State of 2024 Recruiting

[Rembrandt90]

RB Jason Patterson out of the FL panhandle and ATH Jiquavious Marshall out of Macon have confirmed online that they are in Lexington on their OVs. Patterson says his visit to UK has exceeded all of his expectations, and IMHO we have a solid shot to sign him. He would be a great addition to our class.

 

[Rembrandt90]

Two new CB picks today from Josh Edwards and Duke insider Adam Rowe predicting Jadon Lafontant to UK. Lafontant, an interior lineman out of CT, recently visited Lexington. Lafondant has played on both sides of the LOS in prep school and reportedly holds 2 SEC and 3 ACC offers. IDK but I'm going to guess UK is probably recruiting him as a C or DT.

 

[lazydave841]

Toure is supposedly on commitment watch to PSU and may not even visit UK

Wow. You were on it.

 

[Grumpyolddawg]

Two new CB picks today from Josh Edwards and Duke insider Adam Rowe predicting Jadon Lafontant to UK. Lafontant, an interior lineman out of CT, recently visited Lexington. Lafondant has played on both sides of the LOS in prep school and reportedly holds 2 SEC and 3 ACC offers. IDK but I'm going to guess UK is probably recruiting him as a C or DT.

The quality of New England football must be picking up the last few years, one of UGA's strarting OL is from Delaware, now a couple of kids from New Jersey are being recruited pretty hard. Over the years there have been a couple kids from New England area play but very few. Is it improving, getting more exposure or so many other schools entering traditional recruiting areas that southern teams are expanding their recruiting footprint?

 

[mrschwump]

The quality of New England football must be picking up the last few years, one of UGA's strarting OL is from Delaware, now a couple of kids from New Jersey are being recruited pretty hard. Over the years there have been a couple kids from New England area play but very few. Is it improving, getting more exposure or so many other schools entering traditional recruiting areas that southern teams are expanding their recruiting footprint?

New England was pretty much controlled by Penn St during the JP Era. Others have now expanded into the area.

 

[Grumpyolddawg]

New England was pretty much controlled by Penn St during the JP Era. Others have now expanded into the area.

That's something I never thought about. Knowshon Moreno was ready to play when he got to Athens but the other NE players all RS, some never played.

 

[jlkirk]

New England was pretty much controlled by Penn St during the JP Era. Others have now expanded into the area.

PSU, then Boston College...with the Irish getting their picks as well...

 

[Grumpyolddawg]

PSU, then Boston College...with the Irish getting their picks as well...

Been so long since BC has been good I had forgotten they were at one time.

 

[Rembrandt90]

The quality of New England football must be picking up the last few years, one of UGA's strarting OL is from Delaware, now a couple of kids from New Jersey are being recruited pretty hard. Over the years there have been a couple kids from New England area play but very few. Is it improving, getting more exposure or so many other schools entering traditional recruiting areas that southern teams are expanding their recruiting footprint?

IDK. But I suspect UK's coaching staff became more conscious of prep school football in CT while they were recruiting the Smith twins, who are originally from Somerset, KY. While recruiting the Smiths and establishing relationships with their prep school staff, why not go after some other prominent prep players in the area? Call it recruiting efficiency. If we sign Lafondant, this is how it happened. Now our staff has established relationships with prep school coaches in CT.

Former UK QB Will Levis was born in Newton, MA, and attended hs in Middleton, CT.

Current UK coaches Liam Coen and Scott Woodward played football at UMass.

UK has a long history of pulling hs football players out of NJ, like Derek Ramsey and Art Still. Coach Claiborne also recruited a couple of players out of NJ. UK All American Josh Allen was recruited out of Montclair, NJ. Current Wildcats Devin Leary, Demie Sumo Karngbaye, and Nasir Addison are from NJ.

 

[lazydave841]

The quality of New England football must be picking up the last few years, one of UGA's strarting OL is from Delaware, now a couple of kids from New Jersey are being recruited pretty hard. Over the years there have been a couple kids from New England area play but very few. Is it improving, getting more exposure or so many other schools entering traditional recruiting areas that southern teams are expanding their recruiting footprint?

I think some of these kids are underrated until they actually camp somewhere. Most of the better ones are at prep schools or transfer into private schools. It's not like the top 10 from Connecticut are all becoming all Americans, but a few of these kids are.

Great example is current PSU commit Luke Reynolds. He had been his schools QB, but has moved to TE (I believe a top 25 QB transfered into his school). Camped at PSU, got an offer, verballed. Low rated kid, had many scratching their head. Came to the State College E11 regional and blew up. He's been at the one in Cali catching balls. He'll end up top 250 or so by the time it's said and done.

 

[Rembrandt90]

I still think Willie Rodriguez looks like the best candidate to become our next commit. I am a little surprised he hasn't committed already.

But Jason Patterson may be another possibility.

 

[Rembrandt90]

Let's try sampling some opinions. Time will tell if we know what we are talking about. LOL.

1. UK will sign Jadon Lafontant out of Greenwich. Yes or no?

2. UK will sign Dorian Williams out of Cincinnati. Yes or no?

3. UK will sign Jason Patterson out of the Pensacola area. Yes or no?

4. UK will sign Jonathan Daniels out of the Pensacola area.

5. UK will sign Damarion Witten out of Cleveland. Yes or no?

6. UK will sign Brian Robinson out of Youngstown. Yes or no?

 

[Rembrandt90]

Let's try sampling some opinions. Time will tell if we know what we are talking about. LOL.

1. UK will sign Jadon Lafontant out of Greenwich. Yes or no?

2. UK will sign Dorian Williams out of Cincinnati. Yes or no?

3. UK will sign Jason Patterson out of the Pensacola area. Yes or no?

4. UK will sign Jonathan Daniels out of the Pensacola area.

5. UK will sign Damarion Witten out of Cleveland. Yes or no?

6. UK will sign Brian Robinson out of Youngstown. Yes or no?

Climbing out on a limb, my uneducated guesses-

1. Y

2. Y

3. Y

4. N

5. N

6. Y

 

[mrschwump]

I'll go Y on all 6 but shaky on #6.

UK picking up CBs today on TOS including '25 QB Saunders.

 

[Bereacat420]

Climbing out on a limb, my uneducated guesses-

1. Y

2. Y

3. Y

4. N

5. N

6. Y

This is my best guess also. Witten loves OSU. I think it comes down to their plan for him. He would most likely get to play more and be used better at UK. Could go either way depending on how things play out.

I'll go Y on all 6 but shaky on #6.

UK picking up CBs today on TOS including '25 QB Saunders.

I think B-Rob will be a Cat!

 

[mrschwump]

This is my best guess also. Witten loves OSU. I think it comes down to their plan for him. He would most likely get to play more and be used better at UK. Could go either way depending on how things play out.

I think B-Rob will be a Cat!

Most excellent!!

 

[Rembrandt90]

UK picking up CBs today on TOS including '25 QB Saunders.

Really interesting. If this works out, Coach Coen is a magician.

 

[UKfirst]

Climbing out on a limb, my uneducated guesses-

1. Y

2. Y

3. Y

4. N

5. N

6. Y

No on #4 (dang it) Yes to the rest

 

[UKfirst]

Really interesting. If this works out, Coach Coen is a magician.

It also means that LC is planning on being here for awhile.

 

[Grumpyolddawg]

IDK. But I suspect UK's coaching staff became more conscious of prep school football in CT while they were recruiting the Smith twins, who are originally from Somerset, KY. While recruiting the Smiths and establishing relationships with their prep school staff, why not go after some other prominent prep players in the area? Call it recruiting efficiency. If we sign Lafondant, this is how it happened. Now our staff has established relationships with prep school coaches in CT.

Former UK QB Will Levis was born in Newton, MA, and attended hs in Middleton, CT.

Current UK coaches Liam Coen and Scott Woodward played football at UMass.

UK has a long history of pulling hs football players out of NJ, like Derek Ramsey and Art Still. Coach Claiborne also recruited a couple of players out of NJ. UK All American Josh Allen was recruited out of Montclair, NJ. Current Wildcats Devin Leary, Demie Sumo Karngbaye, and Nasir Addison are from NJ.

That is more than I suspected, but UK is in a better position for kids from that area. Plus all of our coaches until recently had southern root, now we have one with connections to the NE area and another from Texas who are young energetic guys looking to climb that ladder.

 

[Rembrandt90]

That is more than I suspected, but UK is in a better position for kids from that area. Plus all of our coaches until recently had southern root, now we have one with connections to the NE area and another from Texas who are young energetic guys looking to climb that ladder.

In terms of recruiting, UK and GA football are in fundamentally different positions. GA has a large number of SEC caliber instate football prospects and hs competition inside your state is high level. In addition to that, the state of GA is adjacent to FL and AL, both of which also have lots of high level Power 5 prospects. Kirby will go outside that immediate area to sign players, which he can easily do because GA is a national champ. But when he does it, he is cherry picking because that's all he needs to do.

OTOH, UK cannot be competitive by recruiting instate. Besides OH, no state located immediately adjacent to KY has enough Power 5 prospects to be helpful enough for everything Stoops needs. So UK has to pull players out of OH and cherry pick FL, GA, AL, TN, and the Carolinas. By coming to UK, players from GA and FL must be willing to move north. But when UK signs a player from OH, MI, PA, or NJ, the player moves south and enters the country's best football conference. That's a better recruiting pitch. Time after time, we hear our OH and MI signees say they want to play SEC football. So UK stays competitive by taking high caliber football players from B10 country. Current NFL and former UK players Mike Edwards, Benny Snell, Lynn Bowden, Josh Paschal, Luke Fortner, Lonnie Johnson, Darian Kinnard, and Marquan McCall are from B10 states.

 

[Bereacat420]

Let's try sampling some opinions. Time will tell if we know what we are talking about. LOL.

1. UK will sign Jadon Lafontant out of Greenwich. Yes or no?

2. UK will sign Dorian Williams out of Cincinnati. Yes or no?

3. UK will sign Jason Patterson out of the Pensacola area. Yes or no?

4. UK will sign Jonathan Daniels out of the Pensacola area.

5. UK will sign Damarion Witten out of Cleveland. Yes or no?

6. UK will sign Brian Robinson out of Youngstown. Yes or no?

Dorian Williams prob want visit UK. Looking like he is gonna commit to Vandy

 

[Grumpyolddawg]

In terms of recruiting, UK and GA football are in fundamentally different positions. GA has a large number of SEC caliber instate football prospects and hs competition inside your state is high level. In addition to that, the state of GA is adjacent to FL and AL, both of which also have lots of high level Power 5 prospects. Kirby will go outside that immediate area to sign players, which he can easily do because GA is a national champ. But when he does it, he is cherry picking because that's all he needs to do.

OTOH, UK cannot be competitive by recruiting instate. Besides OH, no state located immediately adjacent to KY has enough Power 5 prospects to be helpful enough for everything Stoops needs. So UK has to pull players out of OH and cherry pick FL, GA, AL, TN, and the Carolinas. By coming to UK, players from GA and FL must be willing to move north. But when UK signs a player from OH, MI, PA, or NJ, the player moves south and enters the country's best football conference. That's a better recruiting pitch. Time after time, we hear our OH and MI signees say they want to play SEC football. So UK stays competitive by taking high caliber football players from B10 country. Current NFL and former UK players Mike Edwards, Benny Snell, Lynn Bowden, Josh Paschal, Luke Fortner, Lonnie Johnson, Darian Kinnard, and Marquan McCall are from B10 states.

That's no longer accurate, we may sign 2, maybe 3 of the top 10 in Ga. Our NIL is not up front like many places are. If that is a big priority thevkid isn't signing with UGA, lost one to AU just this week. Lost one to CU a couple weeks ago because he liked it better who was 20 minutes from Sanford Stadium. OSU is likely to sign more of the top 10 than UGA and that's a tough pill to swallow.

 

[Rembrandt90]

That's no longer accurate, we may sign 2, maybe 3 of the top 10 in Ga. Our NIL is not up front like many places are. If that is a big priority thevkid isn't signing with UGA, lost one to AU just this week. Lost one to CU a couple weeks ago because he liked it better who was 20 minutes from Sanford Stadium. OSU is likely to sign more of the top 10 than UGA and that's a tough pill to swallow.

Maybe I was not clear enough. I am not saying Kirby gets every prospect he wants inside the state of GA. No SEC team thoroughly dominates recruiting inside their state. I didn't address that. I am saying there are so many legitimate Power 5 prospects inside GA that Kirby doesn't have to dominate. In GA's core recruiting territory of the state of GA and your adjacent states like FL, AL, and the Carolinas, there are so many legitimate Power 5 football prospects that you can recruit most of your football players there without even having to dominate, and then cherry pick a smaller number of interested prospects from more distant states. And since you are national champs, a lot of prospects are interested.

At UK, the opposite recruiting situation exists. KY is a small state with a small number of hs football programs that don't generate higher levels of hs competition existing inside GA and FL. There are very few legitimate Power 5 prospects inside our state. Elite prospects like Cutter Boley come along perhaps every 5 years or so, if we are lucky. Even if UK controls instate recruiting completely, that would not be nearly enough to build a contending SEC football roster. And with the exception of OH, our adjacent states don't have enough legitimate Power 5 prospects either. Stoops recruits the state of OH hard but he has to contend up there with OH St, MI, MI St, PA St, WI, and ND. So UK HAS TO recruitment more distant states. We recruit in Ml, PA, NJ, GA, AL, and FL because we HAVE TO. If we didn't develop more distant recruiting territories and recruiting relationships, then it would not be possible for us to be competitive in the SEC. This is the inherent disadvantage of being a small northerly SEC state. But Stoops and Marrow have tackled it head on.

 

[Rembrandt90]

Dorian Williams prob want visit UK. Looking like he is gonna commit to Vandy

And I still think Witten probably ends up at OH St. Makes you wonder who are now left as our primary 2024 WR targets. I guess we should now be talking about David Washington, Shamar Rigby, and Jalewis Solomon.

Thinking more about Solomon, who is visiting UK this weekend. Zayden Walker came to Lexington with Solomon. Walker is Solomon's half brother. Walker is one of the top LB prospects in the 2025 class and a top 2025 prospect in the state of GA. Very interesting.

 

[GH_UKBBN92]

And I still think Witten probably ends up at OH St. Makes you wonder who are now left as our primary 2024 WR targets. I guess we should now be talking about David Washington, Shamar Rigby, and Jalewis Solomon.

Thinking more about Solomon, who is visiting UK this weekend. Zayden Walker came to Lexington with Solomon. Walker is Solomon's half brother. Walker is one of the top LB prospects in the 2025 class and a top 2025 prospect in the state of GA. Very interesting.

What’s your best guess now of who we will get in the ‘24 class by position?

 

[Rembrandt90]

What’s your best guess now of who we will get in the ‘24 class by position?

Still way too early to do that, although it would be fun to guess. I think I can say this much. I am expecting a commitment from TE Willie Rodriguez. Coach Boulware will very likely get P/K Jacob Kauwe. Multiple CB picks have recently been entered for UK with OL Jadon Lafontant although I cannot say that I am 100% certain his UK offer is committable. I am still cautiously optimistic about RB Jason Patterson and LB Lorenzo Cowan, and I think we can at least be hopeful for DL Brian Robinson. LBs Caleb Redd and Makai Byerson are under the radar prospects for us to keep an eye on. I remain concerned about OT recruitment.

 

[Bereacat420]

And I still think Witten probably ends up at OH St. Makes you wonder who are now left as our primary 2024 WR targets. I guess we should now be talking about David Washington, Shamar Rigby, and Jalewis Solomon.

Thinking more about Solomon, who is visiting UK this weekend. Zayden Walker came to Lexington with Solomon. Walker is Solomon's half brother. Walker is one of the top LB prospects in the 2025 class and a top 2025 prospect in the state of GA. Very interesting.

Looks like Rigby may want to stay home. UCF looks likely there. They had Hardley Gilmore on an OV this weekend and that went great. He is reclassing to '24. They also know that he is taking other visits and they will have to fight to Dec to get his signature.

 

[Rembrandt90]

Looks like Rigby may want to stay home. UCF looks likely there. They had Hardley Gilmore on an OV this weekend and that went great. He is reclassing to '24. They also know that he is taking other visits and they will have to fight to Dec to get his signature.

Yes it was good to get Gilmore on campus. Would love to sign him. But his offer sheet is formidable.

I certainly don't like saying this, but Zach Yenser and Scott Woodward have to step it up and get more done pretty soon as recruiters. Especially Yenser.

 

[mrschwump]

Boulware appears to be a happy guy today(Sunday)....maybe good news on Patterson?

 

[Bereacat420]

Boulware appears to be a happy guy today(Sunday)....maybe good news on Patterson?

Appears to be a 2 piece. Most likely Mizell and the Kicker are both committing today

 

[TheBlueCat]

Rowland put in a prediction for Mizell to UK.

 

[BigBlueManSouthCentralKY]

Rowland put in a prediction for Mizell to UK.

Mizell a 4 star on Rivals and ESPN? Others have him as a 3 star. Some of the top schools wanting him include Florida, Arkansas, Oklahoma and North Carolina. Best 100 yard dash time was a 11.37. Listed at either 5-11 or 6-0 and either 195 or 200. We will need two RB's in this class so it looks like he would be a good start at that position.

 

[Bereacat420]

Mizell a 4 star on Rivals and ESPN? Others have him as a 3 star. Some of the top schools wanting him include Florida, Arkansas, Oklahoma and North Carolina. Best 100 yard dash time was a 11.37. Listed at either 5-11 or 6-0 and either 195 or 200. We will need two RB's in this class so it looks like he would be a good start at that position.

It has been said he has ran 4.4, not sure thst is accurate. He is definitely a good receiver out of the back field

 

[mrschwump]

Mizell has at least 7 SEC offers so he must be pretty good.

 

[Dddjdd]

The quality of New England football must be picking up the last few years, one of UGA's strarting OL is from Delaware, now a couple of kids from New Jersey are being recruited pretty hard. Over the years there have been a couple kids from New England area play but very few. Is it improving, getting more exposure or so many other schools entering traditional recruiting areas that southern teams are expanding their recruiting footprint?

Not to be an ass, but Delaware is a few states away from New England. It was a slave state through the civil war.

It does seem like there have been more players on UK’s radar from CT and MA though to your point.

 

[Rembrandt90]

Mizell reportedly has at least eight SEC (including GA and AL), six B10, four ACC, and three PAC12 offers. So his prospect currency is indisputable. More importantly at this particular moment, Mizell has an OV scheduled to OK on June 23. He has been known to like OK for a long time and has even been considered by some talking heads as an OK lean. For this reason, this week would seem like an odd time for him to commit somewhere else. I'm certainly not knocking it. Would really love to get his commitment, which would be a huge win for Coach Boulware. If it happens this way, I would also like to see him cancel his OV to Norman for next week.

So, again, McClain, Davis, and Jefferson are scheduled to use up their eligibility next fall. Sumo-Karngbaye, Wright, and Wilcox are scheduled to return in 2024 but Sumo-Karngbaye will use up his eligibility in 2024. Coach Coen's return to UK is a high profile development, and Cutter Boley's commitment has raised expectations for our future offense. So, all other things being equal, this would seem like a time when committing to UK could appeal to young, high level skill position playmakers. That goes for Jason Patterson as well.

 

[CAT Scratch FVR]

Let’s be clear, most players from New England are prep school kids who can be from anywhere, like the Smith kids from Kentucky. Massachussetts may have 5-10 DI players a year, CT something similar. Add in all the prep players and yeah that number grows. So, depending upon where a kid started out, it may be a relationship in the south versus a relationship in the northeast that carries the day. All good that KY is making inroads. NJ has plenty of talent. Used to be Penn State and Nebraska owned NJ but now everyone comes in and cherry picks.

 

[Cardinals19701]

Just because I seen his names mentioned here a couple of times

 

[maroon79]

I’m on it guys. Nothing is over yet!!