First of all, thank you for your courtesy. I appreciate it. It is still to early to project our final 2023 class. If I try to do it, I will be way off.
Let's just say that I believe the following commits are likely to stick with Coach Stoops. I'm not suggesting others won't. Some of these decisions have not been made yet in a final form.
Jaremiah Anglin, Lake Wales, FL
Anthony Brown, Springfield, OH
Ty Bryant, Lexington, KY
Jacob Dixon, Louisville, KY
Glenn Godfrey, Suwanee, GA
Tanner Lemaster, Washington CH, OH
Shamar Porter, Nashville, TN
Austin Ramsey, Philadelphia, PA
Avery Stewart, Montgomery, AL
Malachi Wood, Richmond, KY
Tommy Ziesmer, Danville, KY
Brown and Godfrey recently said their UK commitments are firm.
There is a pretty good chance that Woo Spencer, Ardell Banks, Trey Cornist, and Jamarion Wilcox will eventually commit to UK. But they probably don't know for sure yet, so I don't know either. Wilcox recently visited Lexington, and Banks and Cornist will visit this month.
A couple of new names are bound to enter the picture in the next several weeks. They will be flip candidates, prospects whose offers at other schools are no longer committable, and prospects who have been working on their academic eligibility. It happens every year. Ja'Keem Jackson or Will Norman could flip from FL. I am not predicting that, but both are still interest in UK. Norman will visit Lexington this month, and Jackson recently visited. Savor Karriem could flip from IL.
Devin Hyatt and Brandyn Hillman will also visit Lexington this month, and Dimetrius Bell visited recently. I don't like UK's chances to sign Hyatt or Bell, but they would not have visited if they weren't interested. I don't have an opinion yet about Hillman, who is known to like ND.
I also think Coach Stoops has become enamored with the transfer portal and will take a handful of new transfers again this year. One will very likely be Jacob Lacey, the DT from ND who grew up in Bowling Green. Obviously Stoops will be looking for a transfer QB too.
As noted by others, Khalifa Keith has decommitted from UK. I consider this a major loss, because Keith plays a position of need and impressed our coaches during a summer camp. UK commit Koby Keenum recently visited MS St and might be setting up a visit to Ole Miss. I don't know what Keenum will do, but I have a bad feeling.
As is widely known by now, Winton Woods hs DB Cameron Calhoun recently visited Lexington and subsequently decommitted from UC. Early rumors suggest the visit went very well, and Calhoun's subsequent actions probably confirm that impression. During Coach Stoops' tenure, UK's coaching staff has recruited Winton Woods hs heavily and signed a series of good SEC players from the school. Coach Marrow has been recruiting Calhoun for a long time, although there was a misunderstanding or a disagreement at one point. Now, though, things appear to have been patched up, and the timing of Calhoun's decommitment from UC superficially suggests Calhoun could be about to commit to UK. I caution that this is not a slam dunk. Calhoun appears to be considering MI too.
Calhoun would have a shot at being developed as a long, agile cover CB. If Calhoun were to commit to UK, that could trigger a mini domino effect in UK's 2023 class. Calhoun would be the 5th DB (Nasir Addison, Jaremiah Anglin, Ty Bryant, Avery Stuart) committed to UK's class, with UK's coaches still pursuing a flip by current FL commit Ja'Keem Jackson (who also visited Lexington recently). Addison has primarily been a WR at Irvington hs and has SEC caliber speed. Although Addison has been recruited as a CB prospect, it is rumored that he could still be groomed as a WR if UK's secondary is well stocked. UK already has a small handful of excellent young WRs, with Shamar Porter and Anthony Brown on the way, but can still use a couple more WRs to man whatever prostyle offense is in use at the time. One thing is clear. Whoever the OC will be, Mark Stoops has shown that he wants to throw the football.
Here are some 2023 prospects to watch, with apparent interest in UK-
Ardell Banks, WR, Massillon, OH
Cameron Calhoun, DB, Cincinnati, OH
Trey Cornist, RB, Cincinnati, OH
Karmello English, slotR, Phenix City, AL
Robert Henry, RB, Jones CC
Brandyn Hillman, ATH, Portsmouth, VA
Ja'Keem Jackson, DB, Kissimmee, FL (FL commit)
Saboor Karriem, DB, West Orange, NJ (IL commit)
William "Woo" Spencer, OL, New Albany, IN
Jamarion Wilcox, RB, Douglasville, GA
I did not include Dimetrius Bell, Kendrick Gilbert, Devin Hyatt, or Marcellius Pulliam on this list because I currently see nothing to indicate they are seriously likely to end up at UK. If those stories change, we will discuss them.
The losses to South Carolina and Vandy have not helped recruiting, but OTOH I am inclined to doubt they have wiped out UK's 2023 class or destroyed the program's appeal. Each hs player is an individual, with his own perspective. Some may feel that these losses erode the credibility of UK's staff. Others will look at the situation and perceive a better opportunity for early playing time. Most are looking at schools in a larger perspective, and UK still has a lot to sell. Stoops' situation at UK is stable because of his contract and personal sense of commitment. UK's offensive coaching staff is likely to undergo some change, but the defensive coaching staff is stable. As an academic school, UK is competitive with other SEC schools except Vandy and UF. UK's football facilities are excellent. I won't get into the NIL issue because that matter is undergoing rapid evolution. While some of our fans are very skeptical, let's be honest. No one on this board (including me) knows anything about serving on an NCAA committee, the strategic forces driving NCAA policies, running an SEC athletics department, or managing an SEC recruitment program. So all of these opinions are interesting, but they are also totally reactive. We have previously been through periods of time when this board was heavily dominated by vocal critics of Stoops, Barnhart, and UK's administration. When UK succeeds, those same critics fade quietly into the background, without any accountability for the rush to judgment. We have all seen it, but few ever learn because many remain impulse driven despite the opportunity to learn. College football programs are not built on impulse. They are built by rational leaders with budgets and very long term perspectives.
The biggest factor influencing the final stages of 2023 recruiting might be a limited number of available scholarships. In his most recent press conference, Coach Stoops discussed the transfer portal. I got the impression that he anticipated larger numbers of inbound and outbound transfers this coming offseason. We will see how the numbers work out, but it is plausible to wonder if our coaches actually have very many more open scholarships for hs seniors when so many offensive roster needs are immediate and ready-made for the transfer portal. I do not believe the sky is falling. This has been a tough season, with significant problems, but the long term direction of the football program is still up. 2016-22 in this program has certainly been stronger than what came before. Not everyone has the experience or the temperament to understand this, but many here do. Has Mark Stoops peaked? To answer that question authoritatively, you would literally have to be a time traveler. It is not a question that can be answered credibly through a lens of impulsive or reactive disappointment. That's just the honest truth. It is going to be interesting to see how the UK puzzle fits together, and hopefully we will continue to discuss it here with a rational focus on recruiting and an open mind.
