I hope this is a good sign for us. Article said he has dropped home town school. Interesting.
KSR reporting Spike Sowells of Male HS will not visit U of L after visiting UK
- Thread starter Uncle Adolph
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There's about as many UK fans in Louisville as UofL fans. Some kids in Louisville just grow up loving the Blue and White vs. the Devil's colors. There's people that seem to think every kid who plays ball in Louisville is pre-determined to be a UofL lean until shown otherwise. Hometown school or not, Louisville is part of Kentucky and Kentucky fans reside there. Same goes for Lexington and why it's difficult sometimes for UK to keep local kids home. Some kids just want to get away from home.
That's true everywhere. The state of Georgia, particularly metro Atlanta, is a melting pot. People from all over the country move there for jobs, they are alumni/fans/boosters of schools from all over the country. There are more AU and CU alumni in that area that GT alumni. Lots of Bama too. Combine that with like you said kids just wanting to get away from home and lots of kids leave the state. But to be fair we have benefited from the same for out of state kids.
UL wasn’t the competition here. It is NC State. Everything lately has point to UK but it could go either way
Sowells OVed UK on June 7. He is OVing Miami this weekend and NC St next weekend. The KY media (particularly KSR) is running with a narrative that Sowells was persuaded by his UK visit last weekend and will probably pick UK.
That is premature. For a long time, I have doubted Sowells will sign with UK. UL probably could have had Sowells, but they didn't push very hard because he is strictly a one-position prospect. Now he has a high-confidence crystal ball prediction for NC St. It comes from an "NC St insider" so some people are acting like it doesn't count. And maybe there is something to that. But most crystal ball picks for UK are posted by UK insiders, and a lot of them turn out to be right. So this is UK, Miami, and NC St. NC St gets the final visit. I am still inclined to doubt he ends up at UK. He is strictly a C. That isn't a position of need for Coach Wolf. We need more OTs. But Marrow's recruitment of Sowells began before Coach Wolf came back. Now it is between Marrow and Sowells. Stoops might push for Sowells' commitment if it is about strengthening the recruiting relationship with Male hs. At this particular point in history, I don't see that being a very strong priority. JMO.
JR says his sources say they were pushing hard for him. The article said they had Selm host him and he really clicked with the other OL. There is another article where his Dad said that the former position coach didn’t prioritize him the way they want but since Wolf has taken over he has made him a priority. I have no clue how they are recruiting him but he is committing next month so we will see.
JMO, but UK needs OTs. I think everyone understands that. You mentioned Selm. Selm got snaps at C in April. We have Keenum, who was recruited as Eli's successor, and Selm as future Cs.
Not that it matters, but I am not opposed to taking Sowells. Of course, you and I can see reasons for Stoops to take him. Stoops wants to control recruiting inside KY. Male hs is one of the stronger instate programs, and signing Sowells would provide optics of Stoops taking a highly rated Jefferson Co player right out from under Brohm's nose. Sowells has a good pedigree. His father played in the NFL. By all accounts, Sowells is a great young man and we know Coach Marrow likes him. Signing Sowells would allow Selm to move back to OG, and Selm has the frame for that job. So Stoops might see it that way.
But we don't know if the decision will be up to Stoops. Sowells is in Miami this weekend and Raleigh next weekend. With the crystal ball prediction, there is at least some indication that Sowells may have some level of mutual understanding with NC St. If we don't get him, then Stoops could use the scholarship on a position of need, and that wouldn't be the end of the world.
I don’t think taking Sowells affects them taking an OT. It seems they want 3 OT and 2 IOL. It could turn out different though if they don’t get what they need. They can always still use the portal
We have commitments from Strey and Kattus. Clearly Stoops wants Atkins, Auguste, Hedrick, Stargel, and Sowells because those guys have taken or are taking OVs to UK this month. Hedrick has committed to Ole Miss. That doesn't mean he can't flip, but we can assume he probably won't. So that leaves six other OL prospects with UK OVs this month. If we had 25 scholarships to offer in the class, I could possibly see Stoops taking six. But there may not be 25 scholarships to give, especially if Stoops plans to take inbound transfers (which we know he will). I think he will take 4-5 OL signings, probably 5.
So if you are right and Stoops wants two IOL prospects, Kattus is one of those. Stargel or Sowells could be the other, or Stoops and Wolf can invite other OL prospects to OV in the fall (which they likely will). At this point, there are no assurances that Sowells will pick UK, especially with NC St receiving his final OV next week.
Could he play other positions on the line or could he turn out to be the future starter at center. If he were to commit of course. How do you see his ceiling in the future? Looks like a lot there to work with.
I don't have any data to back this up, but I would suspect, much like in KY, the rural areas are more completely behind the state schools in that regard, as there is less population turnover, so multi-generational fanhood.
