‘I can’t be more proud of where he is right now.’ Four-star in-state recruit picks UK.
Another in-state standout has joined the University of Kentucky’s historic recruiting class.
Devito Tisdale, a safety from Bowling Green High School, announced during the fourth quarter of NBC’s broadcast of the U.S. Army All-American Bowl that he will play for UK. He became the fifth in-state player to join the Wildcats’ 2020 recruiting class and the 11th player in the class with a four-star prospect rating from at least one of the two major recruiting services (247Sports tabs Tisdale as the No. 33 safety nationally; Rivals rates him as a three-star recruit).
UK acknowledged Tisdale’s decision publicly via its official football Twitter account, meaning that he signed with the school during the early signing period last month.
Tisdale became the fifth defensive back to sign with Kentucky this recruiting cycle, joining fellow early-period signees Rickey Hyatt Jr., Andru Phillips, Carrington Valentine and Joel Williams. UK before the 2019 season began added LSU transfer Kelvin Joseph to its roster, meaning it will welcome at least six new defensive backs into the fold next fall.
Mark Spader, Bowling Green’s head coach, believed UK and Alabama were the front-runners down the stretch. Tisdale decided to stay closer to home.
“They both did a great job of recruiting him and making him feel comfortable,” Spader told the Herald-Leader on Friday. “He appreciates the weight of the decision.”
Louisville at one time was the leader for Tisdale but was not one of his final four programs (Georgia and Texas A&M were the others, in addition to UK and Alabama). The Cardinals’ regime change was a factor.
“I think he honed in on some good situations for himself,” Spader said. “ ... He’s an outgoing kid and has a great sense of humor. He’s a joy to be around.”
Tisdale at Bowling Green
Bowling Green, a Class 5A program, has fielded Tisdale as a varsity player since he was a freshman, but Spader said he could have played for the Purples as an eighth-grader if it were allowed. He recorded nine interceptions, returning one for a touchdown, and 191 tackles in 51 career games. He also recovered five fumbles in his time with the Purples and returned three of them for touchdowns; his first score was in their historic 70-22 triumph over Pulaski County for the Class 5A title in 2016.
Tisdale also spent time on offense: over four years he accumulated more than 1,200 yards and 20 TDs on the ground, but he felt more at ease on defense. Tisdale was Bowling Green’s top offensive weapon as a junior — 849 yards rushing, 232 receiving and 12 total TDs on offense — but touched the ball only 10 times on that side as a senior, rushing for 51 yards on 10 carries.
His junior year was Spader’s first year as head coach; he was an assistant at the school since 2004 under Kevin Wallace, who left to become the head coach at St. Xavier in 2018.
“I was convinced that he needed to carry the ball for us, and he was a really good running back,” said Spader, who didn’t play Tisdale too frequently on defense that first year. “He’s a top-level player and he has top-level skills, but where he’s really good and where’s very comfortable is on defense.”
Spader pointed to Tisdale’s willingness to step up out of position as a sign of his maturity.
“I don’t think he was super pleased to be going over to offense, but I tell you, as many times as I bumped him around, he never complained,” Spader said. “He just wanted to make sure he knew what he was doing, he didn’t want to look, you know, stupid in his position, and wanted to be able to contribute on Friday nights and help us win.”
Tisdale was prone to emotional outbursts during games earlier in his career, too — those were completely out of the picture this season as he took on a larger leadership role with the Purples.
“He took a lot of our young guys under his wing, he made practice go,” Spader said. “ ... We had some terrible losses this year and he kept our head in it and was rounding up the troops and making sure things were done the right way. I can’t be more proud of where he is right now.”
This story was originally published January 4, 2020 at 3:29 PM.
