Kentucky Football adds final transfers during spring portal

Seven new players added by Head Coach Mark Stoops

May 15, 2025

Forrest Tucker,

Kroger Field
Credit- UK Athletics

LEXINGTON, Ky. (ABC36 NEWS NOW)- Seven new transfers are scheduled to arrive on campus for Kentucky Football in time for summer workouts in June along with 11 incoming freshman from high school.

The newcomers from the transfer portal include wide receiver Hardley Gilmore, who transferred from Nebraska after leaving Kentucky following his freshman season in 2024. Gilmore spent a matter of months in Lincoln. He saw action in the final seven games of 2024 after missing the first five due to injury for UK.

Gilmore is one of the six offensive transfers coming into the program from the portal.

Offensive Weapons

Tight end Elijah Brown (UCF/FAU/Alabama), wide receiver Ashton Cozart (SMU/Oregon) and running back Seth McGowan (New Mexico State/Butler CC/Oklahoma) are the other skilled players who will join Offensive Coordinator Bush Hamdan’s unit from the latest portal crop.

Brown, a junior, is largely inexperienced having played 10 games with one starting assignment and one catch in his career. Those ten games came during two seasons at Florida Atlantic.

After one season a piece at SMU and Oregon, sophomore receiver Cozart comes to UK with four games of college ball to his name. He had one catch at SMU this past season. He redshirted his freshman season at Oregon in 2023 and did not play in any games.

McGowan, who is a graduate student, rejoins former New Mexico State teammate Shiyazh Pete this offseason. He spent one season at NMSU, Butler Community College and Oklahoma each.

Last season, he carried a solid load for New Mexico State, rushing for over 800 yards and scoring three touchdowns. He also caught 23 passes for over 270 yards and three touchdowns.

Lineman Load Up

Three lineman, two offensive and one defensive, are headed to Lexington. All three are second year players in college football.

Defensive end Lorenzo Cowan spent last season at Southern Cal, but did not see any any action and took a redshirt season. Out of high school in Savannah, Georgia, Cowan was ranked as the number 57 edge rusher by On3, number 76 by ESPN and number 79 by 247Sports.

A former Cincinnati area talent, Rob Fogler, joins Eric Wolford’s offensive line unit after two season at Ball State. He redshirted in 2023 and didn’t see the field last season. He spent his high school career with St. Xavier and helped the Bombers to a 7-5 record in 2022 and led the team to a state title in 2021. He reunites with former St. X stars Justin Kattus and Andrew Weber.

Cameron Jones, another offensive lineman, appeared in one game for James Madison during his freshman season in the Boca Raton Bowl versus Western Kentucky. He redshirted in 2023 and didn’t see the field.

High School Talents

11 high school products will join Kentucky this summer. They include defensive lineman Western Hills’ Javeon Campbell and CJ Works, a Dayton, Ohio native who transferred to Frederick Douglass for his senior season.

The full list is below.