Wednesday Quickies: National Signing Day

UPDATE 2

Kentucky has announced the signings of 18 players today, including four-star recruits Dekel Crowdus and Jager Burton.

The only Kentucky pledge left to be signed is Joko Willis, who won’t sign today. It’s unclear if he will sign in the early signing period.

Head coach Mark Stoops did just say he expects a few more recruits to sign in the coming days. Stoops also said Kentucky will keep several spots open for potential transfers.

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UPDATE

As of 11:30 am EST, Kentucky has signed 15 high school recruits, including four-star wide receiver Christian Lewis, who is arguably the Cats’ most important recruit.

Kentucky managed to land three-star athlete Devonte Ross, who was previously committed to Marshall.

Kentucky also landed former four-star 2018 recruit Justice Dingle, who is transferring in from Georgia Tech. His brother, three-star 2021 recruit Jordan Dingle, has also signed with the Cats.

For now, Kentucky is still waiting on four-star offensive lineman Jager Burton, four-star receiver Dekel Crowdus, and three-star JUCO linebacker Joko Willis. Burton and Crowdus are scheduled to sign at 3 pm EST at KSBar and Grille.

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Today kicks off the early signing period for college football and it should be an exciting time for Mark Stoops and the Kentucky Wildcats coaching staff with the 2021 class that the staff has assembled.

The class includes 17 commitments, a bit smaller than the last couple classes, but there is definitely no shortage of talent in this group.

To start, the Wildcats made it a priority to land some of the top talent in their own backyard and did just that by landing six of the top 10 prospects in the state.

That group includes offensive lineman Jager Burton and wide receiver Dekel Crowdus from Lexington, both of whom are four-star prospects according to 247 Sports. That group also includes Bowling Green tight end Jordan Dingle, North Hardin’s Jordan Lovett (defensive back) and La’Vell Wright (running back), and Somerset QB Kaiya Sheron.

That group is heavy on playmakers, which was a trend for the whole class when you look at guys like four-star wide receiver Christian Lewis and three-star Chauncey Magwood. Along with Crowdus, it wouldn’t be surprising to see any of those three (or all three) push for playing time at wide receiver next year.

The Ohio pipeline for Kentucky recruiting still is in play, as the Wildcats pulled two offensive lineman from the Buckeye state in Paul Rodriguez and David Wohlabaugh, both of whom were among the first players to commit in the class. Both are three-star recruits.

While there was a lot of focus on offense, particularly at wide receiver and offensive line, Mark Stoops added several defensive pieces as well.

Linebacker Joko Willis joins Kentucky from the junior college ranks, the only JUCO player in the class, and chose Kentucky over Arkansas and Mississippi State.

Linebacker Martez Thrower and defensive end Khalil Saunders are considered two of the best defensive prospects in the class, and the secondary gets some additions in Maxwell Hairston and Adrian Huey, both three-star prospects who join Lovett in the secondary.

And special teams wasn’t neglected in this class, as Kentucky went the Australian route to find their next punter in Wilson Berry, who hails from ProKick Australia, which has become a renowned pipeline for bringing in Australian punters.

Overall, this is a talented group that hopes to address some areas of need for the Wildcats. Particularly at wide receiver and offensive line, some early playing time could be available. It wouldn’t be a shock to hear some of these names called at Kroger Field next season.

As the faxes come in, come chat about signing day for the Cats using this as today’s open thread!

Tweet of the Day

Maxey wasting no time making his name known.

Quickies

A marriage of run and pass with Liam Coen - KSR

Coen looks to bring a balanced attack to the Kentucky offense.

What is Liam Coen looking for in the QBs? - Cats Pause

Competitiveness is the top priority.

Playmakers were a top priority in 2021 class - Herald Leader

Kentucky went and got several guys who can make an impact.

Florida is still in contention for the playoffs - Yahoo

The LSU loss doesn’t totally eliminate the Gators.

Giannis agrees to supermax with Bucks - ESPN

Looks like the Greek Freak is staying in Milwaukee.

MLB season could be delayed - Bleacher Report

Baseball might not start until May.

Tara VanDerveer becomes winningest coach - SI

She passes the legend Pat Summit with win number 1,099.