Mark Stoops’ staff is doing work in the transfer portal. Kentucky has now picked up 2 transfer commitments Saturday.

The latest pledge comes from former Northern Illinois LB Daveren Rayner. He shared the big news on his Twitter account.

Rayner heads to Lexington after 3 seasons at NIU. With the NCAA’s COVID-19 waiver for 2020, Rayner has 2 full seasons of remaining eligibility. He also has an available redshirt if he is limited to 4 games or fewer in a season.

In his career, Rayner has played in 20 games, recording 126 total tackles, including 8.5 for loss and 5.5 sacks, with 3 pass breakups. Rayner is coming off the most productive season of his career. In 2022, he posted career-highs of 71 tackles, 5.5 TFL and 3.5 sacks in just 8 games.

Rayner entered the NCAA transfer portal on April 27. He quickly drew interest from Georgia Tech, Oklahoma State, Florida State, Ole Miss, Texas Tech, Cincinnati and others. Kentucky was the most recent offer on May 1.

Rayner is the second former NIU player to land at UK via the portal following LT Marques Cox. Earlier Saturday, former West Virginia OL Dylan Ray pledged to continue his career with the Wildcats.