posted 02-05-2015 11:24 AM                    

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Originally posted by eleem:
Well, it’s certainly been one hell of a day. The rocky roller coaster of a 2015 recruiting season has finally come to a close. The 23-man class doesn’t feature the flashiest names in recruiting like years past, but the staff has teed themselves up for a sound depth chart when the New Commonwealth Stadium opens on September 5th.

The Impact Players

The first person the coaches look to for an immediate impact is CJ Conrad. He has great hands and he can get big quick. Vince Marrow said he was playing football at 230 this season, dropped to 220 while playing basketball, and after less than a month on campus he’s right back to 230.

Stoops believes Nebraska transfer Courtney Love could play right away if he’s cleared by the NCAA. Love wasn’t no scrub for the Huskers; hell, he started in their bowl game.

The only lineman Stoops didn’t redshirt was Matt Elam. George Asafo-Adjei might be the second. With an early start this semester, he already has the size and feet to fit right in. Shannon Dawson only brought one WVU kid with him because Marrow beat him to the punch for Asafo-Adjei (Vince chuckled under his brath when it was brought up in the presser).

The Length

Where the Cats lacked in ratings, they made for in measurements. They went big on the line, and long on the outside. All of the receivers are 6’3″ or taller, and Therrell Gosier is 6’6″ on the outside (so is ’16s Kayaune Ross). The DBs are long and tall too: Kei Beckham is the only DB shorter than 6′. Compare that to their length last year when JD Harmon was the tallest cornerback on the team at 6’1″. One thing was clear: Stoops was tired of watching his DBs get balls caught over their head because they’re too short.

The Best Kept Secrets

Mark Stoops was glad nobody picked up on Alvonte Bell. “The more quiet the better,” Stoops said. “(We) Didn’t want anybody to know about him.” I knew the name sounded familiar when the late announcement came in. Bell originally committed to Kentucky when Joker was coaching. He caught Stoops and Eliot’s eye when they were at Florida State and wanted to make sure he ended up playing for them. He did not have the best numbers in Junior College, but the coaching staff still loved what they saw. “He’ll get all of his hype on Saturdays,” Eliot said.

I had never heard the name Sihiem King before today, but I’ll be hearing plenty of it down the road. A winner, he was the state’s offensive Player of the Year, racking in 40 touchdowns, 22 in the playoffs alone. After losing Damien Harris, Stoops knew it was important to get a solid running back, “I really felt like it was important to get somebody in that position and he was guy we felt had big play ability and great speed. A great addition late in the process.” He complements the current running backs well with 4.38 40-yard dash speed.

The Early Signing Period

Mark Stoops talked without pause for approximately five minutes about the significance of an early signing period. He feels as though there’s a consensus in the league that needs to happen, but the disagreement is on when. Their recruiting calendars are packed pretty tightly as is, so finding the perfect fit might be difficult, but there’s too many advantages to NOT want one. It would probably ouput the Cats in the range of a Top 25 class, and it would allow them to distribute their time to players better. Stoops said they’re never going to tell a kid NOT to take his official visit during an autumn gameday, but they simply won’t get the same attention that they deserve as a guy who visits during the offseason. It also might help them get more sleep the first week of February.

The Walk-Ons

Kentucky welcomes two sons of former Wildcats. Olliver Barnett’s son, Elijah, was an All-Lexington linebacker for Henry Clay. Sam Simpson’s son, Sullivan (Sully), is an offensive lineman from Henry Clay that will join his big brother at UK, a graduate assistant also named Sam.

Joining them is Suwanee, Ga. long snapper Blake Best, Ryle High School linebacker Alex Brownell, and Louisville Male’s QB Davis Mattingly.

The Kentucky Kids

OL Mason Wolfe and LB Eli Brown will both likely don the redshirt their freshman year to add muscle. It’s pretty much been protocol for all of Stoops linemen, and last year every linebacker (other than JUCO, Flannigan) sat out the season as well. Brown has great athleticism but needs to bulk up. The case is the same for early enrollee Jordan Jones. Even though he has a semester’s head start, he’ll have to add a lot of weight to keep up with the physicality of the SEC.

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Well folks, that’s all for now. Like the coaches, I’m pretty exhausted and excited to get back to talking about the team. The coaches, especially Dawson, were glad to complete the process so they can get back to their kids. You can’t blame em, it’s going to be a fun year of football.

Until then, “I want to concentrate on the victories of this group,” just like Mark Stoops.

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