‘Man, we’re very close.’ How will Kentucky’s 2021 class boost SEC title aspirations?
When Beau Allen took the reins at quarterback and proceeded to throw back-to-back missiles down the field on his first two plays as a Wildcat last weekend, it was about more than getting a glimpse at what the true freshman could do against a Southeastern Conference defense.
It was also a message to elite recruits in the class of 2021: Stay with us.
Kentucky football recruiting has been nothing short of extraordinary under head coach Mark Stoops, whose 2020 class was ranked in the top 25 nationally by both 247Sports and Rivals. It was the second-highest ranked class under Stoops behind the 2014 group, and continued a streak of signing classes that ranked in the top 40 dating back to 2013. Kentucky had only one class (2011) boast a top-40 ranking in the decade prior, and several of those didn’t even crack the top 60.
However, save for a few exceptions — Lynn Bowden chief among them — those recruiting windfalls have yielded little in the way of standout offensive playmakers at the wide receiver position.
Now, one could say you’ve got something of a “chicken or egg” scenario when you contrast that with the running back position, with which Kentucky’s staff has proven more than capable of identifying and developing stars year in and year out: Has UK leaned on its backs heavily because they’re that much better developed than the wide receivers, or is it because Stoops’ meat-grinder philosophy prevails more often than not with the ball in hand?
As with most things it’s likely a combination of the two. Stoops is more old school than not but increasingly seems warmer to the offensive evolution ongoing in college football. UK’s running backs probably are much more reliable, if for no other reason than consistent coaching. Co-offensive coordinator Eddie Gran has been in Lexington since 2016 and coached the running backs his entire tenure; in that same period Kentucky has had three wide receivers coaches, who over the course of five seasons will not have produced a single player to reach 800 yards in a season (Bowden came closest at 745 in 2018).
Reinforcements appear to be on the way. Four-star prospect Dekel Crowdus, is the most regarded of four wide receiver commitments in UK’s 2021 recruiting class, which Stoops and recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow feel confident about keeping intact.
“I feel we are in good shape recruiting,” Stoops said this week. “You always want more and more players, you always want to add to the class. I feel like we have a strong class and appreciate the effort the coaches have done to this point and we have to continue to build on it the best we can to get it to the finish line.”
That finish line is a month away on Dec. 16, the start of the three-day early signing period for high school football players who wish to sign national letters of intent with Division I schools. It’s possible that some UK recruits will wait until the regular signing period, which begins Feb. 3, but since the early period was instituted the Wildcats have signed the bulk of their classes in December.
Crowdus, a standout for Frederick Douglass High School in Lexington, is among those UK hopes to sign in December. He’s rated as a four-star prospect and pegged as a top-50 wide receiver in the class. The remaining trio of receivers — Christian Lewis, Chauncey Magwood and Armond Scott — are all three-star recruits but rank in the top 100 at the position, nationally.
Kentucky’s 2021 class, overall, ranks No. 30 in 247Sports’ national rankings following the recent commitment of Jordan Dingle, a three-star tight end. That service has he, Crowdus, Lewis, Scott and Magwood ranked as recruits Nos. 2-6 in Kentucky’s class; at the top of the pile is Jager Burton, a four-star offensive lineman who also attends Douglass.
Thanks in part to advance efforts to establish relationships, Kentucky for the most part was able to fend off the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on its class of 2021 recruiting. None of those players were able to take official visits to any school, leaving previous unofficial visits and communications with coaches as their primary decision-making points. On one hand it was a shame for them not to have those opportunities, Marrow says, but on the other it probably will make for a signing period void of recruiting flips, for or against the Wildcats.
“If I got a kid and made him flip from another school, he probably had to visit here,” Marrow said. “It would be crazy for him to commit here and never even seen this place. I’m kind of leery of that. ... More than any time probably in the history of recruiting, you’ve got to be really right, because you didn’t do any official visits.”
The receiver-rich crop in 2021 arrives on the heels of a 2020 class that, while highlighted by defensive linemen, featured several receivers the staff is high on, including Male High School graduate Izayah Cummings, whom Marrow likened to former Louisville and current Miami Dolphins star DeVante Parker, and late-addition Mike Drennen, who often drew comparisons to Bowden throughout his recruitment.
Marrow is confident that its pass-catchers will catch up to where they need to be, and says the 2020 season hasn’t been a good indicator of the strides they’ve made because of the pandemic. That’s one reason why Cummings and Drennen haven’t gotten on the field more; they missed out on important offseason work on and away from the field. That lack of offseason conditioning also led to a rash of minor injuries throughout the freshman class.
Now in year eight, Stoops and his staff have taken UK’s program from the basement to some of its highest peaks. It’s legitimately two to three deep with real SEC-caliber players at almost every position. It’s been a slow build, but there’s reason for optimism that things will get figured out with its playmakers sooner rather than later.
“If you’d asked me if we were close when I first got here, I wouldn’t know where to start,” Marrow said. “We had two d-linemen, Bud Dupree and Za’Darius (Smith), and then we had an SEC linebacker in Avery Williamson. There was talent, but it was in little bits and pieces. Now, as groups? Man, we’re very close.”
Next game
Kentucky at No. 1 Alabama
When: 4 p.m. EST Saturday
TV: SEC Network
Records: Kentucky 3-4; Alabama 6-0
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Series: Alabama leads 37-2-1
Last meeting: Alabama won 34-6 on Oct. 1, 2016, at Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Important upcoming dates
Dec. 16-18, 2020: Early football signing period
Feb. 3-April 1, 2021: Regular football signing period
