Can you believe it? UK’s football recruiting is ranked higher than Alabama’s
Quick hitters from the World Cup penalty mark:
21. Will Stein’s recruiting haul. With 25 commitments, Kentucky football’s 2027 recruiting class is presently ranked No. 20 in the country in the 24/7 Sports Composite Rankings.
20. Kentucky’s standing in the SEC. UK’s No. 20-ranked class is ninth among Southeastern Conference schools — behind No. 1 Texas A&M, No. 4 Texas, No. 5 Oklahoma, No. 9 Auburn, No. 10 Florida, No. 15 Georgia, No. 17 Ole Miss and No. 18 LSU.
19. A big class in place. Only Oklahoma, with 26 commits for 2027, presently has more commits among SEC schools than Kentucky’s 25.
18. Texas A&M stocking 5 stars. A major reason the Aggies stand No. 1 in the recruiting rankings is the six 5-star prospects who have committed to A&M.
17. The 4-star roll call. Only six SEC schools have more 4-star recruits committed for 2027 than UK’s nine — Auburn (15), Florida (15), Georgia (13), Oklahoma (13), Ole Miss (13) and Texas A&M (11).
16. Where’s Alabama? The Crimson Tide currently sit 47th in the 24/7 Composite Rankings. Kalen DeBoer and Co. have only 13 commits, nine of whom are graded as 3-star prospects.
15. Will UK finish ahead of Bama? Based on historical precedent, Alabama would seem likely to pull ahead of Kentucky in the recruiting rankings once the Crimson Tide fill out their class. Alabama’s current commits have a slightly higher average ranking (88.46) than do Kentucky’s (88.12), according to 24/7.
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14. Louisville. Jeff Brohm, Vince Marrow and Co. currently have 16 commitments — two 4-stars and 14 3-stars — in their 2027 class. U of L stands No. 39 overall in the recruiting rankings.
13. The Big Dawg. Speaking of Marrow, there is not much better free entertainment than perusing the comments underneath anything “The TurnCat” posts on the social-media platform X.
12. Tennessee. With 16 commits — only four 4-stars — the Volunteers presently sit No. 40 overall in the 24/7 Composite Rankings.
11. National-champion quarterbacks. At least three QBs who led Kentucky colleges to football national titles will be high school head coaches in the commonwealth in 2026.
10. Cameron Dukes. The signal caller for Lindsey Wilson’s 2020 NAIA national championship team (which, because of COVID-19, actually won its title in the spring of 2021) is the new head man at Adair County.
9. Eddie Eviston. The QB for Georgetown College’s back-to-back NAIA national championships in 2000 and 2001 has been the head coach at Covington Catholic since 2015.
8. Dane Damron. The quarterback for Georgetown’s 1991 NAIA Division II national title team is the new coach at George Rogers Clark. Last season, Damron coached Paris High School to a 7-5 mark.
7. Walker Buehler. The former Henry Clay star’s resurgence in 2026 continued with a particularly meaningful outcome Friday night for the San Diego Padres pitcher.
6. Beat his old team. Buehler, who made his name in Major League Baseball pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers, was the winning pitcher against L.A. Friday in a 7-1 Padres victory. In 51/3 innings, Buehler limited the Dodgers to three hits and one run while striking out five.
5. “I don’t want to lose to them.” After beating his old team, Buehler told reporters he “had no bad blood” toward the Dodgers. But “I want to kick everyone’s (butt). I want to beat everyone. Especially in the (National League West) division and especially a team that has been so successful against the organization I’m with now. I want to be a part of turning that around, and I certainly don’t want to lose to them.”
4. Harry Johnson. “The Bear Bryant of Lexington middle school football” has died. Johnson (163-21 overall) led Tates Creek Middle to 15 county titles in 29 years with seven runner-up finishes. His 1990 team went undefeated and outscored its opponents 230-0.
3. Kenny Klein. When Kentucky offensive line coach John Schlarman died in 2020, I wrote that I was sure there had to be someone who didn’t like him — but I had never met anyone. The same holds true for Klein, the former, longtime University of Louisville men’s basketball publicist. Klein, 66, died on June 25 from the ramifications of what Louisville television station WDRB reported was “a choking incident” at a Louisville restaurant June 11.
2. Kyle Moats. In his career, the current Eastern Kentucky University athletics director worked in sports administration at both Kentucky and Louisville. Moats says Klein was to U of L what the venerable Kentucky men’s basketball equipment manager Bill Keightley once was to UK.
1. “Had that kind of lore.” Moats says Klein and Keightley “were extremely different personalities and different in who they were, but they both were incredibly loyal, had that kind of lore about them. And both were kind of beloved figures throughout the commonwealth. Both of them (were) very similar in how they approached people and enjoyed life.”
It speaks to Rick Pitino’s unique standing in the sports histories of both UK and U of L that the current St. John’s men’s basketball coach eulogized both Keightley and Klein.
