The University of Kentucky coaching staff has had plenty of visitors on campus recently and has scheduled up-coming visits for the weeks/months ahead. As we all know by now, there is no rest for this staff and there is no one that they won’t pursue if they think that person can help them.
Recently Visited
This past week Darius Fullwood released his top five schools and Kentucky was in the mix. The 6’ 3” 238 lb. strongside defensive end is rated by Rivals.com as 5.8 4-star and ranked as the 20th best athlete at his position in the country. Darius has visited UK multiple times, the last being at the spring game, April 26th. He visited with teammate and friend, 2014 signee Kobie Walker.
Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Miami and Ohio State were the other schools to make Darius’ top five.
Some think he is a Kentucky lean but he says that all of the schools are even right now.
Fullwood originally planned to make his decision around mid-May but is now thinking he may push it back to mid-June.
I like Kentucky’s chances here.
Two other guys of note that also attended the spring game where P.J. Simmons and Jaylin Hayward. Both players are friends and both play high school ball together at Tallahassee (Fla.) Godby. I bring these two up because they had said after their visit to UK that they were going to be making their decision on May 16th. However, now I am hearing rumors that Hayward may be pushing his decision back.
The 5’ 9” 180 lb. Simmons is a running back rated as a 5.5 3-star. He says that Kentucky is at the top of his list along with Florida, North Carolina, Arkansas State and Troy.
Hayward is a guy that I don’t know a lot about, or at least, I don’t know who he would consider a favorite. Jaylin is rated as a 5.7 3-star and ranked as the 42 best “athlete” in the country. He plays multiple positions for his Godby high school team, playing wide receiver, running back and defensive back.
Some of his offers include Kentucky, Florida State, LSU, Miami (Fl), Tennessee and others.
Planned Visits
In what was a surprise to me, Rivals250 linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr., narrowed his list to 10 schools last week and Kentucky made that list.
Kirkland has now scheduled a visit to Kentucky this coming Saturday.
Darrin, as I reported on Tuesday, won the No. 1 defensive MVP award at the Rivals Camp Series in Columbus, Ohio two weeks ago. He stands at 6’ 1” and weighs in at 233 lbs. Darrin is rated as a 5.8 4-star and ranked as the 6th best inside linebacker in the country and is also ranked as the 183rd best over-all athlete in the nation.
Kirkland has said that his relationship with his lead recruiter, coach John Schlarman is a big reason as to why Kentucky made his list. He had said that coach Schlarman has told him how much they want him to be a part of the UK family and that there is going to be a great need for linebackers with the potential to play early. He also had said that Schlarman was excited about him as a player but also as a student. Darrin said that it was nice to have a coach that has that much interest in him, so he wanted to get down here for a visit.
Kirkland wants to visit a few more schools and then cut his list again, before he makes a decision in August.
Some of the schools that made his first initial cut were Wisconsin, Penn State, Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee, and others.
Let’s hope John and the rest of the staff can win him over.
Kengera Daniel is a 6’ 6” 241 lb. weakside defensive end who hails from Raleigh (N.C.) Millbrook. Daniel received an offer from coach Naivar on May 1st and he is already planning a visit.
He said that coach Naivar told him they were recruiting him at a hybrid position, which means that he could stand up as a linebacker or be on the defensive line to rush the quarterback.
Kengera is rated as a 5.7 3-star and ranked 18th at his position. Kentucky joins an already impressive list of schools that have offered including, Louisville, Miami, Tennessee, Virginia, Alabama and several others.
Good luck to the coaches and also to these top recruits.