Bad Day for Kentucky Wildcats Football

After about a year and a half of positive vibe and good recruiting news from Mark Stoops and his Kentucky Wildcats football;; team, the train seemingly jumped off the track yesterday.  Perhaps the most damaging news of all came late last night with the news that the Dowell twins had de-committed from the Wildcats. For recruiting, this has been a horrible week just days from National Signing Day.

"The Dowell twins were two of UK’s top commitments, and their departure leaves linebacker Eli Brown and tight end C.J. Conrad as the Cats’ only four-star pledges for the class of 2015, according to the Rivals.com rankings. Kentucky had 10 four-star signees in 2014. Rivals.com ranks Andrew as the No. 15 athlete and David as the No. 30 cornerback in the country. They are considered the Nos. 11 and 12 overall prospects from the state of Ohio, respectively. The Cats have now lost four commitments in three days, after cornerback Jeremiah Dinson backed off of his pledge Sunday to commit to Auburn and defensive lineman DaVon Hamilton flipped his commitment from UK to Ohio State on Monday. UK is left with 15 commitments for 2015, and its class will be tied for No. 49 in the country once the Rivals.com team rankings are updated to reflect the Dowell twins’ decision."

Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

That news just snowballed on top of the news about the fight at a Richmond bar early Sunday morning that allegedly involved Kentucky Wildcat football players Drew Barker, Dorian Baker and Tymere Dubose. Even though there are tons of speculation and rumors on social media, there is still no police investigation and all institutions involved are incredibly tight lipped.

"Scott Cason, EKU’s vice president for communications, said he was unable to confirm any names, but that the university was investigating the off-campus incident “as well as a possible related incident in Telford Hall that may have occurred late Saturday night or early Sunday morning.” Cason said that, to his knowledge, no charges or complaints have been filed regarding the off-campus incident. Likewise, a Richmond police spokesman said Tuesday afternoon the department had “yet to see a report concerning such a matter.” UK athletics spokesman Tony Neely said the university had no comment. Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops is on the road recruiting but is aware of the allegations and is gathering information, a source said. Barker, Baker and Dubose were among four UK players suspended one game for their roles in an airsoft pellet gun scare on UK’s campus in September."

If you read the above link, witnesses are saying that Colton Scurry was the aggresor, but look for several variations on that story today as I am sure a totally different side of the story will get out.

I admit, I am all for getting to the bottom of this but the plea for “friends” of Scurry seems a bit interesting.

I’m going to hold off any pre-judgements until any charges are actually filed. I’ve heard way too many fishy stories on both sides and like always, the truth is in the middle and will come out.

With NSD less than a week away, look for the Kentucky Wildcats to now scurry to fill this 2015 class.  I admit, it has been a terrible week, but this team has a lot of redshirt talent that was stocked away last season.  And as recently as last night, Big 10 media outlets were still extolling the job Kentucky has done in Ohio.  Even though the loss of the Dowell twins was not mentioned in this story, it is a pretty good story about UK’s efforts in Big 10 area,

"Kentucky is supposed to be intimidated by Michigan, Michigan State and Wisconsin. Ohio State’s leftovers – the really good ones, anyway – are supposed to stay in Big Ten country. So why is Kentucky making the rest of the Big Ten look so bad? It helps that Stoops and Marrow are from Youngstown, were high school teammates at Cardinal Mooney under Stoops’ father, Ron, and have a ton of relationships in the state. Urban Meyer is still the king of pulling top Ohio talent, but Kentucky has come in and recruited the state better than any other Big Ten program.Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com But it’s about relentless effort – sound familiar? Stoops has dedicated time for every single one of his assistants to go through Ohio in the spring, and Kentucky has approached Ohio like Ohio State. “We treat Ohio as in-state,” Stoops said. “That doesn’t get talked about enough – is how much of a point of emphasis we put on Ohio from myself down to every assistant on the staff.” Plus the distance makes sense. Kentucky is an SEC school that plays in the deepest, most talented conference in college football … and it’s an hour away from Southern Ohio. The location couldn’t be any more perfect for Stoops’ first head coaching job. So come on Darrell Hazell, Kevin Wilson Tim Beckman, Pat Fitzgerald – any of you. Who is going to be the reason Marrow doesn’t fist-pump when only Ohio State is out of the picture? Who is going to challenge … Kentucky?"

Here is a look of the remaining targets for Kentucky Wildcats football over the next week or so.  I have to admit, things look grim, but Mark Stoops may be able to turn all this around in the next week or so.