Former UK commit Russ Yeast to transfer from Louisville

Sophomore cornerback Russ Yeast is leaving the Louisville Cardinals, according to Mark Ennis. After being eviscerated by Clemson, 77-16, he’s the second Louisville player to announce their intent to transfer from the program.

Kentucky and Louisville were in a tight recruiting battle for Russ Yeast out of high school. Originally, Russ committed to play for the Wildcats, but later changed his commitment to Louisville. The former 4-star recruit finished runner up for Indiana’s Mr. Football award. He played primarily as a receiver, but switched to cornerback in college.

As a true freshman last season, Russ stepped in as the starting cornerback after an injury to Jaire Alexander. He recorded 23 tackles and two pass breakups in 12 games with seven starts. He played in every game so far for Louisville this year, but has been used very little compared to last season.

Russ is the son of Craig Yeast, former Wildcat wide receiver. Craig played for Kentucky from 1995-1998. At the time of his graduation, Craig was the all time leader in career receptions in the SEC with 208. He’s currently 6th in the conference for career receptions and 9th for career yards with 2,899. Craig earned many accolades during his senior year at UK, including a third team All-American selection, consensus First-Team SEC selection and semi-finalist for the Fred Biletnikoff Award.

After college, he was selected in the 4th round of the 1999 NFL draft by the Bengals. He went on to play in both the NFL and CFL.

Per NCAA rules, Russ will have to sit out a year after transferring. With his former commitment and the link between his father and the program, it’s entirely possible we could see Stoops approach him about playing at Kentucky. UK will lose their entire starting secondary after this season, so experienced corner depth will be a huge hole to fill on their roster.

However, most schools tend to block players from transferring to schools on their schedule. Because Kentucky and Louisville play annually, it’s unlikely Louisville will allow him to transfer to Kentucky.

Russ is a talented athlete, he will be a nice addition to whichever program he decides to attend.