Kentucky Wildcats Football poised to make noise on basketball’s off weekend
By Paul Jordan
Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports
No Kentucky basketball game this weekend? No problem. A couple of Kentucky Wildcats Football recruits are poised to shine this weekend and Mark Stoop’s 2014 recruiting class could get just a little better. The US All American Bowl takes place on Saturday at 1:00 PM and Drew Barker is one of the quarterbacks for the West squad. It’s great national exposure for Kentucky to have Barker on the roster and from some practice reports, he is impressing the scribes at practice.
"10- Drew Barker, QB, Hebron (Ky.) ConnerWe knew coming in because of the level of competition he faces in the state of Kentucky that Barker may have a learning curve in terms of the speed of the game. We also knew that knowing Barker, he would pick things up quickly and he has. During one play in particular, under a rush from Frazier and McDowell, Barker avoided the pressure and fired a strike down the field to an open Brown. It was an impressive play- the type you would expect from a highly-regarded quarterback prospect. Barker will enroll at the University of Kentucky soon and depending on how quickly he develops, it could be 2015 at the latest before he’s a starting quarterback in the Southeastern Conference."
Barker is enrolled at Kentucky for the upcoming Spring semester and he continues to recruit Matt Elam to join him at Kentucky. Barker tweeted out the following picture with the caption #BBN.
Barker continued the tease yesterday with this tweet:
Even though Elam says he has not made a decision yet, I would have to say that it is a huge upset if Alabama and Nick Saban can pull Elam from Kentucky. Yes, read that last sentence again and realize there is no sarcasm in it. I have heard the buzz for a while that Elam has already committed and still consider it a rumor until I hear the words from Elam’s mouth on Saturday.
Barker and Elam have had a great bromance on social media and it seems like Elam is a Wildcat … but let’s wait about 40 more hours for this to be official.
Aside from Elam, Barker really has been the major force in keeping this class together and also recruiting other players. And IF Elam does commit to Kentucky, it is going to be interesting to see how many more players the Elam/Barker duo can pull.
There are reports that current Miami commit Travonte Valentine may be at least sipping the Big Blue Kool-Aid Barker is preaching. Valentine is a four star DT from South Florida and is rated the #7 DT by 24/7 and #14 by Rivals. Regardless, he and Elam could form a fearless and formidable tandem in Lexington for the next 3-4 years. Also, if Elam becomes a Cat, expect he and Barker to work on big OG Marcelys Jones. Jones is an Ohio State commit, but if Elam falls to UK, expect at least a shift in the thinking of other players at the Bowl Game.
Stay tuned. This can be fun.