There are few things Kentucky fans love more than assigning nicknames to teams. While that typically is reserved for the basketball program, Shiyazh Pete provided the perfect one to describe this year’s Kentucky football team. “We got a lot of news guys, inexperienced ones, and we’ve also got a bunch of experienced guys coming in […]
There are few things Kentucky fans love more than assigning nicknames to teams. While that typically is reserved for the basketball program, Shiyazh Pete provided the perfect one to describe this year’s Kentucky football team.
“We got a lot of news guys, inexperienced ones, and we’ve also got a bunch of experienced guys coming in from different places,” he told KSR at Kentucky Football Media Day “We’re beasts of no nations.”
That description was specifically directed to the rebuilt Kentucky offensive line, but it’s not exclusive to the Big Blue Wall. This Kentucky football team is filled with players who have eye-opening underdog stories. Allow me to share the short version of a few incredible stories before they write the final chapter in Lexington.
Zach Calzada
Most college football fans know Zach Calzada‘s name because of one game, Texas A&M’s upset of top-ranked Alabama in 2021. He stepped in for the injured Haynes King in game No. 2 and guided the Aggies to an 8-4 campaign (one that ended with a disappointing loss in the season finale).
Even though Calzada gave Jimbo Fisher the biggest win of his Texas A&M tenure, the Aggies didn’t give him a spot the following season. Haynes King was set to return from injury, they recruited a Texas five-star talent, Connor Weigman, and brought in Max Johnson from the transfer portal. It was clear that Calzada felt disrespected. Things didn’t get much better after he left.
About a week after he transferred to Auburn, the offensive coordinator abruptly quit. It was the beginning of a tumultuous season for Bryan Harsin, one where Calzada couldn’t even play because of a preseason shoulder injury. He was forced to take a different route and rediscovered his footing by putting up big numbers in the FCS (3,791 yards and 35 touchdowns in 2024). Incarnate Word has been a quarterback factory. Calzada’s ready to prove he’s the latest FCS success story.
Shiyazh Pete
If you haven’t heard Shiyazh Pete‘s story yet, you’re in for a treat. He was a military kid who moved around quite a bit before settling in the Navajo Nation during his high school days. His football team was so small, in some games, they only had 11 players. Nevertheless, his size drew the attention of coaches at New Mexico State.
Las Cruces is not a place that’s experienced a lot of quality football. They were 2-10 during Pete’s freshman season, par for the course for that program. Jerry Kill arrived the following year and immediately flipped the script. In 2023, they won 10 games, including a victory at Auburn, the first 10-win season at New Mexico State since 1960.
Kill briefly retired before resurfacing at Vanderbilt in an advisory role last fall. Pete missed most of that season with an injury. Now, he’s ready to relive SEC glory at Kentucky.
Jager Burton
The Big Blue Wall cannot be rebuilt by only newcomers. Jager Burton is a key cog to the winning formula on the offensive line, and he has something to prove.
One of John Schlarman’s final recruits, Burton was a four-star, homegrown talent tasked with continuing the late head coach’s legacy. Instead, he’s been the poster child for the deterioration of the Big Blue Wall. Whether that criticism is fair or foul, the perception is unavoidable. He didn’t help his case when the Wildcats tried him out at center in 2023 and snapping issues forced him back to guard after three games.
He’s getting a second chance at center. After an outstanding offseason where he gained a significant amount of weight, he certainly looks the part. If that hard work turns into results, Kentucky fans will once again watch the Wildcats bully SEC teams in the trenches.
Mi’Quise Humphrey-Grace
Even though we haven’t heard much from him in the preseason, Mi’Quise Humphrey-Grace was one of the most decorated transfer portal additions of the offseason. An FCS All-American, the Missouri Valley Defensive Player of the Year had 17 TFLs and 9.5 sacks last fall at South Dakota.
Humphrey-Grace had to cut his teeth in the FCS ranks because he was a late bloomer. The Cincinnati played for a powerhouse program that produces Power Four talent, Princeton. When he started playing varsity football, he was a 5-foot-9 safety. By his senior year, he was a 6-foot-4 defensive end. Once overlooked, Humphrey Grace can provide star power as a pass rusher for the Kentucky defense in 2025.
Jaden Williams
The new Kentucky defensive tackle spent the last three years at Wyoming. Like Humphrey-Grace, Jaden Williams was a late bloomer, but for a different reason. He had the size and athleticism to be a college recruit, but for the first three years of his high school career, focus and self-admitted laziness prevented him from reaching his potential. Tragedy changed that. His mother died abruptly from a brain aneurysm right before his senior year. A switch was flipped. Williams plays with purpose.
“Before my senior year, I didn’t have any offers. I was talking to my Mom about college and having to get a scholarship so I could pay for it. She told me I could do it, I could get that scholarship. Then right before my senior season, she passed away,” he said.
“It was really my main motivation going into that year, trying to help out my family, knowing I can. God put me in a position to be able to get a scholarship to go play football somewhere, so I used that opportunity the best I could.”
Josaih Hayes
Josaih Hayes was Jon Sumrall’s first high-profile recruiting win at Kentucky, when the Wildcats landed the surprising commitment over Lane Kiffin on Signing Day. Hayes has logged a ton of SEC snaps as a part of the regular rotation on the defensive line for three seasons. He was preparing for his best yet when he suffered an Achilles injury during the 2024 spring practice. Hayes attacked rehab to play in the final three games of the regular season, and now he’s poised to finish his career with a bang.
Seth McGowan
Seth McGowan was a Blue Chip running back who proved in a Cotton Bowl win for Oklahoma that he had a promising future. He threw it out the window the following spring. McGowan was one of three Sooners kicked off the team following an armed robbery. He spent three months in jail and was put on probation.
Since that fateful night, it’s been a long road back to the SEC for McGowan. He’s not too ashamed to share his story. It changed his life, and he’s had to make the right decisions time and time again to get a second chance.
“I transformed all of those negative emotions and anxiety and put it in my craft, continued at the game, and continued doing what I love. I kept making the right next step — the right next step, the right next step — and before you know it, you look up and you’ll be at the right place with the right people at the right time,” he recently told KSR.
“This is the most confident I’ve been in any season in any year that I’ve played football in my entire life… It’s nothing short of a blessing.”
Category: General Sports
