The passing of Independence Day has put us into the back half of the summer. For folks in the college football world, this is officially Talking SZN. For the next two months, great debates will wage on as fans feud. There will be watch lists, all-conference teams, and rankings galore. The latest list includes a Kentucky quarterback, something Big Blue Nation rarely experiences.
Liam Coen served as an outlier. Throughout the last decade, Kentucky quarterbacks have been absent from the quarterback conversation around the SEC. Will Levis and Devin Leary were exceptions ahead of the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Will Stein was brought to Kentucky to flip the script. In the future, it should be strange if a Kentucky quarterback is not in the conversation.
On3’s Chris Low put together a pecking order of SEC quarterbacks. At the bottom of his Top 10 list, you’ll see Kentucky QB Kenny Minchey.
It was a close race between Kenny Minchey and CJ Carr for the Notre Dame starting quarterback job last year, a decision that wasn’t made until late in preseason camp. So obviously, Minchey made an impression on Marcus Freeman. Now, Minchey gets his shot to operate Will Stein’s “feed the studs” system at Kentucky, and while Kentucky doesn’t have the studs on offense that Stein did at Oregon, Minchey fits what Stein is looking for in a quarterback.
The 6-2, 210-pound redshirt junior is plenty mobile, and his accuracy and quick decision-making were on display this spring. Minchey was at Notre Dame for three seasons, but he played very little. So, what he needs, as much as anything, is real-game reps. Stein said Minchey has “some Shane Buechele to him” in his point-guard-type approach. The challenge now is to package all of that up and do it against SEC defenses in meaningful situations, after attempting just 29 career passes in his three seasons at Notre Dame. Minchey was briefly committed to Nebraska after entering the portal, but the chance to run Stein’s offense was too enticing for him to pass up.
The Wildcats are hopeful Minchey ends what has been a shaky stretch of unstable quarterback play. Stein thinks the offensive line can be one of the strengths of the Kentucky team, although there will be a lot of new faces at receiver. Minchey is the only quarterback on our top-10 list who’s never started a college game.
[READ: On3’s Chris Low Ranks the SEC Quarterbacks]
That last line is important. Low, one of the SEC’s most veteran reporters, is betting on Minchey’s potential without any experience, almost entirely because of his partnership with Stein. Kentucky has a bankable QB developer as the head coach. Man, that feels good to say.
Throughout Talking SZN, you will find Kentucky and its first-year head coach near the bottom of most lists. Minchey is the one exception. In addition to Low’s rankings, CBS tabbed him at No. 9 in the league.
Parity is strong across the SEC’s middle class, particularly at the quarterback position. Even though he’s never started a game, by the season’s end, we could be putting Minchey near the top of the league’s pecking order.