A Kentucky Football Recruiting Red Flag

What’s going on with Kentucky football recruiting? The busy summer recruiting season is here, and the Cats don’t have a ton to show for it. Almost a dozen official visitors were on campus this weekend as the Cats prepare to host their first Summer Showcase Camp.

Nobody expected the Cats to pound the pavement and quickly fill up a Top 20 recruiting class following a 4-8 campaign. Kentucky started the weekend with only two commitments. That’s not exactly shocking.

On this week’s 11 Personnel, we dug deeper into the situation. There’s plenty of nuance to this problem besides the recent lack of success on the field. It’s also hard to gauge how big these problems are in the transfer portal era. Nevertheless, recruiting high school recruiting cannot be completely abandoned and there are a few glaring issues under the surface worth examining.

Kentucky Preached Continuity, but Where is It?

Mark Stoops did not make any major coaching changes this offseason in the name of continuity. It makes sense to a certain degree. After all, Kentucky had to break in a new offensive coordinator for five consecutive seasons.

Kentucky preached continuity, but it’s not evident in their recruiting strategy. It’s difficult to accurately discern because Mark Stoops has made it a point of emphasis for the program to maintain a low profile this offseason. However, it looks like every man is for themselves. Assistant coaches are bringing in as many players as they can, but is it amounting to anything more than official visits?

Bush Hamdan is recruiting a pair of quarterbacks, Matt Ponatoski and Oscar Rios. The early returns are positive for wide receivers coach L’Damian Washington. Chris Collins, Brad White, and Eric Wolford have their fingerprints all over the official visit guest list, but there’s not much to speak of elsewhere.

Kentucky is Losing Its Traditional Recruiting Pipelines

Jarvis Strickland was the Wildcats’ first commitment. The Blue Chip offensive tackle from Paducah Tilghman was the only commitment for a long time.

Of the top eight recruits from the state of Kentucky, five have committed to Louisville. The Cards recently received a commitment from North Hardin’s Josiah Hope. I can’t speak to Hope’s talent or potential, but I can say that I am shocked. Every good player from North Hardin over the last decade has ended up becoming a quality starter for the Cats.

That’s a red flag, but not nearly as concerning as what has happened in the state of Ohio. Kentucky has hosted two dozen players for official visits and none of them are from the state of Ohio. By our calculations, there aren’t any Ohio players planning to take official visits anytime soon.

Jamarcus Whyce visited the campus multiple times last year. He was a teammate with Jermiel Atkins, an official tackle who eventually committed to Kentucky. Last week, the Dayton native committed to UofL before considering an official visit to Kentucky.

Mark Stoops’ success was built on players from Kentucky and Ohio. The Wildcats aren’t successfully recruiting any of those players in the 2026 class.