RAM I agree with you though in the big picture. UK needs to keep the best talent in state at the school. The talent just isn't deep enough to warrant more than 6+ scholarships consistently.

Outside of Barker and a few others this recruiting class is vastly overrated. Sure they "invaded" Ohio, but they didn't land any of the top kids in the state and I think we have seen time and again what players from the Midwest look like when playing high end SEC talent. There is a reason Ohio State is cherry picking the top 6 or 7 guys in state and then heading south...

I have said this at least 100 x's this recruiting season. I think the difference in getting the "second's" product down south, is that in theory, they are FASTER. The rest is up to coaching. The "second's" product in Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, etc......doesn't compare to Alabama, Georgia, Florida, etc....

Fant is the only one on that list that could potentially play in the SEC besides the kicker which UK doesn't need. UK is trying to build a team that can compete in the SEC not the CUSA

You don't think Reggie could play in the SEC? He has PURE SPEED....that translates to the SEC

Would you rather have a 4 star from Florida/Ohio or a 2 star from KY. If you choose the 2 star then you'll never win in the SEC. There's a difference between D1 SeC, ACC, B1G, etc scholarships than Mac CUSA etc. This is one of the silliest arguments I've ever heard. A player that goes to WKU is different than a kid that goes to Alabama. UK wants te kids that can play at at Bama not WKU

Personally I don't care about stars. U of L was a broken leg away from playing (maybe winning) the National Title, by signing 2 and 3 star kids that could run. If you trust in your coaches, just get me size and speed. The coaches will do the rest. And one of the very, very best coaches in all the land resides back in Lake Forest. That makes me ecstatic.

UK also missed out on the best QB this year in Kentucky.

I think everyone can agree that Flordia and Texas has a lot of players, but here are the numbers of players anyway:

University of Florida - 76 Florida residents as players

Texas A&M - 92 Texas residents as players

 

How about other SEC teams:

South Carolina - 43 South Carolina residents as players

Arkansas - 38 Arkansas residents as players

University of Tennessee - 40 Tennessee residents as players

Georgia - 77 Georgia residents as players

Auburn - 57 Alabama residents as players

Mississippi State - 63 Mississippi residents as players

Ol Miss - 42 Mississippi residents as players

Missouri - 59 Missouri residents as players

LSU - 73 Louisiana residents as players

 

How about some other places that are not hot beds of talent"

Oregon - 24 Oregon residents as players

Hawaii - 43 Hawaii residents as players

 

 

How many Kentucky residents on UK's roster?

 

You're comparing apples to oranges. Arkansas has not been world beaters, neither has Mizzou till this year, same goes for UT. The elephant in the room is Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and S. Carolina are really southern states and they simply have more athletes. KY, Ark, and most of Tenn are more mid-west than SEC. UK did better this year than in years past. What in state school does Mizzou have to compete with for in state talent? Tennessee? Arkansas? UL has been better for several years, and that makes it difficult to get all the KY kids. Joker dropped the ball on Antonio Andrews and their will always be kids who flourish and out perform their rankings, but if you start focusing on only local kids you'll get left behind.

 

Murray State recruits the heck out of Mayfield, Paducah, and everywhere else in WKY and they suck and have for 10 years. Just cause a kid excels in KY HS football doesn't mean they are SEC caliber. KY high school football for the most part just isn't very good compared to other states. Look at the offer sheets on these kids who were "snubbed" by UK and see if UK is the only in state BCS Conf school to overlook them. Stoops was at FSU and I think he's better at recognizing talent that's needed to be in the SEC than a bunch of us "homers" here in the bluegrass.

Nine wins won't be something posted about on here for while.

You don't think Reggie could play in the SEC? He has PURE SPEED....that translates to the SEC

 

If you go back I said I forgot to mention him. He's a great player and UK would find a way to put him on the field.

Personally I don't care about stars. U of L was a broken leg away from playing (maybe winning) the National Title, by signing 2 and 3 star kids that could run. If you trust in your coaches, just get me size and speed. The coaches will do the rest. And one of the very, very best coaches in all the land resides back in Lake Forest. That makes me ecstatic.

 

Back in the day rivals gave out a whole lot less 3 stars. A three star back then would be a four star now. And I agree recruiting does nothing if you can't coach em up

Isn't it true that a kid could get one more recruiting star merely by, say, an Alabama suddenly showing interest in him? It's the same kid but now he becomes better because a big-name school has deemed him worthy of being recruited. Do the people who assign these stars just see who the big schools are after or do they actually do homework to determine who has the requisite skills and potential to succeed at the collegiate level? It seems to be quite an arbitrary and capricious system. Maybe I'm old school and naive, but I would still like to think that 4 or 5 years of good collegiate coaching has quite a bit to do with a school's success.

Edited February 9, 201412 yr by tcjkbt

This thread seems a little out of control. Just keep improving the overall talent and speed coming in Coach Stoops. I have faith in the staff they have too. Things overall are much better already as far as the whole football program whether it be perception or true. Joker and his staff seemed to just accept that they could not get better talent and this staff is competing. Go Cats!

It seems I've heard that before then other programs win big Bowl Games with the Kentucky players that "Kentucky didn't need". Seems odd that other programs can win with them' date=' but UK can not. Reggie Bonnafon couldn't have been useful at UK? John Kurtz wouldn't have either? Will Bush? Ryan Duvall?[/quote']

 

What teams won big bowl games with KY kids that UK didnt recruit?

I'll stop now. Every year I say the same things but the UK fans supply the same argument. Until UK starts getting the top 20 players in the state' date=' they will continue to struggle. WKU will continue to be successful and with Patrino back at Louisville, I expect them to rise quickly. Keep track of how many Kentucky players each of those schools take each year. EKU, Murray and Wesleyan continue to recruit out of state, keep track of their success. In my Forest Gump voice, "sorry to upset your Blue Panther Party". Carry on.[/quote']

 

Top 20 players? Come on.

I'm late to this thread but I have one question.

 

Why are we using examples of Joker's failed recruiting efforts when talking about the new staff?

"Pretty good Ohio player"? Who did UK get that OSU also offered a scholarship? Who did Kentucky get that other FBS schools offered scholarships? And what FBS schools offered them scholarships? I really want to hear the answers to those questions. Honestly.

 

Some of the schools that offered kids that ultimately committed to UK:

 

 

South Carolina

Tennessee

Ole Miss

Nebraska

Michigan State

Ohio State

Notre Dame

Alabama

Wisconsin

WVU

Auburn

Clemson

UGA

LSU