Alex Afari knew he didn’t want his Kentucky career to end on a loss to Louisville.
That much was clear once the fifth-year senior linebacker got the chance to work his way back into the program after a judge ruled he and others could play another season under the NCAA’s five-in-five rule. The path back wasn’t smooth - Afari said the preseason was “on-and-off-again” before he was finally cleared - but he did get on the field briefly in Kentucky’s first two games and then made a fuller impact in the Wildcats’ 31-21 upset of Texas A&M.
“The first play I got in, I was a little excited,” Afari said Wednesday. ‘”I overran the ball, hit somebody, and it just went bad.
I’m like, ‘OK, let me shake it off.’ I was good after that.”
For Afari, the decision to return wasn’t really a decision at all. He spent the summer sorting through his options with an attorney, but he never seriously looked elsewhere, even with a coaching change at Kentucky.
“It was always coming back to Kentucky,” he said. “This is where I started and this is where I wanted to finish.
I didn’t want to go anywhere else. I was coming here to train and do some treatments and stuff like that.
I saw the coaches and how everybody and the players were - the program and just how different it was. That made me want to come back and play here.”
That return brought him back into a different environment, and Afari said the shift has been obvious. He singled out coach Will Stein and defensive coordinator Jay Bateman, pointing to the daily energy around the program.
“The coaches bring the energy every day,” Afari said. “They hold you accountable to play.
They hold the players accountable and they bring energy every day. You can just feel it’s contagious around the building.
You can just feel it.”
The biggest challenge wasn’t staying in shape. Afari said he kept working from a conditioning standpoint while waiting for clearance. What took the most adjustment was the mental side, especially learning an entirely new defense and scheme.
“It’s more mental because I had to learn a whole new defense and a whole new scheme,” he said. “Physically, I was still working out and stuff like that. But obviously, I wasn’t in football shape, but I was still running and doing stuff like that to get ready.”
He described Kentucky’s new system as “linebacker friendly” and “aggressive,” a setup that lets him play downhill and make plays.
“I (can) make a lot of plays in this defense and it’s aggressive,” Afari said. “He blitzes you a lot and we cover a lot as well - tight ends and running backs as well too.
He does a good job teaching us. He’s our linebacker coach.
He’s in the room with us every day, learning the plays and drawing them up on the board and telling us exactly what we got to do and stuff like that.”
As for the win at Texas A&M, Afari said it didn’t come out of nowhere. After the Alabama loss, he felt the response coming in practice.
“I could feel the energy,” he said. “After the Alabama loss, I could feel it.
I knew we were going to win that game because of how we prepared in practice and how the coaches had confidence in us. They didn’t lose any confidence after the Alabama game … we just knew that we were hungry and went out there and did what we were supposed to do.”
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Kentucky Faces One Early Test It Cannot Afford To Misread
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South Alabama is the next chance to prove the Wildcats can carry that approach into a game they are expected to handle. Heard and his teammates have stressed the need for consistent effort no matter who is on the other sideline, and Kentuckys challenge now is making sure the habits that fueled those recent wins do not fade when the matchup looks more manageable. [Read more 🡒]
Kenny Minchey Just Changed Kentuckys Quarterback Conversation
Kenny Mincheys rise has started to draw more attention than most Kentucky quarterbacks get this early in a tenure, and the interest makes sense after the way he handled Texas A&M. The CBS Sports spotlight on his path from high school to Notre Dame and then Kentucky gave some background to the moment, but the performance itself did plenty of the talking, with Minchey completing 14 of 18 passes for 252 yards and two touchdowns.
Minchey also opened up about the people and places shaping the latest chapter of his career, from his relationship with coach Will Stein to the rougher lessons he took from past games against Alabama. Returning to Lexington clearly carried some extra weight for him, too, and the fan reaction showed how quickly he has become a player worth watching as Kentuckys quarterback conversation gets more interesting. [Read more 🡒]
Kentucky Just Added Another Quarterback Piece For Its Long-Term Future
Kentuckys long-term quarterback board picked up another name this week with the commitment of Marcus Washington Jr., a California prospect who gives the Wildcats another arm to build around for the future. The addition fits a growing trend around the program, which has been steadily lining up quarterback help for upcoming seasons as it tries to keep its depth chart stocked well beyond the present.
Washingtons decision also says something about the momentum Kentucky has been able to generate on the trail. He was influenced by the Wildcats upset win over Texas A&M, and his pledge gives the staff another early piece in a quarterback pipeline that already includes other committed players for future classes. Even with this commitment in hand, the bigger picture is still how Kentucky keeps stacking those wins and whether more of them are coming soon. [Read more 🡒]