Recapping a crazy National Signing Day for Kentucky, presented by Jeff Ruby's

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To close out what had to be one of the most exciting and nerve-wracking National Signing Days in Kentucky Football history, it’s time we recap everything that went down.

As of the time of this post, Kentucky holds the 12th best-recruiting class in the country, according to On3. That figure looks even more impressive when stacked against the SEC, coming in at fourth-best. For those curious which trio of schools are above the ‘Cats, you won’t have to think all that hard: Texas A&M at No. 1, Alabama at No. 2, and Georgia at No. 3 make up the top three.

Aside from some usually expected drama, Wednesday went about as perfectly as Kentucky could have drawn it up. There were no surprise decommitments or flips, but dealing with a top 20 overall prospect and two handfuls of four-stars sure did up the excitement level.

Let’s dive right into everything that happened.

Holding onto Kiyaunta Goodwin

Kiyaunta Goodwin had the Big Blue Nation holding its breath for about seven hours. The fanbase nearly passed out when he announced on Wednesday morning that he had no announcement. Even though he’s built like a 10-year NFL veteran lineman, he’s still just an 18-year old making the biggest decision of his life thus far. That aspect often gets lost, especially when dealing with the high-profile recruitment of a five-star talent.

But when Goodwin sat next to several bags of Takis and told us that he was still down to Kentucky and Michigan State, the panic button was quickly hit. The UK coaching staff must have been feeling the pressure, as well. Shortly after Goodwin said he had not yet made up his mind, UK Athletics announced that the National Signing Day Special hosted by the coaches was being pushed back to Thursday. It was initially planned for Wednesday night after the class was complete. Kentucky was holding off in order to secure some late-day signees. Turns out they were pushing Goodwin to make his decision, and make it soon.

Not long after UK moved its presser to Thursday, Goodwin came out and gave us all a new commitment time: 3:30 p.m. EST. First, he would have to fly back to Louisville from Texas. And then, of course, staying true to form, that timeline was pushed back to 5:00 p.m. EST. A final decision had still not been made, even after months of a publicized recruitment.

Once the afternoon rolled around though, there was no more delaying the process. Goodwin was going to have to make a decision. Despite all of the fuss that has been made over the last few months surrounding his official visits across the country, he stuck with his first choice. Goodwin went with the Ramen Noodles and elected to stick with the coaching staff that recruited him as a seventh-grader. As a result, Kentucky will secure a signature from its highest-rated recruit of the Mark Stoops era.

It’s tough to quantify right now how big of an addition Goodwin is to the future of Kentucky Football. Yes, the drama was annoying, but this is big-boy recruiting and UK came out on top. He possesses starter potential from day one. His production on the field should make this entire recruitment an after-thought in a couple of years’ time. Other top 20 recruits considering Kentucky down the road will look at Goodwin as a guide to see how it all worked out.

Overall, it was a pretty crazy recruitment… Now go ahead and ink that signature, Mr. Goodwin.

Deone Walker is a ‘Cat

Outside of Kiyaunta Goodwin, Deone Walker might have been the most important recruit for Kentucky on Wednesday. Coming down the home stretch of Walker’s recruitment, it truly felt like a neck-and-neck battle between UK and Michigan. After all, he is a four-star defensive lineman considered one of the top 300 natioanl prospects from his class.

The Wolverines pushed in all its chips over the last two-ish weeks. The UM staff paid Walker an in-home visit before hosting him just ahead of his scheduled official visit for Kentucky, which took place last weekend. And if that wasn’t enough, Michigan even had Walker back on campus the day after he got back from Lexington. But despite all of those last-ditch efforts, Kentucky still won out.

Michigan assistant coach Steve Clinkscale, who was on the UK staff before accepting a job with the Wolverines in the spring, took the lead on Walker. He already had a sound relationship from his time as a Wildcat and carried that over to Ann Arbor. However, Kentucky’s new offensive line coach Eric Wolford, really put his recruiting skills to the test. He was able to prevent a four-star native of Michigan from staying home. But not only that, Wolford got that kid to come to Kentucky.

Just five years ago, that would have been impossible to believe.

Good flips and bad flips

Kentucky’s 2022 class mostly went chalk. Of the 18 commits who entered Wednesday unsigned, 17 of them put ink to paper. The only one who didn’t was JUCO cornerback DeCarlos Nicholson, who flipped to Mississippi State early in the day.

Losing Nicholson is a tough blow, but not one that Kentucky didn’t see coming. After taking an official visit to MSU this past weekend, the writing was on the wall for Nicholson’s departure. Plus, he’s a Mississippi kid who was originally committed to the Bulldogs before backing out the first time and choosing UK. We’ll wish him well on his way to Starkville, only because UK made sure to nab his replacement.

Zahquan Frazier is another top-ranked JUCO defensive back who hails from Georgia. He was the last signee of the day for UK, picking the ‘Cats at 6 p.m. over the likes of Utah, Mississippi State, and UTSA. Frazier is considered the No. 2 ranked JUCO safety in the country, per 247Sports.

In addition to Frazier, Kentucky was able to flip a prospect, as well. Four-star ATH Ja’Kobi Albert flipped from Auburn to Kentucky, adding a versatile playmaker on either side of the field to the future of the program. Albert was a recruit that UK was on for a while despite him being committed to Auburn up until a couple of days ago. He never publicly decommitted though, so Kentucky was able to “flip” him on NSD.

Two other key additions, while not necessarily flips, came through via the transfer portal. Former Auburn IOL Tashawn Manning and Virginia Tech WR Tayvion Robinson both signed as veteran transfers. Manning, who was a regular starter for Auburn in 2021, will help shore up the Big Blue Wall. Robinson will add a dangerous weapon to Liam Coen’s offense with the expected departure of Wan’Dale Robinson.

No big surprises

While it was undoubtedly a hectic day, Kentucky truly didn’t receive any surprise commits (or worse, decommits). The entire day could have gone south if Goodwin elected to not make a decision–or the doomsday scenario of signing with Michigan State outright. Outside of Goodwin, there were small rumblings heading into Wednesday that four-star DB Alex Afari could flip to a charging Cincinnati.

But luckily, none of that happened, and UK saw 17 of its 18 previous class of 2022 commits stick with the ‘Cats. Below is a list of all of them, along with their On3 Consensus ranking

Kiyaunta Goodwin: 5-star OT, No. 19
Barion Brown: 4-star WR, No. 79
Tyreese Fearbry: 4-star EDGE, No. 159
Dane Key: 4-star WR, No. 232
Keaten Wade: 4-star EDGE, No. 231
Alex Afari: 4-star DB. No. 323
Grant Bingham: 4-star IOL, No. 373
Jordan Anthony: 4-star WR. No. 389
Destin Wade: 4-star ATH, No. 391
Nikolas Hall: 4-star OT, No. 413
Andre Stewart: 3-star CB, No. 519
Quentel Jones: 3-star DL, No. 661
Elijah Reed: 3-star CB, No. 778
Tomiwa Durojaiye: 3-star DL, No. 812
Josh Kattus: 3-star TE, No. 1115
Brandon White: 3-star WR, No. 1264
Jackson Smith: 3-star K, No. 1866

The rest of Kentucky’s 2022 signees

Deone Walker: 4-star DL, No. 260
Ja’Kobi Albert: 4-star ATH, No. 413
Tayvion Robinson: 3-star WR, No. 464 (Virginia Tech transfer)
Tashawn Manning: 3-star IOL, No. 857 (Auburn transfer)
Zahquan Frazier: 3-star CB, No. 10 in JUCO

This class isn’t complete yet, either. Kentucky can still add more recruits between now and February’s National Signing Day event. The highest-rated batch of future Wildcats in the internet era still has room to improve. Considering where this program was just a decade ago, Wednesday felt like a never-ending dream.