Kentucky Wildcats Football Recruiting: Who’s Next?

Last night, Mark Stoops locked up a key part of the 2016 class in Drake Jackson and the 2016 class is coming along quite well.  It is still ridiculously early, but 24/7 Sports has the 2016 class, with six commits, ranked #7 in the nation.    The 2015 campaign is not over yet, however as Kentucky still has several spots remaining.  Kentucky is expected to sign 25 players in this class and the Nebraska transfers, Courtney Love and Greg Hart, will take up two of those spots.  Kentucky officially have 18 commitments, which means five available spots.  However, both Rivals and 24/7 have removed OT Larry Wells from the list due to concerns he may not attend UK.  That means that Mark Stoops has 5-6 spots to fill and I’m sure he still is recruiting Wells.  Here is a look at a few players who could be next for Kentucky Wildcats Football Recruiting.

As I am writing this early Sunday morning, we could have another commitment by the time you are reading this.  There has been a lot of buzz about big Tylor Pollard from Mississippi.  First off, don’t be concerned about the rankings for Pollard.  Rivals has him listed as a two star, but he is definitely a hidden gem.  The 6’6, 320 pound OT has no Power 5 offers yet, but that should not scare Kentucky fans.  Pollard was in Lexington this weekend and was expected to commit.  He would be a very nice replacement for Wells and will probably be a three star by the end of this class.

The big three on Kentucky’s wish list (Damien Harris, Tavin Richardson, and Marcus Lewis) will not decide until January.  Lewis is rumored to be down to Kentucky and Miami and he will announce at the Under Armour Game on January 2.  Damien Harris decides a week later and you could take it as a good sign that UK was his last recruiting visit.  Tavin Richardson has said Kentucky is his leader.  He will visit both UK and UL next month.  It is a very good probability that Kentucky can land all three of these, but even two of three would be nice.  If I had to give my wish list, I’d take Harris and Lewis.  I’m greedy though.  I want them all.

I also think UK is in a very good position with Ohio DT Javon Provitt.  Provitt is a three star recruit with great size at 6’3 and 215.  We could see a couple of “Stoops vs Stoops” battles coming up between current Vanderbilt LB commit Josh Smith and DB Nate Dalton.  Mark Stoops may also dip back into the JUCO arena for LB Davon Durant.  Durant is currrently committed to Arizona State but word is UK is working to flip him.  Also, JUCO DB Allen Sentimore would be a good pickup.  He had 7 interceptions this past season and returned two for TDs.

There are a very other players on the Kentucky Wildcats Football Recruiting big board, but if pressed to find the 5-6 players to complete this class, I’d say they are in this list.  As of  right now, Kentucky has the #30 class in 2015 but their average player ranking is 3.24.  Other teams, like Louisville, are ahead of Kentucky because they have more commits, but Kentucky has more highly rated players.  UL’s average player ranking is 2.95.  If you go by the average player ranking, UK has the 24th best class and that number could soar by February.