With three years of major conference athletic competition under his belt, Ahmad Wagner is one of Kentucky's most experienced players as the Wildcats open fall camp.
There is a catch.
Wagner's experience has come on the hardwood, not the gridiron.
A 6-foot-5, 238-pound product of Huber Heights, Ohio, Wagner transferred to UK this summer after spending the last three years as a member of the Iowa Hawkeyes basketball program. He played in 96 career games at Iowa and earned 25 starting assignments but always had a lingering question that nagged him.
"How good I could be at football," Wagner said after Tuesday's practice at the Joe Craft Football Training Center. "It was always in the back of my mind."
He wasn't the only one who was still wondering.
Kentucky recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow had known Wagner for years. He offered a scholarship in 2014 despite it being the player's only year of prep football. That lone season was enough as Wagner caught 58 passes for 1,028 yards and 17 touchdowns in helping lead Wayne High School to the state championship game.
Many recruiting analysts believed Wagner could have been an elite Division I football recruit, but he had already made up his mind to pursue hoops.
"If he had picked football, he could be one of the best receivers in the country right now... or in the NFL," Marrow says.
That could still occur, the UK assistant coach is quick to add.
Wagner has two years of football eligibility remaining with the Wildcats, and the staff is excited about his potential. He displayed some of that talent on Saturday during the "Fan Day" open practice, going up in traffic to haul down a difficult reception as spectators "ooh'd" and "ahh'd."
So far, his athletic detour is looking like a solid choice.
"I see a brighter future in football," Wagner said. "It was always inside of me when I decided to go play basketball. Making the switch is something that I've been thinking about for a while, and I didn't want to live with any regrets, so I made the decision to switch. I've been really happy with it."
It has not come without challenges, though. The Wildcats donned full pads for the first time on Monday, and it signaled to Wagner that his transition just got real.
"Ooooh. Two and a half years," he said of the last time putting on full football pads. "That was definitely an adjustment.
"The first couple (days of practice) you're fresh and ready to go and excited. The last couple, it's a grind. You're tired from the meetings, being on the field, lifting. It's just a grind. But if you embrace it and have fun, it all works. It's good."
The UK staff said Tuesday brought some predictable bumps in the road for a player trying to readjust to the sport. They are taking it slow with Wagner despite his enormous potential.
"Wagner's been on and off, like some of our young guys," UK offensive coordinator Eddie Gran said Tuesday. "But the big body... It's fun to be able to throw it up there if you're a quarterback. Man, throw that thing up there to him and let him go make a play. We saw a couple of those to him early. Now as we've gone a little bit further, you get tired, you get locked up, we've got good DBs, so now he's got to fight and get back to technique."
The opportunity to play in the SEC against elite athletes was another factor that led Wagner to Kentucky. He admitted, however, that he was a little bit shocked when he first saw how big some of his new teammates were.
"I remember talking to coach about them on my visit," he said. "I saw Derrick (Baity) and Chris (Westry) and Lonnie (Johnson) going to work out, and I asked him, 'Who are those receivers?' because you just think the taller guys are the receivers and the DBs are smaller. He said, 'No, no. Those are corners.' I was like, 'Man!'
"One of the reasons why I chose to come here was I'm going to get challenged, not only by these guys out here but by the best defensive backs in the country in the SEC."
His natural strength and basketball experience have been an asset in some of those battles.
"Basketball kept my hands good," Wagner said. "Going up and getting rebounds, you gotta be strong with the ball.There's a lot of similarities in rebounding and catching footballs, the way you use your body and your hands."
Kentucky's new receivers coach likes how eager Wagner has been to learn.
"He's very, very humble. He's very, very hungry," Michael Smith said. "He's always in my office or in coach (Tommy) Mangino's office, everybody he can get in touch with to talk to and learn what we're doing, which is very, very positive for him."
