SPORTS

Midyear football signing day updates

Steve Jones
@stevejones_cj

Wednesday is national signing day for junior-college football transfers who are enrolling midyear at NCAA Division I schools. It's an especially busy day for the University of Louisville, which is expected to sign at least five juco players. Plus, it has announced the midyear addition of a high school senior. The University of Kentucky is in the final three for three-star junior-college defensive tackle Maurice Swain. This file will updated as any news occurs.

Recruiting Insider

3:40: U of L's biggest remaining juco target on this day, four-star cornerback Rasul Douglas, tweeted that he's committed to West Virginia. The Cards had been in his final three, along with the Mountaineers and Rutgers. It's not a terribly surprising decision as WKU was thought to be well-positioned for Douglas for some time, although he did enjoy a recent official trip to U of L. He visited Rutgers last week.

Douglas is a first-team NJCAA All-American out of Nassau Community College in New York. He would have been U of L's highest-ranked juco transfer.

2:55: Big Louisville recruiting news not related to the midyear signing day: The Cards have picked up a commitment from Prattville (Ala.) High offensive tackle Kenny Thomas, who has a been key target at that position of need. He'll be a traditional February signee. Read a little more about him here, and I'll try to update that story later.

1:59: Had to take a break to cover Damien Harris at the Paul Hornung Award luncheon, but Eastern Arizona running back Tim Cook texted to say he has signed with Louisville. That would leave just Khalil Hunter for Louisville, as well as a Rasul Douglas decision.

12:10: Offensive tackle Justin Sandifer of Hinds (Miss.) CC texted that he won't be signing anywhere today because he still must complete an online course. Sandifer, who visited U of L last weekend, wants to play at Louisville but can't sign with U of L until he finishes the coursework necessary to enroll midyear.

He said he believes he'll finish his course in three weeks, which would be soon enough to still get in at U of L. He said the Cardinals have told him they can't accept him after Jan. 7. Sandifer (6-5, 315 pounds), who is rated the nation's No. 106 junior-college player and No. 17 tackle by 247Sports.com.

If Sandifer can get in at U of L, he would figure to be a candidate to play in 2015 as U of L looks to replace tackle Jamon Brown

11:58: UK high school commitment Kengera Daniel (6-6, 250) tweeted that he has signed his paperwork to be an early enrollee in Lexington. He's a three-star defensive end from Raleigh, N.C., who committed in early October.

11:47: U of L tweeted that it's received a letter of intent from Fresno (Calif.) City running back Jeremy Smith, who committed on Monday night.

Smith, a big back at 6-1, 225 pounds, rushed for 1,735 yards and 17 touchdowns and led all California juco rushers with a 157-yard per game average this season. Khalil Hunter and Tim Cook are U of L's only two juco commits we're still waiting on.

11:22: One storyline for today - and the coming days - will be if U of L signs Hinds (Miss.) CC offensive tackle Justin Sandifer. Sandifer officially visited Louisville last weekend, and it seems certain that he would sign with the Cards if they have an offer for him to do so. I haven't been counting him as a commitment at this point.

Sandifer did not answer a text message today asking about his plans.

10:45: UK missed on its big target of the day.

Three-star Mississippi Gulf Coast defensive tackle Maurice Swain is signing with Auburn, he announced. Swain visited UK last weekend. He also considered Mississippi State, which landed his teammate, top offensive lineman Martinas Rankin.

10:41: Lakota West High near Cincinnati recognized UK offensive line commit George Asafo-Adjei on Wednesday morning as a midyear signee. That's been Asafo-Adjei's plan since he committed to UK over the summer. UK has not officially announced any midyear additions, but probably will sometime soon.

Lakota West linebacker C.J. Stalker also has signed to enroll early at Virginia. He was a target of UK and U of L before he pledged to the Cavaliers.

10:29: U of L has announced that it did receive that letter of intent from Drew Bailey.

10:23: Remember Michael Mathis, UK fans? The defensive back was committed to the Cats for a long time in the 2014 class but never signed with UK out of Kilgore College in Texas.

Well, he has signed this morning with Kansas, where's been committed for several months.

Mathis is rated the No. 103 juco player nationally by 247Sports.com.

9:53: As was mentioned a little earlier, U of L target Rasul Douglas made the NJCAA All-America first team on Tuesday. U of L commitment Khalil Hunter, an offensive lineman from Eastern Arizona College, made the second team. Hunter and teammate/running back Tim Cook are expected to sign with Louisville at some point today.

9:46: Unsurprisingly, East Mississippi Community College four-star offensive tackle Jamal Danley has signed with Oklahoma, where he's been committed. U of L invited him for an official visit this past weekend and was hoping he would flip before signing day.

9:39: Here's a more formal announcement of Alexander's signing by U of L football's Twitter account.

The Cards will play the Belk Bowl on Dec. 30 in Alexander's hometown.

9:35: Pearl River (Miss.) College defensive lineman Drew Bailey, who committed to Louisville on Sunday night, tweeted that he's signed his letter of intent to the Cards.

Bailey (6-4, 280), No. 61 in 247's juco rankings, can play both tackle and end and will compete to replace B.J. Dubose on the Cards' on defensive line. He had 10 sacks this past season.

9:32: Perhaps U of L's top target today is four-star cornerback Rasul Douglas of Nassau (N.Y.) College. He's down to the Cardinals, West Virginia and Rutgers. Douglas is rated the No. 26 junior-college player by 247Sports.com and was named an NJCAA first-team All-American on Tuesday night. He's not set a specific time to announce his pick, but it'll come today.

9:26: UK's top juco target on this day is Swain, a 6-foot-4, 300-pound player for Mississippi Gulf Coast College. He's down to UK, where he visited this past weekend, Auburn and Mississippi State, and he's supposed to announce his decision about about 10:30 a.m. EST. Auburn has been seen as the team to beat, although UK and Mississippi State probably offer a bigger opportunity to start right away.

Swain's Twitter account is@SwainEra90. He's rated the No. 40 juco by 247Sports.com.

8:35: U of L's official recruiting Twitter account has announced a couple additions to the team. Three-star wide receiver Paul Harris of Iowa Western College has sent his paperwork in to the Cardinals.

Harris, a 6-foot-3, 206-pound player from Maryland, was a four-star recruit out of high school who played his freshman year at Tennessee. He transferred to Iowa Western after the 2013 season, then sat out this year while recovering from a leg injury. He could have returned midseason, but U of L coach Bobby Petrino, having already accepted his commitment and guaranteed his scholarship advised him not to.

Here's a story on Harris that ran in today's paper. He figures to be an important recruit for Petrino, who will lose five senior receivers, including DeVante Parker after this season.

Before the announcement about Harris, U of L announced that it has received midyear enrollment paperwork from three-star Charlotte cornerback Jaire Alexander. Alexander committed to U of L on Dec. 7 following his official visit to campus, switching a commitment from South Carolina. He's the second high school player the Cards have announced as a midyear enrollee; they welcomed four-star multipurpose back/slot receiver Traveon Samuel several weeks ago.