Elliott Porter, a 6-foot-4, 290-pound defensive tackle who originally signed with LSU, has joined the Kentucky football team and will immediately be eligible to play for UK. Porter, who practiced with the team on Monday, was an unfortunate roster casualty at LSU from too many scholarships. Head coach Joker Phillips and the staff got word about a week and a half ago that the highly touted defensive tackle was available and quickly pursued him for a position they feel like he can make an immediate impact.”It’s big,” Phillips said. “Very seldom in August do you get a chance to find a 6-foot-4, 270-, 285-pound guy. It’s big for us to land a guy in an area that we are slowly trying to get into, which is the Louisiana area.”Porter admitted LSU was his first love and said it was a difficult situation leaving Baton Rouge, La. In the end, though, Porter believes Kentucky could be an even better situation.  “I feel the love here,” Porter said. “It’s more of a brotherly love thing here with the coaches and the players here. I just feel it here. I feel like I’m going to have a real good career here.”Porter will practice in shorts for two days and then practice in shells for two days to get him up to speed with the rest of the team. The coaching staff reported Porter was in pretty good shape in his first day of practice after training with LSU throughout the summer. “We’ll try to get him into the best shape that we possibly can before we decide whether or not he can help us,” Phillips said. UK has a full release on the Porter announcement here, including a complete bio. Check out video interviews below with Phillips, Porter and defensive line coach David Turner on the potential impact Porter can have on this year’s team.In other news, Phillips confirmed Monday that junior tight end Nick Melillo suffered an ankle sprain and will be out for at least a week.Joker Phillips

‘;
//–>

Elliott Porter

David Turner