Kentucky's backfield was supposed to be the position group with the fewest questions this fall. Instead it's the one generating headlines a few days before kickoff. Jovantae Barnes, the Oklahoma transfer who arrived in Lexington as a presumptive RB1, will not play Saturday against Youngstown State, according to On3's Pete Nakos, who reported that head coach Will Stein already broke the news to his team earlier in the week.
Kentucky RB Jovantae Barnes is out for Week 1 against Youngstown State, Will Stein announced earlier this week. Sources told @On3 that the Oklahoma transfer RB is recovering well, and CJ Baxter is a go for the Wildcats. Injury Report: t.co/soYFY1E2S6
Barnes came to Kentucky in January picking the Cats over Arkansas and LSU, four years into a Norman career that produced 1,281 yards and 12 touchdowns on 294 carries, with his best season coming in 2024 (577 yards, 5 touchdowns) as Oklahoma made its move into the SEC. He had one year of eligibility left and was expected to be the lead back in Stein's first season running the program.
Nakos's report says Barnes is "recovering well," which at least rules out anything long-term, but recovering well and ready for Week 1 are two different things, and Stein evidently decided he wasn't going to rush a transfer he just landed eight months ago into a game against an FCS opponent.
That opens the door for CJ Baxter, and his path to Lexington has its own injury subplot. Baxter arrived as a former top-ranked high school recruit at Texas, won Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and Freshman All-American honors in 2023 after rushing for 659 yards, then lost his sophomore season to a season-ending injury that bled into 2025, when he played just 8 games before entering the portal. Kentucky is betting that a change of scenery gets him back to the player he looked like as a freshman — starting Saturday, with the reps to prove it.
None of this changes the scoreboard math against Youngstown State, an FCS program that comes in ranked among the top 10 at that level. But season openers are as much about health reports as game plans, and Kentucky is heading into 2026 leaning on its RB2 to be RB1 while it waits on the guy it recruited for the job.