Pete Nakos broke the news Thursday night that Hardley Gilmore is no longer with the Kentucky football program, and if you've followed this saga at all, the word "again" belongs somewhere in that sentence.
This one's a dismissal for violating team rules, per a Kentucky spokesperson, not another transfer-portal detour. Gilmore was a 4-star recruit out of Belle Glade, Florida who reclassified up to the 2024 class, and his college career has been a whirlwind ever since. He missed the first 5 games of his true freshman year at Kentucky with injury, then bounced to Nebraska that winter, back to Kentucky in spring 2025, into the portal for Louisville after the 2025 season, flipped to Baylor and signed there, then flipped back to Kentucky again before spring practice this year.
In between all that shuffling, he actually produced when he was on the field — 34 catches for 466 yards and 2 touchdowns across his 2 seasons in Lexington. He also pleaded guilty to second-degree disorderly conduct tied to a December 2024 misdemeanor assault charge, part of a pattern of off-field turbulence that's now caught up with him for good.
Kentucky's receiver room takes another hit heading into fall camp, losing a player who was, on talent alone, one of the more dynamic options on the roster. But head coach Mark Stoops has clearly decided the drama isn't worth the production, closing the book on a Gilmore-Kentucky relationship that already had more chapters than most players get in a full career.
Where Gilmore lands next — if anywhere, this deep into fall camp — is the open question. But for Kentucky, this is likely the last we hear of a receiver who somehow managed to leave and rejoin the program twice before finally getting shown the door for good.