< PreviousPLAYER DEVELOPMENT Kentucky football introduced #4for40 in 2018, an initiative which guides players during their four years on campus, and their 40 years after. UK also instilled programs to help prepare players for changes in life and to better connect with every player while at the same time bringing former players back who can offer career advice.COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT Many Kentucky players choose to take part in serving the community in a variety of projects, including mentoring, hospital visits, speaking engagements and food drives. In 2019, along with other UK engineering students and a team of Toyota Manufacturing engineers, senior offensive guard Luke Fortner worked for months to help design, test and manufacture a specially-built push cart vehicle through a project called “Lift Them Up.” The push cart vehicle provides a Kentucky Children’s Hospital patient the chance to both accompany the Wildcats on the Cat Walk and attend a game at Kroger Field. PERFORMANCE Every college football program puts a premium on developing student-athletes, but the Performance program is unique to Kentucky. From strength and conditioning, led by director of performance Corey Edmond and director of performance/head strength coach Mark Hill, to nutrition led by registered dietitian Monica Fowler, to the latest in athlete-tracking technology spearheaded by director of applied science Chris Morris, the Performance program brings all aspects of performance under one umbrella.KENTUCKY • A record 31,057 students enrolled in Fall 2020 • Record retention and graduation rates and bold goals for continued growth in our strategic plan • More than 7,000 degrees awarded in the last academic year • Diverse, inclusive campus community with students from all 120 Kentucky counties, all 50 states, and more than 100 countries • Top public institution for students who are National Merit, National Achievement, and National Hispanic Finalists • More than $2.7 billion in campus transformation, much of it financed in collaboration with private and public partners, focused on student living and learning communities, modern research laboratories, innovative teaching and learning space, and one of the fastest growing academic medical centers in the country • More than $6.2 billion spent with Kentucky companies since 2011 • $65 million provided by UK Athletics toward the construction of the Jacobs Science Building • One of eight institutions in the country with the full range of undergraduate, professional, health care, and medical colleges and programs on a contiguous campus • One of 20 institutions in the country with the trifecta of research designations for excellence in cancer, aging, and translational science • $429.2 million in external grants and contracts supporting UK research • Nearly 100 national rankings for excellence in teaching, Research, and service • UK HealthCare and UK Chandler Medical Center is one of the nation’s finest academic medical centers with its state-of-the-art patient care facility and emergency rooms, advanced research space, and network of affiliate health care agencies to serve the Commonwealth and region THE UNIVERSITY OFWILDCAT FAMILY “The bond here (at Kentucky) is deeper than football. We proved so many people wrong.” — Benny Snell Jr., Pittsburgh Steelers and UK Class of 2018Mike Edwards Safety, Tampa Bay Buccaneers UK Class of 2018 Josh Allen, National Defensive Player of the Year, on his transformation from 210 pounds to 260 pounds … “I can’t thank the university enough; I can’t thank my teammates enough. I had to gain [weight] – I couldn’t stay that weight my whole four years, so I thank the coaching staff and the training staff and the work they put in to mold the body type that I have today.” PLAYER DEVELOPMENTNext >