Two Positive Developments for Wildcats from Louisville

Louisville has turned into Vince Marrow’s home away from home on the recruiting trail. Seven players have committed to Kentucky from the city of Louisville since 2019. This fall those signing day wins could turn into production on the field.

Ballard product Jared Casey is positioned to receive regular reps at Will linebacker, rotating into action with DeAndre Square. His fellow four-star classmate, Louisville Moore’s J.J. Weaver, is still recovering from a torn ACL. Arguably Kentucky’s most explosive pass rusher, Mark Stoops shared the latest on his rehab status at SEC Media Days.

“J.J.’s doing very good. He’s definitely ahead of schedule, working extremely hard,” Stoops said Tuesday. “He looks good, is moving around, but of course I want to be somewhat careful with him. He has a bright future and there’s no point in rushing him.”

The untimely injury occurred in the middle of his best game as a Wildcat. Weaver had six tackles in his first career start when he suffered the season ending injury at Florida. Stoops did not provide a timetable for Weaver’s return, but ten months will have past since the incident when UK hosts Missouri at Kroger Field. Barring a setback, it is a large enough window for fans to expect to see Weaver in action for the SEC opener.

Another JCPS member of Kentucky’s 2019 recruiting class received an unsolicited shout out from the head coach. When asked how the Wildcats’ wide receivers have progressed — outside of Josh Ali and Wan’Dale Robinson — Stoops singled out Tae Tae Crumes. The Butler alumnus with incredible top-end speed has just what Liam Coen’s offense needs.

“We gotta continue to develop,” he said. “I think Isaiah (Epps) is a big wild card coming back healthy. We need Epps to step up and give us some speed that we need. I felt like Tae Tae really came along a little bit in the spring. He’s gotta continue to grow and progress and give us some juice. I felt like we brought in some young guys that can really run, so we have some options but we definitely gotta improve there.”

Kentucky has not always fared so well on the recruiting trail in the city of Louisville. To have continued success recruiting in the Commonwealth’s largest city, these players need to produce to show their talented high school successors a proof of concept in Lexington.