Kentucky football: LB Eli Brown will transfer

[Matt Dillon]

Eli Brown, who started five games for Kentucky in 2017, will transfer. A UK spokeswoman confirmed the news Friday evening.
Brown was set to enter his junior season with the Wildcats. When Jordan Jones injured his shoulder early last season, it was Brown who started in his place at weakside linebacker.
The Bowling Green, Ky., native was ninth on the team with 38 tackles last season. He had two tackles for a loss.

https://www.seccountry.com/kentucky/kentucky-football-eli-brown-transfer

[DA#23]

Transfer U . We're never going to build the type of depth necessary to sustain the growth that so many of us dream about.

[Lighthouse]

Hate to hear when a good one decides to leave. But, you never know exactly why a kid who is sure to play decides to transfer.

[SBCatMan]

This is both disappointing and puzzling. One would surely think Eli would have continued to get a lot of PT throughout the rest of his career. I suspect there has to be more to the story.

[boomdaddy]

It puzzles me to see him leave because he was seeing the field. Now he will have to sit out a season if he goes to another D1 program. I understand at the QB position, but not a at LB.

[40bill]

Could be a dozen reasons. Original tweet supposedly cane from a WKU student reporter....but that's here nor there. Wouldn't surprise to see him transfer back home.

[Matt Dillon]

Based on what we know, at the present time, this isn't supposed to be about playing time. Having said that, this may be something we, as fans, have to get used to as long as coach Stoops is our coach.

[Spiritof96]

I don't get it. If it's grades or he is in trouble, that would make more sense. I'm sorry to lose him as a player and this trend of loosing contributors to transfer is not a good look.

[TrueblueCATfan]

hate to hear this...don't like seeing good kids leave our program

[Brasslock]

Eli was one of my favorites. 40bill sounds right to me. There could be a dozen reasons. Transfers happen as depth of talent builds at every school. I understand he was listed at the #2 spot on the depth chart, but I have no idea who is behind him and how strong they are coming on and developing. Eli was light at 200 to 215, but he was all football player in my book. I'm going to miss him and wish him the best. He is a very personable and likable young man.

[40bill]

Lots of things we can point at negatively. At 215, Eli is more of weight of a safety....and that goes more to development. Could be the coaching shifts. These kids build relationships with their position guys.

Every now and then, I get concerned that the coaches are almost TOO loyal to a player....it cost Phillips a last leg with Newton and recent remarks makes me wonder if CMS is doing the same.........Jones, Barker, etc.
Hard line to walk on. I think that loyalty may have burned the team with Hoaks development and may be one of the reasons for some of the transfers.

[Old School]

Every school loses players to transfers. Kentucky lost plenty of good players to transfers well before Stoops arrived. Here are some I remember. I'm sure there are plenty of others.

Bobby Blizzard - started at TE for North Carolina; 4 seasons in the NFL

Lawrence Chamberlain - started at OL for Oklahoma State

David De La Perralle - starter as a freshman at UK before he transferred to some college in Canada and then played for a half dozen years or so in the CFL

Carwell Gardner - started at RB for Louisville; 8 seasons in the NFL

Ryan Keller - started at WR for Minnesota

Derick Logan - started at RB for Eastern Kentucky after being the SEC's Freshman Offensive Player of the Year

Miguel Merritt - started at LB for Alabama*

Langston Newton - started at DE for Purdue

Elliott Porter - two year full time starter at C for LSU

Brad Pyatt - Northern Arizona; 4 seasons in the NFL

Chad Scott - started at RB for North Carolina

Maxwell Smith - started at QB for San Diego State

That doesn't include tons more players, including some terrific ones like Kip Sixbery, Lonnell Dewalt and Derek Smith, and some very promising ones like Norman Mason, Chad Spencer, Antoine Lias and Curtis Pulley, who left and didn't resurface at a program on the same level. And as happens everywhere, it doesn't include plenty of other kids who transferred out and didn't really make waves at UK or catch on at any significant school afterward.

(Merritt, a Kentucky kid who signed with UK, was listed in the 1996 UK media guide as part of the team. I'm not sure how long he was at Kentucky. I don't remember him taking the field. That doesn't mean he didn't, but I think at some point he ended up at a junior college between Lexington and Tuscaloosa.)

And this isn't a problem that varies much by how much or how little success a program is having. Kentucky basketball has had plenty of players transfer out. Recently, Marcus Lee (Cal), Kyle Wiltjer (Gonzaga), Charles Matthews (Michigan), Stacey Poole (Georgia Tech)...less recently, there were talented players like Alex Legion (Illinois), Derrick Jasper (UNLV), Marvin Stone (Louisville), Rashaad Carruth (Oklahoma), Jason Parker (South Carolina), Michael Bradley (Villanova), Ryan Hogan (Iowa), Myron Anthony (TCU), Roderick Rhodes (Southern Cal) and less talented players like Oliver Simmons (Florida State), Sean Sutton, and a slew of others. And plenty of kids transferred in to play basketball for Kentucky, too: Mychal Mulder, Julius Mays, Josh Harrellson, Patrick Sparks, Heshimu Evans, Derek Anderson, Mark Pope, Rodney Dent, Travis Ford, Dale Brown, Kyle Macy, etc. Can't forget Dwight Anderson, either. The bigger basketball fans on here can come up with more than that, including a lot of players (like many leaving UK in the past few years) who didn't catch on at any school of note.

I think you'll see similar comings and goings at most or all other football and basketball programs regardless of who is coaching.

If anything, there's good news in that the number of players leaving Kentucky because they've been dismissed from the team for criminal charges or other misconduct is low, especially compared to a lot of other schools.

[RV]

Lots of things we can point at negatively. At 215, Eli is more of weight of a safety....and that goes more to development. Could be the coaching shifts. These kids build relationships with their position guys.
...

Brown's position coach was Elliot his first year and House the last two years. House would have been his position coach again this year.

On another note, while I am puzzled at the timing of this decision, UK still has plenty of candidates for the position. Jones returns as does Davis and we add Square and Pierre and possibly even Oats at the position. IIRC, Boogie even played a few snaps at the position.

[Spiritof96]

Were they considering moving him to strong safety?

[Blue Heaven]

Brown played well when Jones first went out. Time will tell if his loss has a significant impact.