Kentucky wants ‘a point guard’ at QB. Is its top 2022 option off the table?
During his news conference with reporters this week, University of Kentucky offensive coordinator Liam Coen was asked about venturing back into the recruiting game and, in particular, what he looks for in a high school quarterback.
He answered with three words first uttered during his debut sit-down with local media when he was hired in December: “A point guard.”
Coen then elaborated.
“Somebody that can go out and deal and play the game,” Coen said. “Great hand-eye coordination and initial quickness. A guy who can change his arm slot and be able to throw the football when he is here (motioning upward) but also be able to pass and be able to deal no-look. Just someone who can play the position. I’m looking for a point guard who’s a little bit taller than 6 feet.”
There’s a class of 2022 recruit who appears to check all those boxes. One in Kentucky’s backyard, in fact. Gavin Wimsatt, a standout for Owensboro High School, is the nation’s top uncommitted quarterback. Both 247Sports and Rivals rate Wimsatt as a four-star prospect, the No. 3 dual-threat quarterback in the country and as the state’s top-ranked recruit.
They both also project him to commit to ... Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights currently have three four-star recruits committed as part of their 2022 class, which ranks ninth in the country according to 247Sports. Wimsatt would be their highest-ranked player to date.
Losing a four-star quarterback to the likes of Notre Dame or Oregon — both included in a top-nine listing of schools released by Wimsatt in January — is one thing if you’re Kentucky. Watching him depart for a rebuilding program that’s played in just 10 bowl games over its entire history would be a tougher pill to swallow.
Per 247Sports, Kentucky has offers outstanding to eight other uncommitted class of 2022 quarterbacks, including another in-state prospect, South Warren’s Caden Veltamp, a three-star recruit whose only Power Five offer is from the Wildcats. It’s likely Kentucky will add at least one quarterback as part of the recruiting cycle, but whether he hails from inside the state’s borders or not — as additions in 2021 (Somerset’s Kaiya Sheron) and 2020 (Lexington Catholic’s Beau Allen) did — is up in the air.
If Wimsatt spurns UK for the Garden State, it could be a short-term blow to how the Wildcats are perceived across the country. Being able to prevent such a decision from having an extended impact is in the hands of Coen, his staff and current players.
“I think once you prove you can throw the football a little bit better, you’ll attract some of that talent and some of those guys to compete at those positions,” Coen said. “We need to get better at every position at the end of the day. That’s through development but that’s in recruiting as well.”
Dead period woes
Kentucky linebackers coach Jon Sumrall, recently named co-defensive coordinator along with secondary coach Steve Clinkscale, spoke Thursday about the difficulties of recruiting last year during the COVID-19 pandemic and how it continues to limit staffs across the country.
An NCAA dead period, during which schools can’t host players or visit them, has been in effect since March 13 of last year. It’s expected to transition to a quiet period, which would allow for on-campus visits, in June.
Those on-site evaluations make it easier for coaches to determine how a player will fit into their team’s culture and schemes, Sumrall said.
“We’d be very grateful to have that opportunity again this summer to get some guys on campus,” he said.
One guy who didn’t get to visit Kentucky prior to choosing it was Trevin Wallace, a four-star class of 2021 signee and the highest-ranked defensive player in that class. He’s still enrolled at Wayne County High School in Georgia, where he recently won a state power-lifting championship and broke a school long jump record held by former University of Georgia star Lindsay Scott, a wide receiver who played four seasons with the New Orleans Saints in the mid-1980s.
Wallace was considered the No. 2 inside linebacker in the country.
“The hard part of recruiting him was he was highly sought after,” Sumrall said. “He’s a kid who had a lot of attention and really picked up steam during his senior year in recruiting. At the end we were battling a lot of traditional SEC powers to get him to come here. There’s so many things to like about the young man.”
This story was originally published April 8, 2021 at 12:29 PM.
