Are the Kentucky Wildcats missing out on Andrew Wiggins?
By Paul Jordan
photo courtesy Texas Tech
Former Wildcat Chad Scott is the third former Cat to join Mark Stoops staff recently, joining Neal Brown and reuniting with offensive line coach John Schlarman. Here is a bit on the UKAA press release on Scott:
"Former Kentucky tailback Chad Scott, who has spent the past six seasons coaching running backs with new UK offensive coordinator Neal Brown at both Troy and Texas Tech, will return to Lexington as an offensive assistant coach with the Wildcats, head coach Mark Stoops announced Thursday. Scott’s position assignment will be finalized when the staff hiring is complete. “I’m excited to have Chad join our staff,” Stoops said. “He has had tremendous success coaching in this system and his familiarity with Coach Brown, along with his experience with the Kentucky program, will help our transition with the team. He also is known as an outstanding recruiter and I’m confident he will help us in that area as well.” Scott ventures back to Kentucky after spending the last three seasons at Texas Tech. While TTU has been known for great success throwing the ball, Scott’s running backs have made significant contributions to the offense as well. The Red Raiders have rushed for 135.5 yards per game and scored 51 rushing touchdowns during his three seasons. TTU’s primary running backs have averaged 4.95 yards per rushing attempt. Scott inherited a running attack that ranked 115th in rushing offense in 2009 at 84 yards per game, improving that mark in his first season to 75th nationally with 141.3 yards per contest. The team’s leading rusher, Baron Batch, was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers and is in his second season with that team. The improvements continued in Scott’s second season as Texas Tech was on pace to have its best year rushing since the late 1990s before Tech’s top two rushers both sustained season-ending injuries. The Red Raider running backs still rushed for 1,516 yards on the season. In 2012, TTU averaged 139.5 yards per game on the ground with three backs rushing for more than 400 yards each. Overall, Texas Tech won the TicketCity Bowl over Northwestern following the 2010 season and has earned a berth in the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas this season."
Mark Stoops is making a big impact on the recruiting trail and apparently making inroads in the state of Ohio. Four star WR Shelton Gibson, from Ohio will be taking an official visit to Lexington this weekend and is a top 20 WR in the 2013 class. New assistant Vince Marrow is getting a lot of the credit for getting Gibson to campus. Gibson currently has offers from Louisville, Nebraska, N.C. State, Ohio State and West Virginia. Also Lovell Peterson, a DT from Ohio will be on campus this weekend as well. The above Bill Greene (whose twitter I referenced) is reporting that Kentucky coaches had an in home visit with Peterson last night.
Perhaps the most surprising news is the buzz that Kentucky has offered Lexington Catholic QB Kyle Bolin, who is a UL commit. If you have seen Bolin on Twitter, it is apparent that he is NOT a UK fan … but the fact that Stoops has offered him can be seen as a statement that Stoops is not going to willingly concede the Commonwealth’s top talent anymore.