Kentucky Football Official Visit Weekend Preview
If you’ve checked Kentucky Sports Radio dot com just once this week, it’s abundantly clear that there’s a lot of moving and shaking around the program as Mark Stoops builds his 2024 roster. After starting the week on the road, the Kentucky coaching staff is returning to Lexington tomorrow for a weekend of official visits.
Under the old calendar, these two weeks served as the setting to solidify high school recruiting classes by hosting commits alongside the top remaining targets. That’s been slightly altered by the transfer portal. Instead of bringing in a dozen high schools, there will only be a few, accompanied by big names from the transfer portal.
Kentucky High School Football Commits
Shane Beamer has tried to get the Gamecocks’ claws into Scott for quite some time. Despite persistence from South Carolina, Kentucky has clung on tightly and made big moves ahead of the Early Signing Period. Scott was one of the first players Mark Stoops visited in-person during the open recruiting period. Now Quaysheed Scott is returning the favor with an official visit.
When the defensive back committed on July 4, he was a relatively unheard of low three-star prospect. Identified early by Chris Collins, he’s risen up the recruiting rankings. The cornerback from Marion, Ga. is now ranked as the No. 291 overall prospect by On3. Ultimately, I believe Kentucky will hold on and receive a signature in late December.
“Sack ‘Em” Soles was one of the most talented athletes in his area. He was named player of the year by the Knoxville Focus & Coaches Poll, and earned Region 2-5A MVP Honors. Soles has a ton of pass rush production, but his size scared some of the bigger names away. Kentucky is hoping that bend and athleticism can translate into the SEC.
The interior offensive lineman from Toledo is the most recent addition to Kentucky’s top 25 2024 recruiting class. He spent most of the calendar year committed to Ohio State. Shortly after reopening his recruitment, Vince Marrow was on the case. He visited twice this fall before announcing his intent to join the Big Blue Nation. Prior to making the trip to Lexington, he was throwing Ls Down with Vince Marrow. Nave is bringing positional versatility to Lexington, with the size and athleticism to play either guard or tackle at Kentucky.
Transfer Portal Targets [UPDATED]
The Kentucky football staff has not been keen on sharing which targets they have circled from the portal. Intel is originating from the prospects and many athletes are much more private during their second collegiate recruitment.
Plans also change quickly. Indiana WR Donaven McCulley scheduled a visit to Kentucky last Friday. By Wednesday KSR heard that visit may have been canceled. Will he show up or not? We’ll let you know as soon as players begin to arrive in Lexington. Here is who we do know will be making the trip to Kentucky this weekend.
UPDATE: McCulley will visit after all.
Cottrell was in the middle of an intense recruiting battle not that long ago. A top 300 prospect from Milton, Fl. in the class of 2023, he originally committed to Florida before the implosion of Dan Mullen’s regime. Cottrell flipped to Georgia, then took visits to a bunch of big name schools before ultimately landing at Texas A&M.
During his redshirt season in College Station he caught a 13-yard touchdown pass. A strong-handed, big X-receiver, he could satisfy a need with the Kentucky offense and provide four years of eligibility.
Kentucky needs a running back. For a time, there weren’t many capable available options. One emerged on Wednesday when Chip Trayanum entered his name into the portal. A physical rusher between the tackles, he proved he’s not too shy to perform underneath the brightest lights in the sport when he scored the game-winning touchdown at Notre Dame.
Vince Marrow has moved quickly in this recruitment. I am putting both Trayanum and Cottrell on commitment watch and placed On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM) picks for Kentucky.
Mississippi State cornerback DeCarlos Nicholson entered the transfer portal on Thursday night and became a known Kentucky target on Friday morning. The junior college transfer was committed to Kentucky in the 2022 recruiting cycle before flipping late to Mississippi State. The Wildcats will host the graduate transfer for a visit this weekend and should be considered the favorite in this recruitment.
North Texas wide receiver Ja’Mori Maclin was one of the first wide receivers that Kentucky showed an interest in when free agency got started after the regular season ended. The class of 2020 signee, who spent his first two seasons at Missouri, still has two years of eligibility remaining. Maclin went over 1,000 receiving yards as a redshirt junior in 2023 and is looking to return to the Power Five. Kentucky has the American Athletic Conference transfer on campus this weekend and will be looking to close.
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