Kentucky Wildcats Football: Here’s the Beef

Nov 23, 2013; Athens, GA, USA; Kentucky Wildcats center Jon Toth (72) lines up against Georgia Bulldogs nose tackle Chris Mayes (93) during the second half at Sanford Stadium. Georgia defeated Kentucky 59-17. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

In the midst of Kentucky’s Final Four run in basketball, the Wildcat football team picked up four big commitments.

Big being the operative word here. Kentucky picked up four large offensive linemen in a span of three days. All are currently tackles in high school and all are over 6’6”.  They represent the staff’s new recruiting footprint, hailing from Kentucky, Ohio, Maryland and Alabama respectively. Some folks were worried about UK’s lack of commitments and this flurry should assuage some of those concerns. But what does it say about the bigger recruiting picture?

Kentucky could take as many as seven, count’em SEVEN, offensive linemen in this class. They currently have the four tackles, although Logan Stenberg may slide inside to guard. That could be important to George Brown, the big time OL/DL from Cincinnati who is also related to 2014 signee Mike Edwards. Brown would be the best of the current bunch even if all stayed at tackle and he doesn’t seem to be afraid of competition. The Cats may need the reinforcements, as 2014 signee Nick Richardson may end up at guard himself.  It would stand to reason that they wouldn’t sign more than four tackles regardless.

Also a factor here is that Levon Livingston, whom has the highest ceiling in the group, is also ranked as high as the #15 defensive end in the country (by 247).  Right now he would need to add quite a bit of weight to hold up as an SEC offensive lineman. He does seem intent on playing there however. But there will always be the possibility of playing defense with him.

Among the other guys, the coaches really liked Larry Wells , he was one of their top targets in Ohio. He has said already that he plans on shutting down his recruitment and not taking any visits. Stenberg recently camped at Alabama and was impressive, but still flies under the radar. Mason Wolfe is a guy that the Cats offered very early and continues the trend of Kentucky’s best players staying at home to play in blue and white. He will pick up quite a few more offers between now and Signing Day.

Expect the staff to take three inside prospects. One of them, Florid center Luke Hiers, may commit as soon as today. He is on campus and the Wildcats have long been his leader. Hiers is the teammate of current Wildcat commit Marcus Walker. Much like other positions, the staff has offered a plethora of players at guard and many of them are in play at this point.

A final point to mention in offensive line recruiting is not to worry about the rankings, especially right now. Livingston has some impressive reviews, but the rest of the guys have so far not even really been evaluated. It’s early in the year and there are lots of good players who aren’t rated yet. Don’t forget that Derrick Kelly was an unranked two star but ended up a four star with a who’s who list of offers. Kentucky right now has the luxury of being very selective on whom they take commitments from and if the coaches took these four guys you can believe that they think they are good enough to play SEC football.