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Randy Taylor has over 30 years experience in the college football recruiting ranks and has been on staffs at Illinois, UCLA, San Jose State and Minnesota as well as having his own recruiting service before joining NCSA Athletic Recruiting as a recruiting analyst and national speaker.
Taylor likes what he saw from Mark Stoops’ first recruiting class at Kentucky.
“If you have an aggressive, active head coach that enjoys recruiting you've got a chance. His name recognition can get him in the door of recruits other coaches can't. Take advantage of it,” Taylor, who helped recruit a No. 1 class at UCLA, said. “I would be confident if I was a Wildcat fan as I think this group can get this done.
“In my mind success has different levels and being in the hunt for conference titles and consistently playing in bowl games should be the short term goals.”
Taylor offered these insights on the recent Kentucky football recruiting class:
Question: How do you evaluate the first recruiting class that Stoops was able to put together at Kentucky?
Taylor: “Under the circumstances of putting the staff and organization together in a first year it was pretty good, especially with key mid-year prospects on campus and a couple good junior college kids to add early depth and maybe more.”
Question: Are there any major surprises to you about the class?
Taylor: “That had to be getting Jason Hatcher at the end.”
Question: Do you think this is only a sign of things to come about the emphasis he will have on recruiting in Florida and Ohio? How much could that help Kentucky?
Taylor: “Their location to Ohio and other Big Ten areas as well as the southeast states lends itself to this. Being in the SEC allows them legitimate access to any of the southeast states where by the way the most talent in the nation resides. If a midwest kid wants to play in the SEC they can go to Kentucky without much of a long drive. In the end, where they decide to spend time building relationships with high schools or already have relationships going is whee they'll be most successful.”
Question: Who are the stars of this recruiting class in your opinion?
Taylor: “Getting Jason Hatcher at the end to decommit from USC was a great get. Za'Darius Smith, the defensive end from East Mississippi Community College is a long athlete with good quickness and a motor who's already on campus getting into the system is huge. I like receiver Javess Blue, another junior college kid from Butler Community College. He's an explosive kid, a playmaker and has good length. Alvonte Bell, a defensive end from Everglades, Fla., has a terrific upside and may be the sleeper of the class. Finally, I like that they got the young quarterback on campus in the spring, Reese Phillips from Signal Mountain, Tenn. He's got the size, accuracy and can throw on time that you want in a quarterback and I think he'll get bigger, stronger and faster at this level making him a really good prospect. Nate Willis, cornerback from Arizona Western Junior College has good size, is instinctive, quick and runs well. He can handle bigger receivers.”
Question: How does Kentucky's signing class stack up with other SEC classes?
Taylor: “They're in the bottom few of the conference but have some good kids throughout the list that will be contributors at a high level and some immediately. This class would be several spots higher in most other leagues.”
Question: When you think of Kentucky football, what do you think of?
Taylor: “They should win more!”
Question: What kind of long-term impact can Stoops and this staff have on recruiting at Kentucky?
Taylor: “Depends on how active coach Stoops and his staff is year in and year out in their efforts. Recruiting is a year-round job and not just with the next class. They have to make underclass prospects high priorities. Recruiting of the class of 2014 is about one-third over already.”