How could Kentucky football bolster its brand in the South? Look to North Carolina.
According to 247Sports, the University of Kentucky football staff has offered scholarships to 13 players from North Carolina, a state from which none of its current scholarship players hail.
North Carolina produces dozens of highly touted football recruits annually — far more than the state of Kentucky — but UK under Mark Stoops has benefited from its assembly line just one time: Kengera Daniel, considered the No. 23 overall player in the state and a top-40 defensive end in the country, signed with the Wildcats as part of the 2015 class.
Daniel, who chose UK over Alabama and Tennessee, played in 29 games, and heading into 2019 he was considered a guy who could compete for a starting job as a redshirt senior. He instead placed his name into the NCAA transfer portal and graduated from UK, but never appeared to land elsewhere.
Its lone example of a Tar Heel-turned-Kentuckian isn’t ideal, nor is the fact that it only has one example to which it can point, but the case for Stoops’ staff to keep applying pressure in North Carolina is easy to make: There’s plenty of talent there for the taking and no Southeastern Conference schools within its borders.
Of course, it’s not that simple. Three programs within the SEC East Division are closer to just about every part of the state than UK: Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee. There are four in-state schools that play in the Atlantic Coast Conference — Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State and Wake Forest — as well as East Carolina, an in-state Group of Six school with a respected pedigree, with which to contend. And you can’t forget nearby Virginia Tech and perennial juggernaut Clemson, which in December signed two of the state’s top three players (No. 1 being Trenton Simpson, the nation’s top-ranked outside linebacker and 26th recruit overall).
Among all those rivals, there’s one in particular against whom the Wildcats seem more than capable of making up a lot of recruiting ground.
The UNC problem
Eight of the 20 highest-ranked football recruits in North Carolina, and five of the top 10, signed with UNC, a program perceived to be on the rise after a 7-6 season and a bowl win in Mack Brown’s first year back at the helm, 22 years after his first stint ended.
UK as a whole compares more favorably to UNC than it does many of its SEC brethren, but the Tar Heels’ historical résumé trumps the Wildcats’: They’ve won more than 100 more games than UK and boast seven conference titles to Kentucky’s two, though most current recruits’ parents probably barely remember the last time either finished on top of their league (1980 for UNC, 1976 for UK).
Recent history shows the two are on much more even footing: Kentucky is 44-44 under Stoops while UNC is 44-45 in the same span, though six of those seasons were under the leadership of Larry Fedora, who’s now an assistant at Baylor. Despite their near-equal profiles on the field, Kentucky has lagged UNC in 247Sports’ final recruiting rankings every year under Stoops except 2014. UNC, like most of the SEC schools outside of Lexington, benefits from geography: In its 2020 class alone, 17 of the 25 players came from inside its own borders.
Kentucky made Ohio into its recruiting bell cow and continues to have a great deal of success milking it. But the public reaction to Michigan State’s pursuit of Vince Marrow — and Kentucky’s willingness to extend a heftier contract — makes it seem as though the school is one departure away from having a pipeline dry up, or at least thinned.
As the Wildcats continue to build themselves into a more impressionable football brand nationally, standing out among the South’s elite players will become increasingly important. North Carolina, on paper, sticks out as a place where Kentucky could build clout without straying too far from home.
“Kids just don’t know that Kentucky’s that close, and some kids probably don’t know that Kentucky is in the SEC,” said Antwon Stevenson, the head football coach at Glenn High School, part of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools system. “You’re talking about the greatest conference when it comes to college football. ... They’ve had plenty of success in the past few years as well. They just need to know, ‘cause they don’t. I think if you asked a lot of North Carolina kids how far Kentucky is from North Carolina, many of ‘em would just probably think eight-plus, nine, 10 hours, whatever the case may be. “
Two 2021 players whom Kentucky has offered play at Glenn High School: Raneiria Dillworth and Jahvaree Ritzie. Dillworth, a three-star prospect, has already ruled out the Wildcats (his top five: UNC, South Carolina, Georgia, N.C. State and Alabama), but Ritzie, a four-star defensive end, listed Kentucky among his “top 12” schools heading into the spring. Kentucky was one of five SEC schools named along with Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and South Carolina.
Neither player may end up in the SEC, let alone Kentucky. The only 247Sports “Crystal Ball” predictions currently filed for both players have them joining forces at the same school: North Carolina.
Quarterback?
Kentucky will sign at least one quarterback as part of its 2021 class, and North Carolina could provide him.
Nate Hampton — a 6-foot-6, 230-pound, three-star prospect — boasts only three Power Five offers: Vanderbilt, West Virginia and UK. The Wildcats’ was the most recent on Feb. 3, coming soon after quarterbacks coach Darin Hinshaw became his lead recruiter (in place of Dean Hood, now the head coach at Murray State).
He took an unofficial visit during last season and demonstrated significant on-field growth while leading Davie County High School — a Glenn rival — to its first winning campaign since 2016.
“His sophomore year we didn’t have a great season as a team and last year we had a vast improvement and he was a tremendous part of that,” said Tim Devericks, the head coach at Davie County. “ ... (Hinshaw) is a super, super guy. Really asked some great questions and got to see Nate throw. I was impressed with the whole thing.”
Hampton intends to enroll early wherever he decides to play college football. He’d be the first North Carolina native to do it in six years if he ends up at UK, and — given the outsized importance of the quarterback position — would have a unique influence on future prospects were he to become a star in Lexington.
Branching out
If Kentucky keeps handling its business north of the Ohio River, its success southward can continue to be more subtle; commitments are the primary objective, but raising awareness is another constant on the recruiting trail.
“Maybe the fact that they’re now an 8-, 9-, 10-win program that’s competing in the SEC as opposed to a 3-, 4-, 5-win team that’s getting their brains beat out, maybe, as their brand gets elevated, maybe they can now branch out and have a shot now,” said Bill Greene, a recruiting analyst for 247Sports who specializes in Ohio. “ ... I would think they’d have a better shot today than before Mark Stoops got there.”
The Wildcats probably wouldn’t sign six or seven elite players annually out of North Carolina even if they ratcheted up their recruiting intensity there. But, is it not uniquely positioned to be in the running for at least one of the state’s most-gifted athletes each recruiting cycle?
“It’s Kentucky football, it’s Kentucky basketball, it’s a 365-thing,” said Stevenson. “You get all the attention. No professional team takes the attention away from you, whereas in North Carolina you have the Hornets, the Carolina Panthers, the Hurricanes and so many other schools that may take some of the attention away from you.
“In Lexington, Kentucky, they love their blue and white.”
Important upcoming dates
March 2: Spring practice begins
March 27: UK Pro Day
April 11: Blue-White Spring Game
