The Kentucky football coaching staff has never been one to put much stock into recruiting stars or rankings. Instead, the coaches have placed an emphasis on finding overlooked gems like Jacob Tamme, Wesley Woodyard and Trevard Lindley — players who didn’t have a bunch of stars behind their names — and grooming them into all-conference performers.
That being said, recruiting rankings do hold some bearing of the strength of a team’s recruiting class. Think that ridiculous 28-man class at Florida, ranked No. 1 by most recruiting services, won’t play a significant role two, three years down the road?
Anyway, Kentucky’s 2010 class was ranked in the top 50 by both Rivals.com and Scout.com. Rivals rated UK’s class No. 49 in its team-by-team rankings and Scout tabbed the Cats’ class at No. 47.
Rivals credited UK with picking up one four-star recruit and 18 three-star recruits. Scout’s analysis concluded one four-star pickup and 15 three-star signees.
As mentioned above, though, Kentucky has generally paid more attention to the player than the stars that follow his name. That’s why they could have another gem in its class in cornerback Dale Trimble.
The 5-foot-10, 175-signee out of Gadsden, Ala., was tabbed by Rivals.com as one of the five super sleepers of the 2010 class.
“Trimble does not have the size or overall athletic ability of fellow AL/MS All Star Classic teammate DaMarcus Milliner. But Trimble (5-10, 175) turned the All Star Classic around with a 36-yard interception return for a touchdown. Trimble’s score helped lead the Alabama squad to victory. His biggest asset is his ability to come out of his backpedal and make plays on the ball. He does have good height, but will need to add some size and strength to help his durability in the SEC. I really think Kentucky has found a slightly shorter Trevard Lindley. Lindley happened to be a low two-star prospect who turned himself into a Senior Bowl participant and future NFL draft pick.”
The uphill battle for UK’s recruiting class now that the dust has settled is that it once again goes against the nation’s best conference as five Southeastern Conference teams dotted Rivals’ top-10 team rankings.
