The University of Kentucky Football team adds more experience to special teams with Jack Ray as assistant special teams coach. Head coach Mark Stoops announced Ray and former Wildcats Yusuf Corker and Jervontius “Bunchy” Stallings as graduate assistants on Tuesday afternoon. Corker will work with the defensive backs, while Stallings will work with the defensive line.
“We’re excited to have Jack Ray join our staff and assist Coach Boulware with special teams,” Stoops said. “He brings great energy, attention to detail, and a strong understanding of the game. Special teams are a critical part of what we do, and I’m confident he will make an immediate impact with our players and our program.
Ray comes to Lexington after serving as the co-special teams coordinator at Hawai’i for the past two seasons. Before that, he was a graduate assistant at Washington State, a special teams analyst at Nevada, and a student assistant at Arkansas Pine Bluff.
“Also, we are pleased to add Yusuf Corker and Bunchy Stallings to our coaching staff,” Stoops continued. “Both of them played for me and are eager to learn and contribute to the team. They are welcome additions to our program.”
While on staff at Nevada, Ray helped the Wolfpack to three bowl games in as many seasons and served as the team’s interim special teams coordinator for the Quick Lane Bowl at the end of 2021.
“Coaching at Kentucky and in the SEC means a lot to me,” Ray said. “Working with student-athletes at the highest level of college football has always been a goal. I’m also grateful to work alongside Coach Stoops and Coach Boulware—two of the best in the business.”
Ray, a native of Discovery Bay, California, was a two-year starter at long snapper for Arkansas Pine Bluff from 2017-18. Before that, he was a linebacker and long snapper at Sierra College in Rocklin, California, in 2016.
He is married to Jordyn Ray of Oakley, California.
Corker was a defensive back at Kentucky from 2018-21, helping the Cats to four straight bowl appearances. The two-time team captain played in 50 games with 37 straight starting assignments and totaled 240 career tackles, including 6.5 tackles for loss, 14 pass breakups, three interceptions, two quarterback hurries, two fumble recoveries, and a forced fumble.
As a senior in 2021, he recorded 81 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, one sack, and eight pass breakups, and was a semifinalist for the Lott IMPACT trophy.
In 2020, as a junior, Corker earned second-team All-SEC honors from Pro Football Focus and Phil Steele after charting 77 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, two interceptions, two pass breakups, and a forced fumble for the Wildcats.
He signed as an undrafted free agent by the New York Giants in April 2022 and also spent time with the Cincinnati Bengals before entering the coaching ranks.
Corker, originally of McDonough, Georgia, is married to Tarryn Todd-Long, and the couple has one daughter, Amirah, and a son, Yusuf. He will work on a master’s degree in economics.
Stallings lettered as a member of the Big Blue Wall from 2016-18. He played in 41 career games with 26 starting assignments and blocked for UK’s all-time leading rusher, Benny Snell Jr., the first player in school history to rush for 1,000 yards in three straight seasons.
Stallings earned First-Team All-America and First-Team All-SEC status as a senior after paving the way for Snell and the UK offense. He was named to the All-Bowl Team by ESPN after charting two knockdown blocks and 22 blocks at the point of attack, including a hole-clearing effort on Snell’s 12-yard touchdown run in the Citrus Bowl that also was the play that broke the UK career rushing record.
After UK, he signed as an undrafted free agent with the Jacksonville Jaguars, where he played for two seasons.
The McComb, Mississippi native is currently working on a master’s degree in sports, fitness, and recreational management from UK.
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