When he needed a career reset, Gavin Wimsatt found his way home to Kentucky

To say people in Owensboro were stoked when hometown hero Gavin Wimsatt announced this past spring he would be transferring from Rutgers to Kentucky would be an epic understatement.

“I got so many texts,” a smiling Wimsatt says. “It’s probably the most I’ve been texted, ever, on one day. I couldn’t even tell you how many. Probably the majority of everyone (in Owensboro) is Kentucky fans.”

Of every football player who will wear UK blue and white in 2024, no one may have a more interesting recruiting back story than Wimsatt’s.

A potent dual threat QB in high school, Wimsatt led the Owensboro Red Devils to the Kentucky Class 5A playoff semifinals as a sophomore in 2019 and to the 5A state finals as a junior the following year.

In doing so, the 6-foot-3, 227-pound signal caller became a national-level recruit with scholarship offers from Michigan, Michigan State, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oregon, TCU and West Virginia, among many others.

For Kentucky, ace recruiter Vince Marrow took charge of the Wildcats’ wooing of Wimsatt. Historically, “The Big Dawg” doesn’t often miss when he goes all in on an in-state prospect.

Yet, in an unexpected twist, the recruiter who built the strongest bond with Wimsatt was then-Rutgers offensive coordinator Sean Gleeson. Ultimately, Wimsatt shocked the recruiting world by signing on with a rebuilding Rutgers program, one that was in the midst of what would be eight straight losing seasons.

Adding even more intrigue to Wimsatt’s recruitment, Rutgers lured the Owensboro star into early college entry in the middle of his high school senior season with what was reported contemporaneously to be a “six-figure” NIL package.

So after playing for Owensboro in 2021’s first three games, Wimsatt headed north for New Jersey for an early launch of his college career. He subsequently appeared in four games for the Scarlet Knights that year, becoming the rare player who plays both high school and college football in the same season.

“Gavin had an opportunity to go to college and get started with the next phase,” Owensboro head coach Jay Fallin said last week. “Sure, we would have loved to be able to coach him longer and be with him more. But we were happy for him to have that opportunity and we supported him fully.”

In New Jersey, things did not go as planned for Wimsatt.

Gleeson, Wimsatt’s patron, was fired in the middle of the 2022 season. Wimsatt stuck with Rutgers head man Greg Schiano, however, and started every game at QB for Rutgers last season.

The good news was that Wimsatt directed Rutgers (7-6) to its first winning season since 2014, including a 31-24 win over the Miami Hurricanes in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium.

Alas, the bad news was Wimsatt completed only 47.8 percent of his passes last season and threw almost as many interceptions (eight) as touchdowns (nine). For his full Rutgers career, Wimsatt completed only 46.6 percent of his throws.

Kirk Ciarrocca, who had replaced Gleeson as Rutgers offensive coordinator for 2023, had come from Minnesota. This past offseason, former Golden Gophers quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis joined the ex-Minnesota OC at Rutgers.

Thrust into a spring-practice battle with the Minnesota transfer to retain the Rutgers starting quarterback job, Wimsatt came up on the short end of the decision. Schiano announced as spring practice closed that Kaliakmanis — with a 53.3 percent career completion rate, not exactly a pinpoint passer himself — would be the Scarlet Knights starting QB in 2024.

Last month at Big Ten media days, Schiano said part of the reason for naming a starter when he did was consideration for Wimsatt.

“I wanted Gavin to have the opportunity — I had no idea what he was going to do — but I wanted him to have the opportunity to go somewhere else, if he wanted to do that,” Schiano said. “He believed in us early when we didn’t have many results to show him. Great family, great kid. But it just didn’t work out at Rutgers.”

Once Wimsatt decided to put his name into the transfer portal, the flagship university from his home state was quick to reach out.

“I thought it was great,” Wimsatt says of UK’s contacting him. “I was all ears.”

In former Boise State aide Bush Hamdan, Kentucky was breaking in a new offensive coordinator for the fourth straight season. At quarterback, Georgia transfer Brock Vandagriff was also newly in place in Lexington as the presumptive 2024 starter for Mark Stoops’ program.

Nevertheless, on his second pass through recruiting, Wimsatt was this time receptive to what UK was selling.

The 20-year-old Wimsatt has one season of college eligibility remaining after this one.

“I think I fit well in the offense here that Coach Hamdan wants to play,” Wimsatt says. “I think I can contribute.”

If, as expected, Vandagriff is UK’s QB1 to start 2024, it will be interesting to see if the Wildcats offensive brain trust can figure out a way to make Wimsatt a contributing part of the Kentucky attack, too.

In two early UK practices that were open to the media, Wimsatt — who ran for 11 touchdowns last season for Rutgers — looked dynamic with the ball in his hands. In the second open practice, he also connected with ex-Franklin County star Fred Farrier on a pair of long pass completions.

Could the redshirt junior QB become Kentucky’s multi-positional version of the NFL’s Taysom Hill or, to go back a generation, Kordell Stewart?

“I think that we are going to utilize (Wimsatt) in a lot of those Wildcat (formation)-type situations,” Hamdan said at UK media day. “... He is a big, talented player. When you have the opportunity to see him at practice, you will see how dynamic of a player he is. So, a little bit of a wait‑and‑see on how that role goes.”

As for the excitement in Owensboro over Wimsatt returning to the commonwealth, Fallin shares a story to illustrate how well the quarterback is thought of in his hometown.

Last Oct. 21, when Wimsatt ran for 143 yards and three touchdowns to lead Rutgers to a 31-14 win over Indiana in Bloomington, Fallin says, “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. I can tell you why they were in Bloomington — it wasn’t to watch IU. It was for Gavin.

“He is an absolutely great kid. As polite and kind and conscientious as anybody you will ever meet. Just a fun kid to be around. That’s why people here are so thrilled he is now playing closer (to Owensboro) for the University of Kentucky.”

Could QBs Brock Vandagriff and Gavin Wimsatt play at the same time for Kentucky football?

UK football recruiters facing a battle royale for fast-rising, in-state quarterback

The one name Kentucky football fans will have to get to know

Is Kentucky the best state to work in for a major college football head coach?

The one thing Mark Stoops has to fix to get UK football back on the rise

What are the odds? UK football has become an unlikely recruiting nemesis for Michigan.

As Dan Issel is thrilled to tell you, reports of his demise were greatly exaggerated

After leg amputation, an ex-UK men’s basketball player confronts a changed life

Jason Booher keeps alive the memories of those lost in Carrollton bus crash by marathoning