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FB Recruiting Weekend Insider Notes

JRowland

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May 29, 2001
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Hope everyone's Championship Saturday is going well. It's been a decent day of sports. Lots to watch, but the SECCG blowout and US loss in the World Cup means it could have been a better day.

** Next week is going to be a big one for official visits. Could be close to double digits in terms of the number of guys coming in. The following week right on the heels of that I suspect they will be bringing some potential portal options in.

** Yesterday Kentucky extended an offer to '23 running back Lamar Sperling from Archbishop Hoban in Ohio. That's the school former UK QB Danny Clark came from. Sperling put up monster numbers this year and that continued into the playoffs. He's committed to Buffalo and that hasn't changed. My guess is Kentucky wants to get him on campus sometime and that's the reason for the lag between an offer and a flip. But when I did some looking into this situation I did get the sense that there's a very real chance he becomes a take for Kentucky. I think UK likes him quite a bit. He's not the biggest guy but he runs very hard. Can't arm tackle him and that isn't true for everyone that size. The question will be how that translates to the SEC but since they're bringing in several RBs in the near future I see how you can get on board with him.

Beyond that I still have no clue how things turn out at RB with Jamarion Wilcox, Trey Cornist, and Robert Henry all out there as well. We know that it will come down to Henry's December OV's to Kentucky and South Carolina (in that order). I know Wilcox and Cornist have both been on Ohio State's radar, but since OSU has offered Wilcox and not Cornist that would seem to tip Ryan Day's hand on his preference. And even so, I'm not sure if Wilcox has moved into the take camp for them, as they were watching a couple of other situations. A lot still to be determined. But as I've said, do think there's a very solid transfer possibility that could materialize.

The thing about the RB situation is I'm sure the staff has a sense of what order they like these backs in and I'm not 100% sure about that. But because of that they are going to have to play this game of maybe hoping certain guys hold off while they wait on other guys, and it's just going to be interesting. Especially with no RB coach right now.

** Baylor safety Devin Neal went into the portal. I know Ryan Lemond said he heard UK and UofL will be in consideration but have heard chatter that Kentucky isn't going to pursue. He's a really nice player and I think ordinarily they would be happy to put a guy like that on the field but they have a really good situation at safety. You think about Lovett, Geiger, Vito, Childress and the young guys, and to justify bringing in a portal safety you'd have to see him as an obvious upgrade otherwise it wouldn't be great for the older guys. Just don't see that as an obvious upgrade but if he goes to Louisville that's a nice get for them.

** Hearing that Iowa LB Asa Newsom could very well be officially visiting Kentucky in the near future. He initially told me that he had to talk it over with his family but seems like that's going to happen. Kentucky has not been involved with Newsom for nearly as long as Iowa and some of the other schools that have been recruiting him but playing in the SEC for a staff that has really developed some players is something that seems to hold great appeal. He's a really versatile guy who plays fast and can be used in creative ways.


** Kendrick Gilbert is the major high school defensive lineman to watch but Dartmouth defensive line transfer Shane Cokes seems like he could become a top tier portal guy for Kentucky. A lot of schools are involved here and he already has offers from NC State, West Virginia, Oklahoma State, Washington State, Coastal, Purdue, and others have already offered. He was named second team All-Ivy League two years in a row for Dartmouth and I'm not sure if I would put him up in the highest tier of guys to focus on yet (Bowles, Cox) but he would probably be in the next tier which means I could definitely see it becoming something interesting.

** One of the QBs Rich Scangarello had been targeting for Kentucky, although no offer had been extended, was to Amari Odom from Cary, NC (where I grew up for many years!) and Panther Creek HS. While he didn't have an offer, he had been dealing with an ACL injury that had really impacted his recruitment. Scangarello had visited his high school and Odom was actually originally scheduled to officially visit Kentucky on October 19th for the Georgia game but UK had him push that back to an undetermined date in December. Scangarello liked how he saw the whole field and could make all the throws. He's a '23 prospect and so we know Kentucky at least had some interest in potentially adding a QB this cycle. He would still be extremely interested in UK if the next OC is interested.


** Can tell you that elite '25 QB Ryan Montgomery and his family would seem to be very pleased if Liam Coen is the offensive coordinator back at Kentucky next year and beyond. Of course he's still a long way off but he and Cutter Boley are the most interesting quarterbacks in that class for Kentucky. Coen had a little bit of contact with them before he went off to the Rams and while a lot of people have assumed Montgomery is going to end up elsewhere, they have always been more interested in Kentucky than I think anybody has given them credit for.
 
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