Tate Leavitt signs with Kentucky Wildcats; Highlights of JUCO lineman

The Kentucky Wildcats have announced their first official signing of a 2016 prospect. It comes in the form of junior college offensive tackle Tate Leavitt, who has signed a national letter of intent with Kentucky.

Head coach Mark Stoops announced the signing Wednesday and offered up the following comments: 

"Tate is a prototypical tackle, a complete player," Stoops said. "Not only is he a great player, but he's also a difference-maker off the field, with great presence, very confident."

Leavitt is a four-star prospect on Rivals.com, which rates him No. 8 on the top 100 junior college prospect rankings. He is the fifth-best junior college offensive tackle and seventh-best player in state of Ohio by 247sports.com. He chose UK over offers from Alabama, Arizona State, Auburn, Louisville, Missouri, NC State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech and West Virginia among many others.

Leavitt, a native of Thornville (OH), comes to UK after playing two seasons at Hutchinson Community College in Hutchinson, Kan.  The 6-foot-6, 310-pounder helped the Blue Dragons lead the Jayhawk Conference and ranked second in total offense at 486.1 yards per game.

"On the field he has the ability to throw that switch and be a tough physical player and a guy you want," Hutchinson coach Rion Rhoades said. "He's light on his feet in the passing game and can also finish in the run game. We run a spread offense, but we also ran the ball for 3,000 yards last year (2014). He's used to being in a system where there is a priority on running the ball."

Leavitt is expected to work at offensive tackle this spring and compete for a starting spot there.