- I logged a pick for Jutahn McClain to Kentucky tonight. He is announcing his college decision on July 4th at the same time as Miquan Grace, DeMeer Blankumsee and Miyan Williams. The four players have a pretty long history together and wanted to make their choices public in unison. No packaged deal here.
- As I posted in another thread, I briefly touched base with o-lineman Richie Leonard after his "amazing" official visit to Georgia Tech (I wouldn't read too much into that OV review until someone is able to go into greater depth with him or we start to catch wind of some good intel) and he is officially visiting Tennessee from June 21-23. Again, the OV to Kentucky is June 5-7, with a decision on July 5th.
- Also mentioned Deondre Buford in The War Room yesterday, but want to reiterate that he remains very high on Kentucky's board. Someone the staff really loves apparently. I think Kentucky will get him, at least what I'm hearing the most likely scenario is right now.
That means the most likely scenario for Kentucky's o-line class is John Young, Richie Leonard, Deondre Buford and TBD (x2?).
- @Rock_Cat78 posted a thread about recently offered 2020 o-lineman Zach Perkins of Tampa (Fla.) Berkeley Prep, a bit of a sleeper whose other recent offers are from Marshall, Colorado State, Tennessee State and Charlotte. Since not all of you read every single thread, let me restate here what I posted elsewhere. Perkins straight up told me that he plans to commit to Kentucky "if everything goes well" at his camp in Lexington on June 8th (which I will be at). He is so confident that he does not plan to camp anywhere else this summer. So he has evidently been led to believe that the staff is on board with him, he just needs to turn in the kind of performance they have already seen from him on tape. I have asked around a little bit but no firm answer yet on whether he is/will be a take. For his sake I either hope he is or he makes a more robust camp schedule.
Many of you are probably wondering about him as a player. I was told he had a solid showing at one of The Opening events and also at an Under Armour camp also in Orlando, pretty much holding his own against some solid competition and faring very well in one on ones. He was an all-county selection a year ago and is one of Berkeley Prep's top returning players, which is saying something most years. Perkins probably projects as a guard, needs to work on his hands and refine the details in his game more than some higher ranked guys but projects as a physical kid who will get serious push in the run game. He visited Rutgers earlier this year and both Purdue and Georgia Tech are interested in him. I'm close to logging a pick for Kentucky but may just wait to see how he looks with my own eyes at camp, and if it goes well it will either end with a commitment that very night or when he gets home.
- @Travis Graf posted in another thread about four-star defensive tackle Westley Neal, who released a top eight that includes Indiana, Virginia, Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, South Florida, Rutgers and Pitt. It is an interesting offer list for a four-star. Frankly, a little more like you would expect a three-stars to be. What you should know: Kentucky offered about a year ago, well before the recent flurry of offers this spring. However, Kentucky is not one of the schools recruiting him the hardest right now and I think UK's inclusion on his list has more to do with the longevity of their involvement than the intensity of it. If I had to pick a landing spot at the moment it would be Indiana.
- Touched base with three-star DE Riyad Wilmot, mentioned yesterday in the War Room, and he said that he has been in "a little bit" of contact with Kentucky since their early involvement. Syracuse and Pitt are the schools to watch with Wilmot more so than UK it seems.
- Wanted to shed some light on Rivals250 (almost Rivals100) cornerback Enzo Jennings' recruitment since he's one of the highest-rated recruits on Kentucky's board. His Rivals Forecast is 100% Penn State but that's only two picks, one from a PSU expert and another from a Rutgers expert. To my knowledge Jennings' only three scheduled official visits are Kentucky (June 7), Pitt (June 14) and Penn State (June 21-23).
There is good reason for the Penn State talk. While he hasn't visited Happy Valley recently he was a frequent visitor there early in his recruitment. It is interesting that there has been some chatter Penn State might be recruiting Jennings as a safety.
If you are wondering why Michigan isn't being mentioned more here, it's a situation where they are on the fence with Makari Paige and one or two other guys probably a little higher on their wish list. Remember that these schools each have their own unique recruiting boards and you would be surprised at how much they vary from one another, from Rivals, etc. Michigan State only offered recently apparently because he had not camped and given Mark Dantonio's staff a chance to evaluate him in person.
There has been some talk that Jennings might squeeze in a trip to Notre Dame but it would have to be between the UK trip and the PSU trip. Right now I would call this a UK-PSU battle and closer than a lot of experts think especially with Justin Rogers' recent commitment and UK's Oak Park connection.
This might have gone unnoticed here and most places, but file this away: Jennings told Jim Comparoni of the MSU Rivals site three weeks ago that Kentucky "is like a second home" and he "loves" UK. I am very tempted to log a pick for Kentucky but it would be more based on intuition and gut than anyone tipping me off. I don't like to do that so I won't. But know this really could happen. This staff does an excellent job once they have a kid on campus and they're riding a huge wave of momentum. It's hard to imagine if they have Jennings, McCall and Rogers on campus all together then the former wouldn't be very tempted to recreate that for his college years.
- Kentucky is selling Michael Drennen on having more of a receiver's role in the Cats' offense, kind of like Lynn Bowden, and that's an attractive case. It is worth mentioning that other schools including Ohio State are telling him something similar. I was told recently that Drennen's interest in Kentucky is about an 8 out of 10 right now, which means it is definitely higher than average and towards the top of his list, but compared to 9 out of 10 for probably McClain and Torrance Davis, for context.
Drennen is in no hurry to make a decision. Notre Dame has been involved but they are probably out with last week's commitment from Rivals100 all-purpose back Chris Tyree from Virginia. That leaves four most likely contenders: Ohio State, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arizona State. The first two, UK and UT, have been recruiting Drennen for a very long time and he's comfortable both places. Kentucky's situation is more stable. He has known the current staff since he was a freshman and they made an early move with him and Vince Marrow has done a really good job of staying on him. Tennessee is similar in some respects, just maybe dialed down a little bit. Arizona State is a bit of a wild card. I have been told he will officially visit Tempe and he's the kind of kid who is really focused on finding the right football fit so not to write them off. But Ohio State clearly looms large as they always would in a situation such as his. If I were ranking the likelihood of landing spots it would be Ohio State followed by Kentucky then Arizona State and Tennessee in the rear.
