How Kentucky QB Kenny Minchey went from Notre Dame backup to coach Will Stein's breakout star

Before ever taking a snap as a college starting quarterback, Kenny Minchey joined his private coach for an offseason workout in Nashville this summer. Sharing the field with NFL passers Daniel Jones and Kyle Trask, as well as Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed -- a friendly rival since high school -- Minchey held his own. 

Afterward, Jones asked Thomas Morris, the QB Country trainer who has worked with Minchey since high school, for more film of Kentucky's new quarterback.

"And he was just like, man, I think he's really special. He's really, really good," Morris said.

Minchey and Reed played on the same field again Saturday, but Minchey was the star. Kentucky, a 16.5-point underdog, surprised everyone by scoring 21 unanswered points to defeat No. 9 Texas A&M 31-21 at Kyle Field. Minchey completed 14 of 18 passes for 252 yards and two touchdowns, completing all nine attempts after halftime. Reed threw two interceptions.

"It looked like he had started 30 games. He was not flustered," Morris said.

That steadiness sits at the center of Kentucky's sudden rise under first-year coach Will Stein, the offensive officinado who previously led Oregon's offense to new heights. Against A&M, the Wildcats threw out funky formations before and after the snap, including an unbalanced line with a tight end disguised as a blocking tackle, which opened two wide-open routes. On the first offensive play, Kentucky lined up the tight end and receiver behind the center before shifting out of the backfield, clearing the way for the quarterback to take the snap. The Aggies struggled to identify their defensive assignments.

Stein arrived at Kentucky in January, replacing Mark Stoops after back-to-back losing seasons capped a 13-year career. Stein, 36, built his name exploiting defenses and developing quarterbacks as Oregon's offensive coordinator, leaving behind a legacy of elite passers -- Bo Nix, Dante Moore and Dillon Gabriel -- and a slew of broken records, including all-time NCAA marks and two Heisman Trophy finalists.

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When Oregon's CFP run ended in the second round, he went hunting for the next great quarterback. Kentucky had just one on the roster. Up front along the offensive line, it was worse.

"There was virtually nobody back," Stein said.

Stein kept the receivers and tight ends he considered must-keeps and signed a 32-man transfer class ranked No. 10 by 247Sports. He earmarked a quarterback widely regarded as one of the portal's most accurate passers, with the touch to layer throws over linebackers and into open windows along the route tree.

Last week, 13 of the 30 Kentucky players who recorded a statistic at Texas A&M were 2026 transfers. Four more started along the offensive line. None mattered more than the quarterback.

Minchey was a four-star prospect out of high school and spent three seasons at Notre Dame, watching the Irish advance to the national championship in 2024 and losing a battle in August 2025 against CJ Carr that coach Marcus Freeman called as close statistically as any quarterback competition he had been part of. Minchey threw only 29 passes for the Irish and declined to comment on the previous competition that kept him on the bench last season.

"It just really just taught me to enjoy where I was at because I was still playing football with my best friends," he said.

On the day the transfer portal opened, Stein reached out directly to Minchey. Minchey's parents joined the call as the Kentucky coach pitched his program, emphasizing his track record of developing elite, record-setting quarterbacks. Although Minchey initially committed to Nebraska on Jan. 4 without taking an official visit, further discussions with his family led him to reverse course and flip his commitment to Kentucky just a day later.

"Literally any coach I talked to, they would ask: What are my main factors? And the No. 1 thing I would say to all them is coaching, and how am I gonna get coached. Who am I gonna get coached by?" Minchey told CBS Sports.

The connection ran deeper than Stein's impressive resume. Offensive coordinator Joe Sloan coached Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels at LSU, where he worked alongside Mike Denbrock, now Notre Dame's offensive coordinator. Sloan also recruited Minchey out of high school.

Stein knows the position from the bottom of the depth chart up. He walked on at Louisville, earned a scholarship and opened the 2011 season as the starter before a shoulder injury against Kentucky opened the door for Teddy Bridgewater. That personal experience, Minchey said, translates in meetings. Stein is never too tough on his quarterbacks when they make mistakes, and he's always willing to make changes late in the game-planning stage.

"I've been the starter. I've been the backup. I've been eighth string. I've been healthy. I've been injured. I've been a walk-on. I've been a scholarship player," Stein said. "I've really gone through about everything that you can at that position. 

"Now, Kenny's way better than I ever was. And everybody I've coached is way better than I have ever been, but I've stood in the pocket, I've stood in the fire. I've gotten praise. I've gotten criticism. When you have people that played that position and you're coaching them, you have a softer heart for them."

Minchey needed that extra support in Week 2. Kentucky led No. 12 Alabama 17-13 at halftime in Lexington, but then was outscored 32-0. Minchey finished 18 of 31 for 146 yards with a pick-6 and a lost fumble. Stein stood behind him after the loss. "He's our guy. We're gonna ride with him no matter what," he said after the game.

"I think in the second half of the Alabama game I was making it more than it was," Minchey said. "And then just throughout the Texas A&M game, more so in the second half, it was just kind of like, I'm just gonna go play free and just do my job."

"I thought the best thing that happened to Kenny was not playing well against Alabama and understanding Alabama is a lot different than Youngstown State," Stein said.

Minchey is known around the football facility as a quiet, humble and calm teammate. His teammates praised him after the win at A&M, breaking out his new nickname that Sloan developed for his quarterback: "Floyd," as in Mayweather, the legendary boxer who was smooth and calm in the ring.

"He did say one day that he wants me to be like Floyd Mayweather, just bouncing around, playing loose, because he's seen me when I've played loose, which is good," Minchey said.

Sloan has also seen the version that gets uptight and tries to solve every problem before the snap. The study habits started early in high school, long before the college recruiters descended on Hendersonville, Tennessee, to look at him.

"Every day at lunch, he'd have his lunch tray down in the office, wanting to watch extra tape, wanting to study film, wanting to watch his opponent, wanting to watch practice from the day before," said Justin Geisinger, his coach at Pope John Paul II Preparatory School. 

Even back then, "he wasn't a rah-rah in your face guy. Never was that guy. Still isn't that guy," Geisinger said.

Said Stein: "But more or less, he's an extremely poised person and very detailed, and nothing seems to really rattle him."

Kentucky (2-1, 1-1 SEC) hosts South Alabama on Saturday, then re-enters SEC play with a trip to South Carolina. Although preseason SEC media projections had the Wildcats near the bottom of the league, 14th out of 16 teams, Kentucky is already proving those early expectations wrong.

Stein, the walk-on who stayed at Louisville, was asked this week about a player who stuck around Kentucky after the coaching transition, like Minchey, who spent three years on the bench at Notre Dame, biding his time before hitting it big at Kentucky.

"Yeah, I mean, sometimes a fresh start's good for people," Stein said. "Sometimes it's not."

For Minchey, it was.

"It didn't work out (at Notre Dame), but I think he's exactly where he's supposed to be," Morris said.