Kentucky Football Star Gets Big Win in Bowl Game

Owensboro has a reason to be proud heading into 2024. A local high student-athlete who makes it big at the next level, in this case, D-I college football is a rarity. Imagine if this student-athlete decided to forgo his senior year of high school to sign with a nationally-recognized university. Gavin Wimsatt did just that, and this week, he proved it on one of the biggest stages in college football, the bowl game.

To review, Wimsatt was named the starting quarterback at Owensboro High School in his sophomore year where he threw for 2,792 yards, threw 31 touchdowns, and he would rush for 564 yards and scored 12 times on his own. He also led the Red Devils to the state semifinals with a record of 12-2. In his junior year, Wimsatt took his team back to the state championship with a nearly undefeated record, 12-1, and this time around, he would be named to the all-state first team.

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Although he announced we would leave Owensboro before his senior year, he started three games for the Red Devils in the fall of 2021. Rutgers University in New Jersey would be Wimsatt's next stop, where he became immediately eligible to play. Rutgers is currently in the Big Ten conference, which is where you know the names, Michigan, Ohio State, Purdue, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Wimsatt played in a few games that first season, and he made an appearance in the Scarlet Knights' bowl game against Wake Forest. He made more starts in his sophomore season, amassing 757 passing yards with five passing touchdowns.

This past season, Wimsatt was named Rutgers' starting quarterback and he improved to over 1,000 passing yards, threw 9 passing touchdowns, and rushed for 11 trips into the endzone. Even though conference play for the Scarlet Knights was rough, again, Big Ten, they finished the regular season with a 6-6 record and they earned a bowl game, where they would take on the once national powerhouse Miami Hurricanes in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl which was played at Yankee Stadium this past Thursday.

Here are the highlights:

Yes, every one of the Scarlet Knights' points were either rushing, field goals, or one blocked punt close to the endzone. Wimsatt would push into the endzone for two touchdowns. His teammate Kyle Monagai was named the game MVP for his impressive rushing performance of 163 yards, and he rushed for one touchdown.

Wimsatt announced just before the PInstripe Bowl whether he planned to stay at Rutgers for his senior year, and lucky for them, he's not going anywhere.