High school playoff upstart has something others don’t: three UK recruiting targets
When North Hardin High School and Trinity High School take the field Friday for their battle in the KHSAA Class 6A state football semifinals, one of them will have three University of Kentucky recruiting targets in the huddle.
It won’t be the 25-time state champion Shamrocks.
North Hardin, vying for its first appearance ever in a state title game, boasts Octavious Oxendine — one of the state’s top remaining uncommitted prospects and a top-50 defensive tackle, nationally — as well as two three-star prospects in the junior class, Jordan Lovett and Lavell Wright.
What’s gotten into the water down in Radcliff?
“Our kids really get in that weight room,” said Trojans head coach Brent Thompson, in his eighth year leading the program. “We’ve had two back-to-back years of them really getting in there and hitting it hard. Our leadership is key to it, but they get in there.”
UK is among several FBS suitors for all three. Oxendine set his announcement date for Dec. 18, the first day of college football’s early signing period, and UK for a while has been considered a leader in his recruitment, along with Tennessee, the first Southeastern Conference team to offer him a scholarship (UK’s came about three weeks later; both were in April of last year).
Thompson said he doesn’t go too in depth with Oxendine about his recruitment. The 6-foot-2, 308-pound senior is quieter than his on-field play: He’s recorded 17 tackles for loss, 14.5 sacks and recovered a fumble for a touchdown this season.
“I know he gets asked a lot from other people, students and that kind of thing,” Thompson said. “We talk about it usually when he comes back from a visit or when a new offer came. He keeps to himself. His biggest thing is he wants to see the coaching staff and how they get along with their team, and also wants to make sure that they have the academic stuff that he wants. And he wants to get a feel for what the fan base is like.”
Wright, considered the No. 8 all-purpose back in the 2021 class by Rivals, is the Trojans’ leading scorer: He’s rushed for 1,819 yards and 25 TDs on 259 carries and has 34 receptions for 553 yards and three TDs. His offer came over the summer during a prospect camp.
Lovett was identified in-season when members of UK’s staff came to watch Oxendine and Wright during one of the Trojans’ games. They corresponded with Thompson about him over the following weeks before adding him to their list of North Hardin hopefuls. He’s the nation’s No. 22 safety in the junior class, according to 247Sports, and leads the KHSAA with 15 interceptions.
Thompson grew up in Texas and coached in Alabama. Population differences make 1:1 comparisons difficult, but the best high school football talent in Kentucky is as good as anywhere, he believes. That’s borne itself out as far as recruiting goes: Both in-state Power Five programs — UK and Louisville — have had to contend more regularly with outsiders trolling for the state’s best players.
It’s still common for Kentucky’s best to come from its biggest cities — half of the state’s top 10 players, per 247Sports, hail from Lexington or Louisville — but with film as accessible as ever and camps ever-abundant, there’s little preventing players outside the major metros from getting in front of important eyeballs.
North Hardin’s concentration of high-level talent is unusual, though. Rarely do the state’s most prolific schools have three future FBS players in uniform; for a relative unknown to have them in its corner is the kind of star-aligning that might encourage you to try your hand at the lottery.
“I would’ve said they’d probably bet they were gonna be on the Trinity side,” Thompson said. “I’m definitely glad that those three gentlemen are on our side.”
Friday
Trinity at North Hardin
What: Class 6A semifinal
Where: Ray Story Stadium in Radcliff
When: 7:30 p.m.
Records: Trinity 11-2, North Hardin 13-0
This story was originally published November 27, 2019 at 12:31 PM.
