Kentucky DL target Adrian Griffin includes 'Cats in top 5

Adrian “Big Snacks” Griffin is roughly two months away from making his college decision, and the Kentucky Wildcats are in a good spot.

On Thursday morning, Griffin, a three-star class of 2023 defensive lineman out of Fairfield Preparatory School (AL), announced his top 5 schools, which included Kentucky, West Virginia, Mississippi State, Tennessee, and Troy. Clocking in at 6-foot-4, 260 pounds, the high school junior has made several visits to Lexington in the past and will return for the Wildcats’ April 9 Spring Game before making his final decision.

Griffin posted to Twitter earlier this month that he plans to announce his commitment on May 21. He also holds offers from the likes of Maryland, Louisville, UAB, Syracuse, Georgia State. Griffin was on Georgia Tech’s campus at the beginning of March.

𝑇𝑜𝑝 5🤔 pic.twitter.com/dz6QkcvsI9

— 𝔾𝕣𝕚𝕗𝕗✞ (𝔹𝕚𝕘 𝕊𝕟𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕤🍕) (@Adrian_Griffin1) March 24, 2022

Griffin initially picked up his offer from Kentucky last summer during a camp visit, which came from former inside linebackers coach Jon Sumrall, who is now the head coach at Troy. Sumrall has clearly continued that relationship with the Trojans, as well, also making Griffin’s top 5. Former offensive line coach Eric Wolford took over his recruitment once Sumrall left, although the former has moved on to Alabama. Kentucky’s new offensive line coach, Zach Yenser, is now Griffin’s lead recruiter.

Despite the coaching carousel over the last several months, Kentucky has continued to make an impact on Griffin. Additionally, class of 2022 UK commit Ja’Kobi Albert was a teammate of his at Fairfield Prep. Albert is a 4-star ATH who flipped from Auburn to Kentucky on National Signing Day. Griffin recently told KSR that he and Albert “talk a lot” about the two potentially joining forces in Lexington.

Another potentially good sign for UK? Griffin’s “Big Snacks” nickname was actually gifted to him by Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops.

“I was in Kentucky head coach’s (Mark Stoops) office, he had a snack bar. First thing I did was I ain’t even shake his hand, I went straight to the snack bar and helped myself and got a whole bunch of snacks. Now he calls me Big Snacks and I just took that and ran with it,” Griffin explained with a laugh.

Come on down, Adrian.