‘Ready to play right away.’ Kentucky fends off USC for four-star Mike Drennen.
Kentucky’s star-studded 2020 football recruiting class had an opportunity to add another high-profile prospect to its ranks on National Signing Day. It did.
Mike Drennen II, a four-star recruit out of Dublin, Ohio, committed to UK on Wednesday, the start of the regular signing period for Division I football recruits who intend to sign national letters of intent.
For Kentucky, it was a satisfying conclusion to a recruitment dating back to the summer before Drennen’s freshman year of high school. UK offered him during a camp in Lexington in July 2016, and was the first Power Five school to extend a scholarship. His next reported Power Five offer — from Indiana — did not come until April 2017.
Ohio State — about a 15-mile drive from Dublin Coffman High School, where Drennen starred as a running back and wide receiver — did not offer him until June 2018. An offer from Alabama came last March, but neither the Buckeyes nor the Crimson Tide materialized as significant players in his recruitment.
UK was perceived as the favorite for his services throughout the fall but USC — which didn’t offer until Sept. 25 of last year — generated momentum heading into the early signing period, and ramped up its intensity leading up to Wednesday.
“I think Mike is gonna be ready to play right away,” said Bill Greene, an Ohio recruiting analyst for 247 Sports. “He started as a freshman at Dublin Coffman and he’s played against great competition every week since he started playing. He’s played a lot of football at a high level and has been really-well coached at Coffman. He’s probably as mentally ready to play, as a freshman, as anyone.”
A name oft-mentioned when looking for comparisons to Drennen is Lynn Bowden, who won the Paul Hornung Award after taking the reins at quarterback for UK midway through last season. The two are similarly-sized — Bowden’s final listed weight at UK was 199 pounds; Drennen is listed at 196 — but the latter is listed at 5-foot-10, two inches shorter than Bowden’s listed height.
Greene isn’t sure Drennen would be able to handle the volume of touches that Bowden ended up with last year, but it’s not likely UK would demand that of the true freshman anyway. It didn’t ask it of Bowden, who early in his career publicly lamented his limited role: he finished his freshman year with 17 receptions (210 yards), 12 carries (37 yards) and 37 kick returns (869 yards) without a touchdown.
Ultimately, though, he could bring a level of dynamism similar to that Bowden showed at Kentucky.
“I think they want to play him as an all-purpose back,” Greene said. “Maybe run him four or five times, throw it to him three, four, five times. I think he can do that. He’s got a high football IQ and is a really smart kid. He’s going to learn that offense real quick.”
Torrance Davis
Another Ohio running back — Garfield Heights’ Torrance Davis — was expected to sign with UK on Wednesday, but plans changed again for the three-star prospect.
Davis announced Tuesday night, via a post to his Instagram Story, that he would not be signing Wednesday but did not disclose why. Academic issues prevented Davis, who’s long been committed to the Wildcats, from signing in the early period but on Monday he told 247Sports he was good to go.
“I was wanting to sign in December but I had to get my grades up,” Davis told the site. “I got that out of the way, like my ACT and stuff. I am very happy.”
Both 247Sports and Rivals rank Davis as a top-10 player in Ohio and as a top-50 running back in the nation.
UK signed another Ohio running back, Jutahn McClain, in the early period. In addition to him and Drennen, UK is expected to have at least four other scholarship running backs on its roster next season: senior A.J. Rose, sophomores Chris Rodriguez and Kavosiey Smoke, and redshirt freshman Travis Tisdale.
The class
Kentucky’s 2020 class prior to Drennen’s signing ranked in the top 25, nationally, in the two major recruiting services.
Rivals had the Wildcats’ signing class ranked 22nd overall and ninth among all Southeastern Conference teams heading into Wednesday. UK’s class sat No. 24 overall and was also ninth among SEC schools in 247Sports’ rankings. ESPN’s class of 2020 rankings had UK at No. 22 nationally and ninth in the SEC as well.
Drennen’s signing as well as those elsewhere over the coming days could budge UK from its respective spot in every ranking, but the Wildcats will almost certainly finish with their first top-25 recruiting class since 2014, the first class fully recruited by Mark Stoops’ staff.
Another newcomer
Kaleb Cheek, a 5-10 running back from Asheboro, N.C., committed to UK on Wednesday. Cheek was offered a preferred walk-on opportunity in mid-December.
This story was originally published February 5, 2020 at 6:38 PM.
