Kentucky Wildcats Football: Dead Period Recruiting Update

It’s the dead period and everyone is stressing about Vince Marrow, the empty special teams job and Damien Harris

but nobody seems to be talking about the rest of the recruiting news going on constantly. Post- season All-Star games were this week. As you read this UK signee George Asafo-Adjei is playing in the Semper Fidelis Bowl on Fox Sports 1. The recruiting dead period last for another ten days, and then it’s three weeks of grind until Signing Day. Here are some notables you may not have caught:

• As mentioned above George AA is playing in the Semper Fi Bowl right now. So are targets Rob Dowdy and Rashard Causey. UK commit Eli Brown just finished playing in the US Army All-America Game yesterday. Brown started and played major minutes in the game. He started over Vanderbilt commit and Kentucky target Josh Smith. UK targets Damien Harris and Marcus Lewis both played in the Under Amour All America game Friday night.
• Speaking of Lewis, Jim Harbaugh’s hiring at Michigan could be a real problem for Kentucky in this one. The Wolverines were Lewis’s favorite once upon a time and Harbaugh’s star will never be brighter than it is now. Two weeks ago Lewis was likely bound for Lexington, now things are up in there air. Tyree Kinnel has already been locked in for Ann Arbor.
• Four of Kentucky’s 2015 commitments will enroll in January. Lineman George Asafo-Adjei, defensive end Kengera Daniel, tight end CJ Conrad and linebacker Jordan Jones are all expected to be on campus for Spring practice. Each player was rated four-stars by at least one service and was expected to challenge for playing time early. Enrolling early increases the chances of that substantially. One would think Asafo-Adjei would be better off redshirting but the coaches are quietly excited about his early impact.
• Kentucky wants another receiver or two, preferably big ones. Tavin Richardson has been a Kentucky lean for some time but he never got to visit like he expected. He’ll visit Lexington in January but will also visit other schools. It’s starting to look like the wideout that they really want is Illinois commit A.D. Miller, who visited for the North Carolina game. They have also contacted Kansas commit Chase Harell.
• The coaches would like to add another defensive tackle to the class but the options are drying up. They are very pleased with Davon Hamilton and think he could play early, but much like the offensive line, you want to stock the defensive line every year. Kengera Daniel could grow into a pass-rushing tackle but adding another tackle is ideal.
• UK is looking into the junior college ranks to bolster some experience and depth on defense. They are looking at cornerbacks and defensive linemen. The Cats can’t count on having Lloyd Tubman ever again and they are dangerously green in the secondary. It’s not a indication of UK’s talent in the last few classes but we all saw UK start three freshman corners a few years ago and nobody wants to see that again.
• As of the coaching changes stand to create some change in the recruiting map. Obviously everything hinges on Vince Marrow, but as things stand right now, UK might be poised to double down on both of their new recruiting ventures. New offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson has a lot of experience recruiting Ohio and the Atlantic region, including the “DMV”. Both areas are recruiting gold mines. John Schlarman will be the main guy covering the state of Kentucky in Neal Brown’s absence. It will be interesting to see if the new special teams coordinator opens any new areas for UK.