** Willie Rodriguez landed an offer from Tennessee. What I have been told is that he did have very real interest in Tennessee at one point. If this offer had come a lot earlier before his offer to Kentucky it could have been problematic but I am not currently expecting him to flip from Kentucky. UK just had an in-home visit with him. Good validation for a top-5 prospect from Kentucky to have Heupel wanting him late.
** I do not have final information on who the new WR coach would be but just gut instinct is that Dameyune Craig is someone who would indeed make a lot of sense. He needs a job, Stoops needs some recruiting chops added, they overlap at Florida State and he has recruited the highest-level player at Auburn. Would be a very good recruiting hire. Just my opinion.
** Starting to seem like it might be tough to get Donaven McCulley who has been slated to visit this weekend. The IU receiver has been picking up some big offers/interest. The reason I liked him so much was he could conceivably be a backup quarterback. Remember he was a Rivals100 dual-threat QB before switching to WR with some success. Have long felt, why not just get a great athlete to put behind center in case the starter goes down if Boley, Beau Allen (or whoever they add, etc) struggles or isn't ready?
** Things sound much better on A&M receiver Raymond Cottrell. If you have followed the tone of Cottrell's postings and "likes" on social media it doesn't seem like a stretch to say the Cats have a chance to get some WR help pretty quickly. Sure seems like he is all about UK at the moment. Cottrell is a former Georgia commit who has a big frame and looked pretty good in the Aggies' spring game. Lots of remaining eligibility so he's a talented guy who has a lot of years.
** Have heard about an in-home visit with Ja'Mori Maclin but do not know about an official. Do think Kentucky is a short list option there. If they could add Cottrell and Maclin that would be big-time.
** Hope we built up some goodwill with the Vandagriff recruitment. We reported what we could when we could and in terms that were carefully worded. Do always try to do right by you all here, not always easy with timelines and everything we're dealing with.
** My understanding is Kentucky is still in a really good position with 2025 WR Eugene Hilton, the son of Ty Hilton.
** We have heard that Rocket Sanders from Arkansas is a running back that Kentucky would have some interest in. However, he's going to be one of the most coveted running backs to go into the portal and that's probably a position where it might be a little harder to find someone who obviously matches Ray Davis' 20 touchdowns and all-purpose pro-style ability. So every big name running back who goes in will be important. Georgia is one place to watch for him. Another couple of possibilities in the backfield: George Pettaway from North Carolina could be an intriguing player, and have also heard that Chad White had built up a very good RB room at West Virginia, but Jahiem White was a freshman All-Big XII option. There's probably a RB or two on that depth chart that would be of interest.
** Elijah Groves' decommitment was not a total surprise but I was not 100% sure it was going to happen. There was definitely some chatter about it. Kentucky has a lot of linebackers and potential edge guys in this class and they will hit the portal (although again, Edge is a tough spot to get a top guy in the portal I'd imagine). What I'll say about it is that in this era, you are dealing with scarcity and have to make decisions about individual players with a bigger picture in mind. I thought Groves was a good-looking prospect with a high ceiling but not a sure fire guy. Interested in what kind of career he's going to have somewhere else. Definitely seems to make it less likely that the younger Groves brothers end up at Kentucky. He's a '25 with UK, Mizzou, NC State offers, so if UK had kept him you probably have a really good core RB piece for the future. I'm not crazy about losing a guy when it could cost you two or three really promising college players even if they are loaded there at linebacker. Was probably going to be tough to keep all those linebackers on board anyways.
** I like the prospect of adding Beau Allen as a depth backstop at quarterback. Probably don't devote a lot of NIL there and have said I think he would probably be preferable as a backup situation compared to some of the other QB2s they have come into seasons with.
** One thing I've long believed... If you feel like it's overwhelming to think about the sheer amount of portal work Kentucky has to do, remember that we are talking about Kentucky. You are basically trying to have the kind(s) of seasons you had in 2018, 2021, the kind of season Missouri just had in 2023. You are not going to be elite in every position room. The key is to check the important boxes: 1) Competent gamer at QB, 2) Solid OL play, 3) No glaring weak areas, 4) Couple of studs to build around.
Do they have the studs to build around? Deone is one. Trevin could be another, although again, waiting on a possible NFL decision (have to imagine he would be back). Offensively, that's what they're after. Barion or Dane development was always going to be big.
** There's a defensive back I have had in mind who has not gone into the portal yet. Someone who had a really solid season this year and would represent both a physical and production upgrade. Of course, until he goes into the portal there's always the chance that he doesn't.
** More on Vandagriff. I think pretty quickly it was decided that he has a lot of the tools that could help a quarterback thrive in Coen's offense. We talked about what might have been going wrong with Leary for a lot of the year. The batted passes probably resulted from something of a wind up approach that anticipated where he was going coupled with his height. But at NC State he was really more of a dink and dunk guy and then someone who would drop back five steps and let it rip downfield. That is not really Coen's offense. He was too intriguing a quarterback not to take and I definitely appreciate that, but in terms of moving under center, play action throws, QB run, etc., Vandagriff is stylistically a much more natural fit for what Coen probably wants to do. Somebody like Kyle McCord from Ohio State probably would have been intriguing as well but UK was probably already locked onto Vandagriff.
** I do not have final information on who the new WR coach would be but just gut instinct is that Dameyune Craig is someone who would indeed make a lot of sense. He needs a job, Stoops needs some recruiting chops added, they overlap at Florida State and he has recruited the highest-level player at Auburn. Would be a very good recruiting hire. Just my opinion.
** Starting to seem like it might be tough to get Donaven McCulley who has been slated to visit this weekend. The IU receiver has been picking up some big offers/interest. The reason I liked him so much was he could conceivably be a backup quarterback. Remember he was a Rivals100 dual-threat QB before switching to WR with some success. Have long felt, why not just get a great athlete to put behind center in case the starter goes down if Boley, Beau Allen (or whoever they add, etc) struggles or isn't ready?
** Things sound much better on A&M receiver Raymond Cottrell. If you have followed the tone of Cottrell's postings and "likes" on social media it doesn't seem like a stretch to say the Cats have a chance to get some WR help pretty quickly. Sure seems like he is all about UK at the moment. Cottrell is a former Georgia commit who has a big frame and looked pretty good in the Aggies' spring game. Lots of remaining eligibility so he's a talented guy who has a lot of years.
** Have heard about an in-home visit with Ja'Mori Maclin but do not know about an official. Do think Kentucky is a short list option there. If they could add Cottrell and Maclin that would be big-time.
** Hope we built up some goodwill with the Vandagriff recruitment. We reported what we could when we could and in terms that were carefully worded. Do always try to do right by you all here, not always easy with timelines and everything we're dealing with.
** My understanding is Kentucky is still in a really good position with 2025 WR Eugene Hilton, the son of Ty Hilton.
** We have heard that Rocket Sanders from Arkansas is a running back that Kentucky would have some interest in. However, he's going to be one of the most coveted running backs to go into the portal and that's probably a position where it might be a little harder to find someone who obviously matches Ray Davis' 20 touchdowns and all-purpose pro-style ability. So every big name running back who goes in will be important. Georgia is one place to watch for him. Another couple of possibilities in the backfield: George Pettaway from North Carolina could be an intriguing player, and have also heard that Chad White had built up a very good RB room at West Virginia, but Jahiem White was a freshman All-Big XII option. There's probably a RB or two on that depth chart that would be of interest.
** Elijah Groves' decommitment was not a total surprise but I was not 100% sure it was going to happen. There was definitely some chatter about it. Kentucky has a lot of linebackers and potential edge guys in this class and they will hit the portal (although again, Edge is a tough spot to get a top guy in the portal I'd imagine). What I'll say about it is that in this era, you are dealing with scarcity and have to make decisions about individual players with a bigger picture in mind. I thought Groves was a good-looking prospect with a high ceiling but not a sure fire guy. Interested in what kind of career he's going to have somewhere else. Definitely seems to make it less likely that the younger Groves brothers end up at Kentucky. He's a '25 with UK, Mizzou, NC State offers, so if UK had kept him you probably have a really good core RB piece for the future. I'm not crazy about losing a guy when it could cost you two or three really promising college players even if they are loaded there at linebacker. Was probably going to be tough to keep all those linebackers on board anyways.
** I like the prospect of adding Beau Allen as a depth backstop at quarterback. Probably don't devote a lot of NIL there and have said I think he would probably be preferable as a backup situation compared to some of the other QB2s they have come into seasons with.
** One thing I've long believed... If you feel like it's overwhelming to think about the sheer amount of portal work Kentucky has to do, remember that we are talking about Kentucky. You are basically trying to have the kind(s) of seasons you had in 2018, 2021, the kind of season Missouri just had in 2023. You are not going to be elite in every position room. The key is to check the important boxes: 1) Competent gamer at QB, 2) Solid OL play, 3) No glaring weak areas, 4) Couple of studs to build around.
Do they have the studs to build around? Deone is one. Trevin could be another, although again, waiting on a possible NFL decision (have to imagine he would be back). Offensively, that's what they're after. Barion or Dane development was always going to be big.
** There's a defensive back I have had in mind who has not gone into the portal yet. Someone who had a really solid season this year and would represent both a physical and production upgrade. Of course, until he goes into the portal there's always the chance that he doesn't.
** More on Vandagriff. I think pretty quickly it was decided that he has a lot of the tools that could help a quarterback thrive in Coen's offense. We talked about what might have been going wrong with Leary for a lot of the year. The batted passes probably resulted from something of a wind up approach that anticipated where he was going coupled with his height. But at NC State he was really more of a dink and dunk guy and then someone who would drop back five steps and let it rip downfield. That is not really Coen's offense. He was too intriguing a quarterback not to take and I definitely appreciate that, but in terms of moving under center, play action throws, QB run, etc., Vandagriff is stylistically a much more natural fit for what Coen probably wants to do. Somebody like Kyle McCord from Ohio State probably would have been intriguing as well but UK was probably already locked onto Vandagriff.
