State of 2023 Recruiting
- Thread starter Canned Heat
- Start date
It was brought back in 1998 , but in 2018 school AD`s wanted to eliminate it again for safety reasons. Most schools said they didn`t have enough participation to even concern themselves with holding spring football, so I`m not sure if they do now or not.
Wiltfong of 247 Sports said that Gilbert will be visiting this weekend. Gilberts sister plays basketball for MO and they play UK Sunday in Lexington, so he wants to watch her also. Gilbert really likes the Kentucky coaches a lot. Just hearing him talk, I think we have a good chance to get him. Says he is now 6-5 290, so he is a perfect size and quickness for what we like on the DL.
Gilbert's recruitment has been quiet. But he visited Purdue last weekend, and now UK gets the final visit. This visit will be unofficial, but that doesn't change the timing and importance.
Think this is just a coincidence and Gilbert's using this to see his sister. We'll see.
I wondered about this too, but looks like it is probably not a coincidence. The circumstantial evidence now says Gilbert is deciding between Purdue and UK. He visited Purdue again last weekend. Now he is revisiting UK. If you follow this thread, you will know I have wondered whether UK's coaches were still actively recruiting Gilbert. But it turns out that we are.
I recall what Coach Stewart said. Although vague for the obvious reasons at the time, Stewart strongly hinted that UK will add multiple bigs during the late signing period. He may have been talking about Spencer and Gilbert, but we will see.
Interesting to note that Gilbert has been working in the gym and has gotten his weight above 280#.
Realistic dream. Finishing the class with 2 HS linemen on D & O, both 4 star quality/measurable. Would be awesome.
More on Kendrick Gilbert. Evidently, Gilbert narrowed his recruitment to Purdue, LSU, and UK prior to committing to Purdue. But he did not follow up his commitment to Purdue with a signing. When Jeff Brohm left Purdue and took the hc job at UL, Gilbert contemplated following Brohm to Louisville. Perhaps Gilbert knew all along that Brohm might leave W. Lafayette, and perhaps that is why he didn't actually sign papers at Purdue. In any case, Gilbert looked at UL but may not have found everything there to his liking. This left him back where he started, primarily considering Purdue and UK.
But Gilbert did not know new Purdue hc Ryan Walters very well. Gilbert made an effort to get to know the new Purdue staff. In fact, he visited Purdue again last week. But maybe something there didn't feel right to him after Jeff Brohm's staff left.
I think this narrative may be more or less accurate, and may have left UK back in the position of advantage to sign Gilbert. Of course, in recruiting, you never know for sure what will happen until the end of the story. But if this turns out to be accurate, credit goes to Coach Stewart and Coach Marrow for keeping the lines of communication open. IIRC, Gilbert would be the first significant UK signing of a football prospect from the state of IN since Lonnie Johnson. We will soon find out.
But Gilbert did not know new Purdue hc Ryan Walters very well. Gilbert made an effort to get to know the new Purdue staff. In fact, he visited Purdue again last week. But maybe something there didn't feel right to him after Jeff Brohm's staff left.
I think this narrative may be more or less accurate, and may have left UK back in the position of advantage to sign Gilbert. Of course, in recruiting, you never know for sure what will happen until the end of the story. But if this turns out to be accurate, credit goes to Coach Stewart and Coach Marrow for keeping the lines of communication open. IIRC, Gilbert would be the first significant UK signing of a football prospect from the state of IN since Lonnie Johnson. We will soon find out.
What about Morgan Newton; at least at the time, he was a pretty significant recruit, right? Or am I wrong...
Note. I said Gilbert would be UK's most significant football recruit from IN SINCE Lonnie Johnson. Stoops signed Lonnie Johnson in his 2017 recruiting class.
Morgan Newton was a Brooks recruit in 2009. Jon Toth was a Joker recruit in 2012. Both are from IN, but neither was recruited by this coaching staff.
Well, excluding that 5/4 Star O-lineman last class, who was from Indiana, if you want to say he was!
[And frankly, he has arguably worked his way down from particular significance . . . .].
As you know, Goodwin is from Louisville, grew up there, and attended Male hs and Ballard hs.
But the subject of why Goodwin and Spencer spent their senior years in a southern IN hs is an interesting one. Is this just a coincidence, or does it have something to do with Chris Vaughn? What is happening to hs football in Jefferson Co.? Nothing good.
UK football hasn't included IN in the primary recruiting territory in longer than I can remember. There have been isolated cases such as Joe Schuler, Dakota Tyler, Jonathon Reed, Jon Toth, and the Newton brothers. Lonnie Johnson was a juco transfer. But UK has not recruited IN routinely. Until Stoops got here, the same was true of OH. You would have thought IN and OH would be logical territory for UK. But the sports media in those states was a mouthpiece for the B10 and ND. And until the last decade, the B10 was more or less on par with the SEC. Football players in IN and OH grew up wanting to play for ND or B10 schools. Stoops and Marrow were able to break into OH because they grew up in OH and had good contacts in the state. IN has taken longer. Kendrick Gilbert would be a breakthrough signing.
Yes.
Arguably, it has less Division 1 talent than Kentucky, but still . . . if we can recruit Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, why not Indiana?
One problem that you allude to, is Notre Dame. Two others are IU and Purdue.
I suspect, given your following of recruiting, you are well aware of Notre Dame's allure to Catholic kids.
I was at Belterra Casino, recently, and sat at a bar area next to a much bigger Redneck than me . . . . physically, and culturally (and there aren't many who can clearly out-redneck me). He worked at the near-by-dam, commuting from Alabama. A big red beard, cowboy boots, and a southern drawl to boot.
I asked if he followed Bama or Auburn. He responded, "Notre Dame." I asked if, per chance, he were Catholic. He was.
Catholic kids must grow up, universally, being told by kin that they "might" get to play for Notre Dame, someday, if good enough. NBC was wise in signing Notre Dame to a national contract, by itself.
But there are plenty of Protestant kids in Indiana.
The SEC Network began in 2014 . . . that along with the SEC's nut-lock on national titles is bound to shake a lot of talent from the mid-west. If I coached at Kentucky, I would draw a line about two-thirds of the way up Indiana, and declare that home territory, for recruiting. One cultural oddity about the Southern half of Indiana . . . after 5 minutes of conversation they will tell you that half of Indiana's population is from Kentucky.
In the 50`s, 60`s and 70`s we didn`t have national recruiting like we do now. Notre Dame became dominate because if you were a good, Catholic football player you went there to play football. I remember Moeller High School being THE football factory in Ohio and they were a major pipeline for Notre Dame. They got the best players from Ohio, Indiana and probably Illinois. I once heard Osborne, at Nebraska, didn`t give scholarships to linemen, they were home grown walk-ons and the scholarships went to receivers, running backs, QB`s, etc.
Think nowadays UK could draw a 300 mile circle around Lexington, declare that "home" and find a lot of really good players.
There are just certain areas that you don’t hear about Big Time football recruiting.
Atlanta? Let our Georgia folk chip in. Yeah, the Metro area produces some gems, but just no where near what the demographics might hint at.
New York, city and state. Was Joe Namath the last New Yorker to letter in the SEC? Do all good New York HS players slide into Jersey and Pennsylvania to prep and then go to Penn State?
Chicago? Illinois? The one state bordering Kentucky I have never heard mentioned in a recruiting battle for a potential UK player. Maybe all the academic-type players do Northwestern and the rest Illinois?
There’s a lot of country South of Chicago in Illinois. Surely those corn fields produce some corn-fed linemen!
Joe Namath is from Beaver Falls, PA. He played for the NY Jets.
Northwestern IL is B10 territory, recruited by IL, IA, WI, Northwestern, and ND. South of Chicago, the state of IL is sparsely populated with no significant cities except Peoria and Champagne-Urbana. It just isn't very productive. UK unsuccessfully tried to recruit Malik Elzy in the 2023 class but he went to UI. Every year, UK attempts to recruit a couple of prospects from IL but AFAIK Stoops has not signed a player from IL yet. However, Marrow and Buffano have been recruiting the state of MO, particularly the St Louis area across the river from southern IL. No players from MO have been signed yet, either, but resources now expended to recruit the St Louis area suggest they believe they will have success there. They are already offering a bunch of 2024 players from the St Louis area.
The most significant expansions of UK's recruiting territory are happening in FL (because of Mike Stoops) and up the heavily populated eastern seaboard (because of Brad White). It is possible that Jay Boulware might take UK football recruiting back into TX and LA, heavily populated but also heavily recruited states. That remains to be seen.
What surprises me a little bit is that UK continues to have solid success in AL despite losing Jon Sumrall to Troy. In our 2023 class, we have signed Avery Stewart and Koby Keenum, two really good players. We narrowly missed on Karmello English. Recently, Phenix City product JQ Hardaway transferred to UK. If UK gets established a little better in the Phenix City area, that would be significant.
Losing Sumrall cost us some recruiting juice in GA, but Chris Collins and Anwar Stewart are taking up the slack. Coach Boulware recently sealed the deal to pull Jamarion Wilcox out of Douglasville, GA. Stoops has signed 3 excellent GA players in our 2023 class.
Sorry Rembrandt...youre right of course...doesnt seem that long ago...
Right now, Kyra Elzy can use every bit of good luck she can get.
Gilbert is here today to make his final decision about a college. Seeing his sister is a bonus.
I am trying not to get my hopes up prematurely, but this is starting to look more promising.
Indiana is a tough place to mine talent. 2 of our recent recruits from there have been processed out after not getting into the 3 deep and going home to play.
ND is going to be tough to beat for any of the top 100 "must-get" types as well.
Personally speaking, it's a wasted use of resources. Count the kids out of the state who became starters in the last 5 years at P5 level.
ND is going to be tough to beat for any of the top 100 "must-get" types as well.
Personally speaking, it's a wasted use of resources. Count the kids out of the state who became starters in the last 5 years at P5 level.
Unlikely, this weekend really wasn't a commitment designed event. Those come later after camps and OVs, maybe March or later.
Yep, class of 23 is just about in the books, Wed will be a pretty quiet day for 23 kids. We had a couple who's schools were planning a big signing day at their HS and wanted to sign when their friends did. I think we are waiting on a couple but one of those is a moment and starting his mission and won't be here for awhile. To Sweden of all places, at 18 I might need more missionary work than I was giving if my assignment was Sweden.
Not sure it's an escort service if free CC. We might need to check in with Reverend Freeze on that.
I think UL is recruiting Spencer for the defensive side of the ball.
Even before this, the recent circumstantial evidence suggests Spencer to UK.
Who was higher on UK's list
Rembrandt,
Did UK or Crocker cease contact?
Thanks.
Crocker committed to Miss St last summer then decommitted after Leach death. Don't think UK rerecruited him, not sure but I never saw him linked to UK the second time around. He may be listed as an OT but pretty sure he'll end up at OG.
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