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Recruits comitted to UK

Although our class ranking of #19 is unlikely to hold due to other teams filling their rosters with recruits, this has the looks of another top 30 recruiting class overall and possibly even a slight improvement over last years #26 overall rated class.

The staff just needs to keep on convincing all of this 5.7 and higher talent that UK is going places and they need to get on board right away!

As I have said before, I NEVER thought this level of recruiting was possible at UK with such a huge disadvantage in state, but this staff has got hings figured out by identifying stars before anyone else and convincing all other talent in Ohio waiting on that elusive OSU offer to come see what a SEC school has to offer only a few hours down the road.

With OSU continuing to focus on recruiting nationally, we will continue to clean up on Ohio recruits that realize while waiting for an OSU offer, Kentucky is improving at a rapid rate and gives them the chance to play in the SEC despite being close enough for their family to come watch them play.

It seems like UK signs about 5 players a year who are waiting on that OSU offer. Sometimes, they remain committed to UK despite receiving that much anticipated OSU offer in late January after OSU misses out on a few targets and decides that players who were not worthy of an early offer suddenly are, at the last minute after showing nearly zero interest. After being told by our staff how much PT to expect and showing how much we continue to improve, often times they have told OSU "no thanks" and prefer to be one of our top recruits with a bright future than an afterthought for OSU where they will be lucky to see the field in 3 years.

Things are working brilliantly for the staff. Despite the success in Ohio, they have signed two of the top players in MI, continue to sign players from GA, and manage to find gems in FL that are being over looked by the big in state programs. In addition, it seems the DelMarVa are is slowly being opened up by the staff. Signing and being able to hold on to a player like Joshua Paschal who was being courted BIG TIME by Penn State to come there instead, shows a great sign that future recruiting in that area will bear fruit.

Ohio, Michigan, Georgia, Florida, and the DelMarVa area. Making up for the fact that Kentucky produces so few SEC caliber players on a nearly yearly basis. I didn't think UK was capable of a top 25 class every year, but this staff continues to prove me wrong and show all the other who thought the same as me over the years that a lack of in state talent is no excuse for not signing a top class capable of competing with any team out there.

South Carolina and Missouri both have won the SEC East with worst recruiting that UK currently is showing. All it takes is ending the FL streak and beating a down TN team this year while taking care of business against the rest of the East to have a great shot at competing for winning the East this year with Georgia. Ole Miss, Miss St, and Southern Miss are important games too. We have to own the state of Mississippi this year. UL at home will be a tough game as always, but is winnable. I believe the games against FL, TN, Ole Miss, Georgia, and Miss St will decide the fate of this years team. If they can win 3 of those 5? The sky is the limit. 2/5? UK still probably has their most successful year of my lifetime.

I'm not sure how to rate those 5 games...
I guess I will go with, in order of least likely to best chance:

1. @ Georgia
2. Vs. FL
3. Vs. TN
4. Vs. Ole Miss
5. @ Miss St.

With Louisville being at home and what we accomplished last year, I think these 5 games will make or break our season. If we win 2 and take care of business in the rest of the games, a 9-3 regular season is a possibility. What a great year that would be!
 
Although our class ranking of #19 is unlikely to hold due to other teams filling their rosters with recruits, this has the looks of another top 30 recruiting class overall and possibly even a slight improvement over last years #26 overall rated class.

The staff just needs to keep on convincing all of this 5.7 and higher talent that UK is going places and they need to get on board right away!

As I have said before, I NEVER thought this level of recruiting was possible at UK with such a huge disadvantage in state, but this staff has got hings figured out by identifying stars before anyone else and convincing all other talent in Ohio waiting on that elusive OSU offer to come see what a SEC school has to offer only a few hours down the road.

With OSU continuing to focus on recruiting nationally, we will continue to clean up on Ohio recruits that realize while waiting for an OSU offer, Kentucky is improving at a rapid rate and gives them the chance to play in the SEC despite being close enough for their family to come watch them play.

It seems like UK signs about 5 players a year who are waiting on that OSU offer. Sometimes, they remain committed to UK despite receiving that much anticipated OSU offer in late January after OSU misses out on a few targets and decides that players who were not worthy of an early offer suddenly are, at the last minute after showing nearly zero interest. After being told by our staff how much PT to expect and showing how much we continue to improve, often times they have told OSU "no thanks" and prefer to be one of our top recruits with a bright future than an afterthought for OSU where they will be lucky to see the field in 3 years.

Things are working brilliantly for the staff. Despite the success in Ohio, they have signed two of the top players in MI, continue to sign players from GA, and manage to find gems in FL that are being over looked by the big in state programs. In addition, it seems the DelMarVa are is slowly being opened up by the staff. Signing and being able to hold on to a player like Joshua Paschal who was being courted BIG TIME by Penn State to come there instead, shows a great sign that future recruiting in that area will bear fruit.

Ohio, Michigan, Georgia, Florida, and the DelMarVa area. Making up for the fact that Kentucky produces so few SEC caliber players on a nearly yearly basis. I didn't think UK was capable of a top 25 class every year, but this staff continues to prove me wrong and show all the other who thought the same as me over the years that a lack of in state talent is no excuse for not signing a top class capable of competing with any team out there.

South Carolina and Missouri both have won the SEC East with worst recruiting that UK currently is showing. All it takes is ending the FL streak and beating a down TN team this year while taking care of business against the rest of the East to have a great shot at competing for winning the East this year with Georgia. Ole Miss, Miss St, and Southern Miss are important games too. We have to own the state of Mississippi this year. UL at home will be a tough game as always, but is winnable. I believe the games against FL, TN, Ole Miss, Georgia, and Miss St will decide the fate of this years team. If they can win 3 of those 5? The sky is the limit. 2/5? UK still probably has their most successful year of my lifetime.

I'm not sure how to rate those 5 games...
I guess I will go with, in order of least likely to best chance:

1. @ Georgia
2. Vs. FL
3. Vs. TN
4. Vs. Ole Miss
5. @ Miss St.

With Louisville being at home and what we accomplished last year, I think these 5 games will make or break our season. If we win 2 and take care of business in the rest of the games, a 9-3 regular season is a possibility. What a great year that would be!


Very good post.

I expect a lot of very competitive games this year, if we improve as much as I expect us to we should win most of them.
 
Even though I know many think the defense holds the key to our success, I'm thinking it's the QB position and punting. Plus if we get a real returner in the kicking game it would be great.
 
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UK beating UF and UT in the same year would be beyond Great for the UK program.
It might happened this coming year. Both games are at home this year.

The UF game is 4 games into the season (Sat, Sep 23 vs Florida)
and the UT game not at the end of the season might help.
Sat, Oct 28 vs Tennessee
 
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Win 10 games, beat Gators and Vols, take East title... all after that would be gravy. It would mark the pivot point for the program. This year? Well, wait and see on that.
 
UK beating UF and UT in the same year would be beyond Great for the UK program.

For many seasons, having the "likely losses" of Florida and Tennessee on the road, and "winnable" games against Vandy and Miss. State at home, helped us get to bowl eligibility.

It makes sense that for a real BREAKTHROUGH season, having UF and UT at home might be the key . . . . as we expect that Miss. State and Vandy are more beatable at their place, most seasons.
 
For many seasons, having the "likely losses" of Florida and Tennessee on the road, and "winnable" games against Vandy and Miss. State at home, helped us get to bowl eligibility.

It makes sense that for a real BREAKTHROUGH season, having UF and UT at home might be the key . . . . as we expect that Miss. State and Vandy are more beatable at their place, most seasons.

Feast or famine?

Having the tougher games at home improve our chances of having a great season, with winnable games on the road. However if we lose those home games to excellent programs we could lose a couple of the road games and the famine continues.

I think we improve enough that the feast is more likely.
 
For many seasons, having the "likely losses" of Florida and Tennessee on the road, and "winnable" games against Vandy and Miss. State at home, helped us get to bowl eligibility.

It makes sense that for a real BREAKTHROUGH season, having UF and UT at home might be the key . . . . as we expect that Miss. State and Vandy are more beatable at their place, most seasons.

Guess I'm crazy but I think the possibility exists that UK could beat some combination UF, UT and Ole Miss at home and lose to some combination of SCAR, Vandy and Miss St on the road. College football is just that unpredictable.
 
Exactamundo, my friend. I've always dreamed that we would get the talent, depth and coaching necessary to take advantage of a schedule similar to this one.

Hey, we could pitch a 5-7, if the breaks go the other way, but a 9 or 10 win season is a possibility, if the breaks go our way.
 
Feast or famine?

Having the tougher games at home improve our chances of having a great season, with winnable games on the road. However if we lose those home games to excellent programs we could lose a couple of the road games and the famine continues.

I think we improve enough that the feast is more likely.
Or at least we hope so.
 
Although our class ranking of #19 is unlikely to hold due to other teams filling their rosters with recruits, this has the looks of another top 30 recruiting class overall and possibly even a slight improvement over last years #26 overall rated class.

The staff just needs to keep on convincing all of this 5.7 and higher talent that UK is going places and they need to get on board right away!

As I have said before, I NEVER thought this level of recruiting was possible at UK with such a huge disadvantage in state, but this staff has got hings figured out by identifying stars before anyone else and convincing all other talent in Ohio waiting on that elusive OSU offer to come see what a SEC school has to offer only a few hours down the road.

With OSU continuing to focus on recruiting nationally, we will continue to clean up on Ohio recruits that realize while waiting for an OSU offer, Kentucky is improving at a rapid rate and gives them the chance to play in the SEC despite being close enough for their family to come watch them play.

It seems like UK signs about 5 players a year who are waiting on that OSU offer. Sometimes, they remain committed to UK despite receiving that much anticipated OSU offer in late January after OSU misses out on a few targets and decides that players who were not worthy of an early offer suddenly are, at the last minute after showing nearly zero interest. After being told by our staff how much PT to expect and showing how much we continue to improve, often times they have told OSU "no thanks" and prefer to be one of our top recruits with a bright future than an afterthought for OSU where they will be lucky to see the field in 3 years.

Things are working brilliantly for the staff. Despite the success in Ohio, they have signed two of the top players in MI, continue to sign players from GA, and manage to find gems in FL that are being over looked by the big in state programs. In addition, it seems the DelMarVa are is slowly being opened up by the staff. Signing and being able to hold on to a player like Joshua Paschal who was being courted BIG TIME by Penn State to come there instead, shows a great sign that future recruiting in that area will bear fruit.

Ohio, Michigan, Georgia, Florida, and the DelMarVa area. Making up for the fact that Kentucky produces so few SEC caliber players on a nearly yearly basis. I didn't think UK was capable of a top 25 class every year, but this staff continues to prove me wrong and show all the other who thought the same as me over the years that a lack of in state talent is no excuse for not signing a top class capable of competing with any team out there.

South Carolina and Missouri both have won the SEC East with worst recruiting that UK currently is showing. All it takes is ending the FL streak and beating a down TN team this year while taking care of business against the rest of the East to have a great shot at competing for winning the East this year with Georgia. Ole Miss, Miss St, and Southern Miss are important games too. We have to own the state of Mississippi this year. UL at home will be a tough game as always, but is winnable. I believe the games against FL, TN, Ole Miss, Georgia, and Miss St will decide the fate of this years team. If they can win 3 of those 5? The sky is the limit. 2/5? UK still probably has their most successful year of my lifetime.

I'm not sure how to rate those 5 games...
I guess I will go with, in order of least likely to best chance:

1. @ Georgia
2. Vs. FL
3. Vs. TN
4. Vs. Ole Miss
5. @ Miss St.

With Louisville being at home and what we accomplished last year, I think these 5 games will make or break our season. If we win 2 and take care of business in the rest of the games, a 9-3 regular season is a possibility. What a great year that would be!
Not inconceivable UK knocks off FL, UT and UL this year. Yes, all three!
 
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Exactamundo, my friend. I've always dreamed that we would get the talent, depth and coaching necessary to take advantage of a schedule similar to this one.

Hey, we could pitch a 5-7, if the breaks go the other way, but a 9 or 10 win season is a possibility, if the breaks go our way.

Exactly right. But I think a lot of outsiders don't realize how much improved our talent is AND with more experience. I think we have a lot of close games but win more than our share.
 
Although our class ranking of #19 is unlikely to hold due to other teams filling their rosters with recruits, this has the looks of another top 30 recruiting class overall and possibly even a slight improvement over last years #26 overall rated class.

The staff just needs to keep on convincing all of this 5.7 and higher talent that UK is going places and they need to get on board right away!

As I have said before, I NEVER thought this level of recruiting was possible at UK with such a huge disadvantage in state, but this staff has got hings figured out by identifying stars before anyone else and convincing all other talent in Ohio waiting on that elusive OSU offer to come see what a SEC school has to offer only a few hours down the road.

With OSU continuing to focus on recruiting nationally, we will continue to clean up on Ohio recruits that realize while waiting for an OSU offer, Kentucky is improving at a rapid rate and gives them the chance to play in the SEC despite being close enough for their family to come watch them play.

It seems like UK signs about 5 players a year who are waiting on that OSU offer. Sometimes, they remain committed to UK despite receiving that much anticipated OSU offer in late January after OSU misses out on a few targets and decides that players who were not worthy of an early offer suddenly are, at the last minute after showing nearly zero interest. After being told by our staff how much PT to expect and showing how much we continue to improve, often times they have told OSU "no thanks" and prefer to be one of our top recruits with a bright future than an afterthought for OSU where they will be lucky to see the field in 3 years.

Things are working brilliantly for the staff. Despite the success in Ohio, they have signed two of the top players in MI, continue to sign players from GA, and manage to find gems in FL that are being over looked by the big in state programs. In addition, it seems the DelMarVa are is slowly being opened up by the staff. Signing and being able to hold on to a player like Joshua Paschal who was being courted BIG TIME by Penn State to come there instead, shows a great sign that future recruiting in that area will bear fruit.

Ohio, Michigan, Georgia, Florida, and the DelMarVa area. Making up for the fact that Kentucky produces so few SEC caliber players on a nearly yearly basis. I didn't think UK was capable of a top 25 class every year, but this staff continues to prove me wrong and show all the other who thought the same as me over the years that a lack of in state talent is no excuse for not signing a top class capable of competing with any team out there.

South Carolina and Missouri both have won the SEC East with worst recruiting that UK currently is showing. All it takes is ending the FL streak and beating a down TN team this year while taking care of business against the rest of the East to have a great shot at competing for winning the East this year with Georgia. Ole Miss, Miss St, and Southern Miss are important games too. We have to own the state of Mississippi this year. UL at home will be a tough game as always, but is winnable. I believe the games against FL, TN, Ole Miss, Georgia, and Miss St will decide the fate of this years team. If they can win 3 of those 5? The sky is the limit. 2/5? UK still probably has their most successful year of my lifetime.

I'm not sure how to rate those 5 games...

I guess I will go with, in order of least likely to best chance:

1. @ Georgia
2. Vs. FL
3. Vs. TN
4. Vs. Ole Miss
5. @ Miss St.

With Louisville being at home and what we accomplished last year, I think these 5 games will make or break our season. If we win 2 and take care of business in the rest of the games, a 9-3 regular season is a possibility. What a great year that would be!


USC actually recruited fairly well until the last couple of years SOS was there.the 4 years preceding their East championship their classes were ranked 24, 6, 22 and 12, a 4 year average of about 15th. Their fall was when the rumor SOS was only going to be there a couple more years, recruiting really took a tumble with that, combined with a class that had something like 8 not qualify. That was 2012, maybe 13.
 
I think we win 8 games, if, the injury bug, is nice to us. We have the talent to compete with all teams on our schedule.
 
Looked at the team rankings and was a bit surprised at Vandy. They have 3 four stars committed also and the rest 3 star. Their average star is 3.2 which is slightly higher than our 3.15. Looks like Mason is turning out to be more than just a defensive guru. The 'Dors recruiting well is just one more headache for us.

Our class looks really solid, a couple of guys I think may get a bump before it's over. I think we wind up in the 3.2 range and a top 25 ranking again, but with a little luck we may do a bit better.
 
I didn't realize that SOS reached such a high level recruiting at USC for a few years there. I thought most classes were in the 22ish type range instead. Thanks for the correction, grumpy!

Missouri won the East in 2013 and 2014 with the previously ranked classes:
2014 - 34
2013 - 41
2012 - 31
2011 - 48
2010 - 21
2009 - 40
2008 - 25

Without a single top 20 class in the 5 years leading up to their first SEC East title. Goes to show you that recruiting class rankings fail to tell the whole story of how much success a team will have. Turnover Margins, Academic Losses, Injuries, and a staff that can recognize talent and coach them up can make up for lower ranked classes in any season.

UK has more talent than Missouri did in either of their years when they won the East. I still maintain that having consistent top 20 classes is the key to sustained success, but as Missouri has shown, having classes ranked in the 30's on average is enough to win the East once or twice when everything seems to go your way.

For reference, here are UK's last 6 class rankings coming into 2017:
2017 - 26
2016 - 28
2015 - 35
2014 - 17
2013 - 29 (HELLO COACH STOOPS!)
2012 - 62 (GOODBYE JOKER!)

I cannot believe that CMS is bringing in a level of talent that Joker only could dream of. From #62 to #29 in his first year? I'm sure that the list of coaches that could turn around a team's recruiting that fast is an extremely small one! Under CMS, UK is averaging the 27th ranked class in his first 5 years. As our success grows, so will our recruiting. Even still, Having the 27th ranked class is enough talent to compete with just about any other team on the field and even get the win when things go your way, like against UL last year.
 
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I didn't realize that SOS reached such a high level recruiting at USC for a few years there. I thought most classes were in the 22ish type range instead. Thanks for the correction, grumpy!

Missouri won the East in 2013 and 2014 with the previously ranked classes:
2014 - 34
2013 - 41
2012 - 31
2011 - 48
2010 - 21
2009 - 40
2008 - 25

Without a single top 20 class in the 5 years leading up to their first SEC East title. Goes to show you that recruiting class rankings fail to tell the whole story of how much success a team will have. Turnover Margins, Academic Losses, Injuries, and a staff that can recognize talent and coach them up can make up for lower ranked classes in any season.

UK has more talent than Missouri did in either of their years when they won the East. I still maintain that having consistent top 20 classes is the key to sustained success, but as Missouri has shown, having classes ranked in the 30's on average is enough to win the East once or twice when everything seems to go your way.

For reference, here are UK's last 6 class rankings coming into 2017:
2017 - 26
2016 - 28
2015 - 35
2014 - 17
2013 - 29 (HELLO COACH STOOPS!)
2012 - 62 (GOODBYE JOKER!)

I cannot believe that CMS is bringing in a level of talent that Joker only could dream of. From #62 to #29 in his first year? I'm sure that the list of coaches that could turn around a team's recruiting that fast is an extremely small one! Under CMS, UK is averaging the 27th ranked class in his first 5 years. As our success grows, so will our recruiting. Even still, Having the 27th ranked class is enough talent to compete with just about any other team on the field and even get the win when things go your way, like against UL last year.

Excellent observations. The recruiting rankings are a good place to get a ball park estimate of incoming talent but as you point out a lot can change the relative value of those classes down the road. Mizzou had some difference makers on their team like Green-Beckman at receiver and James Franklin at QB, and DE Ealy.

Here's another thing to consider. A class ranking comes from the aggregate numerical value of the top 20 guys. But that's assuming all positions are of equal value. Obviously a 4 star difference making quarterback is much more likely to dramatically increase the value of a class then a 4 star offensive lineman. Not discounting the importance of lineman but that position group consists of 5 players wheres the QB is only one. That's not just restricted to QB. Having a receiver like say a Julio Jones or a running back like a Todd Gurley for instance can change the entire complexion of a team and result in 2+ more wins a season then they would otherwise get, but they only count for 5% of the class ranking. Currently at UK, you can point to Benny Snell as being in the "difference maker" category IMO, yet he not only counted as 5% of his class but a lowly 5.5 star at that. Think about it, arguable one of the best RBs in the SEC as a freshmen yet he was .1 point away from being a 2 star.
 
Looked at the team rankings and was a bit surprised at Vandy. They have 3 four stars committed also and the rest 3 star. Their average star is 3.2 which is slightly higher than our 3.15. Looks like Mason is turning out to be more than just a defensive guru. The 'Dors recruiting well is just one more headache for us.

Our class looks really solid, a couple of guys I think may get a bump before it's over. I think we wind up in the 3.2 range and a top 25 ranking again, but with a little luck we may do a bit better.


They are very close to us, our team higher ranking is because we have three more commits than them..Using the more precise numerical ratings by Rivals our class average for 13 commits is 5.54 while theirs is 5.60, but I commonly don't include the kicker, rarely rated above a 5.4 which Poore is, although a very important factor, see last year. If you don't include Poore we average a 5.75.

But I don't think any of us want to get rid of Bentley or Williams because they are "only" 5,5s, and neither will probably figure in our final ranking because Rivals only counts the highest 20 commits and I think we will have a full class without many more two stars..

Ooops, just noticed their one 5.4 is a kicker also (with only one other 5.5) so if I omit their kicker from their ratings their average for the other nine commits climbs to a 5.689, again higher than ours but very close. lol
 
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Excellent observations. The recruiting rankings are a good place to get a ball park estimate of incoming talent but as you point out a lot can change the relative value of those classes down the road. Mizzou had some difference makers on their team like Green-Beckman at receiver and James Franklin at QB, and DE Ealy.

Here's another thing to consider. A class ranking comes from the aggregate numerical value of the top 20 guys. But that's assuming all positions are of equal value. Obviously a 4 star difference making quarterback is much more likely to dramatically increase the value of a class then a 4 star offensive lineman. Not discounting the importance of lineman but that position group consists of 5 players wheres the QB is only one. That's not just restricted to QB. Having a receiver like say a Julio Jones or a running back like a Todd Gurley for instance can change the entire complexion of a team and result in 2+ more wins a season then they would otherwise get, but they only count for 5% of the class ranking. Currently at UK, you can point to Benny Snell as being in the "difference maker" category IMO, yet he not only counted as 5% of his class but a lowly 5.5 star at that. Think about it, arguable one of the best RBs in the SEC as a freshmen yet he was .1 point away from being a 2 star.

All good points. Along those lines, it makes our recruiting classes appear even stronger considering our recent success with all the 2 and low 3 star players who have turned into difference makers.
 
Looked at the team rankings and was a bit surprised at Vandy. They have 3 four stars committed also and the rest 3 star. Their average star is 3.2 which is slightly higher than our 3.15. Looks like Mason is turning out to be more than just a defensive guru. The 'Dors recruiting well is just one more headache for us.

Our class looks really solid, a couple of guys I think may get a bump before it's over. I think we wind up in the 3.2 range and a top 25 ranking again, but with a little luck we may do a bit better.

The thing is Vandy has NOT recruited well since Mason has been there. Usually somewhere in the 50s and 60s. Franklin's talent is just about gone so it will be interesting to see how they look on the field this year with almost all Mason's recruits.
 
We have a Great Class going forward. We have 4 , 5.7 guys on Rivals. If any get a bump, they will be 4 star players. Just Amaczing to me. Football is Great At UK.
Like your optimism. At the end of the day, I don't believe class rankings in June mean anything. Prospects commit and decommit. The ranked programs pick up most of their decisive commitments in the fall and winter. However, Stoops is now reaching that same level of recruiting traction. When we were 5-7, Stoops was already recruiting top 25 classes. Now his influence is growing all over the region. Stoops and Marrow have solidly established themselves in OH. Coach Gran is getting it done now in FL. Coach Clinkscale is pulling good players out of MI. We will really get over the hump when more top players like Jarren Williams and Boom are coming to UK from GA, because most of GA is just an afternoon drive from Lex.
 
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