Recruiting, camps fill UK football's summer

By Chip Cosby / Herald-Leader Staff Writer

With the Blue-White Spring Game in the rearview mirror, the University of Kentucky football program is officially in off-season mode.

Most of the coaching staff is on the road during the monthlong spring recruiting period. And with final exams now complete and with UK's graduation ceremonies this weekend, many of the players will head home.

Some players will stick around for UK's four-week summer session that starts Tuesday, but those players will have to work on their own as no staff-supervised workouts are allowed in May.

Things will pick back up in June when the eight-week summer session begins, which coincides with the start of summer workouts (conditioning drills, pass skeletons, etc.) that can be supervised by strength coach Marc Hill.

The Wildcats coaching staff will also be holding summer camps during June. Summer workouts will take the Cats through July, and pre-season activities get going with Southeastern Conference Media Days July 22-24 in Birmingham, Ala. UK Coach Rich Brooks and two Wildcats players yet to be named will address the media July 22.

Fall camp is tentatively set to begin the first week of August.

Matthews, Evans on way

UK recruits Chris Matthews and DeQuin Evans, teammates at Los Angeles' Harbor Community College, are set to arrive in Lexington on June 22 to start classes and summer workouts.

"We'll both be on the same plane," Matthews said.

Matthews and Evans were both among the nation's top 15 junior-college recruits and will be counted on to come in and pay immediate dividends.

While both players will need to come in and learn the system, Matthews appears to be physically ready to contribute. He said he stands 6-foot-5, weighs 215 pounds and ran a 4.35 40-yard dash during a recent workout at Harbor College.

"As soon as I get in, I'm going to get with the other receivers to find out what's going on and see how things are supposed to go," Matthews said. "I'm not going to come in acting like I know everything."

The 6-foot-3, 260-pound Evans should be a candidate to start at defensive end opposite Jeremy Jarmon.

Matthews and Evans both got an in-home visit from UK future head coach Joker Phillips in Los Angeles last Saturday.

"That really meant a lot," Matthews said. "We've already signed, so it's not like they still have to recruit us. But it shows me that they actually care about their players. They don't want us there just to play football and leave. They want to start a family."

Recruiting update

With seven UK assistants on the recruiting trail (Brooks isn't allowed on the road during the spring recruiting period) and summer camps on the horizon, things should be picking up on the recruiting front over the next couple of months.

UK has one commitment, 6-4, 228-pound defensive end Justin Henderson from Bamberg, S.C. The Wildcats probably will extend more scholarship offers once spring recruiting is done and they can evaluate players more closely in camp. Here's a list of players who reportedly have offers from Kentucky for 2010:

Tim Patterson, LB, Central, 6-5, 225, four-star recruit by Scout.com (also has offers from Louisville, Arkansas, Cincinnati, Indiana and Purdue).

Austin Collinsworth, Athlete, Highlands, 6-0, 180, three-star by Rivals.com (Louisville, Cincinnati, Stanford, Vanderbilt).

Miles Simpson, RB, Simon Kenton, 6-2, 195, three-star by Rivals.com (Cincinnati, Indiana, Louisville, Central Michigan, Western Kentucky).

Mike Douglas, DE, Largo, Fla., 6-3, 225, unranked (Central Florida).

Quantavious Leslie, WR, Hogansville, Ga., 6-4, 180, three-star Rivals.com (Clemson, Louisville, West Virginia, Oklahoma State).

Tim McAdoo, DT, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 6-2, 315, unranked (UK only offer to date).

Dyjuan Lewis, WR, Indianapolis Pike, 6-3, 186, four-star by Rivals.com and Scout.com (Michigan State, Purdue, Illinois, Colorado, Missouri, South Carolina among many offers).

Trevaughn Brooks, RB, Crystal River, Fla., 5-11, unranked (Central Florida).