Kentucky’s upset of No. 9 Texas A&M came with the kind of early wobble that can swallow a lesser team whole. Instead, the Wildcats kept playing, and one true freshman in particular turned a rough start into a defining moment.
Kenny Darby opened the game with a play Kentucky would have loved to finish in the end zone, but the ball slipped away as he tried to secure the catch. What should have been a breakout moment became an incomplete pass, and the Wildcats later saw that drive stall out at the Texas A&M 13-yard line after a penalty and two sacks pushed them backward. Kentucky missed the field goal, and the opening sequence was left as a wasted chance.
Darby, though, never let it linger.
As he came off the field after Kentucky converted a fourth-down play, head coach Will Stein made a point to steady him.
“You’re good,” Stein told Darby.
Quarterback Kenny Minchey echoed that same confidence.
“I told him, ‘The ball is coming right back to you,’ and it did,” Minchey said.
Stein said the freshman’s response told him plenty about what Kentucky has in Darby.
“One play focus,” Stein said. “I knew he would get an opportunity late in the game.
Obviously, that stinks for our squad. But next play.
That guy’s an unbelievable football player. He’s going to be really good here for a long time.
He’s uber competitive, and I knew he’d make another play for us.”
He did exactly that. Later in the game, Darby caught a pass, made a defender miss, and took it to the end zone for a touchdown. The freshman’s response to the early mistake ended up becoming one of the biggest plays in Kentucky’s 31-21 road win.
Darby finished with two catches for 64 yards and a touchdown in the upset.
The staff’s belief in him has been there from the start. After Kentucky’s season-opening win over Youngstown State, Stein pointed to offensive coordinator Joe Sloan as a key reason Darby flipped his commitment from LSU to Kentucky. Sloan had previously been LSU’s offensive coordinator, and the connection he already had with Darby helped Kentucky land him.
Once Darby arrived in Lexington, Stein quickly saw why the staff was so high on him.
“It really showed up when he first got here,” Stein said on his Wednesday radio show. “The first real spring practice, you could just tell this guy has those football instincts.
He’s got high football IQ. When the ball’s in his hands, he can be electric.
He’s very driven. He’s very smart.
He cares about his teammates. He practices in an elite way.
“The sky really is the limit for Kenny.”
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For Kentucky fans, it is the kind of outside validation they have been waiting for, especially in a sport where the Wildcats are usually asked to prove they belong before anyone starts talking about bigger goals. McShay went so far as to suggest Kentucky could make an unexpected run toward the College Football Playoff, a level of belief that instantly raises the stakes for how this season gets judged and puts a sharper spotlight on what Stein and the offense do next. [Read more 🡒]