‘We hit a home run with these that we signed today,’ Stoops says of final 2018 class additions.
MARK STOOPS
“OK, glad to announce the addition of four more recruits that came in today: Allen Dailey, a wide receiver from Alabama; Nick Lewis, an offensive tackle from Jacksonville; Chris Oats, a linebacker from Cincinnati; and Kavosiey Smoke, another running back from Alabama. You guys all small at that; it’s going to be fun to say, huh? Let’s hope he scores a lot of touchdowns, Kavosiey, great guy. You know you’ve heard me talk about it before: The nucleus of our class was signed in December. That was very good for us, very good for the University of Kentucky. And I think it was very important, it was a great day today. As I’ve mentioned and learned from Jimbo (Fisher) a long time ago, it’s really important to recruit a solid class top to bottom, but the last two, three, four guys are absolutely critical. I really feel like we hit a home run with these that we signed today.
“Very excited about this class with these four guys right here, it puts a really solid class together with 24 players in total. That’s a perfect number for us so I felt like we hit the number right on the spot. We signed 13 offensive players, which we needed, nine defensive players and two specialists. So really complete class. I feel very good about it. It worked out really well. I appreciate the efforts of our assistant coaches. They worked tirelessly around the clock for a year, years, sometimes to recruit these guys and it paid dividends here with this recruiting class. This time it’s kind of nice with the early signing period, we had talked back in December, but I think it was very good for us and (we) had a chance to hit the reset button after the December signing period and see exactly what we needed for this February signing day and hit the spots. That worked out very well for us. I also think it helped us get a jump. It gave me an opportunity to go out and look at juniors, just get in front of people and hit a lot of different places because in the spring, head coaches are not allowed on the road. So just moved the calendar up a touch. Made for a very busy December, but it made for a better January for us. So overall, very excited about it. Also, this is the first time I got in front of you so I’ll answer any questions about our new assistant coaches with Brad White and Michael Smith as well.”
On Ohio State getting instate guys late in process and what was different about Oats’ recruitment: “Yeah, I think Vince is here. I’m going to let Vince — you can tell I’m a little under the weather, so I’m going to get out of here quick — he can talk about his recruiting. Coach Marrow really did a good job, Coach House, all of our defensive guys, they all went up and made one last pitch, put every last one of our guys in front of him a week ago Saturday and watched his basketball game, just got in front of him. But the guys really worked hard building relationships. I think Chris felt very comfortable with Coach Marrow, with our staff and what we’re doing down here. That made the difference this year.”
On hiring Brad White without knowing him from before and what stood out about him: “It is rare, but there’s some guys in the Colts organization, that were in the Colts organization, that I have great respect for, and Coach Pagano and what he says really matters and Rob Chudzinksi, their offensive coordinator and I go way back, so as far as what type of person you’re getting, I had no question there. And then when we bring him in and go through the interview process, he really impressed me quite a bit. So I knew halfway through that interview that I wanted to wrap it up and get recruiting in to take the job because he had some other opportunities and I wanted to lock him up.”
On Michael Smith’s recruiting success in Louisiana and if that’s a place they want to get into: “Definitely going to let him explore that, yes. I was a little hesitant early in the process. You remember back when we had Coach Pev (Peveto) here. He had some connections there as well and we were close on some things, but I just felt like at that point, we were a little bit too far stretched and I wanted to isolate and concentrate on the areas we had. At this point, we let Coach Clink (Clinkscale) expand a little bit to Detroit and it’s paid some dividends and we’ll let him expand a bit into Louisiana, yes.”
On the new schedule and how it worked out for UK and if it’s fair to assume that anyone who doesn’t sign in December is open market again: “Without a doubt, yes, that’s the way we looked at it the whole time. That’s why we didn’t miss a beat. Yeah.”
On how much it might strengthen the defensive staff moving Dean Hood to help with the secondary: “I just think it will help us overall, No. 1, I think what was very intriguing to me is Brad (White) being such a technician and I really feel like we have some NFL outside linebackers and bringing him in to coach those guys to take them to another level. We all know what kind of coach Dean Hood is. He’s the best. He’s a great human being and a great coach, but most of his experience is in the back end, so it will give Dean time to concentrate on special teams and work in the back end with Coach Clink. I wanted to improve some help in the secondary and again I really feel very excited because you’ve heard me talk for years about the nuances of coaching that position, of coaching outside linebacker because there’s a lot on their plate. We need them to be elite pass rushers; we need them to be run stoppers, but they also have to play in space and have drops and they have a lot on their plate. So a guy with that kind of experience makes a lot of sense to me.”
On getting an NFL assistant coach to help build up NFL credentials of guys like Denzil Ware and Josh Allen: “I didn’t talk about that. As I’ve talked to you guys, I said I was going to sit back and take it all in and see what was going to be the best fit for us. Once I talked to Brad, I knew that’s exactly what I wanted to do. At that point I started talking to him. Josh had already made up his mind. As I started talking to those guys, they were excited about having the opportunity for someone like this to come in. Brad coached a close friend of mine in Bjorn Werner also. Bjorn raved about Brad as well.”
On no instate signees in this class for the first time ever: “Yeah, I was disappointed in that. I’m not going to lie. I want in-state guys. We’re recruiting hard on the 19s right now, out there beating the pavement, making sure we’re evaluating the right guys. Like I said, there’s not always going to be an abundance of guys, but there always is good quality here. We have to make sure we get the quality players to stay home.”
On what he thinks about the 2019 class: “It does seem strong. Definitely reminds me of the class a few years back when Kash and those guys came out, whatever year that was. ’16. But, yeah, there’s some impact players in this class.”
On getting Josh Allen and those other players all back: “It was very important. It’s most important. I don’t want to say it’s the most important recruiting pitch because I don’t look at it like that. I’m not going to make their decision for them. I just want to make sure I give them accurate information. I worked very hard to get in front of them several times, before the bowl game, after the bowl game, talked with a lot of people, got them accurate information, let them make the best decision. I really thought some guys made some mature decisions. As I talked to them about who in the world wouldn’t want to go and make money and play in the NFL or the NBA, any other sport, who wouldn’t want to do that. But they have to make sure they get the accurate information on when to go. I think all the kids get excited. Sometimes just any opportunity is not the best opportunity. A guy like Josh Allen, a true junior, would have had great opportunities. He would have made a team, in my opinion, and been a draft pick. But he has a chance to do things like Bud Dupree, come back and be a very high draft pick. I thought he was extremely mature in his decision making. He and I had some long talks. Gotten to know Josh and become close to him through this process. He was very mature in his decision making. The same really goes with Mike.”
On what Josh Allen can become next year: “I think just what he’s doing right now. Number one, just training in the off-season, making his body elite. Again, he was a true junior this year. He was in college five semesters. If he would have left, he would have been here five semesters. Doesn’t give you a lot of time to develop your body. Right now with his weight lifting, training, you can see it already, he’s holding that weight very easy. He looks phenomenal. He’s going to continue to work at all aspects of his game, his pass-rushing, being elite, beating the best players that he faces, getting sacks, pressuring people against the best tackles in the country. He’s going to have an opportunity to do that. I think those are the things that he needs to work on, just his complete game, his maturity level. He knows what it takes to go through our season in the SEC. Now go through, what do they play, ‘18, ‘19, whatever they play, it’s a long time depending on playoffs and all that. It’s a long season. I think he looked at it like that as far as his maturity level, whether he could withstand that at this point.”
On if Denzil Ware is fully back with team: “He’s participating in everything at this point in time, yes.”
On getting Jordan Jones back: “Yeah. Jordan is back as well. As I told you guys post bowl game, same thing with Jordan, he’s got to continue to do things right and continue to be consistent. We all love Jordan 95% of the time. We can’t have that 5%. He can’t have that 5%. He’s got a very positive, infectious personality, but he also can tear down things at times, as well, and deter from the positive things that are going on. He knows that. He’s working at that. I was pleased with everybody’s decision to come back. Yeah, definitely was pleased about that.”
On getting Stephen Johnson style leadership from the next quarterback: “I don’t think there’s any doubt that we will get that. I think Stephen set a great example for Gunnar. Obviously Terry wasn’t here. You can also tell that Terry has his own way of going about doing things. He has a very positive charisma about him, as well. I really don’t worry about it with either guy. I think both players have taken the role of doing some leadership right now as far as getting the guys assembled, throwing, doing some things on their own. I feel very good about that.”
On getting another running back: “I think it was real important. Kavosiey was a big get for us. There was a lot of competition for him late as well. He’s a very good player, both with him and Allen. I think you all know he’s LiAllen, but he goes by Allen. He and Allen both played at a high level in Alabama, state championship game right there, very close to each other. Very, very good players.”
On if Nick Lewis at 6-foot-9, 350 pounds is biggest player he recruited: “I think so. I can’t imagine anything bigger. You saw me in that tweet, I had to get on a bench to get even with him. He’s a big boy. He has a great personality. That’s a fantastic school there, Jacksonville Bolles. Just to walk around with him, spend some time with him at the school, seeing the way his peers interacted with him, he’s a very likable guy, a lot of people are attracted to him. He’s just very positive. He’s got a good smile. Very big guy. We love that size. We need to get bigger, more physical. He’s certainly a good start.”
On Michael Smith having ties to his brother: “I knew him very well. I go all the way back to him playing at Kansas State. I knew Smitty all the way back from that time. We’ve crossed paths. We worked together at Arizona. He worked for a good friend of mine, Bret Bielema this past year. I’ve known him for a while. It’s definitely helped.”
This story was originally published February 7, 2018 at 1:19 PM with the headline "‘We hit a home run with these that we signed today,’ Stoops says of final 2018 class additions.."