UK avoids repeat of 2015 decommitments
LEXINGTON, Ky. – A year ago the focus on Kentucky’s 2015 recruiting class was as much about who was not present for National Signing Day as who had officially inked with the class.
On the eve of 2016 Signing Day, Mark Stoops and his staff appear to have avoided the rash of defections that saw six recruits leave the 2015 class in a span of eight days.
“These kids have been very loyal to us,” defensive backs coach and co-defensive coordinator Derrick Ansley said. “They've gotten a lot of opportunities where they can go to a lot of places, and they haven't really batted an eye.”
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Rivals.com currently ranks Kentucky’s 2016 class No. 24 in the country. It includes the first player in program history rated as a five-star recruit by Rivals and six other prospects rated as four-star prospects by at least one of the major recruiting services.
Five-star offensive tackle Landon Young, four-star center Drake Jackson and four-star linebacker Kash Daniel were each named to the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.
Jackson, who was one of seven members of the class to enroll at UK for the spring semester, is not surprised the 2016 group was able to avoid a repeat of the 2015 defections.
“We all came here with the same understanding of what we want to do,” Jackson said. “The reason why we’ve only had two decommitments is because the rest of those guys are here for the same thing. We don’t have guys here to try to make the NFL. We don’t have guys here to try to play early. We’re all here to help change the program.”
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Three-star Paul Blazer running back Quinton Baker left the class after the 2014 season when his primary recruiter, former offensive coordinator Neal Brown, took the Troy head coaching job. Baker ended up committing to Western Kentucky.
Three-star defensive tackle Kobe Smith, who was expected to join the early enrollees at UK this spring, elected to sign with South Carolina instead in December.
The staff appears to have made up for both losses with three-star running backs A.J. Rose and Benny Snell and three-star junior-college nose guard Naquez Pringle joining the class at those positions.
“The kids are really loyal and they're really close as a group, a lot like the '14 group,” Ansley said. “When you get those guys that invested, that's when you see a class stick together and hold strong down the stretch.”
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The current class appears unlikely to topple the 2014 class as the most highly touted UK class in the recruiting-service era, but the offer lists of the highest ranked recruits in the class rival the 2014 group.
Young and Jackson boasted offers from many of the top programs in the country, including Alabama, Ohio State, and Florida. Daniel was recruited by South Carolina. Junior-college offensive tackle Tate Leavitt picked Kentucky over Oklahoma. Notre Dame offered a scholarship to Henry Clay three-star cornerback Davonte Robinson.
Four-star cornerback Jordan Griffin appeared to be the most uncertain of Kentucky’s commitments after taking a late official visit to Auburn, but he took to Twitter to reaffirm his commitment after returning from the visit.
For Jackson, it was easy to ignore the heavyweight offers.
“Schools like LSU, Georgia, Michigan all talked to me during the season, during the All-American game, but I think by then they understood I was done,” he said.
Stoops discounted the effect of the 2014 5-7 record, which included a six-game losing streak to end the season, on the 2015 defections. Fans wondered if a second consecutive 5-7 season would prove that assessment false, but the 2016 commitments appear little fazed by the disappointment.
“It is about the process,” Leavitt said. “I’m not too worried about the 5-7 seasons. I just know that we’ve got to improve.”
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Kentucky’s inability to reach a bowl game during the first three seasons of the Stoops Era was a frequent topic of discussion when opposing coaches attempted to sway Kentucky’s commitments.
Withstanding those negative recruiting pitches makes the class continuity all the more impressive, but Jackson thinks it was also a sign of the direction of the program.
“A lot of them do it, and they do it to the other recruits too,” Jackson said. “The only reason they put Kentucky down is because they’re scared of Kentucky. If you weren’t worried about Kentucky, if we weren’t all that, they wouldn’t have any reason to try to put it down.”
Email Jon Hale atjahale@courier-journal.com. Follow him on Twitter@JonHale_CJ.