Kentucky Wildcats Football Gets a Steal with Gunnar Hoak

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Yesterday, Mark Stoops and the Kentucky Wildcats football program got a bit of a boost in an unexpected way. They received a commitment from 2016 Dublin Coffman QB Gunnar Hoak, a 3* prospect from the state of Ohio. With the level of recruits that Mark Stoops has hauled in to Kentucky in his three years, a 3* is no longer overly impressive. However, when you consider there are only two scholarship quarterbacks on the roster, and non were taken in 2015, this was a HUGE get for Stoops and company. And according to his high school coach, Gunnar Hoak is going to be a steal. Since the guy that’s head coach developed Brady Quinn, and six other division one quarterbacks, I’d say he has a good idea. Check out his

interview with Kyle Tucker

about Gunnar Hoak below.

"What kind of player is Kentucky getting in Gunnar Hoak?“In terms of style, he’s more of a conventional pocket guy. He’s very intelligent about the game of football. He’s got a very good arm, fairly accurate, has a lot of nice touch and can throw all the various throws. The exciting thing is he’s only going to get better, too. I don’t think he’s anywhere near the potential that he’s got. Great kid, good in the classroom, good leader. All the things a college is looking for in a quarterback, he’s got all those things.”What makes you think he has such a high ceiling still?“Well, he’s our eighth Division I quarterback that we’ve had come out of here and I just base it on the experience that I’ve had with guys in the past. I’m able to compare where he’s at with those guys at the same age. I see him on a daily basis, so I base that statement on people who’ve come through here before him and also on where I think he’s going in terms of his physical traits now and where I think they’re going to be. I think he’s got a lot of room to grow physically.”Where does Hoak stack up with fellow Coffman alumni QBs like Quinn, the Stoudts and Walsh?“I know this: He was the Central District Player of the Year as a junior. None of those guys were that. Now the supporting cast around a quarterback is as important as any position in sports. Gunnar’s had good people around him and the guys before Gunnar had good people around them. Again, the exciting thing to me is I just think his potential is extremely high.”What was it about Kentucky that sold him?“The campus, he wasn’t able to see that a couple weeks ago and (this weekend) he went down and had really his first walk around the campus and got to see a lot more of it, got a lot better idea what it’s going to be like going to school there. I think Coach Stoops, he likes him a lot. I think that sold him. His position coach (new Kentucky OC Shannon Dawson), Gunnar has a pretty good feel for him in terms of being the kind of person that he would like to be coached by. I think that had a lot to do with it. And being within decent driving distance – three hours away – playing big-time football means a lot to him. So there’s a lot of great things about Kentucky, there’s no doubt about it, and he saw all those things.”How significant is Stoops and recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow’s commitment to recruit their home state of Ohio for UK?“You’ve got some coaches on staff at Kentucky that have some Ohio roots, so they recognize the value of the players out of this state. You know, Ohio State can’t take them all – and that’s OK. Somebody’s gotta pick them up, and I think with Coach Stoops particularly being from this state, recognizes the coaching background and the talent level here. A lot of coaches want to be able to pluck players out of this state and they’ve done a phenomenal job with it. I think they’re smart to do it that way. Gosh, I think Ohio State just won a national championship with 16 of 22 starters from Ohio. So there’s a lot of talent here and I think this particular staff at Kentucky has done an outstanding job getting players to come down there.”Who else was recruiting Hoak the hardest and was he a player that might’ve blown up more had he remained on the market longer?“I think he would’ve blown up a little bit more. Cincinnati offered him, but there were other schools out there, mainly in the Big Ten and a couple in the ACC, that spoke very highly of Gunnar and, much like Kentucky, valued him and his skills. But Kentucky was able to pull the trigger and was smart in doing it. Some schools just wait and wait and wait to see if somebody else wants to verify whether or not the kid’s good enough. The good thing is Kentucky didn’t wait around on that. They went on their own peace of mind and figured, ‘This kid can help us win, so we’re going to offer him.’ That’s what Gunnar likes and he appreciated that.”"

If half of what is said in here is true, then Gunnar Hoak is going to be a HECK of a get for Mark Stoops and the Kentucky Wildcats. And being able to maintain good, if not great, quarterback play after Patrick Towles and Drew Barker leave Lexington is going to be a giant measuring stick for the strides this program has made. Leaving it in the hands of a intelligent, detail-oriented quarterback sounds just fine to me. And with a name like Gunnar Hoak at quarterback, you can’t really go wrong!

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