Who is UK football’s 2024 version of Maxwell Hairston? Here are five breakout candidates.

Kentucky football is not lacking in star power entering the 2024 season.

Deone Walker is widely projected as a first-round draft pick next spring. Barion Brown has joined Walker on multiple preseason All-America teams thanks to his kick return prowess. A plethora of key starters return on offense, defense and special teams.

But for Kentucky to reach its potential in 2024, it will need more than those returning starters to carry the load. There is reason to hope for immediate contributions from a handful of freshmen, and several transfers who started at their previous schools will be asked to step into open jobs, but the Wildcats will need at least a few veterans who did not play major roles last fall to emerge.

A year ago, cornerbacks Andru Phillips and Maxwell Hairston fell into that group. Both went from relative unknowns to stars. Phillips was drafted in the third round and Hairston tied for the SEC lead in interceptions.

Who could be the 2024 Wildcats’ version of those breakouts? Here are five breakout candidates to watch.

RB Demie Sumo-Karngbaye

After transferring to UK from N.C. State, Sumo-Karngbaye split time between running back and slot receiver in 2023, finishing the year with 139 rushing yards, 69 receiving yards and two touchdowns while playing in all 13 games. While Sumo-Karngbaye’s versatility earned him a role in Liam Coen’s offense, it might also have prevented him from taking full control of the backup running back position behind Ray Davis.

Now, Sumo-Karngbaye is focusing his full attention at running back and could open the season as UK’s starter with Ohio State transfer Chip Trayanum sidelined by a hand injury.

“There’s a huge difference in Demie and his approach,” running backs coach Jay Boulware said. “... His maturity level, being all focused in on running back only this spring and this fall camp has paid off dividends for him.”

Even after Trayanum’s injury, Sumo-Karngbaye is likely to split carries in the backfield with freshman Jason Patterson and redshirt freshman Jamarion Wilcox. Backup quarterback Gavin Wimsatt will also contribute to the rushing attack as a “wildcat” quarterback.

But Sumo-Karngbaye looks set for double-digit touches per game. Even if he does not line up at wide receiver often, his pass-catching ability should help keep him on the field.

TE Khamari Anderson

Kentucky returns tight ends Jordan Dingle and Josh Kattus, who each started multiple games last season, but do not be surprised if sophomore tight end Khamari Anderson becomes a featured part of the passing game at some point in 2024.

“He’s really your prototypical tight end that’s athletic, that can get down the middle, that can block, that can pass protect,” tight ends coach Vince Marrow said. “I mean, Khamari can do it all.”

Listed at 6-foot-5, 252 pounds on UK’s roster, Anderson already looks the part of an SEC tight end. He played in 11 games as a freshman but recorded just one catch, an 11-yard gain on third-and-10 to keep a scoring drive alive in the regular season finale upset of Louisville.

It will be difficult to unseat Kattus and Dingle given their experience and greater blocking prowess — and there is already buzz about freshman tight end Willie Rodriguez — but Anderson is too talented to not involve in the passing game.

“He’s certainly one of those guys,” offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan said. “He’s got all the ability in the world. He’s got size, he’s got athleticism. Certainly at that position, you know it’s going to take consistent brand of ball play in and play out, but he’s a guy we’re looking to really get going this year.”

OG Jalen Farmer

We’re excluding incoming transfers who already filled starting roles at their previous schools from this list, but Farmer could fit the bill after transferring to Kentucky from Florida. He played in just four total games in two seasons at Florida but is on track to start at one of the offensive guard positions for the Wildcats in the season opener.

Hamdan singled Farmer out for praise late in spring practice when asked about players who had surprised. He started the spring game at left guard but has spent time at right guard during preseason camp.

“He’s strong,” defensive lineman Deone Walker said of Farmer. “And one thing I could really say about him: He plays with 100% effort all the time, no matter what we’re doing.”

Kentucky and offensive line coach Eric Wolford pursued Farmer heavily out of high school, but he ultimately signed with the Gators when Wolford left UK for Alabama. With Wolford back in Lexington, the transfer portal offered a second chance for the pairing to work.

The fact that Farmer has already unseated returning starter Dylan Ray suggests he is in line to boost an offensive line under pressure to return to the program’s “Big Blue Wall” standard.

“I like his feet, his hands,” defensive lineman Octavious Oxendine said. “He’s doing good. I feel he’s gonna be good in our offensive scheme.”

OLB Tyreese Fearbry

The unexpected return of outside linebacker J.J. Weaver for his pandemic season of eligibility reduced the pressure on the Wildcats’ younger edge rushers to step up this fall, but defensive coordinator Brad White will still need them to contribute.

Leading the pack is Fearbry, who totaled six tackles, one tackle for loss and two quarterback hurries while playing in all 13 games last season. Fearbry is likely to step into the No. 1 strongside linebacker spot vacated by Keaten Wade’s transfer to Colorado and should be particularly useful in pass-rushing situations.

“You can see physically he looks more ready to be an every-down type of player,” White said of Fearbry during spring practice. “That’s what he needs to be. The last two years he didn’t have enough girth but to be a situational-type player. The same thing mentally.”

White praised Fearbry in spring practice for improved ability to move past mistakes. That should help him find a consistent role, but coaches have long viewed the former four-star recruit as a player capable of contributing game-changing plays too.

“Those are little things that people don’t necessarily see,” White said. “It’s not physically making some kind of special play. It’s actually making the wrong play and being old enough and mature enough to be able to take that mistake and play the next play and not let it hang over him like it has in the past.”

DL Kendrick Gilbert

An injury crisis on Kentucky’s defensive line forced the staff to use a walk-on offensive lineman at the position for significant snaps in the spring game, but most of the Wildcats’ key linemen are back for preseason practice.

The exception is at nose guard where Josaih Hayes and Tavion Gadson are expected to miss most, if not all, of the 2024 season. UK signed junior college transfer Dennious Jackson late in the summer to help boost depth at the position, but it’s Gilbert who appears to now have the inside track to a spot in the rotation behind starter Keeshawn Silver.

“His potential is crazy,” Walker, a preseason All-American and projected 2025 NFL draft first-round pick, said of Gilbert. “Like, he looked better than me some plays. He’s a great player. He’s still young. Sometimes he lets the game get to him. ... ‘Oh, it’s hot, I’m sweaty, so I don’t really want to listen right now.’ But I mean everybody gonna have those days. It’s just about how quickly and how fast that you can bounce back from those days.”

A four-star prospect in high school, Gilbert made two brief cameos during his redshirt season but was among the linemen who missed spring practice while he recovered from a shoulder injury.

Now listed at 6-foot-5, 275 pounds — down from 292 pounds as a freshman — Gilbert might ultimately be better suited for a position other than nose on the line, but if he can contribute there this season at least one major question for the UK defense will be answered positively. While Gilbert works to regain muscle after his offseason shoulder surgery, expect White to get creative with his play calls when Gilbert is at nose.

“He’s probably been the most surprising out of the group of guys, because there’s nothing that he can’t do,” defensive line coach Anwar Stewart said. “I know he’s still a baby, still young, but he’s working really hard, and it’s paying off.”

UK season opener

Southern Mississippi at Kentucky

When: Aug. 31, 7:45 p.m.

TV: SEC Network

Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1

Series: Kentucky leads 3-1

Last meeting: Kentucky won 24-17 on Sept. 2, 2017, at Hattiesburg, Miss.

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