Kentucky decided one lineman wasn’t enough for a Monday morning, let’s make it two. Alex Wollshlaeger committed to Kentucky just a couple hours after the Cats added Arkansas Guard Joshua Braun. Wollshlaeger, an offensive tackle from Bowling Green, became the fourth transfer portal commitment of the offseason for Kentucky joining Braun, Landyn Watson, and Sam Greene. Wollshlaeger is well-rounded and someone who projects to be the immediate right tackle starter for Kentucky this season, so let’s take a look at what BBN can expect from the mountain sized tackle.
Player Background
Wollshlaeger was a two-star recruit from Oswego East high school near the Naperville area. After five seasons with the Falcons, Wollshlaeger entered the transfer portal and is currently rated a top-ten tackle available. At 6’7 305 pounds, Wollshlaeger blocks with a lot of strength and runs people over in combo blocks. He shows good recognition of defensive movement and blitzers as the play develops. While he doesn’t have the best consistency in pass protection, he only allowed 15 pressures in 406 pass blocking snaps this past season. He also was only called for two accepted penalties in 773 total snaps (0.2% of snaps resulted in a penalty). Wollshlaeger was a great player for Bowling Green this past season, and Kentucky will be making a huge upgrade at right tackle.
Program Fit
Wollshlaeger is an upgrade in the run and passing game for Kentucky. He was an All-MAC performer at right tackle last season who still has a ton of room for improvement. He came into college at 250 pounds and has gained significant weight, but (from my untrained eye) it looks like he could carry even more if Kentucky asked him to. He brings 2,458 snaps of experience and has proven production against high level competition. Against Penn State (with likely top-five Edge pick Abdul Carter) and Texas A&M (two probable first round Edge players), Wollshlaeger only allowed 2 pressures in 130 snaps against these teams resulting in zero sacks of QB Connor Bazelak. The MAC lineman was exceptional against the best competition he played this past season, and these are the types of teams Kentucky will face next season.
Position Outlook
Kentucky knows one of the guard starters and has now locked in their starting right tackle for 2025. Malachi Wood did a solid job filling in for the injured Gerald Mincey this season, but Wood still needs a ton of physical development before he plays at an All-Conference level. Wood and Anfernee Crease appear to be the second rotation of tackles, so long as both players remain in the program following the addition of Wollshlaeger and the eventual starting left tackle. Kentucky could look for another depth piece or two to be versatile and reliable backups, but the tackle position took a massive step up today.
