UK football ‘turning the right way under Stoops,’ says national analyst

A 7-5 record, an upset victory over archrival Louisville and a berth in the Taxslayer Bowl are all proof positive that the University of Kentucky football program is headed in the right direction.

That positivity is playing out in a big way on the recruiting trail.

Four-star defensive end Joshua Paschal and three-star defensive back Lonnie Johnson committed to Coach Mark Stoops’ program Tuesday — the Cats’ fourth and fifth commitments over the past nine days — and UK now has one of the nation’s Top 25 recruiting classes for 2017.

Paschal — a 6-foot-4, 255 pound prospect from Olney, Md. — might be the best of the bunch so far.

“Kentucky’s program is turning the right way under Stoops, and this is a guy that can be an all-SEC player for them on the D-line,” said 247Sports national analyst Steve Wiltfong.

Paschal chose Kentucky over Notre Dame and Oklahoma, and the two traditional powers put up a real fight for the four-star recruit. He was recently listed as the No. 1 remaining target for the Fighting Irish, and the Sooners hosted him for an official visit this fall and were hoping to add him to their top-5 recruiting class.

Instead, he’ll play at Kentucky, where his older brother, TraVaughn, was a linebacker in recent years and now serves as an intern in the football office. His ties to the program, and the pursuit of primary recruiter Vince Marrow, helped deliver one of the Wildcats’ biggest commitments under Stoops.

247Sports ranks Paschal as the No. 11 strongside defensive end in the 2017 class, and Wiltfong told the Herald-Leader that his ranking will only improve.

“This summer, at two different events, his testing numbers that he put up tell you that he is the most athletic defensive lineman in the country,” he said. “And then, the development for him as a player from junior to senior year — he really had a great senior year, did things on both sides of the ball. He’s a pass-rush presence from across the line of scrimmage. He’s a guy with the strength to set the edge. Just a very versatile player, and a guy that we have under-ranked.

“He’ll be going up in our rankings. He just had a terrific senior year.”

Paschal comes to UK from Good Counsel (Md.), a Mid-Atlantic powerhouse that also delivered the Cats a commitment from three-star offensive tackle Naasir Watkins last week. Good Counsel has a great national reputation, regularly churning out Division I prospects (including UK sophomore linebacker Kobie Walker).

“You know those guys are going to be well coached,” Wiltfong said. “Paschal is going to come in physically ready to play and as mentally ready as a high school player can be. And we’ll see if Kentucky can put him in a position to succeed early.”

On Tuesday evening, UK added a commitment from Johnson, who is considered one of the best defensive backs in the junior-college ranks and chose the Wildcats over Georgia and West Virginia.

Johnson — a 6-3, 205-pound prospect from Gary, Ind. — originally committed to Western Michigan out of high school in the class of 2014, but ended up enrolling at Garden City Community College in Kansas. He put up big numbers there — intercepting five passes in 11 games in 2015 — and signed with Iowa State earlier this year. He just missed qualifying academically for the 2016 season, re-enrolled at Garden City and is now on track to graduate this month and is expected to enroll at UK in January and be with the team for spring practice.

247Sports ranks him as the No. 43 overall junior-college player in the 2017 class, and he will have two years to play two seasons at Kentucky.

“He brings great length and athleticism to the secondary,” Wiltfong said. “We have him ranked as a safety, but he can play corner. So you got a guy who can play some nickel, play corner, play safety, can blitz ‘em. He’s got some serious traits. A big, long kid who can run.

“He’s an exciting guy — really one of the better juco guys out there.”

UK now has 19 commitments for the 2017 class, and that group is No. 25 nationally, according to the 247Sports composite rankings. The Wildcats aren’t finished either.

Stoops and his coaching staff are targeting several other prospects for next year, including the Ohio trio of Lynn Bowden, Danny Davis and Thayer Munford — all four-star recruits. Wiltfong noted Tuesday that he has logged “Crystal Ball” picks in favor of UK for all three of those players.

This story was originally published December 13, 2016 at 7:58 PM with the headline "UK football ‘turning the right way under Stoops,’ says national analyst."