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8 commitments in…1.86 average star ranking

How time flys!

This is the fifth season that the portal has affected college football. We brought in Levis, Rosenthal and at least two other starters for the ‘21 season, the first with the portal.
I had to look up the years. The portal was introduced in 2018. The one time free transfer rule was in ‘21. Then the anytime transfer rule didn’t happen until 2024.
 
Do I think Stoops should be gone, yes. That being said, I am not going after data to show why. Like I say, I hope this team goes 10=2 11-1 something like that but expect them to be 2-10 or so. I hope they prove me wrong each and every week.

I just will not watch live this year probably. I might catch one game here or there. But will schedule outings and such during football season and watch the highlights. Main reason is the oh so boring offense he continues to pump out each year over the past 3 or 4 years. Cannot stand the style. Got to be one of the worst styles to watch in College football.

Defense is OK but not awesome.
 
It is my understanding that none of the eight (8) 2026 commitments are from Kentucky or Ohio. Hopefully, this will change going forward …
 
It is my understanding that none of the eight (8) 2026 commitments are from Kentucky or Ohio. Hopefully, this will change going forward …
The qb out of Cincy may be the only Ohio recuut they’re after. They’re only a couple recruits in KY they are interested in. I doubt they have a commit from Ky this year. It is a down year in state. Next year Ky had several P4 type recruits
 
Jordan Crutchfield - outstanding prospect. Strong tackler. A killer in space. Superior size, excellent athleticism, surprisingly fast. Product of an area where hs football competition is excellent. Holds at least 6 SEC offers including FL and defensively-minded TX A&M. ESPN rates him as an "80" prospect.

I've seen Crutchfield play probably 6-7 times since his freshman season and will probably see him 2-3 times this year, including in the opening Kickoff Classic game against Miami Norland. He's a good athlete who doesn't mind contact and plays with focus. In an interview with the local paper after their spring game, he said he was 6'2 206 and has moved to safety. He announced he is transferring up to Vero Beach, which is the "hot spot" now for transfers on the Treasure Coast and Palm Beaches. They are loaded this year, with two UCLA commits, a UK commit, a Free Shoes U® commit, and a sophomore QB who has offers from everyone.
 
It is my understanding that none of the eight (8) 2026 commitments are from Kentucky or Ohio. Hopefully, this will change going forward …
Stoops goes after the best available prospects from throughout UK's growing recruiting footprint. We already have two commitments from TX. As BereaCat says, this is a weak class inside KY.
 
Stoops goes after the best available prospects from throughout UK's growing recruiting footprint. We already have two commitments from TX. As BereaCat says, this is a weak class inside KY.
 
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I’m no analyst but UK recruited Strickland. The only others that may have had committable offers were iirc Busch and Hope. They didn’t really push for hard for those guys though. Hope was supposed to OV not sure if that happened but he has since decommitted from UL and committed to Purdue. There are 4-5 decent players in KY this year but stoops and company went after who they wanted
 
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It is my understanding that none of the eight (8) 2026 commitments are from Kentucky or Ohio. Hopefully, this will change going forward …

Why is it important to have players from Kentucky and Ohio? Kentucky's has one player in the top 250 and he is in the 200's. To get where UK wants to be recruiting has to be better than that. If you want to be a top team every kid in your class has to be a kid everyone of the top teams are after. Your ex recruiting coordinator was always patting him self on the back with his recruiting when in fact he would win 1, maybe 2 recruiting battles a year. Doesn't matter who the coach is when you are at a big talent disadvantage.

CMS played the only game he could play and give himself a chance to win by shortening the game, running the ball, taking care of the ball, running game clock down between plays and playing defense. Fans didn't like winning that way so he tried to get away from that with a more modern approach and here you are.

But the bright side is, instead of that 37m buyout, buy CMR some talent.
 
Why is it important to have players from Kentucky and Ohio? Kentucky's has one player in the top 250 and he is in the 200's. To get where UK wants to be recruiting has to be better than that. If you want to be a top team every kid in your class has to be a kid everyone of the top teams are after. Your ex recruiting coordinator was always patting him self on the back with his recruiting when in fact he would win 1, maybe 2 recruiting battles a year. Doesn't matter who the coach is when you are at a big talent disadvantage.

CMS played the only game he could play and give himself a chance to win by shortening the game, running the ball, taking care of the ball, running game clock down between plays and playing defense. Fans didn't like winning that way so he tried to get away from that with a more modern approach and here you are.

But the bright side is, instead of that 37m buyout, buy CMR some talent.

I agree that P4 recruiting is now regional and to a some degree national for most teams. There are a lot of reasons that "playing for state U" has almost become insignificant. The information age resulted in recruiting being more sophisticated for both players and coaches, but now the extra layer of pay for play has been added in. Players choose programs where the style of play and coaching matches their skill set, and where there is an opportunity for early PT, add to that the size of the NIL deal, and you can see why where the program exists is of minor importance. The idea that your state doesn't produce a lot of high ranked players is no longer the kind of disadvantage it once was.

Stoops tried to modernize the offense into something more balanced in order to compete at a higher level. A balanced offense will always have a strategic advantage over a team heavy with the run or the pass. So far he has not had a lot of success with that since 2021 - changing OCs constantly the loss of a key O-line coach etc. but not due to a lack of talent. If UK had a talent issue last year they would not have been able to play Georgia to a virtual tie and then beat Ole MIss ont he road. Recruiting classes have been the top 25 and soime portal classes have reached top 10. The root cause of Kentucky's downfall last couple of seasons was internal conflict and program management.
 
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I don't think we should be recruiting Ohio guys just for the sake of recruiting Ohio guys. If there is someone there we want that can really bring something to the team, then sure. Go after them with a vengeance. But if we can get similar guys from out of places like Georgia, Florida and Texas, I'm not going to complain. In most cases, I think the kids from down south are overall superior football players.
 
I don't think we should be recruiting Ohio guys just for the sake of recruiting Ohio guys. If there is someone there we want that can really bring something to the team, then sure. Go after them with a vengeance. But if we can get similar guys from out of places like Georgia, Florida and Texas, I'm not going to complain. In most cases, I think the kids from down south are overall superior football players.
I think they were able to do well in Ohio for years due to the fact that Kentucky afforded Ohio kids the SEC within a short driving distance, so with Stoops/Marrow connections there they were able to have a lot of success. But times have changed now, the B1G is more on par with the SEC and pay-for-play is now a much more important factor then geography.
 
I think they were able to do well in Ohio for years due to the fact that Kentucky afforded Ohio kids the SEC within a short driving distance, so with Stoops/Marrow connections there they were able to have a lot of success. But times have changed now, the B1G is more on par with the SEC and pay-for-play is now a much more important factor then geography.


The driving distance to Lexington from most parts of OH is about the same as TN, AL, IN, IL, and eastern MO. The reasons UK hasn't drawn as many prospects out of OH recently are more recruiting traction recently at OH St and ND, less recruiting effectiveness inside OH from VM, a couple of weaker instate OH classes that didn't attract as much interest from Stoops, and delegation of UK's recruiting resources into new states such as MO, IL, IN, PA and TX as UK's recruiting budget has increased. UK's recruiting footprint has grown. As Coach Collins' and Coach Stewart's recruiting influence has increased, UK has been able to draw more high upside prospects out of GA. There are only so many scholarships to go around.
 
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While a players star ranking doesn’t matter to an extent, there is a clear correlation between recruiting rankings and success in the field in college football. Are there exceptions here and there? Sure. But take a look at teams that are consistently ranked in the top 25 in recruiting and take a look at the teams that are consistently ranked in the polls. Recruiting rankings matter.
Take a deep breath. We are just behind Ole Miss and UTn and ahead of USCjr and Mizzou, all of whom have outperformed us immensely in recent seasons. The sky is not falling yet, despite what some will have you believe. https://247sports.com/Season/2026-Football/CompositeTeamRankings/
 
Yes, Vince Marrow and Mark Stoops has signed top 30 classes. I remember one June/July they had the top ranked class. But Marrow isn't here anymore. With so little in state talent that could help improve it. I've not seen it start this poorly, with these headwinds.

Oregon at 26 and Alabama at 44? How is that relatable to Kentucky at now 83. I could see those schools climbing to Top 15, yes. They are in on very top ranked players who win football games. We are on one.

Do I give Stoops credit for transfer portal? No, not the one we're going in to this season with. When we've had portal success on the field, it's been with players who were supposed to be good. I can't think of many surprises. Well, we got one great player from Arkansas. And the rest are some guys who did ok in the MAC and MWC.
UK has the #8/#10 portal ranking this year.

https://247sports.com/season/2025-football/transferteamrankings/
 
We just got our 8th. We were at 2.14 average star ranking after 7 on Rivals. The 8th also has no stars at the moment, so that will drop us to 1.86 on Rivals.
Zero stars does not mean worse than 3 stars. It means no evaluation by their analysts as of yet. This just means that haven’t been to the camps that Rivals has attended. I usually check 247 and On3, then maybe ESPN too. This often happens to players who play multiple sports, who don’t have the time/money or energy to hit the camp circuit.
 
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UK has the #8/#10 portal ranking this year.

https://247sports.com/season/2025-football/transferteamrankings/
Well, woopity shyts. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone gets in the transfer portal. We have the 8th best collection of players who couldn't start at other schools. I'm supposed to be excited we're replacing Key and Brown with a couple backups who have less than 250 yards receiving? And those are some of our best additions. Braun and Wolschlaeger will be improvements.
 
I, for one, am pleasantly surprised by the recent commitments. My original thought were that these were already in the works before Marrow left, but, now, I'm not so sure. The last 2 or 3 are pretty strong recruits, imo, and according to ratings and offer sheets. I'm starting to think that ole Vince was mailing it in the past few years as it doesn't seem like our HS recruiting has missed a beat since he left.

Obviously, we have to get them on campus, in the S&C program, wait a year or two to really determine what we've got. But, at least we see commits come on board, many with multiple P4 offers. I'm not waiving the white flag just yet.
 
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