Could this month be the best recruiting month ever for Kentucky Wildcats Football and Basketball?
By Paul Jordan
Dec 2, 2012; Lexington , KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Stoops waves to fans before being introduced a the new football coach at the University of Kentucky in the Nutter Field House. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports
As we know, Saturday was a huge day in recruiting for the Kentucky Wildcats as UK pulled off a rare football/basketball commitment day. Four star DB Jaleel Hytche and five star center Dakari Johnson both pulled the trigger for Kentucky, making it arguably the best football/basketball recruiting day ever. Usually the football and basketball recruiting cycles run different so it is rare to have the two sport commits in one day.
However, since Hytche is the first HS commit pulled by Mark Stoops, this was a monumental grab. Especially since a few hours earlier, Louisville got a four star WR in the form of James Quick. The timing of this announcement was a proclamation that Stoops was going to battle with Louisville and other schools 24/7. And just the pure excitement that Stoops has brought to the program would have made Saturday a HUGE day. But combine the fact that Dakari Johnson, the top center in the 2013 class committed to Kentucky as well and you have a day of monumental proportions. As a matter of fact, I would place it as the THIRD best recruiting day for UK.
4/14/2010
Brandon Knight
Michael Kidd- Gilchrist
10/14/2012
Andrew Harrison
Aaron Harrison
1/5/13
Dakari Johnson
Jaleel Hytche
As of now, you have to put 1/5/13 as third all time, but Mark Stoops has a chance to make this a really huge week for Kentucky football as QB Asiantii Woulard, WR Rashad Samples, and DE Jason Hatcher, all four star players, make their visit to Lexington. If Stoops can strike gold on one or two of the players, this could contend for the best week overall for UK athletics. But Stoops would need to land at least two of these players to claim the top prize because John Calipari has set the bar pretty high for best week (or let’s go with eight day span) ever:
4/14/2010: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Brandon Knight
4/18/2010: Doron Lamb
4/22/2010: Marquis Teague
10/4/2012: Andrew Harrison
10/4/2012: Aaron Harrison
10/11/2012: James Young
I know a lot of pundits have Woulard as a Wildcat, so if Hatcher or Samples commit as well, this could very well contend. However, there is another title to go after. Add Marcus Lee’s 10/18/2012 commitment and Calipari’s October commits is right there with the 2010 commits for best month ever. However, lets say Stoops delivers two of the three recruits, it is a definite contender. It’s unusual that football recruits are being pulled in the same time as basketball recruits, so if Stoops hits paydirt and lands say Samples and Woulard, he and Calipari would have the new joint title of best month ever in recruiting:
12/19/2012: DE Za’Darius Smith, TE Steven Borden
1/5/2013: C Dakari Johnson , DB Jaleel Hytche
1/12/2013: QB Asiantii Woulard, (?) WR Rashad Samples (?)
Of course, with the limited time till Signing Day, Stoops could have the best month ever all by himself if he can reel in other commits. No matter what happens though, you can probably say that with Calipari and Stoops, we are entering the golden age of recruiting at Kentucky.