With national signing day looming Feb. 6, there was a flurry of Kentucky recruiting related activity over the weekend.
Here are some of the highlights:
Here are some of the highlights:
- Franklin County receiver Ryan Timmons and his mother attended the UK-LSU basketball game. It was his second trip to UK in three weeks, and first time to bring his mother to a basketball game. He’s apparently down to Kentucky, Ohio State, Florida and Illinois.
- Safety Marcus McWilson of Youngstown, Ohio, a top 200 recruit, de-committed from Nebraska and could be close to giving a commitment to the Wildcats after making a visit over the weekend. He committed to Nebraska in September, but was recruited there by new UK tight ends coach Vince Marrow. McWilson attends Cardinal Mooney High School — the same school that new UK head coach Mark Stoops and Marrow attended.
- Another top 200 recruit, Florida linebacker James Hearns, also visited UK after breaking nearly a year-long commitment to Florida. While there have been questions about his academics, he seemed intent on possibly making a commitment to UK as well because of Stoops and new defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot. Hearns also has Louisville, Auburn, Houston, Florida State, South Carolina and South Florida on his list of potential schools and had offers from Alabama, Notre Dame, Georgia, LSU and Ohio State.
- Trinity defensive end Jason Hatcher was rumored to have made an unofficial visit to Lexington Saturday also rather than take a planned visit to Louisville. He recently de-committed from Southern Cal and, like Timmons, would be a huge signing for Stoops considering he did not have Kentucky on his radar six weeks ago.
- Florida receiver Jeff Badet seemed set to commit to UK, but he got an unexpected scholarship offer from UCLA this week. His former teammate, quarterback Asiantii Woulard — also a Kentucky recruit — made an official visit to UCLA this weekend and obviously must have touted Badet’s ability. Badet and Woulard were teammates at Freedom High School as freshmen and sophomores before Woulard transferred to Winter Park. Badet will now visit UCLA this weekend before making his college choice.
- Florida linebacker Keith Kelsey was slated to pick between UK, Louisville and South Florida today after making trips to Louisville and Kentucky the last two weeks. Two factors against UK could be that Kelsey’s father has ties to Louisville coach Charlie Strong and Hearns’ possible commitment to the Cats.
- Stoops also apparently offered 6-4, 240-pound Campbell County quarterback Tyler Durham a preferred walk-on spot for next year with the idea of converting the northern Kentucky player into a tight end. Sounds similar to what Hal Mumme did a few years back with Danville quarterback Chase Harp, who was on scholarship, and then became a starting tight end.
- Florida running back Stafon McCray committed to South Florida Sunday over UK, but Florida running back JoJo Kemp did not commit to South Florida during his visit and seems to continue to have UK No. 1 even though he also still has Pittsburgh, West Virginia and South Florida on his list.
