Will Stein wants Florida’s best recruiter and Texas is trying to steal him

Kentucky fans wanted a staff that could recruit with anybody in the SEC. Will Stein might be trying to prove he heard that message loud and clear. And he is doing all he can to build one of the best recruiting staffs in the SEC.

After Florida poached Brad White from Kentucky after hiring former Wildcat Jon Sumrall, Will Stein is trying to return the favor by grabbing the best assistant coach Florida had under Billy Napier.

Texas just opened the door by firing a former Wildcat

The early buzz around his first Kentucky staff is that the Wildcats are making a serious run at Florida running backs coach Jabbar Juluke, widely viewed as the Gators’ best recruiter. The twist? Texas wants him too. And the Texas job is open because the Longhorns just moved on from former Wildcat Chad Scott.

Oh, what a tangled web.

If Stein and Kentucky can close this one, it would be a statement hire in every possible way.

You don’t get called one of the SEC’s best recruiters by accident. Just look at some of the names Juluke has helped bring in during his time at Florida and previous stops:

• DJ Lagway – Elite QB prospect with size, arm talent and mobility.
• Grant Delpit – Blue-chip safety prospect with length and range.
• Trevor Etienne – Big-time running back with SEC-ready power and vision.
• Byron Louis, KD Daniels, Duke Clark, Treyaun Webb – Backs and athletes with legit power-conference profiles.
• Tank Hawkins – Undersized but explosive wideout who can stress defenses vertically.
• Saahdiq Charles, Caden Jones – Big, physical offensive linemen tied to his recruiting footprint.

That’s not an accident. Juluke’s calling card is simple: he builds real relationships, especially with backs and skill guys, and he’s relentless in talent-rich states like Louisiana, Texas, Florida, and Mississippi. Those are exactly the regions Kentucky has to live in if it ever wants to consistently take the next step. And we aren't talking high 3-star talent, this is blue chip+ 5-star big boys.

You want to recruit like a top-half SEC program? These are the kind of assistants you go get.

Why Kentucky football needs a guy like this now

Stein is inheriting:

• An offense that needs a true reset.
• A roster that has holes to plug through both high school recruiting and the portal.
• A fanbase that just watched the last era stall out while paying top-end money.

He’s already got coordinator pieces coming together, but your position coaches and recruiting aces are what actually turn “we want to be aggressive” into “we just landed three more dudes that everyone else wanted.”

Landing Juluke would:

• Give Kentucky a proven closer in the running back room.
• Immediately boost the Wildcats’ credibility in living rooms across the South.
• Help sell Stein’s offense to high-level playmakers who want the ball in space.

And it would send a very loud message to the rest of the league that Kentucky isn’t scaling back its ambition just because Mark Stoops is gone, it's actually ramping it up now.

The Texas factor — and the Chad Scott twist

The drama here gets even better:

• Kentucky is chasing Juluke.
• Texas is also chasing Juluke.
• Texas has an opening because it just fired former Kentucky player/assistant Chad Scott.

So on one side, you have an SEC rebuild under a first-time head coach hungry to prove himself. On the other, you have a Longhorns program that can flash enormous NIL, a massive brand, and the pull of a national title contender.

If Stein can win that tug-of-war? Kentucky fans should feel very good about his ability to close big deals, on and off the field.

Can Kentucky close it?

There’s no guarantee. Texas is a heavyweight in any coaching negotiation.

But the fact that Kentucky is even in this conversation tells you a lot:

• Stein isn’t just filling out a staff with safe, familiar names.
• He wants SEC-proven recruiters who can swing battles for blue-chip talent.
• He understands that in this league, your assistant coaches recruit just as much as they coach.
• The best do want to "work with Will Stein" as the head coach put it

If he pulls it off and Jabbar Juluke ends up in Lexington, it’s the kind of hire fans will point back to a few years from now and say, “That’s when the recruiting energy really changed.”

Right now, it’s a race. And Kentucky badly needs to win it.