No.169 4★, national recruit is what Kenny Minchey has put on film since landing at Kentucky — the bet is starting to settle.
6′2″ · 211 lb · Hendersonville, TN
The numbers
passing yards · 2026 · through week 3
3 games into 2026 so far
The play that turned itSwung Kentucky from 50% to 82% to win.Kentucky at Texas A&M · 31-21
His career numbers, season by seasonThe story
Senior quarterback for Kentucky. 2026: 3 games with a box-score line.
Buzz vs Tape
Every angle we can check here reads about where you'd expect this season.
Also checked out fine:
“I like Kenny Minchey. Bowl game is definitely in play”
Kenny Minchey
Kenny Minchey arrives at Kentucky with a new fit to prove and an old chapter behind him.
4★ · NATIONAL RECRUIT
No.169
recruiting national rank
AI-generated narrative · may contain errors · not journalism · updated 2026-09-22
His career
Career arc
Badges
Coaching lineage · 2023–2026
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: Mark Stoops → Will Stein. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
Where He Ended Up · Transfer
Transferred to Kentucky
| Season | Team | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Kentucky | 50 | 76 | 65.8% | 699 | 9.2 | 7 | 1 | 170.8 | 56 | -- | -- |
| 2025 | Notre Dame | 20 | 26 | 76.9% | 196 | 7.5 | 0 | 0 | 140.2 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2024 | Notre Dame | 1 | 1 | 100.0% | 4 | 4.0 | 0 | 0 | 133.6 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2023 | Notre Dame | 2 | 2 | 100.0% | 12 | 6.0 | 0 | 0 | 150.4 | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 73 | 105 | 69.5% | 911 | 8.7 | 7 | 1 | 162.5 | 56 | -- | -- |
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Kentucky | 14 | -4 | -0.3 | 0 | -- |
| 2025 | Notre Dame | 7 | 84 | 12.0 | 1 | -- |
| 2024 | Notre Dame | 2 | 12 | 6.0 | 1 | -- |
| 2023 | Notre Dame | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 23 | 92 | 4.0 | 2 | -- |
Game by game
Point color shows the opponent's defensive strength that week (red = weaker defense, blue = stronger) — dashed line is this player's own season average.
Game log · Week-by-week
2026 season · 3 games
| Wk | Opp | CMP/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | YPA | QBR | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 45-13vs Youngstown State | 18/27 | 301 | 4 | 0 | 11.1 | — | Season-high 301 yds |
| Wk 2 | L 17-45vs Alabama | 18/31 | 146 | 1 | 1 | 4.7 | 44.5 | |
| Wk 3 | W 31-21@ Texas A&M | 14/18 | 252 | 2 | 0 | 14.0 | — | Clean 2-TD game |
| Total | 50/76 | 699 | 7 | 1 | 9.9 | 44.5 |
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 3 · 2026
W 31–21
at Texas A&M
Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|
The plays that mattered most
Since week 2: +252 passing yards, +2 passing TD.
Season context · Team result + system
Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort
Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles
Elite: explosive rate (99th percentile). Strength: yards / att (84th percentile). Concern: sack rate (16th percentile).
Real play-by-play efficiency
Season trend
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).
Pass Profile · True throw depth (charted plays)
Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from
Adjusted ANY/A
9.2727 of 126 QBsSack rate
7.3%105 of 126 QBsSacked on 7.3% of dropbacks (105 of 126) — and still 27 of 126 in Adjusted ANY/A.
Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.
Behind LOS · Negative air yds
Short · 0–9 air yds
Middle · 10–19 air yds
Deep · 20+ air yds
Overall 64.5% completion on 76 attempts · 33% completion on 12 deep attempts (20+ air yds).
Zeitgeist Passer Rating
2026 · our own passing-efficiency number, shown next to the 1979 formula it does not replace.
Thin sample: 67 dropbacks56Zeitgeist Passer Ratingnot ranked until 125 dropbacks
--NCAA passer ratingno box-score line yet
Positive-play rate weight 24%
47.9%68th pct of FBS QBsshare of dropbacks that gained expected points · -2.8% schedule adj.Yards per attempt weight 56%
8.5193th pct of FBS QBssacks excluded · -0.8 schedule adj.Sack rate weight 21% (penalty)
9.2%5th pct of FBS QBsthe input passer rating cannot see · +0.2% schedule adj.Opponent-adjusted; garbage time excluded (14 of 81 dropbacks dropped). 50 = FBS average; the number is pulled toward 50 when the sample is thin. Scaled against the 2025 FBS population until enough 2026 QBs qualify. How ZPR is built.
Splits · Per-game
2026 season · 3 games
Home vs Road
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home2g | 224 | 2.5 | 7.9 | 0.5 |
| Road1g | 252 | 2.0 | 14.0 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-73g | 233 | 2.3 | 9.9 | 0.3 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Will Stein
Pass share
43.9%
76 pass / 97 run
Plays / game
57.7
3 games
Scheme: Run-leaning, slow tempo.
Player standing · 2026
Our Heisman model has him inside the top 25; he is not on a published award watch list yet.
Heisman Trajectory · 2026
Peaked at #24 this season.