UK football recruiting notes: Wills keeps five-star ranking; National praise for Wildcats’ commitment

Lafayette offensive lineman Jedrick Wills retained his five-star status in the new Rivals.com football rankings for the class of 2017 released Monday.

Wills — a 6-foot-4, 315-pound prospect — is ranked as the No. 16 overall player and No. 3 offensive lineman nationally, according to the updated Rivals 100. He is regarded as UK’s top remaining target in the class of 2017 and also has scholarship offers from Alabama, Florida State, Georgia, Louisiana State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State and several other top programs.

UK hosted Wills for the program’s junior day event earlier this month. Lafayette quarterback Walker Wood has already committed to the Wildcats for next year, and five-star Lafayette offensive lineman Landon Young signed with UK for the class of 2016.

Ohio athlete and UK recruiting target Javonte Richardson was also included in the new Rivals 100 rankings for the class of 2017, coming in at No. 84 overall. Ohio State and Michigan State are expected to be among the Cats’ top competition for Richardson, who does not yet have scholarship offers from those two Big Ten programs.

UK QB commit impresses

Class of 2017 quarterback commitment Mac Jones drew solid reviews from 247Sports and Scout.com following his performance at The Opening camp in Orlando over the weekend.

Jones — a 6-foot-3 prospect from Jacksonville, Fla. — became UK’s first commitment for the class of 2017 back in July, and he was in Lexington earlier this month for junior day.

247Sports ranked Jones as the No. 37 pro-style quarterback in his class going into the weekend, but national analyst Steve Wiltfong wrote in his review of Jones’ play that the UK commitment will certainly move up in those rankings. “We missed on him with our first evaluation,” Wiltfong said.

Other schools are continuing to target Jones despite his commitment to Kentucky. He said he received a new offer from Washington State on Monday.

In-state recruit emerging

Belfry offensive lineman Cole Bentley impressed at the “Lineman U” event in Nashville on Sunday, according to Rivals.com.

Bentley was the first player mentioned in Rivals’ recap of the camp, which featured more than 100 high school linemen from across the region. The 6-foot-4 prospect has been in contact with UK recently, and he’s picked up scholarship offers from Marshall and Charlotte so far this month.

No longer No. 1

Four-star running back Adarius Lemons told reporters at The Opening event in Orlando over the weekend that the top four schools in his recruitment are now Auburn, North Carolina, Ohio State and South Carolina.

Lemons — ranked by 247Sports as the nation’s No. 7 running back — said last month that UK was the favorite in his recruitment.

The Cats’ drop should come as no surprise. Lemons called UK his top school before the departure of running backs coach Chad Scott, who was his primary recruiter and is now on staff at North Carolina.

Kentucky also received a commitment from running back Bryant Koback shortly after that declaration. Koback joined four-star recruit Michael Warren as UK’s second running back for the class of 2017.

This story was originally published February 22, 2016 at 2:40 PM with the headline "UK football recruiting notes: Wills keeps five-star ranking; National praise for Wildcats’ commitment."