Kentucky’s 2018 recruiting class made inroads in one important Southern state

Just two years ago, Kentucky’s signing class was without a player from Florida for the first time since 2003.

At that time, Coach Mark Stoops predicted that would change with Eddie Gran joining the staff. The co-offensive coordinator has deep ties in the state of Florida, where he’s been recruiting for more than 30 years.

Stoops was right. Eight of the 20 signees on Wednesday were from the Sunshine State courtesy of Gran and fellow offensive coordinator Darin Hinshaw, who recruits that state as well.

It was double the number of players that the Cats got in Ohio, which has become fertile recruiting ground in the past few seasons under Stoops.

“Eddie Gran has just done a remarkable job getting these players,” Stoops said of the coordinator mining Florida for top talent.

When the two coaches were on staff together at Florida State, Stoops started to see how embedded Gran was with coaches in that part of the talent-rich state.

“It’s amazing the connections that he has down there,” Stoops said of Gran. “It’s just about the way he works and the type of person he is and the strong relationships that he has now that are coaching.

“He’s always done right by kids for a long time and has a great reputation in south Florida. I think that’s a big key: Trust. He works extremely hard at it. I loved the players that he signed out of there both last year and this year.”

The Florida signees this season are wide receivers Marvin Alexander, Akeem Hayes and Bryce Oliver, defensive backs Jamari Brown and Stanley Garner, defensive lineman Davoan Hawkins, offensive lineman Kenneth Horsey and linebacker Ashtan Pierre.

Kentucky got eight players from the state of Florida in the 2017 class as well.

This story was originally published December 22, 2017 at 11:06 AM with the headline "Kentucky’s 2018 recruiting class made inroads in one important Southern state."