UK lands commitment from another offensive lineman for class of 2017

Three-star offensive lineman Naasir Watkins committed to the University of Kentucky late Wednesday night, just a few days after spending the weekend in Lexington on an official visit.

Watkins — a 6-foot-5, 300-pound prospect out of Good Counsel (Md.) — is ranked by ESPN as the No. 92 offensive tackle in the class of 2017. He also had reported scholarship offers from Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Virginia.

Temple was scheduled to host Watkins for an official visit this weekend, but the Owls lost their head coach, Matt Rhule, to Baylor on Tuesday.

Watkins joins Belfry tackle Austin Dotson as the second offensive lineman from the 2017 class to commit to the Wildcats. UK entered the winter planning to take at least two more O-linemen in addition to Dotson, and Watkins has now grabbed one of those spots.

Four-star offensive tackle Thayer Munford also visited UK last weekend, and he was considered to be the Cats’ top remaining target at the position. UK was also thought to be a mild favorite in Munford’s recruitment, but that might have changed Tuesday when five-star offensive tackle Trey Smith committed to Tennessee over Ohio State. The Buckeyes are now expected to make Munford their top O-line target to fill out the 2017 class, and OSU would likely become the favorite for the Cincinnati native if they do indeed extend a scholarship offer.

UK is expected to host two more offensive linemen for official visits this weekend: Central Florida commitment Sebastien Dolcine and Miami commitment Zalontae Hillery.

Watkins is a high school teammate of four-star defensive lineman Joshua Paschal, who also visited UK this past weekend and is one of the Wildcats’ top remaining targets for the 2017 class. Vince Marrow is the primary recruiter for both players, though Wildcats offensive line coach John Schlarman also played a prominent role in Watkins’ recruitment.

Schlarman’s offensive line was one of the highlights for UK this season, and most of the major contributors from that unit are expected to return to the Wildcats in 2017. Eleven O-linemen from the current roster should be back at UK next season, including such experienced players as Nick Haynes, Kyle Meadows, Cole Mosier, George Asafo-Adjei, Buncy Stallings, Logan Stenberg and Landon Young.

Watkins is UK’s 16th commitment for the class of 2017.

This story was originally published December 7, 2016 at 10:44 PM with the headline "UK lands commitment from another offensive lineman for class of 2017."