Kentucky, South Carolina are battling for 4-star Jaden Robinson

On3 imageby:Adam Luckett06/18/22

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Kentucky owns a 7-1 record over South Carolina since 2014. Second-year head coach Shane Beamer will be looking to change that sooner rather than later. The best way to do that is through recruiting.

In Beamer’s first full recruiting class at Carolina, the Gamecocks signed 21 players but just one top-300 recruit. Kentucky signed 20 players and seven were top-300 recruits. The Wildcats had the No. 19 class in average star rating (88.68) and South Carolina checked in at No. 32 (87.01).

Score one offseason win for Stoops and his program. In the class of 2023, both the Wildcats and Gamecocks are off to similar recruiting starts with less than 10 commits in each class, but Kentucky has the only top-300 recruit with Shamar Porter (No. 191).

Both teams are attempting to climb the ladder in the SEC East. Due to this, we should expect occasional battles on the recruiting trail as these coaching staffs cross paths in both Florida and Georgia. In the immediate future, all of the attention will be on a linebacker in North Florida.

Jaden Robinson is the No. 357 prospect in the 2023 class, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. The Lake City (Fla.) Columbia recruit is a four-star prospect who has June official visits scheduled with Kentucky, Maryland, and South Carolina. After a trip to College Park last weekend, Robinson has made the trek up to Lexington this weekend.

New linebackers coach Mike Stoops has recruited Florida for a very long time and is now mining the area for talent that Kentucky can use. Meanwhile, Florida has long been a territory that South Carolina has depended on. Last year, Beamer’s staff inked four players from the Sunshine State and has three more committed in the class of 2023.

Jaden Robinson will be taking an official visit to South Carolina after his trip to Kentucky. The linebacker has visited both Columbia and Lexington multiple times during the recruiting process. Dipping into a South Carolina territory and recording a head-to-head win would be a very good first recruiting win for Mike Stoops.

In the future, Kentucky and South Carolina should expect to have some heated matchups on the field as both programs try to climb the SEC ladder. Those games will have added stakes if these teams find themselves having more than just a few head-to-head recruiting battles.

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2024-03-28