Kentucky Wildcats Football: Analyzing the four-stars

For today’s post, I thought I’d do a little research and see how going after (and getting) highly rated recruits has worked out for Kentucky. For today’s analysis, I used the ratings databases provided by Rivals, Scout, and ESPN. The 24/7 Sports databases were not used because they are too new an only go back as far as 2010. It’s important to note that ESPN’s rating methods have changed from year-to-year and got a little confusing. For example, in the 2010 class, Zach West was rated as a four star prospect with a grade of 79. At the same time, Glen Faulkner and Darrian Miller were both also graded at 79, but received three stars. To help streamline the process, I included everyone ESPN graded at 79 or higher. ESPN also did not provide data before 2006, while Scout and Rivals both go back to 2002. So on to the results and my opinions…

2002 – 2 players

Chris Bernard – WR – Mission Viejo, CA
Rated by: Scout only
Result: GOOD
While he won’t be a candidate for any all-time teams, Bernard came to Lexington and contributed, which is all you can ask for a JUCO receiver.

Yancey Reynolds – OL – Milledgeville, GA
Rated by: Rivals only
Result: BUST
Reynolds came in from Georgia Military Academy and had little impact in is one year with the team.

2003 – 3 players

Andre Woodson – QB – Radcliff, KY
Rated by: Rivals and Scout
Result: GREAT
While Brian Brohm was the Kentucky prep QB that was grabbing headlines, UK went after Woodson and it paid off. Andre started his career slow, but ended it with a bang and lead the team to some of it’s most memorable wins ever.

Emmanual Harrell – WR – LaGrange, GA
Rated by: Scout only
Result: BUST
Harrell never made it to campus.

John Logan – WR – Lexington, KY
Rated by: Scout only
Result: BUST
I sort of feel like Logan got a bad rap here in Lexington. He was the hometown kid and expectations were through the roof for him before he ever put on a Wildcat uniform. That said, he had one career catch for ten yards.

2004 – 1 player

Micah Jones – OL – Mayfield, KY
Rated by: Rivals and Scout
Result: BUST
Jones had injury issues nearly the entire time he was a Wildcat and never made any type of impact.

2005 – 0 players

2006 – 6 players

Demetrius Goode – RB – LaGrange, GA
Rated by: Rivals and ESPN
Result: BUST
Goode never made it to campus.

Micah Johnson – LB – Ft. Campbell, KY
Rated by: Rivals, Scout, & ESPN
Result: GOOD
Of all the players on this list, Micah was the gem when he committed to Kentucky. He was recruited by every school in the US and he was pretty much a sure thing when he came to Lexington. A laundry list of injuries and playing out of his natural position kept him from being one of the all-time greats, but his career has to be viewed as a success.

Corey Peters – DL – Louisville, KY
Rated by: Rivals only
Result: GREAT
While guys like Johnson and Goode stole the headlines on signing day, Corey Peters probably ended up as the best player in the class. He was consistent from early in his career and along with Myron Pryor, formed one of the best interior duos the Kentucky defense has seen in a long time.

Josh Minton – DL – Somerset, KY
Rated by: Scout only
Result: BUST
Josh was never able to contribute. Injuries plagued him from the day he stepped foot on campus to the day he hung it up.

Steve Johnson – WR – Hayward, CA
Rated by: Scout only
Result: GREAT
Kentucky already had a couple of solid options at receiver, but Johnson came in and made an impact on the rotation early. His second year out of JUCO was where he really took off and stole the show with big play after big play. I consider Johnson to be one of the best offensive players at Kentucky in the last two decades.

Mike Hartline – QB – Canton, OH
Rated by: ESPN only
Result: GOOD
Surprised? While most Kentucky fans were focusing on Will Fidler coming in, it was actually Hartline that ESPN saw more potential in and graded as a 79 (there were no stars used at this point). Hartline had an up-and-down career at UK, but his senior season made up for his shortcomings as a sophomore and injuries as a junior.

2007 – 1 player

D.J. Stafford – DL – LaGrange, GA
Rated by: Rivals and ESPN
Result: BUST
After much anticipation, Stafford was not able to make it to campus. He had a stint in prep school, but it wasn’t enough to get him qualified. He might be the most important player Kentucky has missed on in recent years.

2008 – 2 players

Aaron Boyd – WR – Lexington, KY
Rated by: Rivals, Scout, & ESPN
Result: UNKNOWN, but not looking good
Boyd was a consensus four-star guy and struggled to click from day one. After playing sparingly as a true freshman, he redshirted in 2009 before playing as a reserve this past year. As a redshirt-junior, it’s going to be do-or-die this season for Boyd.

Winston Guy – DB – Lexington, KY
Rated by: Scout only
Result: GOOD
Another local player with high expectations, Guy was able to get
on the field very early in his career. While he hasn’t been the most consistent player on the roster, he’s made some big plays and lived up to those high expectations thus far. If the position move to linebacker works as well as the staff is hoping, he could be in for a huge year.

2009 – 5 players

Morgan Newton – QB – Carmel, IN
Rated by: Scout and ESPN
Results: GOOD
Morgan is only entering into his junior year, but started the last half of his freshman campaign because of injury to Mike Hartline. Then he spent the entire 2010 season as the number two guy on the depth chart and

Ryan Mossakowski – QB – Frisco, TX
Rated by: Rivals, Scout & ESPN
Results: BUST
Mossakowski came to campus with a shoulder injury that he never could shake. The writing was on the wall when he didn’t get into the bowl game against Pitt. Despite things not working out for him at UK, he will only be a (RS)Sophomore this season in JUCO and will have a chance to impress someone and justify his ranking as a prep player.

DeQuin Evans – DE – Los Angeles, CA
Rated by: Rivals and Scout
Results: GOOD
Evans had a great first year, but his last season out of JUCO didn’t go as planned. A long list of injuries and getting in the doghouse hampered his final year and kept him from having a bigger impact.

Chris Matthews – WR – Los Angeles, CA
Rated by: Rivals only
Results: GOOD
While he never had the type of impact Steve Johnson did out of JUCO, Matthews was able to come in and give the Kentucky offense a dangerous secondary option behind Randall Cobb. He has all the talent in the world, but it just never seemed to all come together for him to really break out.

Myron Walker – DL – New Orleans, LA
Rated by: ESPN only
Results: BUST
Walker left the team before ever taking a snap as a Wildcat. To be fair, ESPN did rate him significantly higher than the other sites

2010 – Unknown
There are a couple of guys in the 2010 class that were highly rated, but it’s a little too early to tell how things will go for most of them. Alex Smith (4-star per Rivals) was a consensus top 20 tight end and he has already left the team although it hasn’t been officially explained yet.

So what’s the point? This is to remind everyone that the ratings don’t always tell the whole story. Some guys never make it to campus and some guys flame out when they get there. This definitely doesn’t mean Joker should stop recruiting highly rated guys, but keep in mind that sometimes those four and five star guys just don’t live up to their hype.

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