Kentucky Football Friday evening recruiting news and notes

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Time for our weekly recruiting update presented by our friend Andy Luedecke at MyPerfectFranchise. Andy is a huge college sports fan and franchise veteran, having owned multiple franchises and businesses. Using his expertise, he helps others find their American Dream through a very thorough consultation and evaluation process.

Good evening, folks! We’re back with another recruiting roundup, but with a bit of a twist from what we’ve done the last several weeks. After a month-plus of the Kentucky Football coaching staff handing out dozens upon dozens of scholarship offers to various high schoolers across the country, that momentum had died down over the last week. The spring evaluation period came to a close on May 31 as we transitioned into the quiet period on June 1, meaning coaches can only make in-person contact with recruits when the kids are on that team’s campus.

With that in mind, this is the time of the year that Kentucky hosts plenty of camps in Lexington to continue the recruiting wave. The staff will bring in hundreds of prospects over a two-week period, some considered three- and four-star talents while others are just looking to get their names out there.

Below is the schedule for the upcoming June camps, where KSR will be a constant presence. The first camp on June 5 is expected to host loads of talent.

Sunday Night Lights Camp
June 5

Wildcat Specialist Camp
June 12

Sunday Showcase Camp
June 12

Wildcat One Day Camps
June 7, 9, 13, 14, 15

Notable camp/unofficial visitors

Jacob Smith: 6-4, 225-pound EDGE | Loomis Chaffee School (CT) ’24
4-star, No. 226 overall; No. 18 EDGE
Jerod Smith: 6-3, 255-pound DL | Loomis Chaffee School (CT) ’24
4-star, NO. 288 overall; No. 27 DL

Twin brothers Jacob and Jerod Smith will both come to UK in late June as part of their month-long visit tour. Also on the schedule are visits to Ole Miss, Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, and Ohio State. Both considered four-star prospects, they’re originally from the Somerset, KY area before transferring to Loomis Chaffee, a Connecticut-based prep school, ahead of the 2021 season. The Wildcat staff has been heavily recruiting the Smiths since last year when they were offered scholarships in June 2021. Don’t be surprised if both enter the month of July with offers from powerhouse college programs.

Devin Smith: 6-3, 220-pound LB | Brunswick (GA) ’24

After earning an offer from Kentucky in May, Devin Smith will camp in Lexington for an unofficial visit on June 11. He was in Alabama and Georgia to begin June and has visits planned to South Carolina, Florida, Central Florida, and Wake Forest throughout the rest of the month. Along with UK, Smith holds offers from the likes of Troy, Vanderbilt, South Florida, Duke, Central Florida, Tennessee, Wake Forest, Nebraska, Iowa State, and Cincinnati, all of which he earned this spring.

Bo Jackson: 5-11, 170-pound RB | Villa Angela (OH) ’25

Bo Jackson was quite literally born with a name that translates to running the football. The rising high school sophomore holds just one Divison I offer, which came from Kentucky on May 5. Jackson will come to Lexington for a camp on June 5. The Ohio native also took a recent visit in March to the Ohio State campus.

Buddy Collins: 5-10, 170-pound ATH | Scott County (KY) ’25

Another class of 2025 prospect camping in June is Buddy Collins, who suited up for Scott County HS as a freshman in 2021 playing most running back. He holds just one DI offer so far, which came from Arkansas State back in March. Kentucky will get a chance to watch him in action when he camps on June 14. He’s received camp invites from the likes of Louisville, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Navy, UT-Martin, Marshall, and EKU.

Aaron Gregory: 6-1, 160-pound WR | Augusta Christian Schools (GA) ’26

Still a middle schooler, Aaron Gregory will camp at Kentucky on June 12. The Wildcats are also his only DI offer so far, which he recently received on May 22 from defensive backs coach Chris Collins. Gregory camped at Alabama to begin the month of June and was at Jackson State on Thursday. In addition to his camp with UK, he’ll also make visits to Ole Miss, North Carolina, and Texas this month.

Other recruiting news and notes

Ironton’s Aris Pittman earns first DI offer: Kentucky associate head coach Vince Marrow has been in and out of the Ironton High School (OH) program plenty over the last year. The Wildcats added ’22 Ironton linebacker Angelo Washington as a walk-on and have been in talks with three-star ’23 WR Ty Perkins. Most recently, the staff offered ’24 WR Aris Pittman on May 27, his first from a Divison I school. Pittman is originally from Ashland, KY but just transferred to Ironton where he’ll play for his junior season. He and Perkins camped at Cincinnati on Thursday night, where Pittman was clocked at 4.66 seconds in the 40-yard dash.

Ohio State offers Jermaine Matthews and Jalen Thompson: Two of Kentucky’s top targets on the ’23 Big Board both received offers from Ohio State on June 1. Jermaine Matthews, a three-star Winton Woods (OH) wide receiver, actually earned one from Oklahoma, as well. His recruitment with the ‘Cats turned a bit sour with the whole Cameron Calhoun ordeal (he was expected to commit to UK before the staff asked him to wait, ultimately allowing him to commit to West Virginia), but they are still looking to stay involved.

The offer from OSU to Jalen Thompson might be the more concerning of the two from Kentucky’s perspective. The UK staff has done an excellent job of recruiting out of Detroit’s Cass Tech, where Thompson is a four-star DL, but a scholarship from the Buckeyes tends to change a recruitment. The ‘Cats have long been considered one of the few frontrunners (making his top 10 back in February) while fighting off the nearby Michigan schools. Now Kentucky has to fend off OSU.

Anthony Brown OV rescheduled: We already mentioned it on the site earlier today, but four-star ’23 WR Anthony Brown has moved his official visit to Kentucky from this coming weekend to the weekend of June 17-19, he told Justin Rowland of Cats Illustrated. Brown is participating in the Ohio state track meet this weekend where he’ll run the 4 x 100. From the Big Blue Nation’s perspective, this could almost be seen as a good thing. He’ll now take his OV to Kentucky after his trip to Cincinnati. But that being said, Brown did tell Rowland he intends on using all five of his official visits.

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