Pair of four-star teammates from Toledo give Kentucky football 'Triple Yahtzee'

It was a pretty good day at the office for Mark Stoops, Vince Marrow and the rest of the University of Kentucky football coaches Tuesday.

First came the long-awaited commitment of four-star wide receiver Russ Yeast, the son of UK great Craig Yeast.

Then, things got even better.

A few hours after Yeast announced his pledge to the Wildcats, four-star high school teammates James Hudson and Michael Warren did the same, giving UK three highly touted additions to the class of 2017 in one afternoon.

All three players are considered to be among the top 11 rising juniors from the state of Ohio, according to 247Sports, which now ranks Kentucky's class at No. 6 nationally and No. 2 in the Southeastern Conference behind Alabama.

Warren — a 5-foot-10, 200-pound prospect — is the No. 13 running back in the class of 2017 and the fifth-best prospect from Ohio, according to 247Sports. He ran for 2,246 yards and 28 touchdowns as a sophomore this past season.

Current UK running backs Stanley "Boom" Williams and Mikel Horton will be seniors by the time Warren arrives in Lexington in 2017. The Cats signed all-purpose back Sihiem King for the class of 2015 and have commitments from two running backs for next year: Asim Rose and Benny Snell, both of Ohio.

Hudson — a 6-5, 270-pound lineman — is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 5 strongside defensive end in the class of 2017 and the No. 7 rising junior in Ohio. He also has experience playing on the offensive line and the potential to play multiple defensive-line positions in college.

Warren and Hudson helped lead Toledo Central Catholic High School to a Division III state championship as sophomores. Both players had scholarship offers from Iowa and interest from other Big Ten schools, and both attended Ohio State's Friday Night Lights recruiting camp last weekend.

ESPNU is scheduled to televise Central Catholic's home game against Benedictine (Ohio) — the Division IV defending state champs — at 4 p.m., on Aug. 29.

Tuesday's additions of Hudson, Warren and Yeast mark the latest recruiting victories for Marrow, who has been wildly successful plucking players from his home state of Ohio since arriving at UK with Stoops after the 2012 season.

Thirteen of the 20 commitments in the Wildcats' highly touted recruiting class of 2016 are from Ohio, which has also produced recent four-star additions Dorian Baker, C.J. Conrad, Braylon Heard, Marcelys Jones and several others.

"Triple Yahtzee," Marrow tweeted after Tuesday's haul. "And we are still rolling."

This story was originally published July 28, 2015 at 4:56 PM with the headline "Pair of four-star teammates from Toledo give Kentucky football 'Triple Yahtzee'."