that we have seen in the past at UK, but this veteran is a good puller and should provide instant value in pass protection as the offense breaks in a new right tackle.
A plug-and-play addition who picked UK over Auburn and Ole Miss in free agency.
Lance Heard (6-6, 330, Senior)
A former five-star recruit who started his career at LSU, Heard has appeared in 36 games with 25 starting assignments and over 1,800 career snaps during his first three seasons in the SEC. The Louisiana native is an experienced starting left tackle with prototypical size, terrific length (36-inch arms), and good positional athleticism. Heard plays with heavy hands and has true two-way value in the run and pass game.
The left tackles is a plug-and-play addition who has a chance to develop into a first-round pick at Kentucky. Massive addition for the program at a major position of need. One of the biggest additions to the roster this offseason.
Olaus Alinen (6-6, 335, Redshirt Junior)
The Alabama transfer is a Finland native who played high school ball at Windsor (Conn.) The Loomis Chaffee School after moving to the United States for his junior season in 2021. Alinen was a former top-200 recruit who signed with the Crimson Tide after being recruited by Eric Wolford. This SEC transfer cmes to Kentucky with two years of eligibility remaining. Good size with limited experience (165 career snaps). Has played both guard and tackle.
Alinen could compete for numerous open spots on Kentucky’s offensive line.
Rob Fogler (6-7, 308, Redshirt Junior)
The Cincinnati (Ohio) St. Xavier alum spent two seasons at Ball State before moving to Kentucky in 2025. Fogler has not seen game action through three years of college football.
Cameron Jones (6-6, 341, Redshirt Junior)
Jones left James Madison after two seasons and transferred to Kentucky. The West Virginia played some guard last year despite having the size to play tackle. Jones was retained by the new staff and owns two years of eligibility.
Jordan Knox (6-2, 325, Redshirt Junior)
Knox is a former high three-star recruit out of South Carolina who signed with Northwestern in the 2023 recruiting cycle and spent two seasons in the Big Ten. The multi-time transfer received real playing time as a true freshman in the Big Ten. The multi-time transfer then spent one season at Northwest Mississippi and has two years of eligibility remaining.
Expect the junior college transfer to compete for the starting left guard position.
Tino Merlo (6-2, 292, Redshirt Junior)
The Youngstown (Ohio) Cardinal Mooney product enters year four at Kentucky after being on the Dean’s List during the fall semester. This walk-on addition will provide some needed depth in the offensive line room.
Malachi Wood (6-8, 328, Redshirt Junior)
The Richmond (Ky.) Madison Central product started five games as a redshirt freshman at right tackle in 2025 before serving as Kentucky’s primary backup in 2026. Wood is now in year four with the program and will compete for the starting right tackle position this offseason.
Kentucky OL Malachi Wood (Eddie Justice |UK Athletics)
Mark Robinson (6-5, 320, Junior)
The Sunshine State native began his career at NAIA Southeastern and became an all-conference performer as a true freshman. That led to an FBS opportunity. Robinson landed in the C-USA and became a full-time starter at left tackle in Mark Cala’s spread tempo attack that was an offshoot of the Art Briles offense. Robinson had some struggles in pass protection (23 pressures allowed in 500 pass block snaps) for this pass-heavy offense but gained some meaningful experience and played clean football (3 penalties in 800-plus snaps). Kentucky recorded a portal win over Texas Tech for the tackle with two years of eligibility remaining and good positional size.
Robinson projects to compete for Kentucky’s starting right tackle spot in 2026.
Max Anderson (6-5, 311, Redshirt Sophomore)
The former four-star recruit from Metro Dallas picked Tennessee over Michigan and Oklahoma in the 2024 high school cycle. Anderson has always been seen as a guard-first prospect with good positional size and the potential to be a mauling power player in the run game. The offensive lineman spent two seasons at Tennessee and never appeared in a power conference game.
Anderson owns three years of eligibility and should compete for the open left guard position.
Hayes Johnson (6-4, 300, Redshirt Sophomore)
The in-state native is back for year three after at Kentucky. Johnson is a former three-star recruit who can play center and will likely compete for the backup spot in the pivot.
Kyle Mixon (6-5, 326, Redshirt Sophomore)
This Peach State native joined the Kentucky program as a walk-on in 2024. Mixon is now in year three at Kentucky and has some tackle size. Mixon has not appeared in a game yet.
Aba Selm (6-4, 323, Redshirt Sophomore)
The Northern Kentucky native took a redshirt season in year one on campus and is now in year three after spending most of the season on UK’s availability report. Selm will likely compete for the starting left guard position but could also provide some depth at center.
Jermiel Atkins (6-8, 329, Redshirt Freshman)
Atkins is a massive offensive tackle prospect out of Dayton. The former basketball player who picked UK over Minnesota and Virginia Tech received a development redshirt year in 2025. Some more development will likely be needed in 2026.
Jayden Clark (6-4, 325, Redshirt Freshman)
A former Ohio recruiting win, Clark took a redshirt season in his first year on campus. The class of 2025 prospect could play center or guard. This spring could be about finding a long-term positional home.
Alexander DiMartino (6-4, 275, Redshirt Freshman)
The South Florida native took a redshirt season in his first year with the Kentucky program in 2025. DiMartino has four years of eligibility remaining and was a walk-on addition.
Jason Ekperuoh (6-6, 335, Redshirt Freshman)
A late addition to the 2025 signing class, Ekperuoh is a Canada native who moved to the United States in 2023 to pursue a football career. This is developmental guard/tackle prospect who needs some time to grow.
Cameron Miller Jr. (6-5, 310, Freshman)
The Chicagoland native has terrific size, length, and movement skills. Can that translate on the field at the next level? The three-star prospect owns all of the measurables you could want with true left tackle potential. A redshirt year seems likely.
Ben Myers (6-4, 285, Freshman)
The Paducah (Ky.) Tilghman was a late addition to the 2025 recruiting class who joined the program as a preferred walk-on. Myers enrolled for the spring semester and will be on the field for spring practice.
Top Storyline: What is going on with open position battles
Kentucky hit the transfer portal hard to find reinforcement after the program lost all five starters from last season. The program enters the spring with a brand new room. Baylor transfer Coleton Price, Ohio State transfer Tegra Tshabola, and Tennessee transfer Lance Heard will be expected to fill starting roles. The other two starting positions feel up for grabs.
Aba Selm, junior college transfer Jordan Knox, and Tennessee transfer Max Anderson all feel like contenders in the left guard battle. Malachi Wood and UTEP transfer Mark Robinson seem set to battle it out at right tackle. These two position battles should be one of the highlights of spring practice.
What To Watch For: The overall vibe of the offensive line
Cutter Leftwitch enters the season as one of the youngest position coaches in college football. After losing Derek Warehime to the Minnesota Vikings, Dallas Warmack is essentially Leftwich’s No. 2 and he is also under 30 years old. Kentucky is very young at this key coaching position but the expectations are high since Stein brought both of these coaches with him from Oregon.
After the work done in the portal, the vibe is strong for this group entering spring practice. Will it remain that way? UK spent some big money to find good plug-and-play starters. Will this new group gel well together early or will there be some big growing pains?
Kentucky needs the offensive line to become one of the better units on the team. The program spent resources for it to become that. Can it become that? We will get some early answers during spring practice.