James Nesta, a class of 2024 4-star LB, includes Kentucky in Top 8
Kentucky is in the mix for one of North Carolina’s most talented juniors.
On Monday afternoon, James Nesta, a four-star class of 2024 linebacker from William Amos Hough High School, dropped his top eight schools. Kentucky made the cut, as did NC State, Duke, Virginia Tech, Southern California, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Nesta, who checks in at 6-foot-5, 205-pounds, is considered the No. 355 overall junior prospect in the country, per the On3 Consensus.
Nesta doubles as a star pitcher on the baseball diamond, as well. He holds a 9.5 rating by Perfect Game, which projects him as a potential top 10 round MLB Draft pick down the road. Kentucky baseball head coach Nick Mingione is recruiting Nesta as a potential dual-sport athlete for the Wildcats. He’s been clocked at throwing a 92 MPH fastball.
Kentucky has been recruiting Nesta for a few months now, extending him an offer courtesy of defensive coordinator Brad White back in January. The North Carolina product took his first visit to Lexington shortly after in early March where he toured both the football and baseball facilities, meeting with coaches from both programs during the trip.
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“I got to sit down and talk with Coach Minge for a good amount of time,” Nesta told Jacob Polacheck of KSR+ following his visit to UK. “I got to see their whole facility, got the whole thing today. It was awesome.”
More recently, Nesta has taken visits to North Carolina, Southern California, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Vanderbilt, with the Commodores as the lone school to not make his top 8. All of his finalists are recruiting him to play football and baseball at the college level. It certainly doesn’t hurt Kentucky’s chances that Mingione’s team is ranked No. 12 in the country and playing the best the program has seen in years, either.
Nesta is targeting a fall decision near the beginning of his senior season.
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