Kentucky is beating Louisville on the recruiting trail. Can it hold the lead?
Kentucky fans hoping for an extended depression in Louisville football recruiting should prepare themselves for disappointment.
The 2019 recruiting class, as far as recruiting services are concerned, was the worst Louisville signed this decade. The Cards’ latest group was ranked 69th and 77th nationally by 247Sports and Rivals, respectively.
What a difference a year (and a coaching change) makes: With less than a month left before the early signing period, Louisville ranks 30th (Rivals) and 32nd (247Sports) overall in the class of 2020 rankings. The Cards have 23 commits on board, all of whom boast at least a three-star rating from one of the two services.
Arizona quarterback Chubba Purdy has a four-star rating from both sites. He’s one of two quarterbacks the Cards intend to sign. The other, Tee Webb, played at the same high school as Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence. Steve Wiltfong, the director of recruiting for 247Sports, believes both will push the quarterback room upon arrival.
Michigan wide receiver Christian Fitzpatrick, who flipped his commitment from Washington State to U of L last month, is Louisville’s only other four-star prospect in the class (by Rivals, which has him 58th nationally). Wiltfong likes him but thinks Nick Malito, from Ohio, and Jordan Watkins, a Butler High School star who until last month was committed to UK, can be stars in Scott Satterfield’s offense.
“They have a chance to be really dangerous players in the ACC ‘cause they can really run,” Wiltfong said.
The flipping of Watkins wasn’t a harbinger of great upheaval in the Kentucky-Louisville turf war in the state’s biggest city — two of Louisville’s other premiere athletes, Izayah Cummings and John Young, stood firm with the Wildcats — but it does indicate that Satterfield’s staff has gained a foothold where Bobby Petrino’s staff seemed to stop stepping.
“Louisville’s trending up, man,” Wiltfong said. “Take a look at the way they completely changed that culture. The team won only two games last year but was obviously more talented than that, as we’re seeing this year. The staff there has a track record of recruiting high-upside guys that fit what they’re trying to do schematically and culturally. And then they get it out of them.”
The biggest difference between the guys Satterfield is recruiting now and the ones he turned into stars at Appalachian State? They’re better.
“These are high-upside guys that they had to beat out Power Five programs for,” Wiltfong said. “It wasn’t just pure projection and development — these are guys that other schools wanted.”
Stoops’ first signing class — 2014 — was ranked 17th overall by both recruiting services and featured several guys who would become stars — Mike Edwards, Adrian Middleton, Boom Williams, Darius West. It also included several who didn’t “live up” to their star rating, and in whole serves as a reminder that without recruiting efforts of consistent quality year over year, a program won’t last long.
Kentucky could add a couple more guys but right now only has 16 players committed in the 2020 class. It’s ranked 24th overall by both services, and has the only five-star prospect between the two (Justin Rogers, considered the No. 2 defensive tackle nationally by Rivals). While it will be one of the best classes the school’s ever welcomed in, it currently projects 11th among Southeastern Conference teams.
Louisville can make a little more haste: While lower-ranked than UK’s class, U of L’s upcoming group ranks sixth overall among Atlantic Coast Conference recruiting classes. Kentucky’s would be fifth in the ACC. The Cardinals, not too far removed from being a College Football Playoff threat, could quickly get themselves back in the conversation if their recruiting capability has been fully stabilized.
“I think this class will maintain for Kentucky what they’ve been — which is a tough out in the SEC and a team that that can maybe pop for 10 wins,” Wiltfong said. “And the Louisville class is one I think will help them maintain an upward trajectory under Satterfield.”
There’s more on the line than bragging rights this weekend. With a likely increase in recruiting battles on the horizon, every possible advantage matters.
“I think recruiting is a game of inches, and you never know where that inch is gonna come from,” Wiltfong said.
