Kentucky Wildcats quarterback Beau Allen announced Wednesday via his Twitter feed that he is entering the transfer portal.
One of the most prolific passing quarterbacks in Lexington high school football history, Allen will leave UK having thrown only 19 passes in game-action as a Wildcat.
“After a lot of thought and prayer, I have decided for the best interest of my football career, I will enter the transfer portal to have an opportunity to play this upcoming season,” Allen wrote. “I am forever a Wildcat and I am very excited for the future.”
The son of 1980s-era UK QB Bill Allen, Beau Allen threw for 11,439 yards and 127 touchdowns in his career at Lexington Catholic.
One of the most-decorated quarterbacks produced in the commonwealth in the past decade, Allen chose UK over scholarship offers from Cincinnati, Duke, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, Washington State and West Virginia, among others.
A four-star recruit by Rivals.com, Allen was seen as UK’s quarterback of the future when he signed with Kentucky in its recruiting class of 2020.
However, UK head coach Mark Stoops fired Eddie Gran and Darin Hinshaw, the offensive brain trust that recruited Allen, after the 2020 season.
Stoops hired Liam Coen off the staff of the Los Angeles Rams to install a more pro-style offense in 2021. For a system that puts major emphasis on arm strength at the quarterback position, Coen brought in Penn State transfer Will Levis and installed him as UK’s starting QB.
As the primary backup, Allen completed eight of 12 passes for 92 yards in 2021. Meanwhile, Levis directed UK to a 10-3 record and enters Kentucky’s 2022 season with some speculating he could be a first-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
In the offseason, Coen returned to the Rams, but Stoops hired San Francisco 49ers assistant Rich Scangarello with the intention of continuing to deploy a pro-style attack.
The perception entering Kentucky’s 2022 Blue-White Spring Game was that Allen’s hold on the top backup spot at UK was not firm. In that game, Allen did not get much help from his receivers. The ex-Lexington Catholic star finished 4-of-11 for 75 yards passing but was victimized by three clear drops.
Rather than the brute arm strength that UK now prioritizes at QB, Allen is known for a quick release in his throwing motion and a high degree of accuracy on his throws. He would seem to be an ideal prospect for an Air Raid-style offensive team.
With Allen departing, Kentucky has all but no game experience at the quarterback position behind Levis — a QB who likes to scramble and has a physical running style, which means he takes some hits.
Incoming Iowa transfer Deuce Hogan, a 6-foot-4, 205-pound redshirt sophomore, has thrown one career pass in a college game. It was completed for 2 yards.
The Grapevine, Texas, product was also rated a four-star recruit by Rivals.com in the class of 2020, and had scholarship offers from schools such as Baylor, Georgia, Oklahoma State and Tennessee.
However, Hogan never got any playing traction at Iowa, even though the Hawkeyes’ quarterback play was considered a weakness in 2021.
Besides Levis, the only other scholarship QBs on the UK roster are former Somerset High School star Kaiya Sheron, a 6-3, 208-pound redshirt freshman and incoming true freshman Destin Wade, a 6-3, 222-pound product of Spring Hill, Tenn.
