Kentucky Wildcat Football: Junior Day Visitors Impress

Nov 16, 2013; Nashville, TN, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Stoops during the first half against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Vanderbilt Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports

Kentucky hosted a whole mess of recruits at Saturday night’s basketball game against Florida

, the amount of talent that Kentucky had in town was above and beyond anything that the football program had ever seen. All of whom were there on their own dime and had to brave the weather to get to Lexington. The list included two five star players in Damien Harris and Daron Payne.

The event didn’t produce any known commitments but there wasn’t really any pressure applied either.  It was a chance to get guys on campus and familiar with Kentucky while the basketball season is still ongoing. I think the staff would like future classes to be like the 2014 class, where you had about three fourths of the class full by the time the football season started. The staff has always said that if they can get a kid on campus, then they have a shot to sign him and Lexington is a big draw. Expect to see a big push for commitments around the Spring Game, especially if they are able to draw another big crowd.

The list is still something to look at, because many of Kentucky’s 2014 class attended this event last year and I would expect that trend to continue for 2015. That doesn’t mean that I expect Kentucky to sign Harris (although the chances have grown massively since this staff took over) but a lot of the Ohio kids are within reach or even likely. Below is a list of this weekend’s visitors, compiled by Chris Fisher of Catspause.com.

Berea (Ky.) Madison Southern RB Damien Harris
Dothan (Ala.) S JarMarkus Sims
Washington (DC) Gonzaga WR Jabari Greenwood
Washington (DC) Gonzaga CB Marcus Lewis
Augusta (Ga.) Christian OT Zach Giella
Hampton (Ga.) Lovejoy CB Montrell Custis [UK commit]
Stone Mountain (Ga.) Stephenson WR Dexter Neal
Bowling Green (Ky.) Warren East LB Eli Brown
Bowling Green (Ky.) Warren Central LB Emmitt Smith
Henderson (Ky.) OL Mason Wolfe
Gaithersburg (Md.) DE Kamonte Carter
Olney (Md.) Good Counsel DE Darius Fullwood
Cincinnati (Ohio) Winton Woods OT George Brown Jr.
Cincinnati (Ohio) Winton Woods OT Noah Listermann
Cincinnati (Ohio) Winton Woods LB David Long
Dayton (Ohio) Trotwood-Madison CB Kei Beckham
Dublin (Ohio) Scioto LB Nick Conner
West Chester (Ohio) Lakota West LB CJ Stalker
West Chester (Ohio) Lakota West OT George Asafo-Adjei
Knoxville (Tenn.) Farragut OT Nathan Gilliam
Opelika (Ala.) DE Quandeski Whitlow
Columbus (Ohio) Walnut Ridge LB Anthony McKee
Birmingham (Ala.) Shades Valley RB Keith Mixon
Lexington (Ky.) Catholic QB Reese Ryan
Louisville (Ky.) Doss ATH Jarrell White
Glenelg (Md.) OG David Robbins
Cincinnati (Ohio) Colerain CB Jeff Christian
West Chester (Ohio) Lakota West OT Nolan Ulizio
West Chester (Ohio) Lakota West SS/OLB Devon Booker
Upper Marlboro (Md.) Wise DT Trevon Brown
Duncan (S.C.) Byrnes WR Tavin Richardson
Lexington (Ky.) Bryan Station WR Marcus Floyd
Cincinnati (Ohio) Winton Woods LB David Sparks
Cincinnati (Ohio) Winton Woods ATH Chaz Lumpkin
Cincinnati (Ohio) Winton Woods ATH Christian Lumpkin