State of 2024 Recruiting
- Thread starter Rembrandt90
- Start date
Thanks Bereacat420...any particular reason? More talented at his position elsewhere on their radar possibly?
Just a guess here. I think he maxxed out very early and hasn't grown or developed into what they thought he could be as a freshman. They're definitely recruiting a lot better guys
I heard he transferred and only played basketball this year. I didn't really know what he did
Chadwell is not a recruiting priority for our coaches, which is why he has not been receiving attention on this thread. I don't even know if he wants to play college football. He reportedly has an offer from EKU. He will not end up at UK unless he walks on.
UK is in good shape with Willie Rodriguez, and I suspect Rodriguez will commit to UK sooner than later. Rodriguez projects as a true inline TE. Damarion Witten is visiting UK this weekend but Witten does not actually project as a college TE. Witten would be an Hback and WR in Coach Coen's offense.
As far as I have been able to determine from public reports, the following prospects are in Lexington now. I cannot guarantee all of them made it, but this is the best I can do until followup reporting becomes available.
Cutter Boley, QB, Lexington, KY (UK commit)
Jonathon Daniels, OL, Pensacola, FL
Cam Dooley, DB, Valley, AL
Fred Johnson, OL, Cleveland, OH
Hayes Johnson, OL, Campbellsville, KY (UK commit)
Cameron Keys, DB, Lynn Haven, FL
Tovani Mizell, RB, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Brian Robinson, DL, Youngstown, OH
Willie Rodriguez, TE, Alexandria, KY
Aba Selm, OL, Independence, KY (UK commit)
Antwan Smith, LB, Atlanta, GA
Damarion Witten, WR/Hback, Cleveland, OH
Visits are a prerequisite for signings. Here are my uneducated impressions.
Jonathon Daniels- primarily focusing on FL St, GA, LSU, and UK. Elite interior OL prospect. Unlikely to commit early.
Cam Dooley- primarily focusing on Vandy and UK. Could be a candidate for a commitment in the coming weeks, or even sooner, if this visit goes well.
Fred Johnson- Interior OL thought to be deciding between UK and UL. He is from Glenville hs in Cleveland, an important program in Coach Marrow's recruiting network. If his visit goes well, we could hear something soon because Coach Stoops has a lot of candidates for, at most, three more open OL scholarships. Although Marrow wants to sign Glenville hs prospects, Stoops might have to pass on Johnson if his chances for Daniels, JacQawn McRoy, and Jack Hines remain strong.
Cameron Keys- primarily focusing on Vandy, MO, and UK. Said to be highly interested in UK and could be a candidate for a commitment in the coming weeks if this visit goes well.
Tovani Mizell- Was originally scheduled to visit here next weekend. But he arrived in Lexington on June 8 and may or may not still be around. Coach Boulware is recruiting him. OK is thought to be his leader but Coach Boulware is making up ground. This is Mizell's first chance to talk with Coach Coen.
Brian Robinson- Robinson is one of the most important prospects on UK's 2024 recruiting board at any position. Signing Robinson would "make" UK's 2024 defensive class similarly to how Cutter Boley is framing our offensive class. Like Coach Marrow and Coach Stoops, Robinson is from Youngstown. Coach Marrow has been fighting an uphill battle versus MI for Robinson, but circumstantial evidence suggests UK is catching up. This visit is crucial. This recruitment will probably stretch into the fall, but you never know.
Willie Rodriguez- Not long ago, this was thought to be a Purdue/AR/UK battle. Now I think Rodriguez might be on commit watch for UK. Could be our next.
Antwan Smith- Camped at GA, but UK is the only OV he has scheduled so far. Coach Stewart is recruiting him, and this could develop into an early commitment if everything goes well this weekend.
Damarion Witten- This looks like a UK versus OH St battle, and some talking heads have recently suggested UK might lead. I doubt this gets settled quickly but it will be interesting to see how much momentum Coach Marrow has. Although Witten has been reported on some sites as a 6'4" TE, he is actually a 6'2" 210# WR/Hback at the college level.
As it turns out, more prospects will visit UK next week than this week. The next two weeks will likely set the foundation for our 2024 class.
Cutter Boley, QB, Lexington, KY (UK commit)
Jonathon Daniels, OL, Pensacola, FL
Cam Dooley, DB, Valley, AL
Fred Johnson, OL, Cleveland, OH
Hayes Johnson, OL, Campbellsville, KY (UK commit)
Cameron Keys, DB, Lynn Haven, FL
Tovani Mizell, RB, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Brian Robinson, DL, Youngstown, OH
Willie Rodriguez, TE, Alexandria, KY
Aba Selm, OL, Independence, KY (UK commit)
Antwan Smith, LB, Atlanta, GA
Damarion Witten, WR/Hback, Cleveland, OH
Visits are a prerequisite for signings. Here are my uneducated impressions.
Jonathon Daniels- primarily focusing on FL St, GA, LSU, and UK. Elite interior OL prospect. Unlikely to commit early.
Cam Dooley- primarily focusing on Vandy and UK. Could be a candidate for a commitment in the coming weeks, or even sooner, if this visit goes well.
Fred Johnson- Interior OL thought to be deciding between UK and UL. He is from Glenville hs in Cleveland, an important program in Coach Marrow's recruiting network. If his visit goes well, we could hear something soon because Coach Stoops has a lot of candidates for, at most, three more open OL scholarships. Although Marrow wants to sign Glenville hs prospects, Stoops might have to pass on Johnson if his chances for Daniels, JacQawn McRoy, and Jack Hines remain strong.
Cameron Keys- primarily focusing on Vandy, MO, and UK. Said to be highly interested in UK and could be a candidate for a commitment in the coming weeks if this visit goes well.
Tovani Mizell- Was originally scheduled to visit here next weekend. But he arrived in Lexington on June 8 and may or may not still be around. Coach Boulware is recruiting him. OK is thought to be his leader but Coach Boulware is making up ground. This is Mizell's first chance to talk with Coach Coen.
Brian Robinson- Robinson is one of the most important prospects on UK's 2024 recruiting board at any position. Signing Robinson would "make" UK's 2024 defensive class similarly to how Cutter Boley is framing our offensive class. Like Coach Marrow and Coach Stoops, Robinson is from Youngstown. Coach Marrow has been fighting an uphill battle versus MI for Robinson, but circumstantial evidence suggests UK is catching up. This visit is crucial. This recruitment will probably stretch into the fall, but you never know.
Willie Rodriguez- Not long ago, this was thought to be a Purdue/AR/UK battle. Now I think Rodriguez might be on commit watch for UK. Could be our next.
Antwan Smith- Camped at GA, but UK is the only OV he has scheduled so far. Coach Stewart is recruiting him, and this could develop into an early commitment if everything goes well this weekend.
Damarion Witten- This looks like a UK versus OH St battle, and some talking heads have recently suggested UK might lead. I doubt this gets settled quickly but it will be interesting to see how much momentum Coach Marrow has. Although Witten has been reported on some sites as a 6'4" TE, he is actually a 6'2" 210# WR/Hback at the college level.
As it turns out, more prospects will visit UK next week than this week. The next two weeks will likely set the foundation for our 2024 class.
NKy signees have been sparse for UK for many seasons. Two in one year with W-Rod & Selm would be rara avis indeed.
True. For one thing, Mark Stoops and his staff are now expending more recruiting resources in the Cincinnati area than any UK football coach has in many decades. The northern KY communities are located in greater Cincinnati. Pulling Selm and Rodriguez out of northern KY is good, but look at the work Coach Marrow has been doing in Cincinnati, W Chester, and Springfield. Another thing, the quality of hs football in Jefferson Co has been going downhill for years, which frees up Coach Marrow to spend more of his time in OH and adjacent areas. Coach Stoops wants to sign the best instate football players to be a part of recruiting classes that must, by mathematical necessity, be built primarily on out of state recruiting. IDK but I can imagine Coach Stoops watched Michael Mayer get drafted out of ND in the first round and doesn't want to let this happen again if he can help it.
But then we must also realize this. Many UK fans got upset when Jedrick Wills and Damien Harris signed with AL. At the time, there was a lot of silliness, blaming the kids for deceit. And the anti-Stoops crowd tried to use it to make a case why Stoops should be fired. But the core of the sour grapes was simply that instate players chose another SEC school besides UK. We have to accept the well known truth here. No SEC school truly controls their state completely. The Wade twins and Barion Brown chose UK. Jake Merklinger from GA has committed to TN. DeMarcus Riddick from AL has committed to GA. Caleb Downs from GA signed with AL. So on and so forth. No SEC team really controls their state completely, or ever will. Even now, top players from the state of FL are visiting UK.
Okay, just guessing. Willie Rodriguez.
But when you have this many uncommitted players visiting campus in a two-week period, it is nearly impossible to guess this. If Cameron Keys, Antwan Smith, Fred Johnson, or Cam Dooley turns out to be next, that would not surprise anyone.
I'm probably one of very few on this board that remembers Dick Maile. Good player.
FWIW, knock on Mike Mayer is that he has short arms.
Yes, you are correct about the second round. Apologies there. And you are probably right that Mayer, from a conservative Roman Catholic family, would have been very difficult under any circumstances to pry away from ND. And BTW, Mayer obviously made a good decision.
My point is that no SEC football team will ever completely control its home state as a recruiting territory. Players from AL sign with GA. Players from GA sign with AL and TN. And I am happy this is the case, because UK has been signing good football players out of FL, GA, TN, AL, and SC. Not to mention OH and MI.
Now we see UK recruiters pushing more
and more into TX, MO, IN, NC, VA, PA, NJ, and CT. Notwithstanding the proximity of VA, MO, and IN, most of these other states are physically farther from Lexington than the territories Stoops and Marrow have been primarily recruiting up to now. As an indicator of the progress Stoops has been making with program building, I find this very interesting. Which of these new areas will produce important UK starters? MI has already been very productive for us. If UK can pull productive football players out of these new areas, that's a big deal. The recruiting budget has been increased. The coaching staff has been shaped to get into TX (Boulware), the Carolinas (White), New England and NJ (Woodward), south FL (Coach Mike), and even CA (Coen). If this works, I think we will see what many UK fans have suggested cannot happen, i.e., UK football moving into the top echelon of the SEC. But to look at it another way, UK HAS TO get more aggressive because the SEC is growing. When TX and OK join, schools like UK better be hitting on all cylinders.
Rodriguez is the most likely. Hoping for more than one. JRow logged in futurecasts for Robinson and Witten
Not an exciting offer sheet, but looks to be a phenomenal athlete
UK's current 2024 class-
Cutter Boley, QB, Lexington, KY
Hayes Johnson, OL, Campbellsville, KY
Aba Selm, OL, Independence, KY
Antwan Smith, LB, Atlanta, GA
So, Antwan Smith turned out to be the next UK commit. Smith is being recruited by Coach Stewart. He plays for Westlake hs, a strong football program in Atlanta. He reportedly holds two SEC and three ACC offers. Smith is a GA state qualifier in the 100m dash and has run 10.6. He has run 200m in 21.9 and is also a good high-jumper. He is a long perimeter defender with elite quickness. He is on the light side now, but his frame will easily add more good weight. He comes from a family of competitive athletes. His offer sheet may not look very impressive now, but he needs to add 30#. He was invited to a GA camp in Athens last month and reportedly made an impression there. This is a case where Coach Stewart identified a tall athlete with elite speed and a sports pedigree before most other SEC programs had learned very much about him.
Cutter Boley, QB, Lexington, KY
Hayes Johnson, OL, Campbellsville, KY
Aba Selm, OL, Independence, KY
Antwan Smith, LB, Atlanta, GA
So, Antwan Smith turned out to be the next UK commit. Smith is being recruited by Coach Stewart. He plays for Westlake hs, a strong football program in Atlanta. He reportedly holds two SEC and three ACC offers. Smith is a GA state qualifier in the 100m dash and has run 10.6. He has run 200m in 21.9 and is also a good high-jumper. He is a long perimeter defender with elite quickness. He is on the light side now, but his frame will easily add more good weight. He comes from a family of competitive athletes. His offer sheet may not look very impressive now, but he needs to add 30#. He was invited to a GA camp in Athens last month and reportedly made an impression there. This is a case where Coach Stewart identified a tall athlete with elite speed and a sports pedigree before most other SEC programs had learned very much about him.
Last edited:
He plays for one of the most heavily recruited and visible programs in Georgia. Why on earth would you assume “most other SEC programs” hadn’t learned of him? Most every staff in the SEC/ACC goes through that school.
Last edited:
Yes, most every SEC school goes through Westlake. But evidently not to look at Antwan Smith, a track star who has an ideal build for development. Say what you want, but this was a good recruiting job by Coach Stewart.
Out of all the material I have offered on this thread, you picked out this for your response? Okay.
Have to think Satterfield going to Cincy being a ho hum hire for them, has taken some of the luster off the Cincy program. Hoping this is a case of our staff taking the chance to strike up there while Cincy isn't as attractive as it once was.
After Antwan Smith, who will become our next 2024 commit? We have so many visitors this month that it is a complicated question. But I am still favoring Willie Rodriguez. Some other candidates could include Cam Dooley, Fred Johnson, Brandon Rehmann, Caleb Redd, or Makai Byerson.
I read on another board that Rousch reported that Rehmann will not be a part of UKs class. Seems one party must have cut things off
Satterfield inherits a talented roster. Regardless of the shit show in Louisville, which had multiple causes, Satterfield is not a bad tactical coach. UC does not hire untalented coaches. So it is an opportunity. If he wins games next fall, there will be no loss of luster until he has to sink or swim in subsequent seasons with his own recruits.
I don't think UC has signed very many players from the Cincinnati area that Coach Marrow really wanted badly. A few, but not that many considering they are the hometown school. Marrow has been recruiting the greater Cincinnati area hard for many years and we already beat out UC for good players. Just some examples-
Kyle Meadows
Mike Edwards
Drew Barker
George Asafo Adjei
Chris Oats
Brenden Bates
Jutahn McClain
Carrington Valentine
Alex Afari
Josh Kattus
Anthony Brown
For many reasons, UL was not a good situation for Satterfield. It remains to be seen how Satterfield's hire will affect UC recruiting but, historically, there have been relatively few direct, one on one UK-UC recruiting battles for a player's final decision. Afari was one though.
Think you are wrong about Cincinnati. From a recruiting standpoint they have will have 0 five stars and only about a dozen four stars on the roster and will be in the bottom half of the Big 12 in blue chip ratio. Athlon only has 4 non special teams players on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th all conference teams. They have the same odds as West Virginia to win the BIg 12 at 70-1 and their win total is 5.5. They could be absolutely dreadful this year. Likely power ranked in the 50's among the bottom of any P5 team. With Fickell leaving they have lost almost all momentum they built from that 2021 season. Very possible the Satterfield tenure could be short lived in Cincy.
I didn't say Satterfield is an effective recruiter. I said he might be able to win games temporarily with Fickell's players. I will agree that Satterfield is not the football coach Luke Fickell is. Fickell is a machine, and I think he will help WI a lot. But John Cunningham is nobody's fool. He hired Satterfield, so he sees something. The man knows what he is doing.
I have never been terribly impressed with Athlon predictions, but we will see. Athlon blames our problems in 2022 on "transfers". They apparently don't have a lot of good things to say about our 2023 team, either, picking us #3 in the East and describing Justin Rogers' departure as a big deal that we have to overcome. So IDK. In general, I have found that predicting cannot be done accurately this early. As for class rankings, they mean nothing in June. The signing date is 6 months away, and I am not saying Satterfield is a decisive recruiter.
But my point was arguing that there isn't exactly a cache of talent left over from the Fickell era. Satterfield is mostly inheriting a team with below average talent when compared to other P5 teams. 9 players drafted in 2022 and another 3 drafted last year has basically ridden the team of all the talent they had in '21. They got raided pretty good in the portal too and weren't able to replace the talent they lost with incoming transfers.
Agree with you on Athlon but considering its the only preseason team projections out I went with it. The Big 12 overall lacks elite top end talent and the fact that Cincinnati had so few players on the preseason teams is an indication that they lack proven returning pieces. Combine that with the lack of players with high recruiting pedigree who could potentially step in to fill those holes and its just hard for me to see them having much success.
It's all okay. I just don't put much trust in June predictions for the fall season. But I don't follow UC sports very much because they are in a lousy conference, except that I know John Cunningham is a top notch AD. I am not a defender of Satterfield and I don't care what happens to him. I enjoyed kicking his butt while he was at UL. FWIW, the situation at UL is such that Satterfield never really had a chance to get much done. And FWIW, I don't believe Brohm will do much better, because their athletics department is one of the worst in all of Power 5 athletics.
But I don't see any point in diverting this thread to discuss UC. I was only responding to another poster who seemed to think Satterfield suddenly gives UK a chance to sign more players out of Cincinnati, and I pointed out that Coach Marrow has been pulling good players out of Cincinnati all along. Generally, with an occasional exception, UK and UC are not the final two schools for the same Cincinnati area players. Alex Afari was one exception and Marrow got him. That was while Fickell was there.
Last edited:
DB Cam Dooley, out of Valley, AL, has now announced that he will commit on July 4. Dooley just completed his OV to UK, and I have mentioned him a couple of times as a possible candidate to commit to UK soon. FWIW.
Nashville brothers Cade and Crews Law commit to UNC Football
Three-star linebacker Crews Law and his brother, Cade Law, committed to UNC Football during their...
www.tarheeltimes.com
And Jack Hines Committed to Wake Forest.Nashville brothers Cade and Crews Law commit to UNC Football
Three-star linebacker Crews Law and his brother, Cade Law, committed to UNC Football during their...
Who is there left at OT? Arkansas now leads for McRoy. Hopefully he visists this week but gonna be tough to land him. Daniels visited this week but he is a very long shot. Hopefully we have Ford back and Hall for next year. If the OL takes a big step forward this year as expected, maybe they can turn the OT recruiting around
Selm is a solid OT. Watched him at rivals camp n kid looked like a million bucks.
