Four-star defensive end Alex Reigelsperger commits to Kentucky

UK has picked up its first commitment from a four-star football recruit in the class of 2018.

Alex Reigelsperger — a 6-foot-5, 235-pound defensive end from Huber Heights, Ohio — committed to the Wildcats on Saturday while in Lexington for the program’s second “junior day” event of the 2018 cycle.

Reigelsperger had originally planned to announce a college decision in May, but he has visited UK about 10 times over the past year — including trips for several home games last fall — and decided to go ahead and commit to the Cats.

ESPN ranks Reigelsperger as the No. 166 overall recruit nationally in the class of 2018, and he’s ranked as the No. 14 defensive end in that group.

Other top schools on Reigelsperger’s list were Cincinnati, Duke, Iowa, Iowa State, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, West Virginia and Wisconsin. He had scholarship offers from all of those schools, and Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan State were among the other programs showing interest in his recruitment.

“I picked UK because I want to go against the best every day and every weekend,” Reigelsperger told the Herald-Leader. “The SEC is where I have my mind set, and Kentucky treated me like family.”

Reigelsperger is from the same high school as UK freshman defensive back Tobias Gilliam, and he’s the Wildcats’ first commitment for 2018 from the state of Ohio.

He certainly won’t be the last.

UK is also heavily recruiting Reigelsperger’s high school teammate — four-star athlete L’Christian “Blue” Smith — who also visited Lexington on Saturday. Smith is ranked by Rivals.com as the No. 1 athlete and No. 23 overall prospect in the 2018 class, putting him in range for a five-star ranking later in the recruiting cycle.

On Friday night, 247Sports national analyst Steve Wiltfong predicted that Kentucky would ultimately land Smith, as well as three other 2018 prospects from Ohio: four-star linebacker Xavier Peters, four-star tight end Brenden Bates and four-star offensive lineman Blaine Scott.

All of those players visited UK this weekend.

For now, Reigelsperger joins quarterback Jarren Williams, wide receiver Marvin Alexander and defensive end Davoan Hawkins as the fourth commitment in Kentucky’s recruiting class of 2018.

This story was originally published February 25, 2017 at 12:02 PM with the headline "Four-star defensive end Alex Reigelsperger commits to Kentucky."