Mark Stoops should lift restrictions on Bryant Koback’s transfer

Kentucky running back Bryant Koback has decided to transfer, and according to WTOL-11, he has a list of three finalists which consist of Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan, and Toledo.

The article also claims that Kentucky will not let him transfer to Toledo or Eastern Michigan because they are on Kentucky’s 2019 schedule, as well as restricting him from transferring to any SEC school.

If this is correct, it’s a bad look for Mark Stoops and the Kentucky Football program, and I think re-examining this decision and opening up his options among the three finalists would be the best course of action.

Koback’s transfer isn’t like most transfer situations. It doesn’t come down to a kid unhappy with playing time or friction between him and the coaching staff; it seems to come down to the fact that Koback’s mother is ill and he would like to be within an hour drive to his hometown of Holland, Ohio, which is about 4.5 hours from Lexington.

By all accounts, Koback seems like a good kid and there weren’t any issues with him from what we know.

I’m not that high on coaches placing restrictions on where student-athletes can transfer to anyway (I mean, there is nothing that stops coaches from leaving one school in their conference to go immediately coach another or leaving to go coach a future opponent), but especially under these circumstances, Stoops and the Kentucky Football program should lift these restrictions and let Koback have options that are close to his mother.

These restrictions seem unnecessary and shine a not-so-positive light on the program.