This summer, one highly paid Kentucky Wildcats coach is earning his money
Though it has been somewhat obscured by the excitement that surrounds the University of Kentucky’s new head coaches in men’s and women’s basketball, the UK football program is producing boffo results this summer on the recruiting trails.
Of the 17 players who have pledged to play for Mark Stoops in the class of 2025, 11 have given their commitments since June 9.
What will be the 13th recruiting class for Kentucky since Stoops and ace recruiter, Vince Marrow, signed on with the Wildcats for the 2013 season has a chance to be one of the most highly regarded of the current coaching era.
As of Monday morning, 247Sports ranked UK’s 2025 recruiting class No. 19 in the country. On3.com had the Cats’ incoming class at No. 20. Rivals.com rated Kentucky’s 2025 recruiting as the country’s 24th best haul.
With the stipulation that verbal commitments still need to be converted into signed letters of intent before any of this becomes final, UK football’s class of 2025 could become one of the three-highest-ranked of the Stoops era.
Using the Rivals recruiting rankings, the highest-rated class Stoops, Marrow and Co. have signed to date was in 2022, when UK came in 14th in the nation with a class headlined by current Wildcats stars Deone Walker, Barion Brown and Dane Key.
The second-highest-ranked class was the second one of the Stoops era, the 2014 signing class, which ranked No. 17 in the nation. The 2020 class, which Rivals ranked No. 21, is currently the third-highest of the Stoops era.
In putting together the well-received 2025 class, Kentucky has utilized a throwback recruiting strategy from the early Stoops era. To a degree unusual in recent years, UK is hitting the state of Ohio hard for 2025 recruits.
Of the 17 players currently committed to Kentucky, seven are from the Buckeye State. Those seven commits from Ohio are the most for UK in one class since Kentucky took a whopping 11 players from the Buckeye State in 2016.
In the first four years that Youngstown, Ohio, natives Stoops and Marrow recruited for Kentucky, they signed a robust 30 players from the Buckeye State.
However, for the eight recruiting classes — 2017 through 2024 — that followed, UK signed just 32 players total from Ohio. During the four classes that immediately preceded 2025, Kentucky signed three players each year from the Buckeye State.
UK’s recruiting push back into Ohio for 2025 appears to be landing an impressive quality of prospect.
According to 247Sports, Kentucky presently holds the commitments of four of the top 20 class of 2025 prospects in the state of Ohio — edge rusher Cedric Works (Clayton) at No. 6, wide receiver Quintin Simmons (Cincinnati) No. 8, running back Marquise Davis (Cleveland) No. 11, and offensive tackle Jermiel Atkins (Dayton) No. 19.
UK also holds commitments from three other prospects ranked in the top 45 in the state of Ohio by 247Sports — wide receiver Preston Bowman (Pickerington) at No. 37, offensive guard Tucker Kattus (Cincinnati) No. 44, and quarterback Brennen Ward (Columbus) No. 45.
Circumstances at other schools that also prioritize recruiting Ohio appear to have conspired to allow Kentucky to execute a successful push back into the Buckeye State.
Ohio State historically rules the roost in recruiting its home state, of course. However, in compiling the 2025 class currently ranked No. 1 in the country by all three of 247Sports, Rivals and On3, coach Ryan Day’s Buckeyes have recruited with a national focus.
OSU’s 23 commitments in the class of 2025 come from nine different states. Ohio State has taken seven players from its home state while also holding multiple commitments from the states of New Jersey (three), Pennsylvania (three), Alabama (two), Florida (two) and Texas (two).
In recruiting Ohio for 2025, UK has also probably benefited from head coaching transitions at Michigan and Michigan State, two other programs that have traditionally recruited the Buckeye State with ardor.
Kentucky’s success recruiting for 2025 in Ohio coupled with the fact that UK now holds verbal commitments from the top two prospects in the Bluegrass State — Western Hills defensive lineman Javeon Campbell and Paducah Tilghman defensive back Martels Carter — has drawn ample attention to the work Marrow has produced in this recruiting cycle.
The UK associate head coach and recruiting coordinator is listed as the lead recruiter on all seven of Kentucky’s commits from Ohio plus the two top in-state prospects who have committed to the Wildcats.
As a result, 247Sports ranks Marrow as the No. 5 overall recruiter in the nation for his work to date on the class of 2025.
On July 1, the salary of Marrow, who also coaches tight ends for Kentucky, was slated to rise to $1.3 million a year.
Based on the recruiting results he is producing for 2025 in Ohio and Kentucky, it is hard to argue against the idea that the “Big Dawg” is earning his big check(s).
This story was originally published July 8, 2024 at 1:25 PM.
