Will Stein, new Kentucky staff building recruiting buzz, but challenges remain
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Staff brings notable recruits to campus while building recruiting buzz.
- Some high-profile prospects picked rivals, showing challenges to overcome.
- Staff hopes winning on Saturdays could help flip recruits and win future pledges.
A weekend filled with blue chip high school recruits on campus is the latest example of the buzz new Kentucky football coach Will Stein has gained on the high school recruiting circuit.
But the commitment of four-star Christian Academy of Louisville wide receiver Ja’Hyde Brown to U of L on Monday offered a stark reminder that the new Kentucky staff still has at least one major factor working against it.
“We’re making significant strides with guys right now, because they love Kentucky, they love coming here,” Stein told the Herald-Leader in a one-on-one interview before spring practice. “They love our staff, our energy, our passion, our ability to teach and develop, our proven track records.
“But ultimately, the best way to recruit is to win on Saturdays. Anywhere I’ve been … if we didn’t win, the brand only carries so much weight. The jerseys and the awesome stadium only carry so much weight. Kids want to see you win and do what you say you’re going to do.”
That assessment offers both reason for pause and cause to hope regarding Kentucky’s class of 2027 recruiting efforts.
After starting the cycle with commitments from three in-state recruits (Pulaski County offensive lineman Brady Hull, Jeffersontown defensive back Larron Westmoreland and Owensboro linebacker Ty Ashley), the staff picked up its first out-of-state commitments with a pledge from Ohio prep offensive lineman Matthias Burrell on Saturday and Georgia prep running back Bryian Duncan on Monday.
All five commitments are rated as three-star prospects by the 247Sports Composite, which averages the ratings of the major recruiting services.
Two commitments in the past week suggest the staff is building momentum as more recruits visit campus to see the coaches at work in spring practice, but the most high-profile recruitment decisions to date have gone against Kentucky.
Brown, who visited UK after decommitting from national champion Indiana earlier this month, picked Louisville, where coach Jeff Brohm and director of personnel and recruiting Vince Marrow have been recruiting him for more than a year.
Earlier in March, four-star Bryan Station defensive back Jordan Haskins also committed to Louisville, where his father played in college. A day later, four-star Boyle County tight end Seneca Driver, the top-ranked recruit in the state, committed to Oklahoma despite earlier recruiting analyst predictions that Stein and Kentucky were emerging as leaders for his pledge.
In each case, Stein arrived in Lexington with significant ground to make up as Kentucky did not appear to be a serious contender for the recruits when Mark Stoops was coach.
“I don’t want to say we’re behind, but the 27 class really got started by each staff across the country back in May (2025),” Stein said. “So, we’re in a spot where we developed relationships, but from other schools with these players. You cast a little bit more of a wider net in January recruiting typically with like the next class up, the 28s, but we have a little bit of catching up to do.”
Even earning a spot as a finalist for Brown and Driver represented an impressive bit of work for the new Kentucky staff, but finishing a close second won’t mean much on signing day.
There are plenty of high profile targets remaining on the board.
Stein and offensive coordinator Joe Sloan have positioned Kentucky as a contender for several of the top high school quarterbacks in the class thanks to their extensive track record working with top QBs at Oregon and LSU, respectively. Four-star Texas prep star Colton Nussmeier, whose older brother Garrett played for Sloan at LSU, is among the recruits in play for the quarterback spot in the class.
There are still three uncommitted four-star Kentucky high school rising seniors, according to the 247Sports Composite. The staff has hosted a handful of out-of-state four-star prospects in the class over the past week.
It might also be too early to rule Kentucky out of the running for the recently committed in-state stars.
A strong start to the Stein era in which the Wildcats are able to prove coaches’ success at previous stops can translate here could open the opportunity for flips in the fall. In the era of revenue sharing and NIL deals, changes in financial guarantees will continue to play a role in every recruitment until a player enrolls.
“Now it’s about getting these kids on campus in March and April and May, unofficially to set ourselves up for a really strong finish in June,” Stein said. “But the recruiting process is never over. I mean, it’s not over till you sign, and really even then, it’s not over. So it’s constant.
“But that’s what our job is. It’s to have the best players. Our plays look a lot better when we have good players. It just does. When I had Bo Nix playing quarterback, plays looked pretty damn good. That’s our goal: to make sure we have the best players possible for our program, the best people that can represent UK.”