No. 2-ranked QB in 2027 high school class commits to Will Stein, UK football
Will Stein has yet to coach a game for Kentucky but his track record of developing top quarterbacks is already paying off for the Wildcats.
Four-star Illinois prep quarterback Jake Nawrot, the No. 2-ranked quarterback in the high school class of 2027, committed to UK over Oregon, Iowa and Kansas State. If Nawrot maintains his current recruiting ranking through signing day, he would be the highest-rated high school quarterback to sign with UK in the recruiting website era, according to the 247Sports Composite.
UK has not signed a four-star high school quarterback from outside the state since Morgan Newton and Ryan Mossakowski in 2009.
Rivals ranks Nawrot as the No. 32 recruit in the entire 2027 high school class. The 247Sports Composite ranks him at No. 40 overall.
He threw for more than 3,000 yards with 41 touchdowns as a junior at John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights, Illinois.
Nawrot was one of a handful of blue chip quarterbacks the new staff hosted in Lexington since being hired in December.
“One thing I’m not going to do is beg and plead,” Stein said recently when asked about his pursuit of a 2027 quarterback. “I’m not going to get on my hands and knees and say, ‘Please come to Kentucky.’ No, they better want to be here. They better want to play for the blue and the white, they better want to play in Kroger Field.
“We have a great product. We have every resource that we need right now to go build an elite 27 class. We were building the relationships. Why wouldn’t you want to play in this offense? Why wouldn’t you want to play for me and for Joe Sloan? I mean talking about guys that have taken guys to New York recently. Not 25 years ago, right now. I’ve had elite quarterback play, and guys have translated to great play in the National Football League. So these players know that.”
This story could be updated.
This story was originally published April 12, 2026 at 4:31 PM.