Early signing period: What to know as Kentucky recruits start making it official
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College football early signing period
The early signing period for college football recruits in 2019 is Dec. 18-20. Click here to read all the coverage from the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com.
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Even if you don’t follow college football recruiting with rigor, you’ve probably heard in passing that the University of Kentucky’s newest football signing class could be one of its best.
As far as rankings are concerned, you’ve heard correctly: 247Sports and Rivals, the two major recruiting services, each have Kentucky’s class ranked among the top 30 in the country. Through Tuesday morning, 247Sports had UK’s class rated No. 24 overall and Rivals had it 26th.
Both rankings will increase: UK added two more four-star recruits to its class later on Tuesday, and could add at least two more by the end of the week.
Head coach Mark Stoops has had only one recruiting class finish inside the top 25 — the 2014 class, which had 28 total commitments and was ranked 17th nationally by Rivals and 22nd by 247Sports. That class finished ninth overall among SEC teams in Rivals’ rankings, the best under Stoops.
Kentucky will look to lock in the majority of its 2020 recruiting class during college football’s early signing period Wednesday through Friday this week.
Big stars
The headline-grabber of the class is Justin Rogers, a defensive tackle whom both services rank as the No. 1 player in the state of Michigan. Rivals ranks him as a five-star prospect and the nation’s 15th-best player while 247Sports has Rogers as a four-star prospect and No. 53 nationally.
Rogers is projected to be the highest-ranked player to sign with Kentucky under Stoops, and the best since Micah Johnson did so in 2006. He would be the first player to have a five-star rating from at least one service to sign with UK since Landon Young did so as part of the 2016 class.
Samuel Anaele, a defensive end out of Florida, also would rank among the top 20 recruits UK has signed, historically, since recruiting services came into existence. The 6-foot-4 defensive end boasts a four-star rating from 247Sports and Rivals and is considered a top-10 player at his position by both.
Five other players in the class have a four-star rating from at least one of the two services: quarterback Beau Allen, offensive guard RJ Adams, offensive tackle Jeremy Flax, defensive tackle Tre’vonn Rybka and offensive tackle John Young.
Big boys
Restocking the trenches was a point of emphasis in this recruiting cycle — eight of the 18 known commits will play up front for Kentucky.
Anaele, Rogers and Rybka project as defensive linemen. UK boasts two three-star offensive linemen committed in Joshua Jones (Phenix City, Ala.) and Deondre Buford (Detroit) in addition to Adams, Flax and Young.
It appears this will be the first class since 2017 in which UK won’t sign a tight end, but that shouldn’t be a concern: the Wildcats heading into 2020 should have four scholarship tight ends on their roster — Brenden Bates, Nik Ognenovic, Justin Rigg and Keaton Upshaw. Rigg will be a senior, Bates and Upshaw sophomores and Ognenovic a redshirt freshman.
Two quarterbacks?
Allen, a star at Lexington Catholic who’s in the running for the Kentucky Associated Press Mr. Football award, is technically the only quarterback UK will sign as part of its 2020 class.
However, Auburn transfer Joey Gatewood announced last week on Twitter that he plans to enroll at UK. Transfers don’t factor into recruiting rankings, but Gatewood — though not expected to be eligible in 2020 due to NCAA transfer rules — arguably is the most important among all of Kentucky’s offseason additions.
Kentucky’s depth at the quarterback position was tested more this season than any other under Stoops, so bringing in two more players to compete for the job — whether it be next year or thereafter — is a good thing.
Late additions
Adams and Flax committed to UK on Tuesday.
North Carolina State was considered the favorite for Adams, an offensive guard from Virginia, until this week; he was originally committed to Penn State before several offers, including UK’s, poured in throughout the summer.
Flax is rated by both services as one of the nation’s best junior-college prospects and a top-five junior college offensive tackle. He chose Kentucky from a final three consisting of it, Auburn and Texas Tech.
At least two more commitments could come this week: Octavious Oxendine, a North Hardin standout whose decision is expected to come down between UK and Tennessee, is announcing Wednesday. Kentucky is among the final six schools from which four-star defensive back Joel Williams is selecting. He was at one time committed to Florida and is a friend of Kelvin Joseph, a cornerback who transferred from LSU to UK before the fall semester began and will be eligible to play beginning next season. Williams is expected to sign Friday.
This story was originally published December 17, 2019 at 7:10 AM.
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