UK football: Florida linebacker Firios commits to Cats

The commitments keep rolling in for Mark Stoops and the Kentucky football team.

Highly touted linebacker Nico Firios announced Tuesday that he will join UK's recruiting class of 2014. Firios, a 6-foot-1, 220-pound prospect from Longwood, Fla., is considered a four-star recruit by ESPN.

Both Rivals.com and 24/7 Sports have Firios pegged as a three-star recruit. His commitment will move Kentucky to No. 4 in the Rivals team recruiting rankings. Only Texas A&M, Tennessee and Texas have higher-rated classes.

ESPN ranks Firios as the No. 18 inside linebacker in the country and the No. 64 overall prospect from football-rich Florida. He also had scholarship offers from Louisville, South Florida, Rutgers, Wisconsin and several others.

Firios said it came down to the Cats and the Cards.

"Kentucky and Louisville were really the final two for me," he told the Orlando Sentinel. "When I was at Louisville last week it was great and I like everything about Coach Charlie Strong and what they are doing there, especially with the defense, but then I went to Lexington and visited UK and I was so impressed. That just made me feel like it was the place I needed to be."

Firios is UK's 15th commitment from the class of 2014 and the fourth commitment in the last three days.

On Sunday, Florida defensive lineman Denzel Ware announced his re-commitment to the Wildcats. Ohio safeties Darius West and Mike Edwards committed to Kentucky during campus visits Monday.

All four of UK's commitments this week are considered four-star prospects by at least one of the major recruiting services.

This story was originally published June 11, 2013 at 1:21 PM with the headline "UK football: Florida linebacker Firios commits to Cats."