Kentucky Silently on The Rise
by Karlo Zovko
Posted June 18, 2013 9:46 pm
Football, highlights, Kentucky, mark stoops, ohio recruiting, preps, Recruiting, SEC, snodgrass, stoops
courtesy of wilcatcatbluenation.com
Basketball dominance is always associated when the thought of the Kentucky Wildcats come to mind. The college basketball team lands a top 5 recruiting seemingly every year; and it shows on the court. This year is a different story, though Kentucky had the #1 recruiting class in basketball according to espn.com, the Kentucky Wildcts have made a ridiculous splash thus far in the 2014 FOOTBALL recruiting world.
How has this come so sudden? How are they landing highly touted prospects leaving other schools baffled as to how the 2-10 Wildcats, who didn’t even have an SEC conference win last year, are getting these program changing athletes.
Enter Mark Stoops. The former Iowa Hawkeyes standout in the 80s has been a defensive coordinator for years. He coached defense for the University of Arizona from 2004-2009, and Florida State until November of 2012. Now, as the head coach for the Kentucky Wildcats, Stoops plans on turning the SEC upside down within the next few years. As of 6/18, Stoops has 18 verbal pledges to his school, 3rd most in the nation to only Texas and Baylor who have 19. But where are all of these recruits coming from?… Stoops’ home, the state of Ohio. Stoops is making it a point to start landing Ohio kids for the Wildcats. 8 prospects committed hail to the state of Ohio. They also just picked up the Davis twins, Demetrious and Chris, two former Pitt players who committed in 2012 from Youngstown Ohio, now giving them 10 Ohio players in a matter of months. The SEC is known for getting elite southern kids, kids that look passed Kentucky to other dominant schools in the SEC to play for a National Title. It is no secret players want to play in the SEC; where it seems as if the conference is becoming an NFL breeding ground.
A key example of kids wanting to play in the SEC is prized recruit Thaddeus Snodgrass. He lives in Springfield, Ohio, and is rated the #25 wide receiver in the nation according to espn.com. He also made the espn300 list that released earlier this week. With 20+ offers, Snodgrass was a gem for all Big 10, ACC, and American 12 schools, with schools such as Ohio State, Louisville, Penn State, Notre Dame, and Michigan State offering. Then Kentucky came along and offered Snodgrass a chance to play SEC ball. Snodgrass then committed a few weeks later, leaving schools such as Notre Dame and Ohio State baffled as to what just happened.
It’s clear Ohio wants their paw prints all over the Northeast region while other SEC schools are fighting for recruits down south. All we here at preps.com know is, the Kentucky Wildcats are on the rise, and could be a force to be reckoned with in Ohio, PA, and Maryland recruiting.
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Football, highlights, Kentucky, mark stoops, ohio recruiting, preps, Recruiting, SEC, snodgrass, stoops